God Truly Loves Us, and He'll Prove It!

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to the book of Exodus. If you're visiting with us, that black Bible in the chair in front of you. Start at Genesis and then Exodus and find page 67.

[0:16] Page 67. And we'll start in chapter 34. Exodus 34. Exodus chapter 34. And we're gonna start at verse 10 and go to the end of the chapter to verse 35.

[0:32] Exodus 34. Starting verse 10 through 35. Yes, Chloe had the baby, so we are grandparents now. My walker is in the back behind over here.

[0:46] So, Aaron, where's my walker? I thought I told you to leave it right there. Come on. They have a wheelchair over here for me too. Just in case. Yes, we're happy for them.

[0:57] So, we're glad that they're not here. I was kind of hoping they weren't gonna be here. You guys are finally coming, right? Rest, rest, rest. Exodus chapter 34, verse 10 through 35.

[1:11] Let's start reading. Verse 10. Then God said, Look, I'm going to make a covenant. Look, I'm going to make a covenant. Before all your people, I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth, nor among any of the nations, and all the people among whom you live will see the working of Yahweh for it is a fearful thing that I'm going to perform with you.

[1:33] Observe what I am commanding you this day. Look, I'm going to drive out the Amorite before you and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst.

[1:52] But you're to tear down their altars and smash their pillars and cut down their aserim for you shall not worship any other god for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god.

[2:07] Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods and someone invite you to eat of his sacrifice and you take some of his daughters for your sons and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons to play the harlot with their gods.

[2:26] You shall make for yourself no molten gods. 18. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days you're to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you at the appointed time in the month of Abib.

[2:39] For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt, the first offspring from every womb belongs to me and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep and you shall redeem with the lamb the first offspring from a donkey.

[2:53] If you do not redeem it then you shall break its neck and you shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before me empty handed. You shall work six days and the seventh day you shall rest during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.

[3:09] 22. And you shall celebrate the feast of weeks the first fruits of the wheat harvest and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year.

[3:20] Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before Yahweh your God.

[3:35] You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread nor is a sacrifice to the feast of the Passover to be left over until morning. You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of Yahweh your God.

[3:49] You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. 27. Then Yahweh said to Moses write down these words for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

[3:59] So he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant the ten words. And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him.

[4:23] So Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses look the skin of his face was shining and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him and Moses spoke to them thirty two and afterward all the sons of Israel came near and he commanded them everything that Yahweh had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.

[4:49] When Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil over his face but whenever Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him he would take off the veil until he came out and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses that the skin of Moses' face shone so Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with him.

[5:16] It's called anhedonia anhedonia which in short means emotional flatlining no feelings of joy happiness gratitude interest excitement connection love caring positive anticipation or even grief sorrow listed as a symptom of depression anhedonia excuse me it is a loss of interest and activities that used to be enjoyable and a reduced capacity to feel pleasure so it's treated with depression as one condition people have these feelings or I should say there's no feelings we can end up doing this with God we can end up thinking this way towards God in other words when we're experiencing extreme pain suffering heartache tribulation or trials we feel like there is no emotional feelings from God we feel like he has emotional flatlined he doesn't care he's forgotten me have you ever felt that way that he's far away that you pray and like it hits the ceiling and comes back down there's no love

[6:49] God is emotionally flatlined when we sin this can bring this upon we can feel this way too when we sin we feel like God runs away from us and there's repentance from our hearts but it's like he doesn't want to listen it's like we feel like he's punishing us no don't talk to me right now type thing whether it's suffering or sin we feel like God has abandoned us that we pray and it goes nowhere that was the potential with Moses here that was the potential with Israel they would think that God is emotionally flatlined he's not here with us now he's not going with us now so Moses said and from verse nine I pray go with us so Yahweh saw that potential which is why we come here to this part in Exodus the title being this

[7:59] God truly loves us and will prove it it's not just words friends it's not just words that God says the compassionate gracious God slow to anger abounding in steadfast love forgiving thousands blah blah blah blah blah those are just words no he truly does love us and he's going to prove it statements for you God truly loves us and guess what Jesus is the living proof of God's great love you want a living proof Jesus the shining glorious Lord Jesus Christ is the living proof of God's great love for his people Jesus is who is the vivid display of God's glory and goodness is the very proof that God loves us and is jealous for us to love him he wants you to want him which is why he's going to love you so you will love him

[9:11] Jesus is the vivid display of God's goodness the glorious display of God's grace the glorious goodness of God's mercy and love is found in Jesus he's the proof that God loves us and that God is jealous he wants you to want him he wants you to want him above everything and anything else another statement God is jealous of our love for him and he shows that by truly loving us as his people the proof of his deep love for us is the fulfilled promise of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ that's what we're going to see the covenant was renewed due to Moses being a faithful intercessor that's our

