[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: We're going to go ahead and get started. It is just me tonight, so for those of you that are disappointed by that news, it won't hurt my feelings. You can go ahead and head on out.
Jason, appreciate him stepping up. He is teaching tonight for David Hargett. As a lot of you know, every Wednesday we have the Project Rescue class. David got sick, so Jason is filling in for him. So I really am going to miss him tonight. I really do mean that.
We have so much fun together, but I've loved getting to teach with him and it's been a real big blessing just to kind of bounce ideas off of him. And I really have enjoyed it and so I hope you guys have as well. But tonight you're stuck with me. So I'm going to give you a little bit of reason why. We're going back in just a second, but tonight we're going to be back in Exodus, so go backwards a little bit. Exodus 33 is where we're going to be tonight. So Jason and I even talked about that. There is so much material here. We might be here tonight and next Wednesday, too. And here's a little bit of the reason why. When he and I started this series called Encounters with God, turns out a lot of the times where there's dialogue between man and God, a lot of these are found in the book of Exodus. And even if you were to get like a general commentary on Exodus, one of the things that you will notice in that commentary is one of the main themes is this, that God wants to make himself known, but he also wants us to know Him. And that is a very common theme in this book. And so each chapter he presents a little bit more of himself, but then he also kind of shows our reaction to the different things and who God is. So this one is a really interesting one. A little bit deeper than some of the ones that we've looked at from the standpoint of reflection and its reflection on who God is. So there's two here and two there.
So tonight's theme, if you want to go ahead and have it from the very beginning, I know we kind of like to be thinking about it, just a thought to kind of trigger maybe a pattern or a thought in your mind of things going forward. It's this. Freedom is really, really good, but presence is better. Freedom is really, really good, but presence is better. And I'll give you a few examples of when you might have experienced this.
Maybe when you think of freedom, you might think of the first time that you were able to drive a car and you couldn't wait. Well, for me, I had to wait a little bit longer than others. My parents did not allow my sister or I. I used to think it must be me because I was the first child. And like Nate Bargetze said, you know, the first child's really got it tough, but they're testing everything out on you. So I wasn't able to get my license till 17 is the rule. And so part of the reason I think they also did that is I went to school at Prattville Christian Academy, but was living in Montgomery. And if you've ever made that drive before, it's a 30 minute drive from Montgomery to Prattville. And so that meant that if I was going to go to school, I had to merge twice to get on the interstate each day. You know, once to go north, once to go south. And I don't think they were really excited about it. Part of it is the automobile of choice. I had a 1979 Ford Mustang. Now some of you hear, oh, that's so cool. Then I showed it to cruisers, like, oh, that's not a cool one. I was like, it's not. In fact, it was the only year that was called a Ford Mustang sedan. A lot of folks didn't know that they had that. They did. And that was the one I had. It was not fast And I paid $800 for it. I had $500. And then I told the lady I would wash her RV for three months. So that's how I worked this thing out. And the very first day I'm able to drive it to school, I had my permit. I was about to get my license. I had my permit for two years because I had to wait till 17 to get the license. And dad is riding with me, teaching me how to merge. Okay, so we get on the. This is not. This is just the closest example I could find.
But being the first child. And if Haley's watching this, she knows. She was more like gunning it. I'm ready. I'm not scared of anything. I was more cautious, you know, like, looking around, you know, turning the turning signal on. But I was also very paranoid about merging into traffic. And so the whole time, Dad's like, all right, you got it. You got it. You slow down, speed up. You know, that kind of thing. No kidding. That 1979 Ford Mustang going down I65 was just before the very first Prattville exit. Nothing will wake you up quicker than a hood flying up.
