A Personal Presence - Exodus 34:1-9

[0:00] Oh, good morning. What a blessing. Welcome to Calvary Chapel Charlotte. Turn to Exodus 34,! If you would, as we continue through the book of Exodus.! It's been a slow going lately through the book, but we've been sitting in so much stuff that's so rich, so much about God's character and what he wants us to know about his nature, about his character, so much about how we relate to God, how he's choosing to relate to us.

[0:25] And so you can't just go quickly through that. And in reality, as we teach line by line, verse by verse through the scripture, by the time we ever get back around to Exodus, I'll be dead. So we got to cover it now. And I don't want to blow through this stuff because I think there's some misconceptions about who God is.

[0:45] We think God is, well, we know God's gracious, but sometimes I think we think he's gracious from a distance. You know, he's merciful and he's given us our ticket to heaven, but then he's kind of like, just okay with the fact that we're doing our thing.

[0:58] Don't get too close. You know, it's like that younger sibling. It's like, yeah, I love you, but don't mess with my stuff. Right? So I think it's really important we go through this. And last time we saw where Moses in desperation, because God had essentially said to Moses, Moses, I'm going to go with you up into the promised land, but I'm not going to be in the midst of you.

[1:15] I'm going to give you my blessing. I'm going to give you my promise, but I'm not going to be in the midst of you because this people is so stiff necked and hard hearted. You know, I do not want to consume them in, in my wrath. And Moses, I love it because Moses knows God. He knows his heart.

[1:31] He's not just like, well, okay, that's God. God's just keeping us at a distance. No, he knows, you know what? God is drawing me out. God is saying, Hey, how badly do you want me? So Moses takes his own tent, runs outside the camp and says, God, if you're not going to be in the camp with me, I'm coming out to you.

[1:44] I'm going with you. And he runs out and pitches his camp, his tent out there. And that's where he meets with the Lord. And we saw where Moses in desperation to know God more as God is bringing him along says, God, show me.

[1:57] I beseech you. I beg you. I pray of you. Show me your glory. I want to know your glory. I mean, I've seen what you've done to the Egyptians. Isn't that enough of God's glory? I mean, he, he took out the whole Egyptian army. He conquered that nation.

[2:08] He led the people out. God, I've seen you bring water out of a rock. I've watched you feed my, your people in the wilderness. I've seen, I've been on the mountain with fire and smoke and earthquakes and God, show me your glory.

[2:23] Hasn't he seen his glory yet? He said, no, he hasn't seen his glory. And he says, God, you know all about me. You know my name and you, and I know that I found grace in your sight, but now God, I want to know about you.

[2:34] Who are you God? And God then responds in Exodus 33 and verse 19. He said, I will, I will make all my goodness pass before you.

[2:46] God's glory is not in his wrath and his anger and his justice and his judgment and holiness and sovereignty or power. God's glory is not in any of that. So isn't that part of who God is? Yes, it is.

[2:57] But he has chosen to display, to manifest, to show his glory to us by saying, Hey, I'm a good God. You see God's wrath, anger, justice, judgment, holiness, sovereignty, and power is all part of a good God.

[3:11] It is a good God who judges justly. It is a good God who says, yes, my wrath will be poured out upon sin. It all comes from that place of goodness. The weight of his glory is found when our lives come under that goodness and is expressed in grace.

[3:27] He says, Hey, here's my grace. I will show mercy. I'll be gracious upon whom I will be gracious. And we saw in the Hebrew, it means I am gracious to whomever gracious. I am merciful to whomever merciful. Whoever wants this.

[3:41] Moses knew that without God's presence, they were lost as a people. It was God's presence alone that set them apart from all the world. What made them different from any other religion? Except that God said, I will dwell among you.

[3:54] And Moses's desire was not just to experience God's present goodness and blessing. I think sometimes we get focused on that. Life's going hard. I wish God would bless me more. I wish more good things would happen.

[4:06] But his desire was to personally know the God who was present with him. He says, I want to know you, God. You're here with me, but I want to know you. You know, we are so blessed because we've experienced God's goodness.

[4:17] If we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then yes, for all intents and purposes, God has stamped our ticket. We're going to heaven. Praise God. But do you realize that God's heart is not just to make a way for you to experience good things?

[4:31] It's to experience himself. Himself. He is good. And his desire is to have a relationship with you. Moses was saying, if God is here, if God is here, then I want to know him.

[4:44] Isn't that why we're here? I mean, it is a really cool building. I'm sure you drove by and thought, that's a cool spot. Let's go check it out. You all are really nice people.

[4:57] But if you've been around people long enough, you realize that people are people. And that is a high watermark there. And it only goes so far. But Moses said, God, if you're here, I want to know you.

[5:10] And that's why we're here. We want to know him. We've looked at a present premise, a present presence. God's presence is present. We've looked at a glorious presence. Last week is glory.

[5:20] And this week, we're going to look at a personal presence. Where Moses says, God, I want to know you. I want to know who you are. Something beyond just what you've done for me.

[5:31] But who is the God doing it for me? In 2 Peter 1, verse 12, Peter says, I will not be negligent to always put you in remembrance of these things.

[5:42] The things that he's been talking to him about. The basic things of who they are in Christ. He says, though you know them and be established in the present truth. There's things that are very basic about our belief in God.

[5:52] And who we believe God to be and who we believe we are in him. And Peter says, I'm not going to be negligent. I'm not going to neglect. To neglect means to leave alone. To leave by itself. To no longer focus on.

[6:03] He's like, you know what? I'm not going to neglect that. I'm going to focus upon that. I know you know these things. And in fact, you're established in this. This is the present truth and reality that I hope all of you are established in.

[6:16] That Jesus Christ came into the world as a man. That died upon the cross. Taking the wrath of God upon him. Taking sin and death down into the grave. Leaving sin and death into the grave. And then overcoming sin and death.

[6:27] Because death has no power over a living spirit. And Jesus is not a spirit. Who has suffered or who has the effects of sin in his nature.

[6:38] And so he overcame that. And those who put their trust in him. They too can experience that life. And they can be born again. And I believe we're all sitting here establishing that present truth. And if you're not, today's that day.

[6:50] But there's some very basic things we know about God. But the reason we know those things is only because God desires us to know them.

