In this sermon, the speaker discusses various events and experiences related to the Exodus. He mentions a story about missionaries who risked their lives to bring the Gospel to a hostile tribe. The speaker also refers to a movie called "At the End of the Spear," which he claims inaccurately portrayed the missionaries' motives. Moving on to the book of Exodus, the speaker focuses on Exodus 19 and highlights God's purpose for the Exodus, which was to make the Israelites His treasured possession and a holy nation. The sermon concludes with a personal account of a powerful spiritual experience where people were convicted of their sins and experienced a sense of God's presence.

I'll turn with me to the book of Exodus this evening. I want to look at the Exodus itself Exodus 19 I'm gonna begin in the fourth verse Lord speaking to Moses says you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles wings and Brought you to myself now if you obey me fully and keep My commands and out of all the nations you'll be My treasured possession, although the whole earth is mine. You will be for me a kingdom of priests They holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites this is the purpose of the Exodus, this is why it happened and I think we really need to try to understand the Significance of this and I think that as we get into this message this evening will start to comprehend its purpose, but so often we define our concept of the Exodus from Charleston Heston I'd venture to say the majority of us have seen the movie the Ten Commandments there's a lot that we believe about the Exodus that really comes from Charleston Heston and Maybe from the Prince of Egypt the cartoon that was out and a couple other ones But that's pretty much what we kind of take and we take that as being Bible whether it is or not And you know what what was in the Ten Commandments was pretty good. You know, that was a relatively Accurate movie. I mean tremendous amount of Hollywood in it, but you know, it's still try to keep a basic timeline But there's some points of it that really isn't understood and same with all the movies that I've seen now what happens so often is with the movies that they have about the Ten Commandments and about the Exodus is they usually Focus upon a Secondary reason for the Exodus and miss the principal reason for it and I want you to think about that What was the main reason for the Exodus? Why did God, you know deliver the children of Israel from Egypt? And what do all the movies say? I mean Charleston Heston and you know, the Prince of Egypt and any other movies out there what they basically always do It's all about the emancipation of slaves That's what the whole focal point is that is the prize the pinnacle of it all that God wanted to set slaves free And that's not the primary focus of it. That's a secondary focus Actually, that's a byproduct of the real reason of what the Exodus is all about What is the primary purpose of the Exodus that comes out here? What that purpose was was that God was calling the people to be his own Precious possession that he was calling them out of slavery to be his own and that's the very nature of what salvation is Jesus died on the cross not to get all of our garbage and get our sin and Deliver us from slavery from sin in and of itself. He died on the cross to get us we were the prize he sought not our sin, but in the process of him pursuing us and Seeking us and calling us to himself and in that act of bowing our knee to him that salvation was wrought inside of us We were delivered from our bondage. It was the byproduct of entering into relationship with God And so the most important thing with the Exodus was that God was calling his people to himself He wanted the children of Israel to be his own precious possession and in this verse is the pinnacle of what he was looking At with them or I don't want to say the pinnacle but the height for the average Israelite of what he wanted for them was being presented here that they would all be a Priest that they'd all be as a kingdom of priests Now what do priests do in the Old Testament? This would be after this event obviously in the Old Testament. They became a family clan It became out of that came out of the tribe of Levi out of the family of Aaron and it was a family clan That was then of the priesthood But prior to that God wanted every person to be a priest and what that meant was a twofold thing as a priest We are to offer up to God Worship and service and minister to him which is really quite an astounding thought that I could minister to God That any of us could minister God I mean, what do we have to give to give him that could minister to him in any way shape or form? But yet we were to minister to him and that's what we're called to today as a kingdom of priests is to minister to God The second thing was is that we are to minister to each other so God was calling the children of Israel out of Egypt bring them to the Mount of God to Mount Sinai that he might in Essence call them to be a kingdom priest that they might minister to him and they might minister to each other Now depending on what historian you would follow or read on the account There could be anywhere from 1 to 3 million Israelites that left Egypt now you have to look at this picture God was calling Let's do the conservative number a million people to be priests of God Not just a few people not just of a family clan But all of them and so he's calling them all into a place of intimate fellowship It wasn't just for a select group of people or somebody that was of a particular tribe or that had a particular Nationality or particular Gifting or whatever it was for every single believer in essence every one of the Israelites that came out of Egypt they were all going to be allowed to be priests and So the purpose was of the Exodus to bring them to a place to enter into relationship with God. I Want you to think about this for a moment let me try and take the setting and Make it as plain and real to us as we can begin to understand. I've never been a slave So I do not understand slavery. I can read on it You know, I can look at it in Scripture and I can you know I've read different things and books and history and so on but you you don't know what it is Unless you taste it unless you experience it unless you have to feel the weight of it and the hopelessness and all the dynamics of that when Joseph became a prince of Egypt and Second in command and brought his father To Egypt and they went and had a time and if I remember correctly in Goshen that they were going to be in Goshen and in that section of Egypt that they would be able to live and be protected and when that Pharaoh that that knew of Israel there was peace there was no problem but when Joseph died and then when the Pharaoh died a new Pharaoh came to power that did not know them and they went and Brought them into slavery Now think of this from a natural standpoint, what would happen is if you were a person that was free and you were prosperous your business and what you were doing was being you know, very lucrative and and the people of Israel as a whole was being lucrative and all sudden the army marches in and grabs hold of all of you takes all of your possession all of your wealth and then takes you off into the slave pits to begin to to be Laborers in ways that you'd never labored before to become Masons and and to become pack animals and so on Imagine what would happen with their first generation? They would begin to cry out to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob They begin to cry out says Oh God of Israel rescue us save us and there'd be the hope Even in the midst of their pain, there'd be the hope the cry for deliverance But imagine the generation that came up under those the first generation in slavery knew freedom the second generation didn't know freedom because the children of those who went in the slavery then only knew slavery and so yes they would pray because their mothers and fathers and Maybe grandparents would sit there and tell them about the days of freedom and of their prosperity and they would admonish them says pray to The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that he would hear our prayer that he would deliver us pray that we would find freedom From the slavery and the tyranny and so on but imagine what would happen by the fifth and sixth generation 400 years they were in slavery and as you get further into this issue of slavery you get into the issue of hopelessness You get to a final place where people think that's all I've known. That's all my grandparents know my great-grandparents No, that's all I've known. That's all my children. No, that's all that anybody will know and it was this hopeless state Now