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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (16-1-2000 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
Following the promise of God’s presence and assurance of His approval, Moses asks the Lord, Now show me your glory (Exodus 33:18). We are going to look at this request, and then note how Paul picks up this theme in 2 Corinthians. It comes now in richer fulfilment because we still behold the glory of the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit in life.
Moses longed to see God in the
purity, beauty and brilliance of His being. He desired to know God in a more
deep and intimate way. Earlier He had asked, teach me your ways so I may know
you and continue to find favour with you (Exodus 33:13), but now he wanted
more – he wanted to be shown God’s glory.
There were others in the Bible
who expressed the same desire as Moses. If only I knew where to find him; if
only I could go to his dwelling! (Job 23:3). My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God (Psalm
84:2). My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet
with God? (Psalm 42:2). I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death (Philippians 3:10). Here is the mark of a truly godly and
consecrated man or woman. He has an appetite for God – not for head knowledge
or theology, important as they are in their place.
Why is it that there is so
little known about such longing these days? Many are just content to know they
are saved, have their sins forgiven, and have eternal life. Many are content
with intellectual knowledge. Others are satisfied with emotional thrills. But
they have no longing for God Himself. Their appetites are blunted. It is
possible to be so busy in Christian work that you have no time for God. For
some, the problem is that self fills the life – material possessions and
personal ambitions take top priority. Only when God is at the centre of life,
when all is consecrated to Him, when God is everything to us, will we really
hunger after Him. He will satisfy us, yet we will want more and more.
“My
goal is God Himself,
Not
joy or peace,
Nor
even blessing,
But
Himself, my God.”
“The
greatest thing in all my life
Is
knowing you.”
When men are in earnest, God
never denies them this. Longings will be fulfilled because God is faithful.
Though the answer may not come exactly as we expect, it will come. If He has
planted desires for Himself, and we have made them ours, He does not intend to
mock us. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame (Psalm
25:3).
In answer to Moses’ request,
God summoned him to Mount Sinai. He met God at the top of the mountain. He
enjoyed 40 days communion with God. He was transfigured as the glory of God was
manifested to him. His whole heart and being were illuminated with God’s
glory. His shining face made people afraid to come near, so he had to cover it
with a veil when he left God’s presence.
His face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord (Exodus 34:29). Others were aware of the glow, but Moses himself was not. True holiness of life is something of which we are unaware and unconscious. When we are conscious of it, it loses its charm. Beware of a man who talks about his own graces. It is a small step to becoming proud. The man who boasts of his shining face is a counterfeit and cheat. The charm of true godliness can be compared to the charm of a little child who is utterly unconscious of their own charm. The more we are like Christ, the less we know it. “O for holy shining of the face, and o for holy ignorance of the shining.” (R.M.McCheyne).
The story of Moses was well known to Paul, and he took up
the theme is 2 Corinthians. In a richer, deeper and more permanent way,
believers can see God’s glory now. The results are incalculable. In the case
of Moses, it was a transient and temporary experience of God’s glory, which
quickly disappeared, and he became the same old Moses again. The glory passed
away.
But we can still take on our
lips the prayer of Moses – “Show me your glory”, for it has abundantly and
permanently been answered in Jesus Christ. The knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Here is a
glory greater and more permanent than Moses ever saw. This glory can be seen not
just by one man, but also by all people of God. Communion with God is constant
and permanent, and is within the reach of all people of God.
We, who with unveiled faces
all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with
ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Greek word used for
“transformed” here has the same root as the word used for Jesus’
transfiguration (Matthew 17:2), the root from which we get our word “metamorphis”.
We have the prospect of a progressively transformed and transfigured life. The
verse concludes: Which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Through
the work of the Holy Spirit we are transformed as we behold the glory of God. As
we spend time in His presence and commune with Him, we become increasingly like
Him.
There is an old proverb: “Tell
me the company a man keeps, and I will tell you his character”. The key to
becoming like Christ is not by trying hard, but by turning away from self and
all its concerns, and spending time in His presence, being transformed by Him.
There are still thousands of simple and ordinary souls who are living witnesses
to the fact that looking at Christ is the power which transforms a man’s life.
The work will not be complete on earth, but it is progressive. Salvation is a
gift, and also growth. Silently and secretly the Holy Spirit carries on the work
in the deep places of the soul.
We progress from one degree of
glory to another, and one day the work will be complete. Dear friends, now we
are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we
know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure (1
John 3:2,3).
The change in us will have one
of two effects on others. It will either repel, or it will attract. In Moses’
case, men were afraid to come near. The radiance of his face had an accusing and
convicting effect. Recall the accusation of the silent testimony of Stephen: all
who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that
his face was like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). But his enemies rushed
at him and stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-58).
Others will be attracted to a
Christ-like character, and it will awaken a longing and desire. Bishop Taylor
Smith once preached at the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, but he had lost his
voice on the journey, and only the front few rows could actually hear his words.
Someone in the gallery, however, went to the vestry after, and said, “I could
not hear a word you said because I was too far away. But as I watched your face
I became convicted that I must become a Christian.”
Someone wrote to R.M.McCheyne
during the last months of his life, and thanked him for an hour of worship at
Broughty Ferry, where the sermon had blessed the man’s soul. “It was not so
much what you said as your manner of speaking that struck me. I saw in a you a
beauty in holiness I had never seen before.”
John Wesley, while preaching at
Spitalfields, annoyed two hard drinkers because he denounced the sins of the
people. They were about to do him in, and had even lifted two big boulders to
throw, when Wesley started to speak of salvation. His face lit up as he spoke of
a wonderful and glorious Saviour. The two men were transfigured with the stones
in their hands. Wesley witnessed it, and finished preaching on the wonderful
riches of forgiveness and liberty in Christ. Then he went over to the men. They
dropped the stones from their hands, and Wesley blessed them. As he walked away,
one asked the other, “Was that God Almighty Himself?” to which the other
replied, “No, but a man like God.”
“A man like God” – could that be said of us? Beholding the glory of the Lord, changed from glory to glory, by the spirit of the Lord, eyes off self and onto Christ. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). Rest in Him. Are you aware of your own shortcomings? Dissatisfied with your own attempts to change? The fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him do the work. He is able to make all grace abound towards you. The offer is open to everyone. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). May the Holy Spirit rest on us and make us burning and shining lights.