[7:03] There's no other way to know those things. You know, it says the heavens declare the glory of God. Day under day, it speaks of his glory. But it doesn't speak of who he is. Right? You know, I have an iPhone.

[7:16] And it's an interesting piece of technology. A lot of thought and care and design went into it. And you can study that forever. But you're never going to find Steve Jobs in there. You're never going to find him.

[7:27] You're not going to know that's who was it. Who was this crazy, weird, madman that made this thing? You're not going to know that. You can study creation for a lifetime. But you're not going to find who it is behind it unless he reveals himself.

[7:40] Unless he steps out from behind that curtain and says, this is who I am. So what we know of God is because God desires to be known. I think that's a basic truth we all know. But I think sometimes we don't realize that.

[7:52] We neglect it. God's glory did not cause him to stand afar off. God didn't say, I'm going to show you my glory, Moses, but don't get too close. Don't get too close because I'm a little angry.

[8:04] We think that sometimes. We see God's glory and we think, whoa, God, you're so big. And I'm sure your glory pushes me away. But it doesn't. Instead, it draws me near. It draws us near in mercy.

[8:15] God says, my glory is in my goodness. My glory is in my grace. My glory is in my mercy. And that draws us in. God desires you. Do you believe that?

[8:26] God desires you. And I don't mean some weird kind of God's lovesick and he can't live without us. No, God is self-contained in eternity past and he needs no one. But he desires everyone. God desires you.

[8:38] He wants you to the extent that he would give his life to try and secure a relationship with you. Maybe you don't feel very desirable lately.

[8:49] Maybe you're like, dude, you don't know about this week. I wasn't doing anything where God would desire me. Romans 5, 8 says that God commends his love. He turns his love towards us.

[9:00] He brings his love to bear. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God desires us. It's not about the condition we're in. He already knows that condition.

[9:12] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners because he knows what our condition is. God has done his part in relationship. And yet, as great and powerful and amazing as God is, he can't do our part in relationship.

[9:27] There's another thing about people. It takes two people to have a relationship. You can't maintain both sides of a relationship. It can sometimes take a long time to realize that. I've been trying to maintain two sides of this relationship.

[9:40] Not even God can maintain both sides without willingness. Now, the amazing thing is, is when we come into that relationship with Jesus, he says, yes, here's what we're going to do.

[9:51] I'm going to supply everything you need to maintain your side of the relationship. God has done his part, but will we do ours? So let's jump into Exodus 34.

[10:03] As Moses here is continuing his conversation with God in Exodus 33, he would be in his tent that he had pitched out in the plane. And then it says God would come down in the cloud and he would speak to him from the other side of the tent.

[10:15] And we saw that he had this conversation that the Bible gave us a view into this conversation that God was having with Moses and Moses with God. Where he says, I beseed you, show me your glory. Let me know your grace and who you are.

[10:28] And then in verse 21 of Exodus 33, if you back up into Exodus 33, the Lord answers Moses and said, behold, there's a place near me and you shall stand upon a rock.

[10:41] And it shall come to pass while my glory passes by that I'll put you in a cleft of the rock. I'll put you in a little cave and I'll cover you with my hand and I will pass by and I'll take away my hand.

[10:52] And you shall see my back parts or you shall see the what you shall see what you can of me, Moses, of what you can contain of my glory. But my face, you shall not be seen, shall not be seen.

[11:03] And I don't know then because the chapter break here wasn't in the original writing as Moses wrote this. I don't know if it goes right in to this next section. And it's like, oh, God's just continuing to talk and says, OK, here's what we're going to do, Moses.

[11:14] It seems like there's some passage of time because it said in the Lord said unto Moses. And it seemed like if it was a continual conversation, you wouldn't have that. So I don't know how much time has passed. So Moses has gone back into the camp and he's just thinking these things over.

[11:27] God's going to show me his glory. When's that going to be? I can't wait. I can't wait to get back and spend time with Jesus, spend time with God. But either way, one of these other times where he's in his tent praying.

[11:39] It says in verse one of Exodus 34, And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first. Now write upon these tables the words which were written in the first, which you break.

[11:51] And God is not condemning Moses for his brokenness. But neither does he pretend things are other than they really are. He's not saying, Moses, I can't believe you broke those. But he's not pretending that brokenness didn't happen.

[12:06] He says, hey, brokenness is a reality, Moses. And we're going to fix that. But interestingly, God doesn't fix it, does he? He doesn't say, Moses, go and see if you can find those fragments.

[12:17] Get those pieces and bring them on over. Mix up some mortar. We'll see if we can fit them back together. No, God doesn't do that. God doesn't fix what is broken. In fact, he makes things new.

[12:29] Revelation 21 5, He that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. He's not going to take this crummy old world. Even after a thousand years of raining on it, Jesus says, okay, it's time to make all things new.

[12:43] I have a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And yet the new, however, is very much like the old, isn't it? But it is most definitely not the old.

[12:54] We've experienced this. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things have become new. Haven't you found that to be true? That there's something new, a new quality in your life.

[13:08] That when Jesus comes in, all of a sudden, you're not afraid of death. You have a peace and an assurance. There's a confidence in your relationship with God and who he is and who you are in him. You're like, I'm new.

[13:19] But maybe you've had friends or families or people who say, no, you're not new. You're just trying to fix up the old. You just go to church a lot now and you talk about religious things. You're just trying to be super holy. I know. He's trying to fix up the old.

[13:31] But it's not. It's new. But it's still very much like the old. You still look like you. It's not like when, you know, we're born again, all of a sudden it's like, whoa, you don't look anything like you. You still look like. No, very much like the old Jesus when he rose from the grave.

[13:46] He was given a new body, but it's still very much a body. And so with Moses here, he is to hew and that means to quarry or to shape. So he is to take some time to quarry out these two tablets and to shape them.

[14:01] And essentially for Moses and I think for us too, that which is hewn, that which is shaped, that which is quarried, it's a new creation. It's something brand new. It's not the old.

[14:13] It may look like the old, but it's not. It has a new quality. It's fresh. It's unspoiled. And there's no effects of breaking these two tablets that Moses brings. There's no signs of them being broken.

