Sermon – “Finding His Grace”

what a vision is just in vision that there is that 10 it’s out there they could see it it’s way out there though but they could see it in her standing there when they watch Moses go into that tent tabernacle of meeting and that pillar of cloud come down and descend upon that 10 friends would now be awesome that the neighborhood all around the church has looked in a big pillar of cloud descended upon our meeting house every Sabbath

that would be awesome but we know that he is present through His Holy Spirit but I still think wow how awesome to see that pillar of cloud just when I think of that is like wow that’s awesome What an amazing thing that would have been to experience and see

and all the people rose and worshiped each man in his tent door so the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and he would return to the camp but his servant Joshua the son of Nun a young man did not depart from the tabernacle he did not the part because he stood there as guard because people were curious right. They might sneak off and go up there to that tabernacle and go into that tent if it’s the presence of God there you think of the tabernacle and within the big tabernacle was the place called the holy suppose you did not dare enter there unless you had been through the ceremony cleansing and and repented and is without sin because if you entered into that place with sin boom you’re done so Joshua stood guard to keep anyone from coming not going into that tent that should have been there

then 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 grace in my sight now therefore I prayed if I have found grace in your site show me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight and sit and consider this nation is your people and he said my presence will go with you and I will give you rest then he said to him if your presence does not go with us do not bring us up from here for how then will be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except that you go with us so we shall be separate your people and I from all the people who are upon the face of all the earth so the Lord said to Moses I will also do this thing that you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name and he said please show me your glory I’ll eventually get to this reading if I keep if I keep all of it maybe not right Moses said the god please show me your glory Moses wanted more you know he talked with God face to face but he said I want more I want to see you I want to see your glory.

And you’ve all read the story of the Exodus and Moses going up on the mountain while the people roquet with you go for us we’re scared you go Moses he’s great he went but he and he wanted more of God friends are we there do we want more of God He said Show me your glory that’s to be your prayers God show me your glory we should want more not be satisfied with playing a far off but want more of him then he said I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion but he said God said to Moses you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live that is how holy God is friends

and that reveals something else to me you cannot see my face so this read the rest of this and get it done right and the Lord said here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock so which shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the Rock and I will cover you with my hand while I pass by then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face you shall not see he allowed him to see the his back side but not his face because his face reveals his glory

how amazing is that

he at least got the C’s backside. So we say Lord cannot Lisi your backside let me see your glory Amen Let us pray gracious lord we do praise you magnify you we acknowledge that you are the one true God that you created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them Father we have so much to be thankful and grateful for thankful for the breath that we have thankful for your presence father we are thankful today that you desire that we would come to you that we would seek an intimate relationship with you that we would seek your face father that you would make yourself known to us make yourself known to us today father in your word and in this place father may your spirit be present may your spirit speak to each of our hearts in our minds and help us to receive what you have force and Father God that we would get a glimpse of your glory father more importantly when we leave this place may others see your love in us to see your glory in us that they would see your son in us Father God that we would be 2 of which you would be love through us to others stored in Jesus’ name amen

So how did they arrive at this place how did they arrive at the situation where Moses said all right gathered up the tent I’m going to move the tent way out here a far from the camp how did they get there well prior to this passage is where Moses was up on the mountain for how long

40 days some one to 40 days Moses up on the mountain for 40 days so the children of Israel on the one there was in Egypt for 400 years nearly and here they are 40 days. Where is that most of us we have been waiting for so long you know that mountains rum rumbling and lightning and this and that so I have a feeling some moms probably said well he’s probably dead you know prob God probably destroyed him because 40 days surely he should have been back by now so what did they do they’re tired of waiting while Moses is up on the mountain and getting the 10 can all the other stuff from God but the 10 Commandments also

while God’s telling Moses Dr have no whether God before the 3rd down at the foot of the mountain say in the air we don’t know what’s happened to this Moses you fashion us a god to good be force So Aaron says OK Bring me your gold and they fashion the golden calf so God is angry God is angry at the children of of Israel he says to Moses get away from him leave me alone with them so I can destroy them and I will make a nation of you that’s how angry God is with the nation of Israel but Moses pleads with God on their behalf and says Do not do this thing the other nations will say you brought them out here to desert just to kill them so God had compassion on them at Moses plead

my friends that’s grace he had grace upon the children of Israel

so this is why Moses took the tent far from the camp

Mind you this is not Moses regular dwelling place this was the tent a tent where he would meet with God

So they took it outside what’s the point of this to signify that the people were not worthy to have the meeting place a god within the camp because of their rebellion because of their sin so he moved outside the camp.

