Well, tonight, if you're a visitor, this is sort of part two of the message from this morning that we started, we've been working through the book of Exodus, but it's such an important section that I felt it was important that you see a larger picture today in this because I didn't want to leave you in the midst of the question of, can God exercise mercy, and I want to make sure that we answer that today, and that's why I gave the passionate plea this morning, so that you would receive grace and help and strength in time of need. So this is Exodus 33 tonight, second book of the Bible, and we're going to read together the first 11 verses. This is in the middle of the golden calf event, Exodus 33. beginning at verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, to your offspring I will give it. I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are stiff-necked people. When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, say to the people of Israel, you are stiff-necked people. If for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you. Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, All the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant, Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I want you to imagine tonight, just for a moment, that God comes at some point in the course of your lives, and if you're sensitive at all to the things that you've done and the things that you've said, God comes to you at some point in the course of your life and says, that's it, I'm done. I am no longer with you in your life, it's over, I'm not going with you. Farewell. You chose this. You haven't taken this all very seriously. You've wrecked my worship. You haven't taken me seriously. You've refused my word. You've stiffened your neck. I'm done. I'm done. I don't know what kind of emotion comes over you, what you feel when you hear that or when you think about that. Can you even imagine such a thought? What would you do if God said to you, it's all over. I refuse to be with you. We sing this song all the time in worship. God Himself is with us. Let us now adore Him. We're used to that. We're used to saying, I will never leave you nor forsake you. It's one of the greatest comforting gospel words we get. Nope. Not going. You chose this. What would life be like without Him? We've never stopped and even thought about it. That millions and millions of people are going through this life without Him. You want to try that life? You'd fall apart. You'd realize in a moment that everything that really mattered, everything you've ever taken for granted, everything that you played fast and loose with, was gone. No chance of getting it back. Well, to some degree, this is the very thing that happened in what we just read about with Israel, wasn't it? The question at this point in our study of Exodus is, and we wrestled with this and we presented the dilemma this morning that God is just, and we have sort of accepted the notion that God must therefore set aside His justice to show mercy in our day, that God just forgives sins and just gives mercy and lets it all go. And we learned that's just not true, is it? God doesn't just set aside justice. They have rejected Him from being their God. I think we have to really think about what just happened at the golden calf event. The text here teaches us this and continues to show us this. And it leaves a giant question of where we are in the developing narrative tonight of on the edge of our seats we should be. How can God show mercy? Willie, that's the question to be answered. And I believe we see it tonight in three sort of ways. You'll see the old way forfeited. You'll see godly sorrow exhibited. And then you'll see a new way presented. And I hope that helps tonight to sort of break down the text so that you can see what's going on here. Let's begin then with the old way forfeited. It's been awful what's happened, picking up where we left off this morning, before Moses could even get down from the mountain, they have already broken the covenant. He hadn't even handed them, you think about it. He has the 10 words in his hands, he's coming down the mountain, and they had already promised back in chapter 20, we'll do all the words that you present to us. We promise to do that. We know what those words were. No other gods, don't make images, you can go right down the line, Don't take my name in vain. Keep the day holy. And notice that all four of those first commandments have utterly been trampled underfoot. They are at the bottom of Sinai and they have chosen another God to lead them. But they mingled together the worship of all they knew from Egypt and brought back in powerful, wow worship with rocking music. And they held up the calf and said, this is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. He did. And we've really been studying the power of idolatry in life. It's the reason the New Testament says, even the end of 1 John, the very last sentence of 1 John is, little children, keep yourself from idols. Paul, flee from idolatry. It's so powerful. And the Lord had sent Moses down and Moses had pulverized the calf and he had blown it to bits, throwing it in the fire, and then he made him drink it to taste its bitterness. you'll remember by this point in