Getting a Glimpse of God, Part 4

Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to coach baseball on the college level. Had a great time doing it. Did it for 10 years? And one of the highlights of coaching was teaching young boys how to pitch. Pitching is about location. Location, location, location. For where you put it determines whether or not they're going to hit it or not, and where they're going to hit it. And so you must teach pitchers to master the location.

Because pitching is about location. When you study the Bible, you must realize the Bible is about lo. Location, location, location. Because what you read is interpreted by where you read it in the Bible. That's important to understand. We are now studying the book of Exodus. Location is important because you go from election and predestination to redemption and emancipation. And that is what the book of Exodus is all about. How God redeems the people enslaved in bondage, and how He redeems them for His purposes to accomplish His will.

That's what the book of Exodus is about. The book of Leviticus is about adoration, celebration. It's about what it means to worship God. Because it's only the elected who will be saved, and it's only the saved who will truly worship God. Location, location, location. That's important. And in the book of Exodus, you begin to understand a very unique theme about the redeemed people. And that is, the redeemed people have a cry about them. And that cry is to know their God. And that's the cry of Moses in Exodus chapter 33.

You see, the redeemed people, the people that have been set free from their bondage. Have a unique cry about their lives, and that is they want to know more about their God. They want to see their God. And Moses was a man who wanted to see his God. He cries to him, Show me your glory. And that is a theme of the redeemed throughout the Bible. It's the cry of Moses. Show me your gl. I want to know you, Lord. I want to see you, Lord. I want to understand you, Lord. If that's not your cry this morning, you got to ask yourself: have you been truly redeemed?

Because that's the cry of the redeemed. They want to know their God. Now, you might say, well, wait a minute. I've been redeemed. What keeps me from longing to see him and know him and understand him? The simple answer is your sin. It's your sin. The simple reason is because if we see him for who he truly is, then we see ourselves for who we truly are. When you see his holiness, you see your sinfulness. And you have to change because you come in line with the glory of God. You see, Moses wasn't afraid to change, he knew he needed to change.

Show me your glory. And that's where we pick up the narrative in Exodus chapter 33 and verse number 18, where Moses said, I pray thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Then the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock.

And it shall come about while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand, until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you shall see my back. But my face shall not be seen. Let me begin by talking to you about the plea to see the glory of God.

This does speak of the spirituality of Moses. You see, he would plead with his God about show him who he truly is. And that tells us a lot about Moses. Because his request was not about a material possession. His request was not about a physical remedy. His request was about a spiritual dynamic. You see, a lot of us, when we go to pray to God, we're not interested in knowing more about God. We're interested in knowing more about our future. So, Lord, where will I end up? Where will I go to work? Who will I marry?

Where will I live? Lord, what will I do next? Lord, show me which way to go so I might know what to do. And believe me, there's nothing wrong with that. We need to cast all of our cares upon the Lord, right? We need to ask the Lord to direct us and to lead us. But what marked Moses out as a spiritual man was that he was consumed with God and wanted to see his God. When was the last time you asked God to show you His glory? When was the last time you went to prayer and said, Lord, I want to see only you?

We need to realize that when we see God, everything else becomes so min, so minuscule, because everything that God does, He does because of who He is. We need to see God. We need to understand Him for who He tr is. And His request, that is, Moses' request, expressed. The longing of his heart to know his God. How about you? What are your requests like? I recall what we studied back in 1 Peter chapter 2. Remember the familiar verse? Therefore, putting aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy, envy and slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

Since you have tasted God's goodness, lay aside all these other things that you might long for the pure milk of the word. So it tells us what we talked about just a few minutes ago: what keeps us from longing to know more about our God through his word? It's one, we haven't tasted the goodness of God, or if we have. Tasted the goodness of God, we are not willing to lay aside all malice, all guile, all slander, all evil from our lives because that hinders us from longing for the pure milk of the word.

