Right, only about 90, well let me see, about 98% of the churches don't teach prophecy at all, period, out. I will say this, we're gonna have a couple more lessons in Exodus and then from Exodus we're gonna move to Daniel and go through the book of Daniel verse by verse and chapter by chapter. But where we're at right now in the Exodus is we're in some very, heart-penetrating texts. And it's going to the heart of not only Moses and Israel, but it's going to our hearts. And let me explain what I mean by that. The title is, Without the Lord Everything is Meaningless. And let me bridge into what's happening currently. What's currently happening is an overtake of evil in this world. Every week we see it, and it gets worse and worse, and it's not getting any better. And we know where it's heading to the tribulation, and we know why. So what we're here to do is do our job to be about our father's business until the day we're raptured back home, back home. And at the same time though, If you're feeling the same way I'm feeling, I'm getting a little tired of this world. I'm getting fatigued by the evil. I'm tired of every time I turn around, I have to see something negative or evil or somebody trying to do some crazy thing that doesn't make any sense and it's going to hurt lives. I'm getting to the point where I'm kind of done with this world. I'm ready to go home at any point in time. I'm seeing a society that is so anti-God, and the people are so godless and anti-God. It doesn't mean we're not going to continue to reach them for the gospel. That isn't what I'm talking about. I'm just saying, at the same time, I feel like, maybe you do too, I'm done! I'm done! I'm done with seeing this. I'm done with seeing these people get away with things of crimes. They should be in jail for the rest of their life. I'm seeing that people who are killing babies in abortion mills and stuff, they think they're just getting away with things. I know the judgment's coming, I know. And I know that God's going to take care of that. But as a human, I just get tired of it. And that's where we long to be with the Lord and go home. I get that. Because when you, here's the principle I wanted to show you that's gonna be in the text. When you don't see the Lord's presence in a particular place, as a believer, you just don't wanna be there anymore. They've kicked God out of society, they've kicked him out of the schools, out of the medical industry, everything, science industry, and God's not in it anymore. He's not there. And so I don't wanna be there where he's not. And you probably feel the same way. Our jobs are becoming like that. The whole society is like that. And without the Lord, everything is meaningless. Okay? That's the idea. And He's going to teach this to Israel. He's going to test them with this. And let me kind of show you what God's going to try to impress upon them about Himself. So let me give you an illustration. If you ever went back in your life and you actually go back to the places you were born, the places you grew up. I'm from Delano so don't hold that against me. Can anything good come out of Delano? I don't know. But anyway, I'm from there. I go there every once in a while, and I'll drive around the town a little bit, and I'll go places to the places we used to hang out as kids, and I go by the high school, and there's where my buddies were, and there's where I played football and baseball with my buddies. But I look at the fields, and I look at the high school, and it's not the same anymore. And then I'll go back, and I'll look at my both sets of grandma's and grandpa's houses and you know there's other people living there now but you look at it from the outside and you're like something's missing something's missing and you go to the old school that I went to the elementary school and it's all boarded up and closed now and you look at it and something's missing And even my neighborhood where I grew up, everyone's gone now. Everyone's gone. The whole neighborhood's flipped over and all different people living up and down the neighborhood that I don't even know. And something's missing. I don't know if you've ever done that. But I've come to realize that what's missing is not the place. It's the people who made the place, the difference. They're gone now. They went home with the Lord. You don't see them anymore. And so, what you realize, it's not the place that brings the nostalgia back, it's the people who occupied the place. And it's the same is true with God. When you start seeing in our society there's no semblance of any recognition of God in our culture, it's not a place I want to be. So I don't spend a lot of time in Delano because it breaks my heart to see those places and know that those people are gone now. I'll see them again because they trusted in the Lord, but it's hard to go back to know they're not there anymore. And so that's how it is with the Lord. If we don't see the Lord, we just don't want anything to do with it. I'm done. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of not seeing the Lord honored. I'm tired of seeing the blasphemy. And this is what this lesson is about. It's a test to Israel, and here's the test. Israel, do you want my presence, or do you want what I give you? Do you want the promised land without me? See, this is what our world is creating. The world is creating, they want to create a utopia without God. They wanted the Garden of Eden back without God. They want a kingdom without God. Can't have that. How empty would it be to be in the promised land without God? How empty would it be to be in heaven if God wasn't there? You see, the goal of us going to heaven is not so we can be at a place. It's not about a place, it's about a person. That heaven is a person and you get to be with the Lord and see him face to face. That's what heaven is. It's not the golden streets. It's not the pearl gates. It's not the walls. It's not the foundations. It's the presence of God himself. And if he's not there, I don't wanna be in heaven. You see how it is? You must, in your walk with the Lord, separate out the place from the person of God. If God's not there, I don't want to be there either. And so that comes down to the dreams we have, the goals we have in life. It comes down to how we live our lives. We may have a fantastic goal in our life and a fantastic dream, but what if God's not in it? It's useless, it's meaningless. If God's not in your goals or in what you're projecting out, it's useless. People say to me, Brandon, I was planning on retiring and I'm gonna go to the Bahamas and sip iced tea on the dock right there in the Bahamas and never look back. Is God in that? Is He in that? Is that where He wants you? Because I wouldn't go anywhere in retirement where God isn't. So you have to ask that question, is God there? Otherwise, everything is vain. Everything is vanity. So here's what I want you to see. I want you to see this dynamic play out in Israel. This is a test to Israel of whether or not they want His presence. And so the background on this, obviously, this is coming on the heels of the golden calf, right? And we've studied that extensively. But here's the bottom line. What was the golden calf about? It was about trying to manipulate God and capture Him in an image of a golden calf so that they would have access to his power and provision and protection as they went into the promised land without him. They wanted the promised land but they would settle for a golden calf to lead them. Now I know this sounds crazy but you have to think in a pagan mindset because they're coming out of Egypt. Now here's how the pagan mind worked. They believed that you, they didn't believe that the idol itself was a God. They believed an idol was able to capture the God. If you sacrificed in front of an idol, it demanded that the God show up there and hear you. That's what idolatry was about. That's what they did with Yahweh. They tried to demand his presence, manipulate his presence, and you will hear us, and this is what we want from you. We want your power, your guidance, and your protection. That's what the whole calf was about. Now in paganism, it's not that the pagans serve the God, it's they make bargains or deals with the God through sacrifice. We'll feed you, and as we feed you, you serve us. You give us your power, your guidance and lead so we can accomplish our dreams that we want. See how it works? It's nothing about the God, it's about the person getting their dreams and wishes fulfilled by trying to manipulate the power of the deity. That's exactly what our culture's doing. When you hear people talk in our culture about God, it almost makes me puke. Seriously, man, because you know what? They treat God as a genie. They think they have these wonderful plans. This is their goals. And oh, I just pray God blesses me in that. How do you know that goal is of God? Are you like the Israelites doing things on your own arbitrarily without any lead from God and expecting God to come in and give you everything as a genie would so you can have your life that you've dreamed about? That's a dangerous, dangerous place to be spiritually if someone has that kind of idea. I'm not saying you do. I'm just saying I've seen it out in Christianity, and it's part of this celebrity Christianity types of stuff, right? God will let you fulfill your dreams. You know, stupid things like that, right? Word of faith, NAR, stuff like that. Anyway, let's go into the text. Here's the test. Then the Lord said to Moses, depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, to your descendants I will give it. So this is the Abrahamic covenant. He's promising it. And I will send my angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and the Termites. The Termites will be driven out too. No Termites. Okay, but what is the phrase look at the thing? I've underlined my angel now. Here's what god is testing him with I am not going with you to the promised land I'm going to send an intermediary to lead you Okay now they don't know that the angel of the Lord actually is the Messiah. But they just know it's an angel, and that's less than having God's presence. That's what the test is. I'm not going with you. I'm gonna make sure you get it all, because I made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I'm gonna ensure you do that, but I'm not going. My presence is not going with you. Uh-oh, it's a problem. And he continues on, he calls the land, go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. Now you've probably heard that phrase constantly, but what does it mean? The land of flowing milk and honey has to do with their economic situation. It has to do with their agrarian agricultural situation. The land flown with milk has to do with herd animals because herd animals like goats or cows or whatever would produce milk. That's where Israel would get its milk from is the herd animals because of the lush grazing area of Israel. So that's one major aspect in an agrarian society is you've got to have grazing land for cattle. Got it. Then the idea of honey. Honey, it's not bee honey it's referring to. It's referring to date palm honey. Now what happens is the date palms that grow in Israel are the best dates in the world. If you ever eat one from Israel, it's top notch. You're not going to get any better than the dates there because there's a specific reason why and I'll tell you in just a bit. The dates, what they do in Israel, like if you go to a hotel and you have pancakes at one of the hotels in