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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33, last summer 
we took some time off our study of the Gospel of Matthew. People 
seem to be coming and going in these summer months. So last 
year, last summer, we looked at some sermons on the family 
from Colossians 3. This summer, I thought we'd look 
at some glimpses of the grace of God in the Old Testament. Very often, When you talk to 
people who do not know a lot about Christianity and you bring 
up the Old Testament, they have this idea or this conception 
that the Old Testament simply reveals a God of wrath and anger 
and fury and judgment. And certainly God does reveal 
wrath and fury and anger and judgment in the Old Testament. 
He does also in the New Testament as well. But in the Old Testament 
we see grace, we see mercy, we see forgiveness, we see all of 
the things that the same ideas taught to us in the New Covenant 
Scriptures as well. So this morning we're going to 
focus primarily on the revelation of God's glory in Exodus 34 verses 
6 and 7. But I do want to begin reading 
in chapter 33 at verse 12. Then Moses said to the Lord, 
See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not 
let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I 
know you by name, and you have also found grace in my sight. 
Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show 
me now your way, that I may know you, and that I may find grace 
in your sight. And consider that this nation 
is your people. And he said, My presence will 
go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to him, 
If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from 
here. For how then will it be known 
that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you 
go with us? So we shall be separate, your 
people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the 
earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that 
you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight and I 
know you by name. And he said, please show me your 
glory. Then he said, I will make all 
my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name 
of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to him to 
whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom 
I will have compassion. But he said, you cannot see my 
face, for no man shall see me and live. And the Lord said, 
Here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it 
shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the 
cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass 
by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, 
but my face shall not be seen. And the Lord said to Moses, Cut 
two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write 
on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which 
you broke. So be ready in the morning and come up in the morning 
to Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there 
on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with 
you. And let no man be seen throughout all the mountain. Let neither 
flocks nor herds feed before that mountain. So he cut two 
tablets of stone like the first ones. And Moses rose early in 
the morning and went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded 
him. And he took in his hands the 
two tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the 
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the 
Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, 
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding 
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands. forgiving 
iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the 
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. 
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and 
worshiped. Then he said, if now I have found 
grace in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among 
us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity 
and our sin. and take us as your inheritance. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
gracious Father, we thank you for this revelation of your glory. We thank you for your goodness. 
We thank you for your long-suffering. We thank you for your graciousness 
and your mercy and the fact that you forgive sin and transgression 
and iniquity. Thank you for our Lord Jesus 
Christ, in whom we have redemption, even through his blood. We just 
pray now that as we consider these truths, they would again 
melt our hearts, cause us to bow, cause us to worship, cause 
us to love and to adore and to glorify your most holy name. And for any and all who are here, 
Lord God, that have not come to Christ, we pray that they 
by grace would believe on him for the salvation of their soul. 
Do forgive us now for all sin and unrighteousness and anything 
that would keep us from receiving truth, We pray that your spirit 
would be at work in our hearts and in our minds. We pray that 
he would illumine us to receive the good things of Holy Scripture. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Well, when we read chapter 
34, verses 6 and 7, what we find there are the attributes of God. 
The attributes of God are simply perfections. Those things attributed 
to God. He is good. He is gracious. He is merciful. He's long-suffering. He forgives. The Westminster 
Shorter Catechism says, what is God? The answer is God is 
Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. It is being, wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. It's a wonderful statement 
of who He is. And this is one of the means 
by which, or one of the ways by which we relate to God. We 
know God. It's based on a revelation of 
these attributes. Now certainly as we read verses 
6 and 7, we could open this text up and take out each word and 
consider it in its own setting and consider it in other places 
of the Bible and truly be encouraged at the reality of the attributes 
here revealed. But I think that when we consider 
this statement in the broader context, it is even that much 
more amazing. Now I'm going to assume that 
you're familiar with chapter 32 in the book of Exodus. I know Sometimes assumptions 
aren't always a good thing. But Exodus 32, beginning in verse 
1, all the way to Exodus chapter 35 and verse 34 is one unit. 
