Exodus 32:34 - Prayer — Richard Owen Roberts

Israel’s Idolatry and Moses’ First Intercession

Exodus chapter 32. Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, come, make us a God who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

Aaron said to them, tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me. Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

He took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf. And they said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.

And Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, go down at once for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them.

They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it. And said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, they are an obstinate people.

Now then, let me alone that my anger may burn against them, that I may destroy them. And I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses entreated the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptian speak saying with evil intent he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from your burning anger and change your mind about doing harm to your people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and all this land of which I've spoken and I will give it to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever.

So the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to his people. Let's stand together and sing tonight. Come, praise and glorify this great God.

I'm very sorry that you could not all be present during the day. A very important matter was stated this afternoon by our brother Snyder. It's a bit difficult for me having known John so long to think of him as Dr. John Snyder, but he is truly that and has earned it.

And so I should learn to speak to him and of him with a bit of reverence, if you like, or whatever is appropriate. But he said something, well, everything he said was most excellent, but there was one thing.

So urgent, so important that I want to pick it up tonight and underline it and share it with those of you who could not be here this afternoon. Obviously, it would be quite inappropriate to repeat all that he said.

I wouldn't even be capable of doing that. But he made a statement that I want every potential preacher in the room to understand. God has not brought about revivals through the preaching on the subject of revival.

Revival Comes Through the Doctrines of Salvation

Now, I am very much aware of that. I don't think I need to justify my own action, but my sense has been for years that I did have the duty, the responsibility to keep the subject of revival in front of the people of God, but never with the expectation that speaking about revival would produce revival.

It was so plainly and excellently stated this afternoon. It's the preaching of the great doctrines of salvation that God has used so often in the past. Now, I don't have many real regrets in life, but one regret I have had is that as an itinerant, I have not been able week after week after week to hold these great matters in front of the people.

A couple years back, I did preach 24 sermons on salvation, and that was an exceptional joy for me. It may never happen again, but I couldn't imagine anything I would personally delight more in than an opportunity of that sort again.

And I'm mentioning this tonight because I am honestly very hopeful that out of this gathering, God himself will raise up a number of real preachers, and I just want to add my amen to John's statement.

Don't think that going around talking about revival will produce it, but what a wonderful thing when people who are as untaught as is the American church to hear these great biblical doctrines laid out with such care and such thoroughness that things they never ever imagined become reality in the hearts and minds of the church across the land.

When I was giving that series of 24 sermons, I gave one sermon on the subject that salvation is a person, not an experience, not even a series of events, but a person. Is it not gloriously wonderful to remember that when Mary and Joseph entered the temple carrying the infant Jesus, elderly Simeon was there, and he reached out apparently, and they placed the babe in his arms, and Simeon looked up to God and said, now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

Well, it was better than that. He held in his arms God's salvation. So many of the people that think themselves saved are strangers to the Savior. How could one possibly think themselves saved when they didn't know who the Savior really is and had no personal acquaintance with him?

But if there's a young man or two or a dozen or more here, preach Christ, and preach him in a very systematic and doctrinal way with the power of the Holy Spirit, and God may graciously send revival to our declining land.

Prayer as the Foundation of Revival

Well, now, tonight, having simply underlined that important statement Dr. John made, I want to speak to you on the subject of prayer. It is obviously a very consequential part of all thinking and all concern for revival.

I did this morning urge the folks who were able to be present to consider those words of the Apostle Paul when he was asking the Thessalonian believers to pray that once again, the gospel would run with great force and power, depth and breadth.

But tonight, we're going to use an Old Testament passage. It is one that will be familiar, perhaps, to most, and it is one of my favorite passages. I often have the privilege of speaking upon it. Some of you may indeed have heard me speak upon it in the past, and I hope that's true because this time, I hope it will make a difference.

But I want to point out four incredible aspects of prayer as revealed in Exodus 32, 33, and 34. I'll just tell you the four now, and then we'll go directly to the passage. Number one, Bible-based prayers.

