When God's Holiness Goes Public
First B Jackson
2019-03-10

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, everybody. You missed an hour of sleep and you're still here, and we're filling up. This is great. Hey,

what do

you say we stand up? We sing? Singing he is holy, great and mighty. The moon and the stars declare who he is.

Alright. Beautiful and free. You're beautiful and free. The song of galaxies that's reaching far is yours. Amen.

All glory, honor, power is yours. Amen. All glory, honor, power is yours.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat I have a few announcements this morning. Is this thing on? My mic on? Can y'all hear me?

Woo hoo. Can you now? Okay. Monday nights at first b is happening tomorrow night.

Yep. We're on tomorrow meal music message. Felix and Guadalupe are cooking. Eugene is sharing his testimony about YWAM, his six months away. Now he's back.

Welcome back Eugene. And also, we're sending Bernadette. So coming and going, which describes first b and here. So meal music message tomorrow,

06:00. Please message at 06:00 down in the fellowship hall. Awana is happening in this room other than that. Awana is happening right here. So for kids from ages three up through fifth grade, it is a school year round program.

The whole time the school year is going, the Awana year is going, and there's always room for more, so bring them in. We're pouring scripture into the minds of the kids to reach their hearts and kids matter to God, so Awana is a great program. Precept study is on Thursdays at nine in the morning. That is they're going through the book of Acts right now. They're up to about Acts 15 but anytime that you want to come in, you're welcome there.

There's a baby bottle campaign going on right now. It's a fundraiser for Turning Point Preg ancy Resource Center. The baby bottles are in the back. If you'd like to grab one of those to fill with funds to help out the mission of Turning Point. Community Bible study is meeting on Wednesday nights.

It's a small group but it's it's actually a big big for a small group. I guess is a good way to put that. They're 09:30 in the mornings on Wednesday mornings in the fellowship hall and 06:30 in the evenings on Wednesdays in the fellowship hall and that's great. Childcare is available in the morning. It's a good group.

They are going through Hebrews right now. It's a couple more weeks left but if you don't know the format, you can come in and join in and figure it out because they're gonna start back up soon with another book. Israel trip. If you're going on the Israel trip that's happening towards the end of March, please do come in to my office during the in between time, the connect hour. We'll have a little meeting in between services today and actually it says in the church office, so in Diane and Nick's office rather than my office.

We have connect hour that's happened in between, so from about ten whatever when the preacher finishes until about eleven when we start up again, there's a connect hour between those services, coffee and donuts and that sort of thing down the hall, maybe something good for you, all of that down the hall. And I think that that is it for announcements. Are y'all alright this morning? Y'all look comatose. I have to just say it.

I'm just making sure. Y'all wake up before the sermon starts. Alright? Seems like there might be something else that I'm forgetting. Hey, Ray.

There we go. Matt. The Jackson Police Department will be putting on a kind of a scenario, different scenarios for that active shooter training coming this Thursday at 06:00 in the evening. Alright. Thank you, Matt.

That was what I was looking for. Thank you. One more thing. So Eugene is just back from YWAM and we as a church helped support him in some ways as he went out. He's been playing guitar for us for six and a half years, played bass before that.

And Bernadette is singing up here right now but she is heading out to I wanted to let you know she's babysitting and she's doing that mainly to raise awareness that she is going but she's babysitting in between now and the time that she goes to YWAM. But also if you would like to support her with Youth With Admission, she's going to Australia to that base. If you wanted to, I wanted to tell you about that. It's an opportunity, just throw that out there. Would you all stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song.

And if you're trying to fill the same old holes inside, there's a better life. There's a better life if you got if you got pain. He's a pain taker. If you feel lost, he's a way maker. If you need freedom, savior.

He's a prison shaking savior when he got changed. He's a shake breaker. If you feel it, somebody testify. If you got pain, he's a pain taker. If you feel lost, he's a way maker.

God, how true. Truly. You are offering us a better life. A a life that is rich and full and abundant. And you fill us up.

