Exodus (Lesson 66)

Welcome to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delant, Florida.

Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

This is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

We have been studying together the Bible book of Exodus.

Hope you can follow along with us in your Bible today.

We have come all the way to Exodus chapter 33.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

This is broadcast number 66.

And we are moving beyond the golden calf incident.

And we're going to follow Moses back up onto the mountain to meet the Lord in the cleft of the rock.

And some real marvelous material awaits us as we start into chapter 33 and 34.

These two chapters are filled with prophetic material as well.

You know, the Lord said that he would raise up a prophet like unto Moses to be the Messiah, deliverer of his people, and we know that Jesus Christ was that prophet.

But in 3323, we find the incarnation of Jesus Christ prophesied that God would be manifest in the flesh.

In 33.11, we get a picture of his earthly ministry.

In 33.19, some of his attributes, his great name in 3321, the consecration of the disciples in 34.2, their service, 34.

So a lot of future views as well as the historical and devotional materials.

So let's start in Exodus 33 and verse number 1.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed will I give it.

So while there is a future consequence for their sin with the golden calf, we read about that in Exodus 32, verses 34 and 35.

Exodus 32:34

God keeps his covenant promises.

The land will still be given to these descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But notice the fellowship has not been fully restored, as God continues to refer to the people as those that Moses brought out of Egypt, rather than those that he has brought out of Egypt.

Verse 2, and I will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizite, and the Hivite, and the Jebuzite.

These tribes, because of their vile and wicked sexual immorality, because of their gross idolatry, the Lord would exterminate them and make way for another people that would worship the true and living God in that promised land.

Verse 3, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

And I don't know if you ever thought about that or not.

It was indeed a land flowing with milk and with honey.

The spies that would later go in and spy out that land, you recall, it took two of them carrying a pole upon their shoulders between them to bring back one cluster of grapes from that land of promise.

But if the land was flowing with milk, that certainly speaks of green and fertile fields for the livestock, if it's flowing with honey, flowing with honey, that means that the land must have been filled with more beautiful, colorful flowers than our minds can picture or take in.

What a place, what a lovely place.

For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way.

So here we see the distance that the people have caused to be between themselves and their God because of their sin.

And the Lord saying, I've had to withdraw, not because I don't love you, but because it's not safe for you to have me close enough to destroy you when you disobey me and when you don't mind your manners.

Very curious indeed.

Verse 4.

And when the people heard these evil tidings, you know, an angel instead of the Lord, that's a bad exchange.

Our modern so-called Christianity always emphasizes the minor and always minors on the makes minor that which is major.

So much talk nowadays about angels.

I saw an angel, I heard an angel, an angel spoke to me.

I've got a poster of an angel up on the wall in my bedroom and so forth.

God is the creator of the heavens and the earth.

Angels are created beings who minister to God.

Why would you make a big deal out of an angel speaking to you when you have the word of God?

Why would you make a big deal about an angel visiting you and the Holy Spirit of God Himself come and take up residence within you?

Isn't that a strange thing?

And so these people, they understood.

Now, evil in the Bible is not sin.

Evil is the consequence of sin.

When the man and the woman ate that fruit in the garden, they had the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

They already knew good.

God had blessed them in every possible way.

What they didn't know was evil.

They did not know the consequence of sin.

But as soon as they ate that fruit, they began to learn it.

And so the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned.

And no man did put upon put on him his ornaments.

They just didn't feel like dressing up.

Nothing to be excited about.

God is withdrawing.

For the Lord had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people, proud, wouldn't bow before God.

I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee.

Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.

God demands humility, and he doesn't want to just hear it with the lips, he wants to see some evidence thereof in the life.

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the Mount Horeb.

And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation.

And it came to pass that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

Today we seek the Lord in the pages of his word.

He's revealed himself with the written scriptures.

These people did not have that.

And so out they went to the tabernacle, and there they sought the face of God, the mind of God, the will of God, as he revealed it unto them.

And it came to pass when Moses went out unto the tabernacle that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle.

And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

So his great privilege of communing with God, and his great privilege of communing with God on behalf of the people, stands for us as a picture of the work done to this very day by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We, we do not enter heaven whenever we want to speak with God.