light of this morning, the Lord had begun to exercise discipline in the life of the congregation and the leaders of this insurrection have been taken out at this point, 3,000. Moses has had a plan at this point. He says, I'm going to go up. This sin is really bad. This is a great sin which you've committed. I'm going to go up and I'm going to try to atone for your sin. What a pastor. And so he goes up to the Lord and he makes no excuses like Aaron. He says, Lord, what they've done is awful. But if you'll forgive it, but if not, then I'll take their place. Blot me out of the book. And the proposal was turned down. Nope. I'm going to visit them. You can't do it, Moses. The Lord gave a dreadful statement. Whoever has sinned against me, I'm going to blot out of my book. There's a reason the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 3 calls this a ministry of death. Hopefully you're getting a sense of that. The Sinai, in its giving of the law and putting Israel under the law, brought a situation that they now couldn't get out of themselves. They have now broken the covenant. You remember in the New Covenant, in Jeremiah 31, it says, the new covenant I make with you, not as I made with them when I led them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. This is it. So be really thankful you're a new covenant. What a blessing to be in the new covenant. But we're learning all of this is a teaching tool for us not to do these things. And what would it be like to be under the law? If you had said, i'm going to keep the law and then you went out and stole something or you looked at a woman to lust or coveted or dishonored the the sabbath day they broke number one right out of the gates no other gods and it's over covenant's broken they're covenant breakers now i think it's helpful to remember the purpose of exodus remember what the purpose of the book of Exodus was? The purpose of the book of Exodus was deliverance from the land of Egypt so that God would come and be with them. This was the promise in Exodus. Think of chapter 29. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord, their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them i am the lord their god that's the whole point of the book i'm gonna be with them houston we have a problem if the purpose of exodus is god dwelling with his people you just read in the passage something startling didn't you so how can it even happen now how can he do it this is a big dilemma we'll look at verse one uh when we come to chapter 30 33 and the lord said to moses depart and go up from here you and the people whom you have by the way we've been studying this for a while now there was a play on this earlier remember you brought up moses said don't say that lord you brought them up what's the Lord saying depart from here you and the people you brought up that was the first thing they said Moses they had asked for another God didn't they God's returning and saying fine they don't get me you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying to your offspring I will give it I will send an angel before you I will drive out the Canaanites the Amorites Hittites Perizzites Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. And then just comes this startling statement. But I will not go with you. Trip's canceled for me. It's over. I'm not going. It's just one of these moments in Exodus where you're a little bit overwhelmed. It's a fascinating moment because in a sense, God had already proposed to Moses, I'm going to get rid of all these people and start over. And Moses says, you can't do that. You made promises to Abraham. So the Lord comes back and is saying, I know I made those promises. I'll do that, but I'm done. I thought we had made it through the golden calf event. We got through this already. when Moses this morning drew a line in the sand and said, stood at the entrance of the camp and said, whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. Give a gospel call. No one came, when nobody came except the Levites, that was a decisive moment in Israel's history where they made the direct choice to reject even the gracious call that had been given. They didn't want the Lord to be their God. And they had made it really clear that they didn't want that. They wanted the golden calf. And we have to then look at the entire Sinai event as always the greatest teaching event in the Old Testament to teach us about the nature of sin outside of the fall and the problem of a broken covenant. When Moses takes the law and smashes the tablets at the foot of the mountain, it was a symbolic act, it's broken. And that's why it's important to make some kind of distinction between what was promised to Abraham and what's going on here with Moses. When they were put under that law, they promised to do it all. And they didn't do any of it. They didn't even get beyond the foot of the mountain. They had decided for another God. The text is helping us tonight, Exodus 33, understand this, that when they rejected the Lord, the whole story of the Old Testament would be that His glory ended up departing from Israel. If you've ever wondered, boys and girls, about Ezekiel 1, and you have the cherubim and this big wheel description with rims that are rolling, it's a rolling