You really do. And God forgive us for for turning away and and and really sometimes just just denying you flat out and and and living apart from you when really our our best life is with you. When we get up into that yoke with you. Your yoke is easy. Your burden is light.

You carry us along. Thank you, God, for filling us up the way that you do. Thank you for being our chain breaker. Thank you for being our pain taker. God, that we would turn to you truly, that that we, as first be this body, we would turn to you and grab a hold of that rich life, rich and abundant life that you offer in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Your name alone.

And there's no one like our God. Let's sing this. And there'll

be no one like our God. We will praise you. Praise you. There's no one like our God. We will sing.

We will sing. There is no one like our God. We will praise you. Praise you. Jesus is our God.

We will say, oh, Lord of all the earth, we shout your name, shout

Amen. Yahweh, self existent one, depends on no one and no thing to sustain. Right? We do. Right?

We're so human. And yet, God doesn't. He doesn't depend on anyone or anything. He is the self existent one. He says to Moses, I am who I am.

Indeed. Thank you, God, for being all sufficient. Thank you for being able to sustain yourself, but to sustain us. Thank you, God. Amen.

Would you pray with me though? God, I thank you lord that we will overcome by the blood of the lamb lord and others will hear because of our testimonies and they will be able to overcome because of the blood of the lamb. What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Lord God, I I thank you this morning for bringing us all here gathered in your name, assembled to worship and praise, and give honor and glory, lord, to you.

It belongs to you. You are holy other. God, would you allow us a glimpse of that? And then lord, would you reflect that glory off of us onto other people that they'd be able to see you clearly. God, we pray that you would advance your good gospel, the greatest news ever that should advance that through your humble and obedience servants.

We pray to be those humble and obedient servants. At this time, lord, we take these plates and we pass em for offerings and tithes. I pray God that you would bless the giver and that you'd multiply the gift to do your kingdom's work, that you'd remove all human agenda and that you would do your kingdom's work to the uttermost parts, the ends of the earth. It's a privilege lord to be a part of what it is that you're doing on this Earth. In Jesus name, we thank you.

Amen. Amen. Alright, it's time for children's church downstairs. Peak Children's Church. Okay, how are you now You alright now?

You're looking looking more and more warmed up for sure. It's hot up here. I don't know if y'all know that but it's warm up here. I've got a sermon for you this week. That's a little different than most.

Last week, we covered almost all of second Timothy four nine through 22. So, I was about half through that sermon and you saw this slide. I'm skipping verses seventeen and eighteen for now and my intent was to skip until the end of the sermon and I went back and I went back to verse 17 So, you saw this and we made it this far And I'll just as a matter of refresher, in there. Second Timothy four seventeen, this is the last paragraph that we have that we know that we have written from the pen of Paul to sec to Timothy. Second Timothy four seventeen says, but the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me.

This is right as he's describing that he's been Alexander the Coppersmith has done a much harm and nobody stood up for me at my first defense but the Lord stood with me. Amen. The Lord stood with me and he strengthened me so that through me, the proclamation he just told Timo preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season. Preach the word.

Stick close to what it says. Don't go beyond what it says So, through me, the proclamation might be fully accomplished He was able to get out of that situation and appeal and he's waiting on appeal so that the provocation might be fully accomplished. He says in another book so that the full number of the Gentiles, you know, will hear and that might hear that is that all the Gentiles might hear. All the Gentiles is Pontetaiath. I've said that.

I want you to see the ethnic part of that is where we get our word ethnicity. It is every family or people group on this planet. So, Pontata Ethne is to all the peoples, to all the nations, that all the Gentiles might hear and that's important and I got to that part and I think I got excited and I ran out of time. So, I just quit right there. Well, I wasn't through yet and I try not to ever skip anything.

Y'all know that we've been going for almost six years, more than six years on a chronological study of the New Testament. So, I skipped over the end of 17, the whole verse 18. So, here we are. The end of 17 says this, and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. Metaphorically speaking, he was not, at this time, they were not throwing prisoners into the Roman Coliseum.