Israel, you're not gonna get maple syrup. You're gonna get date syrup or date honey to put on your pancakes. That is what they use in Israel for their syrups. And so the dates are a luxury item because they're so good, so incredible. Why? Well, here, okay, let me back up. Milk and honey represents everything you could need in an agrarian society because the honey represents the agriculture Well, what do you mean in this little sliver of land that God gave Israel? There are four Climates in this little country four climates There's subtropical There's a desert climate, there's a Mediterranean climate, and then there's a northern climate, kind of what you would see with Washington where they grow apples in a colder climate, right? Israel has that in the north. They have the desert on the southeast part. Now let me talk about the date palms and why this is interesting about the land of milk and honey. By the Dead Sea is where the desert climate is that Israel grows their date palms. That's where their date palms has always been in this growing area. It's a phenomenal area. The area where Israel grows is by the Dead Sea, and you know the Dead Sea is 1,300 feet below sea level, okay? So what they have found out is the reason they have incredible dates there is because no radiation from the sun gets to that low level. So virtually the crops that they grow in the desert climate are untouched by the sun. They get the light from the sun, but they don't have the negative effects of the sun as you would have here in Kern County when the sun gets too hot, it burns the crops sometimes, right? It doesn't happen there in Israel. Their crops are untouched by radiation. which means that the crops are bigger, sweeter, more abundant, and it grows like crazy in the area. Now, picture yourself by the Dead Sea and say you're gonna go float on the Dead Sea for a while and hang out on the beach of the Dead Sea and put mud all over you. Well, you could be out the entire day in the middle of summer at the Dead Sea and you would never get a sunburn. because it's so low the radiation from the sun doesn't hit the area and so you'll never burn. So when God says this is the land of flowing milk and honey he gave them four climate zones for their flocks but also for their agriculture which means this Israel even today can grow every Vegetable and every fruit on this planet in those four climate zones That's what it means to have the land of milk and honey They can grow everything which in that case that means agriculturally back then they would be a super economic system Nothing could come close all the trading would come to them. They wouldn't have to go out to trade. Everything would be there They have the salt from the Dead Sea. They have everything That they generate within the country to be like the top the top economic culture in the entire world So that's what the land of milk and honey means But God is saying I'll give you the best economic situation, but I'm not going I Is that worth it? If you could be a billionaire, but God not be in it, would you accept that? You see what the test is? I'll give you all this Israel, but I'm not going. I'm not going with you. So the test is whether or not Israel will say, okay, well, we're going to go anyway. So he goes, I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you. I'm gonna kill you if I do this on the way. For you are a stiff-necked people. Now it's coming on the heels of the golden calf. And what's the attitude that God's trying to say? It's not like God's saying, I'm unpredictable, and I'm just gonna kill you when I feel like it. He's saying, no, no, I am very predictable, Israel. And if you do this nonsense again with the golden calf, or you try any idolatry again, I'm gonna wipe all of you out. because that's my reaction to you. I spared you once, I will not spare you again if you pull the same stunt with me. So I would prefer not to go with you just in case you do it again to spare your life. As an act of mercy, I will distance myself from you because if I'm there in the midst of you and you do this again, I'm wiping all of you out, okay? Because he calls them a stiff neck people. It's a Hebraic saying and it's being called stiff neck in the Hebrew culture means The person won't submit to God's authority. That's what stiff-necked means. It's a stubbornness, but it's not a stubbornness in general. It's a stubbornness towards God. I'm not going to follow your rules. I'm not going to do my life your way. I don't submit to your authority. But yet I want your power, and I want your provision, and I want your protection, and I want all the stuff that you give. I want what's on the master's table, but I don't want the master. That's what being stiff-necked is in the Hebrew culture. So the principle is that God is separating himself right now. You're going to see it in the text. Because they had tried to manipulate God. They had tried to fulfill their wants and desires by his power. And that is extremely dangerous, guys, spiritually speaking. For them, he could kill them. For us, we can be disciplined for that. And think about this, man. If you start living your own life, doing your own plans, living the way you want to live, you're going to end up in a mess at the end. You're going to find yourself empty, meaningless. Even if you accomplish your goals, yeah. I'll give you an example. I think I've given this before about Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys quarterback. When they won the Super Bowl, he got the MVP for the Super Bowl. And they had a party and everything, as you know, in winning the Super Bowl and everything. But you know what Troy Aikman said at the end of it? At the end of all the partying, he went back to his hotel and he cried all night long. You know