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When the storms of life is blooming, meet me there When the storms of life are o'er on that happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more, meet me there Here our fondest hopes are vain, dearest links are rent and twain But in heaven they'll throb no pain, meet me there By the river sparkling bright in that city of delight Where our faith is lost inside, meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming, meet me there When the storms of life are o'er on that happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more, meet me there Where the harps of angels ring and the blessed forever sing In the palace of the King, meet me there Where in sweet communion blend heart with heart and friend with friend In a world that ne'er shall end, meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming, meet me there When the storms of life are o'er on that happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more, meet me there Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just want to thank you, God, for another opportunity to meet in your house and to hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, now that you would just fill our pastor with your power and spirit. And I pray, Lord, that you would be honored and glorified out of everything that's said and done, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all that amen. All right, may be seated and take your song books and turn to song number 85. Song number 85. We'll sing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Song number 85. Jesus, name of cleansing, washing all our stains. Jesus, name of healing, balm for all our pains. Jesus, name of boldness, making cowards brave. Name that in the battle certainly must save. Jesus, name of victory, stretching far away. Ride across earth's war fields to the plains of day. Jesus, be our joy note in this veil of tears, till we reach the homeland and eternal years. Amen. So welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. And just some announcements here. Definitely want to welcome the Burdens family. Pastor Burdens will be flying in tonight, so he will be here for the retreat and everything. But glad to have the Burdens. So you found the new building. I didn't I forgot that last time you guys were at the really the tail end of the old building. And so but excited we got the retreat coming up. So that's kind of the big news is that that we had that coming up. But just so you know, service times on Sunday, everything's normal there. So nothing is different this Sunday besides obviously everybody's going to be coming back on the retreat and it's back to reality and all that. So but when it comes to the retreat, did everybody get one of those lists of essential things that you want to bring or should bring? If you didn't, there's probably one somewhere in the back somewhere. But it's just more of suggestions on what you should bring. But as far as the schedule, I think we confirmed that the way we could check in at four o'clock. So that's ridiculous to me. It should be two o'clock is late, but six hours to get from like where someone's coming out of the cabin to getting it ready is kind of ridiculous. But it is what it is. So tomorrow, I guess four o'clock is technically the check in, but you could probably check in earlier than that. Usually that's what they tell you is that just come in, see if it's ready to go. So in your case, your cabin might be ready to go way before that. But I think as far as the weather goes, it's going to be pretty nice. I think tomorrow morning is supposed to rain and then it's supposed to stop raining during the afternoon and then the rest of the time is supposed to be sunny. I didn't say it's going to be warm, but it's supposed to be sunny. But yeah, so the big thing to remember is Thursday night, tomorrow night, or around 5.30, we're going to be having pizza. We're going to provide pizza for everybody. We're going to be meeting up at a central location, all of that. And then we're probably going to be doing the preaching time definitely tomorrow night. So Pastor Berzins will be preaching for us and then we're going to be doing some men's preaching time. So did we ever get a list of all the guys that – how many do we got or do you remember? Okay. Okay. So we'll figure that out as far as – because we have it for the next day as well so we can do some more preaching times on Friday as well. So as far as that goes, yeah, tomorrow, you know, around 5.30 or so, we're going to have pizza and everything for everybody. So that will kind of let everybody get settled in and you don't have to worry about making hot dogs and all that stuff. So that will be for Friday with that. And then when it comes to schedule, here's the thing, you can do whatever you want to do. This is a retreat. You can sit and stare out your window into the woods of the deer that are walking by for the whole trip and you can do that. So when it comes to this, I'm more of a hands-off type of guy when it comes to this. You can do whatever you want to do, have fun. You want to relax. You want to put your feet up and watch a fire in your cabin and not talk to anybody. You can do that. So you don't feel obligated to be like, I got to go hang out with these people. No, you don't have to do any of that. Now, if you want to hang out with everybody, that's cool too. But I just want that to be very clear that I am not one to put a hard schedule on anybody. We will have a preaching time and we'll have some time where we can eat and all