1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,700 You're listening to City Church Manchester. We are a church that invites 2 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:11,880 everyone to enjoy Christ for the glory of God. If we can serve you in any way 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:19,440 then visit our website at citychurchmanchester.org to find out more. 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:25,660 We're going to read through Exodus chapter 33 to 34-7 before Ralph comes up 5 00:00:25,660 --> 00:00:31,440 and shares the word with us. So Tessa would you like to start us through Exodus 33? 6 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,680 Then the Lord said to Moses, leave this place, you and the people you brought up 7 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:42,200 out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and 8 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:47,560 Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel 9 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,720 before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites 10 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:58,240 and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go 11 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,960 with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the 12 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,800 way. When the people heard these distressing words they began to mourn 13 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,280 and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, tell the 14 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:18,460 Israelites, you are a stiff stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even 15 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:23,040 for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide 16 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,040 what to do with you. So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount 17 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:32,680 Horeb. Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance 18 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:38,400 away, calling it the tent of meeting. Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to 19 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,320 the tent of meeting outside the camp and whenever Moses went out to the tent, all 20 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:47,640 the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses 21 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:52,480 until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would 22 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:58,080 come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the 23 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,560 people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they all 24 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:06,080 stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would 25 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:11,000 speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would 26 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,320 return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua, son of Nun, did not 27 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:22,400 leave the tent. Verse 12, Moses said to the Lord, you have been telling me lead 28 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,680 these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have 29 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,760 said, I know you by name and you have found favor with me. If you are pleased 30 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:35,480 with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. 31 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:40,520 Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go 32 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:45,200 with you and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, if your presence does 33 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,440 not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are 34 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,400 pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will 35 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,440 distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the 36 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:01,560 earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked because 37 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,240 I am pleased with you and I know you by name. Then Moses said, now show me your 38 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,400 glory. And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you 39 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:15,600 and I will proclaim my name for Lord in your presence. I will have mercy on whom 40 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,800 I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have 41 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:24,760 compassion. But, he said, you cannot see my face for no one may see me and live. 42 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,520 Then the Lord said, there is a place near me where you may stand on the rock. When 43 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:34,200 my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft in the rock and cover you with my 44 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,760 hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back 45 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,720 but my face must not be seen. The Lord said to Moses, chisel out two stone 46 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,480 tablets like the first ones and I will write on them the words that were on the 47 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,720 first tablets which you broke. Be ready in the morning and then come up to Mount 48 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,480 Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come 49 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,920 with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Not even the flocks and herds 50 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,160 may graze in front of the mountain. So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets 51 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,280 like the first ones and went up to Mount Sinai early in the morning as the Lord 52 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,680 had commanded him and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord 53 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,560 came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name the 54 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:22,360 Lord and he passed in front of Moses proclaiming the Lord the Lord the 55 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,760 compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 56 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,280 maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. 