======================================================================== YORRIE RICHARDS 02 by Yorrie Richards ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon shares a personal experience of encountering the presence of God in a profound way, leading to a deep desire for worship and a revelation of God's grace. It delves into the story of Moses probing God to know Him intimately, culminating in a transformative encounter where God reveals His glory and character. The sermon emphasizes the importance of preparation and readiness for God's visitation, highlighting the need for cleansing and refining in the church. Duration: 30:46 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon shares a personal experience of encountering the presence of God in a profound way, leading to a deep desire for worship and a revelation of God's grace. It delves into the story of Moses probing God to know Him intimately, culminating in a transformative encounter where God reveals His glory and character. The sermon emphasizes the importance of preparation and readiness for God's visitation, highlighting the need for cleansing and refining in the church. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...that were coming to the convention. Now, I was in a bunk bed, on the lower part of the bunk bed, in one of the classrooms. And, I had come to the classroom after the day's meetings, and I was laying in my bed with my hands under my head. And, I was thinking of the days when I didn't know Christ. I was thinking of the many fights that I had been involved in. Thinking of the things that I had to suffer because of my stutter. And, as I lay there, a call went out, and it says, Lights out everybody! Half past ten, it was lights out. So, somebody threw a switch, and the classroom was drenched in darkness. All there was, was the orange glow from the lights out on the street. I lay in my bed, thinking of the goodness of God. Thinking of the mercy of God. And, I began to cry. Something began to move very deeply in my heart. I had a longing. I wanted to worship. I wanted to prostrate myself on the floor and worship. So, I rolled out of the lower section of the bunker, onto the wooden block floor of the classroom. I don't know if those that had not fallen asleep had heard me. But, at that moment, I couldn't care less. Anyway, I just wanted to worship. And, this is what literally took place that night. I lay on the floor, face down, and I began to sob like a little baby boy. I began to sob, and I began to feel gentle, tangible. That's how I called it in my little book. Tangible waves of glory, rolling up and down my body. This went on for a long time. And, worship, my heart was coming out. I was giving my heart. I want to ask you, since the day that you surrendered your life to Christ, has God ever revealed to you the wonder and the extent of the grace of God in His operation in your personal life? Has that ever dawned upon you? Has He ever dawned upon you? He dawned upon me. And, that was my first introduction to the presence of God. Some people refer to me as a man of the presence. But, that night, that classroom was filled with an almost tangible glory. You could almost cut it into pieces. And, I lay on that floor for such a long time. Then, I read a book dealing with the daily of Philly. Charles Philly. And, I heard and read there that he was a lawyer. And, he came into his office early, as was his want. And, he wanted to meet with God before the rest of the staff arrived. And, as he was spending time with the Lord in his office, the very same experience came upon Charles Philly. And, he had to cry out. Those of you who have read his journal, he had to cry out. Lord, stop it. You'll kill me. I got back into my own bed after a long time. And, I lay in my bed. I was sounding like a little boy after a big smacking. You know how they go. I lay in my bed like that, like a little boy. Can you get it? The presence of God was nearly turning me inside out. I could have had the baptism of the Spirit, so far as I know, that night. Because, I don't believe that speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism. I don't believe that. Oh, I speak in tongues. Moses, one of the headings on these notes here. It's in Exodus 33. Why to go there? This is one of the things that I want to share with you regarding Moses. Now, if you knew that God had called him out of the burning bush and had commissioned him to go into Egypt. And, he brought up a list of reasons why he thought that he shouldn't go. One of the reasons was, he was so out of speech. In the Hebrew, it says, halting speech. Halting. So, God sent Aaron with him, who could speak well. And, after a series of mighty miracles performed by this man down in the land of Egypt. Ten major plagues was the result of him stretching out that rock. And, God tackled the ten major gods of Egypt. By these ten major plagues. But, when we come to Exodus 33, I want you to stay with me here. Verse 12. 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 have also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me your way that I might know you. Let me go back to that verse. Verse 12. 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. I know you by name. We don't, in the western world, have that mindset. Names to us bring someone into our minds. But there is no description of the personality of the person in the name. Not in the western world. But in the Hebrew world, it is quite different. To know the name is to know the person. And Moses said to God, You have said, I know you by name. When I studied that, I began to read between the lines. And I began to get the inference. You can get a lot out of what is not said as what is said. So what is Moses really saying here? You say that you know me by my name. But I don't know you like that. That's the inference. Perhaps you could have said, when you commissioned me to go down into Egypt. And I asked you, what name shall I give to the elders of Israel? When they asked me, who sent you? What am I going to tell them? And God said, I am that I am. Tell them that I am a saint to you. But I don't know by name. And thus, you see, Moses here, he is probing God. He is probing. He has seen a whole list of miracles. But I don't think any other mortal man has ever set eyes upon the miracles that God did through Moses. And yet, in the heart of Moses, he is saying, I know. It's born to you by miracles. Show me a way that I might know you. And I looked up the Hebrew for the word know. Show me a way that I might know you. The word is Yadah. And Adam knew his wife Eve. And she conceived. And their son came. So now you know what it means to know someone. In that sense, it means an intimate relationship. Am I saying that mortal