It was being built when Paul wrote this. Couple years later, he might literally have been thrown in and they had already sacrificed some to lions but I think he's talking about Nero. He's talking about a dangerous person, dangerous situation. He was rescued out of that lion's mouth but after 17, he gets to 18 and he says with great confidence, the Lord will rescue me. He'll rescue me from every evil deed and he'd had some evil deeds done to him by Alexander the Coppersmith and by others You know, he's got that long list at the end of Corinthians where he gives all of the trials and troubles he's been through but he says with confidence, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom even though his circumstances were actually literally dank, dark prison, winter time coming on Earth.

He knew that he would have that incorruptible hope that Peter speaks of and and that's another place where I might think to just stop but it's a semicolon. It does keep on going and verse 18 is what the last we'll hear from second Timothy is right here. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So, when I got home and I realized I had skipped some verses, I'm like, don't go on it.

I thought that was it. But then I realized that I had just sloughed over, forgotten, God's glory and so the the concept of God's glory, not just, you know, the God be the glory forever and ever. We hear that. It's a churchy word we hear all the time. But God glory is holy other.

It is completely separate from us. We sometimes anthropomorphize God to the point of just feeling like he's just a really big human but he is holy other and holy different. We are created in his image. I don't know exactly how that works. But God is glorious and his glory.

To him be the glory forever and ever. We can't add to God's glory. God's glory is his alone but we can actually bring it out. We can reflect it. Does that make sense?

Is glory a word you hear so much you don't know what it means? It kind of is for me. I started looking around for definitions and and they fall into two categories really. It is either greatness, complete, utter wholeness, and complete otherness or resplendent, brilliant, beauty shining forth, that sort of thing. Of all of the different definitions I went through this week, I kind of like John Piper's definition the best and I'll read it just a minute but where he gets this from is Isaiah and we we went through this at the beginning of first Peter.

We're talking about the holiness of God and Isaiah in chapter six has in the king in the year King Uzziah died. He has this vision of God and he has a vision of him and the Seraphim were flying with six wings and they're covering their eyes, covering their flying about, and they were singing back and forth, antiphonal praise, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty and the Lord and the earth is full of his, does it say holiness? Does it say love? It says, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. That's what defines him and the earth is full of his glory and I like that.

I think that when God's holiness goes public, that's what that's what Piper says. Is when God's holiness goes public, that is his glory and we kind of feel like we have an idea of God's holy. Yeah, he's holy other but then we get a little deeper in and he's beyond that and a little deeper in and he's beyond that and so God's glory was kind of fascinating me this week and last week but skipping over it, I'd heard a sermon a while back. It was about God's glory and I thought it was just in the back of my mind. When I got home, I said, I did it.

I did it. I skipped over God's glory. I got home and this would thus, thus, we come to the end of our study of second Timothy. That was the last thing I have for you from second Timothy but I got home and on the on the table there, Paschal does hand lettering like she likes cursive writing. She likes to do that sort of stuff.

I get there and I thought about this glory thing and then I see this and it says, for God who said, let light shine out of the darkness. He made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of God's glory. Again, with the glory, right? Displayed in the face of Christ. Second Corinthians four six and so there it is again and I just thought, man, lord This is good.

I like thinking about this. So, we get a rare topical sermon today. It's not going to be straight in order. Normally, we would just start second Peter. Finish second Timothy goes straight to the next book but we're going to do a rare topical sermon and it's a rare mostly Old Testament sermon on the glory of God.

So, glory in Hebrew is Kavod. That's what it looks like. I'm not a Hebrew scholar. I spend a lot of time in the New Testament because I do really really love Greek but in Greek, it's In Latin, we get Gloria. Got a couple of Latin students out there, I know.