[14:23] And they are ready to receive God's word, aren't they? God hereby asking Moses to hew these tables. He's choosing to include Moses in the delivery of his word to his people.

[14:36] Previously, God has done on the God carved him out and God wrote on him and then gave him to Moses. Moses is like, wow. He comes down and he breaks him. And now God says, hey, we're going to do this again, but we're going to do it a little different.

[14:47] And this isn't to lessen it. It's not like, well, Moses, you broke the good stuff. And so now you're going to have to have the one off. Not at all. The glory of God's word is not lessened by man's involvement.

[14:58] In fact, it's enhanced. We don't bring anything. But it just displays how amazing our God is that he could take something so perfect and pure as his word, use man to be involved in distributing it and writing it and showing it to the world, and yet keep that word pure through countless generations, hundreds of years.

[15:17] How many writers? How many different lives and stories and histories and kingdoms and politics? And God says, I'm going to preserve my word pure through all of it.

[15:28] In fact, I'm going to involve man and I'm going to show how amazing I am. God could have just had some glowing perfect thing over here that he just kind of like let man see. That's enough. Not too much now.

[15:39] But he involves us. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, it says, So maybe God said, you know what?

[16:09] I've left this to man long enough. Now I'm going to bring it back and I'm not going to put it in the hands of a man. Or did he? God became a man. God didn't leave himself distant from us.

[16:20] In fact, he joined in with us. He said, I'm going to become one of you. I don't want my word to be distant. I'm going to bring my word to men by being a man. So Moses here before was just a bystander and just a recipient.

[16:33] The Lord is now asking Moses to take ownership over his part. He said, Moses, you're going to have a part in this. You're going to own your part in this relationship. You're going to own your part in receiving God's word and sharing God's word.

[16:47] Job 23, tucked away in the middle of Job, verse 12. Job is responding to one of his really good friends who are there to comfort him. And he says, I've not gone back from the commandment of his lips, meaning the Lord.

[16:59] I've not. In fact, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job says, I owned it. It was mine. I wanted it so bad.

[17:10] I desired it more than food. God's word. God's commands. Next time Moses comes down the mountain, he's going to come down with these tablets and they're going to be written on with the commandments.

[17:21] And it says his face is going to be glowing. And do you think no matter how mad he gets, he's going to throw those tablets? After all the time and care and took, he's like, no, no, no. These are, these are mine.

[17:33] These are mine. This isn't just something that God just did. And I'm a part of these are, these are mine. This is God's word to me. And he involved me in it. And verse two, and God says, all right, Moses, you take two tables of stone.

[17:46] The ones like you broke. You know what they look like, because I've kind of already showed you. And be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me in the top of the mountain.

[18:00] Moses didn't have a lot of time to prepare. What time of the day before did God say this? Be ready in the morning and come up. And what did he tell him this the night before, the afternoon before, the morning before?

[18:11] I mean, at most you got 24 hours. He didn't have a lot of time to prepare. But I'm sure what time he did have, he used it to prepare for receiving God's word. I don't, I can't picture Moses just being like, oh, God, I don't got a lot of time.

[18:28] I mean, one day to get ready. All right, I'll just go quickly chisel out some stones. I don't know how you quickly chisel stones. I was going to take a little time. Like, all right, fine there.

[18:38] I got it done. It's good enough. It's good enough. He didn't have a lot of time, but I bet he used it to prepare for receiving God's word. I bet he wanted to make sure those tablets were ready. First Peter tells us to be prepared.

[18:51] It says to sanctify, to set apart the Lord God in our hearts and be ready. Always be prepared to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you.

[19:02] With meekness and fear. Are you ready? Are you prepared? I don't got a lot of time to prepare for that. I got things to do. I can't be getting up in the morning. God, the morning? Oh, but there's no getting around it.

[19:13] God is a God of the morning. And of the afternoon. And of the evening. Psalm 55, 17 says, Evening and morning and noon will I cry.

[19:24] I will pray and cry aloud. And he shall hear my voice. God is a God of the morning. Why? Why does God do things? Jesus rose in the morning. Why is God a God of the morning? I think because God loves new things and fresh things.

[19:36] That's what morning represents. Now, your morning may not start at 430 in the morning. Like mine. Your morning may start at 930 or 1030. That's fine. But God loves mornings.

[19:50] He loves those new things. And that's what a day. I mean, he could have just created us that there's no days. Or weeks. And just one continuous work day. That's horrible.

[20:02] Lamentations 322 says, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

[20:13] Does that mean they ran out? No, no, no. It means God wants us to experience that newness and that freshness every day. Am I taking time? Am I prepared to receive that? Am I prepared to step into those mercies?

[20:23] God wanted Moses to receive his word by three things. By being ready. By being up. And by being present. Moses, get ready. Moses, get up here.

[20:35] Moses, be here present before me. Sometimes that's the hardest thing. Just to be ready. Just to be up. There's mornings I don't want to get up. Go, Lord, I don't want to get up.

[20:48] But I sure don't want to show up on Sunday morning with nothing to say. But validly, even before then. Even before, this is what God called me to. It was still. God, I want to be with you.

[21:00] I want to know you. I don't want to find myself halfway through my day and I'm like, I got nothing. Nothing to carry me through. And being present. Being present.

[21:10] Being ready. Being up. Being present. Sometimes it's hard to be present. It's hard to keep my focus when I'm praying or reading. I'm everywhere else. Right? Right? And no man shall come up with you, Moses.

[21:24] Come by yourself, Moses. Neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain. Neither let the flocks nor herds feed before the mountain. God says, all right, you're going to come up alone. There are some things we must do alone.

[21:36] There are some things we have to partake of alone. Our personal, individual relationship with God and his word is one of those things. Must be done alone.

[21:47] Your personal, individual relationship with God and his word is something that nobody can do for you. And yet, here we are as a body.

[21:58] Jesus says, you're part of my body. And he says, all these people are my body. We are all individual members of one body. Gathered together collectively. And yet, we are each receiving personally from the Lord as we sit here.

[22:14] And that benefits the whole. It's a beautiful thing how God works that. For Moses, though, he said, you come alone. It doesn't even seem like Joshua was with him this time. He said, come up alone, Moses. 1 Corinthians 12.