We do not enter the glorious dwelling place of the Almighty whenever we want to commune with Him.

We bow our knees upon this earth.

We bow our heads where we find ourselves in this world, and we offer up our prayers and petitions directed Godward, but in the name of and to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He then takes our prayers, our petitions, our requests, and enters into the Holy of Holies in that new Jerusalem, in that heavenly Jerusalem.

And he ever lives to intercede for us.

Seated at the right hand of God the Father, seated in the presence of God the Father, he ministers on our behalf in the dwelling place of God.

The children of Israel saw this in type, in picture form.

We know it, we know it in experience it in the heavenly manner or mode.

All right, so the Lord talked with Moses.

Verse 10, and all the people saw the cloudy pillars stand at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

Worship.

They're not jumping up and down, they're not doing cartwheels, they're not waving their arms and babbling and uh nonsense syllables.

To worship is to show reverence to God.

Now you might do it with song, you might do it with enthusiasm, you might do it with a calm and collected nature, but we've got to get over this idea that the outward physical expression of the worshiper is worship.

The Lord said that God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

And so the true devotion of the heart and the genuine spiritual devotion to God.

Without that, it's not worship, not worship of the Lord, not true worship, not acceptable worship.

And so the people, every man worship, they're not envying Moses, they're not jealous of Moses.

They are thankful that they have one to stand for them in the presence of God.

We don't envy the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're not jealous of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We don't, as Satan, seek to exalt our throne and replace his throne with ours.

Oh no, oh no.

We are more than happy to have Jesus Christ enter in on our behalf.

Verse 11, and the Lord spake unto Moses, face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend, what a relationship Moses had with God.

What fellowship and communion Moses had with God.

Only one, only one man out of all the congregation had such a relationship.

In Numbers 12, verse 7, or well, let's read starting in verse number 5.

Numbers 12:7

Numbers 12, verse 5, and the Lord came down on the pillar of the cloud and stood on the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth, and he said, Hear now my words.

Numbers 12:5

If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold.

Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

So God clearly stating a couple of things.

First of all, that he had a relationship with Moses like he had with no one else, and nobody else had an opportunity to commune with and to fellowship with God in the manner that Moses did.

And secondly, that he did see the similitude of God, a manifest likeness that allowed the Lord to be perceived while not actually having uh Moses didn't actually lay his eyes upon him, and we'll talk about that in more detail, much more detail on the next broadcast when we answer the question if no man hath seen God, how did Moses speak to him face to face?

And we'll we'll spend um the maybe the whole of the next broadcast answering that question now.

Verse 11.

And he turned again into the camp.

But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun and Yuan, a young man, departed out of the tabernacle departed not out of the tabernacle.

So he abides there, fellowshipping in the place where God met with Moses.

Verse 12.

And Moses said of the Lord, see, thou mayest, uh thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me.

Now Aaron's been with him up to this time, but after that golden calf affair, it is certain that the Lord has no confidence in Aaron, and it's apparent that Moses has no confidence in Aaron.

How could it be otherwise?

My friend, God is very gracious, God.

Hallelujah.

He is He is most willing to forgive, and aren't we glad of that?

Every day of our lives, aren't we glad of that?

And yet, and yet, forgiveness, forgiveness, and grace does not alter every circumstance and does not change every result of the actions which have been graciously forgiven.

Aaron has been forgiven by God, as have all those who crossed that line, came unto Moses, when he said, Who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me.

But he can no longer be trusted as he was before this event.

Is it not true that many times when a man falls, God graciously forgives that repentant man and yet and yet the confidence that God and man, once placed in that individual, can no longer be placed there.

It may take some time to earn that back if it's ever regained.

And so the so Moses says to the Lord, um, Who's gonna help me?

See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Now, therefore I pray thee, if if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.

You know, every time Moses uh has prayed of late in these chapters in Exodus, you just have to be more and more impressed by the spiritual life of the man, by the heart condition of the man.

He does not trust himself to do this job alone.

He does not trust himself to choose his new right-hand man.

He's asking God to make that choice for him.

Not only that, he acknowledges that he's standing by the grace of God.

He has led properly by the grace of God.

His choices have been right, but only by the grace of God.

And he says, I need, I need your continued working of grace in my life.