I think every one of us have known the place of hopelessness to a certain extent but in America I don't believe that we've ever tasted of abject hopelessness Abject hopelessness the place where it is absolutely hopeless where you do not see any way out There is not even the ray of hope there isn't this aspect of a door that you might walk through because there is no door It's a dead end. You're in this place of slavery. That's all it is You'll never know anything else other than that because that's what your parents were. That's what you'll be. That's what your children will be Can you imagine how? agonizing it would be to be a parent and you have a child and you want to rejoice in the birth of your son of Your daughter and all you do is weep over it when it should be a time That should be such such joy you're aching because you know that if it's a boy his backs gonna be whipped He's gonna be beaten. He's gonna be abused If it's a girl, she'll probably be raped and used in in in horrid ways and all the other agony. There's no hope There's no police you go to no Supreme Court Nobody that could arbitrate your your cause nothing in the place of absolute hopelessness. Can you imagine that? Now think of it like this as well. Let's add to it this dimension That their first generation believed in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. They rejected the gods of Egypt They believed that the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob was the Lord God was the only God and that the gods of Egypt were lies But imagine what happens in the third and the fourth and the fifth generation Egypt in that day and age Was the most prosperous nation in the world. They were the conquerors of the world They would have been of that era the most technologically and socially advanced nation in the world Look at this from you know a realistic standpoint Here was the Israelites that said they believed in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Here's the here's Egypt that is the most powerful nation in the world and they worship their pantheon of gods You know Ron all the other ones that they have and imagine what would end up happening in time the Israelites started incorporating the gods of Egypt into their worship because what did it come down to look like at least from a logical Standpoint if the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob even exists or cares about us. He must be angry with us We must done something that he doesn't want us anymore And he's rejected us or it might be they would say he doesn't exist. But look at the gods of Egypt Look at the power. They have look at the victory. Look at look they defeat all of their enemies Look at their wealth look at their faith. Look at we are the subjugated people How can we say that the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is greater than the God then Ra and all their other gods? How could we ever say that look at us? We're the slaves. They're the conquerors. We're the ones that's in poverty They're the ones in wealth and splendor who's who's the real victor? Who's who has a real God and that's literally what happened. They incorporated the gods of Egypt into their concept of God Now imagine this hopelessness Abject hopelessness no hope no idea of ever getting out of it and then a Man comes on the scene that was once a prince of Egypt 40 years He was a prince of Egypt 40 years. He was trained by the absolute best. He was trained in war He was trained in the religion He was trained in the business and in the government and in all the laws and I mean he was a prince of Egypt He knew the he knew the society. He was a worldly man to the max I mean he walked along and people bowed to him as a prince of Egypt Filled with himself and proud for him and everything else and he fled from Egypt and we all know the story went into the desert And for 40 years it took for God to get the world out of Moses 40 years he was making of a worldly man 40 years It took for the deliverance of the worldliness from finally after 40 years He became a man that could God could begin to grab hold of and pour his power through and the day finally came where he veiled himself through the burning bush and spoke to him and told him to go and now Moses comes on the scene back into Egypt and Comes up to Pharaoh and speaks for the Lord God says let my people go and in the beginning the asking of them letting them go was just to go out that we could Worship it wasn't the aspect of total deliverance. It was just the aspect. I'm calling my people back to myself Will you at least let us go outside and worship the Lord God of their fathers not the gods of Egypt the Lord God And so in the very beginning the call was just to go out and worship in the end it came let him go completely They're gonna come to my mountain and you're never gonna touch him again is what it came down to be But as we know the first time that Moses talked to Pharaoh Pharaoh went and rejected everything and made the labor of the Hebrews harder and So, can you imagine they weren't very happy with Moses? But then the first miracle happens of the ten miracles that brought deliverance to the Israelites Ten miracles each of those miracles I'm not gonna take time to go through them But each of those miracles was attack was an attack upon a god a deity of Egypt Can you imagine the first miracle that took place? You know all the Israelites would begin to stand back and say what does this mean? Because what God did is he made a distinction between the Hebrews and the Egyptians He made a distinction and as each miracle went on the distinction became more pronounced favor upon the Israelites rejection of the Egyptians judgment on the Egyptians favor and blessings upon the Israelites now and can you imagine what would happen to a people that hung their heads so low that was filled with despair and anxiety and fear and Abject hopelessness. Can you imagine a door finally opened where there seemed to be just a dead-end now a door open And they could see a ray of light and it wasn't just a ray of light then it start getting wider and wider and wider With each miracle it became finally this brilliant light of seeing this answer all those years of 400 years of Weeping and crying and pleading that eventually God was breaking in and revealing himself That he was eventually showing himself to them a people feeling worthless good-for-nothing a disposable feeling type of community now all of a sudden feeling precious and valued and then they're thrust out of Egypt that final miracle that tooks place of the Slaying of the firstborn of Egypt and the protecting of the firstborn of Israel at least if they were covered with the blood He said when I see the blood I'll pass over you the death angel would pass over those who had the blood covering upon them And they're going out of Egypt. Not just leaving out of Egypt. It says they left with the wealth of Egypt It was just saying get out of us. You're your existence in us is literally killing us Your God is destroying us because his favors upon you and his wrath is against us now and thrust them out with their wealth And and they're leaving can you imagine this mixed feelings that would be going on in them as they're walking out of out of the the Cities as they're leaving. Can you imagine the mixed feelings here? Here? They are there They're probably feeling like they're in a dream. Am I gonna wake up and this is all gonna be the same old thing I'll be back there with my back being beaten and all the agony and all the pain or is this is this really happening? I mean, this would be such a radical thing And so I can imagine them leaving both in it with joy and then happiness but being partially dazed as well Is this going to catch up to us? What's the catch with all this? and then we know the final miracle of all that took place with it when they came to the Red Sea and the Red Sea was parted and God made a final distinction between Israel and between Egypt when Israel passed through on dry ground and they passed through safely and Finally the elite of the elite of Egyptian forces who were wiped out in a moment by God wiped out He made a final distinction Egypt would not come against them ever in that same way They would in later days when they were in in the promised land and so on but not in the same way would Egypt ever Be able to come against them and bring them into slavery in that same way again Now, what would you think that they started thinking about God prior to those miracles? they would think that God had forgotten about them or that God was powerless or that he was a weak God that he was a Lesser God and in the in the in the the scale of gods that Jehovah would have been way down here And Rob would have been way up here