Teachers too. Gloria, and if you look up like how many times it's used in the Hebrew Bible, Kavot is 200 plus times. The noun is 200 and then there's more verbal stuff and then, if you look it up in Greek, in the New Testament, it's a 167 times. It talks about glory, God's glory mostly and there's 67 verbal forms too. If you look it up in the Latin vulgate just because you're a nerd like me, it's 537 times.

It comes up all of the time. God's glory. God glory and I want you to look at this This is a graph. If you ever use Google and you look up words, a lot of times if you go down below the definition, it'll tell you usage of the words, how much it's used in print as a percentage of things that are written So from 1,800 to 2,008, this is the use of the term glory in English, in English. Ain't that something?

Does that say anything? We talk less and less and less and less about glory or we talk more and more and more about other stuff because it's a percentage, alright? If you look at it from 1500 forward, you'll see it spiking around the time of the great awakening the Reformation actually, you see this little blip right here, that was when it started being printed because of the early English translations of the Bible and it started to be known and then they said, we can't let people read this So, they quashed it and it went back down and it was written in Latin but not so much in English written in some other language and not so much in English and then, it takes off again and during the great awakenings, the glory and primarily its glory of God takes off. I just thought that was interesting as we start this out. So, if you have in your Bibles, you start to flip em open to book of numbers.

I don't usually do that. I've got a huge Bible up here with me today. I've been reading Old Testament style actually on a written page instead of a computer screen or on my phone. Book of Numbers In this big old Bible that I have right here said, Israel cried out to God, God heard, and raised up Moses, delivered children of Israel out of Egypt, house bondage Y'all know this. This is story of Exodus, right?

The children of Israel lived in Egypt for almost four for four thirty years Most of those years as slaves and after camping at Sinai, they were to go into Canaan, the promised land that have been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that at last, they would see the land their own eyes. God would go with them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Soon that journey would begin but first, there must be a numbering like a census of all the sons of Israel from 20 years of age on up. Are you with me? This is numbers.

This is the story of how they're going to organize basically and there are three main sections in numbers. This is one of the reasons why I don't preach topically because I feel like I have to do all the background every time. There are encamped at Sinai from chapters one through the middle of 10 and those are characterized by obedience and maybe you could say even optimism. The first 10 chapters actually go like this. This is the last verse, chapter one.

Thus, in this way, thus, the sons of Israel did according to all which the Lord had commanded Moses and so they did. That's obedience right there. Thus, in this way, they did according to all which lord had commanded Moses. Chapter, I skipped two for some reason. Anyway, Moses, at the command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

That's chapter three and at the command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Chapter four, according to the commandment of the Lord through Moses, just as in the same way that just thus, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Chapter five, the sons of Israel did so and they sent them outside of the camp just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. Thus, the sons of Israel did. Number six is a little bit of a special case.

This is the ironic blessing. Oh, I love the ironic blessing. I've heard Carl and I have in in rooms, in hospital rooms both when people were being born and when people were passing into their incorruptible hope. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord.

Lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Amen. That's a beautiful. That's in number six. If you bridge six and seven, this very orderly and timely account of the offerings.

You get to number eight, numbers eight and he says and Aaron therefore did so, priestly Aaron, Moses's brother, he mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Are you with me? And thus, in chapter eight again, thus, did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. Now, Moses was obviously the leader. He was the one that had petitioned Pharaoh continually and God was the one who delivered all of the plagues and then delivered them out of Egypt but Moses was the guy.

He tells us why later on. So, the sons of Israel did them. Thus, just in such a way. Numbers nine, and at the command of the Lord, they camped and at the command of the Lord, they set out, they did. They kept the Lord's charge according to the command of the Lord through Moses.

So, that's chapter nine. So, these chapters, like I said, are characterized by obedience and also optimism. The last thing that Moses has to say, he's looking out and they're about to embark and he says, rise up, oh Lord, and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you and when the camp came to rest, he said, return, oh Lord, to the myriad thousands of Israel. He's leading a whole lot of people. It's an optimistic way to set out.

