Let Your Presence Go With Us

How grateful I am to see the last Sabbath of twenty twenty three. I

know it is because of God's faithfulness, his mercies, and his goodness towards

me, and I praise Him for that. And I know all of us

are thankful to be here in His presence on the last Sabbath of twenty twenty

three. How true are the words of Prophet Jeremiah. Because of the Lord's

great love, we are not consumed for His compassions or his mercies never fail.

They are new every morning. Great is a faithfulness. I'm thankful to

God that I'm able to see this. Twenty twenty three is almost gone.

We are standing on the threshold of twenty twenty four. How do we enter

twenty twenty four? What would be the one thing that is of utmost necessity

as we step into the new year twenty twenty four? This morning, I'd

like us to reflect on Moses' heartfelt plea before God as they were about to

resume their journey to our the promised land. Let's pray, Father God,

you have said in your word, if my word goes forth, it will

not return to me empty. It will accomplish my desire and my purposes.

And Lord, we pray as your message is being spoken and presented, your

word will do its purposes in each of our hearts and lives. This is

our prayer to you in Jesus' name. Amen. The background to Exodus chapter

thirty three is Exodus chapter thirty two. It is in response to what happened

in Exodus chapter thirty two that God said the words in Exodus chapter thirty three,

So a bief background of Exodus chapter thirty three. A few months after

they left Egypt, God brought brought Moses and the Issuelites to Mount Sinai,

and they were there at Mount Sinai for almost a year. And while they

were there, God descended upon Mount Sinai, and he spoke the Ten Commandments,

amidst thunder and flashes of lightning. You shall have no other gods before

me. You shall not make unto yourself any idols, and so on.

He made a covenant with the Israelites. He entered into a special relationship with

them. But as we see, while Moses was on Mount Sinai speaking with

God, spending time with God for forty days and fourteen knights, the people

the Israelites were waiting at the base of months of Mount Sinai. And as

days went by, they grew impatient. Patrick's and prophets says. Accustomed as

they had been in Egypt to material representations of day, it had been hard

for them to trust in an invisible being, and they had come to rely

upon Moses to sustain their faith. Now he was taken from them. It

seemed to many in the camp that their leader had deserted them, or that

he had been consumed by the devouring fire. So what did the instrights do.

Some of them assembled around Aaron, and they made a very very strange

request. They said to him, Come make us a god who will lead

us to Egypt. Make us a god who will lead us to Egypt.

God had been with them, has been with them all this while His presence

was there with them in the pill of cloud. And yet they made this

request. Come make us a god who will go before us. For this

Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we

do not know what happened to him. Just a few weeks ago, just

a few weeks before, God had said, you shall have no other gods

before me. You shall not make unto yourself any idol. And yet here

they aware waiting to worship another God, waiting to make an idol and worship

it Patricks and Prophets. Prophet says, during this period of waiting, there

was a time for them to meditate upon the love of God which they had

heard, and to prepare their hearts to receive the further revelations that He might

make to them. If they did that, they would have been shielded from

temptation. God has spoken the Ten Commandments. God had given them his law.

They could have spent this time meditating on God's law, meditating on the

revelation they have had from God. But no, they failed to do that,

and they were led astray. And what did Aaron do? The one

of the leaders who led the Israelites from Arran, gave in to their demand

and fashioned a golden cough, which was after the likeness of one of the

Egyptian gods. And not only that, he went further. He built an

altar and proclaimed a feast. God informed Moses what was happening at the bottom

of the mountain. He was disappointed with the Israelites. He told Moses,

these are stiff nick people. Let me destroy them, and in their place,

I will make you into a great nation. I'm tired of them.

They're stiff, nick they're stubborn, they're rebellous, they're waiting to have other

gods. Let me destroy them. I will make you into a great nation.