man can come to a place with God, but he knows God in an intimate relationship? Yes! An intimate relationship where God is closer to you than another. Now this is what Moses was probing. And then he said something. In 33 A.D. You see, Moses has not given up on his probing. He has not given up. And he says, show me your glory. I suppose most of us who are preachers have preached on this. This is one of my favorite readings. And he said, Moses, please show me your glory. Then God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you. And I will, what? I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. Moses said, I want to know your name. And God said, inference. Alright, I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. Be ready in the morning. And come up the mountain. And present yourself to me there. On the top of the mountain. Be ready in the morning. Perhaps Moses could have said, why not now while we're talking? Why not do it now? No, Moses, no. There's got to be preparation. Before God comes down, there's got to be preparation. What is this conference all about? Preparation. Getting yourself ready. W.L. Rowland said, be careful when you ask for a reviver, lest he answer your prayer. It's the mercy of God that he does not send a revival visitation when his people are not ready. We read, when the glory of God came down into the cup after Korah's rebellion. Number 16. When the glory came down, thousands perished because of it. Because the glory came down. It's not the glory you want. It's not the glory I want. I want to be ready. I want to have my heart looked at. I've had bypass surgery in my experience. That's the reason I'm so breathless. I want God to do a bypass surgery on his people and get us ready. Get us ready. And God came up. Moses came up. On that following morning, I don't suppose he slept much that night. I know that I wouldn't have slept. Would you? The verse 4 of Exodus 34, the following chapter. Verse 4 says, so he cut two tapas of stones, like the first ones. Those of you that know your scripture will know what I am talking about there. We don't have the time. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now look what happened. Now the Lord descended in the cloud. That was not an atmospheric cloud that we see in the sky today. That was the sky there. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood within there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. He proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, verse 6, the Lord. The Lord God. Adonai. Adonai. Can you hear that? I love that. Can you hear that? Adonai. Adonai again. And God proclaimed back to Moses, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by all means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. Now please look at verse 8. So Moses made haste and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped. He worshipped. Do you know the strange thing? I searched the scriptures pre-chapter 34 to find out if there was any clear statement that Moses had worshipped God prior to this. Do you know there is no clear statement that Moses worshipped God? That's one of the things I said I would leave a question mark about. But Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped. I tell you this hardly for time. I would like to go into the book of Numbers and teach you what Moses did with what God had shown him. It had completely transformed his intercessory ministry. Do you know the basis of Moses' intercessory ministry prior to chapter 34 was on the basis that Israel was God's covenant people. Because he had led them in a covenant when they became the wife of Jehovah or as I like to say the wife of Jehovah. In Exodus 19 you shall be a special people unto me. On his basis of intercession and it worked many times was on the foundation that Israel was God's covenant people. But when you look at Moses' intercessory ministry in the book of Numbers he goes further. He had occasion do you remember when they refused to go into Canaan. They flatly refused and Moses had to intercede. And he began his intercession on the basis as he had always done on the basis that Israel was God's covenant people. But then he argued let the power of my Lord be great just as you have said. When did he say it? In Exodus 34. After that revelation Moses was never the same. He was never the same. Why do you think Isaiah? He was a prophet of his own before we come to chapter 6 in his book. And yet he receives a vision of the glory of God filling the temple. He saw such things hardly the time we would dream it. But he saw the seraphim above the throne. Seraphim are always positioned above the throne. Cherubim are positioned under the throne. And in Ezekiel's vision of the presence of God leaving Solomon's temple. Underneath the presence there was the cherubim. They were God's carriers. They were the throne bearers of the king. And Isaiah cried out woe is me for I am unturned. I am a man of unclean lips and I tread the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the Lord. And then the seraphim came with a live coal from off the altar and touched his lips. And said thy sin and thy iniquity is cleansed. He said that to an astonished prophet. Do you think pastors, those of you who are the pastors here. Is there room in your heart for God to do a mighty work of cleansing? Malachi said I will send. I will send my forerunner before my face. And he shall prepare the way before me. And then he said for the Lord shall certainly come to his temple. For who shall stand in the day of his visitation. Who shall stand in the day of his visitation. For he shall come as a purifier of silver and a purifier of gold. He shall sit as a refiner. What is that? One of the jobs that I had in Wales. When I worked as a moulder. Making parts for cars from alloy. In the morning we had to plunge a chemical into the cauldron. And there would be quite a violent reaction. And the scum which had settled onto the bottom of the cauldron. Through the night would come to the surface. And I would with my ladle scoop off the scum. And throw it into a waste bin. And I would scoop off and scoop off until all that was left. Was a beautiful shining alloy. I tell you this now. God is beginning to cleanse his church. He will come as a refiner. Can I bring one point then before I close. I want to mention the two sons of Eli. Of the Athenians. The scriptures. 1st Samuel 2. Calls them sons of Belial. Who did not know the Lord. And they had caused such controversy. Amongst the nation of Israel. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/5OuK-bb6nKM.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/yorrie-richards/yorrie-richards-02/ ========================================================================