The words to which I should like
to call your attention this morning are to be found in the book of
Exodus, in chapter 33, reading from verse 12 to verse 17. The book of Exodus, chapter 33,
verses 12 to 17. And Moses said unto the Lord,
See, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou wast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said,
I know thee by name, and thou wast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may
know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that
this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him,
If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein
shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in
thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said
unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for
thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. We come back once more to a study
of this particular section of this great 33rd chapter of the
book of Exodus. Those who attend here regularly
We'll know that we are studying this chapter and have been doing
so for the last five Sunday mornings. But we come back, I say, again
to this particular section, which I have ventured to say is in
many ways the crucial section in this entire incident. Now let me remind you again that
we are studying the chapter at all because we are looking into
the whole question of revival. We are starting from this assumption
that the only hope for the Christian Church at the present time is
a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit, such as God gave graciously
a hundred years ago in the United States of America, in Northern
Ireland, in Wales, and in Scotland, and in other places. There are
many members of the Christian Church this year who are looking
back at and commemorating that great visitation of God's Spirit
in 1859. And we are taking advantage of
this occasion to consider together, in the light of the teaching
of the Scripture, this whole vital matter of revival. And here we feel is a very great
illustration of how we should approach the entire subject.
I will not again repeat the background. Let me just remind you of the
introduction, as it were, to this particular section we are
looking at at the moment. God having punished these people
and having brought them to repentance, Moses, you remember, set up that
tent of meeting outside the camp, and he and others would go there
and would plead with God for further mercy and for further
manifestations of his grace. And God met Moses and spoke to
him as a man speaks to his friend face to face. But Moses, you
remember, was not satisfied with that. He went back again into
this tabernacle, this tent, this place of meeting with God. And
there we have looked at him already as described in this section,
verses 12 to 17. We have looked at him presenting
further petitions to God. And I would remind you that we
have seen that he has asked particularly for a personal assurance as far
as he himself is concerned. He has also asked for power,
power for himself and for the people. And he has asked for
some exceptional, unusual authentication of the Church and her message.
How shall these people know, he says, here in this wilderness,
that we are thy people? He is not content with the usual
blessings. If one may use such a term, he
is not content with the ordinary experience of the church. He
feels that he and the children of Israel are in such a situation
that they have a right to ask for some special authentication. The situation is so grievous
and so urgent, he asks. for this special declaration
of the fact from God that they are indeed his people. Very well.
We take up therefore at that particular point. Those are the
things for which Moses prayed. And now we go on to consider
another question which is this. Why Moses prayed for them? If
those are the things for which he prayed, well why did he do
so? What were his motives? Surely there is nothing that
is more important for us than this. Because if I understand
the situation at all, it is in this realm of purpose and of
motives that we so constantly go wrong. We start at the wrong
end. And therefore we will derive
great benefit and instruction as we watch Moses praying here. And of course what is true of
him at this point you will find is true of God's intercessors,
God's saints as they plead with God, as you find them everywhere
else in the Scripture. And again, I would remind you
of this, that if you read the history of the great revivals
of the past, you will find that as you watch the men whom God
has used most signally in the period before the revival came,
when they were praying and pleading and interceding, you will find
that they always were animated by exactly the same motives as
we find here in the case of Moses, and always, as I say, in the
case of God's servants. So we must be perfectly clear
with regard to this matter of our motives. I am calling you
to pray for revival. Yes, but why should you pray
for revival? Why should anybody pray for revival?
And the answer that is first given here is this. A concern
for the glory of God. That's the first thing that I
find here. You'll find it at the end of verse 13. Now therefore
I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now
thy way, that I may know, that I may find grace in thy sight,
and consider that this nation is thy people. That's the motive,
that's the reason. Moses was concerned primarily
about the glory of God. Now, he frequently, you read
these chapters, the surrounding chapters in the book of Exodus
and elsewhere, you will find that Moses constantly used this
particular argument with God. Let me give an illustration from
the previous chapter, 32. You will find it in verses 11
and 12. God was angry with these children
of Israel because they had made this golden calf and so on and
had rebelled against him. And God said then to Moses in
verse 9, I'm reading, I have seen this people and behold it
is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone that
my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them.
and I will make of thee a great nation.' And Moses besought the
Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against
thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians
speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them
in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?