[22:27] Paul's speaking of the body. The body of Christ, the church. And then he says, well, he likens it to our bodies. And he says, for as the body is one and has many members. And all the members of that one body, being many, are one body.

[22:39] Hand, finger, toes, knees, shoulders are all part of one. But yet, they're all individual. So also is Christ. For the body is not one member, but many.

[22:49] But there are many individual members that make up the whole. There are some things we must do alone. And even as we come together and we receive together, the people sitting next to you can't have a relationship with Jesus for you.

[23:03] Now, we can be with you. We can encourage you. But it's you alone who must seek the Lord. It's you alone who must go up, get up, be ready, and be present.

[23:15] And then there seems to be this distance. Why distance? He says, hey, I don't want anybody going for a hike that day onto the mountain. I don't want anybody feeding their sheep up there. Nobody's going to be near this.

[23:25] And it seems like, whoa, God's keeping everybody away. Moses must be really special. Why distance? Well, God was setting boundaries to protect his people. Remember what happened last time? Moses went down the mountain.

[23:37] What did they do at the base of the mountain? And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron. And said unto him, I pray up.

[23:50] Make us gods which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what's become of him. God knew the propensities of this people.

[24:01] Remember, he kept telling Moses, they are stiff-necked people. I know they said, we won't ever do this again, God. We promise. But Moses, as soon as you're out of sight, they're going to be at the base of that mountain, and they're going to be doing their thing again.

[24:12] So he was ensuring their protection by setting boundaries. Romans 13, 14 says that we are not to make provision for the flesh. We're not to provide for it. We're not to go out of our way to make a space for it.

[24:24] And God here is setting boundaries. I think a lot of times it appears to us like God is withholding something from us. He's keeping something back. We're like, God, why won't you let me have that?

[24:36] Yet in reality, he's protecting these people from harm, isn't he? Do we believe that? Do we believe God's boundaries are for our protection? Do we believe his boundaries are for our blessing?

[24:50] We believe God's holiness, which calls us apart, to be set apart, to be sanctified, is for our health. And we believe that that sanctification is for safety. Well, if God is good, as we said, and all that he does is good, then that means staying within his boundaries is also good.

[25:09] Yeah, but Lord, have you seen what's on the other side of that fence? It looks good. I'm sure it's good. No matter how harmless stepping outside of that boundary may appear.

[25:20] It's there for our blessing, for our health, and for our safety. In 2 Samuel, David is king now over all of Israel. He's arrived.

[25:32] And it tells us in chapter 12 that there was a time where he should have gone out to war. It's the time, it's the season, it was the place and space for him as a king to go out for war. That was a boundary God had put upon his life.

[25:44] He said, you know what? I'm tired. I don't want to do that. I'm just going to stay home. What could that hurt? For a whole year, David is in sin.

[25:55] Guilt, condemnation, and sin over his choice. And eventually, Nathan has to come to him, the prophet. God says, this is enough. Just go and tell him. And he comes and he says, David, you've despised the commandment of God, and you've done evil in his sight.

[26:08] You've killed Uriah the Hittite. You've killed Uriah, one of your right-hand men, one of your men of valor. He was a Hittite, David. He was an enemy of Israel, and yet he saw something in you that he wanted, and he came to you, and he said, I want to be part of God's people.

[26:25] You've killed him with a sword, and you've taken his wife to be your wife. And not only did you kill him, but you allowed the enemies of Israel to kill him. You've slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

[26:37] There's no worse way to die. David said, all I wanted to do was just take a day off. All I wanted to do was just be comfortable. That's all. And look what it led to.

[26:49] Do we believe that the boundaries God sets for us are for blessing, health, and safety? And Moses then, he does what the Lord says. He takes that day and he hews, in verse 4, two tables of stone, like unto the first.

[27:03] And he rose up early in the morning, and he went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hand the two tables of stone. Moses' part in this required his time, his attention, and his effort.

[27:18] What type of effort do you think he put into his stones? Right? Oh, this is good enough. I've got things to do. I don't need to smooth off the rough edges. Oh, well.

[27:29] I think he put a lot of time into it. I think he put a lot of care into it. I'm not going to come before the Lord with something that's just half done. Colossians chapter 3 says, And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance.

[27:48] For you serve the Lord Christ. Whatever you do, dot, dot, dot, dot, is in service to the Lord Christ. Whatever you do. I don't like cleaning as much as the rest of you.

[28:01] My house, let alone the church. It's actually easier to clean the church. It's never that messy. And it's not in service to you or even at home to my wife.

[28:13] Now, yes, I want to serve you and I want to serve you, but it's to the Lord. It's because, Lord, you are so good that you have given me people to serve. That you've given me a wife to serve. What a blessing.

[28:24] I want to do that as unto you. The time and care that Moses put into these tablets, I don't think it was to display his abilities either. I don't think he was like, check this out, guys. Check out these tablets.

[28:34] You got tablets like this? I bet you don't have tablets like this. I've been reading my Bible for three days straight. Haven't eaten anything. I'm just reading, you know. I've memorized four chapters. Let me show you my abilities.

[28:47] I don't think so at all. What was the point of what he was doing this for? It was to display God's word. The more time he took with those tablets, the more easily God's word would be displayed.

[29:01] Right? And just see someone. Well, I put together some tablets. Here you go. I can't tell. Is that an E or an F? It's so rough. It's so the shadows. And I mean, I can hardly read this thing. I mean, you could have taken a little more time on it.

[29:11] Moses was prepared to receive God's word. He was ready to go up and receive God's word in obedience. God said to him, hey, Moses, take the time. Take the time to prepare.

[29:22] Take the time to be ready to receive my word. He was on time. He said, Moses, get up here in the morning to present yourself to me in the morning. Well, I'll get there eventually, God.

[29:34] I'll eventually get there. And he showed up equipped. He was ready to go. Now, thankfully, you and I, we don't have to go. All right, guys, kids, it's Saturday. We're going to take the rest of the day hewing stones because tomorrow's church.

[29:48] Right? We don't have to do that. Praise God. But we do have to obey. We have to respond to his call. We do have to be on time. Well, sometimes we have to carve out time.

