Seeking God's Presence: The Pursuit of Divine Intimacy

"God it isn't enough that you bless us it isn't enough that you give us stuff it isn't enough that you give us a little bit of help along the way we need your presence we need you and i gotta say i don't know if anybody else was stirred but i was very stirred by that the last time we were in exodus 33 i was stirred very deeply by this consideration that if i'm gonna connect with god it's not enough for me to say god i need the stuff you can give me god i need a little bit of help along the way no above and beyond all that i need you god i want to connect with you." [00:48:08]

"The presence of god means rest and peace in your life i doesn't don't mean to imply promote that means the absence of trouble not for a moment listen sometimes getting your life right with god will bring more trouble into your life but god will give you a rest in the midst of the trouble that is his precious gift to give to his people through his presence my presence will go with you and i will give you rest." [07:37:52]

"Moses wanted something for israel that would show that they were not like all the other nations oh they're not like the egyptians their god is with them in a special way oh they're not like the assyrians their god is with them in a special way oh they're not like the the hittites their god is with them in a special way and this is what he knew he knew that only the unique powerful presence of their god only this covenant relationship with yahweh this unique example of ethical monotheism in the ancient world that would make them different from all the other ancient peoples god among them would make them different." [11:14:16]

"Now friends when we talk about the glory of god it translates in ancient hebrew word and i know my pronunciation won't be good but i'll just give it to you in essence it's the ancient hebrew word kabad and khabad not only has the idea of glory but just as much it's very much linked to the idea of weight it's something heavy if it's light and fluffy like cotton candy if it passes through and then it's soon forgotten if it just sort of whisks around and never makes an impression you have every reason to wonder was that really the glory of god because khabad the glory of god it has weight." [17:49:12]

"When moses cries out in the earnestness and maybe maybe he's too bold here i don't know but he cries out and he says show me your glory you know what god says he says i'll show you my goodness i'll make my goodness pass before you do you know what this shows us it shows us that god's glory lies in his goodness and when moses saw the glory of god his first understanding was that god was good and if you don't understand that god is good you don't understand very much about him at all." [20:04:48]

"There's sometimes people who feel that they need to balance god as if god is sort of made up and i'll use sort of eastern terms a yin and a yang you know a positive and a negative you know like and and sort of our job to balance god between those two things you know there's a light and a dark there's a good and evil there's a law and grace and really where you're gonna find god is somewhere right in the middle between law and grace as if there's a balance where's god somewhere in the middle between good and bad no in that sense there's no balance to god he's all good he's totally unbalanced in that way there's no bad in him whatsoever he is entirely good." [21:26:08]

"God was about to reveal himself to moses in a completely unique way god prepared the event carefully he gave moses a specific place to stand okay moses you want to see as much as me as you can see without perishing okay first you've got to stand right in this place and by the way let me just add this quickly later on in first kings chapter 19 the prophet elijah met with god and had a remarkable experience with god some of you remember that where god wasn't in the earthquake or wasn't in the storm or wasn't in the lightning but he was in the still small voice that very well may have been at the exact same place where moses stood right here because both of them took place on mount sinai." [25:01:12]

"Protected by god moses could endure the glory of god and passing before him he had this great experience when isaiah saw god he was aware of his own sin and unworthiness when paul went to heaven and experienced something of the glory of god he saw that he couldn't utter it but here here it's such an amazing experience that moses he hardly has the words to describe it as we'll see in a moment now this is what i want you to know that other people beyond the times of the bible have also experienced this presence this glory of god and i would not doubt that there would not be more that there would be many people in this room who would give a similar testimony." [26:36:08]

"Jonathan edwards described the time and by the way jonathan edwards was the most brilliant theologian that probably america's ever produced he wasn't a flighty man given off to you know weird experiences but he described a time of praying in the forest kneeling for an hour that seemed to pass in just a few moments because of the powerful sense of god's glory and presence have you ever experienced something like that another great colonial man the greatest missionary perhaps of colonial america a man named david brainard he described uh a kneeling in the snow and praying for hours literally sweating in his body though it was freezing outside." [27:27:84]

"There's just something to this it makes us see that what many people speak of today as the presence of god and the glory of god seems so trivial to what moses and isaiah and paul and edwards and brainerd and moody experience there's no kabod to it there's no weight to their experience of glory and this is what moses was about to see notice this verse 23 says this i will take away my hand and you will see my back but my face shall not be seen moses could only see god's back now i don't think based on the hebrew word that's used there and based on the context i don't think it means god's physical back because god the father has no you know physical presence." [28:47:79]

"God was revealing himself god was concealing himself god was blessing moses god was protecting moses and all of these things happen when people truly seek god in the way that moses sought god and with all those special protections god rewarded the desire of moses to see as much of his glory as humanly possible so let me conclude with this first can i give you just just a encouragement as a pastor that you should seek the glory of god oh not in some manufactured manipulated way i think we should despise all of that but that you would plead to god as a man or a woman before him and say god there's something there that i can experience more of." [30:24:96]

"Marvelous as this experience was for moses it cannot compare to the revelation of god given to us in jesus christ let me just end with this two beautiful passages from the new testament so i want you to think about this think about you know i fill your mind with the display of glory with the greatness of it all to moses with all that moses experienced and now i want you to put in frame of reference to these two passages ready first john chapter 1 verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth." [31:50:56]