Our scripture text is found in a portion of Exodus 33, starting at verse 7 and going through 34, verse 17. Exodus 33, 7 through 34, 17. So let us stand for the reading of the word of God. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. It came about that everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. And it came about whenever Moses went out to the tent that all the people would rise and stand each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. And it came about, whenever 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. When all the people saw the pillar of clouds standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship each at the entrance of his tent. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Then Moses said to the Lord, See, thou dost say to me, Bring up this people, but thou thyself hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Moreover thou hast said, I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, let me know thy ways. that I may know thee, so that I may find favor in thy sight. Consider too that this nation is thy people. And he said, my presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to him, if thy presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? Is it not by thy going with us, so that we, I, and thy people may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? And the Lord says to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. Then Moses said, I pray thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live. Then the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me. And you shall stand there on that rock, and it will come about while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Now the Lord said to Moses, cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you shattered. So be ready by morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. And no man is to come up with you. Nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain. So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him. And he took two stone tablets in his hand. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him. as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. Who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquities, transgression, and sin, and yet he will by no means clear, leave the guilty unpunished. Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. And he said, if now I have found favor in thy sight, Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst. even though the people are so obstinate. And do Thou pardon our iniquities and our sin, and take us as Thine own possession. Then God said, Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth, nor among any of the nations, and all the people among whom you live see the working of the Lord. For it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you. Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day. Behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you lest it become a snare in your midst. But rather you are to tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their asherim. For you shall not worship any other god. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god. Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods, sacrifice to their gods, and someone invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlots with their gods, and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods, you shall make for yourself no molten gods." We've spent several Sundays now looking just at these chapters, 32, 33, and 34, because they have so much truth in them. There's not only the broad truths that apply to all of life that are illustrated and taught in these chapters, but there's all kinds of little details that you want not to miss, because there's much truth in these details. Remember back in chapter 32, you had the golden calf affair. God had redeemed his covenant people from bondage to sin in Egypt. And in a very short time, Moses was on Mount Sinai, God gave him the Ten Commandments. And then before you knew it, they were worshiping a golden calf. This calf was a Fertility God. And there was all kinds of sensual dancing and songs that went on around the base of that calf while Moses was in Mount Sinai. Then God raised up the Levites to slay thousands of those who would not repent. So what's the point of this passage? The point of this passage is that when a nation that declares itself to be God's covenant people commits national idolatry, it will be destroyed by the fiery judgment of Almighty God. That's not just applicable to Israel. as applicable to any nation that turns to the living God to worship idols. It's happening in the West. The West may be too far gone. You know what they're doing in England now? England, the country where the Reformation began in the 1500s? and spread from England through Puritanism all over the place, including the formation of the United States. England now is taking the word church out of the name, the Church of England. National Church of England, taking the name church out of it. Future King William has said, publicly that he's uncomfortable with Christianity. In the United States, all you had to do to see that our country has left the living God that moved us to found this country to worship idols is the Democrat National Convention. That's all you need to do. I believe anybody that votes for a Democrat or is a Democrat is under the judgment of Almighty God. It's like worshiping a golden calf. So that's the