why? He says this, I'd come to the head or the pinnacle of my career. This is what I thought would give me meaning. Winning the Super Bowl, MVP, you couldn't get higher than that. And he says, I reached it and I was still empty. Now this is a guy with millions and millions of dollars. Achieving something very few people achieve and he says it was meaningless Now, I don't know if Troy Eggman's a believer, but he did admit he accomplished his goals and God wasn't there It's just meaningless. It's useless. What's the point? That's a bad place to be That's a horrible place to be to think that you fulfilled your dreams and it's just meaningless when you get there. It's horrible, it's horrible. But anyway, that's what happened, what Israel's doing. And so when the people heard this bad news, he's not going with them to the promised land, they mourned. Okay, good, that's a good sign, they're mourning. And no one put on his ornaments. Now let me explain the ornaments. Now, putting on the ornaments is putting on their jewelry. In the Middle East or in the ancient Hebrew culture, wearing jewelry was a sign of joy, a sign of a party, festival, rejoicing, that kind of thing. They would put on their jewels. You take off your jewels if you're mourning. And so interesting that they do this, but this is ahead of the next verse where God actually commands them to take off the jewelry. I'll explain that in just a bit. So for the Lord had said to Moses, say to the children of Israel, you are a stiff necked people, you won't submit to my authority. I could come into your midst in one moment and consume you. Again, the caveat is if you did this again, right? Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that's a command. Take off your ornaments that I may know what to do to you. So the pending thing is there's a pending judgment. And the pending judgment is over Israel's attitude of mourning. And so it's good that it says they mourn, but God wants it to be seen outwardly as well. So he commands them, take off the jewelry. This is an ironic judgment. You know why? Because they took off their jewelry to make the gold, to overlay the golden calf with their jewelry that they got out of Egypt. The leftover jewelry now that they're wearing still came from Egypt. But he's saying, look, I don't want you wearing that. I want you to your outward appearance needs to match what's going on inside, hopefully. So I need you in a position of mourning. And so it matches what's on the inside, hopefully. Now in the Hebrew culture, you have to understand that they're not they don't mourn like you and I do. Like when we mourn, no one can really tell what's going on. We put on our best suit, we go to a funeral, we put on our best attire, and it doesn't appear that we're mourning from the outside. We might be mourning on the inside, but we put on our best. Israel wouldn't do that. The Hebrew culture puts on their worst. They put on sackcloth and ashes. Right? And then they tear their clothes to symbolize mourning. And what is the deal about this? Because in the Hebrew culture and in the Bible culture, your outward appearance needs to match your inward attitude. That's the issue. God doesn't want Israel to send mixed messages. If I tell you to be in a state of mourning, that needs to match in your attitude and in your appearance. I want you to send a consistent message, and note this, that I may know what to do with you. Because if you don't do the mourning that is required, I will consume you. Okay, so the children of Israel, probably as quick as they could, stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. So they did it. That's what Yahweh wanted. He wants an attitude and a position outwardly of mourning. Now let me say this. The English in this is not translating it correctly in Hebrew. What the Hebrew says, That so the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb from that point on That's what the Hebrew says Which means it is at this point that Israel for the next 40 years will never ever wear any jewelry as a sign of festive or joyfulness or anything because that generation really messed things up. And so they will always appear in mourning for the next 40 years until that generation dies. That will be the moniker of them. Now why? Because he wants to see the other nations know something. That with my people, I treat them fair just like I'm treating the Gentiles. When my people screw up, I will take care of business. I will discipline my own children. And Yahweh's wanting the outside world to see that. That He doesn't turn a blind eye to His own kids. He doesn't show partiality. That when His own kids mess up, He punishes them and they will have that look for the next 40 years. For the outside nations to see. So the outside nations would look upon Israel and they would see the lack of earrings, the mourning, clothing, and they would say, why are they in mourning? Well, because Yahweh disciplined them. Wow! If Yahweh disciplines them, He will probably discipline us too! You see how that works? It's a telltale sign to the world of judgment. Judgment starts what? Where? With the house of God first, and then to the outside world. So that's the whole message that's being played out here. So here's the test. God is wanting to see if there's anyone in Israel that understands what the point is about going into the promised land. Does anyone understand it? Is it about the land itself, the cattle and all that? Is it about that, the great economic system? Even today, even today, The Jews right now, as we support them, still don't get it right now. Now the Messianic Jews do, because they believe in the Messiah, but many of the rabbis that teach Israel are totally oblivious to this. Here's the problem with Israel and here's the