2026_10_04_Exodus

Now, as we look into this, we remember we've been watching the Exodus, hearing this lately.! Moses has gone up the mountain, received the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, hewn out by God.

And God told him to get down. The people have made an idol. He goes down, he breaks the tablets, he's pretty angry. Grinds up the idol, throws it in the water, makes them drink it.

And then he calls the Levites, or at least the Levites responded, and said, put on your swords, go through the camp, kill the people that were doing this.

And then we ended with, basically, with Moses going back up to the Lord and asking him, what, if you will forgive this people, if you can't, or if you won't forgive them, blot me out too.

It almost sounds a little bit like what the Apostle Paul said in Romans, when he said, my heart's for my people, and I could almost wish myself, and this is a proverbial thing.

Is it possible to circumvent God's will? His perfect, that is, his determined will. Okay, is Jesus Christ going to return?

Okay. Is anybody going to prevent it? Okay. What if everybody in the world said he can't come back?

What if everybody in the world, and see, these are big ifs, aren't they? What if everyone in the world said, I don't believe in God?

In fact, that's going to almost happen during the tribulation period, before the Lord Jesus comes back in, not as a lamb, and not to receive his church, but he comes back as judge and Messiah.

And when he hits the Mount of Olives, it says he slays the enemy. And the Lord, and God, whether, God will say in the Old Testament, in the prophecy of this, he will say, I will laugh at their calamity.

The Lord, he who sits in the heavens, it says, will laugh them to scorn. Well, why? Because he's God, and we're not.

And the creature, though all of creation, as it were, or imaginatively, went against God, it will not thwart God.

And it doesn't unseat him. You know someone, by the way, and this wasn't planned, I'm sorry, but you know someone who, good morning, who has said something along the line of, well, I don't believe in God.

Well, okay. Exodus chapter 33. See, as though that's going to mean God non-existent.

But we see, we see the stage being set, don't we? What do you see now? Well, social constructs for everything.

What do you mean? You mean, how about proving that by doing a social construct? Why do I say I fall off a ladder and I don't float off?

What if I don't believe in it? Okay. I mean, it seems kind of simple, and I know that's a straw man, but it's still illustrative of what God says.

He says, God will be true, though every man on earth be a liar. It doesn't matter as far as God is concerned.

That is, he is not unseated by me. Nor, by the way, and this is why we hold God, the creator, in awe.

The God who made all that. Who formed your eye. Now, an amoeba we can't produce. Through all the controlled, and by the way, we've been trying, we being a very generic societal term, have been trying since the 1800s to produce life.

It never has worked. Well, there's a reason for that, but we don't get it. But your eye is far more complex than that.

And the God who created that, who created a cell so that, I forget how many times I read it someplace, but there are a hundred and some operations that have to operate simultaneously for that cell to function.

That's what some people have called the irreducible complexity. That is, you can't get it down to an evolutionary basis.

So the God who created all of this makes it all function, and especially when we read Job, we see a whole lot of what God will say to Job about, okay, you're a man, and you're coming to God, and you're going to correct me.

I know it's a rough paraphrase of what God says in Job, but he says, where were you when I did this? How do you, do you know, do you know why I set up when the goats are going to fawn?

Do you know that, Job? Do you know where I keep the snow? Anyway, the God who created all of this has condescended to man and speaks to us in his word.

And he offers us a chance to speak to him in prayer. And the big condescension is, he became flesh and took my sin to the cross so that I might be his righteousness.

Goodness, that's amazing. That's amazing grace. Anyway, it's this God that we worship. Now, Moses is going to talk to him again. Chapter 33, we begin with verse 1.

If you've looked up that, what does God tell Moses to do? Okay.

Go down from the mountain and leave Sinai and do what? Okay. Go to the land that I promised to Abraham, which is, by the way, what?

Canaan. Abraham's promise was from the Euphrates to the Nile. Okay. Okay. Okay. Get down.

Take these people to the land, which I swear to Abraham. He goes through it. Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob.

Now, because it falls into where we are in 1 Samuel later on this morning, I won't reiterate it much here, but remember that.

Well, I will. God said to Abraham, get thee up from your nation. Now, at that time, when he called Abraham away from the rest of his family, he called him out of Haran, northern Mesopotamia.

