← ArchiveExodusSunday, June 25, 2017DateJune 25, 2017Speaker—TextExodus 25Passages in this sermonExodus 251:18Genesis 1:112:13Genesis 2:1512:26Genesis 615:05Genesis 816:36Exodus 4016:55Exodus 25:2130:231 Corinthians 3:1633:34Revelation 2135:09TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Moses, Moses, your fathers called me God, and I am him. I have made you an orphan of grace. I have sustained you in the house of the king. Now see your purpose, for I have heard the cries of my people. I have seen the weight of their oppression, and I have come down to deliver them.0:29And I will stretch out my hand against Egypt, and guide my people to a land I have prepared. I will make you my mouthpiece. I will make you a shadow of one greater to come. I will lead you as I have led you. Now go! I will see what I will do to Pharaoh.0:58My Savior, my Redeemer, at your feet I lay me down. This morning's sermon is entitled, simply, "The Presence of the Lord." So I invite you to join me in God's Word. This is the second book of the Bible, Exodus chapter 25. "The Presence of the Lord."1:24We have three points, and this is an emphasis you might not have ever heard in church before. But three points are: A mobile home, a mercy seat, and an immutable dwelling place. A mobile home, a mercy seat, and an immutable dwelling place. Lee Strobel, a skeptical atheist, and at the time he was a famous journalist and legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, said this upon hearing about Jesus.1:46"I heard the message of Jesus, and if this is true, it has huge implications in my life." So Lee investigated the claims of Christianity personally for a year and nine months.2:08This is what he said after that year and a half. "He found that it would take more faith to retain my atheism than to become a Christian and swim upstream against a torrent of evidence pointing to the truth of Jesus. And I was trained in journalism to respond to the truth." Lee Strobel said that "I was trained to respond to the truth."2:38And I would say Lee was in his person and in his DNA, in the image of God that was designed in him. He was designed to be in the presence of God. Designed to be in the presence of God. See, we are all designed to have that desire to be with God. The creation, us, is created to be one with God. And we're going to unfold that throughout the rest of our time this morning.3:06You see, God did not create us and leave. God is not the divine watchmaker that created a watch and set it on the beach and then now he's in heaven watching the watch tick. No, the truth is that God created us and God didn't walk away. God created us and we walked away. So how then do we respond to this longing in our hearts to be back in the presence of God?3:30Well, here's how other major religions tackle this issue. Buddhism, for instance. The goal is to escape the cycle of rebirth and attain nirvana. Not the band. To attain release. You wonder, well, where does that band get its name from? The idea of escaping this cycle and gaining release.3:58Let me put that in biblical language for you. If you have thought about becoming Buddhist or maybe you have delved into the new age. Buddhism would claim that they're trying to escape the cycle of exodus, put that in biblical language, and trying to obtain release or freedom. And we're reminded that Jesus says, with the spirit of the Lord as there is freedom. He who is free is free indeed.4:26Buddhism will not give you release. Gnosticism. The height found in the 2nd and 3rd century AD says this. We see in 1st John especially that the Gnosticism is attacking the early church. False teaching. And they believe that supreme God is unknowable. The creator God is evil. And matter is evil. So Gnosticism would say, well, we're just in an evil place and we want to escape this evil.4:54As if they're raising their hands and saying, we can't be in the presence of God. So he's evil. We give up. Hinduism says that humans are in bondage to illusion, but are able to escape. And the ultimate goal of Hinduism is to gain release from rebirth or reincarnation or have a better rebirth. A better rebirth. See that biblical language of we're in Exodus and we're trying to escape.5:24We're in Exodus and we're longing for Eden. Islam. One of the main goals of Islam is to submit to the will of Allah and gain paradise after death. But even in paradise in Islam, there are levels of heaven and only those who are the most pure get to be in the presence of Allah. See, there's a longing in Islam to be back in the presence of God.5:51Gnosticism, very prevalent in our day and age, says this, that nothing can be known of the existence or nature of God beyond material phenomenon. As if to say, well, we can't know anything about Eden, so we'll just focus on where we are now. Let's not worry about the presence of God. We can't know. So let's worry about today. And yet, friends, the Bible tells us that we can be in the presence of God.6:17And that we all are in this struggle. We are in Exodus and we are longing for Eden. And my prayer today is that God's words to us would be a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. And it would illuminate our heart. And that if you do not know Christ, you would find him today. Because he has not walked away from you.6:46We have walked away from him. And for those who receive him, he is saying, come home. We who are weary, come home. Read with me Exodus 25, 8 and 9. Exodus 25. The presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord. They, Israel, are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.7:09So that I may dwell among them. And you will make it according to all that I show you. The pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all of its furnishings. Now, jump down to verse 16 in Exodus 25. Put the tablets of the testimony that I give you into the ark.7:35You say, well, what tablets are those? The Ten Commandments. Make, listen to this, make a mercy seat of pure gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. There will be a quiz on all this after we get through, so pay attention. Verse 18. Make two cherubim of gold. Make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end.8:04At his two ends, make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim are to have wings spread out above, covering the mercy seat with their wings and are to face each other. The wings, the faces of the cherubim should be toward the mercy seat. Set the mercy seat on top of the ark and put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark.8:27And I will meet you there above the mercy seat. What a phenomenal verse that is. God says, I will meet you there. What seat? Not the judgment seat, but I will meet you at, thank God, the mercy seat between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony. And I will speak with you from there about all that I have commanded you regarding the Israelites.8:54Father, we ask right now that you would open our hearts to your word. And Lord, we readily admit that apart from your spirit working in us, we could understand nothing. So, Lord, sharpen our minds because this is important. Lord, open our hearts because without you we are nothing. And strengthen our lives that we would not just listen and go to lunch, but that we would be doers of your word and the world would see that you are good and your mercy endures forever.9:23Lord, may we not leave here the same as we entered. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You might be thinking, well, what in the world does a tabernacle thousands of years ago have to do with me?9:45Well, I'm glad you asked. The first point is this. The presence of God is a mobile home. A mobile home. And that image conjures up a lot of thoughts in your mind. But the tabernacle was a mobile sanctuary for the Lord. We find Israel fleeing the oppression of Egypt now longing for the presence of God.10:09Why is that important? Because we have said from the beginning in our tenth week in Exodus that God never calls us out of bondage to leave us in the wilderness. God calls us out of bondage to lead us into his presence. So God calls you out of your circumstance into his presence. We are longing for that. And the longing is a desire that was birthed from the very beginning.10:38You see, we were created in the image of God to fulfill his purpose. And the image of the creator is a magnet in our lives that draws you and I towards God. The image of God within us is a magnet that is drawing us towards God. I have a simple illustration. See, these are paper clips, your standard paper clips.11:06And the image of God in us is doing this. And this is whether you believe in God or not. Because scripture says whether you believe in God or not, he's still there. God doesn't need me for him to exist. God created me in his image. And so what does that look like? I remember a time in my life where I did not believe in God. I knew about him, but I did not believe. Some of you have been there before, right? And yet, there was something that every time I would hear about the Lord, there was something that would draw me to him.11:33Right? Every time that someone would pray and I didn't believe in God, but something would stick. Or someone would tell me about Christ and, well, that's for church people, which I was one of them, but that's for the really church people. And every time someone would talk about the good news of Jesus, something else would stick. Why? Because in us, the image of God, there's something in you and I that is longing for the presence of God.12:02And that began in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth. We're part of that. And so God is weaving his glory and his presence into our life. He said, "Well, Pastor, how do you know that?" In Genesis 2:15, the first man, Adam, is formed by the very hand of God12:26and is placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and to watch over it. So Adam, Adam, man, is with God in the Garden. In the next several chapters, you have man living in the Garden with God. And yet we have them sinning. You see, they were in the presence of God, Adam and Eve, and they bought the lie that that was not enough.12:53And the serpent comes and says, "You know what? Why don't you see this fruit, this passion fruit, this avocado?" We don't know what it was. Most of you think it was an apple, but you don't know. Most of you think it's a red apple, by the way, because you grew up with that in nursery. But you don't know, maybe it was an avocado or a pine cone. By the way, there are pine cones in Arizona that you can eat.13:22Did you know that? And whatever that was, the serpent said, "You know what? Why don't you eat this? Your eyes will be opened. You will be like God." See, we buy the lie in our lives that the image of God is saying we should be in the presence of Him. That is what we need. And the lie we listen to is the presence is not enough. You should be like God. See, what kicked Satan