It was so old that when we had changed the battery out and put it back down, the little latch was rusted and it bent back. Okay, that was the first trip. So I get a little shaken up, of course, and so we bend the thing back, and we're driving it. On the way back home, like, you know, 40, 45 miles an hour, we stopped and got some bungee straps to try to hold the thing down. So that was my first experience. So I wasn't feeling the best about merging onto I65 there and back. And so then comes the day, right, when you have to do this by yourself. And if you've ever had that kind of experience, if you've never, you know, maybe you were at a place where you didn't have to drive on the interstate. Well, all I know is when I had to make that drive all by myself, when I was still in the exact same car that that happened, I was terrified, you know, and I wanted that voice right beside me. I wanted somebody in my ear saying, hey, slow down, speed up again. That's kind of what I'm talking about. Freedom is really good, but sometimes freedom is scary. We desire presence. A much more, I guess, deep example, and not on the same level, is I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to go to this museum before. It's in Montgomery. It's called the Legacy Museum. It will shake you for sure. It's very. It's a very emotional, immersive experience. And it talks about, basically, from where the slaves came from to how they got here, what they experienced. And so there's several impactful things in this. But this room in particular, to me, hit me a lot, because what it is, is quotes of people that live through it. And there was one quote on that wall that really stuck out to me more than the other ones. And basically the idea for them was this, they said that they had come over as a slave from Africa right around the time when laws were going to be changed. Very likely the war was getting over and all that kind of stuff. So they get here, and not long after being here, you know, the person said on that. That part of the wall, they told me I was set free.
But then they said, but I didn't feel free because I wasn't with my family. And so it was the idea that, yes, I'm hearing this one thing. I'm free, but I'm still not experiencing that. Why? Because you want presence. I say all that to say that's kind of the situation Moses is in. That's the situation God's people are in. They're free.
But what you're seeing build in this text is God's presence getting closer and closer. And we're going to see how he reveals himself. But also, I want us to look at how Moses desires the presence of God.
And as you think about this, the good thing of freedom, I want us to think about it kind of like in response to our own walk with God. Maybe some of you have. You remember the time you were baptized and God washed your sins away and how really good you felt, right? That was like the best feeling ever. And not trying to downplay that moment, you do feel great at that moment. And so the sin problem was dealt with, but maybe to the equal attention was maybe not given to what happens after that, which is the presence, right? God giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what I mean by that is the importance of knowing that, yes, my sins have been forgiven, I've been saved from something, but that. That kind of. That idea of being saved to something too. We don't need just the sin problem to be dealt with. We also need the presence. Does that make sense? We need both of those things. And so that's kind of where I want to go with this tonight. And so I'll let my first reader read this. We're going to go through the text together and see how builds through chapter 33. We may get into 34.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: The Lord said to Moses, depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying to your offspring, I will give it. I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way. For you are a stiff necked people.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Alright, so if you look in the chapter before, what had happened was one of the worst excuses in all of scripture. Moses was up with God. He comes down and the people had turned the jewelry they received from Egypt into a cow. And you know, they were basically like, you know, well, you know, Aaron, you know, just took the jewelry from us, threw it in and it moved. And so God's like, no, I'm going to destroy them. And if you remember, Moses intercedes on behalf of the people. God melts that idol and makes them eat it. Which is a image in a picture of idolatry and how idolatry makes us sick. When we try to put anything but God on a pedestal, it will make you sick physically, spiritually. So he makes them eat that. And then right after that we get to this part where they're, you know, God is giving them the next instruction. He basically says, all right, yeah, you can leave from here. You can have the land with milk and honey. You can have all the things you want. I just don't want to go with you. And look what he says. It's not humorous because of what's at stake, but it kind of is. He says, if I'm with you, like I'm going to consume you. It's like I'm going to eat you, like I can't stand to be around you. Then he says this because you are a very stiff necked people. Now for some people, this actually might be the ideal scenario of what you would want. I'm not saying us, but I'm saying for some people. And what I mean by that is, what if somebody said, hey, listen, you can have the land with milk and honey. You can have, you know, all the things, you can have the political freedom, you can have the land with, you know, all of its resources, but like, there's no obligations.
And so that to some, I'm not saying us, but I'm saying to some that might sound like a really good deal. All right, but then read what Moses said. You'll read it.