Proverbs $1529.00 says the Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayers of the righteous so there was wickedness within the camp my friends God is far from the wicked

but even though the tent was removed and placed I don’t not sure how far but God’s gracious nature is revealed in the midst of his disciplinary action with the people the last part of Verse 7 said and it came to pass that everyone who saw the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp he still made a way even though he wasn’t there in the camp but he was out here says to them if you want to come to me you can seek me out

is it not the same today we must seek Him

the word sought here means to search out especially in worship and prayer to search for God to search him out to seek him diligently

God basically said of the Nation of Israel you’re a bunch of stiff necked people and I’ve had enough of you I’m going to move over here if you want me if you want a relationship with May you’re going to have to come to me you’re going to have to repent of your sins over here and come to me I’m not going to dwell with a bunch of unrepentant people but I’m going over here Hebrews $116.00 says but without faith it is impossible to please Him for He who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him

do we diligently seek Him because if we do he will reward our faithfulness.

Not just once in awhile

God doesn’t want us to just seek Him Sabbath mornings but he wants us to seek Him always every day

you know scholars for years have taught that we are living in the dispensation of grace and we are from the time of Christ to now is called this the dispensation of grace a time of grace and that is true my friends but God reveals his graciousness even in the Old Testament God revealed his graciousness to the children of Israel

that is God’s nature

that’s part of God’s nature that he is a gracious God willing to forgive

whenever one repents of their sins repents in their hearts verses $12.13 of our passage said the most as Moses said to the Lord see you say to May 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 also you have also found grace in my sight now therefore I pray that if I have found grace in your sight show me now your way that I may know you and that I might find grace in your sight and consider that this nation is your people he understood Moses understood that I might find grace in your sight Moses’ knew that God was a gracious God willing to forgive

as Christians our understanding of grace is that we can freely receive God’s unmerited favor

and we know that he made his grace manifest through Jesus Christ by sending His Son He is Grace

and we can receive salvation because of his graciousness.

But I truly believe that one cannot really know God as I said unless they know his grace you cannot know God For it is by grace that we are saved through faith

last week I spoke of Joshua

and truly a man of impeccable faith not finding any shortcomings in his walk with the Lord

man of strong faith obedient today you know as we look at Moses

as Moses dealt with the people of Israel and as he converses with God We know that their work Asians were Moses struggled a little bit right he struggled a little bit with anger while dealing with that well over a 1000000 people and their rebellion and or mother their Marmer him and grumbling all the time

I probably would have been a lot more angry than them like had enough of you I probably would have said that sounds like a good idea got a good destroy him.

But he didn’t but he didn’t he may have struggled a little bit with anger

when he came down off the mountain he was angry he took the tablets of stone and threw them and he was anger with those people remember the time when God told him to speak to the rock

the people were murmuring. Because there was no water Numbers Chapter 20 verses 7 through 12 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying take the rod you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together speak to the rock before their eyes and I would yield its water thus you shall bring water for them out of the Rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals so Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him and Moses and Aaron gathered simply to gather before the rock and he said to them here now you rebels little emphasis there you rebels Listen

must we bring water for you out of this rock that Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out abundantly in a congregation and their animals drank then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron because you did not believe me to hollow my house to me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them friends that one act

of God is still gracious but God as God expects faithfulness in trust in obedience he said Speak to the rock the most is struck it twice

but Moses still found favor in God’s eyes and still faithfully served him

but he was tired of their murmuring and complaining

his wife struck the rock who could blaming

But one thing is for certain Moses was not lacking on courage and determination

to seek after God he was not afraid to question God he was not afraid to plead with God.

