NOTES: Living Your Exodus, Part 4
Sermon: Living Your Exodus: Week 4: Don’t Go It Alone!
Date: Sunday, February 2, 2025
Text: Exodus 33:1-11
“The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 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. 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.” 4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 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. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ” 6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. 7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off 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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 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.”
Let’s Connect:
Life was never meant to be lived in a canvas ‘Barbie’ tent,
but joyously experienced within the vast expanse of His presence.
Revelation 21:3 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Scripture’s temple narrative:
John 1:14, “14 And the Word became flesh and (tabernacled) dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Text Explained:
Summary: Ex. 33:1-6- reveals Israel’s desperate need for God, and their inability for self-made holiness:
What are the ‘ornaments’ in our own lives that need to be surrendered?
1 Corinthians 6:19–20, “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The things in life that I believe are most life-giving, most necessary, are what I will most cling to.
Summary vs. 7-11: Israel sees the awesomeness and blessing of God’s presence and Moses intentionally drawing near to God.
How much is the Presence of God worth to you?
Ephesians 2:19–22, “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
We won’t have a growing sense of His presence
without a growing sense of dependence
The road to dependence often goes though places no one wants to visit
Summary of Exodus 33:13–16- God prepares Moses and Israel for his blessings by seeking God’s presence (seek first the Kingdom of God):
Mt. Sinai was never intended to the be the eternal location of God’s presence, but a symbol for us that points to Jesus as our tabernacle-dwelling with us.
The Take Out:
So, don’t go it alone!
Galatians 5:24–25, 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.(self-sufficiency) 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
A growing and constant awareness of our dependence:
Our Challenge:
“Pitch your tent”- separate from the chaos to be with God.”
Closing:
Jude 24–25, 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.