Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Well, maybe you’ve made a real mess of your life up until now. Pastor Ed says there is a way out.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Of all these complex questions we have and all these layers of difficulty we have, the Bible is very clear. For example, all the consequences and difficulty of sin, all the things you’ve got yourself into, all the things coming down on you. What am I supposed to do? This is what I’m going to do. No, here's the simple answer. It all starts with repentance.

You want to get out of the mess? Come back to the Lord. And the first step to coming back to God is repentance, godly sorrow. It’s not that complicated. Yeah, but Ed, it is complicated. No, the mess that you have made is very complicated, yes. But the way out of it is not so much.

To all the ups and downs of life, Moses was able to stay close to the Lord. And the good news is, we can too. We'll explain how on this edition of Abounding Grace. We're in Exodus chapter 33. And as a way of reminder, Israel had sinned greatly, but God doesn't forsake them. He gives them another chance. God loves to give second chances, and then some, even still today. With this encouraging reminder, here is Pastor Ed Taylor.

Notice verse seven he says, “Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting.” Real quick here, this is not the tabernacle we've been studying or will as we end the chapter as we review the tabernacle again. This was probably Moses' tent. It's representative at this point. They haven't built the tabernacle yet. So, we have a representation of Moses and his tabernacle. He moves it outside of the camp far.

And it came to pass, it says, that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting, which was outside the camp. Listen, sin always delays what God wants to do in your life. It always slows things down. It always takes our attention away from big vision, big moving forward, like let's go get the world for Christ. But no, sin will slow that down. And now we’ve got to deal with this. We’ve got to deal with the calf. We’ve got to deal with the attitude. We’ve got to deal, we’ve got to take care of it because we need to get back to what God called us to do in the first place. That's where Moses, he can't move on. He's got, okay, I’m getting my tent. I’m moving out. We're not going to build the tabernacle right away. Well, why not, Moses? Because of your hearts. Because of your hearts.

I mean, that's a great question to ask, right? Why not? Do you not remember the golden calf, jewelry that you're still wearing, your desire to go back to Egypt, your murmuring, your complaining? You just drank the calf. So convenient our memories are. Our memories tend to be always in our favor. We need to remember the goodness of God and we need to remember the favor, we need to allow our memories to be in favor of God and not of our own sinfulness.

He takes his own tent and he pitches outside the camp. Notice he says in verse eight now, “whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.”

All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped each man in his tent door. And 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.

Moses, he takes his tent and he goes outside of the camp, an act of mercy and grace on his part. God could have, if it was his purposes, wiped them out even through Moses' prayer. But he allows Moses to take a place of worship and go outside the camp. Why? Because God is holy and man is not. They defiled the camp by allowing the golden calf. They're the ones that pushed God out of the midst.

And without the sacrifice of animals yet instituted, the solution was to go outside of the camp. It would be here that the people would go to worship God. And I love verse eight. It says that the people watched Moses. Moses was leading them by example. He was allowing not only his words to be used, but his example.

They see their leader worship and it makes them want to do the same thing. It's now Moses. You know, before, just a few moments, a few days ago, it was where is Moses? It's Aaron we want. But now, it's Moses we watch. It's Moses we watch. The pillar of cloud descends. God affirms the leadership of Moses. God affirms his presence. And now all the people, it says in verse 10, rose and worshiped each man now at his tent door.

I've got a little note here to remind me. Aren't you glad that God gives second chances? It's like, second chances, how about third, pastor? Okay, you can have third. And then I pick some random number, 4,569, just in case you're counting. But we see it all throughout the scriptures, the God of the second chance.

We see it all throughout God desiring his best in our life. It started in the garden. Adam sinned against God, but instead of God starting over, what does he say? He says, “where are you?” That's the question of the day. Where are you? Oh, I don't mean that in the context of, “hey, why aren't you in church? Why aren't you?” No, no, no. Wherever you are is a place of worship.

The real question is, where are you in your heart relationship with God? Where are you? Who are you watching? Who have you allowed to influence your thinking? Where are you? Who are you? What are you doing with your life? Because God is ready to give you a second chance now, in that situation, in that issue, in that sin, if you will repent and come to the Lord.

I think of not only Adam, but I think of Jonah. Jonah ran from God and God got him, swallowed him up with this God-ordained fish. And what an experience that must have been. But God wasn't going to let him go. Israel here, in the very early stages of the nation, sins greatly against the Lord, but God doesn't forsake them. He gives them another chance and he shows them the reality of the situation but invites them into worship.

Some of you hearing my voice today have failed God and you're fed up with the promises of God that you seem to see slipping through your fingers. And it so frustrates you and the tension mounts and grows and the accuser of the brethren comes after you with accusation after accusation. You condemn yourself for your own mistakes and your own failures. But you haven't gone outside the camp. You're staying in the camp. You haven't dealt with the situation the way it needs to be dealt with.

