Getting a Glimpse of God, Part 5

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. And Moses is going to get his glimpse of God. Today, in Exodus chapter 34. And you know what? So are you. You too are going to get your glimpse of God as Moses received his. They're on Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 34. And it truly is a glimpse because you can't see God and live. And so God is going to give Moses a glimpse. Of his glory. And as a result of that, Moses' life is going to be changed. Why is that? Because when you see God for who He is, you can never remain the same.

And that's the way it is with Moses, and that's the way it is with us as well. In Exodus 34 is a chapter that tells us about the proof of Jeremiah 29, 13, that God says that when you seek me, You will find me when you seek for me with all of your heart.

Moses is going to ascend Mount Sinai a second time. Remember the first time he was up there, he received instructions about the tabernacle, and he received those two tablets of stone that would record the first written words of God.

And he would bring those tablets down from that mountain to show the people of God what the Lord had showed him on that mountain. And what did he see? He saw people dancing naked before a golden calf. They had committed idolatry, and he took those stones, he threw it into the ground, and he dashed them, he broke them. And he was angry. He was so furious that they had broken the commands of God. And now Moses is going to go up to Mount Sinai for a second 40-day journey.

And this time he is going to receive the law again. And again, it will be a test for Israel to see what it is they will do. And is their repentance a genuine repentance? Because when we ask God to forgive us, He forgives us. But you will note that shortly after that forgiveness, there's always that test to try the genuineness of our repentance. And so once again, they will be given the same kind of test. It will be another 40 days. Moses will again ascend the mountain, and God will again give him the same commandments.

Let me read to you the first seven verses of Exodus 34 because that's what we're going to cover this morning.

It says in verse number 1: Now the Lord said to Moses, Cut out for yourself two stone tablets. Like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you shattered. I couldn't help but laugh about that. The ones I wrote before, you broke. Remember those Moses? You threw them down to the ground? Well, we got do it again. And then he says, So be ready by morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and the herds may not graze in the front of that mountain. So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him. And he took two stone tablets in his hand. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed.

The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kind and truth, who keeps loving kind for thousands. Who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers. On the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth gener.

These seven verses tell us at least three things about the revelation of God to Moses. The first deals with the demands, the second with the dissent, and the third with the declaration.

The first deals with the demands. God says, Moses, I want you to present yourself to me. In order to present yourself to me, there are some certain things you got to do. First of all, you got to cut out the stone tablets.

Because I've got to redo what you broke before. And the reason he has to do that is because they are still under the law. Remember, the Ten Commandments describe to us the character of God. That is the moral law of God. Just because Israel was forgiven of their sins. It does not mean that the law is no longer in effect for their lives. You know, we like to teach that because we've been forgiven, we don't have to do what God says.

Quite the contrary. If you have been forgiven, you want to do what God says. The law doesn't save us. But those who are saved, those who are saved, are able now to fulfill the law of God because that law has been written on their hearts. And here were the demands that God would place upon Moses. The first thing I want you to do, Moses, is to cut out these stones because you see, you have to present yourself to me.

Do you know that every one of us here are going to have to present ourselves to God? The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

That we may receive that which is done in our body, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Every man, every woman, boy, and girl, will present themselves before God. In Revel 20, we have the great white throne judgment, and all the unsaved dead are brought before God in his presence. And just as God gave demands to Moses, In order for him to present himself to God, so the Lord gives us the gospel, that we might understand the demands of the gospel that can only be fulfilled through the grace of our God.

And unless a man is willing to understand that, then he will stand before God and be judged for his sin. And I wonder today if you are willing or ready to present yourself to God. Were you able to stand before God if you were to die today? And he said to you, Why shall I let you into my heaven? What would you say? What would you say? There's not enough things you can do to get there. It's totally by the grace and mercy of our God. And we need to understand that because every one of us will have to present ourselves to God.

