Show Me Your Glory

Justin Ader (0:00)

Well, good morning, church. Again.

We are super thankful that you are here with us this Lord's Day to worship our good God together. If you're visiting or newer to Disciples Church and we have not met, my name is Justin Ader, and I have the privilege to open the Word of God with you this morning.

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Exodus chapter 33, Exodus chapter 33

We are taking a break this week from our Luke series. Pastor Josh will be back with you next week to continue on in that. So today we're going to be in Exodus chapter 33

Our text this morning will be Exodus 33, starting at verse 12 through 23

As you turn there, I want to begin with a question that sits underneath this entire passage. And that question is, what do you really want from God?

What do you really want from God?

If God were to answer every prayer that you have been praying lately, and what would your life look like? Maybe you've been praying for healing, maybe you've been praying for your children, maybe you've been praying about your marriage, maybe your finances, maybe your work or some decision that you need to make. Perhaps there is a burden that you have been caring for months or even years, and you desperately want God to change the situation.

There's nothing wrong with bringing those things before Him. Scripture tells us to bring our request to God. In fact, Jesus taught His disciples to pray for daily bread. Our Father cares for His children, and we are invited to cast our anxieties upon Him because He cares for us. But I want to ask a deeper question.

Suppose that God gave you everything that you were asking for. Your health improved, your family was doing well, your finances became secure, your work was successful, your biggest problems disappeared, right? Your plans worked out exactly as you had hoped. But in receiving all of those things, you did not have any greater fellowship with God. Would that be enough?

Would we be satisfied to have God's gifts without deeply knowing the God who gives them?

Now, that question brings us directly into Exodus chapter 33, because Moses is faced with something very similar. God tells Israel that they can continue toward the promised land. Their enemies will still be driven out. The land flowing with milk and honey will still be there. But God tells them that his presence will not go with them in the same way. And Moses essentially responds by saying, Then I do not want to go.

See, for Moses, the promised land without the presence of God is no longer truly the blessing. Because the greatest gift God can give his people is not something simply from his hand. The greatest gift God gives his people is himself.

And as we move through our passage this morning, Moses will take us even further than that. He will not merely plead for the presence of God, right? After God promises to go with him, Moses will make one of the boldest requests in all of scripture. Please show me your glory.

So church, follow along in your Bibles as I read, and let us hear from the word of our Lord together. Exodus 33, starting at verse 12 Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight. Now, therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider, too, that this nation is your people. And he said, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken, I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses said, please show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But, he said, you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Now, this is the word of the Lord. Let's pray.