[30:00] I don't got to carve that tablet, but I may have to carve out some time. Man, am I coming equipped? I don't have to bring a tablet of stone, but I can bring a tablet of paper. Right? Listen, guys, God has given us his word.

[30:14] And these tablets, yes, I'm using a tablet. I know what you're thinking. Well, don't get on. Moses had two tablets. Yeah, but they had no Wi-Fi. And they had no other apps on them. So if your tablet doesn't have Wi-Fi and only has God's word, great.

[30:27] But there's nothing more distracting than trying to carve out time in obedience to the Lord, coming in equipped and trying to read on something that's just affordable to all kinds of other things. Bling. I didn't know that.

[30:39] It's their birthday. Get a Bible. Read the word. If you need one, we'll give you one. We'll buy you one. If you need a large print, we'll find the largest print we need, that you need.

[30:49] Be in the word and get the word in you. Right? And the Lord descended in the cloud. As Moses then comes up on the mountain with his two tablets, he comes alone and the Lord then descends in the cloud and he stood with him there.

[31:01] Where is he standing? Where's Moses standing? He's standing on the rock. Moses was not standing alone upon the rock. Neither do we. We don't stand alone when we come and we put our feet firmly on that rock in Christ.

[31:13] He's there with us. And there he proclaimed the name of the Lord. God came down to stand with man. Moses experienced God standing there with him. You and I have experienced that God in Christ Jesus has come down to stand with man by standing as man.

[31:31] So that we all may know his name, his nature, and his character. He says, I'm going to proclaim the name of the Lord. I'm going to make it manifest to you, Moses. As you stand here, I'm going to stand here with you. The Lord descended in a cloud.

[31:43] And that same Lord went to heaven in a cloud. And praise God is returning in clouds. In Acts chapter 1, as Jesus ascends to heaven, all the disciples are standing there.

[31:55] And he goes up. It says that as he's speaking to them, he's caught up into a cloud. And they're all standing there looking up. And it says, two men stood by them in white apparel. And they said, what are you doing? Why are you gazing up into heaven?

[32:06] What are you looking for? What do you mean we're looking for? Jesus just went up there. We're hoping he's coming right back. He said, this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, and shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.

[32:20] 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. Be careful. There's a lot of trumpets in scripture.

[32:31] There's trumpets of angels. There's trumpets of God. There's a lot of trumpets in Revelation. But they are not the trump of God. And I'm not going to make a political comment. That's not the trump of God either. But hopefully that trump comes to know God.

[32:46] And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

[32:58] Moses, the Lord is going to descend and stand upon that rock next to you in a cloud. We will be invited into the cloud. Moses, this is as close as you can come, bro. This is as close as the law can get.

[33:09] There's going to always be separation for you and I. Jesus says, hey, I'm going to invite you into the cloud. There we will be with the Lord in the cloud. Here God would proclaim to Moses what only God could proclaim to Moses.

[33:21] What only God could reveal by revelation. He would proclaim who he is. Moses, I want you to know. I want you to know who I am. In Exodus chapter 3, Moses is at the burning bush.

[33:35] And he says, well, God, who are you? And who am I going to tell these people you are? Because they're going to want to know. He says, Moses, tell them that I am that I am. I am the all sufficient one. In Exodus chapter 6, God comes and speaks to Moses.

[33:48] And he says that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, they've known me as El Shaddai, God almighty. But you shall know me as Jehovah, as he continues to reveal. First Corinthians chapter 2, verse 9, Paul writes and says, it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

[34:12] How do we know? How do we know God? It doesn't, it's not something that we just are born with that I know who God is. We know there is a God if we're honest with ourselves. We know there is a God because the heavens and creation declare there's a designer.

[34:27] But who is this God? But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

[34:39] God wants us to know who he is. And not just on a surface level. He wants us to come in deep. We joke, that should be our tagline. Calvary Chapel Charlotte, we go deep. And he would declare this name to Moses, just as he's declared the name to us.

[34:59] Philippians 2, 9 and 10, wherefore God has also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. And what is that name? It's Jesus. It's Yeshua. It's Jehovah is salvation.

[35:10] It's not God powerful. God, look out. God is salvation. At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. And the closer Moses drew near to God, the greater the revelation of who God was, was displayed to Moses.

[35:25] As Moses comes step by step closer. And God is drawing him. And if you just look at it on the surface, man, God's kind of angry. He says he's not going to go with the people. He says, Moses, no, I'm going to stay over here.

[35:36] And yet what he's doing is he's drawing Moses. Moses is like, no, God, there's something else going on here. I know you. Jesus, you feel so distant this week. What's going on? I'm searching my life. I haven't done any really bad sins.

[35:48] I've been reading my Bible. That's the things we go through. It's like, Lord, where are you? Why are you so distant? There must be a reason. And I know it's not because you're a distant God. James tells us that if we draw near to God, he'll draw near to us.

[36:01] So maybe, God, you've pulled away. What feels like you've pulled away? Because you want me to draw near. Because you're drawing me in closer. And the Lord now passes by before Moses.

[36:12] Where is Moses? Well, at this point, he came down and stood with him on the rock. Well, at this point, he took him by his hand and pulled him into the rock. Right? Because he says, I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. And the Lord passed by before him.

[36:25] And proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim. Merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth.

[36:39] The Lord here is fulfilling his word to Moses. He said, Moses, I will proclaim my name to you. As Moses obeys his word, God is fulfilling his word. And I love the phrasing here.

[36:50] It says, he passed by. And we might think that means, oh, someone's passing by. How are you doing? That's not the idea. It's displaying. He's showing. He didn't pass on from Moses.

[37:01] Say, Moses, I'm moving on to someone else. I've had enough of you and these people. He didn't pass on. And he didn't pass away. And say, Moses, you're not going to know me anymore. I'm just going to go and do a new thing.

[37:13] But he passed by. That means he was near him. That means he was with him. And that means he was there to display himself. He passed by Moses to reveal to him all that could be revealed about himself.

[37:26] He didn't hold anything. He said, Moses, this is what I want you to know. I want you to know this about me, Moses. And where was Moses? Well, he was in a place where he could experience all of this. He was in the place where he could experience all that God wanted him to know about himself.

[37:42] He didn't want to miss a thing. I think in Acts where the church has been birthed on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes. And you wouldn't want to miss that either. So they're all gathered together in the upper room.