Number two, altar of sacrifice prayers. Number three, getting in God's face. Pray and reasoning with God. And number four, I've thought of a number of ways of stating it, whole hog praying. Doesn't sound very reverent, does it?

Going the limit to praying. Now let's take this familiar passage and focus upon those four segments of prayer that are found in this passage and found in such fashion that they could radically transform our prayer lives and the society in which we find it ourselves and indeed, by God's grace, even the world itself.

The Golden Calf and the Failure of Aaron’s Leadership

So picking it up, first with the passage that Brother Anthony already read, and I do remind you in the event somehow, this escaped your attention in the past, but this is the first full-orbed description of revival in the Bible.

As I have already said this week, there are a great many wonderful accounts, but this is the first where we have a great many immensely consequential details. So verse one, Exodus 32, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said, come, make us a God who will go before us.

For as for Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know, or as the King James says, this isn't quite special, we what not. What has become of him? What a lie. They knew perfectly well what had become of Moses.

What nonsense to pretend that he had somehow just disappeared, and they had no notion at all where he was, but people are like sheep. How much do you know about sheep? If somebody calls you one of God's sheep, is that a compliment?

Well, not if you know anything about sheep. I mean, they have certain outstanding characteristics, perhaps the first of which is stupidity, and this incredible tendency to wander, and the immensity of their need for a shepherd.

Well, that's not our theme tonight, but it is indeed an important theme, and here are the sheep, saying first they don't know what has become of their leader, and then the associate pastor. Would that be stretching things to call Aaron the associate pastor?

Well, call him what you like. What he did was wicked. Now, I want you to get this. Here is the underling in the leadership team, granted the most incredible opportunity of his lifetime yet. And what he does is as wicked as what the people themselves did.

Aaron said to them, tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. Now, I'm going to insert an interesting but inconsequential thing.

Many, many, many years ago, I was giving a long series of messages on 1 Corinthians, and many of the parents were whispering to me that they were looking forward to that portion in 1 Corinthians that dealt with the attire and appearance.

Because that was the season when fellows were looking like girls. Hard sometimes to distinguish them with earrings and with their hair free and flowing. And the parents were so keen that I was reaching the passage, and they were expecting me to give a mighty smash against those who were looking silly.

Oh, you say that's your opinion. Yes, of course, it's my opinion. I sent my dear wife to the university library to see if she could discover any early pictures depicting the attire, the appearance of people in the first century.

It was rather disappointing to the parents in the church, because much longer hair than men generally wear today was the in thing. But in this passage, read it again in case you're a careless listener and observer.

Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives. Well, that's all right, I don't have any problem there. Your sons, oh my, oh, how could that happen? Well, as I said, that was just an inconsequential aside.

But isn't it sad that Aaron, given the opportunity of a lifetime, missed it? What a magnificent time it would have been for Aaron to stand up and say, repent, but not a hint that he even saw anything troubling in what was going on.

You would almost think that this was written tomorrow morning instead of way back then. The similarity is so great. Then all the people, verse three, tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

And he took this from their hands and fashioned it with a graving tool and he made it into a molten calf and they said, this is your God, oh, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Can you imagine that?

Well, yes, it's easy to imagine that. That's the way people are today. A God just brought out of the fire. A God just created by a very unsaintly church leader named as the very God that brought them out of the land of Egypt.

How can we talk about revival in our day without honestly admitting the degraded nature of the clergy of America today? Some of you remember that way back in the 1740 period, that Presbyterian son of the founder of the log college which eventually became Princeton University earned a reputation that he found eventually very troubling as he went through New England at George Whitefield's request preaching a powerful sermon on the dangers of an unconverted ministry.

I can imagine a man being stoned to death doing that today. But listen, friends, it is generally acknowledged that at least 80 of all church members in America are unregenerate. Now, I would like to ask you, would it be possible, and that may not be a precise figure, that's just a general acknowledgement, would it be possible to have 80 lost church members and 100 lost or 100 regenerate pastor?

