Grace Community Trenton
Pastor Hutch Garmany and Cody Kennamer at Grace Community Trenton in Trenton, Ga.
Grace Community Trenton
Leaving Egypt: Beholding Glory
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Exodus 33: 12 - 23
Would you now stand for the reading of God's Word? Our passage is Exodus chapter 33, beginning of verse 12. That's page 80 in your Red Pew Bibles. If you didn't bring a Bible of your own, it should be a Red Pew Bible that looks like this. If you want to hunt one of those up and turn to page 80. Again, that is Exodus chapter 33, beginning of verse 12.
SPEAKER_07Moses said to the Lord, You have been telling me, lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, I know you by name, and you have found favor with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways, so 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 I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up here from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me 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? And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name. Then Moses said, Now show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, he said, You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord said, There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen. This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02Thanks be to God. Thank you, Elise, recent graduate of Covenant College. As we come to God's Word now, would you join me in prayer as we give our attention to God's presence with us in his word? Let's pray together. Father, we we come now and we would we would ask, Lord, that you would come and you would speak to us. That you would help us to understand that your word is not merely words on a page. It's not merely ideas or formulas to master in our head. This is not an academic exercise, Lord. This is an encounter with the living God. Your very presence in your word. We need you, Lord. We need to we need to see your glory with the eyes of our hearts. We need to encounter you. Because when we encounter you in your glory, it changes everything else. That's what we need this morning. So come and be our teacher in Christ's name. We pray. Amen. So a question for us for our young people as we get started this morning. Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by the beauty of something? Have you ever been somewhere? Maybe it's uh some place that you got to visit, maybe it's some beautiful scene in nature, maybe it's some incredible scene of architecture, or somewhere that you got to go and see something, and it just was just stunning. It just grabbed and moved your heart. Have you ever had that experience before? You know, a couple years ago, we uh as a family, we we were given a sabbatical by the church, and we took this trip out west, and we got to see so many things, and and yeah, I love the west, and and there's just there are things out there to see that literally just take your breath away. And and we got to we got to see the Pacific Ocean, we got to go to Zion National Park in Utah, just the stunning beauty of the desert. And then my favorite, the Grand Tetons. Anybody ever been to the Grand Tetons? I mean, they're just breathtaking to see these things. And I think as we were on our trip, one of the things that, one of the words that we kept repeating, you'd hear it throughout this, we had this big, you know, 10-passenger van that we had rented for our clan here. And and one of the things that you would hear over and over and over on this trip, it was one word, it was wow. You know, you you drive around, you know, maybe this this corner, you come into this new place and and the view opens up and you're just like, wow. It's amazing how glory has the power to do this in our hearts. You know, the reality is, if you ever said, you know, you you go on a trip like that and you take all kinds of pictures and you want to capture it, and then you go back and you look back over the pictures, and you, or maybe you try to show those pictures to somebody else, and what do you always say? Man, the pictures don't do it justice. Because there's nothing like being in the presence of glory. Actually seeing it, being there, beholding it in your presence. Now, there's a reason why glory moves us. It's because that's what we're made for. That's what it means to be a human being, that we were created to be beholders of glory. Actually, chasers of glory. I mean, it's there's no way around it. It's just the nature of the human heart that we are a people that want to see and savor and enjoy glory. It's natural and it's what we're chasing and what we're seeing, seeking after. But one of the things that the scriptures tell us is that the fundamental problem of the human heart is that yes, we are chasers of glory, but we so easily get lured away by lesser glories. That we can find ourselves beholding a sunset, a breathtaking sunset, and this urge is somewhere in our hearts to maybe scroll our phone in the very presence. I get so frustrated with that in my heart that I find myself in places where there's glory before me, and yet there's something in my heart that wants to move to something lesser, that wants to choose something far less satisfying, and I miss being present to the glory that's right in front of my face. That is what we do with God. As we go about this life, again, the fundamental problem of the human heart is that we choose lesser glory. The glory of God is available to us to enjoy and to behold. And so often we find ourselves choosing lesser glories, running after reflected glories. I mean, as wonder as wonderful as a sunset is or a mountain range or some incredible feat of architecture, is as amazing as those things are, they're just reflected glory. We ought to see those