But we see the deep love Moses has for the Israelites. He said

to God, God, these are your people. You brought them out of

the land of Egypt with a mighty hand. Why should you give the Egyptians

the opportunity to say, look that God brought them out of Egypt to wipe

them out from the face of the earth. Why would you give them that

opportunity. He interceded, and he pleaded on behalf of the Astroelites to spare

them. And he reminded God of the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob that he would make them into a great nation. And we know

according to the story, God relented and Moses descended the mountain with Joshua,

And as they descended, they saw the people dancing, prostrating before the gold

than cough merry making. It was a side that broke Moses's heart when he

saw the people apostizing what did he do. He held those two precious tablets

of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments, and he threw them because

they had broken the covenant with the Lord. And he destroyed the golden cough

grounded into powder, and he made the people drink of it. And he

said to the people, who is on the Lord's side? And the Levites

were passionate and zealous for God, and they came over to Moses's side,

and he said, kill all those who are responsible for this rebellion. And

according to the story, three thousand Israelites were killed that day. Moses heart

was broken. The next day he went up to Mount Sinai to intercede on

behalf of the people, to make a torment for the people. And once

again he interceded, and he said to God, these people have committed great

sin, but please, please God forgive them. And he made that one

statement, if not blot me out of the book, you have written such

great love for the people. But what did God say? He said,

whoever had has sinned against me, I will wipe him out of my book.

And we come to Exodus thirty three. And what were God's words as

he spoke to Moses. He said, depart, go up from here,

you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt,

to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying to

your descendance, I will give you. If you notice God's statement here,

his this associating himself with the Israelites. Already, he said, you and

the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt. The Israelites

were God's people. He brought them out of the land of Egypt. But

because they apostasized, they strayed away from God. God was disassociating himself,

and he told Moses, you and your people whom you have brought up.

He said, depart from here, go up. I will keep my promises

as I have promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will give the promised

land to their descendants. But he said, I will send an angel before

you. I will drive out the Cannonite, the Amorite, the hit Tipe,

the Perricide, the Heavite, the Jebocide. Go up to a land

flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in your midst

because you are an obstinate people and I might destroy you on the way.

So what is God's response to the apostasy. God is telling Moses, you

and your people go up to the promised land, the land flowing with milk

and honey. I will keep my promises. I will give the land to

you and to these people. But I will not go with you. I

will not go with you. What a state, What a sad statement.

I will not go with you. All this while God has been leading them

step by step, step by step, performing wonders in their sight, and

now God was telling them, I will no longer accompany you. Instead,

he says, I will send an angel before And this angel is not the

angel that God promised in Exodus chapter twenty three when he says, behold,

I'm sending you. I'm going to send you an angel before you. My

name is in him. And in Isaac chapter sixty three, talking about the

Exodus, it says the angel of his presence, and who is this angel

that was promised before? This is Jesus Christ himself. In Patrick's and prophets,

we read Christ was not only the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness.

The angel in whom was the name of Jehovah who veiled in the cloudy

pillar went before the host. But it was he who gave the law to

Israel. So when God said, I'm not going to go with you anymore,

I'm going to send an angel, it was not Jesus Christ. It

was an ordinary angel, so to speak, who will accompany them to the

Promised Land. And the continuation of the communication between God and Moses is found

in a verse twelve. The continuation of the conversation. Then, Moses said

to the Lord, see you say to me bring up these people, But

you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me. Moreover,

you have said, I have known you by name, and you have

also found favor in my sight. Now, then if you have found favor,

if I have found favor in your sight in any way, please let

me know your ways so that I may know you, in order that I

may find favor in your sight. Consider too, that this nation is your

people. Moses does not want to go up to the Promised Land without the

guiding presence of God himself. He's not going to up. He's not going

to agree with God's proposition that he will send an angel. So, just

like Jacob who wrestled with God, who said to God, I will not

let you go till you bless me. Moses is wrestling so to speak with

God, saying, unless you promised to go with us, I will not

let you go. I will not let you go Verses fourteen to sixteen.

And he said, who, God said, my presence shall go with you,

and I will give you rest. So in response to Moses' request,

God says, my presence shall go with you, and I will give you

rest. But what Moses' answer? Then? He Moses said to him,

if your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from

here. If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us

up from here. If you look at these verses, it might seem that

God is granting Moses's wish for God to continue accompanying them to the promised land.