[10:11] Lord Jesus Yahweh was fully persuaded by Moses intercession to not just renew the covenant but I'm going to go with you affirm he's going to go with them and then I'm going to do great miracles amongst you yet he warned them to guard themselves against idolatry because he's jealous I want you to want me so I'm going to love you so you love me that's how God does things so after all this intercession Yahweh truly does respond with mercy grace love and forgiveness he willingly and joyfully concedes to go with Israel what a good God it's not just empty words it's not just blah blah blah blah blah it's words that mean something which actually leads to our first point Yahweh speaks action words of love

[11:15] I'm going to do this and this and this and this bing bing bing bing bing verse 10 and 11 behold I'm going to make a covenant this is not a new covenant it's a renewal of the covenant that was broken remember chapter 24 remember that they said oh that the Lord said we will do and then they broke the covenant when the beautiful making of that wonderful glorious golden calf they broke the covenant but you notice here look I'm going to make a covenant before all your people I'll perform miracles wait a second Yahweh privately revealed to Moses his intention of renewing the covenant and it was only Yahweh who acted to do this the people didn't vow obedience the people didn't say all that the

[12:16] Lord says we're going to obey it's just simply Yahweh showing speaking action words I'm going to do this I'm going with you just to Moses and keep in mind you're talking covenant here in the ancient Near East when you have this covenant and one party breaks the covenant the other party will be totally right to abandon the other person and the covenant we're done every right to do that Yahweh unilaterally decided to withdraw his rights and extend mercy even though he could walk away from them since they broke in the covenant they breached the covenant even more Yahweh displayed his gracious merciful loving merciful forgiveness by not only embracing Moses intercession and renewing the covenant verse 10

[13:19] I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations all the people among whom you live they're going to see me work and they're going to say holy cow check that out that's from the jive version the new american standard says it's a fearful thing that I'm going to perform with you Israel was fully forgiven and restored and instead of God looking to the past well he doesn't do that he looks to the future promising to go with them promising to do miracles and then he says verse 11 observe what I'm commanding you I'm going to drive out the Amorite Canaanite Hittite I'm going to do it I'm going to drive them out I'm going with you I'm going to do these great things I'm going to drive out the nations action words and then notice what happens what moves in this direction starting from verse 12 to verse 28 so now

[14:22] Yahweh commands us to love him I want you to want me so I'm going to love you so you will want me love you so you will love me because you should love me says the Lord because I'm the best thing around somebody said to me well isn't it greedy for God to do that I mean what's the difference between Satan and God you know because Satan he's kept going wait wait stop stop time out it's one thing to want that it's another thing when you got that he's all oh I get it because God is all that it's not that God wants that God is all that he don't need you he don't need anybody because God is God as R.C.

[15:07] Sproul says God is God you are not very simple God is God you are not God so he says I want you to want me he commands us to love him verse 12 watch yourself here's the covenant stipulations practically these laws are verbatim from chapter 23 and even chapter 25 except it's different though from chapter 23 and chapter 25 things are reversed because first here in chapter 34 there's the warning against idolatry and then the commands about the feast the Sabbath blah blah blah and why well because of the whole golden calf incidents that's why the whole watching yourself against idolatry comes first because remember that whole thing that happened guys a few days ago that's why I'm telling you this now let's move forward so he says avoid idolatry paganism or any interaction with pagan nations around them who might tempt them into idolatrous activity make every effort to keep yourselves from this evil verse 13 tear down their altars smash their pillars cut down the asherim they were sacred poles to the goddess asherah she was a mother goddess a fertility goddess don't give her credit look at verse 17 you shall make for yourself no molten gods remember that whole golden calf incident where he made a molten god remember that guys that's why he says it here but for the first time in exodus and a theme that you see starts here and continues throughout the rest of the old testament is this idea of harlotry prostitution when you go after other gods verse what 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they play the harlot with their gods sacrifice to their gods so I invite you to eat of his sacrifice verse 16 you take some of his daughters for your sons and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons to play the harlot with their gods

[17:37] Yahweh introduced the idea that worshipping idols was just like prostitution so Israel notice is was Yahweh's bride so be faithful to me because I'm jealous for you verse 14 for you shall not worship any other god for Yahweh whose name is jealous is a jealous god I don't know if you pray this I mean when was the last time you prayed dear jealous oh jealous that's his name right he's jealous well this seems kind of wrong for God to do that are you married maybe maybe say that because you're not married you should know that aren't you jealous not for your spouse to love you I'm going to love you because I want you to love me I want you to want me sacred prostitution was truly part of the pagan sanctuaries they would do that so don't intermarry with them because guess what you guys will go down that road

