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The Greatest Blessing God Can Give: God Himself
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Pastor Alex Chen
Weekly Bulletin | Worship Lyrics
Exodus 34:9-17
Outline:
1. The God Who is Determined to Be with His (stiff-necked) People (v.9)
2. The God who Wins Our Worship (v.10-17)
3. The God who Takes this Relationship very Seriously (v.14-17)
The God Who is Determined to Be with His (stiff-necked) People (v.9)
· v.9 -- 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
a. “Stiff-neck” = Being very stubborn in sin, a very obstinate people
· Moses’ very Bold request: A holy God to dwell in the midst of such a sinful people.
a. Ex 33:3 -- 3 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 a stiff-necked people.”
b. Ex 33:5a -- 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you…
· The Key Question: How a holy God makes it so He is able to dwell in the midst of such a sinful people?
a. v.9 -- 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us,
· The Precious Doctrine of Intercession
a. “I” —> “Us”
b. The people of Israel having access to God has nothing to do with how pleasing they are to God, but all about how pleasing he (Moses) is to God.
c. How good it was to have Moses interceding for them How much better it is to have Christ interceding for us (Matt 3:17)!
· SUM) The focus in verse 9 is not Moses, but the God who put Moses there in Exodus 34.
a. The God of Exodus 34 is the very same God of Exodus 3, who called and sent Moses.
· The God who is Determined to Be with his (stiff-necked) People
The God Who Wins Our Worship (10-17)
· I will (3x)
o v.10-11 -- 10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
· You Shall (3x)
o v.13 -- 13 You shall tear down their altars
o v.14 -- for you shall worship no other god,
o v.17 -- 17 “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal
· Notice the Order: “I will” always precedes “you shall”
o Ex 3:12 -- 12 when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
o What God does in his great work of Salvation always precedes our grateful response in worship.
· The great mistake of getting this order wrong:
o The Reason why the Protestant Reformation was needed was b/c the Catholic church got this order wrong (prayers, confessions, penance), and therefore got the Gospel / Christianity wrong altogether.
· The God who fully Saves (Rom 8:30) Compels us to Respond in Worship
· The God Who Wins Our Worship
The God Who Takes this Relationship Very Seriously (14-17)
· A very shocking word: “Whore”
o v.15-16 -- 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
· But the absolutely right word b/c of v.14
o v.14 -- 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)
· The God who takes this relationship very Seriously