In this sermon, the preacher discusses the purpose of God showing his glory to Moses. The revelation of God's glory was not for aesthetic purposes or personal bragging rights, but to reveal his true nature and character. God is described as merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, and forgiving. The preacher emphasizes that this revelation should lead to a transformation in believers, causing them to express God's love and kindness to others. The sermon also highlights the message of God's love for all mankind, emphasizing that God is not angry or out to bring people down, but is always near and ready to respond to their cries.

This morning, I want to speak to you about the effects of seeing the glory of God. The effects of seeing the glory of God. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you're teaching us something about your glory. And Lord, it's life-changing when we see it. I pray you make it so simple today that nobody in this building, even if they've walked in here for the first time, will have any mistake in their mind about what the glory of God is and how to see it and how to appropriate it in their lives. Lord, I pray that you take the words of my mouth today and make them life and health and strength that would transform us. Lord, you said the vision of your glory is that secret of bringing strength and inheritance to the children of God. And I pray, Lord, that you speak into our lives now. Lord, I want this message to bring hope to this congregation, to all who hear it. Lord, sanctify me, hide me behind the cross, and let my words be your words, I pray, because I believe you gave me this message. I speak your mind as an oracle of God. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, about five weeks ago, I spoke on the glory of God. And many of you were not here, and we have a lot of visitors, so I'll recapitulate for just a few moments before I go into the heart of my message. I want you to know it's possible, listen closely, it's possible for every true believer to understand what the glory of God is. And the glory of God is given to those who seek it with all of their heart. You can pray the prayer of Moses, Lord, show me your glory. And when he does, he's going to show you the same thing he showed Moses, because there is only one glory, and God defined it himself. So when you pray, Lord, show me your glory, show me who you are, is what that prayer is. God sent Moses out to deliver the children of Israel without a full revelation of who he was. He just said, go, and say, I am sent you. But there was no explanation or definition of who I am was. And that's why Moses had this knowing, this hunger, this thirst to know who the great I am is, and what his character, what his nature was. The glory of God is not, was not, and is not some physical manifestation of any kind. It's not some ecstatic feeling that comes upon people. It's not some kind of supernatural aura. It's not a bursting forth of some emotional, physical thing. The glory of God is a revelation of the nature and attributes of God himself. It's a revelation of his nature, as defined by God himself. In other words, when you get a revelation of the glory of God, it is God speaking to you, telling you how he wants to be known, how he wants you to think about him, how he wants you to see him. Not as some preacher would define him, but as God himself defying who he was. In fact, God answered the prayer of Moses. He took him up to a cleft of a rock. He hid him in a cleft of a rock, put his hand over his eyes until he passed, so that he'd take his hand off only toward the backsides. But there was no thunder, there was no lightning, there was no emotional thing. There was no casting him to the ground. There was no shaking of this man. It was simply a revelation that the Bible said God caused his goodness to pass before him, and then he proclaimed his glory to Moses. And here is the explanation, here is God's definition of what he is, of who he is. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sins. Now, here's my message. What is the purpose, what was the purpose of God showing his glory to Moses? Certainly not to give him some ecstatic moment. Certainly not to just be able to tell his children and grandchildren, I had a glorious grand day one day when God took me to the mountain, and hid me in a cliff to the rock, and I saw something indescribable. That's not it. God never reveals anything of his goodness, his grace, his power, his mercy without a purpose. There's a purpose in this revelation. The purpose of this revelation to Moses, the purpose of God revealing his glory to us in this day and age, is that that glory might change us into his very image, so that the glory he defined of himself to us, we may define to the world. We may be an expression of Christ, who is now the fullness of God. He is the goodness and the grace and the mercy of God. Jesus Christ, full of grace and mercy, the Bible says. He is the express image of who God is. He came down to express that. It's an amazing thing that God did. He so wanted us to know his nature. He allowed a time and a place in history that man could even touch and feel it. That's what John wrote. He said, the word of God, we saw and we touched him. We were able to touch the glory of God. Jesus Christ, who came into flesh to be a full revelation to us of the mercy, the grace, the goodness and the readiness of God to forgive. God wrapped that all up in Jesus and sent him as a man and said, Now, here's my glory. Jesus Christ is the manifest glory of God. That's not difficult, is it? It shouldn't be complicated for us to understand. