Seeing God Face to Face

And I don’t know if you guys come on a weekly basis. I sure do not. And so I feel like the feedback gets worse and worse, but maybe if I step up here, it goes away. Is that right? All right, cool.

Thank you. Thank you, cuz. So you guys been going through Exodus, and I. If you’ve been like me, you haven’t been going through it. So you probably need a recap of what is happening in this book of Exodus.

And so last week, hopefully, you guys talked about the Golden Calf. And if you don’t know what the Golden Calf story is, let me just sum it up to you. This book that we are going to be looking at tonight is about this mass exodus of God’s people that leave. That leave Egypt, and God rescues them. And they’re out there celebrating, and they’re joyful and they’re excited, and they’re like, ooh, God saved us.

And their guy, their leader, Moses, whom, if you’re not a Christian, if you study religious literature, at any standpoint, you would hear the name Moses. This is the same guy, same Moses. This guy Moses goes up on this mount. He goes up this mountain for 40 days, and he’s speaking to God. He gets these 10 commandments.

He comes back, and everybody down there who God just rescued, they said, yo, Aaron. And Aaron is this guy. And Aaron looks right at me. Nice. They say, yo, Aaron, who is Moses best bud?

They’re like, yo, Aaron. Hey, man, like this guy Moses, we don’t know what happened to him. It’s been like 35 days or whatever. Long. How long?

It’s been 30, 38, 39. And we don’t know what happened to him. So why don’t you take all our gold, melt it down, make a calf, and we’ll worship this. This gold calf. And so it’s like, you guys are my boys.

Of course I’ll do it for you. They melted. Melt it down. Great. The calf, they’re worshiping it.

Moses comes down. He’s like, yo, what’s going on? Sounds like there’s a party going on. And they’re worshiping this calf. And hopefully you guys talk about it.

You guys might have idols in your life and how idols will eventually take you to death. Hopefully you guys talked about that. I’m pretty sure you guys did. It was pretty sure. It was way better than the summer I just gave to you.

But I share that, as in, this is the beginning piece that goes into what I’m talking about tonight. And so my goal for you guys tonight is that through this book, Exodus, we hear about this God. And you are here tonight because of some religious being that you’re hoping to find this creator, this God. And we’re going through this book, and in this passage, there’s something so beautiful about it. And it’s about being able to see God face to face.

Have you ever seen God face to face? Have you ever been able to know that the Lord God knows you by name? Have you been able to live in that? And Exodus 33 really leans into this. Can you see?

Can you as an individual, see God face to face? So the characteristics of who this God is. And I told AP that I would describe this. There’s a very, very famous passage in Exodus, Exodus 34 through 6 through 7. If you could pull it up and I’ll read it from here.

And it says, and he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming the Lord, the Lord. So God is talking about himself, the compassionate and gracious God. Slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents.

To the third and fourth generation, this is a very, very famous passage. Who here knows John 3:16? John 3:16 is probably on the in and out craft that you had earlier. It’s on the bottom. It literally says John 3:16.

It says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That verse, how we Americans love this community worship. This verse. This is what everybody knew. Everybody knew who God said he was, Who God said he was.

He’s compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, man. Beautiful slow to anger. I was going to share some funny stories about anger and graciousness and compassion and mercy. And I don’t know if you guys are all looking at me kind of dead, but I’ll share it anyways. I am engaged currently, and hopefully we’ll be married soon.

She is not here tonight. She was like, hey, it’s so funny. I’m gonna do this. She was like, I need you to wear this, this ring. And I was like, why would I wear that when I’m married?

And she’s like, but you gotta wear it. So, like, everyone knows that you’re married. Don’t worry, I’m gonna talk about you. And so I’m gonna talk about her. Because God’s characteristics that we hear about compassionate, gracious God Slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.

If you want to be married, you got to practice. I’m going to say you got to practice compassion. You got to practice grace. You got to practice slow to anger. You got to practice abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Marriage is built on faithfulness. And so me and Sydney’s my fiance’s name. We. I’m a very impatient person, and so I thought I’d share my little quick stories about compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to the thousands, and forgiveness. I thought I’d share, like, a quick little snippet of what we look at on a surface value when we hear those words.

What do we think about? And so when I was thinking about it, I was like, man, Sydney is so compassionate towards me. And that means I was thinking about simple definition and what it translates. When you Google it, it says to have pity. So I’m like, man, my fiance has pity on me that he would love me so deeply and forgive me.

