God calls his people to come to him. Not only this, he calls us to come to him boldly and make our requests known to him in prayer. In Moses we see a powerful example of what bold intercession looks like and a model that we can learn from to help us to intercede for those around us. We also see that what follows bold intercession is often a marvelous display of the glory of God. God delights to answer prayer and to show his glory to his people, and these are things we desperately need.

I'm sleepy. Thank you, Doug. Well let's pray even though I don't think there's anything else to say. Let's pray then we'll jump right into it. Our Father we thank you for being righteous and holy and good.

We come now into the word of truth, what you have given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Come and bless our time together we pray in Jesus name Amen well I'm going to speak to you from Exodus chapter 33 Exodus chapter 33 You all have said everything and you spent a great deal in the New Testament so I thought I'd just jump over in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 33. And I'm just going to read verses 12 through 19. And we'll stop there.

Verses 12 through 19. And really, it just can be read with no comment. But let's read it. Let's hear it together. And Moses said unto the Lord, see thou saith unto me, bring up this people and thou has not let me know whom thou would send with me.

Yet thou has said, I know thee by name and thou has also found grace in my sight. Thirteen, now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight show me now by 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 you, 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 has spoken but thou has found grace in my sight and I know thee by name and he Moses said I beseech thee show me thy glory and he said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Amen. So my brief portion in this brief, I think, is show me thy glory. After being divinely separated or divinely delivered out of the grips of Egypt, having manna brought down from heaven, quails brought up for meat, and water from the rock, you would think gratitude, some type of thanksgiving and praise would be rendered unto God for those acts.

Instead, mercy was followed by murmuring, Grace was followed by grumbling, and compassion was followed by complaining. God gave the children of Israel their national law. We call that the Ten commandments, how you ought to function in the land. He also gave them the blueprint for the tabernacle, all its furnishing, the priestly garments, and all of the sacrifice that should be offered up unto him. And Yet, it did not take long for the children of Israel to fall into idolatry.

That's chapters 20 through 31. Idolatry of the worst kind. In chapter 32, when we come to that portion, they say unto Aaron, keep in mind Aaron is the high priest, Aaron was set apart in chapter 28, consecrated in chapter 29, but when we get to chapter 32, Aaron up, make us gods to go before us. Do you understand what has just happened? Moses is receiving instructions from God and in the midst of those instructions Israel is saying make us idols.

And guess who they came to? The leadership. Oh, we got to be careful of congregational pressure. Aaron gave in to congregational pressure, and he led the people in idolatry. Same thing happened with Saul.

1 Samuel chapter 15. Clear instruction from God, go and wipe out all of the Amalekites. But Saul disobeyed. He received congregational pressure from the people and he lost the kingdom. Congregational pressure will make you do all kinds of stuff if we're not careful.

So Aaron led the people into idolatry, but there's another interesting portion of it in that same chapter 32 when we get to verse 35 they said let's make a feast to the Lord did you hear that a feast to the Lord see the worship of false gods is idolatry but the worship of the true God in the wrong way is also idolatry So there's this image, this golden calf, this molten calf that Aaron made, and then we're gonna have a feast to the Lord. Blasphemy. Idolatry. So God says to Aaron, still in chapter 32 verse 7, go down for the people, your people actually he says, your people whom you have brought out of Egypt, they have quickly corrupted themselves. And so I want to look at two things a bold Bible based intercession and the second thing a bold Bible based request for God's manifestation We will say both of those things with Moses.

A bold Bible-based intercession. God said, go down to your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt. They have quickly corrupted themselves. Plus Moses, I am going to consume them. I am going to destroy them and build out of you a great nation.

Now if Moses was a selfish preacher, he would have said yes, get rid of all of them and build my kingdom. But Moses is not that kind of preacher. See, we have to be careful of wanting to build a kingdom within God's kingdom, wanting to build an empire inside of God's Empire. Moses didn't say, oh yes, that's good, they've been giving me a hard time anyway. He didn't do that.

Matter of fact, this is why I'm calling it a bold intercession. God says, go. You realize that's a command. Go. I'm going to consume these people.

And then he said, let me alone. Can I translate that for you? Leave me be. Command. But here's the boldness of Moses.