Specifically, I'm sorry, 34-35. 32.1 to 34.35 is one unit. And essentially what you have 
is the covenant broken in chapter 32 and the covenant renewed in 
chapters 33 and 34. That's the broad consideration. But again, as we consider the 
nature of the sin in chapter 32, it makes this statement in 
verses 6 and 7 glorious. In other words, after they're 
dancing around before this golden calf, they're unrestrained, they 
are ascribing to this creature the very attributes and power 
of the living and true God, you would think that the revelation 
that God gives to them would be wrath, would be fury, would 
be anger, and would be judgment. But that's not the case. God 
meets great sin with greater grace. God meets their rebellion 
with something unbelievable. If the scriptures had not revealed 
this gospel, this good news, certainly no man would ever conceive 
of anything so stupendous as this. So two broad considerations 
this morning. First, we'll look at the context 
of the revelation of God's glory. Chapters 32 and 33. And then 
we'll look secondly at the content of the revelation of God's glory. So you can turn back for just 
a moment to chapter 32. First thing we ought to consider 
is the golden calf. The golden calf. Moses is on 
Sinai. The people had just sworn their 
fidelity to the covenant. You go to chapter 19. God speaks 
from Sinai. He gives the law. The Ten Commandments 
follow in chapter 20. And then there are applications 
of that law for society in Israel. And after the giving of the law, 
there is a covenant ratification ceremony. And the people say 
twice in chapter 24, in verses 3 and 7, All that the Lord has 
spoken, we will do. All the words that God has said, 
we will do. We don't get but a few chapters 
away and they're dancing before a calf. We don't get but a few 
chapters away and they are breaking the first and second commandments. We don't get but a few chapters 
away to see the genuine nature of sin. You see, man is deceitful, 
or man's heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. On the one hand, he'll swear 
fidelity to the covenant God. And on the other hand, when Moses 
delays in coming down from the mountain, they'll cry out to 
Aaron and say, make us a God. And notice in verse 1 how they 
ascribe the redemption from Egypt to Moses. This is an interesting 
thing. Notice in verse 1 of chapter 
32, come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, 
the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not 
know what has become of him. Isn't this typical of sinners? 
Isn't this routine in your life? When you're in sin and you're 
in rebellion, you try to distance yourself from God. Adam and Eve 
did this. They hid among the trees that 
the Lord God had made. They covered themselves with 
leaves so that they could hide their shame. Sinners run from 
God. Here they ascribe the redemption 
from Egypt to Moses, not to Yahweh. But interestingly enough, according 
to verse 7, Yahweh does the very same thing with reference to 
them. Notice, the Lord said to Moses, 
go get down for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt. You see, it cuts both ways. Sin 
separates us from God. We don't want nothing to do with 
Him, and in a sense, He wants nothing to do with us. Very interesting, 
in the prophets, the Lord God will call Israel your people, 
not my people. You see, there's distance created 
and separation created because of sin. If you are here this 
morning and you're not a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, there 
is separation between you and God. You want to be away from 
Him, and He does stay away from you. The carnal mind is enmity 
against God, according to Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. We look 
at God as a foe. We look at God as one we want 
nothing to do with. And that is the case here. They're 
separate. They're distancing themselves. They want gods. They 
want some visible representation so that they may bow in worship. And a couple of things to understand 
here. This happened quick. Beware you who think you stand. 
lest you fall." Have you ever been boastful or proud? I mean, 
to ask the question is to answer it, right? Ask a room full of 
sinners, have you ever been boastful or proud? No, not me, man. I'm 
the most humble guy you'll ever meet, me and Moses. We're all 
boastful and proud. The moment we think that we don't 
need the gospel of free and sovereign grace is the moment we are in 
a desperate state. Notice in verse 7, the Lord said 
to Moses, go get down for your people whom you brought out of 
the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves, they have turned 
aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. See, 
you wouldn't think it would be the case. The foot of Sinai in 
24, 3 and 7. All that Yahweh has commanded, 
this we will do. The tabernacle starts to be constructed. What is the tabernacle? It is 
the dwelling place of God with sinners. They start to build 
that structure. There's a delay and so the people 
say, well forget that structure, let's worship a calf. We want 
something right now. We want instant gratification. So they quickly degenerate into 
this sin. And notice, secondly, they take 
on the characteristics of that which they worship. G.K. Beale has a wonderful book on 
a biblical theology of idolatry. And he says, what you revere, 
you resemble, either for ruin or for redemption. What you revere, 
you resemble. either for ruin, in the case 
of the calf, or for redemption, in the case of God. Now, Beal 
doesn't make this up. In Psalm 115, as it describes 
the idols, they have eyes that cannot see, they have ears that 
cannot hear, they have noses that cannot smell, they have 
mouths that cannot taste. What happens according to Psalm 
115a? Those who worship become like 
them. What's Israel indicted for so 
often by the prophets? You have ears but you don't hear. 
You have eyes but you don't see. You have hearts but you don't 
receive the truth. Now notice the characteristic 
of their idol. What's the problem with calves? 
What's the problem with animals? They are stubborn. They are stiff-necked. You need to put a yoke on their 
neck so that you can control them. Twice in the narrative, 
Israel is called stiff-necked. And it's not just in Exodus chapter 
32 to 33. Throughout the Old Testament 
scriptures, they become like that which they worship. Notice 
God's response to this idolatry in verses 7 to 14. He instructs 
Moses to get down and deal with his people. You see, God knows 
what's going on. God sees. God is conscious. You 
may be dancing around that calf in secret thinking that nobody 
knows. My parents don't know. My wife 
doesn't know. My son doesn't know. My father 
doesn't know. God the Lord knows. Remember 
that section in 2 Samuel chapter 11 when David goes into Bathsheba 
and he orders Uriah to be killed. There's not one mention of the 
Lord in the entire chapter except the last verse. But the thing 
that David did displeased the Lord. You see, you can't escape the 
sovereign God. Israel dancing before this calf 
in the absence of Moses was not in the absence of God. God is 
angry. God is upset. God says, I will 
cut this people off. I will consume them and I will 
make of you a great nation. Now notice Moses' intercession. Praise God for the man Moses. 