[37:53] But there's subsequent times where the church gathers together and God moves in a mighty way. I think of where after they had been, some of them have been taken and they've been beaten before the Sanhedrin and told, don't preach in this name.

[38:06] And he said, hey, whether it be better for us to obey God or to obey man, you decide. But as for us, we're going to obey the Lord. And it says they go back. They go back to the church and they gather together and they pray and they worship and they say, God, thank you.

[38:21] Thank you for allowing us to suffer for your name. Now give us boldness that we may go and proclaim your word. And then it says the place was shaken, like physically shaken.

[38:32] And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they all went out speaking boldly. I didn't want to be that one guy who on the Monday morning is like, hey, I was church yesterday. Dude, revival happened.

[38:43] The place shook. God came. It was amazing. I didn't want to be that guy. So for my family and I, as the kids were growing up, we were there. We were there. Not because it made us holy and we wanted to display how holy we were.

[38:56] No, I wanted to be equipped. I wanted to be ready to be able to take God's word and share it. And I also wanted to know this God. And I didn't want to miss it. And I think I look at Moses. He took the time and he's here.

[39:07] Even if he had to be by himself, he's like, I'm going to be there and I'm not going to miss this. Nobody else saw this. Don't you think that if there were those who wanted it, God would have allowed them to come? Don't you think if there was someone who's like, Moses, I want this so bad.

[39:20] I want the Lord. That they too would have been able to come. Moses didn't want to miss a thing. All that God wanted to be known is contained in one sentence.

[39:33] Moses says, God, show me your glory. God says, well, here it is. Moses is going to take a few weeks. He contained it in one sentence. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant and goodness and truth.

[39:48] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And yet he will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the children's children, under the third and the fourth generation.

[40:03] God says, Moses, here it is. In one sentence, this is what I want you to know about me. Now we'll get it out of the way, the end part right away. Where he says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, the children's children.

[40:15] What does that mean? Well, it's a Hebrew idiom, which just means perpetual. That's what it means. This doesn't mean generational curse. Like some people are like, well, listen, the word, we're going to see this eventually. The word iniquity is an inner depravity.

[40:27] It's our nature. The idea here is he's saying that there is nobody who's exempt from the condition of sin. And I can't just clear him. I can't just read. I can't just say, hey, we'll pretend it didn't happen.

[40:38] But he can forgive it. As he declares the Lord, his name here. And the first thing he says is that he's merciful. And the word merciful means full of compassion.

[40:49] And I love this definition. A tender heart of love and sorrow. Easily moved by distress and suffering. God's heart is a tender heart of love and sorrow.

[41:02] Remember, it says Jesus that he was acquainted with grief. Jesus understood. Easily moved by distress and suffering.

[41:13] When he saw, when he came to Moses, he said, Moses, I've seen, I've seen the oppression of my people. And I'm going to deliver them because I'm a God who's merciful. Moses.

[41:24] Matthew 9, 36. But Jesus, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.

[41:35] Without heart of love and sorrow, he saw their suffering. He said, I'm merciful. And I am gracious, full of favor and acceptance. Gracious. And how did he, how did he display that grace?

[41:47] How do we receive that grace? Because it came at a price we couldn't pay. He displayed that grace by paying that price we couldn't pay. Ephesians 1, 7.

[41:58] In whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. He paid the price to redeem us, to buy us back. According to the riches of his grace. Moses, I'm merciful.

[42:09] I'm gracious. And I am long suffering. Long suffering. Slow to wrath. Or literally, God patiently endures the causes of wrath. Like that is a legitimate cause for wrath.

[42:22] Yet he patiently endures it. I did not always patiently endure the causes of wrath that my children did. That is a cause for wrath. And here it comes. Right? God patiently endures that.

[42:35] He is long suffering. In 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. As some men might count slackness. Oh, God doesn't care. No, he does.

[42:46] He is long suffering to usward. In other words, God is patiently enduring the causes of wrath. Because he's not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance. Moses, I am merciful.

[42:58] I am gracious. I am long suffering, Moses. And I am abundant in goodness and truth. God is known by his goodness. He says, this is how I want you to know me, Moses.

[43:10] And this is how I want you to display this to my people. God, who is going to write the law with Moses on these tablets. I think, oh, it's the law. The law is so, whoa, it's so stark. It's so mean.

[43:21] It's, no, God says the law is to display my goodness. The law. If the law can display God's goodness, then how much more? The new covenant. And Jesus said in Mark 10, 18 to the rich young ruler who said, Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

[43:38] And he said, why do you call me good? There's none good but one. That is God. And if this young dude knew his Bible, this is what he'd be thinking of.

[43:49] Oh, God proclaimed his name to Moses. He said, I am good. There's only one good. Verse 7, keeping mercy for thousands.

[44:00] The word thousands there is interesting. Most of the places in scripture has a numeral before it. Ten thousands. Two thousands. Hundred thousands. When it doesn't, it just means thousands upon thousands upon thousands.

[44:13] It's an uncontained number. It's essentially saying that God's goodness is expressed in forgiveness. To an innumerable number of those who would receive his mercy.

[44:24] It's just mercy for thousands. Any who would receive it. And the word mercy there in the English, it's actually the same word for goodness from verse 6. Goodness for thousands.

[44:37] Psalm 86, 1. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth.

[44:48] This is who God displayed himself to be to Moses. Moses, this is who I am. This is who you're going to write about on these tablets. And this is who I'm going to be to this people. Forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin.

[45:05] Three words, essentially, for what we all might consider the same thing. Sin. Iniquity means perverseness or depravity.

[45:17] And the idea is it's an inner condition. We all have this. We all have iniquity. Where David says, I was conceived in iniquity. Didn't mean, oh, my mother, you know, conceived me in sin by doing a sinful act.

[45:28] It means that this perverse, depraved inner condition was passed on to me too. So, transgression is more of a willful act of rebellion. Kind of an outward act.

[45:40] Kind of like, yeah, I'm going to blow through that boundary whether God says to or not. My inner depravity makes me constantly question God's boundaries and push up against them.

[45:51] Transgression is when I decide to act upon that and I'm going to blow through that. Sin. All that causes guilt before God. In the blanket statement. God says here, he will forgive our inner depravity.