There's got to be some correlation. They don't have to be exact, but there does have to be a correlation. And I want to bluntly say, Aaron was even worse than the people. Now, we're talking about praying tonight, praying with clouded eyes, praying without seeing the reality of the circumstances will not result in anything more than greater tears to drink than we already have.

We've got to be realistic. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying we go around saying, you're saved, you're lost, you're saved, you're lost. But if you do not know that the reason we are in such perilous condition is because we have ungodly leadership in the church, you're not using your brain.

And even some of the men who may well have been born again are so afraid of men that they can't possibly fear God. So if there is a group of potential young preachers here, let me take the time tonight to tell you what a grievous danger the fear of man makes.

I wonder how many of you remember that description of people coming to Christ that is recorded in the last three verses of John 2. Do you remember that it is reported there that a group came to Christ saying they believed because of the miracles he did.

And Christ, we are told, on his part, did not commit himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts and he did not need any man to testify concerning him. Now, let me make it plain. If you need human affirmation, you are a mighty threat to the kingdom of God.

No man is truly useful in the kingdom who is not immune to people's opinion. Our dear savior did not need the affirmation of man. Therefore, he was able to reject the claim to faith of a crowd. Most of the clergy I know will baptize anybody that asks for it and will perform a wedding ceremony for anybody who asks for it.

Or will preside at the burial of anyone who asks for it. Can you imagine Jesus doing that? But look, I'm very keen to make this as strong as I possibly can. You will be of no real use in the kingdom of God as long as you are afraid of man.

The fear of man is truly a snare. And we have incredibly awful things taking place in the churches of America today because the leaders are afraid of men. So you're in a church that has absolutely made it clear that a one hour service is the limit.

And you go along with that. And so you help the people to disobey the fourth commandment instead of making it clear to them it's the Lord's day, you will go along with their silly notion that it's the Lord's hour.

My word, if the leadership won't stand up for what's right, what hope is there among the people? Here we've got Aaron, as I said, in an amazingly opportune moment, compromising and damaging the people and damaging God and almost destroying his own brother's usefulness.

Now when Aaron saw this, verse five, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. So the next day, they rose early and they offered burnt offerings and they brought peace offerings.

And the people sat down to eat and to drink and they rose up to play. And I think although the text doesn't specify this, I think we could say Aaron was pleased. I bet he enjoyed himself as much as the people did.

In all their awful wickedness against God, he was the leader. Oh, for a new generation of men who have absolutely no fear of men and absolute fear of God and who time after time after time take their stand for God and what is right without any concern whatsoever what anybody else thinks.

And while I have addressed those words specifically to young men, are they not applicable words to all of us? Has not the time come for us to be as forthright, as upright as Moses himself and to refuse in any way to be like his brother Aaron.

Bible-Based Prayer and Reasoning from God’s Word

But it's this next section that I'm concerned about because as I said this evening, it just seemed appropriate and right and necessary for me to speak to you on the subject of prayer. Now remember, I gave you four statements about prayer and here is the first one.

You could use any language you wanted to describe it. I just made reference to a prayer that was biblically based. And look now at what we've got in this section starting at verse nine. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, they are an obstinate people.

Now then let me alone that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them and I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses entreated the Lord his God and said, oh Lord, why doth thine anger burn against thy people whom thou has brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians speak saying with evil intent, he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy burning anger and change thy mind about doing harm to thy people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, thy servants to whom thou did swear by thyself and did say to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and all this land of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants and they shall inhabit it or inherit it forever.

Now look, your basic familiarity with the passage enables you to understand that God was so indignant, so thoroughly aroused against Aaron and against the people that he says ever so plainly to Moses himself, you get out of my way.