Praise God for mediators. Praise God that in the New Covenant 
we have a mediator better than Moses, even the mediator of the 
New Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. What does Moses do? He 
pleads with God. He says, do not cut these people 
off. Do not reject these people, because if you do, Lord, then 
the Egyptians will say God brought these people out simply to consume 
them. Your glory's at stake, your power's 
at stake, your redemption's at stake. Lord, preserve your people 
in order to preserve your honor. And then in verse 14, he appeals 
to the covenant. I'm sorry, verse 13. Remember 
Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by 
your own self and said to them, that's powerful intercession, 
appealing to the glory of God, appealing to the covenant of 
God. You see that again in Moses intercession. In numbers 14, 
you see it in the psalmist as well. God's glory is at stake. Pardon their iniquity for your 
glory, Lord." That is masterful intercession on behalf of Moses 
here. He appeals to his redeeming power. 
He appeals to his covenantal promise. And then the Lord says 
he'll relent. Verse 14. The Lord stays his 
hand of judgment against these people. Entire judgment, certainly 
3,000 do fall. But verse 14, so Yahweh relented 
from the harm which he said he would do to his people. And then 
that brings us to Moses going down into the midst of the people. 
What's he carrying? He's carrying the commandments. 
He's carrying the covenantal documents. He's carrying that 
which his people just swore fidelity to. And he sees this travesty. He sees this tragedy. I mean, 
look what the text says. Then they rose early on the next 
day. Verse 6. Offered burnt offerings and brought 
peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat 
and drink and rose up to play. Joshua says, I hear noise in 
the camp. It's like war cries, only it's 
not the agony of defeat. It's not the shout of victory, 
but it's singing. They're singing to their calf. 
They're singing to their idol. They're singing to that which 
is not God. So certainly when Moses comes 
down from the mount, carrying the covenantal documents, and 
he sees the people in apostasy, and in rejection, and in defection, 
he takes them and he dashes them to the ground. It's angry. People have sinned. You see, 
we often treat sin as just this light little thing. Confess in 
my own heart, I don't see sin the way Paul tells me to in Romans 
8, 13. If by the Spirit you do mortify 
the deeds of the body. Not play with it, not just pare 
it off, not just hide it, not just deal with it a little bit 
better than the guy next to you. But if by the Spirit you put 
to death the deeds of the body, you will live. You see, sin is 
no light thing. And Moses is angry. And so Moses 
then addresses Aaron. What's Aaron do? Does he man 
up? Does he take responsibility? No, of course not. You know these 
people, they're wicked. They gave me this gold, I threw 
it into the fire, and I'll pop this calf. Sure, Aaron. Yeah, 
okay. I'm not following you, brother. Aaron. What does this teach us? that in a time of corruption, 
in a time of defection, in a time of apostasy, not even the leadership 
is immune. Why do you think Peter says judgment 
must begin at the household of God? Why in that vision in Ezekiel 
chapter 9 that I referred to this morning, when God dispatches 
these six men with slaughtering weapons and the one man with 
the writer's inkhorn, The man with the rider's inkhorn was 
to go around and find those who sighed and cried over the abominations 
in Jerusalem. He was to mark their heads. And 
then the six men with slaughtering weapons were to follow up, and 
anyone who did not have that mark on their head was to be 
executed. Where does this begin? Start 
in my sanctuary. You see, Aaron was not immune 
to the corruption of the hardened heart of man. Idolatry. Powerful. Notice Moses imposes 
judgment. Verse 25, now when Moses saw 
that the people were unrestrained, they ran wild. This isn't just 
a running race. This dancing before the calf 
probably has sexual overtones. probably is just a lawless expression 
of debauchery and ungodliness. They are immoral. You see, idolatry 
always leads to immorality. That's why Paul says, the wrath 
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The paramount 
sin in that section in Romans chapter 1 is who, although they 
knew God, they did not honor God as God, nor were they thankful. You see, it was first and foremost 
a theological commitment or assessment or rather departure. And after 
that rejection of the true and living God, they don't honor 
him as God, they're not thankful to him as God. What happens? 
All manner of evil flows from that. They then exchange the 
truth of the incorruptible God and they worship four-footed 
things. They worship corruptible things 
who are not to be bowed to. So you see, what Moses does is 
it sort of highlights what is the nature of this idolatry. 