And here was Moses. Lord, show me your glory. Show me the splendor of your majesty. It was like Paul in Philippians chapter 3 when he says, That I may know him in the power of his resurrection. It was like Jacob when he wrestled with the angel. Tell me your name. I'm not going to let you go t you tell me who you are. It was like the psalm was in Psalm 42. As the deer pants after the water brook, so my soul pant after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for thee. It was a longing to know their God. And Moses would begin with a plea, show me your gl.

Now, you know, it tells me a lot about our prayer, doesn't it? Because Moses, see, is interested in God being displayed. A lot of times, our prayers are about our glory being displayed. And about what we look like and how we are seen by others. Moses was concerned about how God was going to be seen, He wanted His glory on display. That's why our Lord said in John chapter 14, verse number 13. And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. God answers prayer so that the Father will be glorified in the Son.

It's all about the glory of God. Moses knew that. And so his plea was around the glory of God. It's like if you go to somebody's house and they have all these trophies and you say, hey. Show me your trophies. Show me your awards or your rewards. Show them to me. It brings honor to that individual because you're interested in them. Well, Moses is giving honor to God because he's showing his interest in God and God alone. Show me your glory. That's the plea. And God then comes back with a plan. That's point number two.

The plan to show his glory. It's a three plan, isn't it? It's a plan that's going to reveal the goodness of God, the greatness of God, and the grace of God. God says, I'm going to have all my goodness.

Pass before you, and then I'm going to have my great be proclaimed to you, and then I'm going to have my grace provided for you. And it speaks of the nature and character of God. When you speak of his glory, you think of the countenance of God as well as the character of God. And Moses was unable to view the full countenance of God. We'll see that in a moment. But because of who God is, but God was going to reveal to him his character. And it would begin with his goodness, wouldn't it? Listen to what God says.

He says, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you. All my goodness. Show me your glory, Lord. And when God says, You will see my glory, I'm going show you my goodness.

You know, the world doesn't see God as good, do they? And unfortunately, a lot of Christians don't see God as good, but He is. He's a God of goodness. The Bible says in Mark chapter 7 that Jesus did all things in goodness.

The Bible says in Mark chapter 10 that a man came to Christ and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said, Why do you call me good? Because there's no one good but God alone. In other words, if you're calling me good, you must recognize me as God because only God is good. So, I presume that you're coming to me because you recognize me as God. That's why you're asking me about eternal life. For only God Himself. Good. The book of Nah 1, verse number 7, says that God is good. Psalm 119, 68 says, Thou art good and doest good. Psalm 119, 67 says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep thy word.

Verse 68 then says, Thou art good and do us good. And if you go on and read Psalm 119, what do you realize? You realize this. The Bible says in verse 71, It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn thy statute.

Location, location, location. You see, we don't think of God as good when bad things happen, do we? We think of God as bad, but God is good. In fact, He is so good, the Bible says that we are to celebrate His goodness as well as communicate.

His goodness. Psalm 107 states it this way: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving kind is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. So the psalmist says, Look, you need to celebrate the goodness of God. And once you celebrate it, now you can communicate it. And he goes on to say this down in verse number nine. For he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul, he has filled with that which is good. Do you understand the goodness of God? God said to Moses, All my goodness.

Will pass before thee. The Bible says over in Psalm 135, verse number 3, Praise the Lord, for he is good.

Psalm 106, verse number 1, oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Psal Psalm 3, verse number 9: How great is the goodness of which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee. Psalm thirty four, verse number eight, O taste and see. That the Lord is good. Psalm 33:5. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Psalm 73 states that only God is good to Israel. Psalm 145, 9 says, The Lord is good to all and his mercies over all his works. Do you know about the goodness of God? Moses says, Show me your glory.

