In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of separating ourselves from the noise and distractions of the world in order to truly know God. He uses the example of Jesus, who spent whole nights in prayer and communion with God. The speaker also highlights the need to wait on God and seek His presence, even though this experience can be overwhelming and challenging for different individuals. He emphasizes that God is not partial and will reveal Himself to those who are willing to sacrifice and wait. The sermon concludes with the reminder that true revival comes from a deep relationship with God, not from earthly efforts.

Now, the first thing that we begin to see is the fact that the people knew that there was something different about this man. He departed from the people. He went outside the camp and entered into the presence of the Lord. The seal of God's presence, the pillar of smoke, would descend and all the people knew that God was there. If we ever hope to truly know God, we'll have to separate ourselves from the people. The noise and ruckus of the world will drown out God's voice and gentle prompting He gives our hearts. The great example of this is Jesus Himself. He was given whole nights of prayer, nights of agony, nights of strong crying and tears, nights in the garden with droplets of crimson blood falling to the ground. The scripture says of our Lord, He would tread the winepress alone. No one there to comfort Him as in the end even His Father forsook Him on the tree. He came to His own and His own received Him not. The very ones for whom He was smitten smote Him and spit in His face. He was derided and taken without the camp, seen by most as a malfactor, destined to die the death of a criminal. The cross is a symbol of rejection. There's not a single man on this planet that did not flee from Jesus and reject Jesus except for a few that were at the foot of that cross. He bore the reproach of sinners as they chided Him and hurled insults at Him because they were ignorant of who it was that hung on that tree. That the Son of God might sanctify His people, He suffered without the gate and shed the sanctifying blood. Let us go therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. If we ever hope to grow in grace and to know the One we claim to love, we must be willing to suffer. When you try to go on with God and follow the shepherd's voice, the goats will ridicule and even the misguided sheep will lead you into the ditch they have fallen into. No one will support you when you give yourself to God without reserve. Think of the crowds that derided our Lord as He was drugged from the city to the Mount of Crucifixion. This man, God in the flesh, bruised, bloodied, broken, being shoved down stairs, laughed at, spit upon, being cast into the dust over and over again. And why? He suffered this agony in order to hang on the cross for the sin of God. We are to bear His reproach. We are to walk the narrow path and suffer the reproach of this world as they see us as malfactors, criminals, the scum of the earth. They'll see us as a liability to society, unprofitable, worthless men and women who look to some invisible man and forget the things of the world. If we yearn after God, we will without a doubt suffer persecution. The Bible says all, all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. In an age that tells us knowing God will make us rich and respected, we can too easily lose sight of the narrow path Jesus walked. And that road to Calvary, that road to Calvary, I believe, is the picture of the narrow road that all Christians walk. On it the people of God, willingly carrying their cross upon their backs, suffering the reproach and rejection of even their dearest friends, all with one goal in mind, dying on that cross they carry in order to bring life to God's elect. Our Master tread that way, should not the servant tread it still? When we give ourselves to prayer, we begin to walk this road. With prayer comes power, because when we truly know God, nothing can come against us. And when this power and boldness comes, the world will hate us. But we are to take comfort, because it first hated Jesus. And if we are to be perfect, we are to be like our Master. It's not a hard thing to separate ourselves from the people of the world. The hardship comes when we must separate ourselves from the people who claim to be Christians. Jesus suffered the greatest torture and opposition from the religious people of His day. There's nothing new under the sun, and the same holds true for us today. When I was first saved, I went to a megachurch, a Lutheran megachurch, believe it or not. They never preached the gospel. And I came, got radically saved. Saved under Leonard Ravenhill's preaching, and Parris Reedhead's preaching, and Tozer's preaching, and all of these guys. And God so mightily used. So I came to this Lutheran church. Religion. With two messages, holiness and revival. Two of the messages that religion hates the most. They don't want revival, they'd lower the offerings. They don't want holiness, so would that. That'd lower the offerings as well. So I came to this pastor. Because my family was great friends with the pastor's family. And I would always be bringing, I'd hand-write out the Ten Commandments for Revival from Ravenhill's book. Put it on his desk and say, this is what we need to do. I'd bug him and bug him and bug him for prayer meetings. Nobody likes, and just like Jesus and just like Moses, we are to separate ourselves from the people and go outside the camp to attend a meeting. What comes next is an amazing thing. And what most believers are looking for in our day. After the Shekinah glory of God descends upon the tent door, we read this amazing thing. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshipped every man at his tent door. The entering in of Moses into the tent of meeting. And the communion that Moses had with God at that time resulted in the people who were observing, standing up to worship God on their own. And so often we can fall into the snare of seeking revival for others, when in actual fact, we should be seeking it for ourselves. This isn't selfishness, if we're seeking after God. When God takes up residence in our soul, then much more will change than simply you. And the outpouring of our own lives and our own deep relationship with God will be what brings about true heaven-sent revival. Revival that's sent down, not worked up. We cannot try to employ earthly means to see heaven-born revival. And in order for God to send us revival these days, we must be individually seeking Him. When Moses went out to the tent of meeting, he was only doing what God had commanded him. And the result was that the people still in the camp were worshipping in revival cave. Just by one man, or two men, walking out to that tent. They saw the pillar descend and wouldn't you know it, people started worshipping God. And isn't that revival? When God comes and people fall in worship? When we go out to the tent of meeting, we're only doing what God commanded us. And the result will be that others will be mightily affected by our influence. People who live in prayer have an unusual air about them. They're often thought to be rather strange. But it cannot be avoided that the only people God desires are those of much prayer. The glory of God will be seen in us and the result will be that others standing up to worship God as well. And why the people in the camp stayed in the camp is a mystery to me. The tent of meeting was placed there and as the scripture says, everyone which sought the Lord went there. They went there to inquire of Him it says. Why there was not a mile long line of Israelites waiting to get into the presence of God is rather odd. But you see the same thing happens today. People would rather observe from afar and revel in the accomplishments of others than actually go there themselves. We're all too eager to read about men like John Hyde, David Brainerd, Robert Murray McShane, Edward Payson. We're not as eager to sacrifice and live like them. We admire them, but we're too scared to imitate them. The reason is beyond my understanding. It must always be remembered that these men were nothing more than men. Foolish, ignorant, weak, beggarly men. They were all men of like passions as we are. They were all made of the same flesh as we are. They all served the same God we serve and they all had the same Bible we have. And all of what they did we can do as well. Because they didn't do it, but it's God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasures. Now they pray to the same God we pray to. Have you ever really thought about that? Pondered and meditated on that fact? The same God of Israel, Isaac, Jacob, Abraham. The same God of Isaiah. The same God of Ezekiel. The same God of Daniel. The same God of Moses. It's the same God to whom we approach when we come before Him in prayer. The same God. And let that humble you because God has heard the prayers of men the likes of Moses. And then He hears our feeble prayers. If it weren't for the Holy Spirit quickening those prayers and making them acceptable to Him, like incense rising up before Him, those prayers would be nothing more than smoke rising up before Him from Baal's altars. When the inkling comes into a person to meet with God, we can look forward to meeting with God as Moses did. It says, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaking unto his friend. I've pondered this passage, meditated over it, groaned over it, prayed through it for years now and have gotten a very short distance. But the time has been wonderful. This passage has been the thorn in my flesh. Because of all the preaching that I've ever done, all the things that I've written, I feel as if I've come nowhere because I've not yet to see what it is and what it's like to speak to God face to face. The cry of our hearts should be that God would come and speak to us. We must settle it within ourselves to wait on God until He does. But this isn't just for anyone. This type of experience could stagger and kill the babe in Christ or make him grow by leaps and bounds. It could shatter the young man. It could give the old man a heart attack. But it's good to die. But God will reveal Himself in this manner to all who are willing to sacrifice for it and all who will wait. God's not partial. God's no respecter of persons. And He does not respect anyone's person. Remember the Pharisees saying that to our Lord. We know that You are a good man and You teach the Word of God in truth, not respecting any man's person, they said. He'll come to any who wait for Him. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, it seemed as though He would walk right by them. But when they recognized their Master and beckoned Him to come near, He turned into a man. When God talked to Moses from the burning bush, Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burning. And the Scripture goes on to say, And when the Lord saw that He turned aside to see, God called unto Him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. Notice what the Scripture says. It says that the Lord called to Moses only after He turned. Moses looked away from tending the flock and looked to the Lord. Moses looked away from his plans to see what God was doing. And only when we look away from our lives, when we look away from ourselves, when we look away from what we want to do, when we look away from the world, and look upon the majesty of God, will God call us on Him. If Moses had not turned aside, then God would not have called His name. If the disciples had not called to Jesus, He would have walked right by. If the people did not go out to the tent of meeting, they could not meet with God. And if we don't kneel before God in much prayer, then God will not call our name, we will not meet with Him, and He'll just walk by. Or as John says, He'll stand at the door and knock. Take heed that He doesn't stop knocking and walk away, and leave you in an apostate condition.