out of Eden?13:52His pride because he wanted to be God. What kicks us out of the presence of God? Our pride because you and I, we want to be like God. You say, "Well, I don't want to be God." Yes, we do. When we say, "God, I know better than you for my life." When we live, my will be done, not yours. We are saying, "God, I am God of my life." We are saying, "God, your presence is not enough. I want to be like you."14:19And we buy into the lie that His presence is not enough. May we not listen to that lie in our lives. This is chapter 6. Three chapters later, we see a world. And by the way, let me just back up real quick. It's not in my notes, but it's important. When Adam and Eve sinned, they're kicked out of his presence, out of Eden. And what does God station at the garden to say, "You can no longer go into my presence?"14:47Flaming cherubs. Sound familiar? They were cherubim that told humanity, "You cannot be in the presence of God." That's going to come back into play. Genesis chapter 6, in a world that is broken and sinful, we find three chapters later, God regretting that He has made man. And God regretted it so much, He's going to send a flood like this week, even more so.15:14And God said, "I'm going to wipe man off the face in the earth, but one man found favor, a man named Noah." Noah, who means comfort. Praise God for comfort in our lives. And God, listen to this, God in His infant desire to dwell among His people, gave instruction for Noah to build an ark, or a sanctuary,15:41for the floodwaters to carry his family through chaos. So the ark was a reminder to Noah that the ark in the presence of God would let you go through a chaotic world. Amen? It's His presence that helps us through chaos. And in essence, the flood was a new creation. It was God wiping the slate clean and saying, "I will again dwell with my people."16:09Go back and read Genesis 6 through 9, and you will find that God did not shut the door to the ark from the outside. It appears in Scripture that God shut it from the inside. As if God was telling Noah and his family, "Don't worry, I'm in here with you." Oh, we need His presence. And Scripture says this in Genesis 8. "On the first month and the first day, the floodwaters dried up and Noah removed the ark's cover."16:39Listen to that. The first month, on the first day, He found dry grounds in the ark, in the tabernacle. And in Exodus 40, on the very same month, many years later, the tabernacle here in Exodus is dedicated. On the very same month and day that God protected His people through an ark and a tabernacle, the ark in Moses' time was dedicated.17:03As if God is saying, "I will continually dwell with my people." And you say, "Well, why does that matter?" In the next 25 chapters, don't worry, we're not going to go through it today. In the next 25 chapters here in Exodus, God is reminding His people, "I am with you." This is Egypt.17:33You're going through the wilderness, but don't worry. I am with you. I am there. Anyone need that reassurance today? Feel like you're walking through the wilderness and God is saying, "I am there." And we ask, "Well, God, if you are dwelling with us, then how does that take place?" Because God is very specific. In verse 8, "You are to make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them." But God doesn't say, "Go make a sanctuary and you just figure it out."18:00God doesn't let us dwell with Him on our terms. Look at verse 9. "You must make it according to all that I show you." So God now gives them the pattern of the tabernacle. God is telling His people in Israel, "If you want to dwell with me, this is what it looks like." God is telling the church, "Look, if you're going to dwell with me, if you want to be one with Christ, this is what it looks like."18:25You don't come on your terms. You come in His righteousness and in holiness. So we have a diagram that we're going to show you and walk through what the tabernacle would look like in Israel's day. The first piece of furniture that you would see when you're coming through the curtain. Well, 150 feet by 75 feet would be the bronze altar. And you say, "Well, what does that mean for our worship?"18:53This is the first piece of furniture seen as you enter the place of worship. Reminding us that the Lord requires sacrifice to those who draw near. The Lord requires sacrifice to those who draw near. And we are reminded today that it is through the ultimate sacrifice of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, that we enter into the presence of God. It is only through sacrifice that we can dwell in His presence.19:23And as we push further into the tabernacle, as we push further to dwell with God, the next piece of furniture is the bronze basin. Used for ritualistic cleansing. And specifically, the priest would come and they would cleanse their hands and they would clean their feet. Reminding us that we cannot worship God while dirty. And here's a struggle because every single one of you and me have come into this place dirty.19:50Even if you took a bath today, we have come in dirty. But we're reminded who can go to the hill and ascend the presence of God. He who has clean hands and a pure heart. And that it's through Jesus Christ that we are clean. And we are deemed pure and holy and righteous.20:17That Christ cleanses us and so through the blood of Jesus, that when God looks at me, I am now looked at as whole and righteous through Jesus. Oh, that we would be cleansed. And as we push further