And I think these all go hand in hand. And someone’s like, man, she’s so gracious with me because, man, we are imperfect people, and we are so quick to make mistakes. And so I was thinking, man, like, who excels, exemplifies compassion so well. I was like, oh, man. Then I was like, slow to anger.

I was like, man, like, who is slow to anger? And I just thought about myself. Last Sunday, we do a youth ministry on Sunday nights, and we were tearing down this thing, and one of my students, he got on a stack of chairs, and we’re in the sanctuary. This isn’t like we’re in the youth room. We’re in the sanctuary.

He gets on the sanctuary chairs that are stacked to eight high. And you’re not supposed to go. You’re not even supposed to step on them. But he steps on him, and I hear this huge crack. And I was like, there goes my job.

I was like, oh, I’m fired for sure. And so I immediately. A piece of. So here’s another quick little piece of me. I coach football.

And so on the football field, we say a lot of things and we’re a lot of, what are you doing? You need a. You need a kid. Like, you need to make sure your feet are going. And, you know, you’re yelling at the kid, trying to get him to do it in the game.

And it’s really intense. Well, we’re just in the sanctuary. And all of a sudden I hear a crack of chairs. And I’m just like, instant switch mode to just like, what are you doing? Why are you stacking on a group of chairs?

And I was like, instantly going through this. This what I’m so used to. Slow to anger. Definitely don’t practice it. It’s not something I’m great at.

I’m trying to be better. And I. Later that evening, after I said all these things, I had to apologize. His name’s Matthew. I was like, matthew, I’m so sorry.

I should have came at you. Way more gracious and compassionate than how I actually did. Man, we could practice God’s characteristics today. Literally, today you can practice being compassionate, being gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. You know, I was thinking of abounding in love and faithfulness.

And this is where it came down to marriage. We just went to premarital. I’m sharing a lot about my life. You guys don’t really care much about my life, but it all ties into who I am and why I do what I do. And so we went to premarital.

And, man, marriage is about faithfulness. It’s about being committed and abounding and steadfast love that no matter what trials and tribulations you face, you are deciding to love this person. You’re deciding to be faithful to this person. That’s who God says he is. To you.

God says you are that person abounding in steadfast love. I am the Lord your God, abounding and steadfast love. Faithful. God is faithful even when we’re not. Even when Israel’s.

It’s powerful forgiveness. I know for a fact forgiveness is universally not practiced and it’s not ingrained in our DNA. I know that if I could bet my entire salary, which isn’t a lot, that we have, every single one of us in this room, struggle to be slow, to anger and quick to forgive. I can guarantee there are people in our lives where sometimes they just somehow elevate on a whole nother level where we just can’t deal with it. And there’s some people where we’ve been hurt so bad and so distraught, we’ve been so wounded by these people that we can’t forgive.

I can guarantee you that even if you haven’t experienced it, you’re just bored. I can guarantee you. But God says that he is quick to forgive. For thousands of generations, he says, quick to forgive, man, that the sins that you committed. He says that The Lord.

The Lord, your God, he talks about himself. The Lord, the God that I worship, speaks on his own character. And I’m here just to encourage you to live it and walk this character. And so our story, God talks about himself, and he says, hey, this is who I am. Do you see me?

Do you see me for who I am? And I think he’s trying to say that to y’all. Do you see who God is? For who he is? Who he says she is?

Who? The Lord. The God of gods, the King of Kings. He says this. Do you believe it?

Have you made. Have you been able to see God face to face? We’re gonna read Exodus 33. And this is the story right after Israel commits this horrible idolatry and people end up dying. It’s a whole.

Like, if you don’t read the Bible, you realize it’s rated R and this story is crazy. And so God literally says, hey, like, this is like, you guys are still gonna go to the promised land. The promised land that I promised to you guys. I can’t go with you, because if I do, everyone’s probably gonna die because this is a wicked, wicked generation. This is a wicked group of people.

I just rested, you guys. Yes, For God. And how quickly do we forget everything in life? And so God sees that, and he says, I can’t go with you. I’m gonna send you an angel.

And so the Israelites are traveling by themselves without God. And Moses, this is where we jump into. And 33. Moses approaches God and he prays, and he says, Exodus 33. Moses said to the Lord, you have been telling me, leave these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

You have said, I know you by name, and you have found favor with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this is your nation and this is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Amen.

Then Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked because I am pleased with you and I know you by name. Then Moses said, now show me your glory.

