Exodus (Quality:very good)

[0:00] Let us venture upon the Lord this evening to direct you to the book of Exodus chapter 33 and we read from verse 19.

[0:19] The 33rd chapter of the book of Exodus, reading from verse 19.

[0:30] And he said, for coming to you with this text is this.

[1:38] In a path of deep anxiety and concern and many afflictions and trials and much that often perplexes the mind and the spirit on awaking this morning on this second day of the week and I believe knowing something of the divine dew distilling upon our branch on the Lord's day this word rested upon my spirit and so there was absolutely no alternative and one would not wish any alternative because if it is the spirit work there will be a place for it in your hearts.

[2:57] And so as I said in announcing our text greatly venturing upon our blessed Lord we have read before you and delivered to you this word not just as the basis of our discourse we have read this word in this light as the Lord's message to our souls.

[3:43] For let me say to you immediately one of the great and positive and potent evidences and assurances of sonship is found here namely that as the Lord has given you that is all his dear saints a new creation within a completely new man with abundant spiritual faculties and those faculties are mainly related to the grace of faith which is God's instrument unto salvation so he has given you amongst other faculties that amazing one to hear an ear to hear just as our blessed

[5:08] Lord said said to his disciples and you judge whether this is applicable to you he said blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear now the ear of faith listens and if you are under the spirit's influence and in the exercise of grace you are listening daily nightly early constantly for a voice that has no equal that is unique a voice that is full of divine harmony and melody that is full of salvation and peace and joy and healing and divine blessing his voice it is ineffable it is inexpressible to hear the voice of our

[6:38] Savior and let me just take you up if you are the Lord's a few times in your life you have undoubtedly heard the voice of the Lord speaking to you now then the positive and potent proof of sonship that has been named therefore is this my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and this is his speech oh let us as we begin this evening unite together in a doxology to praise

[7:41] God for speaking to us in divine love and mercy so many times since we have traveled this wilderness that we have heard his voice many many times in the holy place the place where his honor dwelleth that we have heard his voice through the sacred ordinance of the ministry of the everlasting gospel that we have heard his voice in the stillness of the night that we have heard his voice in hospital in illness in trouble in agony of soul in deep distress when there seemed no possibility of deliverance when we were tempted all hope to resign let us bless

[8:46] God that we know his voice that we have realized the divine efficacy of his voice and that we are attuned to his voice now this is how I approach then the subject the voice of the Lord and in the economy of salvation the Lord has seen fit according to his divine wisdom and his immutable love knowing not only on the ground of his omniscience but also on the ground of the incarnation of the

[9:51] Son of God who walked this weary earth and knows what temptation and desolation and what it is to be despised and rejected and what it is to be a man of sorrows he knows all about it far more than ever we can ever do and so on this ground he knows that his dear people need to love those precious promises those sacred pledges of peace those wonderful words from his lips that dispel all our fears dissipate our distresses and anxieties those words that are full of infinite terror and beauty and preciousness those words that give you the experience of forgiveness those words that heal you that comfort you that guide you that teach you those words that assure you of your deliverance out of all your afflictions

[11:27] I love the couplet concerning the promises like streams from the fountain they flow and Zion preserved from despair you've heard his voice now the voice of the Lord is full of majesty it is full of divine sovereign efficacious terror it is full of beauty and the efficacy of his voice does everything for you that you need for instance he can say to you son be a good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee he can say to you when thou passest through the waters

[12:31] I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee nor any heat he can say to you as he did to my dear wife when she was in hospital before a serious operation this the Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peace peace now how wonderful it is to hear the voice of the Lord and so it is his divine pleasure to speak into your heart those exceeding great and precious promises well this is one and

[13:44] I want to postulate two things as we approach this word although before we take this step perhaps we might just ask the friends in this blessed book the book of God what portions of scripture do you put the finger of faith on and say I believe that is mine they're mine those scriptures because the Lord will constantly renew that in your soul and you'll find that it is good for all your life and all your journey and for death and you'll plead it before him and be able to say Lord thou hast said thou did say this to me and not only is this so but it is written upon the fleshy table of your heart so so