Now you see Moses' concern. He's concerned about the name
and as it were the reputation and the glory of God. And that's
the point he's making here again. This nation, he says, is thy
people. He's saying in effect that God's
honor and God's glory is involved in this situation. They are after
all his people. They've claimed that. He has
given indications of that. He's brought them out of Egypt
in a marvellous and miraculous manner. He's brought them through
the Red Sea. Is he going to leave them here
now in the wilderness? What will the Egyptians say?
What will the other nations say? Has he failed? He promised them
great things. Can't he execute them? Can't
he bring them to fulfilment? Moses is suggesting to God that
his own glory, his own honour is involved. in this whole situation. Now, as I say, you will find
this endlessly in the Psalms. You will find it constantly in
the prophets. Their prayer to God is this,
for thine own name's sake. As if to say, we have no right
to speak, and we're not really asking it for ourselves, but
for thine own name's sake. For thy glory's sake. For the
sake of thine eternal honor. Moses had a concern thus, for,
and was jealous about, the name and the glory of God. And he's asking God for his own
sake to do this extra, this special thing. Well now, my friends,
we can't stop with all these points as I'd like to, but this
is the thing that matters, isn't it? The Church, after all, is
the Church of God, She is his new creation by water
and the Word. We are a people for God's own
peculiar possession. And why has he called us out
of darkness into his own marvelous light? Well, it is that we may
show forth his praises, his excellences, his virtues. And therefore I say we should
be concerned about this matter primarily because of the name
and the glory and the honor, the reputation of God himself. Whether we like it or not, it
is the fact, you know, that the world judges God himself and
the Lord Jesus Christ by what it sees in us. We are his representatives. We are the people who take his
name upon us. We are the people who talk about him, and the men
outside the church regards the Church as the representative
of God. And there is no question about
it but that people are judging God and Christ and the whole
of the Christian faith by what it sees in us because of the
claims that we make. And therefore I am arguing that
we must emulate the example of Moses as we find it here. Our
first concern should be about the glory of God. But am I being
unfair? I wonder when I suggest that
one notices that that is scarcely ever mentioned. There is great
concern about the church today, of course, but what's the concern
about? The concern is about statistics and figures. People are talking
about churches being empty and people are talking about means
and methods of trying to fill them again and get the people
in. They are interested in the figures and in membership, in
finance, and organization. How often do you hear your annual
conferences and assemblies expressing a concern about the glory of
God and the honor of the name of God? No, no, our attitude
seems to be rather that the church is a human organization, and
of course we are concerned about what's happening to it as a man
is concerned if his business isn't going well and if it isn't
paying. We are businessmen and we are concerned about the institution.
and the organization, but Moses wasn't primarily. His first and chief concern was
about the glory of God. Are you grieved at the state
of the Church? Well, why are you grieved at the state of the
Church? Is it because you're old enough to remember The end
of the Victorian era, or the Edwardian period, when it was
the custom for people to crowd into churches, is it just a sort
of nostalgia for the great days of the church? Or do we know something of a
concern for the name of God? Are we pained? Are we hurt? Are
we grieved? Does it weigh heavily upon our
hearts and minds and spirits when we see the godlessness that
surrounds us and the name of God taken in vain? Do we know
something for this zeal, this holy zeal? Can we say my heart
is pained within me as I see the scoffing? Because God's name
is involved. You notice the concern of the
psalmist in Psalm 79, he says, wherefore should the heathens
say, where is their God? That's what they're saying. They're
laughing and they're saying, they talked about some great
God, who was the God above every other God. They said the God
of Israel is the God. They gloried in Him. They said
He was wonderful. Where is He? Look at them. How can such people
claim that they're in the hands of such a God? They'd never be
in such a condition if that were really true. You see, what is
involved primarily is the glory and the honor and the name of
God. It isn't our institutions, it isn't our success or failure
that matters. The primary thing is this. Of
course, the psalmists see it. Take the second psalmer. Well,
he puts it. The kings of the earth set themselves, he says,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed, saying... Of course, they were attacking
David. They were attacking the children
of Israel, but David has the insight he was a spiritually
minded man. He says it isn't against me, it's against God,
it's against the Lord and his anointed that these people are
setting themselves and the heathen are imagining a vain thing. Indeed
this is the great theme that you'll find running everywhere
through the Psalms. Let me give you just one other
instance of it in Psalm 83. For lo, says the psalmist, thine
enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up
the head, they have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and
consulted against thy hidden ones. Yes, but it's all against
God. And then there is that marvelous
and almost lyrical example of it, to be found in the book of
the Acts of the Apostles, you remember in chapter 4. Peter and John having been tried
and having been prohibited to preach the gospel anymore, great
threat given to the church, the authorities were determined to
exterminate the church and to put an end to her preaching.