And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to Pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, and your presence. I will mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord said, there is a place near me where you will stand on a rock when my glory passes by. I will put you in a cleft in a rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will remove my hand and you will see me. You will. You will see my back, but my face must not be seen.

Moses is talking to God. And God says to the most humblest man to. Moses is written in so much religion, literature, that is insane. And God says to this man, he says, I know how great you are and how your heart is and how. How much you love me and how much you love your people, but you can’t see me.

You can’t see me face to face. You can’t. You can’t do this. The God who is compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness and forgiving of all iniquities and sin. He says, you cannot see me face to face.

He says that to the holiest man at that time, walking the earth, I can tell you the truth that in all religions, Moses dies. Moses dies. And so God, knowing this, knowing what. How evil we are and how quick we are to forget how good he has been to us. Just like the Israelites were quick to forget how good God is for us, that he would send his son, that God would take on flesh, and he would show you how to live.

These characteristics of what it means to be compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness and forgiving. He said, I’m gonna put on flesh, and I’m gonna show you how it’s done. Because no one here on Earth, not even the most holiest person here, can do it. So I’m gonna do it for you. And so God does it, and he shows us how to do it.

He treats. Shows us how to treat people. He gives hope to the hopeless. He does miracle after miracle. He performs signs and wonders.

And this man walks the Earth, and he shows compassion. And he flips everyone’s mindset of what it means to be a. A good person, what it means to be good, what it means to follow this living God who they’re describing in this passage. He says, let me tell you a story about a compassionate father. He says, there’s this really Famous story about a son who decides to take half his possession.

And he goes and he squanders it on worthless living and women is what it says. It’s awesome. Great stuff. He realizes that he is poor and a famine shows up and a family shows up and this guy ends up sleeping with the pigs. And he realizes it was better to live in my father’s house than to be here with the pigs.

I will go home and ask to be a slave to my father. This son returns home and it says, hey, father, could you accept me? I know I messed up. I know I’m not worth it. Can I just be a slave in your household?

Do you know what Jesus says? He says the Father had compassion for him. Compassion. Jesus shows you what it means to have compassion. Jesus shows you what it means to abounding and steadfast love.

That he would go to the cross for you, that he would die for you. That he would drink the cup of suffering so that, unlike Moses, you could see God face to face. Have you seen God face to face? Have you been able to step into the throne room with the living God and say, God, I am unworthy to be here, yet your son has made me worthy. And I don’t know why.

It is a miracle that you wouldn’t take heart in this and have hope in this. And there is a beauty that comes from it.

Have you been able to see God face to face? They said Jesus name is Emmanuel. God with us. God with us. There’s a story I wanted to share, and it’s about something that’s been pretty tough on me.

My life has been a roller coaster. It’s been fun. It’s been great. And as I’m talking about seeing God face to face and how broken this world is, I just couldn’t help but think that, man, there’s a story that I have to share. And so when we were up at Hume, I was up at Hume just this past summer.

It was crazy. It was good. And one of my students got injured, Severe injury. He ended up breaking C3, C4 on his neck. And he ended up becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down.

And so as my. As I’m there on the side, I’m trying to figure out what is going on. Lord, are you even here? God, are you here? Because right now at a Christian camp, it does not feel like you are here.

What does it mean for God with us? What does it mean to see God face to face? And so if you’ve ever been at Hume, it is a long, long drive down that mountain. And so I’m driving down that mountain, following this ambulance, and I’m talking to God, and I’m asking him, lord, it says that you are compassionate. It says that you are gracious.

It says that you are slow to anger, pounding, and steadfast love. It says that you were quick to forgive for thousands of generations. And I’m talking to God for hours because I’m trying to understand what is happening with my life right now. Did I just lose a kid? Did I just lose this?

Did I? What is going on, Lord? Are you even real? And some of us in this room, we can ask that question in is God even real? Are these characteristics even believable?

And I want to tell you that, man, as I’m interceding and as I’m praying and as I’m seeking this God that I worship, I come to this place, I come to the hospital, and I’m here, and I’m waiting for the emergency, and we go into immediate surgery and all this stuff, and it’s a whole experience. And I’m there, and I’m praying, praying, and I fall asleep like anybody else. You know, when you pray for too long, you end up falling asleep. And I fall asleep, and I’m sitting in a chair, and I’m in the waiting room. And as I’m in the waiting room, my legs are crossed.

Someone taps me, and I look up, and it’s this guy with a cooler. He says, hey, do you want something to drink? And I said, whoa, like. Like, I’ve been here for hours. Of course I want something to drink.