that. But in the end, you can do whatever you want to do, go wherever you want to go as long as it's legal and all that. But so I'm excited about it. I know my kids are excited about it. They've been counting down the days for it and so it should be a good time. But we just obviously want to pray for safe travels and all that. So on the list there, as far as upcoming events besides the retreat, we have the prayer meetings on there. We have our chapter of the month memory is 1 Thessalonians 1. So we are going to be trying to get through the whole book of 1 Thessalonians. And so starting here in chapter 1 and then next month we'll be going into chapter 2. Jonah 3, 10 is our memory verse for the week. And that's a good one to have memorized, especially out of soul wanting. God saw the works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. That is a great verse to have, especially when you're dealing with this repentance of sins crowd that's out there. And then anniversaries, we're going to get my parents this Sunday. And then pregnancies, my wife's on the list there. So be in prayer for her. But be in prayer for all the ladies in our church because you just never know who's pregnant, we don't know about it. Or who's trying to get pregnant and stuff like that. It's always a good thing to be praying for that in general when it comes to the ladies in our church or the families in our church. Besides that, offering boxes in the back there. Mother and baby's room for the mothers and babies only. And Brother Wade's going to be reading Exodus chapter 34 tonight. So we're going to be continuing our study through Exodus. And it's going to be after Brother Dave sings one more song for us. All right. Take your song books and turn to song two hundred and fifty. Song two hundred and fifty in your song books. We'll sing, Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary. Song two hundred and fifty. Days are filled with sorrow and care. Hearts are lonely and drear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Cast your care on Jesus today. Leave your worry and fear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Troubled soul, the Savior can see. Every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Take your Bibles and turn to Exodus 34. And your Bibles will have Brother Wade come in and read that for us. Exodus 34. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew the two tables of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon these words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest, and be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto a mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hew two tables of stone like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. And he said, Behold, I make a covenant before all the people, I will do marvels such as not have been done in all the earth nor in any nation, and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I would do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Cittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebesite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest. Lest be for a snare in the midst of thee, but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after the gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughter unto thy sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I command thee, in the time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib thou camest out of Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine, and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male, and the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, if thou redeem him not, then shall thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, in earing time and in the harvest thou shalt rest, and thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, the firstfruits we harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel, for I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders. Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God, thrice in the year. Thou shalt not offer the blood of the sacrifice with leaven. Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables of the words of the covenant the Ten Commandments. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with them. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come, nigh him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron, all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with them in Mount Sinai, until Moses had done speaking with them. But he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with them, he took the veil off, and he came out, and he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, and the skin of Moses' face shone. Moses put the veil upon his face again, and he went in to speak with them. Let us pray. Dear Lord, please be with the pastor tonight. Let's get something from the message, and let us hear your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 34, and we are continuing our study. And the last chapter was the chapter where basically Moses was making intercession for the children of Israel, and if you remember, God was basically saying, I'm not going to go up with them. Basically, I'll send them in, and I'll drive everybody out, but I'm not going with them. And then Moses is basically entreating him and asking him, you know, you need to go with us. And basically then God says, I'll go with you, and I'll go up with thee. And then Moses basically gets the Lord to agree to go with the children of Israel as well. And then at the end of