And God says to Moses, this is what you need to do to ascend the mountain a second time. You're going to have to cut out some stone tablets. You could say, you know, Moses could say, you know, Lord, why? Why do that? Can't you do what you did before, Lord? Why do I have to do this? And you see, the important thing is that Moses is submissive to his God, he's willing to do what God says.

Because he wants to see the glory of God. He wants God so much that it doesn't make any difference what God says for him to do.

He willingly wants to do it because he is totally consumed with seeing his God. And it must not take him very long to do that because God says, Now, tomorrow morning, you've got to present yourself to me.

So it must not take Moses too long to cut out the stone tablets. That he has to take with them up to the mountain. And God says to him, The next morning, I want you here.

Now, can you imagine what the night must have been from Moses? Before that day, I wonder if he went to sleep. I wonder if he was awake all night. But he wanted to be there and would do all he had to to make sure he was not l. For his appointment with God, God says, This is when I want you to come.

And Moses could have said, You know, Lord, I'll get there when I can. No, he was there, he was punctual. He needed to be there on time because he needed to fulfill the demands that God had placed upon him. God says, I want you here.

And Moses says, I will be there. And God says to Moses, listen, nobody comes with you this time. Remember, last time Joshua went with them, but nobody comes with you this time, Moses. You're all by yourself. In fact, I don't want anybody touching the mountain. And so, not only do you have to be submissive to what I say you need to do, but you need to separate yourself from everyone and everything else because I want you totally consumed with me. And one of the reasons we have a hard time getting a glimpse of God is that we are, number one, unwilling to submit ourselves to whatever God says.

And number two, we are unwilling to separate ourselves from those things or those people that could easily distract us from seeing God as He really is.

And so God says to Moses, separate yourself from everybody else. This is your time. This is my time. And I want you to do exactly what I tell you to do, Moses, because you are going to present yourself. To me from the demands, I want you to notice the descent.

It says in verse number five: And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there. With him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Now, that is absolutely amazing. How long did it take Moses to get up on top of the mountain? I don't have the foggiest idea. So, Moses evidently knew where to go. And he got to the place where he was supposed to be, that he knows in his mind that when he gets there, he's going to be by God. And when he gets there, the Lord descends and stands with him. Now, I don't know about you, but that must have been the most amazing thing for Moses.

He called upon the name of the Lord. And down comes this cloud, which is representative of the glory of the Lord. And we know that Moses can't behold him. Face to face because he would be consumed. And we know that God's going to have to hide him in the cleft of the rock because he would be burned up. He would be destroyed. So we know that God's going to do that kind of thing, but he descends to Moses. God came down to Moses in this whole descent, listen, would change his life because he would encounter the living God.

But the important point is this: that when he came down, everybody knew he had been with God. And the question we got to ask ourselves is that when we spend time with our Lord, does anybody else know that we spend time with our Lord? Do they see the effects of that in our lives? Do they see the illuminating glory of God in and through our lives? Moses. His life would be affected. In verse 8, he immediately bows down to his God in veneration and worship. And so the effects of him meeting with God, number one, is a veneration of his God, and number two, a reflection of his God.

And we'll talk about those two points next week. But he was able to see his God. And upon seeing his God, it affected his worship. And it affected the way people saw him because it had made an effect on his life. And we need to understand that when we get serious about God and wholeheartedly go after our God to understand Him and to seek His face, it will change our lives and everybody else. Will know it. And God Himself would descend on that mountain. And because He descended. Everything changed.

Is it not true that when you read the Gospels, the people who encountered Jesus Christ, the Son of God, their lives were changed. There was something different about their lives. And God would use them to impact others' lives because they had come face to face with God in the flesh. From the dissent, I want you to notice the decl.

And Moses get what he asks for. And this morning, you too will receive what Moses received. Now think about this. Moses says, Show me your gl. I need a glimpse of my God. And God responds, Moses, you can't see me and live, but this is what I will do: I'll put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you, and I will hide you, and you will be able to see my hind part as I go by you. So you're thinking, as most people are thinking, as Moses must have been thinking, that when he gets up into the mountain, he actually is going to see something.