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass or a mirror, the glory of the Lord. We are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God. Now, simply put, that means once you get this revelation of the glory of God, of his love, how loving he is, of his graciousness, his tenderness, his long-suffering, his readiness to forgive, and his forgiving multitudes. Once you get that and once you appropriate that, the Bible says that will change you moment by moment as the Holy Ghost reveals you the fullness of that truth. As you go into the Bible and little by little you see it on every page of the book. You begin to see it. You take it. You claim it. The Bible says it will change you little by little. You will become like the glory. The glory. I'm going to show you that the glory of God is not out in the cosmos, but it is in you, in Jesus Christ. We'll get to that in just a moment. Now, Paul explained it even stronger. He said that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, he said, I want you to know me in my glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. God said, I want you to understand him. Moses understood it. I want you to understand it. I want to open your eyes by my spirit. And I want you to see who I am to you. I'm not just a God of wrath and judgment. You've got to know my nature. There is wrath in me. There is anger in me. But my nature is love. God is love. That's what he is. Wrath and anger is what he does. This is what I am, he said. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory is of his inheritance. In other words, how this rich glory is going to be a part of you and in you. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe that you being rooted and grounded in this love. He said, I want this revelation to be so real to you. I want you to see it. Because that's how you're going to become rooted and grounded in love. You may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. The fullness of God is his glory. That you might be filled with this revelation and being filled with the revelation it is the power that changes you. Now, when God shows us that Jesus Christ is his full expression of who he is. In other words, Jesus came as the glory of God loving, merciful, kind, tenderhearted, gracious, long-suffering, even to the sinner, the rankest sinner on earth God loves and is merciful. And he said, once you get that vision it will root you, it will ground you, it will fill you with the vision of Christ and you, as you keep looking at the word and seeing it and studying it and claiming it and appropriating it in your life you're going to be changed, changed, changed. Keep changing from glory to glory. It means from revelation to revelation to revelation of this one truth. The Bible said we're changed from glory to glory. That means you're affected by this vision. The first and foremost effect of the revelation of the glory of God that is in Christ Jesus that it changes your relationship with the Lord. It changes your relationship with the Lord. Now, immediately after Moses gets this revelation of the love of God, the mercy and the grace and the long-suffering, he is so overwhelmed by it he quickly finds a place to fall in his face and the Bible says Moses made haste. He had just seen this revelation of the great love of God. How long-suffering, how patient God is with His children, with stiff-necked people, with idolaters and with those who have grieved Him and how merciful and gracious. And he's so overwhelmed by this vision of the glory of God he finds a lonely place. The Bible said Moses made haste, bowed his head to the earth and worshipped. Now, folks, this is the first mention in the Bible of Moses worshipping. Church, you will find prior to this revelation of the goodness of God, you'll find this man praying many times. He talked face-to-face with God. You'll find him pleading with God for the people, interceding and weeping. You see him singing God's praises at the victory site of the Red Sea after God had destroyed Pharaoh and his army. You hear him crying to the Lord at the bitter waters of Merah when there was no water and the people were murmuring, complaining and he cried out to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord at Rephidim when they were ready to stone him. And you find this man taking, he goes outside the camp and he prays, he seeks God, but folks, you can be one who prays constantly, you can be one who intercedes for your family, for nations and for churches, you can be one who cries out to God for the needs of yourself and your family, your friends, and still not be a worshipper. And still not be a worshipper. Moses knew how to pray. He knew how to intercede. He had intimacy with God. But he, for the first time, worships. It's the first time you hear it said, Moses worshipped. Now I'm telling you that there are many people who pray diligently who have never learned to worship. Now folks, I'm not going to add to all the