So, chapters 10 verse 11 through the end of chapter 21 are about their journeying and this is a thirty nine years worth of journeying, okay? And this is the way 11 starts. Now, the people became like those who complain of adversity and the hearing of the Lord and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled. Is that heavy or what? The next nine chapters look a lot like that.

12, even Aaron and Miriam start to complain. That's Aaron is Moses's brother. Miriam is Moses's sister and they complain and they go against Moses and they go against the Lord. He gives Miriam leprosy for a week Aaron's priestly duties had to go on but he received the rebuke Numbers 13 was spying out the land. They sent out the spies and only two of them came back with a good report in chapter 13.

Only one of them had a good report. Caleb comes back and says, it is just like they say but we can take em. God says so and he's going to make em fall at our feet. So, numbers 14 listen to this, two to four. All of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt Or would that we had died in this wilderness?

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall only by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So, they said to one another, let us appoint another leader and return to Egypt. Oh, God brought them out of slavery, brought them out of this horrible, horrible slavery and they're ready to turn back to it.

Numbers 15, legal stuff about atonement for sin. It's not, oh, it is not coincidental only that they start grumbling and then we have the legal stuff about sin and atonement. The core rebellion is in number 16. Tanya's least favorite story in the whole Bible. You want real entertaining reading this afternoon?

Boy, the core rebellion. Number 16, some of the priest rose up against Moses and they were taken out. 17, God reaffirms Moses and Aaron both as his leaders through some miracles with his staff. 18, there's more legal stuff about guilt and atonement and how you should offer before the Lord which is great. Tabernacle stuff.

19 is the same way and then we get to 20 and that's where we're going to be today. So, that other one is camped out on the Plains Of Moab when they get further along Basically, they've gotten to this journey and they're we're in chapter 20 and it the journey goes till 21 So, today, we're going to be in Kadesh Starts off and tells us exactly where we are. Alright, that was all pro Are you with me? Do you want to stand up and stretch for a second? You don't need to?

Alright. Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, everybody that had been traveling came to the wilderness of Zin which is a desert in the first month and the people stayed at Kadesh or Kadesh, Barnea. If you wonder where we are, there's a globe that's a little closer. That's the Sinai Peninsula and that's modern day. You can see Israel and Jordan and you can see Egypt over here with this fertile delta and the Nile River.

Just south of the Gaza Strip there within sight of Israel Right there, that's the location of Kadesh Barnea. They're pretty close. They still had some a ways to go though. And it says right there now, Miriam, that is Moses' sister, died there and was buried there. Now, my pastoral heart hurts today for people who've lost dear, dear loved ones.

And this was a dear loved one. Though she had turned, when she turned against Moses, Moses laid down on his face before God and said, please do not hold this against her. Please do not hold it against him. He realized that they had not seen God's glory in the same way that he had and he was begging for God to forgive and God did and they had a good relationship. It wasn't a bad relationship.

He loved his sister Miriam and then at Kadesh, Miriam died and that's the first sign of Pharaoh. First thing that we have that happened there. Now, Miriam died there and was buried there. Second verse says, there was no water for the congregation It's a it's a it's a wilderness. It's a desert.

You saw how fertile the Nile was and then you see that it's desert. There was no water for the congregation and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. God had confirmed over and over and over that Moses was his leader, that Aaron was his priestly helping his priest and helper and leader. There was no water for the congregation. That's true.

And they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron again. The people thus contended with Moses and spoke saying, if only we had perished with our brothers, perish before the Lord. Now, his sister had just perished out there in that wilderness. You think he wasn't feeling it? You think he wasn't thirsty?

Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our beast to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place? It's not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates nor is there water to drink. And then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and they fell on their faces. That's a posture of humility.

It's a posture of prayer. The posture of being completely broken before the Lord because everything that they said it might sound like grumbling to us because we know the ends of these stories and we know who the good guys and bad guys are, right? But they were thirsty. They were hungry. His sister, their sister had just died and they fell on their faces before the Lord because they felt ill equipped to the task.