They are unrestrained. They are running wild. They are 
in wickedness. He calls for help. The Levites 
side with him. They go about the camp and 3,000 
fall dead. Did you notice that Moses goes 
on? Verse 30, now it came to pass 
on the next day that Moses said to the people, you have committed 
a great sin, so now I will go up to the Lord, perhaps I can 
make atonement for your sin. Don't you hear Jesus here? Moses 
is this mediator of the old covenant, certainly typifies the mediator 
of the new covenant, who certainly does affect atonement on behalf 
of his new covenant Israel. You see, Moses realizes that 
God must punish sin and that atonement must be made. Moses 
goes so far as to offer up himself on behalf of Israel. Again, don't 
miss Messiah. Don't miss Jesus. Don't miss 
the reality that everything that Moses said is actually played 
out in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
then this particular narrative ends with God Almighty telling 
Moses in verse 33, "...whoever has sinned against me, I will 
blot him out of my book. Now therefore go, lead the people 
to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel 
shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when 
I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for 
their sin." So the Lord plagued the people because of what they 
did with the calf which Aaron made. And then that brings us 
to this angel of the Lord that God says he's going to send. 
Now back in chapter 23, verses 20 to 23, God says He will send 
the angel of the Lord to drive out the Canaanites. He will send 
the angel of the Lord to drive out the Hivites. They will not 
go on the conquest in their own strength and might and power, 
but rather it is God the Lord who goes before them, conquering 
and to conquer. But back in chapter 23, 20 to 
23, He says, I will put my name in this angel of the Lord. He 
doesn't say that here. What's He doing? He's separating 
himself from the people. He's going to make good on the 
covenantal promise. I'm going to send the angel. He will drive 
out the Canaanites. He will drive out the Hivites. 
He will drive out these abominable people. But he'll also protect 
you from me. It's one of the functions of 
this angel in verses 1 to 3. You see, the angel that God dispatches 
will deal with the Canaanites. But the angel that the Lord dispatches 
will also stay his judgment from his errant people. And what's 
the response in Israel? God's grace is starting to shine 
through. They don't put on their ornaments. 
repentant That's a good thing They feel bad. They've been found 
out in their sin. There's conviction Often think 
when people hear gospel preaching the setting similar to this And 
you start to get convicted Don't drive it out Don't stay away 
welcome it and embrace it and bless God Almighty for conviction, 
for rebuke, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 
In other words, if conviction sets in, by God's grace, close 
with Jesus. Don't stay, don't tarry, don't 
wait, don't say, well, these are just some religious feelings 
that I'm getting amongst these people. They'll pass as soon 
as I go home and pop open a beer and watch the game. Don't do 
that. If you come in amongst the people 
of God and the Lord starts dealing with your soul, praise Him, bless 
Him, glorify Him, flee to His Son, lay hold of His Son by faith 
alone. These people mourn, they're affected. Moses then goes to this tent 
of meeting, not the tabernacle. It's not constructed yet. Moses 
and Joshua alone meet with God. The people see it. The people 
bow. The people are reverent. The 
people esteem the reality that nevertheless God has come back 
to them. It's beautiful. And thus begins this dialogue 
with Moses and with God. We read it in chapter 33, beginning 
in verse 12. I hope everybody's with me. I 
hope you're getting this context. This isn't just introduction 
that you can forget about. This sets the stage for 34. So 
we could just look at 34, 6 and 7, but now don't they come to 
light in a different way? These are people that deserve 
wrath, people that deserve fury, people that deserve hell, people 
that deserve anger, people that deserve the full vent of God's 
fury against sin. Moses asks the question, God, 
please make your way known to us. God, please tell us the identity 
of this particular angel. Moses probably feels his frailty. Moses probably realizes he cannot 
do this apart from Yahweh. And he goes to the Lord God and 
he asks specifically, if I have found grace in your sight, show 
me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace 
in your sight and consider that this nation is your people. Notice 
verse 14. It's as if God the Lord can't 
bear to say no to His grace. God can't but answer Moses affirmatively. God can't but say yes. Verse 14, He said, My presence 
will go with you, and I will give you rest. He's back. He's with us. He's promised. Moses is a daring brother. Moses 
is going to step out there one more time. Notice verse 15. He said to him, if your presence 
does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. God, if you 
don't go into the promised land with us, we don't want to go. 
We'll stay right here at the foot of Sinai and we'll perish 
in this wilderness. Because without you, God, the 
promised land is no promised land. Similar to what some Christians 
pray on the Lord's Day morning, God, send your spirit. If we 
gather in your name and you're not with us, then it's in vain. If we gather in your name and 
there is no spirit among us, there is no gospel to be savored, 
no Christ to be adored, no God to be glorified, then Lord, it's 
just an exercise in futility. You see, the genuine people of 
God want God. The genuine people of God want 
God more than the promised land. The genuine people of God want 
God more than Canaan, more than milk, more than honey, more than 
anything that this world has to offer. The genuine people 
of God know that Christ makes heaven heaven. I was sharing 
with one of my brothers on Wednesday. I was at the Cascade. I'm going 
to minister to a handful of dear old dolls and just a couple of 
guys. Ladies, you certainly outlive 
men, if my experience at these retirement residences are any 
indication. And at one point, because, you 
know, we lost our dear little brother Austin, my mother has 
passed away, we're looking at the passing of Mr. Van Warden, 
I made the comment with these dear older people, and it was 
sort of a passing referent, to my shame, I said, you know, when 
we go to the funeral of a blood-bought child of God, and we're sitting 
there, and we're standing there, and we're looking at that coffin, 
we know they're with the Lord. And I said, I suspect that every 
child of God, every Christian at a funeral, has a certain bit, 
I hope it's holy, jealousy. I want to be there too. And in 
unison, the old dolls said, Amen! It was great. It warmed my heart. Amen, probably the old guys did 
too, but the old dolls drowned in a mouth. Christ is all the glory of Emmanuel's 
land. I personally could care less. about the pearls, about the gold, 
about the rubies, the jewels. That might be a bad testimony 
on me. The Bible describes it that way. I should care more. 