57 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:35,360 Yet he does not leave the guilty and punished. He punishes the children, he 58 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,840 punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third 59 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:43,000 and fourth generation. This is the word of the Lord. Ralph's now going to share 60 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:50,240 the word to us. Great thank you so much Eric and Tessa and hello everyone. It's 61 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,160 great to be here to be with you and to bring this next part of the book of 62 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:00,880 Exodus to you. Please do open up your Bibles we're gonna be there in Exodus 63 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:08,560 33 and 34 the whole time and let me pray for us as we prepare to come and dive 64 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:13,080 into God's Word. Heavenly Father thank you you speak to us and you speak to us 65 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,800 today. Thank you that your Word is living and active and Lord would we experience 66 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:24,960 that here and now. Lord we want to meet with you in your Word. We want to 67 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:34,760 encounter you by the Holy Spirit as we open the very words of life itself. 68 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:45,000 Lord work that in our lives now we pray. Amen. What would be a real game changer 69 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:52,760 for you? I mean what would really really change your life? What do you think it 70 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:59,400 would take to bring real transformation? This week an article in the Wall Street 71 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:06,840 Journal caught my attention. The article was titled Is That It? and it 72 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:11,840 documented the experience of a number of people who'd made it to the very top of 73 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:21,080 their profession. People like Andy Dunn who sold his clothing retailer Bonobos 74 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:29,600 to Walmart in a 310 million dollar deal. While the world watched on in awe, Dunn 75 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:36,200 recalled finding the the joy and achievement he expected to actually be 76 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:44,760 in his words illusory. Or Steve Babcock. Steve moved from managing a small firm 77 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:50,240 in Colorado to managing a large firm in New York City. He went from 50 people 78 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:58,680 under him to 200 people under him. The world was impressed but according to 79 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:09,720 Babcock it left him feeling utterly empty. A shell of his true self. You know 80 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:18,720 getting exactly what you want often doesn't live up to its billing. So what 81 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:25,160 do you want? What would be a game changer for you? What would make the real 82 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:31,920 difference in your life? I'm guessing that many people here this afternoon are 83 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:37,880 Christians. Now I know a lot of you aren't yet Christians but I suspect the 84 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:44,520 fact you're here today probably means, probably means, that what you're looking 85 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:50,680 for is not entirely different to what Christians are looking for. You really 86 00:07:50,680 --> 00:08:03,280 want an experience of God. Not religion, not ritual, but you really want to meet 87 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:10,920 with God in an awe-inspiring, life-transforming, not the breath out of 88 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:19,080 you way. That would make the real difference in your life. That would be a 89 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:27,480 game changer. Well today we're going to be thinking about exactly that. We're back 90 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:35,200 in the book of Exodus. Now Exodus is the second book in the Bible and it's all 91 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,320 about how the promises that God made in the first book, the book of Genesis, is 92 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:45,400 all about how those promises begin to be fulfilled. You see back in the book of 93 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:52,280 Genesis, in Genesis chapter 12 and 15, God made a number of promises to Abraham. 94 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:58,560 He promised Abraham that Abraham would become a great nation, the promise of a 95 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:04,600 people. He then promised that he'd give them an incredible promised land, the 96 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:12,680 promise of a place, and then thirdly, the big one. God promised Abraham his 97 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:21,880 presence, that God himself would dwell with his people. But by the end of the 98 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,000 book of Exodus, all of those promises, they look like they're in tatters. 