and all of a sudden the whole tale that the whole tide changed That now they believe that the Lord God was God That he was the only God because the gods of Egypt could never even defend himself Drop down to the 19th chapter to the 10th verse Says in the Lord said to Moses go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in The sight of all the people put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it Whoever touches the mountain self surely be put to death He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows. Not a hand is belayed on him whether man or animal He shall not be permitted to live only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast. May they go up on the mountain and So now God takes them on this journey to the foot of the Mount of God of Mount Sinai Now if you go into your Bibles and if you have a study Bible in the back of your study Bible It probably have a map that will tell you the Exodus You know of what it was when they came out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea and it's all wrong absolutely wrong It doesn't even line up with what the scriptures say I came across a video a little bit ago and it's called in search of the real Mount Sinai and two amateur Archaeologists did something that was interesting first. They went to the Bible and saw what the Bible had to say That's interesting, isn't it? All the other ones and all the history all the you know, the archaeologists so it didn't go to the Bible I don't know why they took what everybody else said to be the Mount Sinai, which doesn't make sense and doesn't follow scripture But they followed the scripture and they started finding all these signs where the traditional Mount Sinai there have been Archaeological dig after archaeological dig and nothing they've torn that mountain to pieces They can't find where people ever really lived of any size around that mountain at all. Nothing. No evidence zip-zilch They start following it. They follow where they believe the they Went through the Red Sea and they came over where it tells us in the scriptures into Saudi Arabia and they came into Saudi Arabia and they came to the to the bitter wells of Mara they found this bitter well, and then they came to this other oasis that had 70 palms and 12 springs of water and guess what they do they come to this place and as all these palms and 12 springs of water and as they continue following the journey that this Bible says they come to this mountain and This mountain which is so interesting is ringed with a fence a huge fence and All their journey through Saudi Arabia They had all the the signs that would be in Saudi Arabia were all in Arabic But they come to the signs around this mountain and it's the only signs they saw anywhere that was both in Arabic and English and They really kind of scratched their heads as wisest and both and around this mountain there was also soldiers Guarding this mountain and there was nothing there. It was just a mountain But there's some things about it. That's so interesting all the local people for Generations for thousands of years have called that the mountain of Moses None of the locals around the traditional Mount Sinai called at the Mount of Moses None of them do but all the the Arab tribes that are all around it They all call it the Mount of Moses and what's so interesting the top of this mountain unlike any mountain anywhere around is charred black and you go around this mountain and as they traveled around the mountain every So often there would be a pillar Every all the way around bringing the mountain just like what we read here This is put boundaries so that the people will not cross them All the way around and the proof that there was a huge multitude of people that lived around it is tremendous not just that they come across an altar and the People of Saudi Arabia did not worship the gods of Egypt. They didn't worship the cow but yet there's an altar there that has the hieroglyphics carved into it of the sacred cow of Egypt and Then there's another altar that is an altar of with 12 Uncarved stones. That was the one that Moses would have done then there's another mouth another rock there that was split in two because one of the miracles was of the water coming out of the Split rock and you have in the middle of the desert that it is so barren and dry I think they said they only get what a couple of inches every ten years. I mean it was just Astronomical and out of this split rock Was the demonstrable proof of water that flowed out because it wore all the rock down just like it would over a stream and you could see where it had gone into a place and made a huge lake and Then they climbed over the fence at night So they wouldn't get caught and they climbed over the fence and they went up there and they videotaped All this is videotaped and they took these rocks and they broke them open It was solid granite on the outside was totally melted on the inside was unknown It's absolutely astounding and here the people Gather around this mountain and there's perimeter put around it and says do not cross that line because if you cross that perimeter You'll be shot with arrows. You'll be killed because I'm calling you to be a people separated now Think of this for a moment now How did they think of God before? The Exodus like I said, they thought of God as a God that was absent or didn't care or lesser God not not the Almighty God But now leaving Egypt, what would they have thought of God? They would have thought God a loving God, wouldn't they? they would have thought of God as a caring God that now cared about their oppression and their sorrow and their pain and Would care about their slavery and came to set them free, but they didn't understand the Exodus either and the reason of it either They would have thought that God was powerful because all those miracles would have showed him as being powerful These would have been some of the ideas that they would have had of God And so they come to the Mount of God and at the Mount of God God's gonna begin to reveal himself to them in a way that they didn't understand and this is what becomes disturbing And this is what becomes a challenge. God was bringing to the Mount of God for the greatest purpose to reveal himself He was calling them into intimate fellowship. He gave them a command and in the command He says when you hear the long trumpet sound then come up the mountain to me Now isn't that astounding a million people surrounding the mountain he says when you hear the ram's horn I believe the ram's horn sounded would have come from heaven not of the priests or anything else it would have been God sounding it and that they were all to come up the million people were to come up the Mount of God and enter into the Prince of God and To enter into fellowship and to see God as they had never saw God before One particular author brings out the very purpose of our creation in such a wonderful way He says our goal must become unbroken fellowship with God, which is the highest honor and reward given to man Fellowship unbroken fellowship was what the Garden of Eden was all about But what separated that sin entered and broke that fellowship? God was trying to restore fellowship with the Israelites who had now been in slavery for 400 years who had went and lived a rebellion Because they weren't walking near God. They were walking close to him They had incorporated the gods of Egypt and we'll see that just in a little bit But yet here now God's calling them into the place to fellowship to know him calling them up the mountain Come and be with me spend some time with me I'm gonna show myself to you if you'll come up the mountain when I sound the longs ram horn blast Then you can meet me in a way that you've never understood Turn with me to Exodus the 20th chapter The 20th chapter is the Ten Commandments or it begins with the Ten Commandments And what do we always think from Charleston Heston and the other movies about the Ten Commandments that Moses went up the Mount of God And got the Ten Commandments, right and that how we always think it. Well, that's not how it happened God spoke the Ten Commandments to them audibly It was later that God gave the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone First they were spoken audibly to them God came and spoke to the children of Israel He came and descended upon the mountain in the 18th verse It says when the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke They trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance. I want you to think about that God comes down on this mountain and when he descends on the mountain and you'll just I Mean, I maybe Hollywood could try and do something with all the technology they have today But try and imagine