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but 
on my king of grace. Not at the crown he gifteth, 
but on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land. Moses says, God, if you don't 
go to Canaan, we don't want to go. If your presence is not with 
us, we'd rather die here at Sinai. Notice God's response. So the 
Lord, verse 17, said to Moses, I will also do this thing that 
you have spoken. Big petitions don't scare God. 
Big petitions are answered by a big God. He can't say no to 
Moses. Do you notice that in the passage? 
Do you notice that in the text? A God only of wrath and fury 
and judgment and anger. He's a God who can't say no to 
his intercessor. To God who says, yes, my presence 
will be with you. Yes, my glory will be with you. 
Yes, I will sustain you. Yes, I will drive out the Hivites. 
Yes, I will give you this land. Yes, I will cause you to rejoice 
in me. Notice. So the Lord said to Moses, 
I will also do this thing that you have spoken for. You have 
found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. You see, 
God can't say no to his own grace. Now notice Moses, one more time. If anything, at least a sideline 
observation is that when we petition God, we ought to come with earnestness. We ought to come with boldness 
to the throne of grace. We ought to go through the front 
door of heaven, call God Father, and ask Him something. Verse 18, please, show me your 
glory. While we're having this dialogue, 
Father, While you've acknowledged your grace is extant in my heart, 
while you have said yes to your presence being with us in Canaan, 
God, one more thing I want to ask you, show me your glory. Raymond defines glory this way. It refers to what God is in his 
essential being or nature. That is to say, God's glory is 
simply the inescapable weight of the sheer intrinsic Godness 
of God, inherent in the attributes essential to Him as the deity. In other words, glory reveals 
what God is. Glory is shorthand for who God 
is. And then God answers, I will 
make all my goodness pass before you. You can't see my face. Some people see at the Tent of 
Meeting that God spoke to Moses face-to-face, and now God says, 
you can't see my face. They say, what is this a contradiction? 
No, face-to-face in the Tent of Meeting speaks of intimacy, 
God the Lord with his dear friend Moses. What God is saying in 
this particular passage is, you cannot see the essence of God 
without being destroyed. Kyle and Dalich describe it thus. As our bodily eye is dazzled 
and its power of vision destroyed by looking directly at the brightness 
of the sun, so would our whole nature be destroyed by an unveiled 
sight of the brilliancy of the glory of God. You see, the Lord 
says to him, you cannot look upon me and live. So what I'm 
going to do is I'm going to cause my goodness to pass by you. I'm going to set you in this 
cleft of the rock. I'm going to cover your face 
and when my back parts pass, then I'll lift my hand and you 
can see. You can get a glimpse of the 
glory of God as it passes by. Notice verse 19, then he said, 
I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim 
the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I 
will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
compassion. But he said, you cannot see my 
face for no man shall see me and live. And the Lord said, 
Here is a place by me. You shall stand on the rock, 
so it shall be while my glory passes by. Then I will put you 
in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand 
while I pass by. Then I will take my hand, and 
you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. That's the context of the revelation 
of God's glory. Let's move now, secondly, to 
the content of the revelation of God's glory. One commentator says this, surprisingly, 
what Moses learned about God's glory after the great sin, chapter 
32, of the golden calf was not further fear of God, but rather 
that he was a gracious God full of compassion. Does that do it 
for you? I hope it does. Go back about a half hour. I 
said, you know, we could look at six and seven and just pull 
out each of these attributes and focus on them and look at 
them and say, wow, isn't that great? Isn't that amazing? But 
when we see these attributes applied to this situation, applied 
to this context, applied to this scenario, I hope you stand amazed. I hope as you consider the fact 
that Jesus has saved you, you stand amazed. I hope as you consider 
the fact of what Paul says to the Corinthians, and such were 
some of you, very notorious, very heinous sinners, but you 
were washed, you were justified, you were sanctified. I hope that 
grace amazes. You see, what we are able to 
sing in light of a passage like this is amazing grace. How sweet 
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but 
now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. A people 
who swore fidelity to the covenant, who a few chapters later rejected, 
broke, despised, and apostatized from that covenant. And now covenant 
God comes back and says, here's how I'm going to meet you. Here's 
what I'm going to do for you. Here is how I'm going to reveal 
myself to you. Notice in verse 35. Now the Lord 
descended, verse 5, chapter 34. Now the Lord descended in the 
cloud and stood within there and proclaimed the name of the 
Lord. We speak of the name of the Lord, 
it is all that God is. The name Yahweh conveys theology. The name God expresses truth. The name Christ displays who 