[46:06] He will forgive our rebellion. And he will forgive all that causes guilt before him. But God commends his love towards us and that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[46:18] And then it almost seems like he contradicts himself. Like, wait a minute. He'll forgive. But then it says he'll by no means clear the guilty. What does that mean? It means he can't overlook it. He can't just overlook sin and pretend that it's not there.

[46:29] He can forgive sin, but he will never overlook sin. Well, don't. Just pretend it didn't happen, God. And then where he says that he will visit the iniquity of the fathers.

[46:41] Remember iniquity? Iniquity was that inner condition, that inner depravity. So, yes, every generation. There's no generation that's exempt. There's no generation that can say, well, wait a minute. My fathers received forgiveness.

[46:52] So then I should, too. And I shouldn't have to worry about my sin. Well, you can receive forgiveness just as your fathers did. But your sin cannot be overlooked. But God will forgive it.

[47:04] Sin can never be set aside. It can never be overlooked. But it can always be forgiven. And Moses made haste after hearing this. And he bows himself. He bowed his head toward the earth.

[47:15] And he worshiped. The more Moses knew of God, the more he worshiped. The more God revealed of himself, the more Moses' response was to worship. Remember when John chapter 4, when Jesus is in Samaria.

[47:28] And he's passing through there. And the disciples all went to get food at Chick-fil-A. And he's just left there at the well. And the woman comes. And it's the wrong time of day to be giving water. And they have this conversation.

[47:38] And she realizes that he starts to, like, drill in to, no pun intended for well jokes. But it starts to drill in to her heart. And she just tries to deflect.

[47:49] Well, the Jews say worship here. We say worship here. Who really knows if they can know God? Nobody knows. And Jesus said, you worship, you know not what. Not a good place to be.

[48:02] He said, but we know what we worship. Moses knew what he worshiped. We know what we worship. Because God wanted to reveal who he was. He wanted Moses to know. For salvation is of the Jews.

[48:15] And God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. True worship is a natural reaction to truth. If you find yourself not worshiping God.

[48:28] If you find yourself, you know, avoiding the idea of worshiping God. And I don't just mean like, oh, I don't really like to sing. I'm not talking about that. I'm saying a life that is as Moses bows down and surrenders to the Lord.

[48:39] If you find yourself not experiencing a life of surrender. Well, maybe you're not receiving truth. Because true worship is a natural reaction to truth.

[48:50] The more truth I receive of who God is. And the more that heart of worship comes out. And here we see that Moses' worship had honored God. He bowed before God. He was low before God.

[49:00] He didn't say, well, God, I'm here. I'm in your presence and I brought these tablets. Let's do something. He honored God. It was in spirit and truth. Because he says, if I have now found grace in your sight, oh Lord.

[49:14] Let my Lord, I pray you go among us. It reflected the heart of God. For it is a stiff-necked people. That's still the truth part. Spirit and truth. And pardon our iniquity and our sin.

[49:26] And take us for your inheritance. Moses pretty much, word for word, spits back God's word to him. Moses' worship was based in the word of God. Didn't God just say all this? Moses, you found grace in my sight.

[49:38] Moses, I'm going to go among you. Moses, this is a stiff-necked people. And I'm going to pardon their iniquity and their sin. And I will take them for an inheritance. Moses is spitting back to the Lord simply what God has spoken to him.

[49:51] And that's what our worship should be. In spirit and truth. It honors God. It reflects his heart. And it's based in the word. God's grace.

[50:02] God's goodness in Moses' life. Moses is experiencing God's presence. God's pardon. And he's experiencing what it is to be one of God's people. Moses came prepared.

[50:14] He came prepared to personally receive God's word. And to take God at his word. He was ready. He was ready to receive God. And to receive his word. But he also took God at his word.

[50:24] 2 Peter 1, verse 16. Peter says, We've not followed cunningly devised fables. We didn't follow things that were made up.

[50:35] You know, we've talked about that. Our faith is rooted in history. Historical, actual facts. Is what we base the truth off of. Of what we believe. When we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[50:45] We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Like we were the ones there writing down this history. Yet we have a more sure word of prophecy. We have something greater than what we've seen. This word of prophecy.

[50:57] Speaking forth the truth of God. Whereunto you do well that you take heed. As unto a light that shines in a dark place. Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.

[51:09] Take heed to God's word. It's a light that's shining in the dark. What happens when you don't take heed to the light shining in the dark? You fall down. You walk in the dark. Until the day dawn.

[51:20] Until Jesus is. Until we are face to face with him. And the word and faith become sight. Until then take heed. We know that God is not a God that desires distance.

[51:33] He's drawn Moses near. And if he's drawing Moses near. Under the old covenant. If he's drawing Moses near for the purpose of the law. Then how much more? He will draw near to any who will draw near to him.

[51:43] So as we close this morning. Are we personally? Am I personally? Are you personally prepared for God's presence?

[51:54] Are you prepared for his presence? Does that mean anything in your life? Are you prepared to receive his word? Are you willing to take the time to prepare yourself to receive his word?

[52:08] It takes time. It takes time to prepare yourself. It doesn't work to just do, you know, the flop open method. And live on that. Right? That's like living on Cheerios. It tastes good for a little bit.

[52:20] But you're not going to have a lot of nourishment. It takes some time. Are we prepared? Are we ready? Are we up? And are we present? Are we ready?

[52:31] Up and present. Daily to receive from God. Do we value that as something in our lives? If God would go to all this trouble. Moses. Look at all that he's done here to say, okay, Moses, I just want to tell you who I am.

[52:45] All of this just so I can tell you who I am. God would go to all the trouble to come as a baby. To be in obscurity for 30 years in this world. Just so that he could present himself for three years and then die.

[53:00] To say, I want you to know who I am. I don't. I'm not angry with you. I love you. Are we prepared to receive God's word in obedience? On time.

[53:11] And equipped. Well, I'm going to set my own boundaries. This is my relationship with God. This is how I relate to God. I feel God. Or I watch a show based on God.

[53:22] Or I go hang out with friends who are Christians. Are we prepared to receive God's word and obedience? On time. Equipped. God is not looking for us to prepare tablets of stone.