the chapter there, it's interesting is that it talks about the story where Moses wants to see the glory of God, and then he's saying, I'm going to pass over. I'm going to put you in a cleft of a rock. But you know what's interesting is that actually that event doesn't happen until this chapter right here. That's something I never really noticed until going through this study is that chapter 33, which we'll get to, is stating what he's going to do, but he doesn't do that until chapter 34 when he's in the mount. And so I'm going to get to that. But the first thing that we see here in verse 1 here is that basically there's going to be this, he's going to do all this over again. So if you remember, Moses went up into the mount from chapter 25 of Exodus to 31, and we see all this stuff where God's basically telling him about the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, all of this. And at the end, he gets these two tables of stone that are written with the finger of God. Now, in chapter 34 here, he's going back up into the mount, but before he goes up there, God is telling him to hew out two tables of stone to basically bring up with him. So in verse 1 there it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount, and no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount. Neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. So tables of stone, like I said, you get that word tablet, in that word tablet is table, and so basically they're two tablets, if you will. He's not taking up stones with feet on them or legs on them like a table, but basically the tabletop part is what you would be thinking about there. But the thing that's interesting about this is that it doesn't say the first time that Moses had to hew out these two tables of stone, okay? If you look back at Exodus chapter 24, from what I see is that God is the one that gave him the two tables of stone, and he's not actually having to hew these out himself and bring them up into the mount, but God actually basically gives them two tables of stone, and then he writes on those tables of stone. So there's something that's a little different here as far as this next time that he's coming up here. And this chapter's really kind of dealing with the fact that God is renewing this covenant, because he was about to just kill them all and just start over, and this is kind of this renewing of the first covenant. Now, obviously the first covenant didn't end, you know, when they made this golden calf, but it's kind of this renewing of it, refreshing of it, if you will, because Moses, what did he do with those first two tables of stone? He broke them, right? So it could be partially because Moses broke them. He's like, all right, you need to go get two tables of stone now. You need to hew these out and bring these up with you. But notice in Exodus 24 and verse 12, before he goes up into the mount in chapter 25, it says, and the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up and his minister Joshua, and Moses went up into the mount of God. Okay? So there's two things to see there, is that God says, I will give thee tables of stone. But this time he's saying, you need to hew out two tables of stone and bring those with you up into the mount. There's another thing that's stated in chapter 34, in verse 3 it says, and no man shall come up with thee. Who went up with them in chapter 24? Joshua. Now, you could wonder why that's the case, but here's my reasoning on why that's the case, because obviously her and Aaron can't be trusted. Okay? They can't be trusted to basically lead the camp, so Joshua's left. You know, that's my reasoning behind it, is that Joshua has to stick back. I mean, in chapter 33, Joshua was staying in the tabernacle. Remember that Moses put the tabernacle congregation without the camp, and he would speak to God there and come back and tell the children of Israel about who stayed back in the tabernacle. Joshua. Joshua was the one that was there waiting for Moses the whole time while he was there for 40 days, and 49 is the first time. And then when Moses comes out, he's automatically saying, there must be war in the camp. And so I believe that's probably the reasoning why no one's going up there with him, because Joshua needs to stay back, and he needs to take control of the situation. But in another place, too, dealing with the tables of stone, it says in Exodus chapter 31 and verse 18, it says, He gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. So just by, and you may say, well, that doesn't ultimately mean that Moses didn't hew them out, because obviously if I got two tables of stone, brought it to the Lord, and he wrote on there and he gave them to me, that would still be true, right? He gave me two tables of stone written with the finger of God. But I think that there's a little difference here in the fact that he's making Moses actually get these, hew these out, bring them up with him to begin with, and then he's going to write on the same thing that he wrote on the first two tables of stone, which is the Ten Commandments, okay? That's what's written on those two tables, and what's written on those two tables of stone is what all of Israel heard in Exodus chapter 20. They all heard it, but it's written down with the finger of God in stone, okay? So go back to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter 34, and the interesting thing that, you know, basically kind of going through this study that I was really catching here is that this is actually where Moses sees the back parts of the Lord, and I believe