what it would be that all sudden the heavens are rent open They're ripped open and the glory of God comes and descends out of this out of the sky as this long Ram's horn is sounding and he comes down upon the mountain in this fire consuming fire And can you imagine the whole top of this mountain in flames and a roar? Can you imagine the roar of that this roar and then the mountain trembling? and so they're all sitting that they're all standing there and they're shaking and maybe falling to the ground as the glory of God descends on this mountain and That would be terrifying enough as loan, wouldn't it? But now add to it something that we have to understand was there though The scripture doesn't say it plainly it would have been the very glory of his presence Not just that which would have been visible and could have been felt with the shaking of the earth But that which would have been the holiness of God Descending upon the children of Israel and can you imagine in that moment that a holy God? Descended upon the children of Israel that the unholiness of the people was revealed Can you imagine the things that was inside the lives of these people that had worshipped the pagan gods that it that had lived in? Morality and all the junk that all of a sudden now upon them was coming the holiness of God and was absolutely Terrifying them because they saw themselves as what they really were not what they imagined not what they dreamed but what they were and It says that when the glory of God came that they stayed at a distance But God commanded them says when I come on that mountain when I come on that mount, I want you to come up to me Now if you go to one of your children And you tell them to do something and they say no, what is that? Yes disobedience. It's rebellion, right? What if God tells to do something we say no Yeah, it's rebellion God went to the children Israel million of them and says when the ram's horn sounds you come up to me and a million of Them said no They were in blatant rebellion against God They disobeyed him. They didn't want to follow what he had to say Well, here's the the problem. It's the problem of the Living God showing himself a little bit more to us They liked the concept of God as a God of love They liked the concept of a God that would deliver them from their pain and from their suffering and from their sorrow They liked the concept of God that was powerful to help them They liked the concept of God of what they saw in Egypt, but now God was expanding their Understanding and he was showing them a dimension that could only be understood in this place of him coming on the mountain and that was The dimension of his holiness. He was revealing himself to them in a way that Upset their very concept of God, you know, that's what happens God starts to show up He starts to reveal himself to us. You know what happens it upsets our life It upsets our concept of God it disturbs us because we got this nice little tame idea of God as Christians Well, God's a loving God and then God shows himself as holy and we think also he ceased being loving But God is not at war with himself There's no division within the character nature of God the holiness of God is not at war with the love of God the holiness of God is not at war with the mercy of God and the love of God is not at war with the wrath of God There is no division with God. None of those things are hostile and fighting against each other They're all in perfect army when God is holy God's being who he is when God is pouring out his wrath He's being who he is by nature He's not at war with himself and this loving God is also a holy God it's also a majestic God and beautiful God is a God of mercy and intimacy, but also a God of wrath and justice and We want a God as Americans. That's like the gods that that how the Israelites saw eat saw God in Egypt We want to know him as a God that's lovey and dovey and mushy-gushy and just wants to make me happy But we don't want to know him as holy we don't want to know him in the place where he'll shake us at the very core of our being because he says I don't want you to stay the way you are We have an idea of a God of love that keeps us right where we're at That he's not going to set our lives He's not going to disturb us keeps us just where we're at because we're comfortable. This isn't bad You know if you just do a little more blessings on me That'd be a little better than if life was a little bit easier not so hard That'd be even nicer But you know We want to God that is loving a God that is tender But we don't want one that's holy and we begin to reject that idea because it makes us uncomfortable It can even terrify us In Hebrews the 12th chapter, you don't have to turn there. But in the 21st verse speaking of this situation It says the site was so terrifying that Moses said I am trembling with fear Can you imagine that Moses? who saw the burning bush and heard God speak to him and felt the wonder of this Holy God through that burning bush and We're not told how God communed with Moses to tell him what to do in those miracles But somehow or another God communed with him and so Moses was in this place of deep communion with God Because it took some good knowledge of what to do to go to Pharaoh to proclaim these these plagues that would come upon them and for Each of them to be fulfilled that wasn't some just time and chance guessing that was hearing from God and hearing clearly to be able to Respond on it accordingly and yet in this situation. It says I'm trembling with fear Moses was seeing God even as he had never saw him And you know, there's this wonderful thing about God that he is infinite and We are finite beings and you know We'll never come to the end of who he is and the moment we think we figured him out We've just lied to ourselves because there's a God that is infinite that we have no idea of his end Because we'll be able to pursue him forever and ever and ever and never come to an end And you know what? I think is gonna happen for all eternity again and again He'll make us sometimes see his love in ways That's just overwhelming to us and otherwise see other times see his holiness in ways That is absolutely overwhelming to us and he'll do it again and again as he brings greater Revelation throughout eternity of who he is that we will never grow weary of pursuing this God and knowing him in a greater way I want to share with you a count of revival like I said, we can have some really tame ideas about God until God shows himself and Church in America, we have some very tame ideas about God I'm gonna share with you a revival that is an Anglican revival and You know what the Anglican Church is in America It's the Episcopal Church as an Episcopal revival That the majority of Pentecostals wouldn't even have anything to do with would reject would abandon if it showed up in their church They'd run out the doors Because they don't want a God like this This is the Belgian Congo revival of the 1950s and he's it'd be in East Africa The first day that revival came to Bambi the actual building shook We were sitting in the Bible School Hall. It was 7 o'clock on a Friday night Jack Scholes had just come back from a trip in the south and he had seen revival down there He stood up to speak about the revival and started to read from scriptures Suddenly we heard a hurricane storm. It was frightening None of us stopped to think that this was strange because we don't get hurricane storms in July We normally have them in February or March We looked out and it was moonlit and the palm trees are standing absolutely still against the moonlit sky Then the building shook and the storm landers down the center of the building moved around There was a terrific noise and a sense of external power all around us We were all frightened there must have been about five whites and 95 Africans present. You could sense fear everywhere Jack said to us. This is God. Just pray don't fear and don't interfere It was as if a force came in and we were shaking There was no way you could control it and some were thrown to the ground off their benches as if someone had hurled them down But no one was hurt Everyone ceased to be conscious of anyone else people began to confess publicly what you might call big sins and those were all Christians They spoke of adultery cheating stealing deceit. We didn't leave the hall that whole weekend. Most of the time God was dealing with our sins Then joy struck the repentant sinners Would you tolerate that? Conviction so intense that you're in repentance for three days We have such a small view of God that we think of he convicts us Just this little one-minute prayer and if it's even one minute just Oh God, forgive me of everything and it's all done I'm out of here Because we have no idea what it is to offend a holy God, we don't have any idea how dangerous it is to offend a holy God We have no concept of that C.s. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia brought out a wonderful idea that God is not safe. He's not a safe God and Somehow we Americans have made him a safe God that we think it's no big deal to offend him No big deal to have compromise no big deal. They have a little sin in our life. It's not a problem You know, I just got this little issue in my life. That's all we think it's not a big deal to sin and offend this God But he's not safe But C.s. Lewis also brought out that he's good not a safe God, but he is a good God God can show himself as being very unsafe to reveal the reality of sin And it's in a fuller revelation to us that would bring us in repentance for three days Well, you know, that's not a that's not a strange thing You go in the revivals of Charles Finney and you saw that again and again that would happen That he'd preach sometimes just for a little bit and the conviction would be so great that there'd be times for three days They were in repentance because the conviction was upon them to such a great extent They saw the truth of their offense against the Holy God we want a God that will tell us how wonderful we are a God of love of tenderness and you know, that is good because that is who he is He is a God that wants to reveal to us his love and his care But he also wants to be a God that reveals to us his holiness and that'll bring us to the place to tremble before him Because we don't know his holiness. There's so much compromise in the church today There's so much worldliness because we don't understand him as holy because we don't understand what it is to offend this guy In Exodus 20 and the 18th verse, let's go back there Let me read that again says when the people Saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain and smoke They trembled with fear and they stayed at a distance and said to Moses speak to us yourself and we will listen But do not have God speak to us or we will die Moses said to the people do not be afraid God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to Keep you from sinning the people remained at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was They stayed at a distance Why do you think they stayed at a distance? Well, I'm gonna give a couple of possibilities here and there's many more than what I can share here But you can even ask it in your life. Why do you stay at a distance from God? Why do you only go so far? Now, you know what we like to do We like to pat ourselves on the back and try and think we're these radical individuals and you know We're the ones that's pressing in let me shock you with the results of it There was a million people that left Egypt. There was only two that went up the Mount of God That's not very good statistics and you know, I really don't think it's a whole lot different today in this country Why did they stay at a distance? Well, the first reason why I think they stated this is because they weren't really to be deeply devoted to God They weren't really devoted to him. I mean they had a superficial type of relationship. They had gone only so far Only so far they they didn't have this deep relationship that I'll follow you no matter what no matter what the cost is No matter what the price is. I'll serve you no matter what it what its cost no matter what you say I will obey your word whether it is hard or whether it's easy. I will follow you no matter what and Do we understand that one of the criterias of? Discipleship is absolute obedience is Absolute obedience not partial obedience Not 90% obedience 100% obedience. That is what Jesus demanded of his Apostles He never went to his Apostles and disciples and said you can follow me only 80% I'll accept 80% some of you You can follow me 90% and there's a few of you. Well, I'll just let 30% He never said that Discipleship was always 100% obedience to him Hasn't changed today Still the same thing they stayed at a distance because they didn't want to be deeply devoted to him But here's another one. They didn't like what they saw I mean this God came upon the mountain and the mountain was trembling and the Mount was on fire and then the holiest of God Was all over the place then I started seeing myself as a sinner and I felt Uncomfortable and a God of love will never make me feel uncomfortable Willie If he's a loving God, he'll make me feel good They stayed at a distance because they didn't like what they saw Their concept of God was so small was so narrow was so self-absorbed That when a holy God showed themselves up when a holy God showed himself, they didn't want it They backed off and they says no, that's not what I want. I want the God. I imagined the God I dreamed up I want the fantasy God I made in my mind. I don't want this one because it doesn't make me feel good Doesn't make me feel good. They wanted a God of their own making because if we want Something other than true and living God that means we have to fashion a God and that's what the they did in the Old Testament that's what comes out in the prophets and in the Psalms that they fashion gods out of with their own hands that the gods of men were made out of the Imaginations of men and so when they would take a piece of clay or a gold or whatever and shape it and form it into Something it was the skill of man when you go into college campuses and you go and you sit under philosophers or whatever They have developed Philosophies that are no greater than the minds of men it is religions made up in their own minds and it can go no further than the extent of the ability of an individual whether that person makes A God with his hands or whether he makes a God with his own mind It is only a God of man's own creation and it does not have the ability to save or deliver fulfill or satisfy it cannot save and So they wanted a God of their own making Let me disturb you with a little account here We know that Aaron went and fashioned the golden calf But you have to understand this little sitting the setting that when he finished the golden calf He declared to them a feast and when he declared a feast he went and used the sacred name of God Jehovah He says today will be a feast to Jehovah he didn't use the generic name of Elohim. He used the sacred name of God And that disturbing that's what we want to do We want to fashion its own God in our own image and make it to be what we want and then we give it the name Jesus But that's not how it works A.w. Tozer Said among the sins to which the human heart is prone hardly any is more hateful to God than idolatry For idolatry is an attack upon his character The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than he is which in itself is a monster sin And substitutes for the one true God one made after its own likeness Idolatry is in the church today because we like the fashion of Jesus after our own imaginations Rather than saying who is this true God? And I will bow my knee to this God because he is who he says he is Another reason why they stated distance because they this is really this is a really big one in relation to America But it is for all people, but I think we've really find this is they wanted God's blessings, but not too much of God That a really big one. That's what the whole prosperity message is all about We want a lot of the blessings bless me Give me all I want make me happy Satisfy me and and all those type of things But we don't want too much of God because if he does if I have too much of him then Maybe I have to give it all away Or maybe I have to do something with it, or maybe I have to Spend my life in a different direction It may cost us everything So we stay at a distance for a reason Another reason that I think is really an obvious one in this story Is that they say to distance because they didn't want to go up in that fire and be consumed Just think of that in the natural, you know, I'm not trying to diminish this This had to be a terrifying situation and since we're not eyewitness of it We can't speak of it, but other than through a story or maybe some personal experiences We've had with the holiness of God, but without being there we can only make speculations But this had to be an absolutely terrifying thing see the mountain on fire feel the mountains Trembling under you and you feel the holiness of God You're being undone in his presence and then you fear hear this voice coming from heaven And I believe that what he spoke basically was attend commandments, but what else came out? I have no idea It doesn't tell us that account comes out in Deuteronomy it brings out exactly in some other places where he spoke to them audibly and so imagine here you're