Abraham was an idol worshiper when God first spoke to him. God said, come, I'm going to make a promise to you. I'm going to give you a land and I'm going to give you progeny.

At that time, Abraham had how many kids? None. He's 75 years old. A little late. So, he's 75 years old.

Sarah's 65 years old. And God says, get out of there. And so Abraham goes to Canaan and God makes these promises to Abraham.

And then, along about the time, Abraham's getting pretty old now. He's almost 100.

And Sarah's almost 90. And she says, look, God's prevented me from having children. So, okay, we're not going to go with it.

We're going to make me talk. Okay. So, I have this handmaid, sir, Hagar. Go into her and I'll have a child by her.

Okay. And so, Ishmael's born. And, he's going to say to God, Abraham's going to say to God, when God visits him later, oh, that Ishmael might walk before you.

That is, let the promise come through Ishmael and God's going to say no. No. It's not going to go through Ishmael. It's going to go through Isaac.

It's going to go through Isaac. Who said that? God said that. What happened? God did that. So, Isaac marries Rebecca and she has twins.

And before they're born, God says, my promise is going to be fulfilled through, through Jacob, not through Esau. So, Jacob is getting ready to die in Egypt.

See, we've been through here when we went through Genesis. Jacob's getting ready to die and he blesses his sons and he, and God prophesies what's going to happen and he's going to say something that's big time because kingdoms have not been talked about yet.

And he's going to say the scepter will not depart from Judah. Now, wait a minute, Lord. what if Judah's not, Judah wasn't all that great, remember Tamar?

Now, wait a minute, what are you doing here? What'd he say? The scepter will be with Judah. And this is before the kings. And then he's going to give laws in, later on in Exodus and Numbers, he will give laws regarding the kings about how they should behave even though he has not ordained kings yet.

But there will be kings. And just for this class, this is a secret, just for this class. You already know it.

where is the kingdom of Israel going to be centered? In which tribe?

Judah. Who said that? God did. The first king that God tells Samuel to ordain is from the tribe of Judah, right?

No, he's from the tribe of Benjamin. Did God goof up? No, this is a plan. And it behooves me to remember that God's plan moves through.

It gives me great confidence in my salvation, doesn't it? Okay. That was a preview too. So, God says, get thee gone and go on.

Now, has God forgotten his promise to Abraham? Abraham? No. Has he changed his mind about the promise? No.

Now, has Israel, the people of Israel, have they obeyed the Lord? Not exactly.

And not all the time. I'm glad I do. No. No, but did God's promise change?

No. No. In fact, in fact, our promise of salvation, the apostle Paul will tell us about that in Romans chapter four and five.

He's going to say, look, your salvation is like that. Your righteousness, your justification is going to be based on faith, not on works. Okay.

Huh? Well, well, his faithfulness, by grace you have been saved through and that it's the gift of God, not of works.

Why? Right. Who's doing the saving? God. Who gets the glory? God.

So, now, verse two, he goes on, God goes on, what does God say that he's going to do? You don't have to stop at verse two, by the way, we'll just keep going with the questions.

What's God going to do? Drive out the Canaanites and he names, he names the otherites.

not Hutterites, the otherites. Unto a land flowing with milk and honey. Now, looking at that land, I would not have described it as such, but God does.

Because God's going to miraculously provide. That won't be the only time. He promises a restoration, too. Now, the church will be raptured, but nevertheless, God said it, it's going to happen.

Right. So, what does God say he will not do? He said, I'm going to send my angel with you, but I will not go up in the midst of you.

Why does he say that? You're stiff-necked. Not because you slept wrong. He's talking about stubbornness. And, is it just because they're stubborn?

Yeah. Later on, I think it's in Malachi, in the prophecy to Israel regarding the restoration after the great tribulation, God says, I am the Lord.

I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God's not providing for them and protecting them because they're obedient.

He's providing for them and protecting them because he made a promise to Abraham that he's not going to break. And he says, I'm the Lord. I change not. This is what I said.

This is what I'm going to do. So, he said, you're a stiff. He's describing them. Now, we'll get to what he says or why he says it.

