Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina.

Have you ever been to where, you know, I really just don't know what to do. I do not know of a chapter, besides maybe Psalms when talking. David had a tendency, when David wrote his psalms, that he kind of communicated well how he was feeling. There are other portions in the Bible that you just look at signs and you can imagine how this particular individual must have been feeling. Exodus chapter 33 is one of these chapters. A lot has gone on before this chapter. This is a story of Moses and the children of Israel and God was leading them out of Egypt and all these things.

And buddy, there was a bunch of ups and downs. They, to get to a promised land that should have taken about five days journey, it took them over 40 years. Because they kept rebelling against God and they would ask God for something, God would give it, then they'd be thankful, then they would complain before long, and then God would have, you know, it's just the up and down process. Moses, in the meantime, was a man that was in charge of all these people. Let me just say this, Moses probably would not be in charge of anybody in our day and time. He was a murderer, he had murdered an individual. So he would have been in jail in this day and time. But here, he basically led a bunch of Christians.

Kind of the same thing, you know, if you think about it, it's both kind of like jail, I guess, I don't know. But Moses had been gotten to the point that he was very, very broken, desperate, confused, frustrated, angry, hurt. Notice if you would, verse one, in Exodus 33. And the Lord said unto Moses, depart and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, remember, God had promised Abraham all the way back at Abraham that he would give them this land and instead of just trusting God, they became fearful thinking we can't defeat the people in this land and the giants and all these things.

So they wandered around for 40 years. Verse two, God says this, I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite unto a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not, now listen what the Lord says. For I will not go up in the midst of thee. For thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned and no man did put on his ornaments.

For the Lord had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people. I want you to look down if you would in verse, let's look at verse nine. And it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended which was the presence of the Lord many times in the Old Testament was a cloud and I've preached on that here before. This cloud ascended in verse nine and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door, why? Because God had just pretty much said I'm not gonna go with you, I'm kinda done. You have your stiff neck, you're rebellious and Moses was at the tabernacle now talking with the Lord.

When they saw that cloud, that cloudy pillar descend, the people literally thought maybe there's still one more chance. Now notice if you would at verse 11 and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face. As a man speaketh unto his what? You see right there, the condition that Moses was in.

God is still God and he is a holy God. But right then God knew Moses needed a friend. Lord I ask you to bless as we try our best to divide your word, to dig into it. Lord I pray that we would obviously share only those things that you've laid on our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Preacher, why did Moses need a friend?

Have you ever needed a friend? Well there's some reasons and I'm not gonna take the time to show you all the scriptures, but I want you to notice as far as our outline goes this morning, observation number one as we look at this passage and there's more we'll look at. Observation number one, I want you to see how Moses felt. Why was Moses in such a need of a friend at this time? Number one, I want you to understand the things that had gone on up until verses nine, 10, 11. Number one, Moses was disappointed in the circumstances. You see this is what had gone on. Here's Moses minding his own business, a man that had a problem with stuttering, was speaking really around people and God comes and says, hey I want you to lead my people out of Egypt and Moses argued with God for a while I'm not able, I don't have the capability and all these things and here, but God just literally convinces Moses that this is what I'm calling you to do.

You are the man for this task and I'm asking you to do it. So here's Moses and he comes in, goes through this whole thing and you know the story about how he goes into Pharaoh and all the plagues that God brought and all the back and forth and back and forth and here's the children of Israel that have been captive for so many years and God puts Moses in charge of these people and I don't know if you realize it and I hope that you do, it is never fun being in charge. Everybody thinks they can do it better than you.

Everybody has their opinion. I'll sit at home and my son and I or sons and I, we'll watch football and football season and stuff and you know they'll be playing and I'll be like, what is Tony Romo doing? Feels like that's every week. That man was open right down the field. Now would you like to see Daniel Hotry suit up? Just one play in the NFL. Well I'm gonna be the quarterback, boom. I would trip over my own feet trying to back up after going under center.

Could you imagine how horrible I would be? Can you imagine how much better he is than me and yet I'm sitting at home in my couch burping food and I'm looking, saying what he ought to do. Now Moses was in charge of these people. This is a long journey. They're eating manna. God's providing food. He's having to provide food. He's having to provide water.

He's having to provide shade. They're wandering around in a wilderness. There's Pharaoh's army coming down.

They gotta get to the Red Sea. I could go story after story after story and everything Moses did, the people complained and it got to the point that now the people started complaining, you know what, it was better for us in Egypt when we were in bondage than out here. And Moses was completely frustrated with the circumstance. Here I am in charge and then Moses gets the 10 commandments and he comes down and they're doing things and he breaks the 10 commandments and then this back and forth and here he comes back up to the Lord and now God says I'm not going with you and all these things and Moses is absolutely frustrated. Look at verse 12. Moses said unto the Lord, see, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people and thou hast not let me know whom thou will sin with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

Now is that not frustration? See God, you told me to do this and I've done it. You haven't told me who you're gonna bring with me.