feeling the mountain tremble and you're seeing the thing on fire and you're feeling the holiness of God and then this voice and This voice comes and I just I can't even imagine there's no way of speculating Did it come was it audible to the people or was it something that came inside of them? That all of them felt it inside of them. I would imagine was probably both of them It was probably this audible voice went right through the very soul to the bones the marrow of every fiber of their being that they Felt this voice from God God was saying come up to me And you know, it would be logically, you know, if that mountains on fire I go up that mountain I'm gonna die And that wouldn't that be a a basic thing. I'll go up that mountain and die But you know, that's exactly what God wanted. He wanted to go up in that mountain and die Let me give an illustration of this. This isn't Exact this is allegorical, but I think it's a very beautiful illustration. Let me take you to Moses in the burning bush You know God used just an average bush of the desert that wasn't some special bush that was just an average desert bush and What is so astounding with this is when the glory of God came upon that bush that bush was being devoured It was being consumed But at the same time it was being consumed it was being remained Because if it was only consumed it would cease to be in the fire would have been gone But here this burning bush is taking place and the and the bush is it's on fire There's a little real fire that is consuming it But yet it had to be remade at the same time And that is the image of what God wanted with them the fire the glory of God to come upon them And then as a result to consume the sin the self-like the pride and all the garbage and what would be left would be this fire God burning in them remaking them the very idea of what Christianity is that we are new creature in Christ What would have happened if Israel would have went up that mountain the whole story would be different the exit the Wandering in the wilderness would have been there probably because the works of the flesh would have been operating in the same way They didn't want their old sinful nature destroyed because even though our old sinful nature can cause us nightmares We're very comfortable with it. We've had it around for a long time And what would I be if I didn't have these things? And so they say to the distance because they didn't want to be consumed by God And the final reason I'll share with and then move on as they stated distance because they wanted to justify their sin And their pride in their worldly lifestyles. Let me give an illustration of this. I Pastored almost 16 years almost 12 years inner-city Detroit. I had a couple in Detroit that moved to northern Alabama and He had a Chevy pickup and this isn't picking on Fords or Chevys. It just happened to be that he had a Chevy pickup it was rusted to pieces and Under the city of Detroit are Assault mines and these salt mines are absolutely humongous They used to give tours to him my dad when he was a young man He went down there and was able to take a tour of them Eventually, they stopped them and I've seen pictures all those mines where you have these this humongous equipment I mean humongous equipment and it looks like a little ant in it and then next to this humongous equipment are these men that look Like ants to the equipment just massive salt mines And what do they do? They mine the salt and then the auto companies love it. They put pure salt on the roads Then well, you know what salt does the cars and especially the cars from the 80s It just eats them the pieces So he had the Chevy truck That was brown and it was good that it was brown because it didn't show the rust quite as bad But the sides of that truck just flapped in the wind man. It just it was bad It was probably one of the worst ones I've seen and so he moves to northern Alabama And they don't see things like that down there. I mean they have cars that are old old cars There may not be any pain on him because the Sun burned it all off, but there's not rust And so here's this truck that is just eating out and people come up to him He said he says man, they asked me what happened your truck? But imagine if he's trying to sell that truck and he could put it about a mile away And he could sell it from a mile away You know, I mean he could get a good good dollar for it You know having a mile away and and then he goes and this guy wanting to buy it He says we see that truck up there man top of that hill Says yeah, that's my truck. I'm selling it for $10,000 10,000. Well, that's that's pretty high But you know from here man, it looks really good. And and that's what I've been looking for So, you know, I think I'll buy it and imagine what shock he'd have when he come up and finally see the end the result Sees the whole thing eating out. He wouldn't give it $500 for it Think of it like this if I keep Jesus a mile from me I can make him be anything I want him to be I can make him be anything. I want him to be so if he's a mile away, you know I mean, whoa, look at that. He has a man. He has a bigger TV night. Man. That's a wow, man That's huge and it man. He's what he's watching. Well, he's watching that a rated flick I can't believe he's watching that thing and he's drinking the same beer. I drink Keep Jesus a mile from you and you can make him be anything you want him to be But you get that Jesus in your face and you're gonna see something different See they stayed at a distance because they want a God of their own making and if Jesus is a mile away They can make him be anything you want in their imagination. He doesn't cease to be who he is It's just they believe the lie of it. And so they stayed at a distance rather than pressing in But you know living at a distance always produces compromise always church always I'll share with you just an interesting little verse about Peter Matthew 26 in the 58th verse It says but Peter followed at a distance You wonder why Peter denied the Lord because he followed at a distance He wasn't right with credit Christ when he was taken. He kid himself He ran away and he followed at a distance and if we followed a distance guess what we're gonna do We're gonna compromise our faith. That's always what's gonna happen. There's no other way around it I'll turn with me to Exodus 24. I Want to look at a God of second chances And actually he's a God of second chances and third chances and tenth chances, but let me say something there It's not good to push it because we don't know when the final is Do you hear what I'm saying? Israel thought that they could keep pushing and eventually one day God brought the Babylonians in and wiped them out Took him away with Israel. He brought in the Assyrians and they cease to be where we don't even know where the ten tribes are and So there's a day that if we continue to persist in our sin and refuse to repent that God's discipline will grow more severe And more severe upon us until eventually we listen And so here is the situation 24th chapter in the first verse He says then the Lord said to Moses come up to the Lord you Aaron a dab and a by who in the 70 elders of Israel you are to worship at a distance But Moses alone is to approach the Lord. The others must not come near and the people may not come up with him Let me give the setting that's here now the children of Israel rebelled And they asked something they prayed a prayer in essence They went to Moses as Moses don't have the Lord speak to us anymore Have him speak to you then you speak to us and God answered that prayer and you look at the answer this it says that The people may not come up The people never heard the voice of God again, you know up until that time There were accounts of God speaking audibly to people and it stopped at that point until it was restored You know where it was restored again with Jesus His baptism voice came from heaven his Transfiguration the voice came from heaven up until that there was silence from this moment until Jesus came There was silence from heaven that he never spoke audibly again like that Now you have the situation here where God has called the elders of Israel 72 or 73 men the 70 elders of Israel Aaron and his two sons And he says come halfway up the mountain first, they were called to go all the way up the mountain But he says because you wouldn't come all the way up. I'll let you come halfway up now I want to make a side point here and this is a bit of speculation But I think that this is probably pretty safe speculation here There's a reason why the children of Israel didn't go all the way up the mountain Also, you want to one reason why I don't think the children of Israel went up all the way up I went all the way to