[18:45] Yahweh was jealous for Israel's love and he showed his jealousy by loving them he wanted them to love him because he's the best he's the one who should be first and foremost in our lives this is where addictions comes in this is where desires come in your desire for comfort for pleasure for security for safety for control for power all those things that are not necessarily bad things good desires you have will rear its ugly head and will become your idol you'll say I not just need this I want this I have to have this you better give this to me now that's your idol and now you're committing idolatry no you're committing adultery against your God who wants you to want him more than alcohol more than drugs more than a person more than a relationship more than anything else that you would want you want me more than anything else we come to the place where we see that

[19:49] God is the one who's going to give us the most pleasure more than anything else of the gifts that he gives to us God is jealous of our love for him and he shows that by truly loving his people and we're going to look at this in a moment the proof of his love is the promise of the person and work of Jesus Christ we'll see that in a moment but all these things he goes through not doing this not doing this not doing this this this is likened to the New Testament concept of putting off the old person don't do this don't do this don't do this they were called not to do this or that that's what God calls us to do a way to display our love for God is to put off the old person and its evil practices because the old person and its evil practices that's when idolatry begins to take effect in our lives put off the old put off those things and then you have verses 18 through 26 put on you have a little bit of a put off but most of them is put on it says you shall observe the feast you shall do this you shall do that do this do this do this do this do this do this specific ways they show themselves to be distinct from the other nations to be holy these are specific ways

[21:10] Israel could focus themselves upon Yahweh as their God to be reminded of him and what he's done for them that's why they had to feast that's why they had Passover Israel needed more than simply don't do this they also needed to do this the way this would happen was through the feasts that they would celebrate remembering the Sabbath remembering that they're distinct you should be so different how different verse 26 you shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk what shoot I did that yesterday what am I going to do now great I just broke the covenant you missed the point in the ancient near east this is kind of the thing that they would do you should be so different to the point where you don't boil a kid in smother's milk you're holy you're not like the other nations you're not like them you're my people and another way that it shows you want me says the

[22:25] Lord that's how you're going to show it not the only way but a key way again it remind them of Yahweh as their God and all the mighty things he done for them take your first offspring what verse 19 and verse 20 it reminded them of the firstborn that was slain in Egypt remember that that's why they had to do that's why they celebrated this how God was so merciful to them to spare them their firstborn that's why you did this you remembered God's mercy that's why you do this it was to remind them of being God's holy people and likened to the New Testament concept of putting on the new person you put off and you put on this concept that we see in the New Testament it's just not new it's what they did in the Old Testament it was just specific with the nation and different ceremonial things that they would do but the whole concept of you put off and you put on is still the same

[23:27] God gives us actions to take to help us make him number one in our lives it's not simply about putting off sin you put on goodness I want you to want me he's commanding them to love him and as I said this sets the stage for the rest of the Old Testament as well as what we deal with in the New Testament for us as New Testament believers this whole concept of falling into idolatry in spite of Israel's our pattern of falling to idolatry what does Yahweh do God always remains faithful to the covenant always though he disciplines his own and sometimes that whacker hurts on the backside he uses it in love to call us back to himself and

[24:29] Yahweh calls us back because he's jealous of our love devotion desires and pleasures he wants all our focus all our effort all our attention he wants us to make him number one in our lives no matter what look the power and the lure of the sin of idolatry it is besetting yet God in his grace calls us back and gives us the power to come back so God is speaking these action words he commands his people to love him and in the midst of that look at verse 27 and 28 Yahweh says to Moses write down these words just like before Moses wrote down the words of the covenant this is the book of the covenant notice it words but it's not just the ten words it's all inclusive the ten words includes not just the ten commandments but everything involved with that and notice he was up there 40 days and 40 nights notice this is a tangible reminder of how

[25:32] God was renewing the covenant write it down remember Moses you broke those things because it showed that they broke the covenant write these things down and bring it down to the people to show them here's another tangible reminder that I love you right here though it emphasized highlights this is the book of the covenant everything all inclusive and here's the great part putting on our New Testament glasses on as well and now we live in the new covenant and God has also spoken to us his words of love in the new covenant right brought about by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for sin broke the power of sin he himself also fasted forty days and four nights did he not and he received the ministry of life so when you repent and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved God will save you and bring forgiveness of all your sins notice once again how Moses points us and directs us once again to