They went back and they began to pray with all the assembled
company, and this is what they said. The kings of the earth,
they're quoting the second psalm, the kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, then their own words for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were
gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings."
You see, they had a clear insight. You would have thought that they
would have prayed entirely about themselves, but they didn't primarily.
They recognized that all that is happening is really against
God. And here, my dear friends, is
the thing, surely, that we must need to recapture. We are so
subjective in our approach, always thinking about ourselves. But
that's not the way to pray for revival. We must, I say, be primarily
concerned about God, His glory, His honour, His name. Very well, I say, I leave it
at that. But it's the essence of the whole matter. Go through
the great prayers of the Old Testament, and you'll find it's
always there. These men had a passion for God. They were in trouble, I say,
they were unhappy, because this great God was not being worshipped
as He should be. And they prayed God for His own
sake, for His glory's sake. to vindicate his own name and
to arise and to scatter his enemies. That's the first thing. Well,
then they come to the second thing, of course, which is, and
it comes in the second place but never in the first, a concern
about the honor of the church herself. Incidentally, in this particular
passage there is nothing more wonderful than the way in which
Moses shows his concern for the church, which was then the children
of Israel. God had been giving Moses some
wonderful intimations of his loving interest in him. Moses
isn't content with that. Moses doesn't merely seek personal
blessings. He wants to make sure that the
children of Israel as a whole are going to be involved in this
blessing. He is given again a wonderful example of that in the previous
chapter in verse 32. Let me read it to you. It's one
of the most glorious things in the Old Testament. beginning
to read at verse 30 in chapter 32. It came to pass on the morrow
that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, and
now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure I shall make an
atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have
made them gods of gold. Yet now If thou wilt forgive
their sin, and then a dash. It is as if he broke
down and couldn't speak any longer. He's in a great agony of soul,
yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and then he's able
to speak, if not, block me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou
hast written. I don't want to go on living, he says, if you're
not going to include them in the blessing. God had said, I'm
going to blot out this people, I'm going to make a nation out
of you. No, says Moses, blot me out as well. I don't want
to go on without them. Oh, this is true intercession.
The man is concerned about the state of the whole church. And
his own personal life and welfare and well-being is nothing to
him unless the church is to be blessed. And here he is repeating
all that. Thy people, this nation. Well,
I might keep you here for a whole morning, but we must go on, we
must press on. I'm simply putting it like this,
my friend. It seems to me there's no hope
for revival until you and I and all of us have reached the stage
in which we begin to forget ourselves a little, and to be concerned
for the Church, for God's body, people here on earth, So many of our prayers are subjective
and self-centered, we've got our problems and difficulties,
and you know by when we're finished with them we are tired and exhausted
and we don't pray for the church. My blessing, my need, my this,
my that, it's alright my dear friend, I'm not being hard and
unkind. God has promised to deal with them, but I ask you, where
does the church come in your prayers and intercessions? Do you go beyond yourself and
your family? We stand before the world and
we say the only hope for the world is Christianity. We say
the church and the church alone has the message that is needed.
We see the problems of society, they're shouting at us, they're
increasing week by week. And we know that this is the
only answer. Well very well, if we know that
and if we believe that, let me ask you in the name of God, how
often do you pray that the church may have power to preach this?
in such a manner that all these citadels that are raising themselves
against God shall be raised to the ground and flattened in His
holy presence. How much time do you give in
praying that the preachers of the gospel may be endued with
the power of the Holy Ghost? Are you interceding about this?
Are you concerned about it? Moses, I say, was more concerned
about this. He wouldn't go up alone. He didn't want to be made
the great man alone. No, no. It's the church, he says.
I'm not going on unless they're all coming with me and you are
in the midst. We must learn to think again
about the Christian church. Our whole approach has become
subjective. It's subjective in evangelism.