You haven't told me how you're gonna do it. You told me I found grace in your eyes and yet we're right in the middle of this. Have you ever been disappointed with some circumstances in your life?

Have you ever had it? You know, I'm trying the best I can. I'm doing this, I'm trying to pay bills, I'm trying to pay insurance and I'm trying to do this and I'm trying to be a dad like I'm supposed to be with my children, then I'm trying to be husband over here and then I gotta do this and I'm, you know, they don't have any idea and I'm working a job and I'm doing this and I bear this responsibility and then I get home and nothing's ever good enough and blah, blah, blah and then you got wives over here, I'm working a job, I'm trying to raise kids and everybody's complaining about this and I don't know how to do this and I don't know who you are or what you are or whoever you might be. We could bring you up, put you right here in this story and we could describe, I'm sure, things in your life and every one of us could say at times, we've been very disappointed with the circumstances that we've been given. You have individuals here that want things in their life, desire things in their life and just hadn't worked out that way and I'm gonna tell you something, sometimes you can just get so disappointed with your circumstances.

I obviously could go on and on about that this morning. I could try to describe every circumstance I could possibly think of but I would probably miss yours but I think you understand a little bit how Moses felt. Number two, Moses was not only disappointed in the circumstances but he was disappointed in the people. Look at verse three if you would. He says unto a land flowing with milk on it, this is what God says, I will not go up in the midst of thee for thou art a stiff-necked people. Look at verse five, for the Lord had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people.

God repeats it twice. Imagine how fun it was dealing with these people. They've basically been on a camping trip 40 years.

Last time I went camping, it was for one night and I had had it at three in the morning. That's right, Moses was not only frustrated with the circumstances but now the people were absolutely driving him insane. They were hurting him, they were criticizing him, nothing pleased him, nothing worked, everything he did and you imagine about this and you think about this, Moses goes up, he spends time with God on the mountain, brings down the law of God and when he comes down, he finds the very children of Israel that God had brought out of Egypt, participating in debauchery, I mean, partying, drinking, drunk, melting all the gold, made some golden calf as a god and he comes down and sees that and the Bible said he was so angry that he threw down the law of God. Have you ever been frustrated with people? Have you ever been hurt and disappointed by people? You ever had people that you thought you could count on and they let you down? Have you ever had people in your life say some things, do some things?

It happens a lot with husbands and wives in the midst of life and pressure and different things, they end up, things will be said and things will be done that really hurt, have you ever been disappointed in people? If you have, you probably know a little bit how Moses is feeling, wasn't anybody to talk to, wasn't anybody he could turn to, he couldn't call up 1-800-COUNCIL-ME, 1-800-COUNCIL-ME, 1-800-COUNCIL-ME, so where does he go? He goes to God, the Bible says God comes down and speaks to him like you would speak to a friend. The third thing is the biggest and the worst and the hardest, Moses was disappointed in the circumstances and he was disappointed in the people. Let me tell you another reason why Moses was so down in this chapter is because he was disappointed in himself.

You say preacher why? Well let me tell you something that had happened not a whole long time before that, God had come to Moses and he said Moses the people need water so I want you to speak to the rock and when you speak to the rock God said I'll bring forth water. The Bible says that Moses came and he took his staff, made some big speech and he struck the rock thrice and when he did that then water came out and Moses said why do we have to produce water for thee? Now why would Moses say that? Moses didn't produce nothing or anything for those of you in correct grammar.

Why would he say that? Because Moses was literally almost taking credit for getting water to the people and at the same time Moses had directly disobeyed a command of God in Numbers chapter 20 we find that God looks at Moses and he said Moses I'm gonna get these people to the promised land eventually but you will never go. So here's Moses after all the frustration and by the way I could understand him being a little bit mad and I can understand him maybe missing a detail or two in God's commandment and I can understand that these people been complaining and complaining and complaining so he finally strikes the rock, water comes out and I can just see the frustration.

Do we always have to do this for you? But Moses had messed up. And here the very God he loved and served had to tell him Moses you can't go to the promised land.

And now Moses entire all these years of thinking I've gotta get them to the promised land I've accepted the responsibility. Now he's blown it and he can't go. You talk about a point where you might lose your heart in this whole process knowing I'm still leading these people but I'm not gonna get to go. Have you ever blown it? Boy I have.