So, he's describing them and he said, lest I would consume you. Now, this isn't the only time they're going to be punished, by the way, because we're not going to learn our lesson.

So, what does, what do the people do when they hear what God had said? They mourned.

They didn't put on their ornaments. Why? Well, look at the next verse. Because God told them not to.

Okay, couple of questions. For what had they used these ornaments before? To make an idol. Where did these ornaments come from?

the Egyptians? That's exactly right. Now, why would the Egyptians give this people that they've been suffering because of, remember some of Pharaoh's court, courtiers, said, get these people out of here before we're all dead?

The Egyptians have been suffering greatly because they, the government would not allow the Israelites to leave.

Why would they give them all that stuff? God told them to. He didn't give them a revelation, he just put it in their hearts to give it to them.

And in fact, God told the Israelites, I want you to go around to all your neighbors and ask for stuff. Reading back on it, I would have thought that was a small price to pay, right?

God's plan in action. Remember back in when God made the covenant with Abraham, the covenant that he went through alone, that would be what, Genesis 15?

when God made that covenant, he told Abraham what was going to happen for a bet. He said, but know this for certain, your family are going to be in a land that doesn't belong to them and they're going to live there for four generations.

They're going to be sojourners. They're not going to possess the land right away. Well, I don't know.

God doesn't reveal specific individuals that he put this or that in, except for Pharaoh. He does reveal that he put it in Pharaoh's heart to chase them.

He does reveal that. But as far as giving of it, he just said that God put it in their hearts to give them the stuff. Now, they're asking the stuff of the common people.

It's Pharaoh and his army that decides to chase them. I don't know. I don't know whether it was fear. It wasn't fear that caused Pharaoh to chase them.

Pharaoh thought he had them. Pharaoh said, in fact, God will tell Moses when they're down on, when they're, let me see my map, when they're down on the western side of the Red Sea, they're still down in that peninsula, God says specifically, don't go over here yet, I'm going to lead you down here, and Pharaoh is going to think he has you hemmed in, and Pharaoh is going to look at you and say, oh, they're wandering aimlessly, and the mountains have shut them on the one side, and the seas shut them on the other, I have them.

Now, who put that in his heart? God says he did. So, as far as the people giving the jewelry, whether it was fear, whether it was get out of here, small price to pay, or whether it was because God softened their hearts and said, sure, you can have it, I don't know, he doesn't give that much clarity.

Whatever the reason, we do know who did it. so, God had told him, don't put on the jewelry, and he makes an interesting statement here that we're going to look at in a minute, perhaps.

What did he say with that? That I may, what?

What? Did God not know? Okay, keep that in your mind.

Now, what did they do when God had said, take your ornaments off? What did they do? They took them off, and let's look at that phrase just a moment with, that I may know what to do with thee.

It's in verse 5 of chapter 33. Is he indecisive? Let me ask you that. Is God indecisive? What does he say about his counsel?

does he say give me some information Roger so that I can know what to do? Well, in Philippians he tells me to pray, doesn't he?

he said this even today. I've heard it. Yeah. Well, don't tell us too much.

No, go ahead. I'm sorry. All this means is okay.

Now, do you know anyone who thinks that God may not know something? I don't want to know their names, but do you know someone?

Has anyone in the world ever been in existence where God said, oh, they think that I don't see?

For sure, because he said so. In his word, we read it. They think that I don't know what's going on. He says that of Israel when they move idols into the temple.

And he said, they think I don't see this. He also says, you thought I was just like you.

Now, is God just like me? He's not indecisive. Is he fickle? Is he maybe thinking, well, I'm going to see how it plays out? Okay.

Is he unsure of the future? I am the Lord. I call forth things that are not as though they are.

And we see that commonly used in the Pauline epistles to the church where he talks about our salvation, for example.

And he talks about it as past, as present, and as a future. So, whether I understand the omnipotence and omniscience of God does not restrict God.

My understanding or lack thereof does not restrict God. So, no, he's not, and I agree, it's a turn of phrase that he's using.

It's not so much that I can decide what I'm going to do with you, it's so that you get to think on this little spell. Okay, by the way, to the church, you know these verses, so I won't, from 2nd Timothy, I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.