But if you look at the original word, if you look at the

original language, when God says, my presence shall go with you, and

I will give you rest, it is in the singular. God is saying,

Moses, my presence will go with you, and I will give you

rest. God is not including the Istraelites. Therefore, with new energy,

with new force. Moses continues to plead, and he says, then he

said, if your presence does not go with us, do not lead us

up from here. Moses says, if your presence does not go with us,

out prefer staying in this place forever. I am not taking a single

step without you. Lord. You have to go with us. Otherwise I

am staying here. Your presence is what is most important to me. Me.

Everything else, the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey,

your blessings, all else is meaningless without your presence. Lord, I

need your presence. We need your presence. Let your presence go with us.

God's presence was the most valuable thing to Moses. It was everything to

him. The possession of the land was meaningless, and the Bible Patrickson Prophet

says, the promise that the divine presence would attend him, he counted it

of infinitely worth, greater worth than all the learning of Egypt, or all

his attainments as a statesman or a military leader. More earthly power or skill

or learning can supply the place of God's abiding presence. For Moses, God's

presence was everything compared to the glory of Egypt. Compared to all his attainments,

the riches of the world, including the land flying with milk and honey,

everything was meaningless except the presence of God. Isn't it true? Without

the abiding presence of God, everything else is meaningless, everything else is purposeless.

I may have everything in the world, all the blessings that I could

wish for, But if I do not have the abiding presence of God in

my life, my life is empty. My life is meaningless. So here

Moses is saying, if your presence does not go with us, do not

lead us up there. Lord, If your presence does not go with us

to twoenty twenty four, I want to be here. I don't want to

take a step toward twenty twenty four. In the Bible, God's people knew

the value of the presence of God. King David knew the importance of the

abiding presence of God. He saw it in King Saul's life. King Saul

was filled with the spirit of God at the beginning of his kingship. He

prophesied with the prophets and so on. But he broke his relationship with God

by being disobedient, by being obstinate, and one of the saddest things in

the Bible. The spirit of the Lord left him. And when the spirit

of the Lord left him, God was no longer communicating to him. God

was no longer speaking to him. And what happened when the spirit of the

Lord left him, The evil spirit took possession of him. That is why

David time and time again had to be brought into the presence of King Saul

to play his harp. So asked to bring in the presence of God.

My dear fellow believers, it is a horrible thing to live alife where God's

abiding presence is absent. There is no joy, there is emptiness, there

is no true meaning as we see in the life of soul. And that

is why when when King David sinned against God, there was one thing that

he was so afraid of, and he pleaded with God. He said,

do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

The importance of having the presence of God in our lives. God is present

everywhere. Do I not feel the heavens and the earth. When we talk

about the presence, we are not talking about God's general or omnipresence. We

are taught talking about the abiding relational presence of God, his personal presence in

my life, in my life, that is what we are talking about.

This is about God's per personally personal, abiding presence that comes as a result

of abide in me and I in you. As we find in John chapter

fifteen, when we abide in God, he abides in us. He shows

his personal presence in our lives. He leads us, he guides us,

he directs us. And that is a blessing of his personal presence in our

lives. We see so many characters in the Bible Enok walk with God.

He abided in God. God abided with him. Every day was a walk

with God. Noah walk with God. Abraham walk with God. And that

is the kind of abiding presence we are talking here. And Moses had such

an intense relationship with God, abiding in God that the Bible says, Moses

talk face to face with God. Can we say that about ourselves, that

God is so close, we share such an intimate relationship with God that we

talk to him as a man talks to his friend. Can we say that

having God's fellowship his company, there is nothing more important in life than that

you may be the poorest person, you may be unknown. But if you

have this fellowship with God, companionship with God, you are the most blessed

person because you have with you abiding in you the King of the universe,

for whom nothing is impossible. For a few minutes, I want to look

at what the presence of God does in a person's life. God says to

Moses, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest

rests in the presence of God. God's presence gives us rest, gives us

peace. This is talking about spiritual rest, mental rest. The Bible says,

come to me, all you that labor and are heavily, and I

will give you rest, rest from trying to earn our salvation, the ability

to rest confidently. In the Finnish Work of Jesus Christ it speaks about mental

rest as well. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, Pharaoh's army was

