Show Me My Heart

Show me my heart                                                                               Exodus 33:1-6

• Introduce myself
• Next four-week series – Face to Face (Exodus 33-34)
• Explain the series – Progressive journey of seeking, encountering and being transformed by Gods presence – Just as moses did
  • Show me my heart
  • Show me your ways
  • Show me your glory
  • Show me who you are

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• Exodus 33:1-6 (Nkjv) – 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.’ ² And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I ^[a]consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked^[b]” ⁴ And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ^[c]ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’ ” ⁶ So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
• At this point in their lives – the Israelites are in trouble
• Moses comes down from the mountain with the 10 commandments and find the Israelites throwing a party and worshiping an idol – golden calf
• There are dire consequences and many of the Israelites die- those that choose against being with Moses
• Now we see what transpires next:

1. God is Always faithful

• “Then the Lord said Depart from me” – as soon as I read that – I go into full human mode
  • Go to your room
  • I’m taking back everything I gave you
  • You hurt me so much I will never talk to you again
  • I am cancelling all our plans,
  • Don’t ever call me again,
  • We are done, you are dead to me
• But praise God that He is not like you and I
• Depart ….and go…to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – to your descendant I will give it
• This my friend is the “Always faithfulness of God”
• 2 Timothy 2:13 (Ampc) If we are faithless, He remains faithful [true to His word and His righteous character], for He cannot deny Himself.
• Imagine if we strived to be like Christ
  • Spouse – God call me to submit to you regardless/ Love you like Christ loves the Church
  • Parent to child – I will still love and pray for you regardless of your rebelliousness
  • Child to parent – You have failed me I will still honor you as my parent
  • Friendship – To forgive as Christ has forgiven me
• I choose to Always be faithful as Christ has always been
• God continues, I will send my angel before you – I will drive out the Canaanite, Amorite and Hitties and Perizzite, the Hivite and Jebusite
• Regardless of the grave sin, God doesn’t just keep His promise and checks the box –He is committed to fight for them regardless
• He is still willing to fight for the rebellious Israelites – And this same applies to you!
• I love what Pastor Matt said on Sunday- That your disobedience will not cause God to change His nature
• Numbers 23:19 (Nkjv) – God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
• Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey – He will still provide
• I pray that we can live like Ephesians 5:1-2 (Amp) tell us; Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; ² and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
• As we read ahead – we are waiting for the punch line – we are like, this is too good to be true
• And then the end of vs 3 it happens! ….for I will not go up in your midst, lest I ^[a]consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
• He is not coming with us – There, He is abandoning us!!!
  • The lies we tell ourselves, because our earthly fathers, leaders, parents, friends have hurt us in the past– we take the same lens and apply it to our relationship with God
• We are quick to forget that He has said in Hebrew 13:5(Nkjv) – For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
• He didn’t want to go with them just in case He end up destroying them because of their sinful nature
  • Just like smart people will say to someone– just walk away
• He was restraining Himself in love – Psalm 103:10 (Nkjv) – He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
• Reflection time – God show me my heart!
  • Am I misguided when I am ripping consequences of my sins,
  • When you withhold things in my life
  • When prayers take a while to get answered?
• Show me my heart, – how do I respond to those that hurt me?
• Powerful Prayer asking God: Psalm 51:10 (Nkjv) – Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

2. Gods Mercy is unmatched

• Blessings are not a sure indication of right standing with God
• Many people are deceived by what we see with our natural eyes
• Look at brother so and so, ooh his business is flourishing, oh sister -got a promotion, oh their children are so gifted and nice – They are definitely following the Lord
• Here we see a people that have a very hard heart towards the things of God, yet…God is still blessing them with milk and honey
• He is not going to just check the box – I got them to the promised land – On and done- you are on your own
• He promises to fight and drive out their enemies
• Just because He is blessing them doesn’t mean that they have Him
• I will give it to the Israelites, they choose repentance and Praise God for Moses leadership – They refuse to go without God!!
• They sang “I am not here for blessing, Jesus, you don’t owe me anything …. I just want you!!
• Most of the time, we settle for the land filled with milk and honey, we settle for victories against our enemies, but we miss the fact that He is not there with us
• “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else – Jones
• Is that thing worth it? – relationship, that business opportunity, compromise?
• I desire your presence God! And I will not trade it for stuff – I just want you
• God is merciful to still keep His promises even when we are not pursuing Him – when were a pursuing the created instead of the creator
• There is a danger in that …
• And we see this in the story of Samson
  • Judges 16:20 – And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
• A hardened heart does not recognize when the Spirit of God has departed
• They are so focused on the Milk and Honey, that God is just a means to an end
• He was consumed with his own desires that he didn’t realize that that he was drifting away
• Reflection time: Search my heart oh Lord and show me where I am drifting
• I am sorry where I am mistaking your mercy for your presence – help me to “Just want you”
• I am not here for blessing….
• I’m sorry when I’ve come with my agenda
  I’m sorry when I forgot that You’re enough
  Take me back to where we started – first love!!!

3. Repentance will lead to redemption

• 4- And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on their ornaments
• 6 – So the children of Israel Stripped themselves of their ornaments ( in repentance )by Mount Horeb onward
• They removed their jewelry permanently
  • It was a lasting decision – Some of us need to make a lasting decision today
• Their jewelry was a painful reminder of their sins – Let those idols remind you of your sin
• They knew this was not the time for decorating the external, but it was time to get their hearts right with God.
• Side note – these jewelries were not theirs in the beginning
  • Exodus 3:21-22 (Nkjv)And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. ²² But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
• How many times have we made idols out of what we were given by the Lord for His glory?
• They had abused their “God given gifts” to making a golden calf, and therefore they were not worthy of them – Gill
• A time had come when they had to let go of that which led them to sin
• Show me my heart Lord – what am I holding on to that is/will lead me to idolatry?
• Praise God that for those who choose to repent – do something about it – Not just give lip service but are committed to true repentance
• Our God is merciful- He is willing to restore and to give us chance after chance
• This morning, I want to remind you that our God – 2 Peter 3:8 (Ampc)The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
• Our God want to forgive you and restore you as a son or daughter
• As I close, I want to show you these two verses:
• Moses has made a new 10 commandment tablet, He has renewed the covenant, and now he is asking for the people to help build the Tabernacle:
  • Exodus 35:5 (nkjv) – Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze
  • Exodus 35:20-22 (Nkjv) – ²⁰ So the whole community of Israel left Moses and returned to their tents. ²¹ All whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were moved came and brought their sacred offerings to the Lord. They brought all the materials needed for the Tabernacle,^[a]for the performance of its rituals, and for the sacred garments. ²² Both men and women came, all whose hearts were willing. They brought to the Lord their offerings of gold—brooches, earrings, rings from their fingers, and necklaces. They presented gold objects of every kind as a special offering to the Lord.
• The very ornaments that could make a golden idol in the past could now be dedicated to God for the use of His sanctuary.” – Cole
• Today- we get another chance, to use what’s left – to be used for His kingdom
• I know some of us have built the golden calf, others we are doing right now, others we have guilt of what we did
• But today I want you to know that “He is a God who redeems”
• What do you have left, that He can use?