[00:11:32] Speaker D: Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in my sight. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your Sight.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: Okay, so here's a neat progression from Moses. He's saying, all right, so say, you know, see, you just said, you know, bring up this people, but you have not told me who's going to go with me. Now, this is some growth from Moses because you remember when God showed up to him at the burning bush and he said, hey, Moses, I need you to do this. He didn't even say, hey, could you help me? Like, get somebody to go with me? What did he say?
No, like, I can't do it. So you do see some progression here that he now is saying, hey, God, can you send somebody with me? And so that's good, right? But the other thing that you'll also notice is not just that.
Is that God, the next thing he asked for, he says, now, therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your ways that I may know you. Here's what I want us to know. This is kind of an emergency situation. Israel has been worshiping idols, and they are really, truly, as we're going to talk about in a second, spectating God. They know about God, but they are not really in relationship with God. This is an emergency situation. And if you were in this kind of situation, the people worship idols. They've fallen away. What would be your response to God in this moment?
Would you say, hey, God, here's the big deal. You got to do something about them, right? But the one thing he asked for is what?
To know God. All right, I want us to think about this for a second. Moses did not pray. I have an emergency. Did he have an emergency? Yes. This wasn't. This would be classified as emergency. Moses says, God, I want to know your ways and I want to know you.
Now, I'm not saying at all that we don't need to cry out and call out to God in emergency. We've all done that, right? We can probably remember the place, the time, you know, what it felt like when our knees hit that floor, when we were begging God for something, crying in a closet, whatever that is. We've all had those emergency moments. I'm not saying it's bad to reach out to him in emergencies, but one of the things that you kind of see here is that it seems like Moses is focusing more on what's most important, not what's urgent. And the reason why that's important. I read something a long time ago, and I'm not saying this is the case all the time, but if we made the most important thing, the most important thing, we wouldn't have as many things pop up in life that are urgent.
If we didn't. If we kept the most important thing, the most important thing, we might not have as many things pop up that are urgent. Okay, so with this, why in a time of emergency, would Moses want to know God's ways and want to know him more than God? Do something. Because in my logic, it's fixed the issue and we'll get to know you later, like when there's time for Bible study and when I can have some alone time, you know, whatever that might be. But he hears like, I want to know your ways and I want to know you.
[00:14:54] Speaker E: So if you go back this one.
So he says, you know, if you look at this in context, what he's really saying is bring up this people. But you haven't let me know who you will send with me, saying, if you destroy this people, you have said this. You don't lie to me because you're God. You always keep your word. So where is this people? Show me your ways so that I can continue to find favor in your sight. He's essentially saying, if this isn't the people, what people?
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Is it?
[00:15:24] Speaker E: Because I know I'm not going to.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: That's good. That's true. Yeah. And that's growth from him. That's a very good point. Yeah.
[00:15:33] Speaker F: I was just gonna say. So he says, show me your ways. And it's almost like if you think you're in an emergency situation, you're thinking that, like, everything's going wrong. It almost seems like he has enough faith in God that he's like, I'm not even gonna ass. Everything's going wrong. Maybe there's something that you don't know.
Maybe there's something that I don't know that you do know God. So you show me your ways.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: That's a great point. Yeah. That maybe he's not even concerned about that. I hadn't thought about that. That's a very good point. Anybody else?
[00:16:02] Speaker E: God has already proven to be a deliverer.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:05] Speaker E: To be in control and in all power. And I think maybe Moses has found comfort in knowing that God is going to take care of those things.
And that would make me want to know the teacher. Right.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: His ways, see how great he is. Yeah. And I agree because we've already seen growth in Moses. From now he went from saying, well, I can't do that because I can't speak and they're not going to listen to me to saying, hey, will you send someone with me? So, yeah, that Definitely fits. Yeah.
[00:16:35] Speaker G: I think the phrasing of like, I want to know your ways, I want to know you. I think he's saying that so that God can work through him in this situation.