And then the glory of the Lord appeared to him. How often is it that somebody meets God and understands and accepts his plan for their life in good times. How often is that? It's almost always when you are broken and you fall on your face before God, right? So, that's what they did.

They fell down Then, the glory of the Lord appeared to them. God's holiness, his complete otherness went public to those two guys right there at the tent of meeting. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the rod. Now, the rod, y'all remember the rod? They threw that rod down in pharaoh's court and it became like a serpent.

There are lots of different things that have happened. That rod kind of a symbol of their authority, their earthly authority, their shepherd's rod to their sheep. He says, take the rod and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield its water. You shall thus in this way, thus, whenever you see thus, it means in this way, alright? You shall thus, in this way, you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock.

This is the glory of God that's appeared and it spoke to Moses. There are two of em there both seeing the glory but it says specifically, lord spoke to Moses and you shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink God had their best interest in mind. He knew that they were thirsty and he was going to meet their needs, right? The the whole assembly of sons of Israel and so Moses took the ride from before the Lord just as he had commanded. You hear the just as he commanded.

That's a refrain. We've heard over and over during the obedient part of numbers and actually up to this point, every time that we hear, it says, and the Lord commanded Moses. It kept saying that even through the disobedient part, Moses had been obedient. He's been going along for all these 19 chapters in obedience. Actually, at one point when people called out against Moses and they rose up against him.

Think it was with Miriam and Aram rose up against him. He said, yeah but Moses is the humblest man on Earth and what have we learned in the New Testament? God resist the proud but he gives grace to the humble. When somebody sets themselves up as the leader that's not a good position to take with God. I I heard a pastor say a while back, you know, the a game that some people play in some parts of the country with kids is while they're sitting in the high chairs, they, how big are you?

You know, how big are you? Do y'all know this? And they say, so big. So big. Hold their hands out.

Well, that's a good game to play with your kids but it ain't a good game to play with God. Remember Job? How big are you? Where were you when I stung hung the stars in place? Where were you when I told the seas where they could stop, right?

But it says, so Moses took the rod from before the Lord just as he had commanded. He was obedient right there and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and we could act just as God had commanded them. And he said to them. What had God said to to do? Speak to the rock and he said to them, listen now you rebels.

Listen now you rebels Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock That's an a of the divine prerogative Are you theological nerds Listen now, you rebels. He had been waiting and waiting to say that. Every other time up to this place, he had been praying for them. Anytime anybody offended, oh Lord, do not hold their sin against them and this God had said that he was going to provide for their water for them but he he he told him to speak to a rock. Now, put yourself in Moses's position here before the listen now you rebels.

What does it look like to bring forth water from a rock by speaking to it? Don't know. I don't know how close to the surface that water was. I don't understand how God was going to do it but God did tell him specifically and everything else in the book of Numbers actually in Exodus, Leviticus two was very specific and they did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses yet this, he said to them, listen now you rebels, shall we, me and Aaron, Aaron and I, bring forth water for you out of this rock. And then Moses lifted up his hand and he struck the rock twice with his rod and water came forth abundantly.

Now, Thus, you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock. You shall speak to the rock before their eyes. That it may yield its water. The water's there and all you have to do is speak to the rock in front of them. You have to be willing, Moses.

To just do as I command, just you. You're the only one that can do this and I want for you to speak to that rock in front of them. So, yeah, you're out there. You're vulnerable but you gotta trust me. If speaking would bring it forth, hitting it twice ought to do it, right?

And he was angry and his sister had just died and there was a lot going on and actually, this is one of those places in the Bible where I just feel like, oh Lord, when I'm witnessing to somebody, please don't ever have me bring this up. This seems sort of embarrassing to me that God you would act like that Oh my goodness May it never be so that I think like that. God is completely other and his glory is important. He is completely holy before them and his ways are right and his ways are good and he had a way that was right and good and Moses was disobedient. Now, up to this point, Moses had been obedient to the Lord.