What do you have? He ends up pulling out water and Gatorade. And so then I was like, dude, I will gladly take a water and a Gatorade. I said, thank you so much. What is your name?

I was like, dude, thank you so much. What is your name? He says, oh, like, my name is Emmanuel. And I just started crying. Never saw the guy again.

Never saw the guy again. And I realized that even in the darkest moments of your life, even when things are going so south, even when your world is crumbling, God is faithful. God describes who he is, and he says, this is who I am. You either take it or you leave it. And if you search for him, you will find Him.

I guarantee it. And I searched and I searched and I searched. And when I fell asleep, I woke up. And he said, I’m searching. I’m right here.

And this moment, right now, he’s still recovering. And I am praying that we have a miraculous miracle that happens where he can fully walk. But if that’s not the case, I know that the greatest miracle that he has done and that you can do is know that there is a God who loves you, that died for you so that you could see him face to face one day, that you will be able to see God face to face. The greatest miracle is not him being healed physically. The greatest miracle is that he would believe in God’s one and only Son.

And that is the hope. That is the truth and the love that I preach and that I give to whoever I talk to. And God describes himself so well. And I think you guys should really lean into what that looks like for you. How can I see God’s compassion and grace over my life?

How can I see God’s mercy over my life? And like all of us, we are so quick to forget. I’m not perfect. I forget a lot of things, a lot of grace and mercy that God has given me. And I’m here to tell you that the body of God’s church is not so that we can just hang out, but it’s so that we can encourage each other and build each other up and walk this life that is not perfect.

And it will never be perfect until Christ comes back. But we encourage each other and we challenge each other to do what is good and to do what is best. And so don’t waste your life doing mindless work. Go and do something good.

God describes himself so well that if you don’t implement these things in your life, you’re missing out on the greatest thing that could ever happen in your life. And so I want to tell y’all is that, hey, like, if you haven’t figured out how to repent, how to come and. And be at the feet of Jesus and say, lord, I see you face to face, and I want to love you much deeper than I ever have, then you need to start sometime. Hopefully today. You know, I.

As. As someone who teaches the youth, I’d say that I recently just started doing that. You know, we go through patterns where we wish washing. We love Jesus. We don’t love Jesus.

We love Jesus. We’re like the Israelites. We want to build a golden calf, and then we burn it and smash it up, and then we kind of go back and it’s this whole wish washing thing. And I feel like when this experience happened with me, I realized that the Lord is telling me that he is with me and that he is. Is watching over me and that I am given a message.

And I love what Gunnar said. We are all given a message. If you proclaim Jesus as Lord and go and live the message, and I’ll tell you right now, God is with you even when it doesn’t feel like he is, God is with you. Only for those that proclaim Jesus as Lord, it’s not as nothing else. There’s nothing else that goes to it.

And so this is the story of Exodus about Moses, and he doesn’t get to see God’s presence. He doesn’t. He does get to see God’s presence, but he doesn’t get to see God face to face. And what I want to ask you guys is, have you been able to see God face to face? Start tonight.

Start tonight and continue to pursue it for the rest of your life. And I guarantee you, you will live a great, great life. I guarantee it. And when you forget who your God is and who the Lord that you worship, reach right back into Exodus 34. 6.

Exodus 34:6. God literally tells you who he is. He says, this is who I am. I am this. And it’s up to you.

The one thing I heard recently is that God will never take away your will. You. Each person in this room has their own will. You have a will to decide what you’re going to do with the next step in your life. I just want to say, like, hey, God will never take that away.

So what will you do? What? Where is your will? And I said, hey, tonight’s enough. Step into it.

And never, never look back. Never look back. And so I share these things to encourage you. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve been like, on this fire.

Like, man, this is how it needs to be done. But I’m actually a really nice and encouraging guy that would love to chat with you and have a great conversation with you. I just think that the church and us as believers and us that are living this life, man, don’t. Don’t lose it. Don’t lose it.

It’s not working. And so I’m going to pray for us. And I don’t know if there’s another song after this, but I want to pray for the families that are in this room. I know that some of us come from broken families, some of us come from broken relationships, some of us come from. From a lot of hurt and a lot of pain.

And so I would love to pray for you and I would love to pray for my boy Landon. And that’s the boy that’s in the hospital currently, and he’s going through PT and if you would join with me in prayer over all these things, as a church and as believers. And so, Lord, we ask and we come to you knowing that we are praying to the God of Gods, the King of kings.