confusion about what worship is. So many books on techniques of worship. I have to tell you honestly, I don't believe there's a technique of worship. That is contrary to everything in the Scripture as far as I'm concerned. You can't learn worship. Worship is a spontaneous outbreak, a spontaneous outbursting of a revelation of who God is, of His mercy and His grace, His love to you, how you should have been cast aside, how you should have been destroyed long ago, how you should have had the wrath of God for all your failures, our failures and our faults, and then suddenly God comes to you with a revelation, I still love you. This man now has hope even though he'd interceded for the children of Israel when God wanted to destroy them for idolatry. You know, when you look at that story, here's God saying, Moses, let me alone. They build a golden calf, they worship around it, now let me destroy them. Moses is pleading, no God, don't do that. That makes Moses sound more compassionate than God. But that's not what it was all about. God had no intention of destroying these people. This is a mercy test for this man. How are you going to represent me to the people? God, all along, because God had some promises ready, already in His mind. He said, I'm going to do great things such as have never been done for Israel, and my presence is going to go with you. That was His heart all along. But you see, even though Moses had pleaded with him, he went down from the mountain and he killed 3,000 of them, the ringleaders, in anger, the Bible says. And he broke the tablets. And even though he pleaded with him, I know that after that, he thought to himself, Oh my God, my Lord, how am I going to lead these people? They are stiff-necked. They're stubborn. And he knew that they had hidden in their tents, the idols, those little golden mice they brought, and the two most lurid gods they brought out of Egypt and still hidden in their tents. Amos said so later. They're all through the wilderness. They had them hidden in their tents. He knew that. And he thanked himself, Oh God, what day, what hour, what time are you going to get fed up and lose your patience with these people? They're so stiff-necked. They're so hard. They're so rebellious. Lord, I don't know how I'm going to lead them. At any time this could break out and Lord, you might have to destroy them. But now, here comes this revelation. I am merciful. I'm long-suffering. And now Moses is saying, Oh God, they're stubborn. They're rebellious. We're stiff-necked people. And you said that you have mercy and forgiveness for thousands. We're those thousands. We need that mercy. And while he's still worshiping, he's claiming it. I appropriate the glory. I appropriate it right now. Now folks, that is an integral part of worship. Now we may have our ideas how we please God with worship, but did you ever think that God has his own ideas as to how he's being worshiped? And as the way I see it interpreted in the Scripture here, God knows he's being wholly, truly worshipped when you and I lay claim to his glory. When we, in our difficulty, we, in our guilt, and in our condemnation, we simply turn to him with all of our hearts and we say, God, you have told me that you have mercy and longsuffering. I need longsuffering. I need it now. I claim it. And God is worshipped when he sees his people laying hold of those rights that he has given to them by his own words. It's not somebody going on and on and on in prayer saying, Oh Lord, I love you, I love you, I love you. Just words. God's saying, No, wait a minute. I love you. You're going to worship me. You're going to lay hold of my love. How many see that? That means it could be one of the greatest worship services of all if we just come into his presence and fall before him and just glorify him for his love and just soak it in and say, Embrace me, Lord. I need it. I need a hug. You ought to get up every morning and say, Lord, I need a hug. Go before God. Before you go to bed, Lord, I need a hug. I'm hurting. The Holy Ghost is right there to show you the arms of Jesus to embrace you. Hallelujah. You know, that's the spring of my worship. That's the spring out of which my worship goes to him. Father, I know you're holy. I know you're just. I know you don't weaken sin, but I've seen your glory. You're not out to destroy me. You're not condemning me in my struggles. You've showed me how loving and long-suffering you are to me. I deserve rejection. I should have been cast aside. I've failed you so often, but you revealed to me that your mercy, grace, and tender heart, and I claimed that I need it. Like when a young man prayed, God, I guess I'm your bad boy. You're going to have to help me. Have you ever felt like God's bad boy or God's bad girl? Now, if you know God revealed in Christ as a merciful Lord, you can say with Jeremiah, and I want to give you a scripture, folks, that at a time, even while I was pastor of this church, became a life-strengthening word to me. In fact, one day, God had to give me this word. Many of you that are sitting here don't know the battle I went through three or four years ago. There were all kinds of accusations and slander and all kinds of things, so much so that I would sit in my apartment and weep and say, Honey, I just can't go to church. And there were