Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone (Quality: Good)

[0:00] The two tables of testimony in Moses' hand when he came down from the mount that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

[0:30] Those that were with us on the past Lord's Day will remember, I believe, as you are helped by the Spirit of God to remember that the subject was that which concerned Samson when we read this and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

[1:09] Now I felt on Saturday of last week that the Lord gave me two words. One we have sought to deliver on the past Lord's Day and now we come with the second word this evening.

[1:30] And so really the subject is centred in these words when he came down from the mount that the skin of his face shone.

[1:52] We have here a very sacred contrast to the word on the past Lord's Day.

[2:03] And we just mention the word once more concerning Samson. A very solemn word.

[2:17] Spoken concerning a servant of God. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

[2:28] And again in simple words it means that Samson was unaware of this that the Lord had departed from him.

[2:45] The solemn consequences of his sin. The awful effect. And yet we do know this that in his death as a deliverer for which God had raised him up in Israel but at his death he slew more than in his life.

[3:12] And we did at least attempt to make it clear that God restored him and favoured him even in death in which he is.

[3:30] I am sure that he is a type of Christ. Now here this evening we have again before us this that here the text speaks of another servant of God Moses.

[3:53] And what a contrast we have here. And I do need help to be able to speak from it. When he came down from the mount that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.

[4:11] You see here Moses was unaware that his face shone. I have been tempted during the day that one should not venture with such a word as this.

[4:34] We have been tempted that it is not a word that should be spoken from in public. and yet we can only venture.

[4:49] Now in this account here there is so much teaching. If only we may be favoured as it were to come to this teaching and that it might be made profitable to our souls this evening.

[5:10] here we have a dear servant of God who is just humbled in the dust brought to the feet of Jesus absolutely nothing in a very sacred place in his life and he and I do feel that the hymns which we have been singing already this evening that there is that in them which I trust we may be favoured to see how they do speak to us even in connection with this subject because one thing is certain and that is that Moses had been favoured with sacred revelation his God he had been in the mount with his

[6:21] God he had been favoured to commune with God the Bible tells us about this with regard to Moses and he was a very very favoured man although as God so highly favoured him he had correspondingly so much to bear he had so much to bear through the 40 years that he was a leader over the Lord's people he had so much to endure and yet on the other hand he was highly favoured and we are told in another place how God said concerning Moses that he had spoken to him face to face he had known this very sacred blessing and yet if only the Lord may help me to convey it to you what a very sacred blessing it is when poor sinners are favoured to commune with

[7:42] Jesus and under the gospel dispensation this is constantly set before us and so if you come to chapel this evening with the exercise contained in our first two hymns and the exercise really could be summed up in this Jesus reveal thyself to me and I hope to be able to tell you or to speak to you of what is needed in this Jesus now first of all Moses had been called up into the mount and if you look into the 24th chapter of this same book you will find there how God called Moses up into the mount and there he spent forty days and forty nights with

[8:49] God and while he was there God instructed him concerning the ark of the covenant he instructed him concerning the mercy seat he instructed him concerning the whole pattern of worship in the tabernacle and it was in the mount that Moses was favoured with this sacred instruction and dear friends if I know anything about these sacred things it is the same still to die God's servants need this when is it that people are made aware that God's servants are his servants when is it they are made aware that the Lord is speaking through them well I believe that this is made known as

[9:53] God's servants are still called into the presence of God in secret and the Lord knows what they must walk in and pass through that they might be led by the Spirit of God into that that is needed every time they stand up to preach they must be led that God would have them to preach now another thought is this God when Moses returned on that first occasion he returned to find that the children of Israel had fallen into idolatry they had said concerning Moses who was in the mount with his God as for this man

[10:54] Moses we what not what is become of him up let us make us gods and they made a calf of gold Aaron fell as it were at that time under the pressure that was put on him by the people and Aaron if we might say it with reverence almost lost his life because of this and you may remember that when Moses came down from the mount with the two tables of stone that God had written on which contained the ten commandments contained God's commands that Moses was so angry that he threw these stones down and they were broken and very solemn things happened there were those that perished because of their sin and

[11:58] Aaron when he was confronted by Moses concerning this he put it in such a way perhaps we would just turn back and read it this is what Aaron said to Moses let not the anger of my Lord wax heart thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief and I said unto them whosoever hath any gold let them break it off so they gave it me then I cast it into the fire and there came out this car now that dear friends is very solemn we might put it I feel like this that Moses as God's servant and we know we believe we know him to be a type of Christ but when

[12:59] God's presence was withdrawn as it were from the people how quickly they fell into sin how quickly they fell into this and as we noticed on the past Lord's day concerning the Philistines and how they came and they said that every one of them would give so many pieces of silver if Delilah was to betray Samson to them but here again Aaron you see he said to the people he asked them for any gold that they had their earrings and so on and what is there in this you see the people fell into idolatry they fell into idolatry now if we just seek to think of it like this for a moment

[14:07] Moses had come down from the mount on the first occasion and he had cast the tables of stone as he did and they were broken and solemn things took place God's judgments fell upon them but then the Lord was very merciful he was very merciful to them and may we notice how merciful he was because the Lord did not destroy them and Moses stood in the breach and they were spared but then you see after the Lord had mercy upon them as he did and you can read about it in the 33rd chapter but then we've read this in the 34th chapter and the