the top of the mountain or up at all was because the elders of Israel were too cowardly Imagine what would have happened if those 73 men When the trumpet sounded and they started rushing up the mountain, what do you think the rest of the people would do? They'd follow But because the elders of Israel stayed back and you know how it goes in a church setting or or a business setting You know, there's the kingpins the people That's the kind of the power brokers in the church or in the business and everybody's looking at him going What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? They're not gonna make their mind up They're gonna wait for somebody else and if they do with the what they like then then they'll follow that well I believe that they were all looking at the 70 elves of Israel and because the 70 elves of Israel didn't do what was right The children of Israel stayed back and I think that's a serious point that we have to understand But here God was calling them now Halfway up the mountain says you come up halfway the mountain and I will meet with you there and I will commune with you there Now drop down to the ninth verse and I want to read something. That is absolutely an astounding verse. This is absolutely astounding Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel Went up and saw the God of Israel Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire clear as the sky itself But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites. They saw God and they ate and they drank It doesn't say they saw something like God. It says they saw God Is absolutely astounding verse they saw him and you notice that they didn't describe God because that would how do you describe him? So all they do is they describe the pavement on which he was That was it. No description of him Absolutely astounding what was waiting for all the Israelites at the top of the mountain was the same God They all could have seen it all 1 million of them could have seen this God if they would have went up the mountain But they weren't willing they stayed at a distance because of all the issues in their life God was calling them up But they refused to come now God in his goodness is allowing these elders to see and you wonder why he's allowing his elders To come up halfway because he loved the Israelites still even though they were rebellious and stiff-necked and he still wanted to bring him in the promised land and he still had the agenda that Was going to be fulfilled that Messiah would come that we might even be saved So we have to understand in this whole plan We're still in it, even though we're you know, thousands and thousands of years down the road and so now He reveals himself and says that they ate and they drank in his presence and I don't want to get off on this I'm just gonna highlight this for a brief moment. What was taking place here was a covenant meal and God was renewing covenant with these Israelite leaders What this probably was is what they call a suzerain vassal covenant and a suzerain is a conquering king and a vassal is a conquered king and when a King would conquer another King they would have a ceremony and what the ceremony would be is they would cut a bull in half and they would slay the two halves down and the one King would walk through it that was conquered and he would swear loyalty to The conquering King and say I will I will fulfill my vows you I'll pay the duties and I'll not rebel against you And if I do let what's happened to this animal be done to me And then the conquering King would walk through the same thing and he would do a similar thing that but he would he would promise loyalty to the King to protect him and to protect the lands and so on and to to be a good monarch over him you Go to Abraham and what happened with Abraham? He was to take an animal cut it in two a bull and a lamb and some other animals and then Moses when Abraham was there. The Lord went through as a smoking flax. It was a covenant that God was making a suzerain vassal covenant God being the conqueror of the heart of Abraham God here being the conqueror of the people entering in the covenant absolutely astounding There's something with this story though that I want to bring out that is implied it's what's missing It's not what's spoken. It's what Mitt what is missing in this story? Now what goes on here is the Lord calls Moses up the mountain and he's calling them up to go up the mountain further and What's missing here is that when God calls most to go further all the other? Leaders Aaron a dab and a by who in the 70 elders Israel they waved to Moses says goodbye Moses go on up the mountain Oh, that's good. Go on up there. You have a great time And you know what's so interesting with this is these elders of Israel had an experience with God now You have to imagine that was an experience with God to see God to eat and drink in his presence We don't know how long that took whether it was an hour five hours We don't know how long that thing was no idea This had to be one radical experience and so they had a radical experience But yet what happened is God was calling Moses to a deeper experience and all the elders of Israel says well That's okay. Moses. You go on I've had enough. I don't want to go any further. I Don't want to go any deeper in my life. This is far. I am spiritual enough. I'm spiritual. I have enough knowledge I don't need any more. I don't need anything else. This is enough for me And you know, here's where I believe so much of the Pentecostal churches today We are dying in a contentment of our spiritual experience This is where we're at we're just comfortable don't upset my life don't disturb me. Here's where I'm at. This is okay I can handle it. I don't want anything more Francis frangipane made a statement. He said for the Holy Spirit to bring us further into his glory He must first dismantle our satisfaction with what God has already given us Before we can go any further we have to come to a place of holy dissatisfaction We have to come to a place saying I want to see you as I've never seen you before I want to know you in a way. I've never known you before. I want to be undone in your presence I want to see your holiness, even if it upsets my life from one end to the other I want a greater revelation and knowledge of who you are But we're content with our experience and you know what happens when we're content with our experience We don't go anywhere in our Christianity. We stay right where we're at. We keep status quo We don't want anything to upset the status quo rather than saying God I Don't care. I'd rather die going up that mountain and see you again than to never see you again You know that not one of those men not one of those elders of Israel Tackled Moses and says I'll go with you even if I die not one of them. They just waved him. Goodbye Goodbye, you go die up there. This has been good. I've had a better experience than them down there So this is enough for me. I don't want any more You hear what I'm saying Now before Moses went up the mount He went to these elders of Israel in the 14th verse He says wait here for us until we come back. And so Moses is gonna go up the mountain with his aid Joshua So that's why I said wait here for us. So he was going up the mountain with Joshua He gave them a command says you stay right here halfway up this mountain. You stay there until we come back You know what they did they went down. They went they left they disobeyed Moses. I want you to think about this for a moment I want to say something here. That's gonna that is if you understand it, this is absolutely shocking They ate with God. They saw him. It says they saw him, right? And you know what they did when he went down the mountain They made the golden calf Do you know the 70 elders of Israel Aaron Nadab and Abihu? They knew God wasn't a cow They saw him. They knew he wasn't a cow and yet they went down anyway and fashioned a golden calf And you know what that says that says I don't care who this God really is. I wanted one of my own making You understand how scary that was you read in Deuteronomy and I think it's the ninth chapter that God was so angry with Israel that he was going to destroy Israel and then it says that he was angry enough with Aaron to To destroy him and can you imagine that God to say at you your name speak your name? I was angry enough to destroy you You want to talk about terrifying situation, I don't know I wouldn't want to be on that end of his finger pointing at me Because it wasn't just making the golden calf and it wasn't just that he led the children of Israel into that rebellion It's that he saw God and knew who he was and still made a golden. I know now I want to take you To where I've really been trying to move you this