Our hope and security comes in, we understand that the God who has said it is going to fulfill it. He's reliable. And later on, unto him who is able to keep you from falling, this is amazing to me, to keep you from falling and to present you faultless grace, before his throne.

In the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and forever.

Amen. This is amazing grace. And it's reliable. You know, for those who think, well, I've got to do this or I have to do that or if I don't take the right sacrament or at the right time or I don't get it at just the right moment, I will not be okay.

You can be a miserable Christian but you don't have to be. You don't have to be. We can be gloriously free in Christ.

That's wonderful news. And we can rejoice in our salvation. Let's keep going. So now we're by now we're at verse seven if you're wondering.

Everyone who sought the Lord went where? okay.

Now the tabernacle or the tent of meeting by the word by the word by the way the word tent and the word tabernacle are the same word in in the original.

So depends on how it's being used at this point and it means the dwelling place. So everyone who sought the Lord went to the tabernacle all right.

Where was it? It was outside the camp. Now what happened when Moses went into the tabernacle?

Okay. when Moses was headed toward the tabernacle what was going on? Everybody came out of their tent it says and stood in the door of his tent and watched Moses.

You know they had watched him go up Sinai and they saw smoke and thunders and lightnings and I wonder what's going to happen to him this time. I don't know what they're thinking but and when Moses entered the glory of the Lord descended.

Okay. Now what did God do there? He spoke to him face to face as a man would speak to a friend.

Now by the way there is one man who was called or known as the friend of God. Okay.

You want to look that up or do you want me to break it? Time?

Okay. Isaiah. chapter 41 verse 8.

Somebody look it up quickly. Please may Okay, so who was called the friend of God?

Abraham. Okay, now, does that mean that God only had one or two friends? Does that mean that they imparted anything to God that he was lacking?

You see, I need to be careful that I don't make God into a man when I read this, don't I? This is describing Moses' reaction or Moses' experience, I should say.

Not a doctrinal definition of God. God's not the same thing as my friend Jeff, who I can kid with.

Or who I can, I'm a bud with. Or who imparts to me something that I may not have. That's what friendships are for.

When God says I'm a friend, he's not talking about that. He's talking about your experience with him. He's not talking about him being your peer or my peer.

He's not. He's still God. So, but Moses' experience is that God speaks to him as it were, face to face.

Now, we're going to remember that phrase. There's another turn of expression. Because we're going to remember that phrase. Because we're going to see that in just very soon here, if I quit rambling.

So, God met with him. God spoke to him as it were, face to face. And is this, I do have a question.

When have we heard about the tabernacle before? Before. And by before, I mean within this, the context of our text.

We haven't. In fact, later on, we're going to get, or if we go there, we're going to get, he's going to give instructions specific to the service of the tabernacle, the furniture, and so forth.

Here, we don't have that. We just have the tabernacle, and it's set up outside. Now, whether this is the permanent tabernacle, permanent being through the, until the ark came to the temple.

But, if this is the permanent tabernacle, I don't, then that means we're reading it out of its chronological order.

If it isn't, if it's a temporary one, he doesn't say which way. So, I don't, I don't know that. And it really doesn't matter at this point, but there will be a significant difference a little later on.

We know from chapter 19, if we go back in Exodus, in chapter 19, that they came to Sinai in the third month after they left Egypt.

Okay? They came to Sinai in the third month that they left Egypt and camped before the mount. And in Exodus 40, in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was reared up.

Okay? So, whether we're in that time frame or not, I don't know. I don't know.

And I don't know as it matters as we read what God's work is, except that we understand, okay, there could be a chronological difference here.

It wouldn't be the first time that we were given chronological differences. But, we do know, and by the way, in Numbers chapter 2, that the setting up of the tabernacle is going, no longer going to be outside the camp.

Where's it going to be? In the center of the camp. And then he's going to give them, okay, these tribes camp here, these tribes camp here, these here, these here.

He's going to give them definite camping instructions. But the tabernacle will, in Numbers 2, be reared up inside in the center of the camp.

It is not at this present time. It is outside the camp, and we're outside the time. So, have a wonderful week, and we'll pick up about verse 12 next week, God willing.