[15:10] Lord said unto Moses hear thee two tables of stone like unto the first and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest and be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai and present thyself there to me in the top of the Mount and no man shall come up with thee neither let any man be seen throughout all the Mount neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that Mount now here we have further truth Moses goes yet again into the Mount God called him once more into into the Mount that he might once more write upon the two tables of stone that he might give to his people his holy law that was needed for them under the

[16:18] Levitical dispensation and all the instructions that went with it what I would particularly notice is that Moses spends a further 40 days in the Mount we do not know exactly how long he would have been down from the Mount on the first occasion it could not have been but for a very short while and he goes again into the Mount and he spends a further 40 days in the presence of his God and when he returns the second time he does not return angered by the sins of the people but he returns in the way that we have recorded here when he came down from the mount that

[17:25] Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked now in all this what we would seek to convey is the mercy of God oh the mercy of God to sinners oh the mercy of God to his people truly we could come in here I feel with the psalmist in I believe it's psalm 103 where the dear man had to say this thou hast not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities but as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him and so it is here now we would notice this then that this sacred grace of mercy is centered in

[18:27] Christ it is centered in Christ we know and do we know has the Lord made us aware of this that out of Christ God is a consuming fire Moses at this time as a type of Christ he stood in the breach he pleaded with his God that the people might be spared and the Lord did spare them he chastised them oh he chastised them they suffered for their sins and so it is still and yet the Lord as it were so dealt with them in the exercise of truth that we find in more than one place where it says for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth my son despised not thou the chastening of the

[19:30] Lord neither be weary when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and the Lord chastened his people here but he spared them and he calls Moses yet again into the mount that he might fulfil his will now I believe we have a pattern here we have a pattern that is still being fulfilled in the lives of the Lord's people and what does the Lord do he still as it were calls his servants into his presence he instructs them he leads them into whatever is needed in and among his people and so the Lord directs his servants and brings them that they may proclaim his word just that that is needed from time to time and there are those of you here tonight that have proved this you proved this you have proved this in your life how

[20:53] God has led his servants into your path into the exercises of your soul and from time to time they have found you they have come where you are now it is because the Lord has directed them and has led them that they might do so now there's something very wonderful in this it's a very wonderful thing for any of God's servants to be so directed of the spirit that they are led into the very life and path and exercise of those that they preach to and it's also equally wonderful when the Lord also leads and teaches his dear people and he brings them indeed into paths that they have not known he does make darkness light before them and crooked things straight and these things he does do for them and does not forsake them and it is in this way that we keep proving

[22:04] God's great goodness and his mercy in Zion and what an encouragement it is to God's servants when they find that what the Lord has led them into and at times as they walk in deep paths in painful things and yet when they find that there's been a divine purpose in it well it was so here oh there was a purpose in it did you notice the way that God as it were received his servant on this second occasion and we I just read it to you once more and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and then there's a solemn word too and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation now where did all this bring

[23:34] Moses and Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worship and if we would know this evening and while I have been tempted that one should not speak from this word this evening and yet oh I know this that the Lord's dear people are brought into places in which they long to be blessed and how they long that the Lord would so favour them that their faces may shine we have a hymn that speaks of this and it comes in and make each face to shine in thee all blessings richly meet come then and give our souls a treat and let us feast indeed oh may we banquet with our

[24:37] King with our Jesus now it's this that will make our face shine it is this that will as it were fill our poor hearts with love and friends it's this that will make a person's face shine when their heart is filled with love it's the love of Christ that will make our face shine but when I so feel oh if the Lord might be pleased to use it but when I so feel is this you see poor Samson he wist not that the Lord had departed from him but he and Moses wist not that it well friends is there something in this that attracts our hearts oh is there something that attracts our hearts do you long that you might know something of this it is to be known the devil has suggested to me today that this was something special indeed it was in the life of

[25:40] Moses but I know this it is something that the Lord dear people long to know more of and it's something they long to know oh that they might be so blessed and yet to be unaware of it in this way that the Lord humbles them in the dust this is where Moses was brought oh the dear man was humbled in the dust his face shone because he had been in the presence of his God I believe he had communed with God in the mount and if we think of it another way for a moment if I understand this rightly Moses must have spent 80 days in the mount with God the first 40 days ended in the solemn way that it did but the second 40 days ended with

[26:45] Moses returning to the people returning as it were with blessing the people in between those two times of 40 days they had been humbled they had been chastened and yet God had so instructed Moses and I believe we could say that during that time that Moses was in and under this time of solemn testing and yet to Moses it was a time of sacred blessing what more sacred blessings could any person have than to hear the voice of God saying to them my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest what greater blessing could anyone have my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest and

[27:45] God caused his goodness to pass before him and God proclaimed the name of the Lord before him and he said and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy and then again you see Moses had been favoured in this that God had put him in the cliff of the rock so I would notice how God had favoured his servant and had sanctified the awful time of distress and again in the mount was to follow it what greater blessing could any poor sinner have than to know by the blessed spirits teaching and revelation that they too have been put in the rock Jesus reveal thyself to me there is and the