Have you ever just you know it kind of starts here. You know you shouldn't say it. You know it's not right to say it. You know there's not gonna be anything good to come out of it when you do say it.

But it just moves up. You get a little clammy and this person still blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden blah, blah, blah. Sure enough nothing good comes of it. I could tell you a few stories this morning but this isn't really about me.

Sometimes I've blown it right here at this very church. Moses it's one thing to be disappointed in the circumstances. It's another thing to be disappointed in people. But when you are disappointed in yourself that's the worst that you can go through. So Moses comes and now God says hey you go tell him I'm not going with you.

You're a stiff necked people. So Moses is desperate and he's angry and he's hurt and he's frustrated and he's disappointed in the circumstances and disappointed in the people and even worse he's down about his own self. So God shows up and in verse 11 as a man speaks unto his friend. Look at verse 12.

And Moses said unto the Lord see thou sayest unto me bring up this people and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said I know thee by name and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore because you've said all these things God notice this I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight notice this first show me now thy way.

Observation number two we see how he felt. Number two what Moses requested. Isn't this interesting this is what he asked God for. Number one he said God show me your game plan. He said God now if I have found grace in your sight like you said and you said I'm the guy for the job if that's the case then God show me your way.

Show me what you're doing and if you have a pen and you're keeping notes you need to write this down by this show me your game plan. What Moses is saying is this show me what you're doing. How many times do we in life we wanna know what is it God that you're doing?

This doesn't make sense to me. He even says this in the verse which I found very interesting if you'll notice verse 12 I thought you know this is very very it kind of caught me by God look at verse 13 look at that. He says show me now thy way that I may know thee. He is saying this God I wanna see your game plan so that I can know you so I can know what you're doing so I can know what your plan is so I can know what the point of all this is and you might be here this morning in your life whether you admit it or not you're asking God God what is it you're doing I feel like you owe me an explanation.

I feel like you need to tell me what it is you're doing I need to know you and I need to know what's on your mind and I need to know your plan. He said show me your game plan. Number two he says show me your grace. Now what's interesting if you'll notice in verse 13 look at this if you would he said now therefore I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight show me thy way that I may know thee that I might find grace in thy sight. Moses is saying this listen you need to show me your game plan God I need to know what you're doing and then he says this show me your grace now what's that? You see when he said God show me your game plan he's saying God show me what you're doing but when he said God show me your grace he's saying God show me what you're doing for me. Notice what he says that I may find grace in your sight. He didn't say so that we can find grace in your sight. He says that I might find grace in your sight. Think about this he said God show me your way that I might know thee I wanna know what you're doing I need to know what your plan is and I need to know all this stuff going on remember he said in the verse 12 he said you haven't told me who's gonna go with me and you haven't told me this and you haven't told me that. He said God I need to know what you're doing but then he says that I might find grace in your sight I need to know what you're doing with me. I need to know if I'm going to be okay.

I need to know if this is gonna work out for me. I need to know if I'm going to get your blessings or not. Listen to me I want you to get this please listen. Moses was saying here the only way I know if I have grace or not is if you tell me what's going on. And dear folks I want you to understand something that's a lie. So many times you and I think as long as we understand something it means that we're experiencing God's grace in our lives. Dear friend I'm here to tell you God's grace is sufficient whether or not you know what's going on or not. See Moses thought the only way I know that God's given me grace is if he tells me what's going on and dear friend I'm here to tell you there's a whole lot of Christians like that they're mad at God unless they understand what's going on and they're mad at God unless God gives them step by step this is what I'm doing this is why I'm doing it this is who I'm gonna use to do it this is the whole plan.

Unless they know that they don't think God's grace is involved. Hold on this is about to get good. Listen to me I want you to get this. Moses asked God to show him the way but instead God said Moses I'm not gonna give you directions I am going to give you something else. Now notice if you would verse 14 this is what God answered back and he said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.

Look at me folks get this. Moses says God you need to show me what's going on and God says Moses I'm not gonna give you directions instead I'm gonna give you my presence. Look at me folks do you understand that's what grace is? Grace is not God telling you what's going on grace is the fact that you know God's with you. You don't have to know what's going on. Why preacher? Because God's with you he'll take care of it.

You don't have to understand you don't have to know what he's doing you don't even have to know who he's gonna use to do it. God's grace is there because he's there. That's what grace is. God said Moses I'm not gonna tell you what's going on I'm just gonna give you my presence and I'm gonna give you rest. You know what look at me I want you to get this a lot of folks might think sometimes I need to know what God's doing and I need to understand this so for me to get rest no you don't. All you need to know is that God's with you and that should give you rest. You don't have to know what's going on to have rest. Bible says I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou O Lord only makest me to dwell in safety. You know why you and I should have rest? Because we know we have his presence and that's all we need. Are y'all awake this morning?