Do not, do not leave me, Lord, to make my own choices.

Do not leave me to make these monumental decisions on my own.

I must have your guidance, direction, clearly revealed will.

Help me, God, please.

Notice what he says.

Verse 13, I I pray thee that I may know thee.

You know, if we just if we just knew God better, we'd make better choices.

If we just knew God better, it'd be so much easier to know whether or not to go to the right, go to the left, go straight ahead, go uh stand still, go backward.

If we just knew God better, it'd be easier to know his will.

Moses understood that.

God answers verse 14.

He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

What a misunderstood term that is.

This matter of entering into God's rest.

You know what, you know what Moses has to do?

He still has the responsibility of pastoring two million rebellious people.

He still has the responsibility of leading that people through the wilderness.

He still has the responsibility of leading.

That people onward to the promised land.

And yet, with all of that activity, all of that work, all of that responsibility, all of that duty, God says, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll give you rest.

I'll give you rest.

God's rest is not from duty, it's in duty.

God's rest is not from toil and labor, it's in toil and labor.

You see, man, fallen man, when he thinks of rest, he thinks of laying back, putting your feet up, and doing nothing.

When God speaks of giving man his rest, he speaks of being as busy as you can possibly be, and that not being burdensome, toil, labor, difficulty, unpleasantness, all for the rest that God gives, to truly enjoy one's work and one's labor, so that while we are as busy as can be, we're delighted, happy about it, wouldn't have it any other way.

And he said, verse 15 If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

He would rather have God without the promised land than have the promised land without God.

Too many people want to go to heaven, they don't want to be with the Lord.

Too many people want to be raptured so they can leave their troubles.

They don't want to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Too many people are excited about mansion houses and gold streets and jasper walls, and not excited about the lamb upon his throne.

Moses said, I'd rather have God and no promised land than have the promised land and know God.

How about you, Christian?

How about you?

Are you excited about going to heaven?

Or are you excited about being with the Lord?

Verse 16.

For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?

Is it not in that thou goest with us?

So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are pawn the face of the earth.

He said, The promised land with its borders.

That doesn't make us any different.

Every land has its borders.

That we have hills and valleys and rivers and trees.

Every land has hills and valleys and rivers and trees.

That we have sunshine and rain, that makes us no different.

Every land has sunshine and rain.

Lord, Lord, what we need.

What we need is your abiding presence.

That, that would make all the difference.

That's what he said.

That would make all the difference.

We we'd be different if we had your presence.

Ladies and gentlemen, listening to my voice right now.

You have a house, so do all the people around you.

You have transportation, so do all the people around you.

Do you have food and clothing?

So do all the people around you.

Do you have sunshine and rain, good days and bad, high times and low, so do all the people around you?

Ah, what makes the difference in this world?

What makes the difference in this life and in the life to come?

Is are you living in the presence of God?

And is God abiding in your midst?

Life?

Why everybody's got life?

Breath?

Why everybody has breath?

Blessings, troubles?

Everybody has blessings and troubles.

What is the only thing that can make any real difference in this life?

What is the only thing that can make any real difference in the life to come?

Do you have God's abiding presence?

Is the Lord living with you?

Are you living in company and fellowship with Him?

That's what separates.

That's what separates the real child of God from all the worldlings just passing through this earth.

You know, Jesus not only died to pay for our sins, he not only rose from the dead that we might have everlasting life, but he promised, and he keeps that promise, to come and take up residence in the heart of all believers.

He comes to take up residence in the bodies, dwelling in the bodies of those that have been saved and born again.

He said, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you.

The Bible speaks of the indwelling Holy Spirit as the blessed, blessed gift of God to all who believe.

My friend, don't live this life just accumulating material things.

Don't live this life just being one more person collecting trinkets and play toys and junk.

Oh no, oh no.

Live in the presence of God, enjoy God's presence with you.

That and only that makes the difference, the real difference.

Look what he said.

Look at it again.

Verse 16 for wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?

Is it not in that thou goest with us?

So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

That's what makes the difference.

God dwelling with man, man dwelling with God.

That's how it was in the garden in the beginning, that's how it can be now.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and God will not only give you life, but life more abundant, dwelling with the Lord.

Amen and amen.

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