[28:50] Lord said behold there is a place by me 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 to the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by then the Lord takes him again into the mount and it was to this end that he might further instruct him when he came down from the mount that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him well another thought is this dear friends if we would be favoured with the Lord to bless us in our souls if we would know more of the love of Christ that passes knowledge if we would know this sacred blessing of revelation that we have been singing of this evening and if

[30:00] I just put it to you like this if there is one thing especially that will make our face to shine it's to have Jesus revealed to us Jesus revealed to us Jesus revealed as our Jesus Jesus revealed as our hope of glory to have Christ formed in our hearts our hope of glory and those of you here tonight that have known and I put it in this way moments sweet in blessing which before the cross you have spent life and health and peace possessing from the sinner's dying friend here it is I find my heaven while upon the lamb I gaze love I much I'm much forgiven

[31:00] I'm a miracle of grace so then if you would know more of this great blessing that our face might shine and yet to be unaware of it I have seen this I've been favoured to see this from time to time in my solemn position here as an under shepherd but dear friends I've seen the love of Christ shining in the hearts of poor sinners from time to time I believe there are those here you'll understand what I'm trying to convey and yet the people who've been favoured with this they've been unaware of it and yet their face has shone because Christ has been revealed to them and they have been blessed in their souls and what will it do for people when they are favoured in this way

[32:03] I can tell you what it will do for them it will make them long to be with Christ it will make them long to be with Christ it will take us as it were up to heaven oh it will separate us from the things of this dying world it will separate us from our sins at least while we are under the influence of the love of God made known through the Lord Jesus it will separate us from everything and everyone and I know it is a great thing to say and yet the Lord does bring his people here as he makes their face to shine when they're able to say for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain for me to die is gain when

[33:08] Christ has been first and last and all in all and when you've known just a little in your heart and you've been able to say this is my friend this is my beloved and this is my friend when the Lord Jesus has been made to you the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely when you have sat down under his shadow with great delight when you have really fed upon Christ in his word and Jesus speaking in his word and he's been made precious to you and then you've been able to say that he's been more precious than life and all its comforts are more precious than your daily food more precious than everything that there is in this world and

[34:11] I go a step further to say this when he's been more precious than anything else to your soul when he's been the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely oh Christ he is the fountain the deep sweet well of love the streams on earth I've tasted more deep I'll drink above have you ever known just a few moments when it's been like that I believe the Lord favoured me with just a touch of heaven in my soul when one was favoured to take dear Miss Hunniset the first person that we were favoured to baptise in this chapel back in 1970 and the dear lady as we went into the water that evening one was favoured with just a taste of heaven oh we certainly were a taste of heaven a sacred occasion never to be forgotten and so hear

[35:31] Moses when he came down from the mount that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him my words are very feeble but I'm thankful the Lord can bless his word but if we just think in closing tonight of the contrast as it were between Samson and Moses at these two particular times in their life both of them were God's servants and one to one it was said he'd fallen into sin he'd been carried away by his sin he'd been brought as he was through his sins and he wist not that the Lord had departed from him but what a contrast we have here when he came down from the mount that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him it was because he'd been communing with

[36:38] God one or two thoughts in closing Moses here was walking in the path that God had ordained for him you know dear friends if we are walking whatever we may be walking in whatever we may be carrying at this present time but if we are walking in the way that God has appointed for us and with his help we are seeking to walk in that way then we can as it were look to him that he may bless us and another thing was this Moses had to endure some solemn things and I'm sure that so often times of his special blessing and favour follow times of solemn testing and solemn temptation it is often the case and it is so that the

[37:46] Lord may make it known and that we may be able to say from our very heart what hath God wrought when he came down from the mount that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him and now one last word if we just are unable to think again of the contrast poor Samson the Lord had departed from him he had to go into the prison he had to grind in the prison and presently he was to lose his life and yet with Moses oh the difference favoured in his soul blessed as he was here and he wished not that the skin of his face shone and it was in this that the

[38:48] Lord was with him amen may be helped to conclude with him 991 the frめ and of the above c the m and the i r a new

[40:16] War Vermeer, O God of which the soul shall be open, O God of which the soul shall be Amen.

[41:41] Amen. Amen.

[42:41] Amen. Amen.

[43:41] Amen. Lord, thou knowest that we have been favoured to see and hear faces shine with the love of Christ.

[44:00] We thank thee, Lord, whenever we have been favoured to see this in others. Oh, may we yet see this, Lord. And we do pray that we might be favoured in our own soul.

[44:16] Lord, there is that in this that does so affect our own heart. Oh, to know more of what Moses knew, as he wist not that the skin of his face sharp.

[44:35] Lord, do bless thy word. Thou knowest where one has been today in these things. But oh, if it can please thee.

[44:48] Lord, do bless thy word. And do yet bless us here as a people with these sacred blessings. Jesus, reveal thyself to me, to us.

[45:02] Lord, it is this revelation of Christ to our souls that we so need. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God with the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

[45:24] Amen.