and say, you know, that is amazing. How much more wonderful the one who created it. But so seldom does that happen in our lives. We find ourselves running after and chasing reflected glory rather than the ultimate source of all glory, God Himself. That's at the root of our hearts. Here's what we'll see in our passage this morning. We are transformed and most deeply satisfied as we enjoy and behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So let's jump into our passage here. We are in Exodus. We are in the last third of the book of Exodus, which is really all about worship. It's all about God forming and preparing his people to become a worshiping people. In fact, that was the whole point of the whole Exodus. His deliverance of his people, his rescuing them out of Egypt, that the end for that, the point in that was that they would become his worshiping people, that they would dwell in his midst, that they would behold his glory, and that they would enjoy him. That was the purpose and the point for all of God's rescuing of his people. And as we've seen in the immediate context here, it's crucial to see this context, what we saw last week was a terrible crisis has unfolded. So God is giving the tabernacle to his people, that that place, that special place whereby they could encounter his presence. It would be God's dwelling with his people. And as he is meeting with Moses on the mountain on Mount Sinai, and he's giving him the pattern of the tabernacle. At that very moment, it's kind of like Israel's wedding day. And yet at that moment, what's happening at the foot of the mountain? The Israelites are caught up in idolatry. They have made an idol, they are worshiping a golden calf, they are breaking the covenant literally on the wedding day. It's happening right there, and it is a terrible tragedy, and it threatens to undo everything. And we saw that great picture of Moses stepping into their place as the advocate of Israel, and he he puts himself in their place and he reminds God of his promises, and he advocates on their behalf. He takes up their case that God might have mercy on them, and God relents. And as we come to our passage here, we are seeing a continuation of Moses' advocacy and his stepping in for them on their behalf, representing the Israelites to God. And we see in the passage, if we were to go back and look at the beginning of chapter 33, that there is still pain in God's heart, that there is still anger in him, that the covenant has been broken. He has decided that he will not destroy Israel in judgment. But at the beginning of chapter 33, he says, okay, you're going to go and you're going to inherit the land, but I'm not going with you. I'll send an angel. There'll be an angel to be with you, and the angel will go before you, and you will uh inherit the land that I've promised to you, but I can't go with you. Because if I were to go with these people, I know they're a stiff-necked people. I know what just happened will continue to happen, and if I were to go with them, I would destroy them. So I'm not going. I'll send an angel to represent my presence, and they can inherit the land, but I'm not going. Now you can imagine a promise like that. It's the opportunity to have God's blessings without God. I mean, so often in our hearts, I think that's the tendency for us. That we want what God gives, we want his blessings, but we don't necessarily want him. And what's incredible is to receive the response of the Israelites and of Moses. The Israelites mourn. Verse 4 When the people heard the distressing words, they began to mourn, and no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, Tell the Israelites, you are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you for even a moment, I might destroy you. So this is the crisis that God says, I'm not going. They will go, I will send my angel, and then we see Moses again in his advocacy, his stepping in the place of Israel before God. Look at what Moses says in verse 12, where he says, Hey, you've been saying to me, lead these people, and you have said that you are pleased with me, and that you know me by name, and I have found favor with you. And if you're, if uh verse 13, if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people. Moses is saying, hey, you've you've said that you're gonna go with us, and yet now I'm hearing that it's just gonna be an angel. But God, you've got to go with us, or it's not gonna work. And here's what God replies to Moses in verse 14 My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Moses, I'm pleased with you, and I'll be with you, but not with them. And you can imagine Moses at this point saying, Wow, you know, tough luck for them. I got you, Lord. You know, I've been faithful and this this is this is right. But that's not what he does. In verse 13, Moses continues in just the boldness of his advocacy on behalf of a sinful people, where Moses will come back at God and will say, If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. God, if you're not gonna be with us, there's no point in going. We're not going. I don't want to go. And we don't want to go because God, the whole point is for you to be in our midst. That's what it's all about. We don't want to go without you. And then he begins to leverage God's own promises and heart against him. Again, he's not playing a trick on God. This is at the very heart of God's desire, is that Moses would advocate and he and to be moved by what God, what God is passionate about, which is his glory. How will anyone know, this is verse 16, how will anyone know that you are pleased with me 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? God, if you're not with us, how will the nations know? How will they see you? How will you be revealed? They know, uh Moses knows that