into the dwelling place of God, through the place of sacrifice and through the place of cleansing, we now go to the holy place proper. And the first item that we would see as you get closer to the presence of God for the Israelite would be the table of showbread.20:46And there would be 12 loaves of bread there. And they would not remain all week. They would have to be consumed that day. The priest would have to eat the bread that night. And the next day, they would have replaced the bread. Reminding us, as Jesus teaches you and I to pray, that we rely daily on his presence. That God is the nourishment that we need. Or teach us how to pray.21:16Jesus said, give us our daily bread. Today, give us our bread. Don't worry about tomorrow. But know that God will give you everything that you need today if you dwell in his presence. We also see in the tabernacle the seven-branched lampstand. This was a gold lampstand that we read. Listen to this. It was crafted with 75 pounds of pure gold. 75-pound lampstand.21:4475-pound lampstand. Some of you wish that you had that in your house because you would not have broken the lampstand as you were a child. You would not have turned it over like I did in my house playing ball. The lampstand had three purposes. And this is going to be earth-shattering. I want you to really focus in here. The first purpose of the lampstand was to give light. It was functional. To illuminate the priests as they would go in and do their duties before the Lord.22:11Secondly, it was aesthetic. It reminded God's people that the Lord is beautiful. That he is awesome and he is awe-inspiring. It was also symbolic, reminding them that God is the light giver. God is the giver of life and he is a source of illumination for those who need light. And as we push deeper into the holy place, you see the altar of incense.22:38The altar of incense was located immediately before the veil going into the Holy of Holies. And the incense was symbolic of the prayers of God's people. Reminding us that when we pray, God hears. How beautiful a picture it is to know that the prayer prayed in faith will rise before God. You know, God does not, I do not deserve for God to hear my prayers.23:07And yet, a prayer of faith will be heard in God. And maybe you are here today thinking, "Pastor, you do not know what I have done this week. You do not know my heart." But if you would prayerfully, in a prayer of repentance, seek God, your prayer would rise as incense from the altar of God. And he will smell that, and he will hear that, and he will let you into his presence.23:34But immediately before going into the veil, you see the altar of incense and the prayers of God's people going to the Holy of Holies. You see, the tent of meeting is laden with redemptive significance. What is God telling us about his presence? God is reminding us that he does not stand above his people and lord over us. Like, the temple was where?24:04God said, "I want you to construct this temple, and where are you going to build it?" In your midst. God is reminding us that he does not lord over us, but he dwells in our midst. We don't come and worship a God today that we say, "God, we know you're up there somewhere if you're listening." No, we say, "God, you are here with us. You are tabernacling in our midst." This was a piece of holy ground in the midst of a world that had lost its way.24:33And if we ever need to walk on holy ground in a world that has lost its way, friends, it is right now. It is right now. You and I are designed to live in the presence of God. And his mobile home reminded us that God wants to dwell with you. He wants to dwell with you right now. And we see this in his word.25:02Not only is God's home mobile and he's tabernacling among his people, but we see in verse 16 and forward that one of the most significant pieces of furniture in the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies. And inside the Holy of Holies, we see the Ark of the Covenant. And we're going to focus in on a mercy seat inside this holy place. You see, inside the Ark, they had three elements. Later on, after Moses, we see manna to remind the people that God daily provides.25:31We see the staff of Aaron to remind them of a perpetual priesthood. And then we also see the Ten Commandments. And then fastened on top of the Ark was a lid. And on top of the lid, as we've read, there was a seat of mercy. A seat of mercy. And the Hebrew word here is kaporet. Don't you find it strange that God would name the lid the mercy seat?26:01What a strange phenomenon this truly is. And what does this canopy, what does this lid tell us about God? Well, the Hebrew word kapor means that God covers. It's the idea of a covering over God's people. It's actually the process. The word kapor is a process of God causing people to be true friends who were distant enemies.26:24So the idea of covering, or you might know it as atonement. Covering is the idea of people who were enemies now becoming friends. So God's mercy seat is a reminder to us. We who were sinful enemies of God in the mercy seat through Jesus Christ can now be with him.26:46We can be friends of God because of his grace and his mercy. See, the truth is this. That we are all in need of reconciliation. Remember that we are made in the image of God. And you and I, God has made us and created us to be in the garden of Eden with him.27:11And you and I have walked out. And the mercy seat is a reminder that now we are enemies of God. But he is inviting