some that had risen up in telling awful lies, and I would meet young people backstage, say, Are you a phony like they say you are? And I'd say, What? And I would go home and say, Honey, I just don't understand this. I've given my heart. And I got to the place where even a pastor was visiting. He said, Brother Dave, I've heard about some of the suffering going through. He said, Is it God or the devil after you? And it offended me. God or the devil? But it planted a seed in my heart, and I went home and said, Lord, if I'm under discipline, show me why. If you're correcting me, show me what it is. And there was about a month that I could hardly come into this church. I would sit in my study, and my wife would have to pick me up. And I'd get halfway to church, and I'd say, Honey, I can't do it. I can't go on. I can't face another young person or another person asking me if I'm a phony. And so it got to a place where I was so grieved that I came upon this scripture. Because I said, Oh God, if I hear another rebuking word, I'll be reduced to nothing. It will reduce me to nothing. Have you ever been to that place where you've gone through it, and then you pick up the word? I would used to go into word during that time, and then I shouldn't have been so much in Jeremiah, I guess, and Ezekiel, but, you know, blind shepherds and the wrath of God and everything else. And I said, Oh Lord, what's going on? And then one day the Holy Spirit literally spoke a quiet word into my heart to turn to Jeremiah 10, 24, and this is what I read. Oh Lord, correct me, but in a just way, and not in your anger, lest I be reduced to nothing. God said, Listen, David, if you're going to discipline one of your children or grandchildren, are you going to go out and find the most vicious criminal on the street and give him the belt and say, Go spank my child? No, no, no. God said, If I correct you, it's because I love you. He said, That's not what this is all about. Just stand still now and see the glory of God. Folks, God's Spirit came upon me. Many in this congregation didn't know the battle that I'd gone through. Pastor Carter, God sent him to stand with me through that time like a giant. And God undertook with this Scripture, Oh Lord, correct me, but in a just way, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing, lest I be reduced to nothing. And folks, there comes a time where you come to the house of God and you're so down and you say, If I hear one more word from anybody putting me down, I'll be reduced to nothing. And God knows that. That's why he brings an encouraging word. That's why he brings the message of his glory to your heart. Hallelujah. Now, with Moses, the revelation changed him in another way also. The second effect of seeing the glory of God is a change in countenance. The Scripture says, And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, and the skin of Moses' face shone. Now, a person's countenance is the outward expression of something accomplished in the heart. Now, listen to me closely, please. Moses had already been on a mountain another time for 40 days and 40 nights and he came down and his face didn't shine. In fact, he came down and dealt with this idolatry of the golden calf. There was no evidence of his face shining. You see, you can be in the glory, but it doesn't shine until the glory is in you. He had been in the glory of God, but the glory had not come in. And this comes to what Paul says, It pleased God to reveal his Son in me that I may preach Christ. Not to me, but in me. God revealed it in me, the Scripture says. Paul means, I have more than a doctrine someone taught me about Jesus. I have more than a head knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have a revelation of who this man is that I serve. I know his nature. I know who my Christ is. And he abides in me. That's what I preach. And that revelation becomes the source of my life, so that the very life that I live is the life of Christ. I live on his love, his glory, his mercy, his long-suffering. I live on it. It's changed me. It's my life. It's what I live. It's what I preach. It's what gives me meaning in my life. This revelation of Jesus Christ and his nature, the express image of God, the fullness of God that is in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. You know, it's not enough to go about saying, I gave my heart to Jesus. Jesus lives in my heart. That's fine, but you know who he is. It's just a cliche if you don't. It's just a meaningless word unless you can say, Well, I know who Jesus is. God is love, he's mercy, he's grace, he's long-suffering, and he has a readiness to forgive. And one day he invested in his own son all that he is, his own nature, his own character, and he sent him to this world in the form of a man, and Jesus came to this earth to let all mankind know that he loved them. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Sinner, I'm telling you right now, I've said this all my ministry, God's not mad at you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care where you are. I don't care if your back's slidding right now. God's not out to get you. He's not out to bring you down. He sees your struggle, he sees your cry, and he's only a breath cry away. He's only a heart cry away from you right now. He stands by the door knocking, seeking entrance right now into your heart. God is not mad at you. If you'll understand that today, you'll begin to see that you can have the glory of God when you invite Jesus Christ into your heart. You bring into your very being. He abides, he lives here as the fullness of God. He lives in you so that you don't have to go for your grace and mercy out somewhere. The Lord said the word is nigh you even in your mouth. You don't have to wake him from the dead. You don't have to scream at him. I've been in churches where everybody's screaming at God, trying to get his attention. Oh, I love loud praises to the Lord. He said, let everything I breath praise the Lord. He said, make a loud noise unto the Lord, the Bible says. Loudness doesn't bother me, but screaming at God to get his attention does bother me, because that's unbelief. He is nigh us. The revelation of God's character, listen to me closely, this whole thing can be abused. The Bible makes it very clear. In fact, Jude speaks of those who would turn the grace or the love of God into lasciviousness or as an excuse to sin. They sin that grace may abound. In other words, if God's mercy, and he loves to give his mercy, if God loves to express himself through forgiveness, then I'm going to give him plenty of opportunity. I'm going to sin and let him just keep loving me and let the grace flow. And what a testimony to the world. I am an object. All of this love that I am bringing down from heaven, I'm going to sin that grace may just flow and people can see I'll be an example. I'll be an example that you can sin and God is everlasting love and as long as you sin, his mercy is everlasting and I'll be an example of his grace. Paul said, no, no, no. He said, that's not what it's all about. That is despising the grace of God. But those who despise the glory of God are easily spotted. You can see them. In fact, Isaiah said of the Israelites who provoke the eyes of his glory, listen, he said, there are some that provoke the eyes of his glory that show of their countenance witnesses against them and they reveal their sin to Sodom, they can't hide it. I want to tell you something. There are Christians, and I say this lovingly, that hear the message of grace and they grasp onto it. This great love of God, oh, that's wonderful. Now, isn't that good news? Because I've got a problem in my life. I'm an adult. I'm in a situation that I just can't let go. I'm not convicted of it enough to let go of it. Oh, but it's so comforting to come to Chimes Square Church this morning and hear about how much I'm loved and how long-suffering the Lord is. So maybe next year at this time, after the Lord's suffered with me long enough, I'll let this go. But I want to tell you something. Your sin witnesses against you. Whatever's in your heart is going to show in your countenance. It can't be hidden by a smile. Now, countenance has to do with the way you walk, your talk, your whole disposition, your character. Everything that you are is your countenance. Even the rankest sinners realized who the disciples were, that they'd been with Jesus. How could they tell? They didn't look like anybody else. They'd gone around with a silly grin on their face. They weren't trying to cover anything. It was so much so that the very shadow of Peter, they just wanted to get in the shadow of Peter because there was something they recognized. This man's been with Jesus. I can tell when people have been with Jesus. There is a radius. They may not even be smiling, but there's something about them. I'm not talking about auras. I'm talking about a recognition in the Holy Spirit that this person is right with God. There's nothing hidden. There's nothing secret. There's an open face. But somebody that's hiding something, somebody that will not come to this love and say, Lord, let Your love cleanse me. I don't want to have to be beaten down by the wrath of God to see it. Lord, I sit in Your love. You have loved me through all this. Now, Lord, I won't do despite Your love. And you can tell the person that's hiding something, even the sinner on the job can tell, hey, something's not right with that one. That Christian, something's not right. Folks, I have walked into churches, large churches. Believe me. And I could tell the moment the pastor walked out and sat on the stage, on the pulpit, the Holy Spirit said, there's something wrong here. There's something wrong. And as soon as he got up to preach, I knew it because there was a lightness. Everyone who has hidden sin, there's a lightness. There's not that wonderful spiritual mindedness. You sit at the table and you can tell the lightness. Those who have it right with God, those who have appropriated this glory and it's changing their countenance. They're changed every day. They're becoming more and more like Jesus. The world is becoming less and less attractive to them. Material things are losing their hold. They're cleaving to the Lord. And it changes you, brothers and sisters. It changes you. And oh, what a glory in a church when the whole church is that way. Hallelujah. According to the Apostle Paul, Moses saw the glory and the revelation in his heart so filled him, it changed him. Now, I honestly don't believe it was just some physical emanation from his face, even though he put a veil over