99 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,520 Abraham's family is pretty big, bigger than my family. He had 70 in his family, 100 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:40,320 but they're not as numerous as the stars in the sky as God had promised. And the 101 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:47,200 people that they're living in Egypt, not in Canaan, it's in no place yet. And God 102 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,560 is not living among the people. They're living in Egypt surrounded by the 103 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:59,800 pyramids and by the Egyptian idols. And so you see, after all that in the book of 104 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:05,640 Exodus, in the book of Genesis, the book of Exodus is all about how God starts to 105 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:10,240 fulfill those promises that he'd left unfulfilled in the book of Genesis. And 106 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:15,640 it starts well. When we get to Exodus chapter 1, we find that God's people in 107 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:20,760 Egypt, they've grown to 2 million people. The promise of a 108 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:28,000 people is being fulfilled. By the end of chapter 14 of Exodus, God has rescued 109 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,640 his people out of slavery in Egypt and he's leading them through the wilderness 110 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:37,000 to the promised land, to the place that he had said he would give them, the 111 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:44,480 second promise being fulfilled. And so the next step, the next step is for God 112 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:53,120 to establish his permanent presence with them. That's promise 3. And things are 113 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,580 already in hand. If you've been with us in recent weeks, you'll know that Moses 114 00:10:57,580 --> 00:11:01,600 was up Mount Sinai and up Mount Sinai, he was receiving the instructions for the 115 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:07,880 tabernacle, the great tent which will be where God would descend and be with his 116 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:17,000 people. But then we had the events we saw two Sundays ago. While Moses would up on 117 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,320 a mountain finding out about the provisions for God's presence with his 118 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:27,400 people, the people were down in the camp, impatient, frustrated, begging Aaron to 119 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,320 make them a golden calf for them to worship so they can have their God with 120 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:39,200 them. The Lord sees and he tells Moses that he's about to destroy the people 121 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:46,120 for their rebellion. Moses steps in, he offers to be punished in their place, he 122 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,240 says, I will be blotted out of the book of life in their place, just let them go 123 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:58,520 free. And we read that the Lord relented, which is where we left things two weeks 124 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:11,560 ago. There's just one problem, God's presence. You see, the people needed 125 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:21,720 God's presence to lead them and to guide them. But because of their sin, God's 126 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:28,840 presence was profoundly dangerous for them. Which brings us to our first point 127 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:35,240 today, the danger of God's presence. Chapter 33 starts really well. The Lord 128 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:42,640 says to Moses, up and leave, verse one. I'm about to fulfill my promises to Abraham 129 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:47,920 and Isaac and Jacob. The promise of the people is already being fulfilled, now 130 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:55,480 I'm gonna give you the place. I'm gonna send, verse two, an angel with you who is 131 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:01,320 gonna give you military supremacy. This angel, he's like the celestial equivalent 132 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:08,080 of an Apache attack helicopter, guaranteed victory. And the place, God 133 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:12,680 says, the place I'm gonna give you, it's far better than you possibly imagined. 134 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:16,920 Let me tell you what this place is gonna be like. It's a place that is 135 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:21,480 flowing with milk and honey. You'll have everything you need, everything to be 136 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:27,760 healthy and happy and safe and to flourish. You will have it all. There's 137 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:43,960 just one thing, verse three, I won't go with you. Shock. Why? Because, verse three, 138 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:50,920 you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you along the way. We've 139 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,200 already met this language of being stiff-necked. We had it back in chapter 140 00:13:54,200 --> 00:14:02,280 32, verse nine. And being stiff-necked, it describes the sin of idolatry. What is 141 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:11,000 an idol? We tend to see idols as always being really bad things. But what idols 142 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,760 are, according to the Bible, is they're normally very good things that we have 143 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:23,480 turned into God things. An idol is anything that we seek to derive 144 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:30,880 meaning and life and joy from instead of seeking that from God. So for some of us 145 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:38,880 that's a person, our boyfriend or girlfriend, our spouse, our children. For 146 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:43,040 others of us, it's work. That's where we seek to find our identity. That's where 147 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:51,680 we seek to find our sense of self-worth. For others, it's popularity. We crave 148 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:59,280 people's acceptance and approval. For others, it's our bank balance. That's 149 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:06,000 where we seek to find security and control. Whatever it is, whatever our 150 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:13,840 particular idol is, it draws us away from God. We got a dog back home in the 151 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,900 Cunnington household. She's called Maisie and this is a picture of her. Isn't she 152 00:15:17,900 --> 00:15:25,520 cute? She is