great point of Exodus 32. Every nation that claims to be in covenant with God and commits national idolatry, shall be destroyed by the deadly anger of Almighty God, unless she repents. Now thousands of people were killed. God had his priests kill them after they worshiped the golden calf. But not all of them. There was the beginning of repentance in chapter 33. There was the beginning of repentance in the lives of many of those Israelites. that turned from their wicked ways. They began to see themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit. They began to see themselves how God saw them. They began to realize that the worst thing that was going on is that Jehovah had left them, separated himself from them for a time. They repented. You saw them turn from the idols of their hearts. Not everybody. But there was a massive return to the living God. And they wanted to get rid of their ornaments and anything at all that identified them with their former idolatry. They wanted to repent. And then the last thing, they had this burden to cry out to God to return to Israel. So those are the marks of the beginnings of revival in Israel. And the Holy Spirit brought that revival very quickly after the worship of the golden calf. That shows you how gracious He is. They fell very quickly from receiving the Ten Commandments to worshiping the golden calf. The worst thing about worshiping the golden calf, understand this, The worst thing about it was not worshipping the golden calf. The worst thing about it was calling the golden calf Jehovah and saying they were worshipping Jehovah by means of the golden calf. And then very quickly, God in His grace, He could have wiped out the whole group, the whole body of Israelites, three million of them. No sooner had they committed idolatry than God brought many of them to repentance, and He renewed His covenant with them. God had covenanted to be their God, they His people. They would enjoy communion together. God would give them a sovereignly dictated order of life by which to live. And as they, in the power of the Holy Spirit, lived by God's law and in faithfulness to him, God would pour out the riches and the promises that he made to the patriarch Abraham. So God forgave them. But God did not, what's the best way to say this? God showed them his mercy. God showed them His undeserved grace, but He left some traces of His punishment with them as well. God promised to do several things that He'd covenanted with them to do, but He didn't promise everything again. Why didn't God just forget all their sins and clean the slate and go on with a new beginning? He was merciful to them. He forgave them. But He didn't bring all of His promises to pass. He left some traces of His judgment and His justice behind on them because He didn't want them to be indifferent about forgiveness. Well, God forgives us for the golden calf. He'll forgive us for anything. So eat, drink, and be merry because God's always there to have mercy upon us and to be merciful. So God said, I don't want you to fall back in that trap. I want you to understand how precious and how costly forgiveness of sin is and renewed fellowship with God is. And so I'm going to leave some of the remnants of my judgment upon you so that you'll never forget that. I like what Calvin said. Calvin said that these traces of God's judgment were like a scab on a healed wound. The wound was healed. There's a scab on it. They would remember. Forgiveness of sin is not cheap. So you remember what Moses did in the passage that we read? Moses built a tabernacle outside the camp. Now, in doing that, he was excommunicating Israel, as we've said before, except for the ones who had repented. He left the tabernacle in the camp of Israel, built his own tabernacle, which Martin Lloyd-Jones called his prayer tent, built his own prayer tent and tabernacle way outside the camp. And when he'd go in there and worship God and pray, the fiery pillar that once led Israel across the wilderness, the fiery pillar that had left the tabernacle in the city in the middle of the camp, The fiery peddler would stand right at the door of the tent where Moses was praying. And the people that had repented, as they watched Moses go into the tent, in fact, they gazed at him. They couldn't take their eyes off of him. As Moses was walking into the tent, they would all stand outside. when they saw the glory cloud, they'd all stand outside the doors of their tent. And many of them would follow Moses to his tabernacle that he rebuilt outside the camp to worship God together. So there was a renewal of the covenant. God and his people were friends again. God forgave them of their sins. And those that repented and still longed for Him, He would renew His fellowship with them. So in the 33rd and the 34th chapters, you see this renewal of God's covenant with His people, having a bestowal of grace upon them. And what's the instrument that He used? The intercessions of one man. One man. He was a type of Christ here. He would intercede for this obstinate people. And he was humble enough to say, God, please do not pour out your wrath upon your people. Remember, they're your people. If you got to pour out your wrath on anybody, pour it out on me. For them, I'll be the redeemer in their place. You see what a humble man Moses was and what a great type of Christ and symbol for Christ. Why did God save anybody after the worship of the golden calf? Because of that one mediator between God and man, Lord Jesus Christ represented in Moses himself. Now, I want us to spend most of our time today seeing what Moses prayed when he was in that tent. And then you learn to make this prayer your own prayer. It was a great prayer. He prayed for Israel. He prayed that God would not pour out His wrath upon Israel. He prayed that God would renew His covenant with Israel. Then he prayed some other things that I want us to look at. Verse 13 of chapter 33. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, number one, let me know thy ways, number two, that I may know thee. That's the heart of the prayer. Highlight it, underline it, put an asterisk in the margin. The heart of Moses' prayer was, Lord, let me know your ways that I may know you so that I may find favor in your sight. So God answers his prayer and he says in verse 14 to Moses, my presence shall go with you, Moses. And I will give you rest, Moses. But my presence will not go with the children of Israel. Because if I stay in close contact with the Israelites day after day after day, not permanently, and I see how they live, and I'm reminded of their wicked ways. I just might wipe them all out. You don't want me going with the people of Israel, Moses. It wouldn't be good for them. I will go with you. Now what did Moses pray for? Two things, Lord, I want to know your ways. I know much of your ways. You reveal them to me on Mount Sinai. I've been up there for days. You've been teaching me things for days, Lord. You've been giving me your laws. You've been giving me your principles. You've been giving me your statutes. You've been teaching me about reconciliation and redemption and sanctification. and faithfulness. I just want to know more. I don't want to be ignorant. I'm not satisfied with how much I know about you. I'm not satisfied with how much you reveal to me about yourself. I want you to teach me more things that you Say, Lord, I am thankful for what you've taught me in my life. I thank you for what I have learned throughout the years of my life. Lord, I want more. I don't know you as well as I want to. Teach me more things about yourself. And one thing, the big point in all of these chapters, in Exodus. But in these chapters particularly it hit me as the title of our sermon. Our covenant Lord is a talking God. This God talks to Moses closely as a friend, talks to a personal friend over and over. I mean real talking. This isn't metaphor. Our God is a talking God. You remember Francis Schaeffer's great book? The title of it? Speaking of God, he says, he is there and he is not silent. He is a God who speaks. He's a God who reveals himself. That's the only way. We can know anything about truth, have any knowledge of God, any knowledge of ourselves and of this world is by God teaching us by speaking. And by speaking to us in words and sentences that are meaningful to him as well as to us. That's the important thing. When God spoke to Moses, God spoke to his people. He spoke to them in words and sentences that were meaningful to us and meaningful to God. They were empty words for him. He was condescending to where we were using baby talk, simple language, to explain to us his will and who he is. He revealed himself in all kinds of ways in the Old Testament. Words out of the sky, face to face, so to speak, on Mount Sinai, to Moses, miracles, various other things. Doesn't do that anymore. Don't go looking for a voice out of the sky, God talking to you. One time when I used to preach in Pentecostal churches a lot, and I wasn't a Pentecostal, I was spending the weekend with this leading Pentecostal family. And it was embarrassing. This guy was always saying that God was verbally talking to him. He would say, God, please tell me what kind of jelly to put on my toast. And so he'd say, God told me. And he would say, tell me what suit to wear Sunday. I mean, it became cheap and funny. But God does not speak to us in audible voices anymore. When I was at Calcedon, I had a man come into my office. He didn't go to Calcedon, but he was the brother of somebody at Calcedon. And the guy said, God speaks to me in an audible voice every day. I said, that must be wonderful. Because I've never heard God speak in an audible voice. What'd he sound like? The guy said, oh, his voice sounded an awful lot like my own voice. I said, well, how did you know when it's God talking to you and you talking to yourself? And he was sort of like an ice cube melting in the chair. no more voices out of the heavens. The former ways by which God revealed himself to man have ceased and now they are revealed to us finally and supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ speaking through his written word. You remember what Peter said in his book? Peter said, I was there on the Mount of Transfiguration. I was there, I saw Moses and Elijah coming back from heaven. I was there with Jesus and I saw his face shining brighter than the noonday sun and his flesh could not hold his divine glory in anymore. I heard God's voice out of the sky saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. I heard that voice. But then he says, and this is a paraphrase, I'd rather have the book. First voice of God, that I'd rather have the book. Because as I live and grow old, that voice will fade. I might not remember everything that voice said. I might not get it straight. I'd rather have the book. I'd rather have the voice of God written in permanent form in words and sentences in a book that I can understand. Holy men of God, moved by the Holy Spirit, writing down