God's heart is to make himself known among the nations through his people. And Moses says, How will that happen if you are not with us? And the Lord says, I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name. So it's incredible. We we see really a picture of the heart of the gospel here is that God says, I will go and be in the midst of my people because I'm pleased with you. See, it's a picture of the gospel that that Christianity is not be good and you get God's favor. It's not live up to this standard and God will accept you. It is we can only be accepted based on the merits of another. And that's what Moses is pointing us to. The greater Moses, the truer Moses, Jesus himself, that we get the acceptance before God that we as sinful people are brought into the holy presence of God based upon the merits and the righteousness of another, namely Jesus. But what happens in verse 18 is what I really want to camp out on for a few moments. So we see Moses has been successful in his advocacy. He stepped in, he's advocated for the people. God says, I'm gonna, I will, I will be with my people, I will be in their midst because of you, because of your righteousness. And then Moses here, and it's so bold, because Moses says at this point, I want to see your glory. Verse 18, then Moses says to God, Now show me your glory. This is not Moses saying, Hey, I'm I'm I'm curious, I want to see what you look like. Or it's not Moses saying, Hey, I want I want a cool experience. It's Moses saying to God, I need to see you, I need to enjoy you, I want to know you. This is the thing that Scripture calls seeking God's face. Not to be confused with seeking God's hand. They're two different things, and it's good to seek God's hand. We do it all the time. I mean, something happens in our life, we're facing some challenge, some struggle in our life, and we seek God's hand. That is his action in our life. God, come and show up in my life. Come and do something, come and help me, come and provide. It's a wonderful thing. God wants to be our provider, he wants us to seek his hand. But even more, he wants us to seek his face. Why a face? Because when you encounter a face, you're encountering the person. It's intimacy, it's knowing. When you are intimate with another person, when you're in relationship with another person, when you're when you're with a friend, when you're when you're enjoying the presence of another person, you're enjoying one another's face. It's face-to-face, it's connection, it's intimacy. And that's what Moses is wanting here. God, I want to behold you. I want to see you. I want to enjoy you. Reveal yourself to me. Now, the incredible thing about God is that he longs to reveal himself. He wants to be known. He wants us to seek him. He wants us to do this, as bold as it is. He wants us, like Moses, to go to God and say, God, I need things in my life. I do. But more than anything that I need, I need you. I need to behold you. I need to see you. I need you for you to reveal who you are to me. I want to enjoy your glory. I want to worship you. I want to see your worth and your value, your power. So, how will God respond to this? His deep longing. And he says this in verse 19: I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name the Lord in your presence. Now, it's very interesting here. This is very mysterious. God says, Okay, I'll show you my glory. And God showing his glory to Moses is a causing of his goodness to pass in front of Moses. It is the proclaiming of his name. Now remember, God's name, Yahweh, is not just a title or something you call him, it is his character. In the Bible, your name reveals something about who you are. So God's name is more than just what you call him, it's the revelation of who he is, his character, his person, his glory. And so God says, I will cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you. I will proclaim my name the Lord in your presence. But he says, This, you cannot see my face. This is verse 20, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. And then this description of how God will graciously provide for this encounter with Moses, verse 21. Then the Lord said, There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock, cover you with my hand until I have passed by, then I will remove my hand and you will see my back, but my face and it must not be seen. And we're going to look at next week the actual encounter. But this is Moses this is God saying to Moses, I will graciously make this possible for you to behold my glory and see my glory, but you can't see my face. And there's a place that I'll put you and I'll hold my hand over you as I pass by and proclaim my name and I'll remove my hand and you will get a glimpse of me. It's an incredible encounter that God graciously gives to Moses. Now, as we see this, we might think, I want that. Right? Who sees that and is like, what would that be like? You know, if I could have that, God, if I could have that, if if I could have what Moses had here, I'd be good. If you just let me have that encounter, let me be able to see this, have this spiritual experience, I'd be good. You know, all those struggles in my life would be good. I I need this. Where do I go to get this? How do I go to get this? Right? Very natural response. But here's the thing that we gotta say. Something far more wonderful is available to us if we will seek it. It's available to us. Something far more wonderful and profound and real is available to us. And it is available to us in the person of Jesus. That is the teaching of the New Testament. Hebrews chapter one verse three says this the Son, meaning Jesus, is the radiance of God's glory in the exact representation of his being. The fullness of the glory of God. Everything that Moses couldn't even see had to be