sweet a lot of the time but if you take her out for a walk and 153 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:32,160 she spots someone's thrown-away takeaway with food still in it, she will make a 154 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:37,560 beeline for that takeaway no matter what she's supposed to be doing. She'll go 155 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:45,800 straight for it. And it's a bit like that with idols. When we see that thing that 156 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:55,280 we seek to find meaning in, we make a beeline for it and nothing can stop us. We 157 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:05,000 become stiff-necked, refusing to go God's way because we hanker after our God 158 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:12,640 substitutes. And that has consequences. Look at verse 3 with me. Now when God 159 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:17,600 says I might destroy you, he's not questioning his own self-control there. 160 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:21,160 He's not saying, oh if you do this, I don't know, I might lose it and just 161 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:30,120 destroy you. That's not what he's saying. It's a warning. He's saying, if I go with 162 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:38,760 you and if you rebel, then I will surely judge and destroy you for that rebellion. 163 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:49,760 You see, the Lord and sinful people, they are incompatible. Just like light and 164 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,560 dark. If you have light and darkness together, they're incompatible. The light 165 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:59,660 will drown out the darkness. Or if you put fire and wood together, they're 166 00:16:59,660 --> 00:17:09,800 incompatible. The fire will eat up the wood. They cannot coexist, nor can God 167 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:18,680 coexist with sinful humanity. Anything impure that comes into contact with God 168 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:29,520 will inevitably be burnt up. So God says, it's better if I don't go with you, Israel. 169 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:40,080 Now, let me ask you, how would you have responded had God said this to you? 170 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:44,280 Don't answer too quickly in your head. Let me rephrase what God said. Let me 171 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:51,200 rephrase it for you. God says to you, I'm gonna give you absolutely everything you 172 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:56,520 ever dreamed of. I'm gonna give you a beautiful, beautiful four-bed detached 173 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:02,120 house. You are gonna have 2.4 children, and what's more, they're gonna be well 174 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:07,480 behaved, not like all the other kids. You're gonna have an amazing spouse, 175 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:12,680 incredibly beautiful, handsome, most intelligent, and gracious, and kind, and 176 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:17,440 serving the best spouse in the world. You're gonna have a great garden. It's 177 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,680 gonna be brilliant. The kids are gonna be able to play in it. There's gonna be a 178 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,680 hammock out there, and you're gonna be able to lie on that every day, and you know, the sun is 179 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:28,960 gonna shine every single day. It's not gonna be in Manchester, this place, and 180 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:35,760 you're gonna love your job. It's gonna be so fulfilling. Every single thing you 181 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,040 turn your hand to, it's gonna succeed. It's gonna be a great success. You are 182 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:47,640 gonna be in the Forbes 500. You are gonna be impressive. There's only one thing. You 183 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:54,200 won't need to worry about me anymore. No need to go to church. No need to give 184 00:18:54,200 --> 00:19:02,920 your money. No need to have a quiet time to read the Bible and pray. How would you 185 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:11,720 respond if God said that to you? Let's be blunt. I think that's what the average 186 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:20,360 person in Manchester really wants. All of God's blessings, but none of God. All of 187 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:31,800 his gifts, but none of his demands. And if we're being really honest, I suspect 188 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:40,120 it's what many of us want, too. The forgiveness of God, but not his demands. 189 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:46,440 The health, the happiness, and the security that God gives, but not the 190 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:53,280 demands that his presence makes on our lives. We'll take a look at how the 191 00:19:53,280 --> 00:20:07,360 Israelites respond. Verse four, they mourn. They're devastated because they cannot 192 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:15,840 imagine a future without God. Isn't that challenging to us? And notice how in 193 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,840 these verses they take off their ornaments. It's a weird thing to do. Why 194 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:26,680 do they do that? Well, jewelry was really significant back then, and it was really 195 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:31,040 symbolic. Because, of course, there wasn't a Barclays and a NatWest bank down the 196 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:37,240 corner. When people wanted to save their money, they saved it by what they wore. 197 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:44,040 Their earrings, their rings, their necklaces, those were their bank accounts. 