problem with us as an individual. Israel will always have this problem where they take the blessings of God and take all the benefits that God gives them as his people and think that they did it themselves. It will always be their problem. And right now that is currently their problem. They have a great military. But they think they've done it. They don't realize they're supernaturally empowered, according to Leviticus, to win wars. Their brain power is unbelievable. There's no nation that matches their brain power. Highest IQs in the world, most Nobel Prizes come out of Israel. Most inventions are now coming out of Israel. Why? They take it as we're smart. And that's a problem. The reason Israel's successful is God. That's what the real answer is. And he wants to make this known to us and to Israel and to the Gentiles of the world. The promise line can only be taken if God is with them. So there's more separation. God is showing himself, I'm gonna separate from you. Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. So as you can see on the right-hand side, the picture is how the camp was organized. According to numbers, and basically the numbers of the people in the certain camps, this is how it was organized. What shape does it make? Is that a mistake? It's intentional. The camp was laid out in a big, giant cross in the desert. And look what would be in the middle. It would be Yahweh's presence in the middle in the Shekinah glory. But what's happened? God is saying, I'm going to move outside the camp. Moses is going to erect his tent. And we're going to go outside the camp. And I'm going to be appearing out there, not within the camp. I'm distancing myself from you, Israel, because you want to do it your way. you don't get my presence. So I'm gonna remove myself. So Moses sets up his own tent outside the camp and this is where Yahweh will meet with him. Anyway, and it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. Now this is a big deal. So now he's going to force Israel since they decided corporately and to hide corporately in numbers By creating the golden calf, he's saying, you're not going to hide corporately anymore. You're going to publicly identify with me from now on. And how to do that? If you want to inquire of me, you must come to the tent of meeting outside of the camp and expose yourself individually. And all the camp will see you coming to me to inquire of me. Because I need you to publicly identify with me. Now, why is that a big deal? It's a huge deal. God is wanting an individual relationship with them, and you have to have enough guts to make that public. Same thing happened in the New Testament? Of course it did. You know, there was many Jews, many Pharisees, many religious leaders that believed in Jesus, but it says in John, I think, chapter 12, verse 42, that many believed in Him, but would not publicly identify with Him for fear of being put out of the synagogue. there was all these secret believers. There was all these people that believed in Jesus, but kept it under cover. And that's not supposed to happen. Baptism is our first public identification. That's what got the Jews cut off from the community. But further beyond baptism is that you and I should publicly identify with the Lord. How so? Out of your mouth. People must know Where do you come from? People must know what your morals are, what your ethics are, what you believe about Jesus, about the Bible. It shouldn't be any secret that they know where you're coming from because Jesus said it this way, if you're ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my father. That's not a salvation issue, it's an approval issue. that if you are so embarrassed of me that you won't publicly identify with me out in your world, then I will not publicly identify with you before the Father. Doesn't mean you're not saved, I'm just not gonna be of approval of you and say, God or Father, this one was embarrassed me of their whole life. They wouldn't identify with me. You're gonna lose rewards because of that. Public identification is a big deal in scripture. Okay. So anyway, that's what he forced them to do. You will publicly identify with me now. So it was whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle that all the people rose and each man stood at his tent and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. Now the idea is they You can't have access to God like Moses is. And it says, when it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses face to face. They got to see this. They didn't get this experience. They had to watch it from their tent. They couldn't go right up to God's presence. They were limited. They were kept away on purpose. And so, again, this is reiterating Moses' leadership. Because what did they say about Moses? Ah, we don't know what happened to this guy. He disappeared. Let's do it all over again. Aaron, come on now. Let's go. We're going into the promised land. Forget Moses. We don't know what's going on there. And build us a calf and let's go. They totally discounted his leadership. Now they will be forced to accept his leadership because God only appears now to Moses. And if they want to inquire the Lord, here's the chain that they have to go through. They have to go through Moses to inquire of the Lord. And then the Lord will respond to Moses, and then Moses has to respond to them. You see how the chain goes. That has to happen. They will not be able to go personally to God. There's a pushback. Now, the same is true in the New Testament. The only reason you and I have access to God the Father is through an intermediator like Moses, who is the Messiah, right? He's the high priest. He takes us beyond the veil, and that's why we can go. So he mediates between us and God the Father. It's