But at this point, he broke away and some people and I've read several things that said and because Moses got angry, God wouldn't let him while we're going into the text. But I don't think it was that. I think it was disobedient and God was concerned for his glory. He was concerned for his holiness. He was concerned for his people.

He says, you shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock. Actually, if we go back, speak to the rock before their eyes. Then, Moses lifted up his hand. He struck the rock twice with his rod and water came forth abundantly and the congregation and their beasts drank. They didn't go, well, Moses.

That was mighty snotty. They didn't do that. They didn't care how he did it. They wanted water and God in their eyes, maybe Moses had provided them water. Shall we bring forth water from this rock, smack smack?

And they did. Now, the people drank and their beast drank and they were filled, hydrate, or die, right? So, the congregation didn't feel the effects of it but oh my goodness. Normally, I love extra large adversative conjunctions. This one is hard, really hard for Moses.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you have not believed me. You didn't believe me when I said, all you had to do is speak to this rock because you've not believed me, to treat me as holy. Now, I've defined glory as God's holiness when it goes public and it was very public in front of that congregation. All the sons of Israel, everybody gathered together. You did not believe me to treat me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel.

Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I've given them. Now, in 14, I think it's like verse 29 or so. He had said because of the disbelief and because of the grumbling, because of complaining, because of the lack of trust, lack of faith, God had said, y'all are not going to go into this promised land that I have promised to my people. You're not going to get in. Anybody over 20 years old is not going to get in.

So, they wandered around that desert waiting for people to die. Moses had not been a part of that group until right here. Therefore, because you have not believed me to treat me as holy. Now, Israel was always supposed to be a light to the nations always and when they were going in claim plan that God had promised them, they were supposed to be a light to the nations and they had to be good stewards of the fame and reputation the glory of God and Moses had not been Just in that instance and the crowd probably didn't know or care. But it always comes back to a heart matter.

It always does. You shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. And those were the waters of Meribah because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord and he proved himself holy among them. It doesn't say that Moses cried out to the Lord for water and Moses was the one who went in there and prayed and laid down on his face before because he was the one that was in that position but everybody that was asking Moses and complaining against him was also praying to God also contending with God that their family wouldn't starve that they wouldn't thirst to death, that their beast wouldn't die off because the sons of Israel the people of God contended with the Lord and he proved himself holy among Amen God is holy. He is glorious and he has glory and he will protect it He will share it.

Now, Joshua and Caleb, those two spies that went out that said, yeah, God says, go. We're going to go. Young guys, full of life, didn't have as much history. But Joshua never wanted to leave the presence of the Lord. If you go back and read this, he never wanted to leave the presence of lord.

He always wanted to be there. He's hanging out with Moses as much as he could, as much as with Aaron as he could and he was always trying to be there to catch a glimpse of God's glory and he's faithful to it and where as Moses was not able to enter he was able to write this down. Can you imagine having to write this story down? He's Moses right? I mean, he's the one who relays this message of his own lack of humility and the reason why he doesn't get to go in.

Wow. Is that the last slide? What is it about the glory of God? It's God's holiness. He is holy other and he is good.

We don't always understand his ways but we are to be stewards of his glory. We're to be good if we're the people of God. We're to be good examples of how he is. To us. When we recognize that he is our provider and he is our savior Moses most humble man on earth but still fall short God is holy other Christ continually continually surrender to the power of the spirit and did not speak out.

In the same way that Moses did. What is it about the glory of God? We'll get back to this. Biblically, God has shown his glory through. I can I can find examples of four different things?

One of em is creation. Psalm 19 says, the heavens are telling the glory of God. They're expansive declaring the works of the hands. Day to day, first forth speech. Night to night, it reveals knowledge.

There's no speech. There are no nor are there words where the voice is not heard. God declares his glory through creation. If you don't believe so, look around. We have visitors all the time.

Why? Because this creation is amazing here. It is beautiful Even the wilderness of zen is amazing actually but this is just mind blowing God is speaking for through Christian God has shown his glory through Israel. His covenant people, the people of God. Now, I went through around Christmas.