He is. And that is what we find here. Verse 6, the Lord passed before 
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God. merciful and gracious, 
long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and 
sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to 
the third and the fourth generation." Is that what you expect after 
you go dancing before the Golden Calf? Is that what you expect 
after you degrade yourself with an idol? Is that what you expect? I don't. That's why the gospel 
is so glorious. That's why it is good news. That's why it is wondrous. That's 
why it's beautiful. That's why it's majestic. God 
says He is merciful and gracious. Isn't that beautiful? Next time you meet somebody that 
says, you like that Old Testament? It's all filled with wrath and 
curse and judgment and fury. God says He's merciful and gracious. He reveals that. He declares 
that. That's the makeup or a component 
of His very name. He pities us. He meets us with 
unmerited favor. Our sin calls down wrath, and 
God meets us with His grace. Our sin demands hellfire, and 
God deals with us in and through His blessed Son. He is merciful. He is gracious. Notice that He 
is long-suffering. He suffers long. He's patient. Again, I don't know if you meet 
these people that have a problem with the Old Testament. It's 
not like every single page of your Bible God is sending judgment 
down. In fact, there's rather long 
periods of time when if you're like me, you're saying, God, 
when are you going to send judgment down? Look at these people. Look at what they're doing. Look 
how they're conducting themselves. Look how they're rejecting you. 
Look how they're despising you. If anything is conveyed by the 
Old Testament Scriptures, it is the reality that God the Lord 
is a long-suffering God. I love that in the New Testament. 
We are told to be long-suffering with others. Do you have a short 
fuse with people? Do you hold grudges against people? 
Do you not forgive the sins of people? You're not like God. 
We need to bear and forbear. We need to be patient. We need 
to realize that everybody is going to sin against us. That's 
the reality. If you haven't gotten that memo, 
I'm here to communicate it to you today. Everybody you know 
will sin against you. If they confess it, they ask 
for forgiveness, forgive them. Move on. God does. Notice. He's good and he's truthful. Is that what the text says? He's 
good and he's truthful. The text does say that, but it 
says something more. He abounds in goodness and truth. You see, when you come to this 
God, you don't just get pieces of goodness and truth miserly 
apportioned. God is not Ebenezer Scrooge up 
there just handing out a few shekels to sustain you. God abounds 
in goodness and truth. The Apostle Paul celebrates this 
reality. He calls it God's super abounding 
grace. The Lord Most High abounds in 
goodness and truth. Now notice, keeping mercy for 
thousands. I suspect this means thousands 
of generations. Don't know that it means thousands 
of people. The book of Revelation envisions 
more than thousands of people. It says there are multitudes 
from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. He does keep mercy 
for thousands. Now notice, forgiving iniquity 
and transgression and sin. Here's the rub. They were dancing 
before the calf, and God meets them with forgiveness. You dance 
before the calf, and you come to the Father through the Lord 
Jesus, and you know what you receive? Forgiveness. This bothers some people. This 
irritates the self-righteous. This is an affront to the proud 
because it's not fair. Of course, it's not fair. It's 
grace. Look at what the text says. Forgiving. If you're like me, 
you struggle with that concept. Maybe you were brought up in 
a false religion. Maybe you were brought up in a situation where 
forgiveness was not preached fully and freely and gloriously 
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a struggle 
in your heart with that. Does he really forgive? Does 
he really cleanse? Does he really wash? Does the 
blood of Christ truly avail for all my sin? Yes, it most certainly 
does. I love our dear brother, John 
Dill, and the way that he describes this. He says, and this forgiveness 
is of all sin, of all sorts of sin, original or actual, greater 
or lesser, public or private, open or secret, of omission or 
commission, of heart, lip, and life. In other words, all sin. Gil has successfully traversed 
every category in that brief description. Every sin, from 
calf worship, to cheating on your taxes, to screaming at your 
spouse, to rejecting authority, to sexual immorality. Now, of 
course, as gospel citizens, as those who are seeking by the 
grace of God to let their conduct be worthy of the gospel, you're 
trying to mortify those sins. You're trying to put those sins 
to death. John the Apostle writes, my little 
children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. 
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
even Jesus Christ the righteous. When you sin, go to Christ. When you sin, fly to the Savior. When you sin, go for blood. That's what the Scripture's about. 
It's not your bad feelings. It's not your remorse. It's not 
your self-inflicted penance. It is the blood of Jesus Christ 
which was shed once for all sinners to save. You've got to get forgiveness 
down. I've got to get forgiveness down. 
Our God meets us with forgiveness. Our God is pictured in the prodigal 
son. The story, not the prodigal son. 
Who's the father in that parable? Here you go. He's the father. 