[15:00] I would like before I take this next step to suggest this to you think before you fall asleep tonight I take this holy bible god's inspired volume and what in this book can I claim by faith to be mine and the devil can never take it away and not all your sins will ever remove it that's a wonderful favor you see one word from his lips and it does the deed if he says to you son thy sins be forgiven thee all your sins are gone if he says then shall thine health spring forth speedily which the lord said to me once and

[16:12] I knew that in that illness and operation that my health would spring forth speedily soul and body both so that you come out of the affliction with forgiveness and joy and peace and also with the divine skill of the heavenly physician in your very person this is everything he accomplishes in this way now you may have a huge mountain of fear terrible so apprehensive you are and so agitated and so tensed that you wonder whether you lose the equilibrium of your brain and he says to you gives you this who art thou oh great mountain before

[17:16] Zerubbabel that is the glorious antitype Christ thou shalt become a plain and this mountain flows down it is leveled joy flows and peace and liberty and you know that your times are in his hand so sweet is his speech in the sermon if you are attentive by the holy ghost you will listen to hear that sweet melody of his voice and when it does come into your soul how you will bow your head in adoration and worship and love and gratitude and praise how this will lift you up to heaven from the very depths of despair some people have feared greatly feared they have been under a temptation all sorts of temptations obviously there are some have been tempted that they're going to die very quickly that they have some pathological condition and they will soon die and perhaps in a divine service the

[18:56] Lord speaks and that fear is completely removed and you feel the surges of healing virtue flow through you you're restored well I must take the further step I wanted then to postulate two things concerning this specific scripture this wonderful promise first and you will see how very important this is what was the spiritual condition of Moses the servant and prince of the Lord what was his spiritual stance when the Lord gave him this because this is something very important to consider you may well come back to me and say when would you think the people of

[20:09] God would hear the voice of the Lord and I could come back to you and say at once well if you are entertaining an idol or if you are lukewarm or if you are running in forbidden tracks you certainly would not anticipate hearing anything of joy and peace from his precious lips in your soul if you are a child of God you will hear his voice speaking to you in a way of reproach very precious that is but what I wanted to emphasize was this when is it that the people of God may anticipate hearing the voice of the

[21:13] Lord what is the answer the answer is before you in this chapter I will tell you at once and suggest this to your spirit not just to your mind Moses was in this stance of soul he was in he was in communion with the Lord do you see now this is where you'll hear his noise if you have union and as you have communion with Christ say we read here concerning the Lord and Moses they were in communion and this is the word the

[22:17] Lord was speaking unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend face this is where you'll hear the voice of the Lord every word opens a little to me now what is this the Lord was speaking to him face to face what are the faces the face of God here is his reconciled countenance in the face of Jesus Christ where he welcomes a penitent where he is able to smile and does smile upon a needy soul that seeks him that is the face of the Lord what is the other face the face of faith and you have this very beautifully expounded in the

[23:29] New Testament in that paragraph dealing with Moses and how they put a veil over their face the Jews and so on a veil was over their face and then it comes to the work of the spirit with the Lord's people and you have this that we all with open face open face that's faith there's no veil over your face when you have faith you've got an open face but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the gospel is the glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory by the spirit of our

[24:35] God so I want to just to name that Moses was in communion with his God say are you you'll know when you draw near to child of God you'll know in a moment when you're in communion with him you'll know when you draw near there's no barrier there's nothing to hinder you're in sweet communion and this is where Moses was and the next is this concerning him and it is a remarkable consideration Moses advanced in the degree of his desires expressed to the Lord until he came to the very acme the highest spiritual desire that it is possible for a poor quickened sinner to know and that is expressed in these beautiful words

[25:58] I beseech thee show me thy glory now you can never rise higher than that in your soul in living desire and this is the quintessence of all holy desires you'll say Lord this is the vital divine secret which alone can satisfy my soul I beseech thee show me thy glory that it may irradiate my soul and bring salvation healing peace blessing heaven to my soul are you there I stay for a few moments to express this to you