And God says, Do you want to see my glory? You want to understand my character? Un all my goodness pass before you, for I am a God who is good. Not only that, I will have my greatness be proclaimed to you. My greatness. What does he say? He says this: He says, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. He's going to have his greatness now proclaimed. What is the name of the Lord? We go back to Exodus chapter 3. Remember that? What is your name?

What am I going to tell him your name is? And what did God say? I am that I am. It's that greatness of his name. See, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby one must be saved. It's the name of God. It's the great I am. The great I am. It speaks of his memorial name. Remember in Exodus chapter 3, he goes on to say, This is my memorial name. It's to be remembered from generation to generation. Why? Because my memorial name is based on my redemptive purposes. And the great I am centers around the fact that God is unequaled among others.

He is self-existent. He is eternal. He is the great God of the universe. And that's why the Bible says over in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43, verse number 10.

You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and believe me and understand that I am. Before me, there was no God formed, and there will be none after me. There are no other gods. There's only one God. Joseph Smith forgot to read that verse, I presume. Verse number 11: I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no Savior besides me. There's only one Savior, there's only one God, and it's Yave. The great I am. Isaiah 44, verse number 6. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me.

And who is like me? Let him proclaim and declare it. Yes, let them recount it to me in order for the time that I established the ancient nation, and let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Is there someone greater than me? Then tell me, tell me, what will they say about the future? Can they predict the future? Do they know the future? You see, God says that I am the great I am because He is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

The God who was, and who is, and who is to come. That means that God exists in the past, the present, and the future, all at the same time. That's what the great I am means. He exists in the past, the present, and the future all at once. He doesn't just know the future, he exists in the future. He doesn't just know the past because he exists in the past as he exists in the present. That is the understanding of the memorial name of God, the greatness of God, that is unsearchable. That is unfathomable.

And God says to Moses, I will have my greatness proclaimed to you. You see, God is interest in us getting to know him. And so he says, You will have seen my glory? My glory consists of my goodness. My glory consists of my greatness. And my glory consists of my graciousness. He says this, back to Exodus chapter 33. He says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. and will show comp on whom I will show comp. It speaks of His grace, His glory and His grace, God's unmerited favor toward man. I'm going to demonstrate my grace to those That I choose to demonstrate my grace.

Same with my compassion, because I am the great God of the universe. I am the good God of the universe. And he uses the word for mercy. He uses the word for grace because grace and mercy sort of escort one another. For if you understand the two, you begin to understand your God. God, in His grace, gives sinners what they do not deserve, and God, in His mercy, does not give us what we do deserve. The two go hand in hand. Mercy is that which eliminates the pain, and grace is that which grants a better condition.

Mercy is that which deals with the consequences of sin, and grace is that which deals with the sin itself. Mercy pities, grace pardons. In salvation, mercy says no hell, and grace says heaven. And God says, my glory consists of my graciousness, and I will provide that for you.

My glory consists of my greatness. And I will proclaim that to you. And my glory consists of my goodness, and I will have my goodness pass before you. God had a great plan. And that plan will unfold for us in Exodus chapter 34. But we move from that plan to point number three, and that is the prohibitive to seeing God's glory.

For God says these words, but, he said, you cannot see my f, for no man can see me and live. Then down to verse number 23. I will take my hand away, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Now we're moving from the character of God to the countenance of God. He says, You can see my hind parts, you can see my back, but you can't see my face, because if you look on me, you will die, Moses. You can't see me in the condition you're in. And so there is a prohibitive to seeing the glory of God.

There is something that Moses cannot see. And that's the full orbed glory of God. Because if he did, he would die. He would be consumed. By the brightness and the beauty of his glory. But it's important to note that he will see all that God wants him to see. It's interesting that for the most part, we don't care to see the goodness of God. Or his greatness. Those things are not uppermost in our prayer list. But Moses was. And God would want to reveal him to him. But God says that I will disclose myself to you over in John chapter 14, verse number 21.

Christ says these words: He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will disclose myself to him. You see, God discloses him to those who keep his commandments, to those who want to rebel against him, to those who don't care about keeping his commandments, God says.