it, because if you read Hebrews, the Bible said it was because their hearts were hardened. They were so afraid of the righteousness that this man had seen, the glory and the revelation that was in his heart, and it brought such peace. And the rest of this man, it was not just some bright emanation because if you read one of the prophets also, it talks about the horns. Or rather, I don't know what the chapter is. It also talked about the horns in his hands. He had no physical horns. There was a power that God had entrusted in his hands. This was something that had changed this man so much. All his people, his brother, his sister, everybody, said this man has had some experience with God. He's gone beyond. Folks, there is a place beyond the norm. There's a place beyond where so many Christians live. It's a total commitment to walk with Jesus. It's called the commitment, I give my life, I give my all. I'm going to seek His face till I find Him. Hallelujah. Now folks, that glory abides in us now. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined now into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face or the person of Jesus Christ. Did you get that? You've read that but now God help you understand. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness now has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face, that means the person, in the person of Jesus Christ. That when you receive Jesus Christ, you receive into your life the very glory of Almighty God. All of His character, His personality that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus didn't come and leave His glory somewhere else. He brought His glory with Him. And I'll tell you what, that glory in you teaches you how. Listen very clearly to the Scripture. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. Now that grace of God is nothing more than Jesus Christ. He is the grace of God. He is the love of God. And He abides in the heart. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. How do you learn to walk holy? How do you learn to be sanctified? Through the glory that abides in us. He said, if you will allow me, through my spirit I will teach you. Teach you sanctification, glory. We'll open up righteousness in your being. Hallelujah. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things abound to every good work. I must hurry on to the final. There are many effects but the final one I want to discuss with you this morning. One of the most important effects of seeing the glory of God is a change in our relationship to others. A change. Once you get this revelation of a loving God who is the love of God in Christ Jesus, once you get that, you cannot continue in old ways of treating other people. You can't do it. You've got to have a change, the Bible says. Paul warns, if God has shown you how tender and kind and loving He is, especially to you, you'd better show it to others. In fact, if you do not show the love of God that He has shown you to others, you misrepresent Him. Now listen to what the Scripture says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving. Now this sounds like the nature of God, doesn't it? It sounds like the glory. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. He said, you saw the glory, you know what I am now. You must express who I am to others. Now God dealt very severely with Moses. Even though he had this revelation, he at one time misrepresented that glory before the people. This is the second time he goes to a rock, and in anger he smites that rock as if to say, You stiff-necked bunch of rebels. And God doesn't take kindly. That's one thing God's patience will not endure. That once he shows you who he is, his glorious kindness, and you've had it expressed to you, and you've lived the joy of it, and you turn right around, and you become that man who was forgiven a great debt because his master had love and compassion and tenderness to him. That's our Christ. And you turn right around to a brother or sister, and you hold bitterness, you hold a grudge, you will not forgive, you will not be kind-hearted to that person. God said, You misrepresent who I am. You've been given a touch of the glory, you've seen it, you've touched my glory, and now you've misrepresented who I am to the world. And folks, that's why you remember the time some of you were here when God smoked me right on this pulpit because I'd preached a rather hard message, and I was laid out, and God made it clear that we are not to condemn the righteous or to offer comfort to the wicked in their sins. We're not to encourage people in their sins, but we're not to rebuke the righteous. Now, I've had somebody come to me and say, Well, brother, didn't Paul say rebuke and reprove? But read the next verse, With all longsuffering, with God's glory, with grace. He said, With all authority, in grace. Read it. Reprove, rebuke, with all authority, and in longsuffering. But once you have had that longsuffering offered to you, and you will not show that tenderness and mercy to others. Now, this kept him out of the promised land. The most meek, godly man, One of the most meekest, godliest men in the Old Testament is kept out of the fullness. He's not allowed to go into the promised land because he misrepresented the glory that had been revealed to him on that