that this is actually dealing with God the Father, and I'm not going to rehash the whole sermon about that from last week on the fact that no man has seen God the Father's face and how we're not going to see his face until the new heaven, new earth, but I want you to, before we read chapter 34 here in verse 5, I want you to look back at chapter 33, at the end of the chapter there, and where it says in verse 18, for example, it says, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. So Moses is saying, show me thy glory, and in verse 19 it says, 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, and it says, and he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live, and the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass. Okay, so notice how all this is like talking about like, hey, we're talking about the future here. Notice that it's not saying like, and Moses saw his back parts, or Moses like the Lord went by him. Notice that it's not past tense, or even present tense. Notice how it's saying, and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in a cliff of a rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by, and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. So notice that in that chapter, he's stating what's going to happen. Okay, that it hasn't happened yet. Chapter 34, so the reason I state this is because where was Moses when this happened, right? He was in the mount, which makes sense, because obviously that's where he put him in the cleft of the rock. He's up in this mountain where no one else can see the Lord or anything like that. But in verse five of chapter 34, it says, and the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. So at this point, I mean, the cloud is obviously cloaking the Lord, if you will, right? The cloud is why, you know, he can stand there and speak to the Lord face to face, because the cloud is basically keeping back the glory of the Lord, if you will. And then keep reading there in verse six. And the Lord passed before him. So this is where I believe it happened. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Notice this in verse eight. And Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Why? Because he saw his back part. I believe this is where he sees the glory of the Lord, if you will, and remember that God said, I basically put my hand in front of you to where you can't see my face, right? And by the time he passes by, remember we were talking about how there's a rock. If you imagine this is the rock, right, and the rock is covering you right here, that the Lord basically puts his hand to where he can't see him until he's walking by. And by this point, if the rock is right here, the Lord's face is over here. He's seeing the back of the Lord, but he didn't see his face, right? And the rock is shielding him from that. And so that's what I believe is going on there. And so this is where the Lord passed before him, passed by him, and this is Moses' response, right? He was haste, he hasted. Haste means like he hurries up, right? He's like immediately, he's bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped, okay? And you can imagine that's what all of us would be doing, right, is we'd be bowing down and worshiping if we saw the glory of the Lord like that. In verse 9 it says, and he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. So again, Moses is interceding again, asking for that forgiveness, asking the Lord to basically to go with them, and just like in chapter 33. But I think that's interesting that this is where it happened, and this also goes into what I was talking about last week, and the fact that I believe this is talking about God the Father, basically the back parts of God the Father being seen, and how he's saying you can't see my face and live. Go to Proverbs chapter 30. I'm not going to rehash all of it, but basically this is that Jesus was seen. His face was seen. And you say, well, it was veiled by the flesh. Well, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw his face in all its glory. Okay? But no man is seeing God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he had declared him. And when we're seeing this story here in Exodus chapter 34, we're seeing God the Father descending and being in the cloud, and he's showing Moses his glory, and this really rings true with this verse right here in Proverbs chapter 30, which also shows you the eternal sonship of Jesus, meaning that it's always been the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Okay? The New Testament makes it very clear, and there's no shadow of a doubt that there's Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in the Old Testament it was a little more veiled, if you will, as far as the Godhead or his being, as far as who God is. But they knew obviously that basically there's a triune being, if you will, but they didn't understand all the ins and outs necessarily. But in verse 4 here, it says, Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 4, it says, Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fist? Who hath bound his waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? So when it's talking about ascending and descending, specifically we're talking about the Father, aren't we? Because it says, what is his name? Right? And all that goes back to who had descended into heaven, who had descended, you know, who had the wind, gathered the wind in his fists, right? This is all going back to the Father, and obviously that applies to the Son as well, because in the New Testament it talks about