Leading up to this point, Moses has been doing a lot of the things that God has said to do. You know, he's taking an active role in how God is helping the people. He's holding the staff, the Red Sea, all those things. I think he's just saying, like, okay, well, what can I do now? What ways? What would you have me do to help this people?
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So I guess my point in asking that question is for us to think about. Maybe that's kind of the point of what we need to know is knowing him more than wanting the emergency to be solved first.
And we'll kind of build on that. You'll see him say something in just a second. Yeah.
[00:17:28] Speaker E: Is it really fair to ask to be delivered and rescued when you're the one that dug the hole. Right. To get yourself in there in the place.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:36] Speaker E: It's not really fair to God and say, hey, I did all this messing up. Pull me out of it.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And when you're an emergency, right, like.
[00:17:43] Speaker E: That situation, like, the people did it to themselves.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Yes, they did. Yep. And we're going to get to that in a second. All right?
And he said, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring it up.
Is it not in your going with us? So that we are distinct, I and.
[00:18:06] Speaker E: Your people from every other people on.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: The face of the earth? Alright, can y'all see the three words highlighted or bolded? What are they? Us. You, us, us. Okay. In the Hebrew and English. But the way it especially was word. In the Hebrew, it was the singular. You. God says, oh, I'll go with you, and I will give you rest.
And he said, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us. It's kind of one of those situations where someone's like, yeah, where do you want to go? Well, we would love. Who brought we into this? Like, so do you see what's happening is God is basically saying, oh, I'll go with you. And now what's happening is he's saying, what? What about us?
Us is now his prayer. Now, doesn't that say a lot about Moses? A little bit. And so basically what he's saying is, I'm not just praying for me, I'm praying for us.
That to Me was very powerful. I didn't notice it until a commentary pointed out. But I do think that is an incredible place. Like Cam even mentioned where Moses is at to where in the middle of a situation where like Brandon mentioned the problem is caused by everyone else. But he still wants the answer to involve not just him, but who us.
And the reason why this really sticks out to me is for our own prayer life. And again, nothing wrong with just praying for you, your family.
But if you do look at your prayers and like if I do look at mine, they can be very me centered. God, be with me. Be with me and my wife, be with my kids, be with my church, be with my. And again, nothing wrong with my.
But I don't see a lot of my prayers being very expansive like past me a lot. And the reason why I think that matters is it's whoever you pray for and about that is outside of you. There is a way that you treat them different and better a better different when you just pray for them. It's really hard to be mean and have stank face with somebody you just prayed for. I guess is what I'm saying.
Kind of an example of this. And yes it is about more me centered prayer. But I mention this when I do premarital counseling about the importance of praying together.
And the thing about prayer is that they said that couples. This was today's Christian man and woman's magazine that couples that pray together, they asked them how many of you pray together regularly. Okay, Christian couples. And then also think about the stats. If you're a stats person would probably be skewed because it's respondents that are subscribing to a Christian magazine. And not that this line of delineation of good faith is whether or not you subscribe to a Christian magazine. But do you get what I'm saying? That's who the respondents are. What would you guess would be the amount of couples that prayed together regularly? Christian couples.
[00:21:14] Speaker G: 30%.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: No.
[00:21:18] Speaker E: 10%.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: I'm getting closer. It was 4. 4 4%. So they were so shocked by this that they sent out another survey. They said all right, now we want to see how many of you have gotten divorced before. They were trying to see the connection there. And here's what they found. And if y'all were in the teen parents Connect group when I mentioned this a long time ago with something else, you might remember this. The odds of people that pray together regularly getting a divorce was.008%.
Now why do you think. And of course I do believe that the Main thing is we just brought God into this moment and he is in this marriage. Because I do think that's definitely part of it. But what else do you think why that has that much of an impact? Any thoughts?
[00:22:11] Speaker H: You kind of see what's on each other's minds and what you're thankful for, what you're needing help with, or what you're thinking other people need help with. It's kind of just a. To me, I've always thought that prayer is almost like a little window into your soul, what's going on spiritual, spiritually with you.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, imagine this for just a second. Say you're teaching the third grade class downstairs. And then one of the kids mentions something that, well, I've been dealing with this at home and it's like he maybe even said something more than his parents even wanted him to say. Okay. He gives that prayer request and then you see his behavior that may be a little bit off, not what it needs to be.
