Rev. David Holwick ZL Exodus series, #19
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 22, 2009
Exodus 33:13-23
SEEING GOD'S BACKSIDE
I. Sometimes God seems so far away.
A. As Yeats said, it's no country for old men.
The 2007 movie "No Country For Old Men" is set in Texas, 1980.
Josh Brolin plays a blue-collar welder who, while out hunting,
stumbles across the scene of a drug deal gone bad.
Bodies are everywhere, and in the distance sits a case with
$2 million in cash - and a hidden transponder.
He runs with the money only to be pursued by a hitman who is
the incarnation of mindless evil.
It's a grim film with harsh landscapes and little music.
Tommy Lee Jones, a sheriff who is trying to stem the carnage
flowing from the drug trade and society's disintegration in
general, feels overmatched.
At one point he says, "I always figured God would sort of come
into my life in some way. He didn't."
There is little in the way of redemption in the movie.
In a classic scene, the hitman enters a forlorn gas station
and demands the owner call the flip of a coin.
It is obvious that if he calls it wrongly, he will be killed.
The old man is one of the few lucky ones in the movie - he lives
to tell about it.
In this hard country, good guys hardly stand a chance.
#31528
B. Moses felt like Tommy Lee Jones.
1) He has been given a great mission by God, but the people
aren't backing him up.
2) Because of the golden calf, God has decided to distance
himself from the Israelites.
a) As God says in verse 3, he won't be going with them
like he did in the past.
b) He would have an angel lead them, and even give them
victories over their enemies, but the divine presence
will be gone.
3) What about Moses? Would he be shut off too?
a) He shows that being close to God is all that matters.
b) How close can we really be to him?
II. Getting God back.
A. Even the people are stunned that God is withdrawing.
1) They repent and take off their jewelry.
2) No more reminders of golden calves. 33:5-6
3) But also, no guarantee that God will change his mind.
B. Moses sets up a special place, a tent, to meet God. 33:7
1) He sets it up outside the regular camp, perhaps so he can
distance himself from the people, too.
2) This tent is different from the tabernacle.
a) It is called the tent of meeting.
b) Only Moses would use it.
3) The sole purpose of the tent is to commune with God.
a) God spoke to Moses "face to face" there. 33:11
1> This must be figurative because verse 23 says no
one can see God's face.
b) The expression describes intimate communication.
1> As verse 11 says, they talked as friends.
C. Without God, Moses wouldn't go. 33:15
1) God's presence was the distinguishing mark of the Jews.
a) It wasn't their chosenness, something God did
once-for-all in the past.
b) His continuing presence with them was the key.
2) Since God has called this into question, Moses wants some
reassurances.
III. Teach me your ways. 33:13
A. Moses needed to know God was on his side.
1) Was God pleased with him? 33:16
2) Many people wonder if they are right with God.
Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds
back in the mid-1970's.
He was also the manager of the Detroit Tigers the year the
Tigers won the World Series.
In an interview with a major Detroit newspaper he said this:
"...I'm not lying when I say that [religion] is so
important to me.
If I had one great wish, it would be that I could honestly
say that I was one of His [God's] people.
That's the one emptiness I have.
I'd give up all the pennants and all the honors just to know
that I was doing right by Him."
#26093
B. God was willing to provide some evidence.
1) The cleft in the rock.
a) The classic hymn "Rock of Ages" is based on this
episode.
b) Moses would get to see God, but only a glimpse.
1> The language is very anthropomorphic - God's hand,
back and face.
2> Other verses tell us, you can't see God's form
and live. (even earlier in this chapter)
c) But Moses got to see something, and it was enough.
2) What did Moses see?
a) Not so much a form, as God's character.
b) Verse 19 says God's goodness would pass by him.
c) He is the God of mercy and compassion. 33:19
C. Centuries later, another man came to this cleft. 1 Kings 19
1) The prophet Elijah had a stupendous victory on Mt. Carmel,
then lost his nerve when Jezebel threatened him.
2) Discouraged, he journeyed down to the Mount Sinai and
found a cave.
a) Many think it is the "cleft in the rock" that Moses
was protected in.
b) In the same way, God passed by him.