I am going to go down there and utterly destroy those people. If you heard a word like that from the Lord, what would you do? Well, what did Moses do? Did he step aside and say, help yourself Lord to their destruction?

No, he got right in God's face and reasoned with God from scripture why he must not do such a thing. May I ask you, does that look like your prayer line? That you do get right in God's face? That you argue with God from scripture itself why he must not act in the way he has stated?

Why some of us would think that was a frightfully wicked thing to do. Is there any hint in this passage that God was angry against Moses for getting in his face? No, clearly not a hint. In fact, I believe we can safely say God was delighted.

Now feel, feel deeply what God has said. Get out of the way. I'm going to go down there and utterly destroy this people. That included Aaron. I am going to raise up from you, you alone Moses, a people to my name.

Now could God do that without violating his own word? You see that which gave Moses courage to get in God's face was his knowledge of God's word. It may well be that our prayers are so weak because we are so unknowing about God's word.

You want to be sure that's never the case with you. The two arguments that Moses brings before God are solid biblical based arguments. Has it been a governing factor in your prayer life that God is delighted to have his own word thrown up in his face?

That he's looking for a people who are courageous enough when he says get out of the way to say absolutely not Lord. I'm not stepping aside. I know some promises that you made that you got to keep. True revival praying is not based on silly hopes but on legitimate Bible promises.

A prayer life that is unacquainted or that has dismissed the words of God is obviously so weak it's not worth describing. And the arguments themselves don't require interpretation tonight. They are so perfectly plain.

Verse 11, Moses entreated the Lord, the Lord his God. And he said, oh Lord, why does thine anger burn against thy people whom thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Now listen friends, it is possible to be right on target in prayer and yet ignorant of the reasons for God's rage. Did Moses know why God was angry? Well obviously not. And simply face this reality. Where was Moses when he argued with God?

On the mountain, of course. Where was God when Moses argued with him? What? Everywhere, everywhere. Yes, of course, on the mountain. Yes, of course, on the plain with Aaron and the people. Now I believe there's a lesson here of incredible importance for all God-loving people today.

Even when we don't know fully God's heart, we must take God's stand. But as we know more and more of God's heart, we are able to stand stronger and stronger. I don't need to tell you that it's nearly impossible to feel what God feels without seeing what God sees.

And obviously, the more we see of what God sees, the more we feel of what God feels. Did you ever take it as an absolutely mandatory factor in your life to look at everything through God's eyes, not yours?

Did you ever wonder how can that person be so passionate about the thing that I hardly stirred at all concerning? Is it not seeing things through God's eyes that enables us to feel, as I said already, what God feels and then to take a passionate position?

Well, in this remarkable case, as I already said, Moses did not see what God saw, but Moses had heard God's promise. And sometimes just standing on the promises we fell in. And we'll see that what I have just said about seeing and feeling enters in to this account.

But now for the moment, think of the two arguments that Moses gets in God's face and speaks concerning. Verse 12, the argument about the Egyptians. And verse 13, the argument about Abraham and Isaac and Israel.

Praying for God’s Reputation Among the Nations

Number one, what will the Egyptians say? I think one of the most difficult aspects of attending most prayer meetings is they are so irrational. In fact, often just plain disgusting. Their focus is ordinarily upon the inconsequential to the neglect of the truly important.

But Moses' mind is running full tilt and he's asking an extremely significant question. What will the Egyptians say? And the account is quite specific and we're already acquainted with the facts. Anyway, we know that after 400 years of captivity in Egypt, God with his mighty hand brought those people out of Egypt.

And Moses is simply asking, what will the Egyptians think? Having known as an absolute that God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt with his strong hand when he just simply destroys them a relatively short time later in the wilderness.

Do you find that a sound argument? Does that ring true to you? Does it have any application in a broader realm? Did you ever argue with God and ask, what will the world think if you destroy America now?

Having brought America out of a howling wilderness and made it the strongest nation on earth and we having sent missionaries to every corner of the earth that we possibly could and then you simply up and destroy her.