shielded from. He got just a glimpse. All of the radiance of God's glory, the fullness of who he is, is contained in the person of Jesus. He's the exact representation of his being. His radiance is seen in the person of Jesus. You know, there's a place in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and 4 where Paul is really using this scene here to describe salvation in Jesus. It's an amazing chapter. I'd encourage you to go and read it. And the whole chapter is just playing on this scene. But Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, he describes conversion as coming to see the glory of Jesus. And he also describes transformation, justification and sanctification as beholding the glory of Jesus. In chapter 4, he says this. Now this is Paul's description of how someone is converted, how someone goes from death to life, how they are saved. This is Paul's description of how that happens. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, when did God say that? Let light shine out of darkness? Oh, yeah. Creation. So salvation is like a work of new creation. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Jesus Christ. What a description of conversion. See, he's drawing on Exodus 33. He's saying, when someone is converted, here's what happens: God says into a heart filled with utter darkness, let there be light. And what is that light? The heart comes alive to the glory of God in the person of Jesus. You see his glory. That's conversion. In the heart, the human heart comes to see all of life is in Jesus. It sees the fullness of glory that surpasses a sunset or a mountain range or any other thing that we can possess in life. It is seeing the fullness of glory in the person of Jesus. Because Paul is saying all of God's glory is contained in the person of Jesus. And Moses couldn't see the face of God, but we can in the person of Jesus. That's how he describes conversion, but it's also how he describes sanctification, transformation in our life. Chapter 3, verse 18 says this, and we all who with unveiled faces contemplate or behold the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. As we behold the Lord's glory in the face of Jesus, we are transformed. That's how we change. We change by beholding Jesus. You want to change in your life? You got anything you need to change? I certainly do. You got anything in your life you're fed up with? Anything in your heart? Anything in your behavior, any struggles, any bondage in your life? You got some of that? I do. Paul says, you know the way to be transformed? Do you know the way to be set free? Behold the glory of God in the person of Jesus. This is what Paul prayed for the Ephesians. He tells us what he was praying for them, and he prays that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened. That's interesting, right? The eyes of the heart. And we might say, you know, if I could just see with my physical eyes, God, I'd be good. And Paul says, Well, I got something much better. You need to see with your heart. Your heart has eyes, right? And it's when with the heart, the heart comes to see the surpassing glory of Jesus. And when that hits home in the heart, when your affections are ignited for Jesus, you're transformed. This is how we grow in the Christian life by beholding Jesus. Very often we think that the way I change is to try harder. You ever think that? You ever give that a shot? How's that going? Right? It doesn't work. Right? Because we can't get our hands into our heart. And that's where everything in our life comes from, is from our heart. We need heart change. We need heart surgery. How does that happen? Behold Jesus. So often, whenever we try to change or we try to fight sin in our life, we're more focused on sin than we are on Jesus. When Paul says the way to change is behold his glory. See the glory of God in the person of Jesus. See Jesus speaking to a storm and saying, Be still. Seeing Jesus when he's about to raise one of his best friends, weeping over the reality of death. See Jesus touching a leper, a person who's lived all of their life in utter shame and exclusion. And see Jesus just touching him, and he'll become a clean. See Jesus with this crazed demoniac up in the mountains. We got any of those in Dade County, right? Any people in your life where you're like, they're just wild enough shoot at, there's no way they'll ever be changed, right? You know people like that in your life? Let them encounter Jesus. The demoniac encountered Jesus, and there he sits and he says, I want to follow you. I want to give my life to you. Right? That's what happens when you behold the glory of Jesus. So here's the question for each of us this morning. Have you seen the glory of God? Have you seen the glory of God? Because you must. If you haven't seen the glory of God, have you been saved? Right? Have you seen the glory of God in the person of Jesus? Because that is life. And it's the way that we change. Now, how do we do this? How do I see? How do I behold God's glory with the eyes of my heart? And the answer is far more simple than we might like. It's the means of grace. God has given us these simple, ordinary means of grace: His word, prayer, fellowship, and the sacraments. Those are these ordinary things that He's given to us whereby we would encounter and behold His glory in those places. You know, one of the challenges for us as we come to those, because many of us are like, hey, I read my Bible. I don't, this doesn't happen for me, right? Anybody relate to that? I read a passage and I forget what I read. Anyone ever have that? What makes the word go from something that I do as a duty to something that is transforming in its power in my heart? And the answer is this see Jesus in the text. Enjoy his glory in the passage, no matter where it is.