198 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:50,000 And it was those very ornaments that the people gave to Aaron in chapter 32 and 199 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:56,960 said, Aaron, make for us a God out of our most valuable items. It's incredibly 200 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:04,720 symbolic. But now they take off their bank accounts, they lay them at the feet 201 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:12,360 of God, and they say, now we're going to serve you, Lord, with this, not our 202 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:21,640 idols. Which means they recognize their need for God's presence, which brings us 203 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:28,360 to our second point today. That's verses 7 through to 16. Now, verses 7 to 11, they 204 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:34,440 have already puzzled Bible commentators. You see, these verses, look at them, verses 205 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:41,320 7 to 11, they describe Moses going outside the camp to a tent that he's 206 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:47,640 pitched, which Moses called the Tent of Meeting. Now, that's the same name 207 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:53,160 that was given to the Tabernacle, which hadn't yet been built because the 208 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:58,640 Israelites had rebelled. So what's going on here? What's this other Tent of 209 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:09,640 Meeting? Well, there was a famine of God's presence at that time. The Lord had 210 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:17,120 to keep his distance from the Israelites for their own safety. But Moses, Moses was 211 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:22,560 determined, he was absolutely determined to do whatever it takes to get some of 212 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:30,160 the presence of God. If it meant leaving the camp, then so be it. If it meant 213 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,280 leaving the comfort of his home, if it meant leaving the security of his people, 214 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:38,680 if it meant leaving the intimacy of being with his wife and family, then fine, 215 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:52,320 he'd do it, anything to get close to God. Now, the way we Christians experience the 216 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,840 presence of God today is different. We're going to come on to that in just a 217 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:04,320 moment. But there is a sense in which every Christian experiences something of 218 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:11,120 what Moses and the people were experiencing here in chapter 33. Every 219 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:17,320 Christian sometimes feels spiritually dry. You know what I mean? Some of you 220 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:24,560 are probably feeling it right now. You turn up to church and you leave the 221 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:31,280 service thinking, yeah, not much happened there. We open our Bibles in the morning 222 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:38,240 to do our quiet times and we read, but it's just words on the page to us, just 223 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:44,280 going through the motions, doing what we do every day. And there are two 224 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:49,360 temptations when that happens to us, when we experience that spiritual dryness. One 225 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:53,360 temptation is to feel really worried. Perhaps the reason I'm feeling like this 226 00:23:53,360 --> 00:24:00,960 is I'm not a Christian at all. But be really careful there. The very fact that 227 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:05,120 you are uncomfortable with the way that you are feeling is very good evidence 228 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:10,480 that you are in fact a Christian. If you weren't, you wouldn't really be very 229 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:21,320 bothered. But secondly, when we're feeling spiritually dry, we can be tempted 230 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:27,680 to give up. What's the point of reading my Bible and praying? I get nothing out 231 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:33,280 of it anymore. I might as well just watch Netflix. I find that much more engaging. 232 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:44,000 No. No. It is an inevitable part of the Christian life to feel spiritually dry at 233 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:50,720 times, to feel that God is distant at times. It happens to every single 234 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,240 Christian. We all go through seasons of that. Sometimes it lasts for weeks, 235 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:59,680 sometimes months, sometimes even years. I have experienced that myself. But the 236 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:09,000 answer is never, never to give up. Rather it's to lean into the Lord all the more. 237 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:17,840 Friends, go outside the camp of your spiritual dryness. Seek out God more and 238 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,320 more by praying more and more, by reading and meditating on the word more 239 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:26,600 and more, doing whatever it takes, just like Moses, doing whatever it takes to 240 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:36,280 experience God's presence, to go deeper with the Lord, whatever it takes. But I 241 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,480 guess that begs the question, well, what are we talking about here? What exactly 242 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:47,880 is an experience of God's presence? Take a look at verse 11, verse 11 of chapter 243 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:55,280 33. We read that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a 244 00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:07,880 friend. Face to face. And that's so, so interesting. Because a little later in the 245 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:17,080 passage, in verses 12 to 16, Moses pleads with God for God's presence to go with 246 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:23,400 the people. And the word used for presence there in the original Hebrew is 247 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:34,200 the word for face. The same word as is used in verse 11. When Moses says he 248 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:44,480 wants God's presence, he's saying, I want your face Lord. You get the significance 249 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:52,400 of God's face? You know, I think I've gotten a much easier job preaching this 250 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:58,680 passage today in 2013 than I would have had back in 2019. Because COVID taught 251 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:05,200 us a thing or two, didn't it, about the significance of in-person meetings. You 252 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:10,280 see, phone and email and a great glory of Zoom, they have their purposes, don't 253 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:18,360 they? They helped us during the lockdowns. But they are so very, very limited. 