Well now, don't misunderstand. Moses is not arguing whether they deserve destruction or not. They obviously did. He's arguing, what will the heathen say? Oh, how I would love to be part of a regular prayer group that argues scripture with God.

Or I'm in an occasional prayer meeting where somebody is reading lengthy sections from scripture. But that's not what Moses is doing. Moses is taking an absolute fact and arguing with God about that fact and the consequences of it.

And I want to ask you kindly, yes, lovingly, certainly, have you learned to pray that way? But do your friends find themselves deeply stirred when you pray because you argue facts with God? Or are your prayers as irrational and inconsequential as many others?

So the first argument, Egypt. The second argument, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, verse 13. Thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thyself and didst say to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heavens and this land of which I have spoken, I will give to you your descendants and they shall inherit it forever.

Lord, if you destroy all of them and raise up out of me alone a people after your own name, you'll prove that your sworn word has no value. I ask again, is that how you pray? Do you get right in God's face?

Do you reason with him? Do you demonstrate to him that you have taken him at his word? Most of us pretty well eliminate the significance of our prayers by such statements as I hope, or if you will. Now, there is certainly a great place for praying in God's will, but that's precisely what Moses is doing.

He's praying in God's will. Obviously, God could have smashed him to the ground and stomped on him, but he doesn't even show the slightest displeasure when God or when Moses gets in his face because Moses is doing exactly what he wanted him to do.

How could God keep his promise having destroyed the very persons who were part of that promise and its fulfillment? But I don't need to go beyond that. You do sense the significance of this first portion of the prayer.

And we're not left wondering about the outcome because verse 14 is so clear and so forceful. So the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to his own people. Oh, then God is fickle.

He is not reliable. He does change his mind. Well, friends, when God makes a provocative statement in the hopes that his servants will pick it up and argue the truth with him, he's delighted. He hasn't changed his mind.

How much desire do you think God had for destroying Israel? Well, we know perfectly well he didn't want to do it. And when Moses cared enough to argue the truth with him, God was delighted. And again, I'm asking, does this type of praying characterize you?

Moses’ Anger and the Consequences of Idolatry

Well, we must move along. Verse 15, then Moses turned and he went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides. They were written on one side and on the other.

And the tablets were God's work. And the writing was God's writing engraved on the tablets. And when Joshua heard the sound of the people, as they shouted, he said to Moses, there is a sound of war in the camp.

But he said, it's not the sound of the cry of triumph, nor is it the sound of the cry of the defeat, but the sound of singing, I hear. And it came about as soon as Moses came near the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses' anger burned.

And he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made and he burned it with fire and he ground it to powder and he scattered it upon the surface of the water and he made the sons of Israel drink it.

And Moses and Aaron, or Moses said to Aaron, what did this people do to you that you have brought great sin? What a question. Have you ever wondered how many people you led? To sin, how many even right now are distant from Christ because of you?

Long ago, I was in a deep discussion with members of the Billy Graham Association team and I was warning them against false conversions and begging with them to cease the practice of giving proof text assurance.

And one of them spoke up and said, now, wait a minute. I'll tell you what your problem is, Mr. Roberts. You always go toward the negative. We go toward the positive. Now, listen here. So 95 of our converts turn out false.

Why shouldn't we rejoice in the 5 that are true and not worry about the 95 that are not true? And naturally, I said to them, are the 95 harmed in any way? Well, yes. Seems impossible to reach them with the truth because they've been told they're saved.

They've been given the proof text to stand up. And I'm asking you, have you harmed anybody? Have you led someone to think they were a Christian when no regenerating work of the Holy Spirit has taken place in any fashion?

Have you behaved like Aaron? It's a mighty serious accusation that Moses makes against Aaron. What did they do to you that you brought such great sin upon them? And then Aaron has the gall to lie. And that's pretty typical of Christian leaders.