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_02That's what we're doing here. We're looking at Exodus 33, and what are we doing? We're seeing Jesus. Because that's what changes us in prayer. You know, sometimes in prayer we go to prayer and it's just, I'm working my list, right? I'm going through this. But prayer is to be an encounter with Jesus. Fellowship, you know, fellowship's not just chit-chat and hanging out, right? Fellowship is an encounter with Jesus. That's what the body of Christ means. That as I'm with another believer, I am encountering the presence of Jesus. And so are we mindful of that? Are we expectant of that? Are we living in that reality? So we are changed as we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus. So let's stop there and just hear from each other. How does that impact you? How does it strike you that deacons are going to grab these mics here? And it's an opportunity for us to interact over this and hear how this is impacting you, how is it challenging you as we think about beholding God's glory in the person of Jesus?
SPEAKER_04Um, you probably knew that I was gonna talk. Um, you described this morning my conversion experience, which is just so awesome. As a freshman in college, I had um, well, now one of our dear friends preach this message and say, Have you seen the glory of God? And I thought, I don't know if I have. And I mean, this was all the gift of the Holy Spirit, but in asking, my next thought was like, Well, if I have to wonder if I've seen his glory, I probably haven't, because I think if I saw it, I would know it. And um in the next two months, he just illuminated my heart to see the wonders of the gospel um in the full presence of grace and Jesus. And um, and it was it was like a new creation. It was like the the eyes of my heart were enlightened. Um, but I would just I think it was conversion for me, even though I'd been around the church for a long time. So I think something that I always um I think um maybe a good question to ask, if maybe it's just like, I don't know where I am, maybe the the scripture isn't in light um comes to life, but it's just that if I'm not sure if I've seen the glory, if that doesn't hit home to say, Lord, I haven't, so show it to me. Like like Moses says, show me your glory. And so I think in the gift of faith to boldly ask that, he um, I feel like he gave me the gift to ask the question, but then he gave me the gift of answering, answering the request so fully. So um, so I guess I would just I feel like it's just such a great question to ask, like, or request to ask, like, show me your glory, Lord, show me your glory, be hungry for the things of God. Because he loves, he loves to give our his self to us, he loves to give himself to us too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing to think like what Moses said to God, you can say to God. In fact, you must say to God, really. But you you can go to God and say, I want to see your glory. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to do that. Right? I want it. Like, do you know how deep it is in God's heart to answer that prayer? It's the like the ultimate prayer.
SPEAKER_03One way, I know this past week, uh God's glory, as you say, is in different ways. Uh, is when you experience his joy. And I want to go to this verse in John because I saw his joy this week in sunny, in my sister, in places I thought were in just couldn't be what he has done. And it gave me joy. And I'm gonna refer to the verse in John. John, uh, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. So I just praise the Lord for his joy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_08Sorry, here. Oh, hi. Um, I so as we were talking earlier about um beholding glory and how we chase glory, um, it reminded me of a book I'm currently reading in a Bible study called Competing Spectacles, um, which talks a lot about how that's our entire world is made up of competing spectacles, whether it's from your phone or movies or just like going out, sports events, all of those kinds of things. Um, but about we're we're about a little over halfway through the book, and um that's where we start pointing to well, what is the greatest spectacle? Um, and of course that would be the cross. Um, and so it's just it's it's beautiful to see it connecting back to like Moses and and the glory and then beholding the glory of the cross.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Um yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Kaylen, thank you for sharing that and and and even for bringing us back to the cross because it is at the cross that we see the the fullest display of God's glory. You you see his holiness and his mercy and grace meeting in that place. You see the love of God displayed. You know, we we we talk about love, you know, our culture loves love. You know, we're crazy about love, but God's love is a different kind of love. It's like a cross-shaped love, it's a die, self-giving, dying love. And that is the fullness of God's glory in the cross. So I I just appreciate you bringing it back to that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Hutch, I know we've talked um about this before, but I've as you're preaching, just reminded of um how crazy it is that we can ask this now. Like, I think growing up in the church, I've always been like, yes, we are gonna see God's glory in heaven. Like when we die, we are going to be like the resurrection, and then I'm gonna get to see God's glory. And I think that's like that's just what it was. It was like this life is gonna be miserable, and then we're gonna get to see God's glory. And I think what um the Lord has really been pursuing me is like, no, you get some of that now. Like, yes, I will see, I will see fully, but like even to ask that for that now feels like, oh, whoa, like I can do that. Like that's a that's a thing that can happen now. Yeah, um, and I think it's just been so encouraging for me to like actually like enjoy that instead of just like wait, wait, wait, wait, it's coming, wait. Like, oh no, you actually get some now. Um yeah, and just what that's done for my faith has been um yeah, renewing in a in a deep way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you, Sarah. LG. A soon-to-be graduate this week.