[26:38] Jesus so we go through all this verses ten through twenty eight he speaks these action words I'm going to do I'm going to do I'm going to do commands us to love him okay so now how does Yahweh visibly confirm to the people that his loving merciful gracious forgiveness was upon them he gives them the tablets right but then something happens to give them a constant reminder of the glorious goodness of God what is it Moses' face shining Moses' face is an illustration of God's grace and mercy to them it's not just empty words it's real which leads to the last point Yahweh proves his love verse 29

[27:43] Moses comes down the mountain the two tablets in his hand he didn't know the skin of his face shone because he's speaking Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw they were freaked out what's wrong with you what happened to your face due to Moses communing with Yahweh God left an imprint in the form of a radiant glow says one writer which was a reflection of his glory now keep in mind tell me students when we're talking about the glory of God that Moses saw what's the emphasis it's not the power of God it's not the justice of God it's not the righteousness of God but it's the goodness of God the love of God the mercy of God the compassion of God that was the thing that made Moses' face shine it's a tangible reminder of his love for them okay prolonged exposure

[28:47] I get it the intensity sure fine but it's even more Moses experienced the very goodness or mercy of Yahweh the glow reflected Yahweh's compassionate love that's the tangible reminder that's the proof because Moses was in close proximity to God's glory his love faithfulness compassion mercy his face glowed and it was this close proximity that gave testimony to the sons of Israel that Yahweh was indeed going to go with them and he's going to show them his love and they went wow that's so amazing we're so excited about that no they freaked out as we probably would too this was just more than being weird people were frightened and downright disturbed Johnny stop staring at Moses even though his face is shining we don't know why they were probably staring at Moses like he was some kind a freak right so what does

[30:01] Moses do to give them peace of mind I should have brought a hoodie he puts a veil over his face verse 31 they freaked out verse 31 Moses called them to him Aaron and the rulers returned him Moses spoke to them 32 after all the sons of Israel came near he commended them everything Yahweh spoken and when he finished speaking he put a veil over his face and yet the glowing face of Moses was a visible manifestation of the blessing kindness goodness and grace of Yahweh to Israel but Moses had to conceal the glow with a veil but notice what he would do verse 34 whenever Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him he would take off the veil until he came out and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses that his skin the skin of his face shone so in other words

[31:06] I think what's happening is he would go and speak with Yahweh his face was glowing he would go before the people and speak to them this is what God says but then after he's done speaking publicly he put the veil back on but Israel was greatly disturbed by the glow they even ended up questioning if Yahweh was truly with them number chapter 20 they were completely clueless God's goodness was right in front of their faces God was having Moses face shine as a vivid proof that he loved them so the purpose of the glow was for God's people to be reassured of his presence and glorious goodness to them but they were so fixated on the physical phenomena of the glowing face they couldn't grasp the significance oh that's the very goodness of

[32:12] God they didn't get it they couldn't understand do you get where we're going with this do you get where we're going in this direction do you understand what's happening here so now put your New Testament glasses on and see the significance so this means if Jesus was is the light John 1 4 John 8 12 the radiance of the glory of God Hebrews 1 3 and the very focus of the gospel 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 through 6 then Jesus very presence and work upon the cross is the greatest most vivid proof of God's loving grace for his people you want me to prove to you God loves you Jesus came there's your proof friends these are not empty words God doesn't just go blah blah blah blah blah he has given you a vivid proof it's the coming of Jesus let's go farther what's more since we have the spirit of

[33:28] Christ dwelling inside us as God's people the church we are the vivid proof of God's very presence on earth so that means that the very existence of the church locally is an actual proof of God's continual love how do you know God loves us right now not just in the fact that Jesus came but now the spirit of Jesus is in me it's in you it's in believers the local church yeah the universal church yes but how is the universal church displayed at a local setting so we see local churches Christians loving each other we are the vivid proof that God loves us in other words we in this world today we are the glow of God's goodness we are the glow of the goodness of God we're forgiven by the person and work of

[34:31] Christ and we prove that love by our very existence as a local church that's the reason godliness grace mercy compassion towards each other is so vital that's why this is so important we are the glow of God's goodness and yet when they see us backbiting and fighting each other infighting that's why we pray this for Liberia amongst the ethnic groups if the world sees the infighting amongst Christians they're like oh you're just like us you're no different how does that show the glow of God right was this glow fading that's probably not an accurate representation of what we read in 2nd Corinthians 3 we read that together it wasn't fading it was becoming null and void the glow wasn't fading the glow would become null and void the covenant that is