254 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:24,120 Imagine you're starting a new relationship with a guy or a girl. You 255 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:28,480 may well start that relationship online using a Christian dating website. 256 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:34,000 But very, very soon, you will want to meet that person in person and go for a 257 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:42,760 date. Why? Well, because that is how we really get to know someone. That's how we 258 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:48,160 get to know not simply things about that person, but we actually get to know the 259 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:57,320 person themselves. Relationally, personally. It is only when you're face to face with 260 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:02,000 someone, when you can see their lips move, when you can see their facial 261 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:06,960 expression, is only when you can see their emotions, when you can embrace them 262 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:12,320 and share things with them, it is only then that you truly get to know them 263 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:20,600 personally and individually. And you know, it is only when we're face to face with 264 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:30,600 someone that that person starts to change us. What do I mean? Well, we've all 265 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:36,640 heard the saying, bad company breeds bad character, haven't we? That's why the 266 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,960 parents among us, we're absolutely desperate to find out what sort of 267 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,680 friendship circles our kids are mixing with at school, because we know what will 268 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,080 happen if they get in with the wrong crowd. It will rub off on them. And of 269 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:53,600 course, it works both ways. We know this. We know our friends, when they started 270 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,320 dating a new person, that experience of dating that person, it will inevitably 271 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,640 change them. Sometimes it will change them for the good. You know, they'll have 272 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,720 a permanent smile on their face, they'll be really joyful, they'll be really 273 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:10,200 generous, really self-giving, want to grow and improve themselves. But 274 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:20,600 sometimes the relationship will be toxic and it will turn them toxic too. Because 275 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:31,520 being face to face with someone always changes us, either for good or for bad. 276 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:37,600 And you see, that is why Moses longs to be face to face with the Lord. He wants 277 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:43,440 to know God, not simply know things about God, but to know God personally and to be 278 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:54,680 transformed by Him. Do you want the same thing? Now, take a look at a conversation 279 00:29:54,680 --> 00:30:00,280 that takes place between Moses and God in verses 12 to 16. Moses says, verse 13, 280 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:06,720 teach me your ways, I want to know you. Not simply know things about you, but know 281 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:16,360 you. And God replies, my presence, verse 14, that is my face, will go with you and 282 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:24,160 I will give you rest. We read this and we think, great, great, that is exactly what 283 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:30,200 Moses wants. He's asked for God's presence with him and God has said yes. 284 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:38,480 But look at how Moses responds, if your presence, again your face, does not go 285 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:48,640 with us, do not send us. What's going on here? God says he'll go and now Moses 286 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:58,880 says, why won't you go? Well, the clue is in the us in verse 15. You see, in the 287 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:06,240 original, the you in verse 14 is singular, not plural. The Lord is saying 288 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,560 here in verse 14, I will go with you, Moses, but I won't go with the people. 289 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:15,280 And Moses replies, no, Lord, that is not enough. If you won't go with the people, 290 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:23,960 that is not enough. We all need you to go with you, us. We all need your face, Lord. 291 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:30,160 You see, Moses is hungering for God's presence, not just for himself, but for 292 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:40,760 all of the people. And look at his reason, it's there in verse 16, because what else 293 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:45,720 would distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of 294 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:56,520 the earth? Let me ask you, why do you long to have a deep experience in the 295 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:04,040 presence of God? Why do you want that? I think for most of us, we want it because 296 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:10,640 we think it will change our lives. We think it will fulfill us. Well, look at 297 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,280 how different Moses' reason is. I'm so grateful for a sermon by Tim Keller 298 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:23,640 to help me to see this. Moses wanted God's presence not for himself, but for 299 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:28,960 the sake of others. He wants God to go with the Israelites so that the 300 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,920 Israelites are distinctive, so that they stick out, people in the nation see them, 301 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:42,800 and they long to come to the God who changes. Those of you who are parents 302 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:49,440 here this afternoon, I think you can probably relate to this. We want the best 303 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:54,760 for our kids, don't we? Which often means we want to live in a nice neighborhood. 