what God wanted Him to say to us. So, don't expect God to talk to you verbally, but do expect God to speak to you in the words of scripture. That's where you go to hear the voice of God. You read the Bible, you open the Bible, you pray that the Holy Spirit would illumine your heart, and the Holy Spirit that wrote these words would guide you in understanding of them, and then you use your mind to understand the grammar the relationship of the words to each other, because these are not just the word of God, these are the words of God, just as if he was speaking to you audibly. So you pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance to the best of your ability, you try to understand the grammar, the meaning of the words and their relationship to each other, the historical context, and you'll know it. You'll know the will of God for your life. Where do you go to find out the will of God? Right here. Where did Moses go to find out the will of God for his life? The God. God talked to me. Tell me something. I need to know more about what your will is for my life and how you want me to be toward this obstinate people. How do you want me to lead them? And also, Lord, I want to know you better. Now, this is the only place in all the world where you can read the infallible will of God. Your knowledge and my knowledge of God's will is never infallible. We can pray that God would show us his will. and we think we understand it to the best of our ability, we can ask the advice of godly men to give us counsel, and we think we got it down, and we can miss the point. Our understanding of God's will for our lives is not perfect. Martin Luther said, you study the scriptures, You depend upon the leading of the Holy Spirit. You seek counsel from godly men concerning wisdom. You devote your life to the Word of God. And then you do what you're convinced is the Word of God with all your heart. And you can still get it wrong. So then you do it with all your heart. And when you're following the will of the Lord, and you realize this isn't it, you rejoice that a sovereign God will get you where he wants you. God will never get it wrong. He might, but God will never be governed by your mistakes. So Moses is saying, Lord, I learned a great deal about your will for my life on Mount Sinai, I want more. And I want to know more about you. So let's see what God said about that. He said, verse 15, Moses said, if your presence doesn't go with us, don't lead us up from here. It's a dangerous world out there. Lord, how can it be known that I have found favor in thy sight. How do I know I'm a recipient of your mercy? If you don't go with me, and if you don't show me your will, we will not be distinguished from all the other people that are upon the face of the earth. That's the only thing that makes us different. I'll say again what I said last week. America is exceptional only if God is with us and we're following him. If we're not following him, and if the glory has left our country, we're no longer exceptional. as the Democratic National Convention and the Olympics showed. So in verse 17, the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you've spoken, for you have found favor in my sight. And then Moses prays this. I pray thee, show me thy glory. Show me thy glory. I want to see something, Lord. I want to see with my eyes just how great and glorious you are. That was the desire for the golden cap, you know. Moses was up in the mountain all by himself for a long time, and the people wanted a God they could see. So Moses, not in a sinful manner, but a mistaken manner, said, Lord, show me thy glory. I want to see your great, and I want to actually see your greatness, and see just how glorious and beautiful and majestic you are. My God is too small. I want a bigger God than the one that I worship. I know you're bigger than my faith. I want to see just how big and how great you are. Notice how God answered him. And he, that is God, said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion, but you cannot see my face. For no man can see me and live. What's the general principle of all that? General principle in all that is knowledge of God comes through the ears and not the eyes. Knowledge of God comes through hearing and not through seeing. That's how the Roman Catholic Church got it wrong for the whole of the Middle Ages. Maybe we'll help these peasants understand more about theology if they can see things. So let's make a statue of the Virgin Mary. Let's make a picture of Jesus. One time I was in Rome with about a hundred young people. And we had just come through the catacombs and we were sitting in the sanctuary. There wasn't a worship service going on. We were sitting in the sanctuary of this old Catholic church with all of these statues and pictures. And I was teaching these hundred people the errors of Roman Catholicism through a microphone system that they could only hear in their ears, right in the middle of that Catholic church. Nobody else could hear it. You had to have one of these hearing things. And so I was teaching them all these things, and they asked me, why are all these people naked? Why are all these statues in the sanctuary of people that are naked? Calvin said, Roman Catholic churches have more naked statues than brothels. And why do they? One time, this Renaissance guy, just to show his hostility at mock Christianity, drew a picture, a great piece of art, you've probably seen it, of Mary nursing the baby Jesus. Except that Mary, the model for