I won't unveil myself to you. I won't reveal myself to you. That's why there are some people who really walk with God. When you see them, it's almost as if they are intimate with God, they are holding his hand when you talk to them. They are so close to God that when you speak to them, you feel as if you're in the presence of Almighty God. And you say, Well, how is it I don't have that kind of relationship with God? God says, If you abide in me and keep my commandments.

You will demonstrate the fact that you love me, and I will disclose myself to you. I will. So, God is not unwilling to unveil Himself to you, God wants you to see His glory. It's our sin, it's our unwillingness to follow what he says that keeps us from seeing him as he is. And God says.

You'll be able to see and understand my character more so than ever before, Moses. But my countenance, you can't look upon my face, for no man can see me and live. Why is that? Well, the Bible tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light. 1 Timothy chapter 6, right? Una light. And therefore.

To understand that, would realize the essence of our next point, and that is this: the prot from seeing God's glory. The protection from seeing God's glory. Now, one day we will see His full glory. 1 John 3:2. We'll look on Him, we'll see Him for who He is on the day our lives are glorified. But Moses in his human body was unable to view the full countenance of his God. But note this. The Bible says in verse 21, Then the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock, and it will come about.

that while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand, until I have passed. By Moses' flesh, could not see the glory of God at its fullest because he would die. And so we see the protection from the glory or from seeing the glory of God. God would cover him so that he would be able to live. Now remember in 2 Thessalonians 2. 8, the Antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness. Of his coming. You see, we don't understand the glory of God in his countenance.

But when you understand 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, you realize that the Antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of his coming. What is that? That is the glory of God. Remember back in Matthew chapter 24, Matthew 24, verse number 29, it says, But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. And the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the sky.

What is the sign of the Son of Man? The sign of the Son of Man is the glory of God. And the glory of God is the countenance of God, the brightness of God. And that's why when the Lord returns, the world will be completely dark. And then when he shows up on the scene, there's this huge, bright light that shines, and every man will see. And the Bible says this.

The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. Listen, when Jesus Christ returns, he returns in all of his glory. And God says to Moses, You can't see my face, because if you do, you'll die.

You will be consumed, for no one can see me and live. So, when Jesus Christ returns, he is going to make sure that all the unbelievers see his face because they will die. They will be consumed because of the brightness of his glory. And that's why God would have to protect Moses. Because Moses would want to look, and if he saw, he'd be incinerated. And so God would protect him. Which leads us to our fifth point, and that is the prerequisite. And maybe you missed it. The prerequisite. to seeing God's glory.

It says this, And it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you. That little phrase, and cover you, is the prerequisite. For seeing God's glory. Now we're back to where we were at the beginning: that it was only when the flesh of Moses was covered that the glory of God could be revealed. The prerequisite for seeing God in all of his glory stems around the flesh of man. Not your skin, but this fleshiness of man, the sinfulness of man. Why is it when you go to some churches, it just doesn't seem like the glory of God is seen there?

It's because of the flesh of man, it's because we try to do things in the energy of the flesh. And we robbed God of his glory. And if you're here today and you have yet to ask God to show you his glory, you need to be willing to do that. And what stands in the way of you seeing God for who He truly is in the Word is your sin, your flesh. And that's why Moses was able to see what the children of Israel didn't see. And that's why when Moses would come down off the face of the mountain, his face would shine and glow with the glory of God.

Because you see, when you understand and have seen God's glory, everybody else knows. You'll see his glory. Everybody else knows. It's written on your face. Just like you know those who don't walk with God, it's written on their faces. You know the ones who walk with God because you see God in them. And that's why God would cover his flesh. It's just a little hint into why it is we as the people of God have not come face to face with our God and speak to him as Moses did, as a friend would speak to a friend.

And then we need to confess our sin. To get the flesh out of the way. And as Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. Let's pray.