What would be your thought, knowing that you just took that prayer request, Would it be a little different than if you didn't pray for that little boy? Does that make sense?
Alright, thinking about that, if you get a peek into that other person's world and you start to pray for that person, what they're going through in their world, again, it helps you to see things from a little bit of a different perspective. Alright, let's make that even bigger. What if we start doing that for other people in other groups and they don't even have to know about it. But again, if there is even somebody that I'm at odds with or you're at odds with, but you spent intentional time praying for that person and then you go see that person. I'm telling you, there's a big difference. And so again, we need to keep praying for us in our families, but our hearts don't need to just break for our families, for people outside of our families. And I'm telling you, it'll help us to see everything different. Okay, so sorry, I didn't mean to get too much off on that.
So here's the other part I mentioned earlier.
If you notice what's also going on, someone mentioned this here. It's really, I think kind of what Brandon was saying, it's really Moses that's doing the like. If it weren't for Moses in the chapter before, what would have happened?
God was going to destroy him. Right? He petitioned on behalf. And here, same thing y'all, they're not really showing that we know of Much interest here yet. He's saying, yeah, I'll go with you. He said, what about us? He's like, yeah, I'll go with you. What about us? And I think about it especially in connection with prayer, but also in relationship with other people, those we might call spectators. We might be their only connection. And y'all might know those kind of people that they are maybe on the fringe or it could be even in a friend group. They don't have many friends. Their only connection is you. Right?
That every person that might be spectating, might be on the outside needs somebody like Moses, I guess, is what I'm saying, to step in and kind of intervene in those. Those moments. All right, any thoughts on that?
[00:25:03] Speaker H: I think it also has something to do with the fact that nowhere in here does Moses apologize or repent for his people.
What he does is he focuses on the personage of God. He says, of course, we are like every other people. Distinguishes us is not us, it's you, because you've chosen us.
[00:25:20] Speaker B: We're special. I hadn't thought about it like that. That's a very good point. And what's also neat about that is that kind of fits in with what we're reading next. So. Very good point. Anybody else?
Yeah, I never really thought about the irony of Moses saying that too, because earlier in Exodus, the Lord sought to put Moses himself to death. And so now it's like the total reverse of the Lord wants to get rid of all the people. Moses is like, wait, so, all right, who is my next reader? Oh, you. Okay. And he said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. Alright? So we just heard the you, you, us, us. Here was the other part that I thought was amazing. He said, if your presence will not go with me, I don't want to go. Remember when I asked you guys earlier that if you, you know, how maybe would the world, or even we at times maybe be tempted? Hey, you can have the milk and honey. You can have the land. You can have all the political freedom. You can have all the things you want. You just won't have me. Would you make that trade? Would you make that kind of trade if you cannot have his presence? Of course, that's a rhetorical question. But Moses says, hey, you know, you can take your trophies, you can take all your things. I don't want any of that. What I want more than anything is I want you.
And I Mentioned earlier. They are technically free, right? They are. They've been given everything they could ever want. But yet the thing he came back to is, I want more than anything, God's presence.
Now, that's a very specific thing to ask for. And I want us to think about, do we ask that a lot? Maybe. I know I don't. Especially as I was thinking about this. God, I need your presence. I will say, God, I need you to.
When I say help, what I usually mean sometimes I need you to do this.
It's not presence. There's a difference between the two of those.
I think there's a lot as we're going to see next, a lot of value, as in him asking, I want your presence. Well, why does he want presence? I have a few reasons why. I think that is.
Whenever you are going to experience something special, you love to share it with someone.
And Moses is getting ready to go to the promised land. And the way he's wording it is like, I know I can go there, but I don't want to go there without you.
