Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): When we practice the presence of God, the proof is written all over our faces. Here's Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Moses had an encounter with God. He had experienced the presence of God to such a degree that his face literally shone to the degree that he had to wear a veil over his face. There was a time when that glow faded, but Moses continued to wear the veil. This time, to keep people from knowing that the glory of God is no longer there. I'm just wondering if we don't have some deacons like that, some Sunday school teachers like that. Some who are listening by radio inwardly you know that you're hiding behind some kind of a veil.

Well, let me give you some steps. What to do when the glow is gone.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the timeless truth of the gospel presented in the teachings of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. In Exodus chapter 33, God shined his glory upon the prophet Moses's face. Yet he lost the glow over time. As Christians, we are temples of God. The Lord lives and dwells in us, but many of us are not aware of the presence of God in our lives and we lose our glow. This passage reveals how to restore it. If you have your Bible, turn now to Exodus chapter 33 as Adrian Rogers shares how to practice the presence of God.

Adrian Rogers: Would you be finding in God's word the book of Exodus chapter 33. Now we're going to be in the Old Testament, but don't think that because we're in the Old Testament that that doesn't apply to you. The Bible says clearly and plainly concerning those Old Testament saints that the things that happened to them happened to them that they might be examples to us. And what we have here is a a lesson in the life of Moses. Moses had an encounter with God. The presence of God was so real in Moses's life that his face literally, not figuratively, but literally shone.

He had seen God to such a degree, or at least he had experienced the presence of God to such a degree that the life of God was so in him that his face literally shone to the degree that he had to wear a veil over his face uh when he would go out into public. And he would take the veil off of his face when he would go in to speak face to face with the Lord. And the people knew when Moses spoke that Moses had a message from God because of his shining face. Now the sad thing is this that Moses lost the glow.

There was a time when that glow faded, but Moses continued to wear the veil. This time, not to veil the glory of God, but now he is wearing the veil to keep people from knowing that the glory of God is no longer there. And I'm just wondering if we don't have some deacons like that, some Sunday school teachers like that. Some of you in this auditorium and some who are listening by radio that there was once a time when God was very real to you and you still go through the motions. I don't know what veil it is that you are wearing, but you are still outwardly saying yes, Jesus is real and precious to me.

But inwardly you know that you're hiding behind some kind of a veil. Well, let me give you some steps to make God real, to get the glow back. What to do when the glow is gone. Number one, there must be determination. There must be a determination that you will have God in your life. Look in chapter 33 verses 1 through 4. And the Lord said unto Moses, depart and go up hence thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob saying, unto thy seed will I give it.

God said I made a promise. I'm going to keep my promise, Moses. So get up and go into the land. And then notice verse two. And I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And go into a land flowing with milk and honey. Now notice this, and I have it underlined in my Bible. For I will not go up in the midst of thee. For thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. God says now Moses, I have promised you the land.

You're going to get the land. I'm going to send an angel, a mighty angel to go before you. He's going to drive these Canaanites out. But Moses, I am not going to go with you. I'll give you victory. I'll give you success. I'll give you the land. But you won't have my presence. Now when God said that to Moses, the people mourned and rightly they mourned because they had enough sense to know that without God what good is the rest of it? What good is the land without the Lord? What good is the victory without the victor?

What good is the blessing without the blesser? What good is the gifts? Are the gifts without the giver? And so the people said we're not going to settle for an angel. Moses is speaking to the Lord. Verse 14 and he said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. And what Moses is saying is Lord, I'm not going without you. Lord, if if you don't go, I'm not going. You know I think many of us would have settled for what God said to Moses.

Many of us would say Lord, you promised me eternal life. I've got eternal life. You promised me heaven. I've got heaven. You promised me that you would see me through. You're going to see me through. Thank you for the angel, Lord. Thank you for heaven, Lord. Thank you for eternal security, Lord. And that's what you'd settle for. You would settle for that without the conscious presence of God. I want to beg you not to do it. You know what that's like? That's like a husband and wife who remain married but separate and he provides for her.