[53:37] He's not looking today to write upon stones. But he is looking to write upon something. And it's a lot more tender than a stone. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.

[53:52] I will put my laws into their minds. And I will write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God. And they shall be to me a people. That God would do that? That God would write upon our hearts his word?

[54:03] And they shall not teach every man his neighbor. And every man his brother saying, know the Lord. Because everyone can have their own personal relationship with God.

[54:13] We don't need a priest. We don't need a system. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. God desires us to own our part in receiving his word.

[54:23] But it's not just for us, guys. God wants to use your life to display his word to this world. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 3.

[54:34] For as much as you are manifestly declared, you are shown to be this. To be the epistle, the letter of Christ. Written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God.

[54:46] Not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Are you prepared? He said, well, I got a lot of rough edges.

[54:57] There's a lot of rough edges to this stone, to this tablet. I don't think he's prepared to receive God's word. It's going to take a lot of time. A lot of hammering. A lot of chiseling.

[55:08] Man, let God take care of the rough edges. Let him smooth them out. He can take care of that. It's not a work that God leaves in our hands. It's by his spirit. Are we personally receiving God's word?

[55:18] Are we still fighting against those boundaries that he's put on our lives? We've been fence bangers, you know, like that sheep that's always just finding its way out. Proverbs 18, 10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower.

[55:34] The righteous runs into it and is safe. The name of the Lord. As Moses says, God, I want to know you. And he says, Moses, I'm going to proclaim my name to you. And that name's a strong tower.

[55:45] But you know what? The tower's got walls. It's got four walls. It's got a door. It's got boundaries. And if you spend all of your time standing there staring at the wall, going, God, I wonder what's on the other side of this.

[55:57] I can't believe I'm trapped. You're keeping me from something. Turn around. Turn around. He's not keeping you from something. He's keeping you in something. He's keeping you in his grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness that he's personally expressed to you.

[56:11] Yes, the name of the Lord, it's a strong tower. It's isolated. It removes us from some things. It does. It does. It sets boundaries in our lives. But those boundaries are for our blessing, our health, and our safety.

[56:26] You see, all that God wants us to know about himself, all that he says, this is what I want you to know about me, is contained in one sentence. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[56:46] All that God wants you to know about himself is contained in that sentence. But that is not all that you get to know about God. It will take a lifetime and an eternity to understand all of who God is, to experience that one verse and that one sentence.

[56:59] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. To seek the Lord, it requires our time, our attention, and our effort.

[57:11] God has done his part. Am I willing to do mine? Am I willing to give my time, my attention, and my effort? There's plenty of things I give my time, attention, and effort to. There's plenty of things I want done really well in my life that I'll exclude all other things and all other people for.

[57:23] But to seek the Lord, it requires time. No, you're not going to have to carve a tablet of stone, but you may have to carve out time.

[57:34] No, you're not going to have to go up to a mountain, but you may have to get up. And no, you're not going to have to set these boundaries and remove yourself from everybody, but God may set boundaries that remove people from your life.

[57:48] Paul says in Philippians 3, he says, I count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that I may know him. Paul, you want to know?

[57:59] Don't Paul, Paul, you don't know Jesus. Is Paul saying he's not a Christian here? He doesn't know the Lord. No, he's just saying there's so much more I can know. I want to know him. I want to be prepared personally for his presence.

[58:12] I want to come into his presence. Yes, with all of you. But what good does it do me if I'm here and I don't experience his presence and everybody else around me does? What good is it if all I'm doing is just watching at a distance and seeing like his glory displayed for someone else?

[58:29] God wants to write upon our hearts his word so that we can know him and so that we can display him. Isaiah chapter 40 is a prophecy speaking of John the Baptist who will come and prepare the way for Jesus.

[58:47] It says, The voice of him that cries in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill made low.

[58:58] Every crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Well, now when you read that verse, you can know what his glory is.

[59:09] What's the glory of the Lord being revealed? Well, that's Jesus. Full of grace and truth. Full of goodness and mercy and forgiveness. Listen, you don't have to fill up those low places.

[59:23] You say, man, I got some low places in my life. How am I going to get to Jesus? I've got all these obstacles. There's this mountain in my life. I feel so crooked and so rough. Let God smooth that out.

[59:35] He'll remove the obstacles. How prepared are we? What is the effort we have to put forth? Just give your time and attention to Jesus.

[59:46] And he'll do all the rest. Father, thank you so much, Lord. We're blown away that you have drawn us in, Lord. You invited us to your side. And then you've drawn us into your presence.

[59:58] And then you've declared to us something that we could have never, ever, ever known. Except that you have chosen to reveal that. And Lord, I want my brothers and sisters today, Lord, to leave here knowing that you are a good God who loves them.

[60:11] Who will forgive all their iniquity, all of their transgression, and all of their sin. And who desires relationship. And Lord, you don't twist our arms.

[60:22] You don't force us, but you do call us. And we're here this morning, Lord. Maybe we haven't been here or in your presence in a long time, Lord. Maybe we've not been in a place where we could receive from you something so wonderful as to hear your name.

[60:38] Jesus, we love that name. We love that you're our salvation. Lord, we thank you for being here with us, Lord. We thank you for displaying all the glory of God on the cross of Jesus Christ.

[60:54] Lord, we thank you for being here with us.

[61:25] Thank you, Lord, that your heart is a heart of compassion, of mercy, of grace, of forgiveness. Lord, would you please silence those wicked voices in our minds, Lord, that tell us we are not worthy.

[61:42] That remind us, Lord, of our iniquity, of our transgression, of our sin. Lord, you don't deny that the brokenness is there. But you don't condemn us for it.

[61:57] There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Lord, you want to bring us out from under condemnation. Thank you for showing us your glory, Lord.

[62:12] Amen. God desires you. God desires to have a personal, individual relationship with you. He does. He desires you.

[62:24] He's done his part. Will we do ours? Amen. Let's all stand and close. We're going to close in a worship song and then you're dismissed.

[62:35] If you need prayer, I'd love to pray with you. If you need to talk about some of these things or if you're not sure of your relationship with the Lord, Lord, don't leave here in doubt of who he is and who he is in your life.

[62:49] Right? The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[63:04] God bless you.