pursuing the Israelites. And when the Israelites looked back and they saw the Pharaoh's

army pursuing them, with the Red Sea in front of them and the mountains

on their sides, what was the reaction? They panicked. They were filled

with fear, so they began cursing God, cursing Moses. And they said,

where there no graves in Egypt? That you brought us out to die

in the wilderness. Moses answered, was Moses afraid? Moses was calm,

he had peace. Moses said, do not be afraid. Stand firm,

and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians

you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still. What of contrust the Israelites panicking cursing

God, Oh, you should have left us in Egypt. And hear a

man of God whose confidence lies in God. He's found rest in God,

and he could say, stand still, You don't have to be scared.

The Egyptians that you see today, you are never going to see them in

your life again. What a contrast. And that is what God's presence does

in a person's life. Isaiah forty three says, when you go through deep

waters, I will be with you. A Christian life is not free from

trials and troubles. We go through trials, we have problems and difficulty in

life. But when we have the presence of God, when you go through

deep waters, I will be with you. God's presence is assured. When

you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk

through the fire of oppression, you will not be burnt up. The flames

will not consume you. And what the King David said, even though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why because you are with me, yeh Rod, and they staff they

comfort me. God's presence makes us spiritually perceptive and receptive. The Bible says

that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ. But how

many of us avail of God's blessings that are in Jesus Christ. How many

of us missed out on God's blessings, blessings which are meant for us.

But we miss them out, not because God is unable, but because we

don't avail of them. We don't always live in the presence of God,

and we fail and we miss his spiritual presence. It's Christmas season. One

of my favorite Christmas passage in the Bible is found in Luke Chapter two,

Jesus being brought to the temple for his dedication forty days after his birth,

he was brought to the temple for his dedication. Desire of Ages says he

was dedicated, he was given the name Jesus. The priest went through the

ceremony of his official work. He took the child in his arms, held

it up before the altar. After handing it back to its mother, he

inscribed the name Jesus on the role of the firstborn. Little did he think

as the babe lay in his arms, that it was the majesty of Heaven,

the King of Glory. If the priest had lived in the abiding presence

of God, he would not have missed that blessing when he held that baby,

the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, he would have praised

God with Simeon and Anna. But he missed that opportunity. Why because of

his failure to live in the abiding presence of God. But in look do

we read there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and he

came by the spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the

child Jesus to carry out out for him the custom of the law, then

he took him in his arms, and he blessed God and said, now,

Lord, I can buy in peace. Why did he have that privilege?

The spiritual blessing was meant for him, meant for everybody, but only

few received this blessing. And in the temple there was a prophetess Anna.

She had lived in the temple ground, serving God day and night with fast

and prayers. And as Simeon was holding that baby, she came up to

him and she spoke about him. What a privilege it was for Simeon and

Anna. And this privilege could have been the privilege of everyone else, But

they missed this privilege because they failed to live in the constantly in the abiding

presence of God. A story is told of a rich businessman in London.

His son ran away from home so many for many many years, he looked

and searched for his long lost son. And one day, as he was

boarding the train in London, he saw a beggar clothed in rags, and

this beggar was asking for money from the people who came to that platform railway

platform. This man didn't want to stop, but there was something strangely familiar

about this beggar. He seemed familiar. And as this rich man looked at

him, this beggar said to this approached this rich man and he said,

oh, do you spare me some few shillings? And this rich man looked

at him and he realized it was his long lost son. With tears in

his eyes, enjoying his voice, he embraced his son, crying, a

few shillings, You are my son everything I have his years. How many

times have we lived like beggars and missed out on the blessings God has for

us because we failed to live in the presence of God. God's presence created

in us a deeper hunger for intimacy with God. If you look at the

life of Moses, he had such an intimate relationship with God. God appeared

to him on Mount Sinai at the burning Bush. He led him every step

of the way. He went up to Mount Sinai again and again, forty

days and forty nights. He had a tent of meeting where God spoke to

him face to face, so to speak. Intimately, Moses had such a

close relationship with God, yet he still wasn't satisfied. Why Because the more

we know God, the more we abide in His presence. In your presence

is fullness of joy in your right hand. Their pleasures forevermore. When we

have tasted the joy of His presence, we can't have enough of it.