I mean, beating yourself up is not receiving the forgiveness of Christ. Beating yourself up and listening to the accuser of the brethren is a form of idolatry where you stay in control. Now, your control is this, “you know, I’ll just beat myself up because then I can have these emotions that I can create and I can just live in my emotions instead of coming clean before the Lord.” God’s going, where are you? You have to say, here I am, Lord. Here I am.

Your own heart’s condemning, you're so far from the Lord, and yet you're so close and God says, “I’ll receive you and I’ll receive your heartfelt worship. Just come back to me.” And that's what the people do here. They come back. Not a perfect people, they just come back. And what happens with Moses? Moses in verse 11 has this sweet intimacy. He's close to the Lord, speaking with him face to face as a man speaks to his friend, it says.

Such sweet intimacy the Lord offers us through Jesus Christ, but Moses experienced it even before the new covenant. This phrase face to face could also be translated mouth to mouth. It's an idiomatic phrase, not that Moses has seen literally the face of God, but that there's closeness and intimacy. He speaks to him as a friend. This is the God of all creation. This is the Creator God. This is the God who institutes judgment, the God of wrath, the God who's worshiped.

But to communicate and have closeness, that's what our prayer life does, communicating with God as a friend. That's what Bible study does, receiving from the Lord as from a friend. That's what fellowship does, hanging around and sharing in common with the friends of the friend. That's what communion does, the breaking of bread with your friend.

In Acts chapter 2, verse 42, it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship and the breaking of bread. There's so much more, but God is for you and not against you. And Moses encouraged, he was encouraged to have that intimacy. Verse 12 notice, 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've also found grace in my sight.”

It's interesting, isn't it? Pillar of cloud, presence of God, intimacy with God, and there's still questions. He's like, well wait a minute. Who are you going to send with me? And no doubt on a practical level, he's thinking, I don't know about Aaron. The jury's out on my brother. I don't know about Aaron. But we just read it. There is a man waiting in the wings.

It says here in verse 11, Joshua the son of Nun, he lingered around. We read of him later as Moses' assistant. You could say that Joshua's eyes and ears were glued to Moses. He was being trained up. And yet you don't find Moses and Joshua often in the scriptures like Moses sitting down and teaching him like a classroom. They served together. Joshua learned and put into practice what he learned and he loved Moses and he served alongside him.

Another thing I see in verse 12 is Moses saying, “I need help. You told me I’m going to lead the whole nation, but you see we haven't started out so well. And I’m going to need some help.” And so, verse 13, “therefore, I pray, if I found grace in your sight, show me now your way that I may know you, and I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people.”

And he said, “my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” And he said, “if your presence doesn't go with us, then don't bring us up. Like we can't go without you, Lord.” Verse 16, “for how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us? So, we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”

Show me your way, Lord. I can't move forward. I’ve got to know, what do you want? It's a very different thing than our present-day ministry. We see things changing in the church today so radically, so quickly where you don't hear a lot about, you don't hear a lot of people talking about what is God's way. It's almost like man's already figured out what God's way is and they're just going to implement it.

But it's very, very important that you ask the Lord for his way. It's very important that you read the scriptures and see God's way because there is God's way and there is man's way. And it's very important that we discern the difference. In the Proverbs many, many times as you're reading a chapter of Proverbs every day all year, you'll come across many, many times there is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death.

I memorized in the Old King James. The end thereof is death. There is always a way that seems right to man, but we don't want the right way for man. We want God's way. And I’m not saying that in some super, you know, spiritual way where there's just a little secret way that no, God wants to reveal his way to you. And most of the time the answer is very simple and very biblical.

Of all these complex questions we have and all these layers of difficulty we have, the Bible is very clear. For example, all the consequences and difficulty of sin, all the things you’ve got yourself into, all the things coming down on you. What am I supposed to do? This is what I’m going to do. No, here's the simple answer. It all starts with repentance.

You want to get out of the mess? Come back to the Lord. And the first step to coming back to God is repentance, godly sorrow. It’s not that complicated. Yeah, but Ed, it is complicated. No, the mess that you have made is very complicated, yes. But the way out of it is not so much. You're trying to figure out and if you piece this together and you put this over here and if you try this and you move this over here, it's like a big chess game to you.

But God's not playing chess. He's already got the game figured out. You need to ask him, what's your way, Lord? And you will eventually, and I will eventually, just come to that place where I don't know what I’m doing. I’ve tried all the things, I’ve tried all the, as a pastor, I’ve tried all the things I’ve tried in the past and I’ve tried all the and eventually if that's the way I want to go, I want to go in the way of man, I want to go in the way of Ed, I’ll tell you where that's going to end.