And he wanted to know God in a more intimate way again he wanted to see God’s glory so he was I’m this courageous amazingly courageous look at the burning bush a man who would have just ran in fear but not Moses he wanted to go and see what is this amazing thing

not afraid to go up on the mountain with the lightning and the thunder while the others were hiding back behind the bushes he’s seeking after God a courageous man burst 13 said Now therefore I pray that if I have found grace in your sight show me your way that I may know you and that I might find grace in your sight

and 18 in Moses said the god please show me your glory Moses was so courageous so courageous he wanted to see all of God’s power

versus 923 re read that also

God’s favor to seek those to seek Him then He said I will make all of my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion but he said you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live and the Lord said here is a place by me and you saw stand on the rock so it shall be that while my glory passes that I will put you in the cleft of the Rock and I will cover you with my hand while I pass by

the Hebrew word for glory is my own self God himself what he says my own self will pass by

Helen’s for original Hebrew says it this way

I will hide you in the cavity of the Rock and I will defend you with the protectiveness of my power until I have passed by. The Lord was saying in essence yes you’ve failed me but I’m going to put you in a place where you’ll be secure

that place is inside the rock and I want to say to you there don’t harbor doubt and fear I’m about to give you a revelation of who I am that’s how she

enter or you know he finds that God wants us to know Him He wants us to know who he is Colossians 31 through 4 says if then you were raised with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God set your minds on things above not on the things of the earth for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God My friends your life as God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock your life ma life is hidden with Christ

when Christ who is our life appears then you also will peer with Him in glory and already heard her say the Rock Jesus is the rock remember he is the stone that the builders rejected he is the foundation that the church is built upon and we are hidden in him just as God protected Moses in Christ we are protected he is the cleft of the rock that we hide in receive that today we are God’s children if we have done wrong if we have sinned he does not want us to run from him he wants us to run to him

so when you sin run to him but down and repent and run to him not from him because he wants us to come to him he wanted the children of Israel to come to him but they were fearful of friends we can have. Grace through Christ and have faith and not doubt he wants us to have it all he wants us to have his glory he wants us to trust Him He wants to bless us I found a story

J. Wilbur Chapman share this testimony given by a man to came to one of his meetings he says the man said that I got off at the Pennsylvania Depot as a tramp and for a year I begged on the streets for a living he said then one day I touched a man on the shoulder and said Mr can you give me a dime and as soon

as soon as I see saw his face I was shocked to see that it was my own father

said Father Father do you know me though in his arms around the young man and with tears in his eyes he said Oh my son at last I have found you I have found you you want to die he says everything I have is yours

no man says think of it I was a tramp I stood begging my own father for $0.10 when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all that he had what a wonderful illustration what God wants to do was for us how he wants to treat us

let’s let him

let’s receive what he has for us you know there are so many examples of God’s grace in the in the Bible the whole Bible the Prodigal Son I mean that’s what that story was about that prodigal son said to his father I’ve had enough of this place give me my hair did so I want to go I want to live in the world and he gives it to and after he had squandered it with wild women and booze and put it in today’s spectrum drugs and all that stuff when he had nothing left. I’ll go to my father and see if I can be a servant but his father threw his arms around him brought out the robe put a ring on his hand says all that I have assures the adulterous woman

that religious leaders brought to Jesus

my friends what did he show or he showed her Grace did he not

they all departed because they were not without sin he said Neither do I condemn you but go and sin no more he extended grace to her

he wants to extend grace to us

I believe the more that we read the Bible the more that we understand God’s grace

the more we’ll know him

we can find God’s grace from Genesis one to Revelations 2221 in the Old and New Testament of like a like

as God’s representatives in the world

we must extend God’s grace to others

and we must courageously seek Him as Moses did that’s the most important thing I think to say today that we speak him courageously without fear he is an awesome and powerful God but he is gracious and he wants to extend his grace he wants us to draw near to Him We wants us to find his grace I can remember when 1st

before coming to the understanding of grace oh I saw was a God that the God of the law was all that I saw

but when I began to get that understanding of God’s grace that he that we could know through his word that we can have salvation these things are written that you may know that you have a life

that is by grace you are saved through faith not of my works yes we’re to do good work to tried to discipline our lives and seek the help of the Holy Spirit to do that.

But that’s not what saves us it is only by His grace and when I came to that understanding what change in my life what a change in my understanding of God and who he really is

it’s his will that none should perish but it’s his will that all would come to him

Get out of the camp and come to God is what he desires

us to come to him and have that relationship with him receive what he has for us that’s his call on all of our lives and that’s a call that we should share with others to help them find his grace too that they can have that peace that we have in our hearts because of his love a man.