no man has ascended up into heaven, but he which came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. So that obviously applies to the Son, but for those modalists out there that want to say, well, no, Jesus is the Father, and the Son is the Father, then this wouldn't make any sense, okay? It's talking about both of them, but here's the thing, some may say, well, where's the Father ever descending? So that proves that this is, the Son is the Father then. And sometimes there's just foolish questions that you shouldn't even entertain, right? Because when you read this, no one's reading this and be like, yeah, that's the same person, you know, when you're just reading it normally. But when you understand, okay, where is it that the Father descends? Exodus chapter 34. He descends in the cloudy pillar, and this story is a clear passage to show, hey, we're talking about God the Father here, that you can't see my face and live, and that goes back into no man has seen God at any time, and Jesus even says you haven't either seen his shape nor heard his voice. Because when God is speaking to Moses here, who is he hearing? He's hearing the Lord Jesus, okay? But you have the Trinity that's there, okay? And when it comes to this story, I think it's very interesting that this is when this happens. And another reason why this is very interesting that when this event, as far as him seeing the back parts of the Lord, is the fact that when he comes off the mount, what everybody sees with Moses' skin, you know, it's shining, right? And I believe that's why this event is kind of showing you that. Because when he comes down off the mount, when he breaks the first two tables of stone, there's no mention of his skin shining or anything like that. But after this event, it's different, isn't it? And after that, it's kind of still going on, that his face and his skin basically is shining. So this chapter, if I was going to think about what's kind of a big thing about this chapter, is that right there. That Moses comes off the mount and they're like afraid because of just how much he's basically glowing, if you will, okay? But it's also interesting too that in chapter 34, the first thing that's basically stated here that's written down that God says to Moses is what's stated when he states the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, okay? So if you remember, what two commandments did they just completely annihilate in breaking? The first two, right? Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and thou shalt not make unto me any graven image to bow down to it, to worship it, right? And what did they do? They made another god, right? These be thy gods, O Israel, right? And so they just completely broke those first two commandments. And go back to Exodus chapter 20 real quick because there's something that's very similar that's stated here, okay? That's stated in Exodus chapter 34, and I don't think it's on accident, obviously. I think it's really just like I said this already, but he's stating it again because this is the problem that they have, okay? And you may say, well, he's just being redundant. Didn't he already say that in chapter 20? Yeah, but they broke it. So he's stating it again. And one of those things, there's a verse in the Bible where it says, once hath the Lord spoken it, twice have I heard it, right? And sometimes that's the way we need to hear, right? I mean it states at once in the Bible, but we need to hear it twice, don't we? And that kind of aspect of we have two ears for a reason, okay? But in verse, where did I have you go? Chapter 20? In chapter 20 verse 3 it says, thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. That's stated later on in this chapter as well. And it says, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation to them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Something very similar is stated here in chapter 34. It kind of switches it, right, because it talks about the mercy first, then it goes into the fact that he's going to visit the iniquity and all that unto the third and fourth generation, okay? I don't think it's any marvel that that's all brought up here because that is their problem, is that they have a problem with having other gods and idolatry, having molten gods. It even states on later on, okay? So go to chapter 34 again in verse 10. Chapter 34 and verse 10. So again, this is the same covenant, okay, that was made with them when he took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, right? That covenant started the moment they came out of Egypt. But I do believe that there is basically a renewing of it, if you will, kind of like how you would have renewing of the kingdom, if you will, and sometimes in the book of, you know, I believe it's in 1 Samuel where it talks about how they renewed the kingdom. Like Saul was made king, but then he was kind of really made king after he took over and like won this battle, right? And it said they renewed the kingdom and all that. So you kind of see how that kind of applies here too, that they had this covenant, but it's kind of like, all right, let's do this. Like we messed up already, but let's get on track here. That's kind of the way I see that this story is going because in verse 10 here it says, and he said, Behold, I make a covenant. Okay, so that's interesting that he states it that way, but it's kind of like you've already broke it, but I make this covenant with you. Same covenant, same rules, same thing that he stated before. It's just like, I'm making this covenant with you. So they