It's subjective in the teaching of sanctification. It's subjective
from beginning to end. We start with ourselves and our
own needs and problems. God is an agency to supply an
answer, to give us what we need, and it's all wrong. Evangelism
and everything else must start with God and His glory. The God who is over all and to
whom all things belong. It is because men are not glorifying
Him that they need to be saved, not to have some little personal
problem solved. And if the motive for evangelism
is to fill the churches, it's doomed to failure. Of course,
you may fill your churches, but it won't help you, it won't avail
you, it won't make any difference to the main problem. It is, I
say, this conception of the church as the people of God, who bear
his name and who've been brought into being by him. It's this
that matters. We must cease to think of the
Church as a gathering of institutions and organizations. We must get
back this notion that we are the people of God, and that for His name's sake,
and because His name is upon us, we must plead for the Church,
yes, and for her glory and her honor, because she is His. And then thirdly, of course,
His third reason is this. He is concerned about these heathen
that are outside. He wants them to know. Wherein
shall it be known here, here means in the wilderness where
we are, that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?
Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated
from the people, I and thy people, from all the people that are
upon the face of the earth. These are the motives in praying
for revival. Yes, for the name and honor and
glory of God. For the sake of the church, which
is His. Yes, and for the sake of those
people that are outside, that are scoffing and mocking and
jeering and laughing and ridiculing. Oh God, say these people one
after another, arise and silence them. Do something. So that we may be able to say
to them, be still, keep silent, give up, be still, and know that
I am God. That's the prayer. They've got
their eye on these that are outside. And so they have, I say, running
right through the Bible. So have all men who have felt
the burden of the condition of the church, and whose hearts
are breaking because they have seen the name of God blasphemed. Oh, you'll find it in very strong
language here sometimes. So strong, you know, that certain
little people are troubled by the imprecatory Psalms, but the
imprecatory Psalms are just an expression of the zeal of these
men for the glory of God. Let the sinner be consumed from
the earth, says the man in Psalm 104. Here they are, he says,
spoiling your great creation. I see the mountains and the valleys
and the rivers and the streams. I see the cedars of God which
are full of sap. He who thinks of the birds and
everything, conspiring together to show the wonder and the glory
of God. But he has thus said, who in spite of all God's goodness
to him, still reviles and rebels and blasphemes. And the man in
his righteous indignation and zeal says, let the sinner be
consumed out of the earth. But that, I say, is the real
explanation of them all. It wasn't a desire for personal
vengeance. It was that these men were consumed
for this passion for God and His glory and His great name. And there's something wrong with
us, you know. If we don't feel this desire within us that God
should arise and do something, show that shall shut the mouths
and stop the mouths of these arrogant blasphemers of today,
who speak with their mincing words upon your wireless and
your television, these supposed philosophers, these godless,
arrogant men. Don't we feel sometimes this
desire within us that they might know that God is God and that
he is the eternal God? Ah, yes, there is a desire that
they may be answered, that they may be silenced, but it doesn't
stop at that, of course. Following that comes a desire
that they may be convicted, that they may be convinced, that they
may rarely see it. That God should do something
so strange, so wonderful, that they shall be arrested and apprehended
and say, what is this? Are these people right after
all? Don't our arguments seem to be falling astray? We thought
that God had failed. He's left them there in the wilderness.