1> But it wasn't what he expected.
A> There was wind, and earthquake and fire.
B> But God wasn't in any of these.
2> It was in a gentle whisper - what the King James
calls a "still, small voice" - that God appeared.
IV. How much of God can we know?
A. Many Christians speak confidently of their experiences.
1) They talk to him, say they see him.
2) Is this just wishful thinking or a vivid imagination?
B. I think the reality is more like what Moses saw.
1) We catch a glimpse, a faint one, but a real one nonetheless.
2) The Apostle Paul calls it seeing through a glass darkly.
(NIV - seeing a dim reflection in a mirror). 1 Cor 13:12
3) We can see enough of him to know he's real.
V. It is easy to get discouraged.
A. The world is changing rapidly.
1) Old values are eroding.
2) Many have doubts if the old faith is still valid.
B. The homosexual debate is one expression of this.
1) The Bible presents a clear, consistent picture.
a) God made humans to operate a certain way.
b) You shouldn't deviate from that.
c) The homosexual lobby wants to rewrite this.
2) Despite conservative wins at the voting booths, the tide
seems to be against us.
a) Homosexual marriage is now labeled "Marriage Equality"
and opponents must be haters and bigots.
b) Yet as a commentator wrote this week in the Star Ledger,
homosexual marriage is something that no nation
considered twenty years ago.
1> It is not a small thing to change thousands of years
of tradition overnight.
2> But they are trying their best.
3) The changes would run deep.
a) Even gender is no longer cut-and-dried.
1> Several schools have faced the issue of boys who
want to wear female clothing and wigs.
2> Who is to say he can't?
b) You see, homosexual marriage is not really about
treating gay people decently.
1> It is about letting people decide, on their own,
what is acceptable behavior.
2> And you are expected to go along with it.
This week a lesbian boss told a Christian
working under her about her upcoming marriage.
He was uncomfortable and tried to change the
conversation.
But she continued to press him, and he admitted he
thought gay marriage was wrong.
He was then fired for harassment.
c) It is no longer enough to give rights - you must give
agreement.
1> And the courts will be enforcing it.
2> It makes me feel like Tommy Lee Jones, powerless
the stem the relentless tide.
C. God is still God.
1) God is in heaven and he can be known.
2) His values still stand and always will.
VI. We don't need drama - we need God.
A. The story of Sundar Singh.
At the turn of the last century, a young Sihk boy in India
lost his mother.
His name was Sundar Singh.
In his grief and anger, he turned against local Christians.
He persecuted them and ridiculed what they believed.
He went so far as to buy a Bible and burn it page by page
in his home while his friends watched.
Three nights later when he was by himself, Sundar loudly
asked who was the true God.
If the true God didn't show Himself that night, he would
go down to the railroad tracks and commit suicide.
Before the break of dawn, Singh saw a vision of Christ with
His pierced hands.
Sundar went on to be a powerful missionary in northern
India, dressing like a local holy man.
It is presumed he was martyred for his faith in 1929.
When he reflected on his faith, he made this observation:
"For the first two or three years after my conversion, I used
to ask for specific things.
Now I ask for God.
Supposing there is a tree full of fruits -- you will have to
go and buy or beg the fruits from the owner of the tree.
Every day you would have to go for one or two fruits.
But if you can make the tree your own property, then all the
fruits will be your own.
So don't ask for gifts but for the Giver of Gifts.
... not for life but for the Giver of Life.
Then life and the things needed for life will be added unto
you."
#4129
B. Do you want what these men wanted?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 4129 "Sundar Singh On Prayer," Christian Quotation Of The Day;
<http://www.gospelcom.net/cqod>, June 22, 1997.
#26093 "Doing Right By Him," by Croft M. Pentz, www.sermoncentral.com
email newsletter, November 15, 2003. The original source is
Pentz’s “The Complete Book of Zingers” (Wheaton: Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., 1990). SermonCentral.com got it by way of
Russell Brownworth’s sermon “The Woman at the Well.”
#31528 "Evil Thrives Where God Is Absent In NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN," by
Christian Hamaker, <http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/11559002/>.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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