Maybe you've gone to a place that was awesome. You went with your family, you went with a friend, you went with your spouse or boyfriend, girlfriend, and it was awesome. But then you went by yourself and was like, this is not as exciting. The one I thought of today is, my kids love a hotel. Like, I'm not kidding. So. So much so that for years, Cruz said, can we go back to that place in Evergreen? I was like, buddy, yeah, sure. So I did a gospel meeting at Evergreen, Alabama. There's a Burger King there that it was. We stayed at the Sleep Inn in Suites. And he loved that trip so much. We were there in a hotel for three nights because he knows. Three nights of the gospel meeting. He loved that so much. And he kept asking, can we go back to Evergreen?
Just because there was a Sleep Inn and suites. And so they love that. They love a hotel. And there have been times where, especially if I'm speaking away, I always try to bring them with me. I love to have the family with me, and they like to come with me, especially if I get a hotel. Because in the hotel there's a what? A pool. That's what they're after, really, is the pool. And so a while back, I was staying somewhere and I was wanting them to come with me. They couldn't come with me. And so one of our kids said, dad and Lorianne can attest to this. I always facetime them when I'm at the hotel because they want to see the room I just know now. And so I'm like, all right, here we go. And I'm showing them the room and everything like that. And then the question they always ask me is, even if I'm by myself, are you going to go get in the pool? And I was like, well, that's sweet. But you know, the more you kind of think about it, it's like, well, most of those pools are small, so nothing would be, you know, creepier than a 38 year old man joining a family in a 12 by 12 pool. You know, sup guys? You know, but so no, I don't enjoy that right now because I'm not with what with them. But if I'm with them, I'm cannonballing, right? It's a whole nother experience because I have somebody to share it with. And that's what's so neat about Moses, is he wants to share how awesome this is with God, which leads to the next thing is this. Moses saw God's presence as beautiful, not just useful.
I wrote this down. I thought this was a really good. I had to look at it in Philosophy for Dummies. But basically this is what it says.
When something or someone is beautiful to you, you take pleasure in it without regard for its purpose.
I'm going to say that again. When someone is truly beautiful to you or something, you take pleasure in it without regard for its purpose. What made me think about this is, you know, say you were engaged and you're getting ready for the wedding and all that kind of stuff and you found out that you lost all your money in your family, something bad happened.
And then she's like, well, hey, I don't want to get married anymore.
Well, you would be like, whoa, so you just love me for what? My stuff? Not for who, for me. And Moses saw God as awesome and beautiful as himself. And I guess kind of what I'm getting at, and it kind of goes with your comment earlier, is do we see God and his presence as the ultimate prize?
Not the freedom, not that the freedom's bad, but also see him as the ultimate prize.
Any thoughts?
[00:31:39] Speaker I: I just feel like when I got baptized, like that was the moment where it literally says, like, your eyes are opened, you can see like literally everything that happens. You're just taken like aback by it because, wow, like, I don't have to do this by myself anymore because I know that I have him to lean on. And so I think like Moses, because he was once going to also be destroyed in God's eyes. And he was redeemed in that he was able to see. Okay, there's something else. And it's a bigger light. And it's. And because I was able to be free and now I'm alive and not dead anymore, I want them to be too.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: Yeah, and you just went. I would just go ahead and go there because we're going to go at the very end. But since you brought it up, one of the things that I wish I would have heard more was that you're not. What you just said that you're not by yourself, you're not alone.
And again, I did mention some of this Sunday, but I guess working with college students, which I was also one right after working in college ministry, the one thing that I know that they struggled with a lot was they knew how to be saved and they knew the beauty of that salvation from the standpoint that it washed away their sins. But I don't know, I know I didn't do a good job enough. And I think it is a reminder to also let them know that the other part of that is not just the freedom from the sin and the slavery of the sin, but also that you're not alone, that you have someone with you. Because even here we're starting to understand and see that it's not just freedom we need. We also need presence. Here's the other thing. Moses knew that without God's presence, everything else would be useless.