Everything's going against them. Then if God suddenly comes in
and does something miraculous and leads them through, the heathen
will have to think again and say, ah, perhaps they were right
after all. And that's the first step in
the direction of conviction and conversion. Their interest has
been aroused. And you see, whenever you get
a revival, that always happens. People who have scoffed at the
name of God have gone to look on in sheer curiosity, and that
has often led to their conversion. Well, Moses is praying for that,
that these people may be arrested and apprehended, and may develop
an interest in the way in which God is leading them and is directing them. I simply ask therefore,
hurriedly in passing, Are you concerned at all about
these people who are outside? It's a terrible state of the
church, you know, when she just consists of a collection of very
nice and respectable people, who have no concern for the world,
who pass it by drawing up their skirts to themselves in their
horror at the bestiality and the foulness and the ugliness
of it all. We not only want the scoffers
to be silenced, we should desire that these men and women who
are like sheep without a shepherd should have their eyes opened,
should begin to see the cause of their troubles, and should
be delivered from the chains of iniquity and the shackles
of infamy and vice and foulness. I ask you as I pass along, are
you concerned at all about them that are outside? And are you
praying God to do something that they may be influenced and affected? Well, there, as I understand
it, are the three main motives which animated Moses as he offered
up these petitions to God in this section. Let me hurry on
to something else. I must comment upon the way in
which he prayed. We've seen what he prayed for,
we've seen why he prayed for it. Let's watch him as regards
his method of prayer, and if ever we needed instruction, it's
just here. Here are the elements that always come out in all the
great biblical prayers. I just give you some headings
as I close. What are the characteristics
of Moses' prayer? Well, the first is this, isn't
it? Boldness. confidence. There's no hesitation here. There's
a quiet confidence, or let me use the term, there's a holy
boldness. This is the great characteristic
of all prayers that have ever prevailed. It's a thing, of course, which
is inevitable. You cannot pray truly, still
less can you intercede, if you haven't an assurance of your
acceptance, and if you don't know the way into the holiest
of all. If when you get down on your knees you're reminded
of your sins and you're wondering what you can do about them and
have to spend all your time in praying for forgiveness and pardon
and wondering whether God is listening or whether he isn't,
how can you pray? How can you intercede as Moses
did here? No, no. Moses was face to face
with God. He was assured. He was bold with
a holy boldness. God had granted him these intimations
of his nearness. We've seen that at the end of
the previous chapter. We've seen it again in this chapter.
So Moses was able to speak with this confidence and assurance. And this is absolutely vital
to prayer. Do you know the way into the
holiest of all? Well, there's only one way, let
me put it to you, as it is put so perfectly at the end of the
fourth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. Seeing then,
he says that we have a great high priest that is passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Then he goes on to describe him
as a high priest who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,
tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. Then
he comes to the prayer. Let us therefore, he says, let
us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Did you notice
his therefore? Therefore, let us come boldly.
What's it refer to? Oh, it refers to the truth about
the great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who has passed
through the heavens, and all the truth about him. That's the
only way to be bold in the presence of God. If I look at myself,
I can't be bold. I become speechless. With Job,
I put my hand upon my mouth. I have heard of thee, but now
I see thee, and I can't speak. But I must speak if I'm to intercede.
How can I do so with confidence and assurance? There's only one
answer. It is to know that my Great High
Priest is Jesus, the Son of God, and that by his blood I have
a right of entry into the holiest of all, and can go there with
boldness. Notice the boldness and the confidence
and the assurance with which Moses prayed. And as I say, this is not only
characteristic of Moses, But of all the great men of prayer
in the Bible and ever since, read some of the prayers of the
saints of the centuries and you'll find this self-same thing. But
let me hurry to a second point which is most valuable and interesting.
Did you notice the element of reasoning and of arguing that
came in? It's very daring but it's very
true. Let me remind you of it. Listen to Moses praying. Moses
said unto the Lord, see, which really means this. Do you see?
He's arguing with God. See, thou sayest unto me, bring
up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt
send with me. Then, yet thou hast said, you
see he's reminding God of what he said. He's having an argument
with God. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou
hast also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, says Moses, As
if he was saying to God, be logical, be consistent, carry out your
own argument, you can't say this to me and then not do anything.
Now, therefore, I pray thee, if, still arguing, I have found
grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee,
that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this
nation is thy people. And then in verse 16 you see,
For he says, wherein, if you don't do this, wherein shall
it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy
sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be
separated. He reasoned with God. He argued
with God. He reminded God of his own promises
and he pleaded with God in the light of them. He reminded God
of his own declarations and said, Oh God, can't you see that having
said this you must? Is it right, says someone, to
speak to God like that? Is not this presumption? No, no, these things, you see,
go together. The author of the epistle to
the Hebrews, who talks so much about our going boldly to the
throne of grace, at the same time reminds us that we do so
always with reverence and with godly fear. This is all right. You see, what's happening here
is this. It isn't a man under the law speaking to the law giver.