the same as Moses is doing right here. But again, it's proving Moses' leadership to Israel. They'll never forget this. And all the people saw the pillar of clouds standing in the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped. Where did they worship? In the presence of God? No, you're gonna do it at your tent. you do not have access to him anymore. And each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend, and then he would return to the camp after he was done. So when God was done talking with him, Moses went back into the camp. They all saw this. What's the point? The point is, God is saying, since you've treated me like this, I'm gonna treat you the same. You didn't want me to go with you in the promised land. I am now gonna permanently distance myself from you. Are you okay with that, Israel? Is that what you really wanted? It's a test, okay? But his servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Now, why does it throw this in? I think it's a key understanding about Jesus. Now, this tent of meeting is different from the tabernacle. This is Moses' tent. So this is where God would interface with him. So when Moses is gone, the caretaker for this tent of meeting is Joshua. Okay, now when you say Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yeshua. It's very similar to Yeshua. So in essence, a lot of times, Yeshua and Yehoshua, I think I'm pronouncing it right, is equivalent. So when you say Joshua, you're saying Messiah. You're saying Jesus's name. And so, if you look at what Joshua's doing, He's serving as an intermediator even when Moses is gone. And you're not going to go there without Joshua holding you back. He will maintain this place. You don't get to rush in it and try to talk to God there. And so when you look at him and what he's doing, he's acting as if what the Messiah will do in the future. The Messiah will be our interface between God and man. That's the whole picture here with Joshua. And so you see that with Moses, you see with Joshua, it's all over the place, man. Anyway, then Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. So God's saying, I'm not going with you, but hey, who's gonna come with me? Now again, your English is not translating this good. What's really being said here is this is a very polite way to speak in Hebrew. If you're in the Middle East, they won't come out and say, hey, you've got to come with us. They would never say that. They would say, well, if you're not going to come, who's going to go with us? It's a polite way of saying to God, you have to come. You have to come. But who's going to go with us if you're not going with us, right? It's just a polite way of saying you have to come. Yet you have said, I know you by name. I have a personal relationship with you. Does God know your name? That means he has a personal relationship with you. And you have also, you have found grace in my sight. I've received your grace. I'm exhibiting the right attitude. Will you come if I exhibit the right attitude? He goes now therefore I pray if if I have found grace in your sight Show me now your way that I may know you that I might find grace in your sight Moses is capturing what God wants out of Israel Moses is saying look I want to know who you are. I want to know your ways. I want to know you at an intimate level, more than I know now. Even though Moses was talking face to face, I want to know all about you. I have a spiritual hunger to know more about you. That I actually can get more grace from you. The more I know about you, the more I love you, I can receive more grace from you. Moses is epitomizing the attitude Yahweh wants with Israel and wants with us. How bad do you want Jesus? Now, people, they get their fire insurance with Jesus by getting saved, but that's not where it ends. That's where it begins. The rest of your life is, how much do you want of Jesus? You want all of him? You want to know all of his ways? You want to know him at an intimate level, experiential level, just based on, just not knowledge, but you interacting with him? You want that? That's what Moses is asking for. If you want that, then you will find grace in his sight. So let me show you the idea. Finding grace in the Lord's sight, it actually is translated in the Hebrew correctly, looking beautiful to the Lord. That's what really it means, finding grace in his sight. Looking beautiful to the Lord, that's literally what it means. Now, the idea of looking beautiful to the Lord is being desirable by God. Now, we're not talking about salvation, because God desires all to be saved. We're talking about a believer who is desirable by God in order for God to give his grace to that particular believer. How do you become desirable? How do you look beautiful to God? Well, number one, it's not arbitrary. It's not any, mini, mini, mo, I'm gonna give this guy grace and that guy grace and for no reason. No, no, no, no, no, it's based on a criteria. The criteria is, it's not about your performance. You can be serving the Lord and still not have afforded His grace. Because a lot of people think that serving means grace. It doesn't. It means you have to be desirable. What does that mean? You have to set your sights on what is right and good. You have to have faith. You have to have obedience. You have to have a desire, a spiritual hunger to want to know the Lord more. Now, the classic case in point where this was demonstrated was in the Gospels with Mary and Martha that were having a get-together at Lazarus' house and Jesus is there. And you remember the interchange between Jesus, Mary, and Martha? Martha's busy serving, doing things around the house, getting the house ready, and she rebukes the Lord to get Mary to help her. Lord, tell her something. She's just, she's not