us back into relationship with him. Back into his presence. At the mercy seat we find that God has covered us. And we should be so thankful. Because in the days of Israel, the high priest would go in the Holy of Holies one day out of the year and find atonement.27:39And I'm thankful that we have a new high priest. That no longer do we have to wait. Can you imagine sinning today? And yesterday was a day of atonement. And you have to wait 364 days to find redemption and covering of your sin. That in Christ today we have reconciliation.28:07That's why John reminds us to those who receive him. He has given us the right to be children of God to those who believe in his name. You see, it is at the mercy seat that we find grace and redemption. It is at the mercy seat that we find that God is kind in our lives. I'm so thankful that God meets us not at a mercy seat, not at a judgment seat, but at a mercy seat.28:38I'm so thankful that God didn't name this seat. You know, the place where the cherubs, the cherubs are a reminder that we are not in God's presence. The cherubs are a reminder that we cannot get too close to God. I'm so thankful that God did not say to us, you know what, meet me at the judgment seat. Have you ever had your dad, maybe your dad wasn't like mine.29:08But if you were ever in trouble and really in trouble, he would always say, "Son, meet me in my room." That never ended well for me. Never. And it's even worse when he says, "You know what, go to my room. I want you to think about what you've done." Like, "No, no, Dad, you don't want me to think about what I've done. You want to think about how long I had to wait until you come in and spank me." Right? That's, like, the judgment of the Father is coming and you want me to think about the judgment.29:36But God, he will judge us all one day. We are all held accountable. But I'm thankful today that he reminds us that we can meet him at the seat of mercy. Through Jesus Christ. What a glorious mercy seat and what a wonderful Savior we have. Who has designed us to dwell with him and has invited us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.30:01God wants to tabernacle among you today. He wants to dwell among us. And he does that through his atoning sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Through the mercy seat. And lastly, we see this in Exodus 25:21. That God started with a mobile home. A mobile tabernacle.30:31But we see this in verse 21 and 22. He said, "I will set a mercy seat on top of the ark and put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark. I will meet you there above the mercy seat." Praise God. "Between the two cherub that are over the ark of the testimony." You see, when God took up residence, the New Testament picks up on a similar language.31:00John reminds us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And then John says this, that the Word dwelt among us. The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates it this way. That Jesus Christ tabernacled among us. God reminds us if you believe in Him, that His home, His presence in our life is not temporary.31:30It is not mobile, but it is now permanent. The fancy $5 word would be immutable. That God is now a permanent fixture in your life if you believe. You see, the only remedy for exile is the presence of God. Buddhism, the only remedy for this cycle of exodus is Jesus Christ.31:55Hinduism, the only remedy for this ongoing karma, this never-ending exodus is not karma. It is Jesus Christ. And maybe you're here right now and you're struggling. You see, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Because God has designed you to be in His presence. And without the presence of God, we will long for something more and greater. But with God, His presence is among us.32:25I love what 1 Corinthians says. That God's dwelling is not a future home, but it is a realized promise. Did you know that God sent His Son to die on the cross to give you new life? It has little to do with heaven. I told someone this week, I said if Jesus was in hell, hell would be the place to go. Because heaven is not about streets of gold, it is about the presence of God.32:53Right? It's not about a place, it's about a presence. And so God's tabernacling among us, 1 Corinthians says this to a church that's struggling. Well, do I have to wait till heaven or what's going to happen? I need the presence of God now. Paul says to the church at Corinth, don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple? I love that.33:23They're worried about Exodus or heaven. And God says, don't you realize that you are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit lives in you? In 1 Corinthians 3:16. For those of us who believe in His name, God is dwelling right now. And so if you say, and I say, well, I don't feel the presence of God. God is saying it's not about what you feel, because I'm there. You might say, well, I don't see the presence of God. God says, Josh, you don't look with eyes in your head, but you look with eyes of faith.33:53If you believe my presence is permanent, it is immutable, it is there. You see, the promise of God to His bride is that if we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, that you are His temple now. I love that. If you go back and read Revelation, we've already looked at the first book of the Bible, Genesis. We spent time in the second book.34:22And if you spend time at the very end of the Bible, in Revelation, let's tie all of this