SPEAKER_09Um, so one thing I thought about kind of earlier in the sermon and throughout is you were talking about how God said, like, I'm going to stay behind here and I'm gonna have an angel go with you. And as someone who has been a Christian for a very long time, that was kind of crazy to me because I'm still used to the idea of like God is everywhere, God is with us. When we come to faith, we are a temple for God. And I was just like, wait, back then they God could remove himself from them. And I was just thinking, what a privilege it is that I have grown up in a world where I cannot even fathom what it is like for God to be removed from me. That I am not appreciating the wonder of the fact that the creator of the universe is accessible to me at all times. He is living in me at all times. That was extremely impactful to me. And even later in the sermon, when it's saying, Not only do we not die when we see the face of God, that is actually how we live.
SPEAKER_02That's really good. Thank you. So, LG, a little follow-up question. As you share that and enjoy that in this moment, what are you feeling?
SPEAKER_09I think I am struck. I was crying a lot through this service. I don't know if you looked over and saw me bawling like a baby over here, but I think I am just so in awe that someone as insignificant as me could be loved that much.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_02Man. So what we're getting to witness is the affections. That's that was the word that the Puritans used, particularly Jonathan Edwards. That Jonathan Edwards was all about like discerning what is like true religion that's different from just knowing something in your head or going through the motions or like what we would call Bible Belt Christianity. What separates that, which is counterfeit from the real thing? And his answer was the affections. Now, by that he didn't mean feelings, he meant the affection of the heart whenever the truth penetrates. So it was truth and affection coming together, right? That's what it means to behold the glory of God. Like she's beholding the glory of God in the moment, and it's moving her affections. Now, probably this afternoon, she might be foul, okay? I don't know. She's pretty wonderful, but she might be foul to be around, right? And and that's the experience of the Christian life. You know, it's this, you know, we're like schizophrenic, we're all over the place. But but it's that beholding of the glory of God that that we're called to pursue and that is available to us now and that transforms us. So when we talk about it, that's what we're talking about. My heart sees Jesus, the truth of who he is, the the his glory, his love, all of his the wonders of who he is. And my heart is moved with affection. That's what we're talking about. And and and when it happens, it just changes you in the spot, in the moment. Now, again, you might go back and be foul, right? But we just want to increase that beholding of Jesus. And we're where Paul says that's how we're transformed. From one degree of glory to another is beholding with the affections of the heart the person of Jesus. Because all of God's glory, there's nothing more you need than what is contained in the person of Jesus. Thank you, LG. It was like a demonstration in the moment. So building on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. In the Gospel of John 1, 18, no one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God, and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's he's saying the same thing that Paul's saying that Moses says now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yes. The Corinthians passage was brilliant to me and drew a lot of things together because as we walk through the worship furniture, and you've got the mercy seat, and you've got two angels around what is essentially an empty space. And that in the ancient Near East, there would normally be an image there, some sort of an idol on top of the mercy seat on top of the altar in the center of the worship space that they would bow down and worship. But God leaves that as an empty space, and He instead of putting an image of Himself there, He said. That he created us in his image. And so he's sending like his people out to be the image. And when they reject the covenant and they make up an image, an idol, it it's completely in the face of that. But what is the significance of us being, you know, in his image, outside of the tabernacle, outside of the temple? And if it is that as we behold his glory, we are being transformed more and more into his image, as Corinthians draws together, that really sends us out in the in the imperative of the gospel and the imperative of being image bearers in the way that that is sustained and is by beholding the glory of Christ.