doing anything. She needs to help me get this house in order to get ready for the feast. What does the Lord say to her? No, she has chosen the better thing. Because what was Mary doing? She was at the Lord's feet, learning about him. Before you and I can serve, you must know him. If you serve without knowing Him, He's not in it. You've got to know why and who you serve. And so part of being beautiful to the Lord is you have this attitude. It's an insatiable attitude that you learn something about God and you let it come practically in your life and then you learn something else and you let it flow practically in your life and you're just constantly, constantly knowing Him and learning Him. That's how you get grace. That's what Moses is illustrating. And consider that this nation is your people. Again, he continues to tell Yahweh, don't do this to your people. You have to go with them. They're your people. And so look how Yahweh responds. Moses passed the test. My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. So you see the test? God was hoping that just one person in Israel would get this right. What's the point of going to the promised land? The point of going to the promised land is that's where God will be. Not because it's highly agricultural, not only because it's an unbelievable economic, it's because God is there. And if God is not going with us into the promised land, we don't want to go. That's the mentality, and so Moses illustrates it. And it just takes one to turn the whole thing around. One person making the right decision, Moses, and now God's saying, I'm with you now. See, that's how it will be in our lives. That's how it will be in a church. It just takes one person to change it for everybody. One person can change the outcome of a lot of things if they make the right decision. One person. There's two million Israelis. Two million. One person made the choice. Moses. Then he said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. There it is. Here's what Moses is saying. If you're not there, I'd rather stay in the desert. I'd rather stay in the harsh conditions of this dry desert and just continue to be fed by you with manna and the water from the Mount Sinai than go into the Promised Land and experience this agricultural benefit that you've given us because I want to be where you're at. And if it means being in the wilderness, that's where I'll stay. And a similar thing happened in the Gospels. The disciples were on the boat in the Sea of Galilee and a storm hit. You know the story very well. So Jesus comes walking out to them on the water. Remember that? And then Peter has enough boldness to say, didn't he come out to you? And so the Lord says, come on. And so Peter starts walking. And you remember, he started looking at the waves in the wind and then he starts sinking. The Lord has to rescue him out of that. But what's the point of that? It's not just so much about, it's not so much about Peter, it's about the Lord. The Lord is trying to tell the disciples. You're safer in the storm because that's where I'm at. Versus you stay in the boat where you think is your security. The boat is not your security. I'm your security in the storm. So practically speaking. The best place to be right now is not in some cave hiding, it's not in some other place where we're running from the culture, it's to be right in the middle of it because that's where Jesus is at. It's the safest place you can be. Now the thing about this, about our dreams, our goals, all of us have these things that we want to see accomplished in our life. But what if the Lord's not there? Then I would rather stay in the wilderness. Just like I told you, going back home to grandma and grandpa's house, they're not there. There's no point of staying in that house. They're not there. Why would I want to go back there if the people that made the house what it was are not there? Why would I want to go to heaven if God's not there? Heaven is not heaven without God. Oh, yeah, you have the golden streets and all that stuff, but that doesn't mean anything to what we would experience with being with God. That's the point. And so then he continues on, he says, for then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except that you go with us. The outside world is looking at us, Lord. They want to see if you're going to extend grace to them. So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth. Now here's the thing, Moses totally gets it, and he makes a beautiful point now. The point is this, Lord, if you don't go with us, we're going to look like the rest of the world. We're not going to be separate. So today, I want you to think about it. Even back in the history with Israel, what distinguished the Jews from the rest of everybody? Was it the kosher laws? Was it the way they dressed? Was it the temple? What was it that distinguished them? Why did God call them, I'm calling you out to be a peculiar people, that you stand against what's going on, you're my holy nation, a kingdom of priests, And you're gonna be different. What made Israel different and what makes Israel different today? It's God. And Moses gets this. The reason Israel is distinguished as God's people, because he's with them. Even in unbelief, yeah, even in unbelief. He's giving them blessings that bless the whole world, and no one sees it. Your medicine is coming out of Israel. Your technology, the new Silicon Valley, is Israel. All the development, technologically, is coming out of Israel. Not Silicon Valley, but out of Israel. They're in unbelief, and look how they're blessing you and I. God is still with them. This is why militarily Israel cannot be defeated. Because militarily God is with them. He promised in Leviticus that he would empower them