You dare not do this if you're in a legal position. No, no,
it's a child here speaking to his father. And the little child
can take liberties with his father that a grown-up man who isn't
his child wouldn't dare not take with him. Oh yes, this is a child
speaking, and he knows it. God has spoken to him as a brother,
as it were, face to face. And those who knew that, and
he comes with his love and his reverence and his godly fear,
and he ventures to argue. He says, you have said this therefore. And again I commend you to read
the biographies of men who've been used by God in the Church
throughout the centuries, and especially in revival, and you'll
find this same holy boldness, this argumentation, this reasoning,
this putting the case to God, pleading His own promises, and
saying, you've said this. Oh, that's the whole secret of
prayer, I sometimes think. I think at the moment, as I'm
speaking of Thomas Goodwin, in his exposition of the sealing
of the Spirit in Ephesians 1.3, And that wonderful term that
he uses, he says, sue him for it. Sue him for it. Don't leave
him alone. Pester him as it were with his
own promises. Tell him what he said he's going to do. Quote
the scripture to him. And you know, God, he delights
to hear us doing it. As a father likes to see this
element in his own child, who has been listening to what he's
been saying, it pleases him. The child may be slightly impertinent,
it doesn't matter. The father likes it in spite
of that, and God's our father, and he loves us, and he likes
to hear us pleading his own promises, quoting his own words to him,
and saying in the light of this, can you refrain? It delights
the heart of God. Sue him. And then the next thing I would
notice about the prayer is its orderliness, its directness,
the specific petition. You notice that Moses here doesn't
offer up some vague, indefinite, general prayer. No, no. He is
concentrating on the one great need. Of course he worshipped God.
Of course there was the reverence and the godly fear, yes, but
at this point it is this one thing, so he keeps concentrating
on that. He won't get away from it, this
presence of God. He says, I won't move unless
you come, you must come with us. And he gives his reasons,
he plies him with all these arguments, the one thing. And if I may speak for myself,
I shall not feel happy and encouraged. until I feel that the church
today is concentrating on this one thing. Prayer for revival. But we haven't come to it, my
dear friends. We are still in the stage of deciding in committees
to do this, that and the other, and then asking God to bless
what we've done. No, no, there's no hope along that line. It must
be this one thing. We must feel this burden. We
must see this is the only hope. And we must concentrate on this.
And we must keep on with this. The orderliness, the arrangement,
the concentration, the argument. And I've already been suggesting
at the last point, the urgency. You see, Moses here is like Jacob
was in that passage we read there at the beginning out of Genesis
32. This element always comes into
true intercession. I will not let thee go. I will
not let thee go. I'm going on. The morning is
breaking. He'd been struggling through
the night. Let me go. No, I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me. The urgency. Read the great biblical
prayers. It's always there. Go back again
and read that great statement in Acts 4. It's there now, they
said. Oh God, now, in the light of
this, in our situation, now. Do this, give us some indication,
give us some signs, enable us to witness with this holy boldness
and bear witness to the resurrection that they are prohibiting us
to speak about. The urgency of the prayer keeps
on coming back to it, repeating it, putting it in different forms
and from different angles. But there was just this one thing,
unless thy presence go with me, take us not up hence, Insisting,
urgently, I will not let thee go. Well, there it is. There, it seems to me, are some
of the lessons that inherit. There are more to come, God willing.
But there, for the moment, we have to leave it. We see what he prayed for. We
see why he prayed for them. And we see how he prayed for
them. You say your prayers, but have
you ever prayed? Do we know anything about this encounter,
this meeting? Have we the assurance of sins
forgiven? Are we free from ourselves and
self-concern that we may intercede? Have we a real burden for the
glory of God and the name of the Church? Have we this concern
for those who are outside? And are we pleading with God for
His own namesake, because of His own promises to hear us and
to answer us? Oh, may God make of us intercessors
such as Moses. It's no use anybody saying, ah,
but he was an exceptionally great man. I've already demonstrated
to you, Sunday morning after Sunday morning, that God, in
the past history of revivals, has made use of men who are mere
nobodies in exactly the same way as he used Moses here. James
McQuilkin, a hundred years ago in Northern Ireland, you'd never
heard his name before. He was the man whom God burdened
in this way. He was the Moses a hundred years
ago in Northern Ireland. It can be any one of us. May God make of us intercessors
such as Moses was. Amen. We do hope that you've been helped
by the preaching of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. The MLJ Trust
retains exclusive copyright ownership to all audio files of Dr. Lloyd-Jones
sermons, including all derivatives, such as translations, modifications,
or edited versions of the files. You must gain written permission
to license, distribute, or broadcast the audio files, and under no
circumstance may the files be offered for sale to or by a third
party. You can find our contact information
on our website at mljtrust.org. Thank you.