[35:42] Moses was seeking reassurance the revelation of God's mercy and grace that was the proof so the glow came so when Paul brings this up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and 4 this is what he means this old covenant would soon be nullified so if it had glory so great yet the Israelites could not look at it how much more glory is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ I'll put it a different way as Israel of Moses day could not see the glory of God's grace in Moses glowing face so also Paul's opponents could not see God's glory when they read Moses book and even more so when they looked upon Jesus because they couldn't experience his goodness because they have a veil well who put the veil there that's why Paul brings it up in chapter 4 the

[36:44] God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they will not see the glory of God which is in the face of Christ in other words the God of this world has veiled the minds of the unbelieving so they cannot see the merciful gracious loving forgiveness of God which is in the face of Jesus Christ they can't see it they think you have to earn your way to God they think you have to do this and this and this to get God's acceptance they think you have to do whatever this and this and that to be able to get forgiveness they don't understand that forgiveness comes in Jesus Christ repent and trust in him you'll be saved they can't see that kindness this old covenant it was a ministry of death because it would condemn us pointing us to Jesus it had glorious grace but how much greater is

[37:46] God's glorious grace seen in the new covenant which is founded upon his great mercy and love in Jesus friends the proof of God's love is found in Jesus so to look upon the Lord Jesus Christ is to recognize the greater glory of the new covenant to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who's the image of God and if you're here you're not a follower of Jesus that's what you need to do you need to repent and see the glory of God which is in Jesus because in Jesus you'll find goodness in Jesus you'll find love in Jesus you'll find compassion doing all these good things for God oh I gotta work I gotta work no it's found in Christ and Christ alone but what does the evil one do the evil one blinds us to his goodness

[38:48] God's goodness blinds us to God's love blinds us to the salvation found in Jesus and he blinds the unsaved but he also blinds us to because what do we do as Christians we end up doubting his amazing love because you feel like he's far away and hedonia you're you're you're emotionally you've emotionally flat lined God you don't you don't want anything to do with me God but as Moses was in the tent before Yahweh with an unveiled face Christian take off the veil and embrace the love that's there the truth before you what's that truth the Lord Jesus Christ is the living proof of God's great love and mercy this ties in next week because we celebrate the resurrection and when we celebrate this resurrection we're celebrating the very fact that

[39:58] God the father says yeah this my son I resurrect him I love my people and I want you to want me it seals it so you may say okay fine I get it Jesus the proof of God's love but I want to touch something I want to touch something you want to touch something if you want to touch something as evidence of this amazing undeserving love then let me touch you let the members of the church touch you let the people of God touch you because we have the spirit of Christ living inside us we are the primary proof of God's glorious goodness so when a Christian touches another Christian and prays for you there's your physical proof right there are you suffering are you hurting have you been betrayed does life seem to throw nothing but curve balls at you and you're always striking out does all this suffering pain and heartache hardship cause you to doubt dear

[41:16] Christian take heart Jesus is the proof what more do you want God to give you God truly loves us and Jesus is the living proof of God's great love the shining glorious Lord Jesus Christ is the living proof of God's great love for us as people Jesus who is the vivid display of God's glory goodness is the very proof that God loves us and he's jealous for us to love him he doesn't just speak into the air blah blah blah blah blah blah he did something the promise has been fulfilled Christ has come and Christ resurrected and ascended into heaven and he sent his spirit to dwell inside his people so now we are the living proof of this God is jealous of our love for him and he shows that by truly loving us as his people the proof of his deep love for us is to fulfill promise of the person and work of the

[42:17] Lord Jesus Christ there's your proof right before you father thank you that you sent Jesus upon the truth of who Jesus is your eternal son God the second person of the trinity who took on flesh who lived died and we will celebrate next week he rose today it's Palm Sunday it was a week before Jesus was crucified as he came into Jerusalem the Jews the veil was there it was blinding them help us to take off the veil help us to embrace how much you love us forgive us for doubting you because some of us we suffer and we are in pain and we doubt your love we thank you that you're there we thank you that you're with us and as the promise says you will never leave us or forsake us you said

[43:33] Lord Jesus because your spirit indwells us help us to want you you're jealous of us help us to want you if you would please take this time to remind yourself how much the father loves you and his son ponder and think what we've seen from exodus and let the glorious gospel of grace let it overtake you and we'll do our time of giving we give monetarily as really a representation that we give our lives and we'll sing we're lifting our voices to God and pray again and then then the action God's love put into action as we converse with each other but be encouraged don't listen to yourself talk to yourself the gospel take a few moments and do that all and like let's think to assim you have come see