Elevate - The Story Pt 6 - Show Me Your Glory

Moses had to say, God, show me your glory. And now, Paul tells us here, now we all, with unveiled faces, you don't even have to cover your face anymore, right, just unveiled faces, can be transformed into an image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit, like we have full access to the glory of the Lord. No longer do we have to be shielded from it, no longer does God hide Himself, He has given us access to His very presence because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Welcome to Elevate, from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DiQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. Today, Pastor John continues the Story Sermon Series with Show Me Your Glory, the Story of Moses. Joseph moves his father and all, and their brothers and all their families, moves them to Egypt, and they stay there so that they can have plenty, and they settle in a region called Goshen, and they're brought there to just continue to multiply. So if you ever wondered, how did the Israelites end up in Egypt, well that's how, Joseph brought them there when he was ruling Egypt. So while they're there, while they're in Egypt, they begin to multiply, they begin to grow and expand into this great nation, and they're getting quite large. Well, eventually Joseph dies, and the Pharaoh, he dies, and another Pharaoh takes over, and they don't know nothing about Joseph, and they know nothing about these people. All they know is they're these people that are living in their land, and they're getting bigger and bigger. And so that Pharaoh becomes afraid, because they think that maybe these people will rise up and overthrow the Egyptians, so he enslaves them. And so all of the Hebrews, or the Israelites, they become enslaved, and that slavery lasted for 400 years. But while they're there, and they're being enslaved, God is still blessing them, and they're increasing in number, and they're multiplying, and they're becoming a large people. So then Moses comes along, and God calls him to be the one to free the people from slavery. By this time, there's like two or three million of them, and Moses is coming to free them and to lead them to the promised land that God promised to them. The promised land is where they are right now. That's Israel, right? They were going to the promised land. And so God, we talked about this last week with Pastor Neal. How many of you enjoyed Pastor Neal's message from last week? That was powerful. That was good. But he shows them his power by sending the plagues upon the Egyptians, because the Pharaoh was not letting them go, and these plagues humiliated all of the Egyptian gods, and showing them that Yahweh was really the only one true God. So he leads them out, and they're heading into the wilderness, on their way to the promised land, and that is where we pick up the story, okay? So God, as he leads them out, and there's this big display of power, he leads them into the wilderness, and he keeps showing them his favor, and he keeps showing them his power. He leads them out of Egypt, right, and they come up to the Red Sea, and as they're there, the Egyptians realize, maybe we shouldn't have let them go, and so the army comes chasing after the Israelites, and they're trapped between the oncoming army and the Red Sea, and we know that story. God parts the mighty Red Sea, and they pass over through dry ground, and then he closes the Red Sea over the Egyptian army, and Israel is finally free. So they're traveling now, and they're on their way to the promised land, but because they had to flee so quickly, and because they're not settled, they're not growing crops, and they weren't able to carry much with them. They have no way to prepare food for them to eat, and they're walking through a desert area. What are they going to eat? What are they going to drink? So God begins to show his power again, and he sends manna on the land. Every morning, manna falls like dew in the morning, and it's like a bread that they can gather, and they can bake it into bread, and so they're eating manna on a daily basis, and when there was no water, we see the times where they're complaining because they have no water, and God brings forth water from a rock for them to drink, and he does this through Moses. He sends off attacks from nearby nations as they're walking, and they get close to another nation. That nation would attack them because they were afraid, and then God would come to their rescue. So God is showing his power, but then something begins to happen, something of great significance about the way that God is going to relate to his people begins to happen. So he begins to reveal himself in tangible ways, very tangible new ways. He begins to redefine what it means that the Israelites are the people of God, and he does something that none of the other gods in Egypt could ever do, and that is to physically dwell among them. So he's been showing them all his power. They've seen what he's capable of, but now he's going to begin to dwell in their midst and to be there with them, and so we're going to look today at a few of the ways that God reveals himself in his presence to Israel. The first is at the base of Mount Sinai, the big mountain. They camped at the base of this mountain. Some things that are significant that happened there, right? This is where Moses gets the Ten Commandments. This is where they make the golden calf, right? There's different things that are happening, but let's just look at Exodus 19, beginning in verse 9. It says, The Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you. Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. Skip ahead to verse 17. He says, Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him. Alright, something new is beginning to happen among the Israelites. You see, the people knew about God. They knew about God. They had oral traditions that were passed down. As they were living in Egypt, enslaved, they knew about Abraham. They heard the stories of Abraham and Isaac and their forefathers, right? They knew about Jacob. They knew about Joseph, and they knew about his brothers, and they knew that God had allowed Joseph to become the leader of Egypt so that their people could live there and to grow and to flourish. But they had never experienced his presence in all those years. They saw his mighty hand afflict the land of Egypt with plagues to convince Pharaoh to let them go. They ate the manna that came from heaven. They drank the water that flowed from the rock, but they did not know his presence. And so now, God, He descends from His glorious throne. He descends onto Mount Sinai in plain sight for all of them to see. I can't imagine what that was like. It says that the smoke covered the mountain because He descended on it with fire, right? There's lightning and there's thunder, right? And it says the mountain itself was shaking. It must have been terrifying and majestic and awe-inspiring all at once to see the glory of God being revealed right in front of you, God's very presence. Well, then we go ahead a little bit. We go to Exodus 33, and we see another way that God begins to show and dwell among them with His presence. And this is at the tent of meeting. And so let's look at Exodus 33 and we'll begin in verse 7. It says, Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the tent of meeting. Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrance to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend. So now God begins to show that He's not just the big thundering God, the one that sends the plagues and parts the mighty Red Sea and causes the mountains to shake and quake. Now He's showing them that He has a relationship, a relationship with Moses, that Moses is getting His instructions directly from God because God is talking to him face to face as with a friend. And so whether Moses was in the tent of meeting inquiring from God about what to do next, or you know, there's two or three million people, right? You know that they're fighting sometimes and they're bringing their disputes to Moses and Moses is going into the tent of meeting and asking God what to do about these disputes, right? And they're seeing now that their God is personal. God, this is awesome. He's not just the big thundering God, the one they heard about, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He's not just the big one with the strong arm that parts seas and drowns armies. Now He's personal. They can see that He's a God that wants to be with His people. There's no other God. No other God that was doing this, right? There was gods everywhere, right? They all had gods. And so they can see that He wants to dwell among His people. And then we move on to the next verse here in Exodus 33, and we see another way and another step in God revealing Himself as the personal God, beginning in verse 12, it says, Moses said to the Lord, you've been telling me, lead these people, but you've not let me know whom you will send with me. You've said, I know you by name and I found favor with me. Well, if you were pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go with you and will give you rest. See, Moses is like, OK, so you tell us to go, but who's coming with us? Who's coming along? Teach me your ways so that when I leave, I can still lead these people. And God's like, no, no, no, you don't get it. I'm coming with you. Moses didn't get that. He says, I'm coming with you. So then Moses said to him, all right, like if your presence doesn't go with us, then don't send us from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and that your people and with your people, unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? That's an important verse right there. What else will distinguish me and your people from all of the other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I'll do the very thing you've asked because I'm pleased with you and know you by name. Now look at this. And Moses said, now show me your glory. Show me your glory. This is significant, folks. You see, they've up to this point, they've been camped at the base of Mount Sinai. They haven't gone anywhere yet. They came out, they camped at the base. Moses went up, got the Ten Commandments, brought him down, smashed him because he got angry because they were, they had a golden calf. So they had to go back up, get more Ten Commandments, right? And so they've been camped at the base of Mount Sinai. All this stuff's been happening in one location. So for all they knew, that's where God lived. He was up on the top of the mountain. That wasn't a stretch for them to think that, right? All the Greeks, right? They thought that all of their gods lived on Mount Olympus. That's just what they thought. So for all they knew, that's where God lived. This is where they've seen his presence. This is where they visibly observed God meeting with Moses. And now Moses is saying, are you coming with us? Because if you can't, I can't lead these people because they're not my people, God. They're yours. So God