I went through the suffering servant passages and it throws out that Israel shows God's glory. I'd say that that is this next one, Christ. Christ shows the glory of God. That verse that we covered and then the last one is that biblically, God has shown his glory through the church The church, capital C church, all of that this church, just this little C church but the church. The church triumphant.

All of those who put their trust in Christ. Paul says, all the old was written and given to us as an example for how to to be taught so that it we can be reproved so that we can be rebuked and so we can be trained in righteousness Creation Israel Christ and the church and I'm going back to Paschal's little handwritten thing I saw the other day. For it is God who said, light shall shine out of the darkness creation declaring the glory of God. He is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Are you with me?

We're grafted into Israel through Christ and we are the church. If you put your faith and trust in Christ, then you are a carrier of the glory of God and I want to ask you a question, is can you will you live a yielded life, yielded to the Holy Spirit so that you may be a good steward of the glory of God. It's serious business. It really is serious and I would say that what God spoke to Moses is what he expected of him to do. Does that make sense?

And so, if you see in pages of scripture, God calling you to holiness and that's what he expects. I'd say that if you feel impressed upon your heart that you are to do something. The Bible says, you know, we're saved by grace through faith that's not of ourselves so that no one will boast but we are his workmanship and we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God has prepared in advance and he will direct. Another story from Moses from Numbers is Moses had the Holy Spirit lit upon him. It was filling him and God was speaking to him and through him and working through him and then at some point, the task was just too great and God said, call together seventy, seventy elders.

Call together these 70. Bring em on in here. Bring em together and then, I'm going to share my spirit with them like I have with you. Joshua who all never want to leave the presence of the Lord heard two of those guys prophesying. He recognized what was going on.

He runs into Moses and says, Moses, there are two guys out here that prophesying is doing kind of like what you do. It's they're they're claiming that and Moses said, hold on just a second. Would that everyone had the availability of the Holy Spirit speaking in their lives? I wish that everyone had the ability to listen to what God was saying to them and Christians.

You do.

The Holy Spirit speaks. If you are a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit speaks and we are to be obedient and we're to carry it like this example that Moses had. He did several of the things exactly as God has commanded him but some of the things he got too big for his britches. Let's don't get too big for our britches. Humbly do as the as God directs because we have been shown.

It has been shown in our hearts to give light of the knowledge, the glory of God, and the face of Christ. Capital C Church, hold on just one second. This right here. Imma end with this. So, band, y'all can come on back up.

Consider, this is the next verse after this. It's God who has said, light shall shine out of darkness. He declares his glory. He is the one who shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ but we this treasure in earthen vessels. We do not carry around the tabernacle and thousands and thousands of people.

We have this treasure the glory of God in earth and vessels so that they're surpassing greatness of the power Power will be of God and not from ourselves. It has to be God, not our own. We are afflicted in every way. Can I get a witness? But not crushed.

We are perplexed. Can I get a witness? But not despairing. We are persecuted but we're not forsaken. We are struck down but we are not destroyed.

We are always carrying about in the body. The dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested or shown forth in our body. Not my body but our body, the body of Christ. Are y'all with me? The glory of God is a serious business and we are carriers of it or reflectors of it maybe is a good way of putting it.

Let's don't step in and receive the glory. That's a bad bad position. Trust me. Read numbers. But anytime we get the chance to speak a word for God to increase his fame and re here among people who don't know him, take opportunity and do it.

Would you stand and we're going to sing Rock of Ages If you want to come forward and pray, this altar is always open. If you want to talk to me, I'll turn off the mic and stop playing the bass but I'm here all week. Okay? Alright, since the Lord has chosen to show his glory through his church, I want to do this for the benediction. Ephesians three twenty and twenty one is about God's glory specifically.

Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. That's not a prosperity gospel verse by the way. Look at the context of this. Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to power that works within us. To him be the glory.

In the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. May it be so. Amen.