whole time in the twelfth verse of Exodus 24 Is just an absolutely beautiful verse Says the Lord said to Moses come up to me on the mountain and Stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commands. I have written for their instruction Can you imagine anything more beautiful that God would go to a mere mortal and say these words come up and stay with me? Can you imagine anything more beautiful than that? literally God's desire of Moses to come up and Stay with him now, we don't know the full extent of what went on there Actually, we know very little some of the times that Moses went up there. God was communing with him That's where he got the idea of the tabernacle and all the that was involved with it and what the priesthood was And so there was tremendous communion up there, but I have to imagine in this is my own guess We're not told what it was but I have to imagine there was times where Moses probably trembled before him and there was probably other times where he just rejoiced before him Overwhelmed with his beauty with his magnificence with his splendor. I Can just imagine there being time where he's on his face just weeping Because of the beauty of his holiness just being so filled with the wonder of who this God was Can you imagine that that God would go to this man and say come and stay? But you know that is what God's call is to his church today the same identical thing His call is come and stay with me Everything I need it can be found in him If I would but quit staying at a distance if I would come to the place saying God I want you more than life itself. I'll pursue you whatever it is the call of God saying come and stay with me But yet we become so busy We become so satisfied with our experience with where we're at with our with whatever's going on in our life We're comfortable with our Christianity as status quo Rather than understanding this God of magnificence of splendor beyond anything We've imagined and this Creator God who needs nobody is breaking into our world to reveal himself to us breaking into our lives because he wants us to know the depths the heights the riches and The wonder of who he is. He's calling us into a deeper relationship, but then we stay at a distance It is a call to the church what took place here was a historical event But we can apply it to our lives today because this God is desiring Intimacy with his church the power of God revealed through the church doesn't happen because we've got all the things down pat We got all the talent and all the gifts and all the programs and all the the things in order It happens because the glory of God is revealed through the church because we become a desperate people that says I cannot I do Not want to live without you that we become thirsty enough to pursue him Whatever the price is and so this is God's deeper call To the individual that is broken to the individual that finally sees their neediness, you know, this is such an important thing here Let me just take a moment here and I'm going to come to some to a conclusion One reason why we're not desperate for God why we're not pursuing them with everything that's within us Because we're not broken people. We don't see the depths of our neediness Until we see the depths of our neediness. We'll do nothing in pursuit of him. We'll stay right where we're at We'll be comfortable with where we're at with what's in our life until we begin to see how needy we are We'll not pursue him in any radical way Because life will be too busy. We'll have too many things or seemingly too much knowledge. Why should we pursue him anymore? Many of you will be familiar with a man. His name was Jim Elliott. He was a man who Was martyred for the cause of Christ Trying to reach Indians in Ecuador and these Indians were some of the most violent Indians in all the area And the military feared them because they were so violent I'm not going to go through the whole story because it's very involved But here's this young man with four other missionaries that are trying to win these people and bring them to a place in Christ There was a movie that was out. It was called at the end of the spear that was on this story Unfortunately because it was done partially through secular it got watered down and I've talked to people that's tied into the very Ministry that the missions Organization that went down there and they says that it was not like that at all These men were deeply spiritual what the movie did tried to make it a social type gospel that they went down to make their lives Better they went down to bring them to Christ because they were hostile to God That's why they gave their life up not to try and bring a little better life to them that they could have a easier life But to bring them to Christ because their lives were at war with him And so they were martyred for the cause of Christ But you know before Jim Elliot ever went to Ecuador and ever tried to reach these Indians while he was in Bible school God was already preparing the heart in his diary There's this little statement I'm gonna read to you that he wrote a prayer in his diary And this is what made a man and brought a man to a place and to be willing to lay his life down in the jungles Or whatever it took because he had finally become a man in such hot pursuit of God He says God deliver me from the dread of spastos of other things Saturate me with the oil of the spirit that I may be a flame father Take my life. Yea my blood if thou wilt and consume it with an enveloping fire I would not save it for it is not mine to save have it Lord have it all pour out My life is an oblation for the world make me thy fuel. Oh flame of God The man had a passion for God and the passion was so hot that he didn't care if he died in the pursuit of it In essence, he was willing to go up the mountain if he died He wasn't gonna stay at a distance because he saw the prize to be worth the pursuit Do we see the prize as the church today worth the pursuit is? Jesus really worth the absolute total abandonment of our life no matter what it costs us Or is he just a little addition to our life? There's only one man who could take Moses place Could you imagine trying to fill that pastor's shoes? I? Couldn't imagine anything else a man pastoring a million people. He was kind of a twofold man. He was a political Religious leader so he did both he was the political leader led them politically, but ultimately he was their spiritual leader I just I couldn't imagine that all the miracles that took place and he'd go and commune with Godness His face would glow and he have to cover his face with a veil or people wouldn't be too afraid to talk with him Can you imagine that? I mean, that'd be a terrible man to try and fill his shoes There was only one man that could we know who filled the shoes, but you know why that man could fill his shoes I want to read to you one verse and I want to close with this verse then It's an exodus 33. It's the 11th verse Nexus 33 is a very interesting chapter. I'm not gonna explain it But Moses is going through the worst trial of his life the children of Israel had just Bowed down and worshiped the golden calf It says in the 11th verses the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his with his friend Then Moses would return to the camp But his young aide Joshua son of none did not leave the tent The only man that could fill Moses shoes was a man who loved the presence of God even more than Moses Moses went home Joshua stayed in the tent. That is a small little point that's put there but it speaks volumes of a character It speaks volumes of a man that had a passion for his God and would pursue his God whatever it cost him and So where is that today? Where's the Joshua's today? That want the presence of God so much. They'll do whatever it takes Final quote I'll give you it's from a man. His name's Thomas a campus. He made this wonderful little point. He says Very few people know how to let everything they do in this world flow from their love for God everything Very few people know how to let everything they do in this life flow out of their love for God And so what he's saying is that everything we do should be this passion for God Whether you're at the workplace that you're doing it you're doing it as all unto God whether you're at home Whether you're mowing the lawn, whatever it is that you are living a life abandoned to him that everything you do is ultimately For the purpose of bringing glory to God, you know That's what Moses had finally come to place in his life that he would live for the glory of God Joshua filled his shoes and he became a man that lived for the glory of God They were men that came to the place to finally be free from living for self Because their pursuit was so hot for God