Why do your anger, verse 11 of that same chapter, why do your anger wax hot against your people whom you have brought out of Egypt. I love the play on words. God said, you, your people whom you brought. Moses said, uh-uh, your people whom you brought out of Egypt. And Moses, in this bold intercession with God, You brought them out of Egypt.

Why are you going to destroy them? And then he addresses two things, God's reputation and God's character. They go hand in hand. He said you brought them out of Egypt with a strong hand. Now, what do you think Egyptians are going to say when you consume them?

That's God's reputation. What do you think they're going to say? Remember, Egypt has their blog page. They're going to put this on Facebook, and they're going to blog it everywhere if you destroy these people and you know they didn't have blog but hey I'm preaching this they're gonna put it everywhere your reputation you brought them out remember all the judgments that you brought on Egypt and now you brought the people out here to kill them. They're going to say you're no different from any other god.

Your reputation is on the line. That's the first thing he said to God. The second thing he said, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? I love it. This is bold intercession.

Remember, God commanded him to leave and Moses didn't go anywhere. He's talking to God. He's not talking to a brick, he's talking to the Living God. And he said, remember Abraham, Isaac, Israel, AKA Jacob. Remember the promise that you made to them.

You will give them a seed that will be beyond the numbers of the stars of heaven and you will give them a land. Your character is on the line. And what did God do? He responded! He responded!

Moses said in verse 12 or 30, chapter 32, Turn away. Turn away from this evil that you're gonna do to the people. You get to verse 14? They say, and the Lord turned away. I love it.

I love it. I love it. Can I put it this way? God didn't say this. You know something, Moses?

You're right. You're right. My reputation is on the line, and my character is on the line. And then he goes on to say, up, up. I still want you to take these people.

So Moses leaves God. He goes down into the camp. He sees the idolatry going on. They're having a block party down there happening. And everybody's dancing and singing.

And Moses destroys the idol, still in chapter 32, destroys the idol and then he tells the people, you have sinned, a great sin, 3, 000 people died. You sinned, a great sin. Now, I am going to talk to the Lord for you. That's a bold intercession. And I like to tell my children, let me tell you what intercession is.

It's when someone loves you and cares about you enough that they are willing to talk to God on your behalf. And that's what Moses is doing. He goes and talks to God. God, these people have sinned a great sin. Would you please forgive them?

Here's the ultimatum. Would you forgive them? And if you don't forgive them get rid of me Let me tell you that's a pastor's heart He's not trying to build a kingdom if you don't forgive them kill me get rid of me wipe me out of your book Gotcha, I'm not gonna do that. I love it. You gotta, listen, you gotta spend some time in this dialogue.

It's rich. Moses and God going back and forth. It's like God opens up the door and say, okay, keep talking to me. Keep talking to me. A bold intercession, and that's what we need to have.

Did we talk to God that way? Bold intercession. Well, God didn't kill him. God said, up, up, up, take these people into the land. But I'm not going up.

That's chapter 33, we've moved down. I am not going up with you, lest I consume these people. Oh, hear Moses' boldness again. Oh, we want you to forgive them, but if you're not going up, we're not budging. He's talking to God!

If you don't go up, we're not moving. We're not doing it. Go up is a command. We're not moving. Oh, I love it.

I just love it. Now, now we come to our portion. I'm gonna skip around Scott a little bit. Now we come to our portion. Notice after Moses says to God, please on behalf of the people, and God says I'm not going up with you Moses says if you don't go up we're not going anywhere that's a bold intercession But now let's hear the bold request for God's manifestation.

Here's what Moses says. We just read it. And Moses said unto the Lord, in verse 12, See, thou saith unto me, Bring up this people. That's what God said. And thou hast not let me know whom thou would send with me yet thou has said I know thee by name and thou has also found grace in my sight now therefore I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight show me thy way that's a prayer that's a glorious prayer Show me thy way that I may know you.

That should be our cry. See there will be no awakening, no reviving unless our cry is God show me your way that we may know you. But that's not all Moses said. What's the dialogue now? Moses said, show me your way that we may know you, that I may find grace in your sight and consider that this nation, this what we want to know, this nation is your people.

God responds. I love it. He said, my presence shall go with you and I will give you rest." He said unto him, if thy presence go not with us, cause us not to go up. We're not budging. For when shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in your sight?