[27:09] Moses had seen as none other to that degree the glory of God in his holy justice in his law he had seen that glory on Sinai's Mount now just think for a moment there was no mercy there no mercy for a sinner there was no appearance or manifestation of a way of salvation and of escape from the wrath to come there was no peace there for a sinner there was no pardon there was no divine clemency can you therefore understand

[28:26] Moses I can he knew that God had a further revelation to give love and that revelation was the revelation of his love of his mercy and compassion and grace to poor needy sinners according to his own infinite wisdom in the gift in the incarnation of his only begotten son our Lord Jesus Christ and this was the very nature of his request I beseech thee show me thy glory glory if you carefully and spiritually have read and observed these lines even those that precede that word

[29:35] I beseech thee show me thy glory for instance he says now therefore I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight show me now thy way now I confess to you that for years when I read that show me now thy way my mind was focused chiefly on divine providence I thought this is a suitable word for an exercised soul to go before the Lord with and say I beseech thee show me now thy way thy way but my friends I can see now that the principle thing what he meant primarily was show me now thy way the way of salvation this is it show me the way to heaven for a poor sinner thy way

[30:48] Jesus Christ I am the way the truth and the life show me now thy way and this he did to Jacob he showed him his way by revealing that wonderful ladder to him and notice how beautiful it is that it was set up on the earth it comes where you are to all your wretched and ruined condition in the Adamic fall and to all the low places that you ever come into but the top reaches heaven one facet of exposition there is the ladder this is the person of Christ and the atonement of Christ the soul goes up that ladder to into glory and another is all the rungs of divine providence until you come to the last step but he showed him his way so this is it

[31:59] I beseech thee show me thy glory you know there's nothing that draws my soul in the ministry like this if there are a few one or two souls in a chapel that are seeking to see the glory of God this draws my soul have you seen his glory glory I must pause although time is very limited here with you in Uffington but I must pause to ask you have you seen his glory in the face of Jesus Christ beaming love mercy compassion grace peace healing comfort pardon into your soul have you seen his glory all the divine perfections and all the human perfections in his sacred humanity uniting have you seen this precious one in his infinite condescension seen his glory his glory shines forth in his grace and truth think of it grace what is grace grace saves it is the gift of

[33:34] God truth this is the gospel full of grace and truth well if you have seen the glory of Christ you have known the effect of it the effect of it is to bring pardon and peace into your soul the effect is transporting you will be lifted away from the earth to heaven your soul we read of Moses that he wished not that the skin of his face shone your countenance will shy shine with heavenly bliss if you have seen his glory well now this is how the Lord answered him and he said

[34:36] I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee you will understand that what we say is condensed but take the beautiful terminology all my goodness all my goodness in any case God is infinitely good and kind and what is this divine perfection of his goodness it may be expressed in this way that he is eternally moved within himself to be kind and generous and compassionate especially to his dear people eternally moved to be kind to you generous loving forgiving to you that is his goodness it is not something that is intermittent there are no gaps he is continually causing to flow forth to his dear people his sovereign goodness why how often has your poor heart been melted down under a sense of the Lord's goodness do you now then all his goodness the complete concentration and quintessence of all his goodness now this stands for the person of

[36:36] Christ there you see the supreme gift of God his only son and in him you see all the goodness of God but I want just to make a few observations here because there is a very significant heart to this clause namely you possibly notice this or have already observed it he says I will make all my goodness pass before thee pass before thee you may say to me why does it pass before me what do you think this really is then well

[37:44] Jesus is on his throne and if you are a runner in the heavenly race Jesus holds the crown of immortality and glory for you and all the joy will be set before you of your inheritance in bliss and so it passes before you so that you should mend your pace and run with alacrity and speed to the heavenly kingdom it passes before you you see Christ going on before you in all that he endured you see the cross the grave the skies his throne the crown all this passes before you the prize is before you the crown is before you do you see it is so that you should feel this is not my rest it is polluted let me run the best is to come now there are several ways the

[39:03] Lord has of making all his goodness pass before us he does this in the gospel the sacred ordinance of the ministry of the gospel of redemption in that gospel he will make all his goodness pass before you there will be such blessings such favors that are exhibited and manifested and displayed to the eye of faith he will make all his goodness pass before you.