mount. Now, listen to me, folks. I know God dealt with me over the years, and I have to be very careful because I have a tendency, my nature is to hammer. God has to deal with me this all the time. But if you will not forgive, if you keep holding your grudge, you'll never come into his fullness, and you're going to be left in the wilderness. There's going to be trouble in your family. Nothing's going to go right. You're going to wonder, Why don't things come in order in my family? It's because there's a root of bitterness in you. There's something or someone you're not forgiving, and you're misrepresenting who Christ is. If you're on the job, and you have a grudge against somebody, you don't talk to somebody. Somebody you don't even talk to. You're misrepresenting Christ, who he is. And that's one thing God said, I'll not have patience with. I am loving, I'm kind, but I give you this loving reproof in long-suffering. Here it is. Take the testimony of Moses. You will not ever come into my fullness if you have this. Now, folks, he says, Be kind and tender-hearted, and that's all wrapped up in one word called mercy. Now, mercy is taken from a Latin root word, misericordia. In fact, mercy is taken from the word misery. And really, what it means, to take to heart the misery of someone else with the intention of giving them comfort and relief. And it's tied up in two root words, kindness is in two root words that mean oracle and soft touch. It's a soft word and a soft touch when somebody's hurting. He said, If you want, it's not enough for you to see who I am, and for you to take all of this blessing of His forgiveness and love and enjoy it, and have you healed your own soul, then you look at another Christian, a brother, sister, someone in your family, others, and you see their misery. Misery is taken from the word, or mercy is taken right out of that word. It is to take to heart that hurt, take to heart that misery, and all you have to do, according to the Scripture, is to be His oracle of love, to represent to that person who Jesus really is, as if Christ Himself were there taking on that misery and that pain and sharing it, and it's a soft word. It's not going to somebody that sins sin. I've got a word from heaven for you, brother. You've got sin in your life. Well, if that's so, He knows that. And He would say, Don't deal with me in anger unless you reduce me to nothing. I'm already reduced. I'm already down. Don't put me down anymore. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, even as Christ has been tenderhearted and kind to you. Hallelujah. Compassion is being affected and touched by the misery of others and determining to do something about it. Compassion is not bleeding. You know, all those poor, poor people that are suffering, oh, we've got enough words of compassion. That's not compassion. Compassion by definition is being affected and touched by the misery of others and intending, determining to do something about it. Hallelujah. Will you stand? Hallelujah. Let me ask you. You sat through this message and some of you heard my previous message on the glory of God. How many can honestly say, I understand what the glory of God is? Raise your hand. I understand what it is. I get amused at so many people. And I told you the story of one man who said, Boy, we had some meeting in our church last week. I mean, people were dancing and falling under the Spirit and the pastor didn't even get a chance to preach. Boy, the glory of God came down. Well, that's not the glory of God. That's camp meeting, but that's not the glory of God. The glory of God is a revelation. And you know what I would like to see for this church? That every praise that goes up, every, all the volume of worship and praise that goes up to the Lord comes from knowing who God is in Christ. It's coming from a sense of security. It's not trying to reach Him because He's already here. It's not crying out, Oh God, help me. I'm sinking in despair. It's a cry of faith and trust in the Lord. Yes, Lord, I'm going through a hard time, but I know that my heart's for You. You're not hurting me. You're not down on me. You're not going to let me go. I'm safe in You, Lord. You're going to send the Holy Ghost and help me through my struggles. And you're holding on by faith and you're trusting and you're still growing, though you're still struggling. You're still growing in the knowledge of who Jesus is. Hallelujah. That's the worship. Say, Lord Jesus, I claim everything You've promised me now. You promised that the Holy Ghost, if I ask, will come and abide in me and the Holy Ghost will drive out sin out of my life. He'll show me the exceeding sinfulness of it. He'll cause me to hate it. And then by His power and His way, He will drive out the lust of my heart, the sins of my heart. If I just turn to Him, go after Him with all my heart. Hallelujah. I tell you what, you take the first move toward God and He'll come running at you. He'll fall on your neck and kiss you and restore you. Some of you that are hearing me right now, you need to be restored. You've slipped away from His love. Honestly, some of you feel that you just can't make it, that God's not been with you or that you have failed Him. I want you to step out of your seat and I want you to come and stand right here. Now, those that are