Is it not that thou goest with us so we shall be a separated people I and I people from all the people that are upon the earth do you understand what Moses is saying Moses says God if your presence is with us we will be different If we say we own the name of God we should be different. I'm not talking about strangely. Well, we may be strangely different But we ought to be a different people all together from the world If God's presence is with us listen to the dialogue God is still talking verse 17 chapter 33 and the Lord said unto Moses I would do this thing do we talk to God this way well the said we want your presence we're not going anywhere We want to know that we're separated and that we belong to you. God said, I do exactly what you're saying. But Moses is not done.

Moses goes a little further in verse 18. He said, I beseech you, I'm pleading with you, show me your glory. Show me your glory. That's what we should be crying for, even in our churches. That's what we should be crying for at this conference.

Listen, the conference will mean nothing if we don't get God's glory. Show me your glory. All you are in yourself, God, your fullness, your character, show it to me. That's Moses' cry. Listen to God's response.

I love it. And he said, I will make. He's still responding. Moses is pleading. Moses wants to see that manifestation after that bold intercession.

I want to see your glory and God said I'm gonna make, I'm gonna make, I'm gonna make all of my goodness pass before you and I'm going to proclaim the name of the Lord everything that's tied to that name before you. Listen, and I will be gracious to whom I want to be gracious. The first thing God starts off with and says, Moses, guess what? I'm still sovereign. I'm going to be gracious to whomever I want to be gracious to and I'm going to show mercy to whomever I want to show mercy to that's my prerogative well what we have in chapter 34?

That's where we are. We get to chapter 34, what happens? Moses goes out to Mount Sinai, God comes down, and God stands with him in verse 5 of chapter 34 and then in verse 6 God proclaims as he passes by he proclaims something the Lord the Lord merciful and gracious he said that in chapter 33 merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant and goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands. Forgiving, iniquity, that's your perversion, transgression, you cross the divine line, and sin, you've missed everything. Forgiving, inequity, transgression, sin, and will by no means clear the guilty.

All of his glory passes by, and what happens? Well we have it in verse eight. Moses gets low in worship. See, that's exactly what we need. Knowing God and seeing his glory.

When God comes in his glory, we will do something. We will worship. That's what we'll do. Moses didn't ask for the life of his enemies. Moses didn't ask for a lot of money.

Moses didn't ask for wealth. There's nothing wrong with asking for money, nothing wrong with asking for the life of your enemy at times. Lord, save him or remove him. Either one. Either one.

That's balance. We were talking about balance earlier. That's balance. Save or remove. I mean, which one you want?

You want him saved, but if he doesn't save him, what else do you want? You want him removed. But it's just a glorious thing as we as we look at revival and we look at awakening. If the end product, if I may call it this, if the end product is not the glory of God, we haven't been revived nor awakened. God's glory.

That's Moses' drive. He said that's what I want to know. And keep in mind, this in the midst of Israel falling into idolatry. He said, show me who you are and show me your glory. Your glory.

I would say that's a good prayer. That's a good cry. That's a good plea. That's a good longing. It's a good desire.

Your glory. You can recall that scene in Gideon, can't you? 30, 32, 000. It's a big army, isn't it? Small in our day.

Big in that day. It's a good-sized army, 32, 000. Going to fight. God takes that 100% and reduces it down to less than 1% and So when it's all said and done that 99 plus percent belongs to God So when you fight with that 300 I will get all the glory Love how he does You will not be able to take credit for anything. And that's how we should thank.

We should thank God, use us. Use us. But at the same time as you use us, Remind us to give you glory. Remind us to be a thankful people that you would even use us and get glory. Help us to be bold intercessors, loving people enough that we are willing to go to God on their behalf.

And help us to be bold at the same time and say, God, show us your glory. Your glory. That's how preaching should be. It's not to build us up. Oh, it's to bring us low and say, Lord, use me again.

The broken vessel. You can take this broken pot and you can water all kinds of flowers. He receives glory in the midst of it all. And you know what? I think God's desire, God delights when we plead this way.

He didn't rebuke Moses one time. He didn't say, Leave me alone. I'm the boss. You're not. Every time Moses pleaded, God responded.

I'm gonna do what you say. I'll do what you say. You want to see my glory? I'm gonna show it to you. And when I show it to you, it will send you