says, yes, I'll come with you. But to be sure, and to really solidify this relationship, Moses presents a request to God because until now, Moses has seen God in a burning bush. Moses has seen God in lightning and thunder, in a cloud, on top of a mountain, or in the pillar of cloud at the tent. But he hasn't seen God himself. And so he presents this question, he says, show me your glory. Show me your glory. Now listen, not since Adam and Eve had anyone seen God. In fact, when Moses asks him this question, he says, yes, I'll show you my glory. But, these are the next verses, you can read them. He says, but I'm not going to show you my face. I'm not going to let you see my face. No one has ever seen my face and lived. So God hides Moses in the cleft of a rock and it says that he passes his goodness before Moses and he shows him his back. He won't show him his face, but he shows him his back. And he passes his goodness before Moses and he shows him his back. And just the goodness of God and the back of God was so radiant. It was so glorious. It was so brilliant that the Bible says that Moses' face glowed as he left there and came down the mountain. His face was glowing. His face was so radiant from the glory of God that he had to cover it with a veil to shield the people from the radiance of God's glory. It was so bright, it caused his face to glow, he had to cover it. And it says that any time that he was around the people, he kept the veil over. And then when he would go into the tent to talk with God, he'd lift the veil up and he would talk to God and then he'd put it back down. And so we see God showing Moses his glory. It's another step and there's one other thing that God does and then we're going to come back to this. Show me your glory here in a second. But he in Exodus 40, it says this in verse one, the Lord said to Moses, set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting on the first day of the month, place the Ark of the Covenant law in it and shield the Ark with the curtain. So while Moses was on the mountain talking with God, God gives him instructions to build a tabernacle. It's a place where it's a portable temple for God to live, for his presence to dwell. The tabernacle will be able to be set up and then if they left, they could tear it down and take it with them. And as they, as they move through the wilderness to the promised land. So he instructs Moses to put the Ark of the Covenant into the inner room of the tabernacle, the very inner room of the tabernacle. They call that the Holy of Holies. And this is significant because you'll see all throughout the Old Testament, the Ark from this point forward would represent God's presence among his people. His glory would actually rest on the lid of this box and there was two cherubim angel wings that kind of went over the top and his glory would rest in that place in the Holy of Holies. And so we move on. Verse thirty four. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and fire was in the cloud by night in the sight of all the Israelites during all of their travels. So this is interesting. Right. So God's there. He's dwelling in the tabernacle inside the camp among all the people. And then when he decides it's time to go, he lifts the cloud up and he takes his presence up and the people are like, all right, it's time to go. So now they can go. They can tear everything down. They can pack up their camps and they can walk. And then when God brings the cloud back down, they set up and he he he dwells right there among them as they set up camp. And he's there with them. So God has been leading all of this with Abraham, with with with Isaac, with Jacob, with Joseph and his brothers. All of this is leading up to this moment. No longer is God only talking to Abraham or Jacob or Moses. He has begun to establish a way in which he can be with his people. And we can't understand the significance of this unless we go back to the very beginning for just a moment, because we know that God created Adam and Eve in the garden and he spoke with them and he instructed them and he gave them rules and then they broke the rules and they were ashamed. And then we see in Genesis three, verse eight, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Understand this, that in the garden of Eden, God would come and he would visit. He'd walk in the garden with them. God physically would come and be with Adam and Eve. He didn't just boom his instructions from heaven or from the top of a mountain. He came. He literally dwelt with them in the garden. He came to visit and Adam and Eve were expecting him to come visit. And so they hid from him. So we know that God was there with them. But then God had to beat them out of the garden. And so the relationship was completely messed up now because of sin. But then God goes through all of this with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and his brothers and all those stories. And then he gives them this promise because he wants to dwell with them again. Look at Exodus 29, verse 45 and 46. He says, then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. The purpose of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and leading them into the wilderness toward the promised land, the purpose was so that he might dwell among them. So God's presence was with his creation. Then sin enters the world and he no longer can dwell with mankind. So he creates a people and he gives them a way to atone for their sins, right? It was because of sin that God could not be with his people anymore. So