You know, we of course know that things in our world, the moment like man, that was awesome, then it fades. You know, I don't feel so bad about myself. Then you're at Taco Bell and your son Cruz points out that your bald spot looks really big in the security camera. You know, like you hear things like that and so all of a sudden you know, you don't.
It doesn't feel the same. But anyway, I say that to say when we build our lives just around the physical things, the things we experience and make that the Canaan, the thing, the end result of what might be taken away or not taken, make the thing, those things, they fade away.
But kind of what we're going to see with Moses in just a second, without God, without his presence. Not it's not just that the things fade away, they fade us. Like we start to change. We aren't what we could be or God may want us to be. Alright. And here's the next thing I thought was really interesting that a lot of the commentaries were connecting this right here with John 10 over and over again.
And if you Know anything about John 10? There are two I am statements in John 10. Do you know what those are?
One of them, I am the door. You know what the other one is?
I'm the shepherd. Turn there with me to John 10. Because this is kind of a neat parallel, because we're talking about freedom is good, but presence is better.
So in John 10 someone read verses 8 and 9.
[00:35:23] Speaker E: All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
[00:35:35] Speaker B: Okay, so let's stop there for just a second.
Especially in their culture, doors kind of like our doors, you know, if you ever watch, like with your grandmother, what's behind door number three? You know, price is right. But doors for them too were kind of the same way, that they represented opportunities, something new, something neat. But the other thing that we know about doors, doors can also be very scary, right? Because what if I do pick wrong? What is on the other side of the door? And so for them, when he says I'm the door, he's kind of giving the picture that it is something new, but there is something on the other side. Now when he says in and out, that one kind of gets misconstrued sometimes. Like you can go in and out of relationship, but that's not what he means. I've always kind of thought of it almost like if you used to go to Disney, they used to do this thing where they would stamp your hand and you could leave the part. And then it would be like a light they would put on your hand so you could get back in. It was more of the in and out privilege. It wasn't. You're still there, you're still in the place. You're just. You're taking what you have here and you're also enjoying it out there kind of thing. It's like a hand stamp, I guess. It's not in and out of the relationship. Okay, but what's interesting is John 10, I am the door was meant to be understood with I am the shepherd. It was the idea, alright, I'm the door. When you go out and you find that pasture, what does it say is waiting on you in the pasture? Look at verse 10:11. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. So he's basically saying, when he says, door here. One of the first doors that they would have thought of is the door to the field where the shepherd. The shepherd. There would be two shepherds in a field. There would be one at the door of the field and one in the middle of the field. He's saying, I'm the one that's at the door. Okay. And when you come through the door, what I want you to know is there's also a what? The second shepherd. That's where out in the field.
So now it kind of makes sense why there was this connection here to John 10. Because that's basically what Moses is experiencing. Hey. God said, you know, I know you've been free and I know you're going out there, but I want you to know that I'm not going to be alone. But also, he doesn't want to be alone. I was going to give a point about Anna and Elsa, but we won't do that tonight. So doors are scary, but there's a shepherd on the other side. Maybe you can make your own connections there. Alright, someone read this real quick. Think we're back to you.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: The Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight. And I know you by name.
[00:38:24] Speaker B: Man, can you imagine, like God saying that to you? You found favor in my sight and I know you by name. Names were very big in the Hebrew culture.
If you, when you, before you were born as a Hebrew, you were given a name. And what was neat is. And also bad depending on how life went. When you got to the age like 12 or 13 and you weren't living up to that name, they would sometimes change your name in hopes that you would. So can you imagine, like, you know, when you were born, they were like, we'll call you Hope you know, they're gonna be a hopeful kid. And then they were like, at 12, we'll call you honest. You know, like somewhere along the lines they had to change it because you weren't living up to that. But anyway, names were a really big deal to them. And what I want you to. Well, yeah, let's go ahead and we'll come back to the name. Someone read this real quick.