God, I have no idea. You need to show me your way. I’m so sorry for wasting all this time going my way. I want to know your way. That's where Moses is. There's such a deep honesty. God, help me. You know me. You know these people. What am I supposed to do? They're your people.

And quickly here before we leave, I want to give you some ingredients of his prayer. If you're looking for some direction on this kind of prayer, a prayer of help, here's some things that Moses prayed that may be very helpful for you. Number one in verse 12, he asked for guidance. He asked for guidance. Show me your way. I can't go unless you show me your way.

Number two, he asked to know him. He wanted to know more of the character and nature of God, verse 12. He wants to know more of God because the more he knows, the more his faith will remain strong. It's like well some of you today would go, well you know my faith is strong because I know the Bible. There's one more step. Your faith will become stronger when you know the Author of the Bible.

Because the Bible represents the heart of God as he's communicating his heart to you and me. It's not just a bunch of rules and regulations, do this, don't do that. It's like it's like our Father saying, “this is what's best for you, daughter.” Okay. “This is what's best for you, son.” Okay. I trust you.

And then over and over you've seen God's faithfulness. You just say, “Lord, I want to know you. I need direction, but what I really need is to know you.” And so, praying for God's guidance, praying for God's presence in the situation. And God's answer, “my presence will go with you, Moses. I’m going with you. You're with me and I’m with you.” I love that.

It just sounds so sweet hearing it. God telling you, “I’m with you. I’ll never leave you or forsake you. We're in this to the end. My promise is until you awake in righteousness, until you're absent from the body and you're present with the Lord.” God says, “I’m with you.” That nothing, turn over to Romans chapter eight, would you? We've just got to read it. We’ve got to allow it to permeate our hearts today and our minds. We need to receive it for the truth that it is.

Romans chapter eight, we just come to this high point in the heart of Paul as he's thinking about the glorious presence of God, the faithfulness of God. Verse 31, would you? Romans eight, verse 31. If you want to go in depth on these verses, I taught through Romans verse by verse. All those studies are up on the app and up on the website.

And I’d encourage you to dig deep and to go deeper, but notice in verse 31, “what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?” Verse 34, “it is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ?”

Shall we just answer these questions, you ready? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Distress? Oh, come on, is there more than two people here? You guys ready? Shall tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Sword? No, as it is written, “for your sake we're killed all day long, we're accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

And I’m persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the answer Moses got with the phrase, “I’ll be with you.” That's what he got. My presence will go with you. My presence will go with you.

We got the full answer in the new covenant, the expanded edition, the amplified, you know some of you have that amplified Bible, the amplified version of explanation after explanation after explanation of the presence of God. Well, verse 17 now back in Exodus. Then the Lord said to Moses, “I 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.”

Moses gets a little bold now. We need I need some guidance, I want you to go with me, I’m going to go with you, okay, all right, I want to see your glory. He's been speaking to him face to face, he's been up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, and he still wants more. Haven't you found that to be true? All the experiences, all how far you and I have come, all that we've been able to see.

What is our prayer? Oh, I want more, Lord. I want to see your glory. I want to see things I haven't seen yet. I want to be a part of things I haven't been a part of yet. And Moses had seen a lot, he'd experienced a lot. God defeats Pharaoh, delivers the people, opens the Red Sea. God speaks to him from a fiery bush, a pillar of cloud, manna, water, and he's still not satisfied of all even at this place in his walk of all the things that he'll experience.

And no matter much no matter how much you know and how far you've come, how mature you might be, how often you've been around the block spiritually, how much of the Bible, you know you'll meet somebody go, well I’ve read the Bible five times like that's the end. No, no, no. Even to that point there is still a place of spiritual growth for you and for me. If you read the Bible five times, it's time for number six.

And whatever the Lord has for you, you never come to that place, like there is a part in our lives where God desires and commands us to be content, but there's also a part of our spiritual lives where we're to be spiritually discontent in the sense that God has more for us. Every great worship service, every great time in his word, only whets our appetite for more. So good.

Guest (Male): Today on Abounding Grace, we've been in Exodus as Pastor Ed Taylor is leading us verse by verse through this marvelous Old Testament book. If you joined us late or would just like to hear this message again, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com.

Another way to take in a steady dose of God's word is through the app. It's free. We're also on oneplace.com. Abounding Grace is made possible through the support of our listeners. And when you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, we'll send you a copy of When the Storm Hits by Chuck Smith.

Maybe you're in a storm even as we speak. Know this, the Lord stands by you. His purpose sustains you and God's word will encourage and guide you. So, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the waves, see how to get anchored on Jesus the Rock as you read When the Storm Hits. Call 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. You can also get the book online at calvaryco.store. And then be sure to join Pastor Ed next time for more teaching from the book of Exodus. That's all right here on Abounding Grace.

Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado, here in Aurora.