That's an easy one, isn't it? It doesn't take a PhD or a PhD 
to figure out who the father is in Luke 15. What's that father 
do when he sees his son a long way off? Does he throw rocks? You dirty rotten scoundrel, you 
took my loot and you're gone. Is he sick his goons on him? 
Meet him at the gate and keep him away from here. No, when 
he sees him, a long way off, the father gets up off his chair, 
and he runs to greet him. I like to picture an older man. 
I don't believe God has the look of an older man. But in that 
parable, he's an older man. He's getting close to the end. 
Give me my share of the inheritance. The son is banking on his soon 
demise. He doesn't want to wait that 
long, so Father, give me my share of the loot. So he sees the son 
a long way off and he starts running to him. Now, he didn't 
have trousers like we're wearing and he didn't have shorts or 
whatever that we are wearing. Probably had a long robe. He 
probably had to hold it up like this and run. It's kind of undignified, 
isn't it? You see, the people that Jesus 
was telling the story to would have thought it very undignified. The people Jesus was telling 
the story to would have thought the father would have called 
for his goons to keep that son away. God doesn't care if we 
think he looks undignified. When God means to save, he means 
to save. And he'll run from that porch, 
he'll fall on that boy, he'll smother him with kisses, he'll 
put a ring on his finger, he'll slay the fatted calf, because 
my son who was dead is now alive. My son who was lost is now found. He meets our sin and transgression 
and iniquity with the power of Jesus' blood. That's what he 
says. He's not a pushover. He will 
not clear the guilty, but punishes the unrepentant to the third 
and fourth generation. Maybe you've known men. I'll 
pick on men here for instance, for specific. Men that are very 
nice. Men that are only nice. We sometimes 
say they don't have a backbone. We sometimes say they're like 
jellyfish. They're pushover. Yeah, He's nice, but that's only 
one facet. We don't respect that. You see, 
God is not lumped into that box. He's not a pushover. Not only 
is He goodness, not only is He truth, not only is He grace, 
not only is He merciful, but He's just. He gives judgment. He is equitable. He is righteous. He will not compromise His holy 
standards. You don't get won over on this 
God. You don't sneak by this God. 
It's not like He's some old lady just lavishing blessings upon 
people irrespective of the cross, irrespective of holiness, irrespective 
of law. No, there is a particular way 
that God deals And it's in this that we respect. It's in this 
that we revere. It's in this that we worship. 
All that God is, He always is. His love, His goodness, His mercy, 
His truth never invalidates or cancels out His justice, His 
wrath, and His anger. Our God is amazing. Notice Moses' response. We're 
bringing this to a close. Three chapters in one morning 
is probably enough. Moses bows and worships. What 
else are you going to do? What else do you do? At this 
point, what else do you do? This is the absolutely, positively 
right response from Moses. There's no more words to trade. 
There's no more offers to be made. There's no more petitions 
to be rendered. All that Moses does is completely 
accurate in light of what has been revealed. He bows and he 
worships. And then he seeks. He acknowledges 
Israel's sin. Notice in verse 8, So Moses made 
haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Then 
he said, if now I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, 
let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though, get this, we 
are a stiff-necked people. When Moses comes face to face 
with the holiness of God Almighty, he doesn't say, Israel's wicked. He says, we are stiff-necked. 
Moses lumps himself right in there along with all of these 
calf worshipers. Not that he himself participated 
in the calf worship, but he himself participates in sin. O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, 
go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, and pardon 
our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance. He bows, he worships, he seeks 
God's presence, he acknowledges his sin, and then he prays for 
pardon. He prays for cleansing. He prays 
for that forgiveness that the Lord God just communicated to 
him as he passed by. And Moses beheld his glory. Moses 
beheld his goodness. And then God, in his grace and 
in his mercy, delivers. 3410. Moses, bring me those tablets. Moses, let me write the law back 
on them. Moses tell the people again when 
they go into the promised land, not to do this, not to do this, 
not to do this, not to do this. What's God doing? He's restoring 
them right to where they were. He puts them right back where 
they were. It's a beautiful, beautiful picture of God's mercy, 
God's kindness, God's goodness. I dare say, my dear brothers 
and sisters, if you read through the Old Testament, Even absentmindedly, 
you can't help but bump into the grace of God. You can't help but trip over 
His mercy. You can't help but meet the Savior 
in the wilderness, meet the Savior at Sinai, meet the Savior in 
Canaan. You can't help it because God 
is revealing Himself to these people as all that verses 6 and 
7 depict. In summary, the revelation God's 
glory is wonderfully manifested in His sovereign grace. Let us 
not forget 33.19. I will make all my goodness pass 
before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. 
