This sermon emphasizes the importance of waiting on the Lord and seeking His presence, highlighting the consequences of spiritual adultery and the need to come out from places of defilement to experience God's power and authority. It underscores the vital difference God's presence makes in a congregation and the necessity of prioritizing intimacy with Him above all else.

Us, until we come back unto you. Now evidently they had food supplies, everything. And Moses says, I'm going up, God's called me all the way up, and I'm going up. Will you stay here and just wait until I get back? He probably presumed he'd be there five or six days. You see, I imagine Nadab and Abihu being the first ones after a few days saying, What has happened? What's happened to Moses? And you see something back there is calling them something that has attached itself to the spirit and calls them back to their adulterous ways. So I presume they were first. I think probably the 70 elders went next. You see, if you've got sin in your heart, waiting on God is the hardest thing you'd ever be called to do, and you don't want to do it, you can't do it. Just waiting on the Lord in his presence. Just waiting for God to speak, waiting for God to act. Because people who move in the flesh don't know how. Cannot wait on the Lord. And then I would imagine that Aaron probably was the last to go. And the cry that came down from the mountain or the talk that came from the mountain, What has happened to this man Moses? And the whole camp picks it up to remember what has happened to Moses. These two ministers and these laymen hardened in adultery and lust. They represent those today that are into pornography, into all kinds of sins, aborting God's attempts to deliver them. See, the call now to all of us is come up to the Lord, said unto Moses, come up to the mount and be there. Come up and be there. That hit me so hard. Just come up and sit. Just be there. For six days Moses waits quietly, waiting outside the cloud of glory. And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was in the cloud 40 days and 40 nights. You see a camp pathway. I presume they're gone by the sixth day. Did God call you to give yourself as a man or woman of prayer? Did God cause you to draw nigh to him at one time? You said yes, but how long did it last? Did it last a week, two weeks, six months? How long did it last? And you were camped halfway and God had something on the mountain for you and something called you back. Busyness. Something of the world. Come up and be there. The psalmist said, On thee do I wait all the day. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall not be ashamed who wait upon you. You'll never be ashamed if you wait upon me, he said. This is the man, this is the woman who said, I'll not settle for anything less than face-to-face intimacy with my God. I'll settle for nothing else but answer that call to go to the mountain to be in his glory. I don't care how the rest of the world goes. I don't care what the new fad is. I don't care what new thing has come down the turnpike. As for me, I hunger for God and I'm going all the way. I'm going to seek his face and I'm going to wait on the Lord. And secondly, there's a call to come out. Exodus 33, 7. And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp. And he called it the tabernacle of the congregation. It came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out of the tabernacle, went out to the tabernacle of the congregation. This was not the wilderness tabernacle. That had not been constructed as yet. This was Moses. He called it the tent of meeting. This was his prayer closet, his prayer tent. This is where he prayed. You see, God's presence had been lifted from the camp. There was such idolatry and such lust and sensuality. There was such idolatry in the camp. God left. God left. His presence was lifted. The fiery cloud was lifted. The pillar was gone. It was gone. God left. Folks, I've been in churches. Occasionally when I've been on vacation or been off for Sunday, I've been to church and I say this kindly. How many times I've walked in and within five minutes you know God is gone. The presence of the Lord is not there. And then when the pastor gets up, you know there's nothing but death. And, folks, there's nothing more tragic, there's nothing worse to be in what is called God's house and the presence of Jesus is not there. He's gone. He's left. I have about 700,000 people on our mailing list. And we've received thousands and thousands of letters from all over the nation. And the number one complaint, the number one by the thousands, I hate to get up Sunday morning. I hate to go to my church. All denominations because there's no life. I don't feel the Holy Ghost. Teenagers don't want to go. There's nothing there. After 9-11, the churches in New York for six months were packed. People poured into the churches. And now, in fact, just about a month ago, a poll was taken. And the New York Times said that now, it was after five months I believe it was, after 9-11, church attendance is lower than it was before the blast. And they asked people why they quit going. They said, we went and there was nothing there that would give us any reason to want to go back. Nothing there. Nothing. And Moses tries to pray in this atmosphere where there's defilement. The camp was defiled. And God said, Moses, I'm not going to hear you. You see, God had told Moses, I'll give you another congregation. And, folks, a lot of pastors would take that new congregation. They're so fed up with where they're at. Not this man. He doesn't want another congregation. He doesn't want to move to another congregation. He said, no, these are your people. I'm not going to leave them. I'm a shepherd. And he said, they're defiled. But what do I do? The Lord said, you get out of the place of defilement. You go out in the wilderness. You get out to a clean place. Now, Moses was not unclean, but he represents what God is demanding of us if we want to be touched. If we want his power and his authority. If we want spiritual authority. The true spiritual authority where Christ speaks to us and his word comes plainly with convicting power. And he said, you have to come out. Can you imagine the people willing to go on? What a scene of death when God leaves a congregation. You see, Moses cried out, God, the only thing that makes us different is your presence. If we don't have that, we're just like the rest of the heathen around us. Folks, what do you have in your church? I don't care what the program is. I don't care what new thing you bring in. I don't care how you try. I've been in some of these churches. And folks, no matter how loud they sing, no matter how they try to work it up, it's death. And the louder they sing, the deader it becomes. Because it can't be worked up in the flesh. And it doesn't work. This is what we pray at Times Square Church so many times. In fact, every time I go in the service, every time I go and sit in my seat, I cry out in my soul, in my heart, Oh God, if we don't have your presence today, we don't have church. And God, if you ever lift your hand from this place, I would rather you shut the doors, close the doors and sell the building because we have nothing to offer people without your presence. Nothing. And God was gone.