Mary, was the king's mistress. And everybody knew she was the king's mistress. So they're looking at the king's mistress nursing this baby. And so they said, why all of this sensuality? I said, because the religion is sensual. It's a sensual religion. The only way you can get in touch with the mercy of God is to come in contact with the physical body of Jesus. And that's why in communion, the bread has to become His body. And the wine has to become His real blood. Because the blessings of God comes through these physical means. And so everything about Roman Catholicism's doctrine of the Lord's Supper is very sensual. And it's understandable why that sensuality would show up in every area of life. So God's telling Moses. Moses said, I want to see the great yard. God said, you can't stand it if I show you my glory. No man has ever seen my face and lived And look at the next verse. Next verse he says, verse 21. Then the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, there up on Mount Sinai, a cave, and you shall stand there on the rock, a little cave, and it will come about while my glory is passing by, that I'll put you in the cliff of the rock and cover you with my hand until I pass by because you will not be able to stand it. That's how great God is. Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Moses, I am just too glorious and too great and too majestic for human eyes to look upon and survive. It's your God. That's why we don't have pictures of Jesus, statues of Mary, statues of Jesus. crucifixes. That's degrading to God. God is far more glorious than anything man can create in his art. You understand that the God we serve is a God who loves us. He is a God who is so great and so majestic that no man can look upon his face and live. God says to Moses, Moses, I want you to hide in this little cave. This is a loving thing. It's a great expression of God's love and mercy. I want you to hide in this cave, and then I'm gonna use my hand to cover that cave. Now God doesn't have a hand. This is a metaphor. But here's a loving God. He doesn't want Moses to be hurt by this display of himself. So he puts Moses in the cave, covers the cave with his hand to protect him from the brightness of his glory until he passes by. And God said, you'll see my back. That's all you'll see. My face you shall not see. So Moses wanted to see something, God said he couldn't stand it. Verse 15, 18. Then Moses said, I pray thee, show me thy glory. And he said, you can only see my back, Moses, but I will make my goodness pass before you. You want to know me? There's only one way to know me, Moses, and that is through my perfections. You can't see my face, but I'll reveal to you my goodness and my grace and my mercy. So when you pray or think about God, don't pray or think about some figure. God does not have a body like man. When you try to imagine some form of God, because you've got to have some kind of form, that's what a worshiper as a calf said, you're committing idolatry. God does not have a body like man. So how am I to think about God then, in terms of his perfections? Learn what the Bible says about his perfections. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. In his being, wisdom, power, goodness, truth. Just think about all the faithfulness, all of God's character. That's how you think of God. God says, Moses, you can't see my face, but I am going to display to you my goodness, and cause you to remember the ways you've experienced my goodness throughout your whole life. You should notice this next sentence. And he said, verse 19, that's God, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you. And notice the next sentence. What's the subject of this sentence? and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. It's the same I. God says I will display my goodness and Moses, I personally will proclaim my name to you. What's the word name mean? The word name means God. The word name has reference to everything God has revealed about himself and all of his perfections. I shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Respect and revere and stand in awe of everything God has revealed about himself. So Moses, I'm going to teach you. Personally, I'm going to preach to you. Can you imagine having the living God preach to you? I'm going to proclaim and preach to you the greatness of my character. All the ways by which I have revealed myself in your life. That's what we come to church for. Come to church not to see a statue of Jesus. You come to church to hear God preach to us. Not to hear a man preach, but to hear God preach to us through a man. You come to church because you want to hear God proclaim His name to you. Why is God doing it this way? Because he says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. Me, God, I'm not perfect, why me? Compassion on whom I have compassion. I show mercy on whom I show mercy. You don't make the decision. You do not determine if God's going to be merciful to you. God determines whether He's going to be merciful to you or not. If you haven't seen the video Amazing Grace, it's three hours long. It has several Reformed preachers, Baptists and Presbyterians. You would know some of them personally, at least one. And they're on there explaining the five points of Calvinism. And the greatest guy was R.C. Sproul. And so R.C. was asked about the sovereignty of God's grace. And he said, you know, I speak in colleges all over the place. I am often asked, why didn't God choose so and so? If he chose