He says all right, I'll pay your rent. I'll buy your groceries. I'll cut the grass, but we're not going to live together. Friend, do you want that kind of a relationship with God? Do you want what God will give without having God himself? Or are you saying I am not satisfied with separate maintenance? I want to know the Lord intimately. So there must be there must be a determination. Now secondly, there must be preparation. Let's go to the next chapter. Moses says Lord, listen. We're not going to take second best. We don't want an angel.

We want you. And so now the Lord is ready to give them what they want. So look if you will in chapter 34 verses 1 and 2. And the Lord said unto Moses, hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first. And I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. Now God had already given Moses the Ten Commandments one time.

Moses came down and found the people dancing around the golden calf. And in the anger Moses broke those two tablets of stone. God was ready to say to the people I my presence is not going to go with you. Moses said oh Lord, I've got to have your presence. And so God says all right, Moses. Get your two more tablets and get ready and come up on the mountain and I am going to deal with you one more time. Now if you expect the presence of God, you need to do what Moses did and what God told Moses to do.

Look at it in verse two. Be ready in the morning. Be ready in the morning. Don't carelessly, casually, haphazardly seek the presence of God. God does business with those that mean business. Did you know the Bible speaks of preparing your heart to seek the Lord? Let me give you two scriptures that you might jot down. These are very meaningful to me. One deals with a man named Rehoboam. And Rehoboam did not have the presence of God. And here's what the Bible says about him in Second Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 14. And he did evil.

Now why did he do evil? Well, listen to it. And he did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Now is that not an interesting verse? He did evil, Rehoboam. Why? Because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. It doesn't even say that he did evil because he didn't seek the Lord. He did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. There must be preparation. You must be ready. All right, let me give you the converse of that now in Second Chronicles chapter 19 and verse three.

Now this speaks of a man named Jehoshaphat, a good man. And in Second Chronicles 19 verse three, God said to Jehoshaphat, nevertheless, there are good things found in thee in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land that is the places of pagan worship and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. Do you see the emphasis that God makes upon preparation? You prepare yourself uh to seek the Lord. And I hope that when you tomorrow morning, when you have your quiet time with God, that you prepare your heart, that you get away, that you close the door.

And we're going to say more about that later on that you will get uh proper ventilation, that you will get a a readable Bible, that you will get a notebook, that you will come with all of the distractions put away. And that you will say God, I have but one business right now and that is to prepare my heart to seek you. Again, it is not a casual, haphazard thing that will help you to have the conscious presence of God. There must be determination. You must say God, I will not take your blessings without you.

I don't want any angel. I need you. Determination. Number two, preparation. Be ready in the morning. And I pray God you will be ready in the morning. Now here's the third thing. Uh determination, preparation, number three, isolation. Look in verse three, chapter 34 verse three. And no man shall come up with thee. That is Moses is just going to be you and me alone. Now Moses was the pastor of 3 million backslidden people. They were bothering him. They were complaining. They were criticizing him. Remind me of a pastor who said I don't mind being swallowed by a whale.

I just hate to be nibbled to death by minnows. And that's what was happening to Moses. And God says to Moses, now leave these people. Get alone with me. It's very important because you understand that later on Moses is going to intercede for those same people that he was getting away from. Did you know the best time I spend for you is not when I'm with you talking to you about God, but when I'm with God talking to God about you? Did you know that? Do you know the best time that you offer your children is not necessarily when you're with your children, but when you're not with your children talking to God about your children?

And those problems that you have that you need to isolate yourself from and get alone with God. Pastors need to get alone with God. Sometimes people are disappointed because the pastor is not always there. They're back in Cowell. I want to tell you something, folks. The man of God who's always available isn't worth a whole lot when he is available. There are are times when you need to be alone with God and not just pastors, parents. Not just parents, Sunday school teachers. Wherever you are, if God has given you a responsibility, you need to get alone with God.