SPEAKER_02Because it really is missional. And that's Paul's point, is that we behold the glory of God, and we're being transformed into ever-increasing glory so that we might reveal that glory to the world, that we are his image. And you know, C.S. Lewis says the point of Christianity is to come to find life in Christ, and then you're made little Christ. And that at first you first hear that and you're like, wait, what? And the more you think about it, you're like, yes, we are to reflect the glory of Jesus into the world. We are reflectors of the glory of Jesus. That's our calling and our purpose. You know, Moses says to God, how else will the nations know unless you're with your people? You got to be in our midst. Tabernacle. Remember, let's do this. You know, God's getting ready to throw out the tabernacle. When the new covenant, we become the tabernacle. We become God's people, the church, the dwelling place of God, God's glory dwelling in us. I mean, it's almost like unbelievable to say because we know how broken we are. But you know, it's in our brokenness that his glory is most revealed, because it's his grace. And so when you when you make that connection to mission, that beholding the glory of God is not only about what it does for me, it starts there, but in order that that might be reflected in the world. So it sends us in mission because we want we want the nations to be glad in his glory. We want them to see God, for them to know God. I mean, that's the thing over and over and over that he keeps saying is that they would know who I am, that they would know that I am the Lord. And that's our mission. That the nations would know he is the Lord, there is no other. That they would behold his glory in us. It's not because we're glorious, it's a reflected glory. Christ in us, the hope of glory, as Paul says. Yeah, so I love the the connection to mission there. We gotta remember that.
SPEAKER_06Um yeah, Hutch, I have a lot of jumbled-up thoughts that have been coming to me just throughout the sermon. Um just thinking back to Moses and how he really wanted to see God's face, God's actual face, and then God saying, No, you can't see my face because you can't live if you see my face. I can imagine that Moses would have been completely frustrated and even angry that he like he had such a good desire to see God's face, um, and that God said, No, you can't. Um and that makes me think about like all of the desires that God gives us as his image bearers, um, and how we can't obtain them really in this life. And so that's the frustrating side of it, yet at the same time, because he does give us the glimpses of his glory and the the we can see the radiance that he um he exhibits through all manner of things, like his creation, Isabel, is through his people. Um that I mean, I have to cling to that as a hope for being able to actually see his glory. And so then I was just thinking about, you know, are we supposed to seek God's face? Because as Paul talks about, to die is gain and to be with Christ is far better than what we are with. Um and that that was one thing. Are we supposed to just seek the glory of his face? Like as in just the radiant evidence of his face, so that we can just cling to the promises, right? Um and then I thought about the benediction talking about his may his face shine upon you. And now it doesn't say, may you see his face, it says, may his face shine upon you. So like it's um, you know, the blessings of the present time versus um the coming future. I don't know. I don't know if any of that made any sense. Yeah, but I just lots of different thoughts coming back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the it's interesting because right before this it talks about God meeting with Moses at the ten of meeting, where God would speak to him face to face as a man speaks with his friend. And now you have God saying, You can't see my face and live. And which is very mysterious. I mean, the whole thing is whole mysterious. And if if there's no room for mystery in your theology, like you need to not read the Bible because it will mess your theology up. But there was a way in which Moses enjoyed some sort of face-to-face relationship with God, but yet here there is a fullness of that encounter that he cannot give to Moses because of God's holiness and Moses is a fallen sinner. But I think it's what is so remarkable for us in the New Covenant that it talks about beholding the face of Jesus. That that we actually the the New Testament seems to say everything in God is available in Jesus, you know, but but yet you're right, there is a future enjoyment of it that will be uninterrupted. You know, so often in this life it's like, ah, I'm beholding his glory now, and then I'm foul not long after that. You know, it's the already but not yet. And we long and anticipate that day that it will be complete, it will be sight, not just the eyes of the heart, but physical eyes, presence, everything. So that is future. But I think the thing to emphasize, and I appreciate that Ashley was bringing that out, is that we can encounter and behold God's glory in Jesus now. We can enjoy that now. In fact, he wants us to. Um, but there's always that tension. You're right in that. Let me close this in prayer, call our musicians up. Father, we want to see your glory. Uh not for some curiosity's sake, not for just merely some experience of the emotion's sake. Lord, we want to see your glory because we want to know you, as Moses says. I want to know you. Teach me your ways. Lord, we want to know you. We want to know you more deeply. Lord, would you help us to seek your face that you would reveal yourself more and more to us in the person and the fullness of Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.