304 00:32:54,760 --> 00:33:00,920 We want our kids to go to a good school. We want them to have nice friends. We 305 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,520 want them to have good things, nice clothes, fun toys to play with. We want 306 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:10,280 them to enjoy pastimes, to go to football, and then to play music and do 307 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:15,360 art. We want them to enjoy church. We want to make sure they go to a church 308 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,880 with a really good kids work, with kids their own age, because we really want 309 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:27,320 them to grow up to be healthy, happy, flourishing Christians. That's what we 310 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:34,920 long for. But do you know what your children need more than anything else, 311 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:49,280 God's parents? They need you to hunger for God's presence, to pursue it, to say 312 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:59,080 with Moses in verse 16, if you don't go Lord with us, we won't go. Listen, because 313 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:08,520 because I know that I personally really need to hear this. That pursuing of God's 314 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:14,920 presence will have a far more profound and lasting effect on your children than 315 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:22,160 living in Didsbury will, or sending your kids to the best schools. What they need 316 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:30,080 more than anything else is for you and I to hunger after God's presence, to show 317 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:36,120 them metaphorically what if we read on to the end of chapter 34 we'd see Moses 318 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,040 comes down having been in the presence of the Lord and his face is radiant, 319 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:47,560 because God's presence transforms. That is what our kids need to see. You know 320 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:53,240 the same is true for you if you don't have kids. The same is true for you of 321 00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:59,440 your non-Christian friends, colleagues and housemates. They don't need you to 322 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,640 have amazing answers to their questions about how we make sense of God and 323 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:08,760 suffering and science. Now what they need is to see the impact of God's presence 324 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:19,080 on your life. They need to see verse 16 that you are distinct, that your face is 325 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:26,200 radiant because you have been with the face of the Lord, gloriously transformed 326 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:35,280 by his presence. So finally I guess that begs the question, how do we pursue, how 327 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:40,920 do we get God's presence today? A few things I want us to see as we wrap up 328 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:47,280 and this will be quick. Firstly the need for a mediator. Did you notice that? 329 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:51,840 What is the reason the Lord agrees to go with the Israelites? It's there in verse 17. 330 00:35:51,840 --> 00:36:01,880 It is because the Lord was pleased with Moses, their mediator. Secondly look at 331 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:09,440 what the Lord does for Moses. Verse 18, Moses asked to see God's glory. What does 332 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:16,200 God do? Verse 19, he promises Moses I will cause all my goodness to go in front 333 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:22,400 of you. Now that happens in chapter 34 verses 4 to 7. Moses he's back up Mount 334 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,760 Sinai, he's carrying two new stone tablets to replace the ones that got 335 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:33,760 shattered in chapter 32. Moses is asked to see God's glory and what does he get? 336 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:44,240 Verse 6 of chapter 34, he gets God's voice. As Tim Chester puts it, instead of a 337 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:55,840 description of the way God looks, Moses gets a description of what God is like. 338 00:36:55,840 --> 00:37:02,760 This is what it means for the goodness of God to pass in front of Moses. He hears 339 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:08,980 a voice and the voice proclaims the Lord's name. The name of God means his 340 00:37:08,980 --> 00:37:18,800 character and his attributes. Verse 6, this is God's goodness. The Lord, the Lord, 341 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:24,120 the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and 342 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,120 faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, 343 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:36,400 rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Friends this is 344 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:44,440 how we meet with God, how we experience him face to face today. We experience him 345 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:55,840 face to face when we hear God's word and we grasp his goodness. And at the heart 346 00:37:55,840 --> 00:38:04,120 of God's goodness is a tension, it's an intriguing tension. It's right there at 347 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:11,840 the end of what I read. You see, the Lord is a good God who forgives, yet the Lord 348 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:19,360 is a good God who punishes sin. He is a God we cannot live with