he gives them the sacrificial system, tells them that blood has to be shed in order to forgive you of your sins and so they can begin to atone for their sins. And now God can dwell once again in the midst of his people. And so he camps out, he camps out there with them right in the middle of their camp. So he has them build this tabernacle and he gives them a sacrificial system and then he descends on them. So now it's not just God talking with one man. It is God dwelling among the people. Now remember when Moses, he said, show me your glory and God shows him his goodness and then he passes before him and it says that Moses had to put a veil over his face because the radiance and the brilliance of God was so bright. But look at what it says here in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18, and we all believers, believers in Jesus Christ, that's who he's speaking to. And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Moses had to say, God, show me your glory, oh I need to see it. And now Paul tells us here, now we all with unveiled faces, you don't even have to cover your face anymore, right? Just unveiled faces can be transformed to his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Like we have full access to the glory of the Lord. No longer do we have to be shielded from it. No longer does God hide himself. He has given us access to his very presence because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The veil that separated the Ark of the Covenant where God's presence dwelled that separated that room from every other place in the temple. That veil when Jesus died, that veil was torn, giving everybody access to the very, very presence of God. And this is what distinguishes us. This is what separates us from every other religion in the world. Because every other one of those religions, in order to have presence, they build a statue. They fashion an idol with their hands and they say, this is your God that's present among you. However, there's no presence. In order to commune with their God, they follow a whole rigid set of rules and regulations, yet there's no communion. There's no communication. Everything is one way. But our God began to set Israel apart thousands of years ago. And he showed the world that he was the one true God because he actually could show up and dwell among his people. They could see him. They could feel him. They could be with him. He would dwell with them. He chose to make himself known, to have relationship, to have two-way communication, to have two-way giving and receiving, to have two-way sacrifice. He sacrificed for us. We sacrifice for him. He gave to us. We give to him. He talks to us. We talk to him. It's a real relationship, folks. This is the beauty and the glory of what we celebrate at Christmastime. As we enter this season, we need to be reminded that this is not just the story of a baby, that this connects us all the way back to the story that we're reading in the beginning of the Bible about how sin messed up our ability to be with God and all God wanted to do was to get back down there with his people. And so he descended in a cloud on the mountain. He descended in a cloud on the Tent of Meeting. He descended in a cloud on the tabernacle and in the temple. But two thousand years ago, he descended not in a cloud, but as a man. He shed his glory. He put on human flesh and he dwelt among us. He came humbly to a stable and a manger to a poor family. This man was Jesus. A name that the Bible gives him is Immanuel, which means God with us. There's a whole reason for this, guys. We see it demonstrated all the way back. Moses is like, let me just see your glory. God, can you just come with us? Please don't send us out without your presence. And we're here. We're in the temple of the Holy Spirit now. He dwells with us everywhere we go. His presence is with us. He was here before we got here, but then you brought him in with you. You began to worship him. He begins to manifest his glory. We don't have to beg him. We don't have to see him thunder on a mountain. All we have to do is just turn our focus and our attention to him. He wants to communicate with us, and he wants us to bask in his presence. We now are the temple, and worship and prayer begins to align us with him. And then, you know, when my wife came up here, she was like, man, I can sense the presence of God. It's just so heavy in this room, right? Why? Because everybody's focus was on him. I was looking to God, singing songs of love and adoration, giving him worship and honoring him for who he is. And then he makes himself known among us. It's beautiful. As we lift him up, he shows us his glory like he did for Moses all those years ago. No temples, no priests, no Holy of Holies, no sacrifices because the final sacrifice was already made. We don't have to do any of that anymore. Just access to his very presence, like a child to their father or their mother that always welcomes them in with unconditional love and unconditional access. Listen, my children will never come to me and say, Dad, can I talk to you for a minute? And me say, no, go away. It'll never happen. And you would never do that to your children. And God will never do that to us. We have access to his very presence. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website authenticlife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church. To find out what we have going on or to make a donation, you can also find us on Facebook We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.