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have 
compassion on whom I will have compassion. He is sovereign. He predestines. He elects. He foreknows. He foreordains. He is the God of a sovereign 
decree. Sovereign grace is the manifestation 
of who God is. Notice He is as well displayed 
in His mercy, in His long-suffering, in His goodness, in His truth, 
in His forgiveness. That name Yahweh captures everything 
that God is. Thomas Watson says, "...anything 
by which he may be known. As a man is known by his name, 
so by his attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, and goodness, 
God is known by his name." That's a summary statement concerning 
the attributes of God, the goodness, and the glory revealed here to 
Moses on this occasion. I think there is in this text, 
secondly, a lesson for those who oppose sovereign grace. I 
hate to break this to you, but there are people out there that 
think it depends on man, that think it depends on free will, 
that think it's all about the sinner making the right decision 
for the Savior. Not according to God. I will 
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion 
upon whom I will have compassion. Man is not the sovereign determiner. God is the sovereign determiner. 
You'll realize or you'll note that the Apostle Paul appeals 
to this passage in Romans chapter 9 at verse 15. The implication 
he draws from it is found in verse 16. He says, so then it 
does not depend upon him who wills or upon him who runs, but 
upon God who shows mercy. And if you're a sinner sitting 
here right now saying, well then that means I can't come to Christ 
until God zaps me. Come to Christ. Believe on the 
Lord Jesus. Look and live. You've heard of 
a Savior, forgiveness of sin? Don't wait, don't tarry, don't 
try to rationalize, throw yourself wholly on Him. Venture on Him, 
venture wholly, and you will realize that He is everything 
good that He promises to be in this particular passage. For 
the Christian, for the believer, let us learn from Moses. It'd 
be great if as we contemplated God's attributes, as we heard 
sermons like this, after the close of preaching, maybe we 
sing a song, maybe there is a benediction spoken, and then maybe for a 
moment, instead of talking about our jobs, or talking about our 
grandchildren, or talking about our children, which in themselves 
are good things to talk about, maybe we take a moment to bow 
before the Lord. We take a moment to worship the 
Lord. You know, at the end of our services, 
we usually have whoever's playing play a brief meditation. Do you 
meditate? Do you think about how good God 
is? If you hear a sermon like this, 
do you jump for joy in your seat, saying, hallelujah, what a savior? 
That God has been merciful to me. I danced before many a calf 
in my life, and he has received me. I gave myself to all manner 
of sin and lawlessness and wickedness, and now I sit among the redeemed, 
singing his praises in the place that he says is more beautiful 
to him than all the dwellings of Jacob. I'm a member, I'm a 
part of the church of Jesus Christ. That's what your time of meditation 
should be. Not, oh boy, he's gone late. We got to go home. 
The roast is on. Who cares? It's the one day out 
of seven we get to come in out of world to worship our God corporately. Let's use it. Let's suck this 
flour dry of all good things that it has to offer. You in 
a hurry to get home? Why? So you can eat more pork? 
Tacos, whatever it is, we're in the presence of this God revealed 
in Exodus 34, 6, and 7. He's good to you. He's merciful 
to you. He's gracious to you. He's long-suffering 
with you. He's forgiven your sin, your 
iniquity, and your transgression. Can't you take a moment to bow, 
to worship, to seek Him, to want to know Him more? And finally, 
kind of back and forth here. I read something this past week. 
I think it was Joel Beeky, Dr. Joel Beeky. It was posted on 
an email discussion list that I'm on. One of the brothers brought 
it forth. He said something to this effect. It was an encouragement 
to gospel preachers. At least what I took out of it. 
Pastor Cam would probably be able to affirm or give me the 
exact quotation. But he said something like this. 
He said, C.H. Spurgeon. I'm just using Spurgeon. 
As most of you know here, we love Spurgeon. He's sort of the 
Great guy among Reformed Baptists, you know, when we get to heaven, 
of course, Jesus, and then Paul, and Moses, and David. Where's 
Spurge? I want to just see him, you know, 
okay? There he is, right? Dr. Beeke said something to this 
effect. Spurgeon may have preached the gospel better, but he never 
preached a better gospel. Spurgeon may have preached the 
gospel better, with the gifts that the Lord entrusted to him, 
with the oratory skill of a young man who could entrance thousands 
at a time. But if he's preaching the same 
blood that you or I preach, he never preached a better gospel. There is one gospel, and it is 
the reality that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. If you are here in your sin, 
flee! Go! Don't stop! Don't wait! Come to the one who promises, 
in a text like this, to forgive you, to cleanse you, and to wash 
you. Come to Christ and be saved. That's what's most important. 
Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your 
word and we thank you for your grace and we thank you so much 
for the revelation of your glory here to Moses in Exodus 34. God, help us to receive comfort 
and encouragement, help us to bow, help us to worship, help 
us to continually seek your mercy in our lives. And God, for sinners, 
I pray that you'd open their hearts and open their eyes to 
behold their own waywardness, and their own sinfulness, and 
their separation from a holy God, and open their eyes to behold 
the glory of Jesus Christ as the one alone who saves to the 
uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him. How we thank 
you for this gospel, how we pray for its proclamation today all 
over the earth. Let the nations be glad, cause 
your face to shine, and bring a great multitude into your courts. And we ask through Christ our 
Lord, amen.