Isn't that what you're thinking? That's what Moses has has to be thinking. I'm going to see something. So God descends in this cloud and stands with him. And then I want you to notice exactly what happens next.

It says this. Verse number six. Then the Lord passed by in fr of him, and what's the next word? Proclaimed. It's not portray. It's proclaim because the only way you see God is by what God says.

That's it. And he proclaims, listen, the Lord, the Lord God. He proclaims. The name of the Lord. He told Moses in Exodus 33: I will proclaim my name before you. So what's God do now? As he passes by him, he proclaims that n. You see, the only way we are ever going to get a glimpse of God is if we proclaim the name of God. That's it. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby ye must be saved, and that is the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And we know that Jesus' name is the same.

As Yahweh's name, because we know that Joel 2:3 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name. Of Yave shall be saved. And in Romans chapter 10, verse number 13, Paul quotes Joel 2:3 and says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of Yahweh shall be saved. And that name is the name of Jesus. Jesus is God. You can't get around that. The cults try to, but you can't, because that's the truth of Scripture. And the only way anybody is going to see God is if we proclaim the name of God. Remember, Yahweh, he says.

Yab Elohim. So he proclaims the name of God, the name that God presented to Moses back in Exodus chapter 3. The all-sufficient, all-powerful God is now proclaiming his name, so Moses begins to understand who this God is. See, that's why it's so important that you preach the word. That you can't go to a church that doesn't preach the word. You can't go to a church that doesn't spend time in the word because You'll never see God. You'll never see Him. And it's so significant how the Bible depicts for us what takes place on Mount Sinai.

And so the Lord passes by him and proclaims the name. Of him. He proclaims, Yave, Yave, Elohim. Here I am, Moses. The dec, that's why we've called it the Declaration. Because unless you declare the Lord, you'll never be able to see the Lord. And what God shows us here. Is the most significant thing in all of life because people say, Who is God and what is He like? And God says, This is who I am, and this is what I'm like.

And he says this, comp, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kind and truth. who keeps loving kind for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty. un, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.

He begins by saying, Yave, Yave, Elohim. Is merciful, is compassionate. That's how he begins. And Sinai was a place of judgment, right? Israel was judged because of their sin. The law was given to show that man could not meet the standard. And so God says, you know what?

This is who I am. I'm merciful. I stoop and bend and have pity toward those who are in need. Not only am I merciful, but I am gracious. He's merciful. It's the kindness and goodness of God, Romans 2. 4 says, that leads us to repentance. We deserve to be judged. We deserve to be damned. But our God, who is merciful, is willing to save us from our sin. And that's what turns a sinner from the error of his way. And so God says, proclaim the name.

Here it is. I am merciful. I am gracious. Because he's such a God of grace. He shows mercy to those who are in great Need. And then he says this: comp or merciful and gracious, sl to anger, and abounding in loving kind. Remember 1 Corinthians 13, 4? God's love is patient or long-suffering, and God's love is kind. God's love is described two ways. It's long-suffering, it's slow to anger, and it's so kind that it returns good to those. Who don't deserve it because I'm slow to anger. Now, you see, this is who God is.

And so He's trying to help Moses understand His character and nature. You want to see my glory? You want to see who I am, Moses? This is who I am. And the only way he can understand God is if God proclaims his name. And the only way we understand God and see God is if we proclaim the name of God. That's why we keep preaching week after week after week everything in the text about God, because the Bible is a revelation of who God is. And so here was Moses receiving from his God that this one is long-suffering.

He's slow to anger. You see, the whole issue of Exodus 34 is exactly how God dealt with Israel throughout their whole history. Just as he describes himself, this is exactly how he deals with his people. I'm compassionate. I'm merciful. And so when you read the prophets, what do they say? Our God is abounding in mercy. He's abounding in grace, in loving kind. That's our God. And that's how they would appeal to their God because that's exactly who He is. And God wanted Moses to understand that. So He proclaimed that name before Him.