in the annex, you can come. There are stairs on the same floor that right into the auditorium. There are stairs. You come down those stairs. Usher, if you will, show the people to come out of their seats. You come right out of your seat. You say, Pastor David, I'd like you to pray for me today. And I do want to pray for you. I want to pray that the Lord will anchor and root you. Paul said, this is the truth that will give you roots and anchor you so that the perilous times ahead, you'll not be shaken. You will not be shaken. Some of you know in your heart, you're not right with God. You say, Brother David, I don't walk with Jesus. I'm not walking close to Him. I'm not saying you're a bad person. I'm saying that you need Him. I don't know how you could walk without Him. If you need that miracle, if you need that touch, that soft touch of Jesus, that loving hand of Christ, over an annex, just turn and go to the back doors and come right down the stairs. Come down any aisle and I'll meet you right here. And up in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down and then meet me right here. And if you're here today, standing in this congregation, you say, Brother David, I feel so rejected and I feel so unloved. I have not really experienced the love of God like you're talking about, the love of Jesus. I want you to get out of your seat and come and let Him love you today. Let Him touch you by His Spirit wherever you are. We're not just trying to build up numbers at this altar. As we sing, I want you to get out of your seat and come and let Jesus finish the work that He may have already begun in you. He's going to do a good work in you this morning. Amen. You that have come forward, look this way and for the whole audience, to all that are gathered here this morning, there has to come a time in your life when if you are told by the Holy Ghost that Jesus unconditionally loves you, no matter what you're going through, no matter how you are striving, no matter what your battle is, He is not about to give up on you. And He wants to bring a peace and a joy to your heart this morning that says, by Your grace, Lord, by the revelation of who You are and all that You told me to believe that You are, You're going to deliver me. You're going to bring peace to my heart. And God always works on the premise of peace. And the true evidence of faith is rest. You'll know when you truly believe the Lord when your heart is at rest. When there's peace that comes, that passes all understanding. My goodness, folks, the most saintly person in this building this morning, think of the most godly person you can that's in this building. That person or those persons need as much grace as you do. They have nothing to offer the Lord. No goodness in them. It's the same grace that He offers to you. It's the same love. The same keeping power. All He asks of you is to lay your sins at His feet and say, Lord Jesus, I exchange my burden for Your love. I exchange. I cast all my care for You. Why did God say to cast your care? Because He cares for you. He said cast. Give it all to Me. Why? Because I care for you. Can you get that in your mind right now? Say it right now. Jesus, I know You care for me. You know what I'm going through. My pain, my struggles, my sins, my lust, everything in my life. You've always known and You still care. And I bring it all to You and I cast it on You. I give You my sins. I repent, Lord, of everything that's unlike You that's in my heart. I ask You to come now. Open my mind and my spirit to see and understand that You are love, that You love me. You've been tender to me. You're forgiving to me. And I receive that forgiveness. I receive that love. And I worship You for it. I want you to just raise your hands and just love Jesus for loving you right now and forgiving you. Lord, I thank You. This marvelous love that You have, this grace of God that passeth all my comprehension and understanding, I give You thanks. Congregation everywhere, end up in the annex, lift up your hands. The Bible said I would men everywhere lift holy hands. Come on, just thank Him. Lord, I thank You for Your love this morning. I thank You You're not mad at me, God. You are not mad at me. God, it is not in Your heart to be mad at Your children. We cast all our cares, all our sins upon You, Lord, for You are sin-bearer. All right, now, one last thing. Look at me, please. God is just and He can't lie. If Jesus paid for all our sins, God cannot demand payment twice. He did it once and for all. It's settled. You can tell the devil, you can tell the world, you can tell your own troubled heart, my sins have been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. They've been paid for. And I am cool. Hallelujah. Don't walk out expecting to be an angel. There will be battles, there will be struggles, but you say, Oh God, You helped me to hate sin. You helped me now that I will not frustrate. That means nullify the grace of God. I won't go out and try to do it myself. I won't make You promises. I'm not going to go out and try to lick anything by myself and beat it down. I'm going to just trust, Lord, that You're faithful. The love that brought me here will keep me when I go out. Lord, keep this body. Keep us by Your grace and Your power because we love You with everything in our hearts.