chariot throne, and the glory departs from the temple. At the end of Exodus, the glory comes down on the temple. By the time it's done, the glory has departed from the temple. The point is, that was the story with the nation of Israel in rejecting the Lord. And God keeps telling us this. They are like farm animals. When he uses the word stiff-necked, you'll notice there it was twice. You tell them they're stiff-necked. God was saying they're like farm animals who refuse to shoulder the plow. so the text says this you take him up Moses whom you brought I'll send an angel not my angel I'll send an angel an ordinary angel I'm not going no more the very thing they wanted a new God to deliver them and bring them to the land they saw it they exchanged the Lord and now his presence is gone it's painful, isn't it? Can you imagine? Maybe it's not as foreign as we think. In some sense, isn't this what sin does to us? Don't you experience this to some degree in your life? When you sin, it has a defiling effect, doesn't it? You feel defiled. And we hold on to idols and give devotion and care to them and our hearts harden to the Lord. And then we bring upon ourselves often, not in every case that this happens, but we bring upon ourselves because of sin, depression, isolation, loneliness. The overwhelming sense we experience is a sense that God's presence is gone. Sin has brought alienation. That's what sin results in. You know our canons of Dort say this. I want you to listen to this. By such enormous sins that very highly offend God, they incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith, very grievously wound the consciences, And sometimes lose a sense of God's favor for a time until on their returning in the right way of serious repentance, the light of God's fatherly countenance again shines on them. You know, that's a real experience you ever felt? I know I've chosen things and my heart's hard and then you wonder why God seems so distant. Our canons describe it. Sin brings this. Canons go on to say, God doesn't wholly withdraw His Holy Spirit from His people, even in their melancholy falls, nor suffers them to proceed so as to lose the grace of adoption, or forfeit the state of justification, or commit sins unto death, nor does He permit them to be totally deserted, or to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction. But you all know, you've experienced a sense that God has departed. All of us have gone through that. Where's God? Well, think about for a minute in the Old Covenant. You've broken the covenant. What do we do? I'm not going. What is the first thing that the text now says begins to start happening in Israel? Sorrow. i said this morning this is why we have to be balanced in preaching with the love of god the wrath of god if we're not balanced you'll never produce sorrow in people you'll never get there that's the chief problem in the church today everything's love everything's kind everything's comfort everything's a word of encouragement everything's grace grace grace grace grace grace grace so that we never now even know how to godly sorrow for sin that song we sang out how uncomfortable was that that psalm in thy wrath and hot displeasure lord chasten not thy servant you don't want to sing that you have to it has such a healthy effect to know the other side of the story doesn't it justice in verse 4 when the he people heard the notice that text here in chapter 33, disastrous word. You know, we're so used to good news. Gospel means good news. It really means bad news. When they heard the bad news, they got bad news, bad report, disastrous word. Disastrous. I'm done with you. You'll notice that there. When they heard the disastrous word. They mourned. And no one put on his ornaments. Those were all the ornaments that they had put on for the calf. Remember? They had decked themselves out for worshiping the calf. Being under the law is bad news. Do you imagine what went through the camp that day? Imagine how the news traveled. You think news travels fast in our circles. did you just hear? God's not going. God's not going on the trip. It's over. We're going to get there, but He's not even with us anymore. We've got to do this on our own. Moses, God tells him through Moses, you tell them, Moses, they're stiff-necked and I could consume them in a moment. In fact, if I come among them, they need to know this. If I come among them, they're toast. I will consume them. So you tell them to take off their ornaments that they might know, that I might see what, that they may know what to do to you. That I may know what to do. I'm struggling with tonight the sorrow. Taking off the jewelry was obviously a sign of repentance. If they meant it, it was, we better not do this, and we no longer can worship this calf. But I thought in this connection, something that Paul said that helped. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death. So were they sorry now because God had given them all these things? God had been so good to them in giving them all these things and now they've got to do this on their own? Or were they sorry because they really started to realize we've lost the source of life? There's two kinds of mourning. There's one that leads to real change in somebody's life and it's the kind of sorrow that is a life that turns away from sin and comes to the Lord in repentance and faith that you're so burdened, you end up like David when your sin is confronted, as we looked at this morning, against you and you only have I sinned and done what's evil in your sight, that you may be blameless when you judge and just when you condemn. There's another kind, the sorrow that fills the pain and shame of loss that sin has brought to your life. You got caught. It's the sorrow you see when someone gets caught in their sin and then it just opens up their life and they have to deal with all the mess and the consequences of that. That's not godly sorrow. Well, here's Israel. What is it? Time will tell. What have they lost? They've lost the blessing of God's presence. So put yourself in their shoes just for one more moment. You're going on now for the rest of your life. Hospital bed, can't be sure God's going to be with you. Fall into all kinds of trials, can't be sure God's going to be with you. What kind of sorrow would that produce in you? What kind of sorrow? What kind of sorrow fills our lives about sin? We're left hanging here. What are we going to do? Will God show mercy? Can he? Can he go among them? I'm back to the issue this morning, aren't I? How can he show mercy with this problem of his justice? Because if he goes among them, he'll consume them. How? If I go with you, I will consume you. I've got to stay at a distance from you because you've sinned and chosen willfully to worship a different God. See the problem. So the old way is forfeited. Godly sorrow exhibited, I'm trusting. But now what happens? It's a really interesting moment in Exodus. I think a fascinating moment in Exodus at verse 7. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting. What? And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise. Each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone to the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. I want you to notice what just happened. A whole new tabernacle just got put up. I mean, this is really a big moment in Exodus, isn't it? A whole new tent of meeting just went up. They didn't even get the first one built. That's in the coming chapters. Now, this might be confusing to you because both are called the tabernacle of meeting, aren't they? The tent of meeting. But the one that we've been studying hasn't been built. The building plans are in Moses' hands. But now we have one set up way outside the camp. I mean, this is remarkable. before all the others, before the other tabernacle, before all the other stuff, now this one is set up. And Moses would go out in front of all the people. He would leave the sanctuary, if you will, and he would go out down Broadway, and he would set up a little tent over at Escondido High School. Well, not really, but you see it. And Moses would go in and he would speak to God. And everyone would then be really fascinated by this. What's going on? What's going on? And what a verse. And everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. Now, a great contrast. Moses stood up this morning and said, They didn't go in the camp. Moses was still on the outside of the camp. Come to me. Whoever wants to come to the Lord, come. Sets up a tent. People are starting to come. Come to me. What is this? What is this? Let me put it this way. What should have happened to the people? Well, the whole camp's defiled. Anytime anyone in the camp in Israel's history was defiled, where were they to go? Outside the camp. Lepers went outside the camp. Thieves went outside. Anyone who was impure went outside the camp. Well, God just said, I can't come into the camp or I'll consume you. The law exposed their sin, their shame, everything they had done. And if He remained there, He would consume. They had broken the covenant. They should have been put outside the camp. The camp was the holy camp. In all of Israel's history, any unclean person was always symbolically taken and removed outside the camp. What just happened? Well, it's overwhelming. The camp's totally defiled. God has been shamed. God has been ridiculed. God has been scorned. God has been rejected. They should have been put outside. But instead, the cloud covers this tent away from the camp and there Moses speaks with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend. What is this designed to teach? You know what the Levites also did in their ministry? they weren't just executors of discipline the levites on the day of atonement blood was brought into the most holy place and a declaration was made only through the death of the blameless substitute can anyone come before god you know what they did after that they would take the bodies of those animals which were unclean remember they took them outside of the camp to make one thing very clear the substitute would become unclean for them blood went bodies went outside the camp to be burned so that everyone would know those bodies are unclean, who just went outside the camp? Yahweh. Moses tried. I'll be the propitiation. I'll try to atone Lord. No, you can't do it. Are you getting this? He should have put them outside, But instead, he goes outside and sets up a tent. That means that the clean, just symbolically before their eyes became unclean, the just for the unjust, that we might rightly say, the clean was made unclean so that the unclean might be made clean. Moses said, I'll try. God said, no. God goes outside the camp and now you know the story. I've repeated this a few times in the course of this and this is where we'll close tonight. When Jesus came in John 1, do you know what was said of His body? The Word became flesh and He tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He made a special way for the guilt to be forgiven. Now, I'm going to show this to you and we'll close. You have to see it, so please turn there. Turn to Hebrews. I'll get you the page number. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. And that's on page 1286 in your pew Bible. Look at verse 10. 1286, we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. Different altar. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice of sin are burned outside the camp. Ready? So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Let me make sure we get this. What happened on Mount Sinai, Israel said we reject the Lord from being our God. What did God do? He departed from the camp. He pitched his tent outside the camp. Why? Jesus Himself was rejected by His own people when He came here. The whole thing was polluted, full of idolatry. And what did they do to Him? Horrible shame. They rejected Him. They ridiculed Him. They mocked Him. They made their own idols. They spit on Him. They hid Him. They shamed Him. They ridiculed Him. They stripped Him. And then what did they do to His body? They took it outside to say He's unclean. and they hung Him on a cross. The Gospels tell you over and over, Jesus died outside the gate of the city. He was expelled from the community. Died far from it. Declared unclean to be the atonement. Now, do you understand what it says? only those who sought the Lord went outside the camp and Moses interceded. And a man named Joshua comes to and now into the picture whose name means what? It's the same name as Jesus, to save. But I want you to listen to Hebrews' application of that. Therefore, let us go forth to Him outside the camp bearing his reproach for here we have no continuing city but we seek the one to come therefore by him let us continually offer sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name that's the message tonight anyone who wants to be with god in a meaningful way who sincerely desires forgiveness and to know the love of God and to know the peace of forgiveness you got to go to him outside the camp what does that mean you're bearing his reproach let me explain that you have to recognize that for you to be saved he had to come himself and take your place and all that shame of your ridicule and your mock and your spitting you put him unclean outside the camp so he's saying if you're going to be saved you've got to identify with him you've got to bear that reproach you've got to come to your Lord and accept He was made an outcast for you. That's how bad the situation was. He was murdered and put on the cross outside the camp for you. And now calls all who want to be saved to come to Him and leave behind the idolatry of a polluted life. You know what happens when Moses exhibited this? He spoke to God as a man speaks with his friend. Friend. Remember what Jesus said? No longer do I call you slaves. For a slave does not know what his master is doing, but I've called you friends. For all things that I heard from my Father, I've made known to you. Jesus wants you to know God's with you. And when you come to Him, that is the new and living way. You understand when we come to worship now and we come in Hebrews 10 and I open up the service and I say this in Hebrews 10, I say something about worship that you understand now. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain that is through His flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart. That's what He wants from you in worship. A sincere, true heart. In full assurance of faith, He wants you to believe and know He loves you. With your heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, And your bodies, having gone out to his body, washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope for he who promised is faithful. And he tells you tonight that all who come boldly to the throne of grace, you're going to obtain mercy and you're going to get help in time of need. Isn't that good news after all this? The best news you'll ever get. Hope you go on that strength this week. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, You didn't have to do this. You could have left us in this misery. Abandoned and alone in the misery that we chose. But God got off the throne and came down to this earth and bore our shame. The just for the unjust. The clean became unclean. So that all who come to the Lord Jesus this day know His love, forgiveness, and peace. And to know, as Jesus said, You will never leave us nor forsake us. So that now as we go on in life, on our deathbeds, whatever thing we go through, You're indeed with us. We can call out to You. And You will give mercy. And we will find grace to help in time of need. Thank You for such a precious promise. forgive us our sins and thank you for instructing us in the word of truth in Jesus name we pray Amen