Jesus taught us that. What did Jesus say? When you pray what? Enter into your closet and pray. Now he didn't mean a closed closet. He meant a closed place, a place where you shut the doors and open the window to heaven. Get alone with God. If you'll study the history of people in the Bible who have been blessed and have therefore been a blessing, these are people who met God in a place of isolation. Abraham was alone when the Lord has spoke to Abraham and gave him that great covenant. Daniel was alone when God spoke to him and gave him a prophecy.

Uh uh Paul was alone in Arabia where God gave him the epistles, the great things that he wrote down for us in the book of Romans. Peter was alone on a rooftop when he had a vision and God spoke to Simon Peter up there about Cornelius and opening the door to the Gentiles. John was alone on the isle of Patmos on the Lord's day when God gave him the book of the Revelation. Moses was alone in the wilderness when God gave him the Ten Commandments. And the Bible tells us about the greatest example of all, the Lord Jesus in the midst of a busy, fruitful ministry where miracles were being done withdrew himself to the wilderness to pray.

Determination, it must be there. Friend, preparation it must be there. Isolation it must be there. When you pray enter into your closet and pray. Now here's the next thing if you want that conscious presence of God, and that is expectation. Notice now beginning in verse four. And he, that is Moses, hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. Now why did he hew two tables of stone? Well, he expected God to give him something to put on them. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up into Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him.

And he took in his hand uh the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. Now Moses went up there to find out something from God and he got a revelation.

God spoke to Moses. And God said now Moses, I'm going to give you something. I want you to be prepared to take it down. Take with you two blank tablets. I wonder when you have a quiet time, are you expecting God to give you something? I mean when you open the word of God, do you expect to learn? I have two kinds of pens. I don't know why, but I have this one that I pull out if I'm with you, but I have this one that I pull out when I'm by myself. This is a flare, just an old felt tip pen.

It can be any kind, but this kind I like to chew on because I meditate by chewing on this thing. I'm glad I don't smoke cigars, but that's the closest thing I get to it. I would hardly ever think to open my Bible to read without taking this out or something like this and a yellow legal pad to read the Bible. Because I expect to get something when I read the Bible. And folks, it's easy for me to forget what I get. Let me tell you something. The weakest ink is better than the best memory.

You will think you will never forget it, but you will forget it. And if you come to God and you expect God to give you something, Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Adoration. Now on the basis of truth he worships. We worship God how? In spirit and in truth. Real worship is intelligent worship based on the revealed word of God.

Guest (Male): And aren't you grateful for such a profound and practical lesson that's so applicable for us today. We're going to hear the conclusion of this message tomorrow on Love Worth Finding, but if you want to know more about how to mature in your walk with Jesus, go to our Grow Your Faith page at the website where you'll find resources and materials to help guide you as you develop your relationship with God. Go to lwf.org/radio and click the tab at the top that says Grow Your Faith. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call us at 1877 Love God and mention the title How to Practice the Presence of God.

This message is also part of the powerful and convicting series Exalting Your Savior. If you'd like that complete six message collection, call that number 877 Love God. Or you can order online at lwf.org/radio. Or if you're in the US, text that word radio to 901 81. Well, thanks for studying in God's word with us today. Spend some time alone with the Lord and read his word with an expectant heart and a pen and paper ready to write down what he reveals. And tune in tomorrow for part two of How to Practice the Presence of God right here on Love Worth Finding.

Guest (Male): A listener responded to an online survey recently and shared this. I've recommended this ministry to my friends many times. Love Worth Finding is in my opinion possibly the most evangelism minded ministry because of Dr. Rogers's sermons. I've never heard better sermons than his. He was truly gifted by God to win souls. Well, at Love Worth Finding we love to continue that ministry of Adrian Rogers and the power of God's word in your life and around the world. When you donate to the ministry right now, we'd love to send you as a thank you our daybreak journal.

Use the journaling space to deepen your spiritual journey every day. For a copy of this journal, call with a gift at 1877 Love God. Or give online at lwf.org/radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.