[00:39:14] Speaker D: Moses said, please show me your glory and I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Okay, so God just gave him this compliment. I think personally, what he's doing, he just hears, hey, yes, I have. You have favor in my sight. I know you by name. He's like, okay, good. Now that we're, like, kind of getting a little more personal with each other. Hey, can you see your glory? For just a second? And then he says. And I skipped down to verse 23, because he talks about how, you're going to stand there, you're going to see me pass by. He said, I will take. Then I will take away my hand, and you will shall see my back, but my face will not be seen. He's all like, man, the back of all the things. Like, that's what. I get the back. You know, not the hand, not the nose, not the profile. But I have. I get the back. But one of the things that you'll probably notice if you look in your Bibles and the little.
I guess the reference point, one of the things that it will connect you back to is John 1:14. And if you.
The whole point is, even in the book of Exodus, Jason and I were talking about this, that there are pictures pointing to Jesus. Because what God is saying is, oh, no, I'm not revealing myself yet. Okay, I'm going to give you something, a little piece of me. But then in John 1:14, it actually points back here. Someone read John 1:14 real quick.
[00:40:30] Speaker E: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory.
[00:40:35] Speaker B: Of the one and only Son, from.
[00:40:37] Speaker E: The Father, full of grace and truth.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: Wow. So they said, hey. He said, I want to see your glory. And then John said, oh, we have. You have seen the glory. If you've seen Jesus and you've seen the face of Jesus, you've got to see him. Think about that for just a second. Like Moses got the backside, but we get to see the face. All right, and so here's what happens next. If you'll read the next verse. Yeah, just go ahead and read both of these.
[00:41:02] Speaker D: The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, Yahweh, the Lord, a God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: Okay, so here is what you were referencing earlier. He's like, I'm going to give you my name.
That's what's going to help you.
And you might think, well, why does a name matter? Tozer has this quote. I love it. It says this. What comes into our minds when we think about God. Is the most important thing about us, the is supposed to be the most determining fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.
So I think his name matters for several reasons. We're going to talk about this segment. We've got to hurry through it. Number one is the character, the window in which we can see the character of God.
I mean, I just put some of these down, but the different names of God. You have the Lord, my shepherd, He's a shepherd. So if you need a shepherd, he's that. If you need provision, he will provide. But look at the text of what he provides. The Lord heals. He's a banner that was the symbol of when you're in battle. If the banner was up, that means that, yes, things are ongoing, but there's a place to look to in the middle of a battle. He's one to look to. The Lord sanctifies. It's the picture. You know, we talked about salvation a lot, but sanctification is this ongoing process of how God makes us more into his image. The Lord who is peace, the Lord who is righteous, the Lord who is there. So there's a thought in theology that kind of connects to this about the ground rule for the value of the names of God is it gives us a basis for how to truly define him. We don't define him, he does. And we need that. And here's why. This is why they call it. There's two type of theologies in which we see the world. We either have theology from above or theology from below, which basically means is your view of God shaped by what you just see, not his names? And the danger of that, if it's only theology from below, it can disappoint you, it can hurt you.
It will have good moments, but it will also have mainly bad moments. Theology from above is, hey, I'm just going to take him for who he is, trust him for who he is in those names. But the other thing is, with Moses, we don't have time to get into this, but the more he focused on his name, who he was, it transformed his own identity. He had his own insecurities, right? It goes back to Exodus 3, and we were going to look at Ecclesiastes, talk about your identity is not what you enjoy. Your identity is not what you experience.
It is not in what you have. And this is where we'll end, because I did want to get to this point, but we don't have time to focus on it. But when the focus is what we don't is what we have. Right? Whether it's the milk and honey, the thing, whatever, we're trying to achieve a lot of times as an indicator that we are wrestling with what we don't have. And so we were going to try to build to that. Didn't have time to do that tonight. But again, my main push is exactly what you said tonight is. Freedom from God is exactly. We need that. But we also need his presence. And so be present with Him. He wants to be present with you. And to know this. You are not alone. Notes A simple statement. Nah, duh. 1. But it's a very impactful statement. You are not alone. All right. Thank you. All.