I'm gonna be very blunt. The people I trust least in this world are professed Christians. I wish they weren't true, but it is. And so Aaron said, they said to me, make a God for us. That's not what I read.

I read, they said, we don't know what happened to Moses. They said that Moses hears from Aaron. They asked me to make this God a God. Are you in any way a liar? Do defend your wrong action with the type of lie that Aaron tells?

Don't let the anger of the Lord burn against me. Blame the people. And when Moses, verse 25, saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies, Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and he said, whoever is for the Lord, come to me.

And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. And he said, thus says the Lord God of Israel, every man of you put on his sword, or if you've got a sword on your side, whip it out and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp and kill every brother and every man his friend and every man his neighbor.

So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed and about 3000 men put to death. Let me simply repeat what I said earlier. If you don't see what God sees, you don't feel what God feels. On the mountain, Moses did not see what God saw, but Moses knew the scripture well enough to argue with God.

But when he came down and he saw what God saw, he felt what God felt and he destroyed 3000. Well, I told you I had four portions to draw to your attention. Now it's time for the second. Will you look now at the portion beginning at chapter 32, verse 30, came about on the next day that Moses said to the people, you yourselves have committed a great sin.

Sacrificial Intercession for a Sinful People

And now I'm going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make an atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and he said, alas, this people has committed a great sin and they have made a God of gold for themselves.

But now if thou will forgive their sin. What is that crazy old man doing? He's reading from the text. You got the text in front of you. Are you reading it? Now, if thou wilt forgive their sin. Dash, what does that dash signify?

Nobody speaks what Moses is about to speak without serious thought. Look at what he said. And if not, please brought me out from thy book which thou has written. Did you ever sit down with those words and say, Lord, let those words grip me.

We are great experts on passionless sin. We know precious prayer and we know precious little about prayers that are on the altar of sacrifice. But listen, dear friend, Moses is saying, if you can't save them, don't save me.

If you're not able or willing to save them, then you take the book of life that you have written and you brought my name out. If you destroy my people, destroy me with them. Now, was Moses guilty like the people?

No, but did that prevent him from laying his life on the line and declaring absolutely, if you won't save them, don't save me. True prevailing prayer involves a dimension of sacrifice of incredible significance and urgency.

Did it ever grip you that if God doesn't spare America, he doesn't spare your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. If he doesn't spare the church, he doesn't spare those that we've already sacrificed for.

And given our lives for. Can you not feel deeply the difference between a casual prayer that says, Lord, it'd be nice if you sent revival and a prayer so fervent, so sincere, so urgent that you're with Moses saying, if you can't save my people, don't save me.

But of course, this is not the end. I did promise four segments of the prayer of Moses, but are not the first two of such incredible consequence that indeed it will take us quite a spell to get used to praying that way and to do so with all our hearts.

But as we expected, God responds to Moses thus far. Verse 33, the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, my angels shall go before you.

Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin. Then the Lord smote the people because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron had made. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying to your descendants, I will give it and I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in your midst because you are an obstinate people and I will destroy you on the way. I trust all of you recognize precisely what is happening.

God had threatened a final judgment. I will utterly destroy the people. Because of Moses' intercession, God alters that threatened final judgment to a remedial judgment. Go on, get moving, lead those people to the place where I'm sending you, but I won't go with you.

You are a stiff-necked people. If I were with you, I would destroy you. I'll send an angel before you. Now, I know some of us live in such a way that if an angel were offered, we'd grab it. But having an angel lead you when you've been led by the Shekinah glory, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, no angel is a suitable substitute.

Now, it wouldn't matter, of course, to most professed Christians. They need neither God nor angel. But I hope you do. I hope this is immensely consequential to you. So we come then to the third segment of prayer.

Seeking God’s Presence Above Every Substitute

In looking at the response of Moses to this threatened remedial judgment. And may I pause and ask each of you, are you willing to go on without God? Is that not the position of today's church? We know God's not present.