supernaturally. I think it was like five men will be able to fight a hundred. That's the ratio. That's how empowered they are supernaturally by God. That's what makes Israel different. But that's what makes you different. What makes you different is not a bumper sticker on your car saying, I believe in Jesus. What makes you different is that inside of you dwells the Shekinah, even though you don't see it, the Holy Spirit indwells you and you carry the presence of God with you everywhere you go. And that is what makes you distinctive in this world. The outside world does not carry the presence of God in them. So it's not your attire, it's not the bumper stickers, it's not your paraphernalia, it's who is inside of you. That's what he wanted them to learn. A couple applications before we go. If God is not there, when I mean not there, I'm not saying God's not omnipresent, he is, but we're talking about God's working, okay, working in your life. If he's not working in the area you're at, then you need to leave. If you don't see God's hand in it, leave. If God is not there, then whatever you're trying to achieve isn't worth it. You're gonna be like Troy Aikman, get to the end and be empty, and you spend all your life getting to that point, and you're like, okay, this is a big bummer. This is meaningless. If God is not there, then don't do it, whatever you're planning to do. If God is not there, then don't possess it. He says I'm not into what you're possessing. I'm not into what you're buying then don't get it If God is not there then don't aim for it. Don't make it a goal of yours only have goals if God gives you those goals Don't set your own goals Because you're gonna get off track So if we act arbitrarily Then we find ourselves off the path of God's will. Look, I've been off God's path many times. And I'm telling you what, once you get off the path, it's very difficult. It takes a long time to get back on that path. You don't want to waste your time like that. If our wants and dreams do not match God's will, then we need to give up those wants and dreams. I know that's hard. But why is God putting us, the church, through what we're going through right now? Why do you see the sentiment among teachers saying, you know what? I studied all this. I got my credential. I've been teaching 20, 30, 40 years. And I'm done. I'm done with public school. Why are we hearing that? Because they realize that God's not in it anymore. Why are we seeing nurses and health care workers saying, I've been a part of this industry for whatever, 25, 30 years. I am done. Because you know why? They see God's done. God's not in it anymore. He's not part of it anymore. And the last one, if God closes a door, then adjust to it instead of protesting against it. Well, my dreams are crashed. Okay, that wasn't a good dream, because God's saying, no, the door's over here. I'm closing this one. You need to go here. Follow me. So your discernment of God's will is you're supposed to follow where the Shekinah leads. Just like Israel in the desert, they go anywhere where the Lord leads. If he's over here, I'm going here. If he's in the desert, I'm going here. Wherever he tells me, because that's the place you need to be. And be okay with him closing those doors. I know a lot of people say, look, I worked my whole career through this and now I'm gonna, they're threatening my pension, they're threatening my insurance, and I'm not gonna play that game. Door's closed. Move on. It's time to move on. Let me give you an illustration, we'll end on this. You remember Elijah confronted Ahab and confronted Jezebel. And then he runs off into the desert to hide from the wrath, obviously, and the Lord provides for him at the brook Kiribath, and he provides a raven to feed Elijah every day. So he provided water and food for Elijah to take a respite there. Now here's the thing about that. What starts happening is that little brook that was giving water to Elijah is representative of grace. God is helping Elijah in this location. But here's what would happen, this is what happened. It says the brook started drying up. And so the brook is going, that's a symbol of God's grace, and then the next day it's narrowing, the next day it narrows, the next day it narrows, and eventually there's no more water flowing through that source. How is Elijah supposed to interpret that? Well, when the brook dries up, it's a signal to Elijah, the grace in this location now has ran out. I need you to go to a different location and receive my grace over here and he will receive it from a widow. Remember that? So he goes from the brook to a widow who will then provide for him. So the idea in your life is You have to start seeing when the brook is starting to dry up. And the flow of grace is no longer there. Do not wait until it's all dried up and you have no plan B. If you start seeing the narrowing of that river, God is telling you, get ready, I'm getting ready to move you, follow me, I'm gonna open another door and I'm closing this door, I'm just giving you so much time to get yourself together and get another plan until it completely disappears. That's how you discern the will of God. That's how you discern where he's at. Look in your life right now. Is there rivers drying up in certain locations? Maybe your job, it may be where you work at, that the brook is drying up. Maybe it's with somebody that you have been giving the truth for years, and they simply won't respond to the gospel. Maybe that river is drying up. Maybe you need to move on. Maybe you've tried with a relative over and over and over again, and you're not getting anywhere. The brook is drying up. You are to respond to where God's presence is. That's what he was trying to teach Israel. Don't go anywhere without me. Let's pray.