We want it more, we want it more, We want more and more

and more of God. And that is how he blesses us, that is

how he transforms this. God's presence brings success. Many times we say we

are too busy to bother with God. I want the success to be successful

in life, ignoring the most important person, who is the source of all

true success. It is not our ability that brings success. It is the

presence of God. Moses was asked to lead the Israelites from their bondage thousands

of the millions of them, an impossible task, but what made it possible.

God's abiding presence made it possible. Batuects and prophets this experience above all

else. The promise that the divine presence would attend him was to Moses an

assurance of success in the work before him. Joseph prospered because of the Lord's

presence in his life. What happened to him was most unfortunate in the side

of the world, But the by says and the Lord was with Joseph,

so he became a successful man and he was in the house of his master,

the Egyptian. Now his master saw that the Lord was with him,

and that the Lord made all that he did prosper in his hand. There

is success in the presence of God. Do not push God aside. If

you want to have true success in life, push yourself closer to God,

cling on to him. He is the source of true success. God's presence

gives protection protection from temptation when we are abiding in Jesus Christ. When we

are abiding in God, temptation has no power over us. Sin has no

power over us. The only course that we should take to overcome temptation,

to overcome sin is be in the presence of God. Dwell in him continually,

and he will make you victorious over sin, over temptation. Submit yourselves

therefore to God resists the devil, and he will flee from you. Lastly,

God's presence provides guidance. Do you want guidance in life? All of

us want guidance. We have come to the end of the year. The

new year is ahead of us. I need guidance in every area of my

life. Where can I get that guidance? I get that guidance in the

presence of God when I spend time with Him, when I read His word,

that is where I get my guidance, not from books that others have

written ten steps to whatever it is from God. Staying and dwelling in God's

presence, that is where I receive my guidance for life. From the time

God called Moses at the burning Bush till he died on Mount Nebo at the

age of one hundred and twenty twenty, Moses walk each day, each step

under the guidance of God. God directed every step of his life. The

Bible tells us in Hebrews eleven, talking about the hero of Faith, it

says, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth, these heroes of

Faith consider themselves as strangers, as a journers, as travelers on earth.

People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their

own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they

would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were looking for a better

country, a heavenly one. The Bible reminds us that we are travelers.

We are sojourners on this earth. Our destination is the heavenly promised land,

which is promised to us. And just as God guided the a Istraelites from

Egypt to the Promised Land by his guiding the presence, how much you and

I need the guiding presence of God in our lives. The new year twenty

twenty four is just before us. What is the best preparation we can make

for twenty twenty four? The best preparation we can make for twenty four is

to spend time with God, to reconsecrete ourselves before God, to ask for

his presence to lead us into the new year. Let us cry with Moses,

let your presence go with us. Let us prepare ourselves spiritually by humbling

ourselves before God in true repentance. Exodus A reasons. When the people heard

that God was not going to go with them, they went into mourning,

and none of them put on their jewelry, because to be given every other

blessing is of no value is God? If God is not with you,

what is the value of canaan? What is the value of milk and honey?

What is the value of having possessions? If God was not with them?

They saw that the realization of the presence of God having his fellowship and

company was infinitely more important than anything else. And therefore they mourned, they

repented, and they pleaded with God to continue on with their journey to the

promised Land. So as we prepare ourselves to step in to twenty twenty four,

let us spend time in the presence of God, humbling ourselves, confessing

us sins, and most importantly, surrendering ourselves to Him, asking Him to

be our guide in twenty twenty four. Oh Great Jehovah, as we enter

twenty twenty four, may you lead us all throughout the year. May we

submit to you. May we surrender to you so that you can guide.

You can wisely and strongly guide us through another year. Thank you for your

faithfulness, Thank you for your mercies. Thank you for your goodness In Jesus

Nay we pray Amen.