Promises: Will We Be His People?

Exodus 32-33

What is idol mode? You begin trusting and hoping in other things to give you what only God can give you.

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.' Aaron answered them, 'Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.' So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

-Exodus 32:1-4 (NIV)

Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, "I will give it to your descendants." I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.' When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites, "You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you."'

-Exodus 33:1-5 (NIV)

Every single person in this room has a tendency to deteriorate spiritually.

Sometimes you are so close to Him you think it is impossible to go cold.

There is no essential element in divine grace that can cure it from the deepest declination. We tend to deify the graces of the spirit thinking of faith and love as if divine in origin they have no self-supporting power, but they need constant communication of life and nourishment from Jesus. The very moment they are left to their own inherit strength is the very moment of their certain declination and decay.

-Personal Declension, Octavious Winslow (paraphrased)

Entropy: the natural tendency of things to move into disorder and chaos.

Where is the blessedness I knew when I first saw the Lord? Where is the soul refreshing view of Jesus and His word?

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I hear but seem to hear in vain, Insensible as steel; If aught is felt, ‘tis only pain, To find I cannot feel.

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What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they have left an aching void, the world can never fill.

-Selections from Olney Hymns, William Cowper, 1779

The Christian God wants to be known and experienced in a divine romance!

Revival is difficult to come by, but incredibly easy to lose.

Nothing kills revival faster than idol worship.

How do I get a conscious sense of the presence of God back into my life?

Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, "I will give it to your descendants." I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you…'

-Exodus 33:1-3a (NIV)

God says: I will prosper you. I will deliver you. You will have everything I promised.

But you will not have me! I am not going with you.

When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.

-Exodus 33:4 (NIV)

The presence of God is the ultimate human experience!

Revival: An overwhelming awareness of, and desire for, the presence, the experience of God.

Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.' 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.'

-Exodus 33:18-19a (NIV)

Moses said to the LORD, 'You have been telling me, "Lead these people," but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, "I know you by name and you have found favor with me." If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you…'

-Exodus 33:12-13a (NIV)

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.'

-Exodus 33:19a (NIV)

Hebrew tuvi: "all my benefits."

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'

-Romans 1:16-17 (NIV)

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 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, 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.' Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

-Exodus 34:5-8 (NIV)

First: Don’t put on your ornaments.

When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.

-Exodus 33:4 (NIV)

Meaning: Until we sort this out, there is no need to get dressed. Having or not having God’s presence go with you impacts everything about your life!

Challenge: Sort this out first!

1. Mourn and plead with God as did Moses for a revelation.
2. Tell God, “if you don’t go with me, I do not want to go anywhere myself.”

Second: Never be satisfied with where you are!

And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.' Then Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.'

-Exodus 33:17-18 (NIV)

Challenge: Repent for your lack of desire for God. Ask God to create the desire in you.

Just be ready. He may have to remove all your idols. 

Third: Obey! Period!

But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?' And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'

-Exodus 3:11-12 (NIV)

Most of us are as stiff necked as Israel. Even though God has revealed himself to us in special ways, we still go back to our own golden calves.

Notice the order of Exodus 3:12:

And God said, 'I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'

-Exodus 3:12 (NIV)

1. Obey God first! Do the right thing first!
2. When you have obeyed—you will feel the presence of God.
3. Then you will bow down and worship him!

One: Don’t put on your ornaments. Sort this out now. Determine to pursue God.

Two: Never settle for where you are. As Moses did, ask God for more and more.

Three: Obey! Nothing kills revival more than refusing to walk with God in his precepts.

In Exodus 6, God gave the nation of Israel four promises that are a paradigm to the promises He gives every Christ-follower.

Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.'

-Exodus 6:6-7a (NIV)

Following Jesus is about:

1. Getting out of bondage to the things that destroy you.
2. Being redeemed by the blood of the lamb.
3. God becoming our God.
4. We becoming His people.

Will we be his people?

Can you say yes? Here is the challenge:

One: Don’t put on your ornaments. Sort this out now. Determine to pursue God.

Two: Never settle for where you are. As Moses did, ask God for more and more.

Three: Obey! Nothing kills revival more than refusing to walk with God in his precepts.

Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

-Joshua 24:14-15 (NIV)

Make a Decision