I'm sweating like a dog trying to get this all out and you're already thinking of the chicken leg you're getting ready to eat. Listen God may or may not let you know exactly what he's doing but he has promised you that he will always give you his presence and he has promised you that he can give you rest in the midst of your trial. Number three what did Moses request? He said God show me your glory. Notice the progression. First he says God show me your way.

Tell me what you're doing. Then he said God show me your grace which tell me what you're doing for me. But as God answered back and said I'm just gonna give you my presence and I'm gonna give you my rest all of a sudden humility begins to sweep through Moses body and this broken, disappointed, discouraged, depressed man says well then God show me your glory.

He said preacher what is that? When he said God show me that way he said God what are you doing? When he said God show me your grace he says God what are you doing for me? But when he said God show me your glory he's saying God just show me who you are.

That's where we need to get to. That's what God's waiting for. Observation number three what Moses learned. Let me tell you when Moses said God show me your glory and I've preached on this before I'm not gonna repeat things and show you things but I want you to notice if you will look at verse 19 as he begins he said God show me your glory and this is what God says. And he said God this is God speaking I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

God's in charge. Don't you love this when Moses said God show me your glory. This is how God describes his glory. This is what God's glory is.

This is who he is. First in verse 19 we see that he is goodness. He said I'm gonna make all my goodness pass before thee.

He said preacher what does that mean? That means in the midst of trials, confusion, et cetera you and I need to realize that God is still good. Number two, he says this my goodness is gonna pass and I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Jehovah always was, am or will be the greatest name for God used in the Bible. That means this he is not only goodness but he is God. That means this don't you and I ever forget who's in control and who's in charge.

Notice the third thing. This is God's glory. This is who he is. He said my goodness is gonna come by. I'm God, I'm gonna proclaim the name of the Lord. Notice if you would in verse 19 he said I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. You need to understand something about God. He is grace. It's not he doesn't give grace, he is grace. That's why we think if I know what's going on that means I have God's grace. He is grace. Let me tell you how you and I know we have grace is if we have him. Is this too far over your heads this morning?

I know it's a lot of information. Notice fourthly he says I will show mercy to whom I want to show mercy. We see fourth he is generosity. You know you and I don't deserve his mercy. We don't deserve it at all. We deserve everything we would get.

And worse. But he's given us mercy. Moses realized he's goodness, he's God, he's grace.

He's generosity. Notice verse 20 I love this. And this is what God said.

Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live. Moses said God I want to see everything of who you are. God says if you did you'd be killed. God's so powerful. God's so great. God's so magnificent. If we even saw God we would die instantly.

That means this. Moses also found out that he is greater. He's bigger than us. He's brighter than us. He's smarter than us. He's stronger than us. I don't care what adjective you want him to use, he is.

He's greater. God said hey I'm too great for you to even look at. Notice this last thing. In verse 21 to 23 we see that God is gentle. What's funny is God says hey listen you couldn't handle. Let's look at verse 21. And the Lord said behold there's a place, I love this, by me. That's the place you and I should be by the way. Right by his side. He said there's a place by me.

I love this. And thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a cliff through the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen. Notice that God says I'm so powerful that you would die.

So what does God do? God doesn't say well I'm not gonna show you my glory then. God said uh uh what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take care of you. You need to see my glory right now because you're disappointed in circumstances and you are disappointed in people and yeah you're even disappointed in yourself and I know you need a friend right now and I know you need to be reminded that I can do it, that I'm God, that I'm greater. So I'm gonna let my glory pass by but I'm gonna hide you in a cleft of the rock.

I'm gonna make sure you're okay. If you saw everything it would kill you and I still don't know why God doesn't just want to kill us sometimes. Just squeeze our heads the way we are to him. But God says I'm gonna cover you with my hand and make sure you're taken care of. That's God's glory.

I want you to notice observation number four. How Moses was changed. How Moses felt, what Moses requested, what Moses learned, and last how Moses was changed and will be done. Look at chapter 34 if you would. Just turn over one page if you're there and I just want you to see this and we'll be done.

I love this. You say well preacher what happened? Well God's glory did pass by on that rock and after God's glory passed by do you know what? Moses stayed up there with God 40 days and 40 nights with no food, no drink, and all he did for the entire time was write down what God said to write down. He spent time with God himself and you and I would think wow. Do you know you can do the exact same thing right now?

Do you know you don't have to go up on a mountain? Do you know you can already read what he has written down? He doesn't have to give you anything new to write down.

It's been written. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. ["Pomp and Circumstance"]