this person or that person, why didn't he choose that person? He said, but I've never been asked, did God choose anybody? Nobody deserves to be chosen by God. Nobody deserves to have compassion from God. All of us deserve to die under God's judgment. God says, Moses, I'm going to be a friend to you. I'm going to speak to you as friend with friend. I'm going to show you the beauty of my goodness. I'm gonna let all the perfections of my character come before you. I'm gonna proclaim my name to you. I'm gonna teach you my will. I'm gonna help you to know me better. Because that's the way I want to do it. You don't deserve to have any revelation of me. I will have compassion. on whom I have compassion. So that's in that little tent. Great situation. Beautiful situation. Teaches us so much about the living God. That's not all God says. In chapter 34, we'll just make this point quick. Chapter 34, it says, Moses, I want the people to know I'm renewing my covenant with them. This is a covenant of grace. They don't deserve it, but I'm renewing my covenant with them. And so I'm, we're gonna put the Ten Commandments on stone again and let them see these Ten Commandments, these two tablets of stone. so that they can know that the covenant has been renewed. Verse 5, chapter 34. And the Lord descended in the cloud, that bright, fiery cloud, and stood there with Moses as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed to him, here's what Jehovah preached to Moses, the Lord Jehovah, the Lord God Jehovah Elohim, passionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and kindness and truth. keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgressions, and sin. Yet, he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. Next Sunday, we'll talk about that. If I get into this chapter verse now, we'll never get out of here. I want to read a New Testament verse that is sort of obscure. People don't normally read it, but it's an admonition that the apostles have given us in the New Testament that's based on the story of Moses casting the tabernacle outside the camp thereby excommunicating the whole camp of Israel. So turn, and this is really the last thing I'm going to say, turn to Hebrews 13. I'm not going to explain everything in this verse, these verses, but just, okay, let's read them. Chapter 13 of Hebrews and verse nine. Do not be carried away by buried and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. What does that mean? Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem. What were they doing? The city of Jerusalem, the Jewish church, was excommunicating Jesus, the head of the church. And he's being excommunicated and put to death outside the camp, outside the city, not a part of the city anymore, not a part of the fellowship. And so therefore, as somebody who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, go outside the camp. You go to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. You don't want to be a part of the city that excommunicated Jesus. Where is Jesus now? He's out there in the world. He's outside the camp. He's building a great kingdom outside of the apostate church. Building a great church against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. Causing his kingdom to triumph over all other kingdoms. So what's your responsibility now as a follower of Christ? Go to Jesus outside the camp. Don't be a part of the churches that excommunicated the head of the church. Don't go to liberal churches. Don't go to apostate churches. Don't go to churches that compromise the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave them alone. And go out to Jesus, the head of the church, Bearing his reproach, you'll suffer for it. You'll be ridiculed for it. You'll be made fun of. You'll be called divisive and bigoted. If you're going to be a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, go to him outside the camp. Don't have anything to do with the churches that excommunicated the head of the church. and build churches that are pure and unmixed with human opinion. Remember, he who lives godly for Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Don't let that intimidate you. Don't let that make you afraid. Because as life goes on for the next few years, the rate they're going, you are going to be ridiculed. You're going to be mocked for what you believe. You may even have to suffer lawsuits or jail time for your hate speech in condemning perversion. How's the Christian live? He used to go outside the camp. To him, that's where Jesus is. He's not in the apostate churches. He's not in the compromised churches. They're just empty buildings. It might be a good thing that they take the name church off of the Church of England. It hadn't preached the truth in generations. So go out to Jesus in the world. He's conquering the world and building a great kingdom. You be a part of it. Thank you, Father, for all of the truth that there is in these chapters. Thank you for helping us to understand them. Tell us not to be afraid to share with others what we learn here from Exodus 32, 33, and 34. Tell us not to be afraid to stand up in the face of the world and say, herein is life. Herein is salvation. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no way to God apart from Him. May we not be afraid to witness these things because you brought us to Christ. You saved us from our sins and our idolatry. Now we pray, Lord, that you would use us to save this nation from its national idolatry. For Jesus' sake, amen.