And then he says this: not only is he abundant in loving kind, he's abundant in truth. That 's important for God to say that, isn't it? Because you need to know that he's the God of truth. Why? Because he's going to use the phrase keeping here in a moment, where he says, keep loving kind for thousands. Well, in order for him to be a keeper of his word, he's got to be a man of his word or a God of his word. He's got to be a truthful God. And God is true. Psalm 117, verse number 2 says that the truth of the Lord endures forever.

And Christ would say, by the way, he was the truth, emphasizing once again that he was Yave in the flesh. He is the God that is the one who speaks truth and is the only God because he is the true God. All the other gods are false gods. And so he speaks the truth, you see. And he needs to tell Moses that he is a keeper of his word because he needs Moses to understand that he will keep his loving kind and mercy toward us for thousands and thousands of generations because he's true. To what he says, he says this: Who keeps loving kind for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.

Why didn't he just forgive sin? Why does he have to say forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin? Because he covers the whole gamut. He covers everything. It emphasizes the greatness of his forgiveness. There's nothing he doesn't forgive, he forgives it all. See? Not just some of it, all of it. So when you proclaim the name of God, what do you proclaim? You proclaim the salvation of God and you proclaim the compassion of God. But when you proclaim the name of God, you must proclaim him all, so you proclaim the retribution of God as well.

That's how God ends. Listen to what it says. Yet he will by no means leave the guilty. Unpunished. Visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth.

Generations. This, Exodus 34, 6, and 7, is a picture of how God has dealt with Israel from the beginning until this very day. Israel has suffered greatly because of the sins of their fathers over the years, because of their unwillingness to bow to the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And God says, You know, you must understand that I am a compassionate God.

I am slow to anger. I am a God of grace, a God of mercy, who is abundant in his loving kind. Who's abundant in his truth, who forgives all your sins, and yet I cannot leave the guilty unpunished. That speaks of the holiness of God. It speaks of the justice of God, doesn't it? See, you couldn't be holy and leave the guilty free to do whatever they want to do without being punished. And the only way a just God can right deal with the punishment for guilty sinners is to provide him as a substitute for them.

Them. That's what Mount Calvary is all about, where Jesus became our substitute and bore in his body on that tree your sin and mine. He bore the penalty. God says, I will not leave the guilty unpunished, and every one of us are guilty.

Who can say, Proverbs 20, verse number 9, who can say, I have been cleansed from my sin? And my heart is pure. You can't. Only God can do that. Only God can clean your heart. So how do you leave the guilty or how do you get the guilty no longer guilty? You've got to provide a substitute. You got to have somebody pay the price. And so the Lord Jesus Christ would pay that price for your sin and mine. And you see, we need to realize that this is who God is. And I wonder if you've seen him that way. I wonder if you see him as merciful, compassionate, gracious, kind, slow to anger.

Truthful, forgiving trans, iniquity, and sin, and yet not willing to leave the guilty unpunished. So he would have to deal with that, and he does through sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die for your sins and for mine. This day, in Exodus 34, Moses would see God as God wanted him to be seen. And as God would proclaim his name before Moses, so now too, we need to proclaim that name to people. And listen, when you proclaim it properly, there are two results. One is veneration. And it says in verse number eight, and Moses made haste to bow down toward the earth in worship.

You know why? Because he was guilty. He was guilty. He knew he was guilty. And he knew he wasn't going to go unpunished. And so he bowed to worship his God. He bowed to humbly submit to his God and to plead with his God for forgiveness. And not only was there veneration, but there then bec the illumination or the reflection of God and his life. And how is it people will know that you have seen God? You will worship Him for who He is. And because you worship Him for who He is, everybody will see you and know that your life has been changed because you have gotten a glimpse of God.

That's great.