[39:46] It's a wonderful experience to have those divine blessings displayed to your soul and have a little taste of it and he makes all his goodness pass before you.

[39:59] Then he does this by divine revelation and promise and that is why I read the lesson where I did.

[40:12] Here was poor Jacob setting out almost like a fugitive in many ways completely alone and I'm not on that tonight but I would suggest to you that the deeper the Lord leads you the more alone you will be.

[40:37] And it's very likely that you feel as a sparrow alone upon the howstop. You may feel completely alone as if you have hardly a soul you can speak to.

[40:56] This is not surprising. You'll have your guard. You have your guard. You have your guard but you'll be alone. Well now he sets out for a long journey and then you see he's lying down and it wasn't a very comfortable pillow was it at first?

[41:17] Stones. We would not think much of a few stones to put our head on tonight would we really?

[41:27] Although sometimes it's like that. Things are so hard and so trying that when you put your head down it's putting them on stones.

[41:38] But what I wanted just to suggest to you is this. That night when the Lord showed him the ladder and God stood above it and the angels ascending and descending and gave him the bunch of grapes from Escol and gave him all those promises that he was with him that he would not leave him that he would give him the land and to his seed the promise of Christ and so on.

[42:14] Now what did the Lord do? He made all his goodness pass before him. He showed him by that revelation and those promises not only the way to heaven but he assured him that he would take him safely through the wilderness and land him in glory.

[42:38] And he made all his goodness pass before him. Has he done it for you? And notice I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

[42:57] You know what that is? You may come back and say that is what the Lord has given me what I am exercised about.

[43:08] Well it includes that. But the principal meaning of that is I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

[43:20] It means the advent the incarnation of the Son of God. The Lord would do it and he has done it.

[43:33] Well I must quickly draw to a close now. I will make all my goodness pass before thee. This is relevant to specific afflictions and trials and sorrows and anxieties.

[43:53] this has a comprehensive coverage.

[44:03] For instance it is amazing when you feel a sense of the Lord's goodness in your soul how as you have sought the Lord by prayer you go forth maybe on in the morning and you have contacts you have difficulties mountains flow down difficulties are solved wounds wounds have balm applied to them trials and problems are resolved and even worldlings have to obey the almighty pair of God in their reactions and attitude to you.

[45:00] now you may see this with physicians and surgeons and nurses and sisters in the hospitals in the bed the Lord puts you in everything until it comes to that that you see the Lord's goodness in everything everything he gave you a knock there was a stroke of his rod an affliction a trial perhaps a severe experience or dispensation and yet the Lord comes in that chariot of trouble and he makes all his goodness pass before you and to your dying day you bless God for it wonderful isn't it so that wherever you are whatever the case the goodness of God you see it in your relationships your food your raiment the goodness of God so sweet oh the goodness of God you get into that bed tonight such a comfortable bed and then the spirit reminds you that your saviour had not where to lay his head now this goodness of God then that is complete comprehensive covers everything there are outstanding manifestations of it what the

[46:51] Lord has given you gifts favours blessings bestowed his supreme goodness do you you never cease to wonder at it never the home he has provided for you a spiritual home he has given you there's a father's house there's more in my heart than I than I can possibly express to you I feel it very much tonight well this supreme goodness of God and what is the background the background is the trinity the character of God the divine perfections of Jehovah the nature and essence of God love and what is the background as far as we're concerned his choice of us his prescience his foreknowledge and his eternal love to us the

[48:08] Lord appeared of old unto me saying yea I have loved thee with an everlasting love you'll know all his goodness therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee and what is the background as far as we're concerned as poor creatures it's a background of ruin sin shame guilt wanderings rebellions murmurings and that brings into bold relief the goodness of God to you you'll say scores of times in your soul why oh Lord such love to me amen amen