together today. John sees the new heavens and the new earth. And he sees something strange. John, the revelator, John, the beloved apostle, says this. Looking for the temple, right? John says, well, I know that, God, you had a mobile home in Exodus. I know you had a semi-permanent home when Solomon built the temple.34:51And I know that Jesus Christ said that He would rebuild the temple. And so in the new heavens, obviously the temple is there. And John said this. I did not see a temple in it. Now, before we gloss over that in Revelation 21, imagine for someone who was longing for the temple, how devastating that would be. It was as if John is crying out and saying, God, you promised us your temple.35:19Where would it be? It is not there. Have you ever longed for the promises of God in your life? And you look and you say, God, I just don't see it. And how devastating that can be. But John said this. He said, I did not see it because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.35:42John is saying that the presence of Christ is permanent if we believe. If you're here today and you're struggling with, I don't see God, it is not about what you see. It's about who you know. And if you know Christ, his presence is, I want you to learn that word, immutable, unchanging, unwavering and permanent.36:09God upgraded from a mobile home to a permanent dwelling place in Jesus Christ. Oh, for the glory of his name because of the mercy seat. So how can we respond to this tug in our life that we are creation longing for his image? C.S. Lewis said this about his conversion.36:38If you don't know who C.S. Lewis is, he's a famous English professor who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, best friends with Tolkien, who actually was instrumental in leading him to Christ. C.S. Lewis said this, and only as he can, by the way. He said, the odd thing was that before God closed in on me, that's how I used to feel, that God just closed in on me.37:00Looking back, I could see God as like, he was like a shark circling the water. It was like a gospel shark, right? Just circling, and every time God would circle me, he would get a little closer. He said, it was in fact offered what now appears a moment of holy, free choice. He said, I became aware that I was holding something at bay or shutting something out.37:30I felt myself being there and then given a free choice. And Lewis said, I could open the door or I could keep it shut. He said, I could unbuckle the armor or I could keep it on. And this is what he says. He said, there was no threat or promise from God. He said, but I knew that to open the door or to take off the corslet, I had to look up that word. It's a piece of defensive armor.38:00To take off the defense full armor of pride meant the incalculable. Lewis said that God gave me a choice to open the door or keep it shut. And that is the same choice that you and I have today. God has designed you to be in his presence. And there will always be a longing in our life for Eden until we enter into his presence.38:26We are walking in Exodus. And you will not find rest until you find the promised land through the mercy seat of Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? What does that look like? Here is the gospel, the good news, that God has created us in his image. You've heard that over and over today. And because God has created you and I, he holds you and I accountable.38:53There will be a day where we all will meet at the judgment seat. And you and I have a choice. We can deny that God is who he says he is. And we can deny that Christ is who he says he is. And we can meet God face to face at the judgment seat. And that time will be too late. And I don't say that as a threat. I say that as someone whose heart is broken. And I say, do not wait for the judgment seat.39:23Because God this morning is offering to meet us at the mercy seat. Through Jesus Christ. Because Jesus and God knew that we could not live a perfect life even though we are held accountable. So he sent his son to live a perfect life and to die a death that I owe. Colossians says that God took through Christ the debt against me. That he nailed it to the cross and he wiped it clean.39:50That if I believe, if I receive him and believe in his name, I can meet God face to face. And I can be in his presence. Would you do that today? That is his invitation. Maybe you have been running for God. And today God says as to Lewis, I am waiting for you. Come home. And when you come home, he will meet you at the mercy seat with arms stretched wide.40:17That is his promise. That is his invitation. Maybe you're here this morning and you struggle and you feel like God's dwelling place in your life right now is mobile. I want you to know it's not. That through Christ, God's presence is permanent. He is with you. If you don't see it, that's okay. He is there. If you don't feel it, that is okay. Because he is there.40:47Maybe you need to spend some time right now and say, Lord, I don't know you're here. I don't feel it. I don't see it. But I know that I know because your son paid it all. And maybe you need to spend some time asking God to fill you up and give you a fresh breath of his spirit. We're going to have a time of invitation. Because any time that good news is proclaimed, every single one of us should respond. So I want you to respond this morning. Let's pray. Father.← Previous in ExodusSunday, June 11, 2017Next in Exodus →Sunday, July 2, 2017More sermons on Exodus →