because his 349 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:24,120 justice will burn us up because of our sin, but he is a God that we cannot live 350 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:30,840 without because we desperately need his grace and forgiveness. How do we resolve 351 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:39,680 that tension? How do we square that circle? But we need a mediator. We need a 352 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:46,560 better Moses. You know those words used by the Lord to describe Moses in 353 00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:54,240 verse 17, they are almost identical to the words used by the Father of Jesus 354 00:38:54,240 --> 00:39:03,160 at his baptism. The Lord said, this is my son who I love. With him I am well 355 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:14,120 pleased. You see Jesus came not simply to reveal God to us, he came to be God with 356 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:21,520 us. According to John chapter 1 verse 14, the word became flesh and he made his 357 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:28,060 dwelling literally says he tabernacled among us. That means Jesus pitched his 358 00:39:28,060 --> 00:39:37,280 tent not outside the camp, but right in the center of our lives. And in Jesus, God's 359 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:42,340 goodness is supremely revealed. Listen to this, it's a little bit later on in John 360 00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:49,840 chapter 1 we read, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came 361 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:56,720 through Jesus Christ. You see Jesus brought God's goodness to us. He brought 362 00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:01,720 God's grace, forgiveness for our sinners, but he brought God's truth, the just 363 00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:12,560 punishment of sin. And how did he do it? Through the cross. It was there at the cross 364 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:23,080 that sin was dealt with. As Jesus bore our sin in our place, God's holy presence 365 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:32,000 destroyed Jesus. Quite literally, Jesus was burned up by the presence of God in 366 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:40,000 our place. So that God could live with us once more. 367 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:49,120 Have you put your trust in that today? Have you laid down your treasure at 368 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:58,960 Jesus' feet and given your life to the one who was burnt up in your place? Well 369 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:04,760 if you have, it will make all the difference in your life. Let me tell you 370 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:13,960 why. Because you can be face to face with God once more, knowing and being known 371 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:22,520 like you have never been known before. As you go out from this place, the Lord will 372 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:26,080 go with you and he's promised that he will never leave you and he will never 373 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:33,280 forsake you. We experience that now in part and we must pursue it. We must long 374 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:39,520 for a deeper experience of the presence of God. That's one of the key things we 375 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:43,240 do when we we gather together on a Sunday to hear from God's Word together 376 00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:47,600 and to sing God's truth deep into our souls. That's what we're gonna do in just 377 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:57,360 a few moments. We need to hunger after God's presence in our lives. You know 378 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:07,560 one day we're gonna experience it in full. In all its life-transforming glory. As we 379 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:14,160 close, let me just read some words for us from 1st John chapter 3. There's some 380 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:21,880 of the most amazing words in the Bible. They speak of a time to come when Jesus 381 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:27,240 will return, we will see him and we will come face to face with him and experience 382 00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:35,880 his life-transforming presence forever. Listen to this. Dear friends, now we are 383 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:43,600 children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known but we know that 384 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:55,720 when Christ appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Let me 385 00:42:55,720 --> 00:43:12,080 pray for us. Lord Jesus, you are God with us. Thank you that 2,000 years ago 386 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:20,280 you took on flesh and you pitched your tent right in the center of our lives. 387 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:26,600 Thank you that you choose to know us. Thank you that you through the cross you 388 00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:34,320 have resolved that tension. That tension of being absolutely good in your justice 389 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,400 and being absolutely good in your grace and forgiveness. You have brought those 390 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:44,200 two things together bringing us grace in place of grace and truth. You've done it 391 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:52,000 again and again for us. Lord, we can't even get our heads around it but we 392 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:58,080 know we want to go deeper into your presence, into grasping the every 393 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:01,800 spiritual blessing we have in you Lord Jesus. Lord, even today would we 394 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,360 experience what it means to be face to face with you knowing you and being known 395 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:12,480 by you and Lord as we struggle in this life and all the ups and downs it brings, 396 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:19,280 Lord would you help us to look forward to that day when we will be before you, 397 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:43,200 when we will see you face to face and be transformed forevermore. Amen.