Moses: The Friend of God (2)
Notes
Transcript
Experiencing God
INTRODUCTION
(ILL) man wanted to do something special for his wife’s birthday…what would you like most for your birthday…I would love to be 10 again…on the morning of her BDAY he got her up bright and early and they went to a amusement park…he put her on every ride in that park…death slide, screaming loop, wall of fear…they rode everything…they ate everything…went to the movies and got popcorn and a coke…stopped at McDonalds on the way home…when they got home she was exhausted and bloated…collapsed into bed…he said “well, dear what was it like being 10 again”…opened 1 eye and groaned, well, I actually meant dress size
If you could satisfy any desire right now, what would you choose…could you say your greatest passion is your hunger for God
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
MOS definitely hungered for God…he wanted to experience God…he was seeking God
MOSES = I WANT TO SEE MORE OF GOD
How do you see the unseen God?
15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
The Bible says no one can see God…you can see Him but you will not live
There are times in the Bible where PPL have seen God but in forms where they could see Him and not die
Adam = when he sinned hid from God’s presence or sight
ABR = talked to God…saw some form of God in his tent
Israel = After the giving of the Covenant, God called for the leaders of ISR so they could meet
9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up
10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
What they saw was not His full glory but some form that would not kill them…they could handle the vision
God has done this multiple times…He makes Himself known in ways that would not destroy people
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.
9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses.
10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.
11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
That was a unique relationship between MOS and God…no one was in between MOS and God…no mediator
No one has experienced God that way…MOS hungered for more
This is in the context of The Golden Calf story…God has already decided to not destroy the PPL and go with them
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
We have already read that MOS has met with God but now he wants even more of God…not the cloud…not the tent
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
God is speaking symbolically…He does not have a back or a hand or a face…He uses this language so that we can understand what is going on…God = I will let you see as much as you can handle but not all of it
This is holy ground Scripture…we have to be very careful when we are talking about the glory of God
(ILL) when was a lot younger there was always an adult Bible class that would just read the Scripture and talk about each verse…where did we leave off…read…what does that mean…it means what it says…that’s right…we never learned much but we covered a lot of Bible
This is one of those texts…what does it mean…it means what it says…thats the best I can do with it
MOS saw the back of God b/c he couldn’t see His face and the hand of God protected him…means what it says
5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.
When you think of MOS you think of the 10 Plagues…Red Sea…10 Commandments
If you asked MOS what was the most amazing day of his life, he would say this day…the Red Sea was nothing
The revelation also had a proclamation…this was for the eyes and ears…I want to know more about God
#1 I WILL KNOW THAT GOD IS GREAT
He is going to do wonders that you could never imagine…we should be singing “Our God is an Awesome God”
Experiencing God will make everything else seem much smaller…the good stuff and the bad stuff
7 “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.
21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
MOS knew for a fact that God was great…I saw Him…I will never forget that PPL who experience a great God do not experience a great fear…God has got this…we can say that
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
We need to take a moment and think about how great God is
When you think about the greatest thought about God, then that is still not great enough
SING HOLY LORD MOST HOLY LORD
#2 I WILL KNOW THAT GOD IS GOOD
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How does God show us that He is good…by what He creates out of nothing
4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
EXERCISE = TURN TO SOMEONE AND TELL THEM HOW GOD HAS BEEN GOOD TO YOU
People are always wondering if God is good and if He is good then why do bad things happen…we should be able to tell PPL at the drop of a hat why we think God is good…do this for 2 minutes…do not hog the 2 minutes…you get 1 minute and your neighbor gets 1 minute…not an essay about why God is good
SING GOD IS SO GOOD
I hope we are all praying like MOS…I want more of God…and He will show Himself…and you will learn that He is great and that He is good
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them.
32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.
34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,
35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
You did not have to wonder if MOS knew God..you could see it
Some of us want that experience…you want to be in the cleft of the rock but we have something better…we have the Living Stone
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
The Bible is clear, no one in the OT has had a better look at God than we have b/c we have Jesus
EXPERIENCING GOD IS DONE IN CHRIST
We can only see and experience God through Jesus…do you want to know God…draw near to Jesus
God will be in your midst if you are in Jesus
When we come together and assemble God is here and is doing a mighty thing in us…we can feel Him
When we serve people we experience God b/c when you help someone you are doing that to God
When we tell someone the Good News we experience God b/c He said that He will be with us always
When you worship…serve…speak in His Name then you will experience God…Jesus is the key
EXPERIENCING GOD TRANSCENDS THIS WORLD
A crisis caused MOS to get closer to God…has a hard time ever driven you closer to God?
There will be times that the only way through it is by God
This world is garbage…the best is garbage…to know Christ transcends all of this world
You can find a church and it be the best thing since sliced bread but something happens and your faith gets shook
You can find a preacher that you love and he falls and your faith gets shook
You get enlightened and got it all figured out and then you fall and your faith gets shook
We should not be looking for IT…we should be looking for GOD
IT always fails us…the problems at church is because our focus isn’t on God anymore…it is on the small stuff
There are things that have become the center that should have never become the center
There is one center and God is that center…sometimes it takes something to shake us to find the center…most of the stuff we worry about it…scared of…fight about…obsessed about doesn’t really matter…what matters - do you have a heart full of God and do you want to know more about God
EXPERIENCING GOD TRANSFORMS MY LIFE
When we get close to God then there is a noticeable radiance about yourself…you can tell it…you reflect God…it does not fade away
If an unbeliever wants to see God…then they should look to Jesus…I don’t know how to do that…then look at His church…people should see Jesus in His church…we should look like God…we are the reflection of God What do you want more than anything else
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
I want to be there…I want to say that this world holds nothing for me
(ILL) Mount Everest…group of Englishmen trying to climb it…got within 2000 feet of the summit…most people put up camp but 2 men could not rest, they wanted to reach the top…there was avalanche and they never came back…official record…when last seen they were headed towards the summit
I want that said at my funeral…when last seen he was headed toward the summit…that is how MOS went out
SING MORE PRECIOUS THAN SILVER