messed up hardcore in chapter 32, but keep reading there. It says, Behold, I make a covenant. Behold, all thy people I will do marvels. Before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. So why do you think he's stating this? Well, remember in chapter 33 he's basically saying, I'm not going with you, I'm not going to be with you, right? So at this point Moses changed his mind and Moses basically interceded for them and now he's saying, I'm going to do wonders in front of you. So he's coming back to the fact that, okay, I'm going to do all these things with you, like I said before, pretty much. But in verse 11 it says, Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Pharizite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. You know what's interesting about that phrase that he states there? Is that that was the one thing that Joshua does wrong. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but the only thing that I can find where Joshua messes up, and I believe it's Gibeon, or Gibeah, the Gibeonites, is where they basically come in and deceive him and say that they're from a very long country, or very far away, they're actually their neighbors, and he makes a covenant with them. And so this is something that's very interesting as far as just kind of foreshadowing what the next leader's mistake is going to be. But it says in verse 13, But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Which this also should tell you, children, that being jealous is actually not a bad thing. Being envious is, though. And jealousy and envy are very closely linked, if you will. It's kind of like how coveting can be good and coveting can be bad, right? Because desiring your wife is a good thing. Desiring your neighbor's wife, bad thing. I feel like I'm reading one of those books. This is good, eating cereal, eating trash. This is bad, right? But when it comes to this, being jealous over your wife, good thing. Being envious over someone else's wife, bad thing. But see, in our lives, in our modern vernacular, when we say jealous, it's usually meaning envious, right? And you'll read a book like The Berenstain Bearers about being jealous, and what they really mean is being envious, okay? So when I read that book sometimes, I'll read them and be like, this is really envy, though, and I'm trying to teach them. Because I don't want them to be like, oh, I read that Berenstain Bearer book. It says that God is jealous. What's going on here? So, you know, words change, and obviously how people use that word can change sometimes. But jealousy is basically coveting and desiring and having ownership of something that's yours. Like your wife, she's yours. As much as your wife, however you say that. So when it comes to this, that God is jealous, and that's a good thing. He's righteous, and his name is jealous. So why is he jealous? Because you're stating that these other gods are the ones that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Doesn't he have a right to say, no, I'm the one that brought you out of the land of Egypt, right? So that's the jealousy that's going on, and it's well-founded. He has the right to say, no, they're not the ones that brought you out, and he's desiring the attention for what he did for them. And so there's nothing wrong with that, and that's why he's kind of bringing this up, is that they're going after other gods. He's jealous of them because they belong to him. Just as much as I would be, you know, jealous of my wife if she was going after someone else or whatever, right? So you can kind of see that same kind of scenario. But I would be right to be jealous over that. So when people are just like, oh, you know, if you need to find a guy that's not going to be jealous over you, well, then find a guy that doesn't care. You know, if a guy is not jealous over you, you know, when you're like talking to some other guy, then you've done messed up, okay? Because you want a guy that's jealous over you. Because you know what that tells me is that they actually love you and care about you and want you. But a guy that's not jealous over you, you're talking to some other guy and be like, I don't care. You know what that means? They don't care. And so obviously you want someone to be jealous over you. Obviously you don't want somebody to be abusive. That's what people hear, right? You're like, oh, you're jealous over your wife. That must mean you beat her. That's a stretch, man. That's what you call a leap in an argument, right? I'm jealous over my wife, meaning I don't want her to be with any other guy. I want her. I desire her. She's mine to like me like abusing her, okay? There's a big leap there. And so that's what a lot of people do with that terminology. But you know what? I'm going to use biblical terminology. Being a jealous husband is a good thing. Fight me over it, you know? I mean, the Bible says that we should have godly jealousy. And so now we shouldn't envy, and that's another sermon for another day. Now, keep reading there in verse 15. It says, Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods. And one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods, okay? So when we're talking about these graven images, we're talking about them being gods, right? We're talking about, and obviously we know that there's many that are called gods, but they're devils, right? They're not actually, like the actual physical image is just an inanimate object that can't breathe or talk or walk or do anything, right? It's just a piece of material that someone made. Behind that though, spiritually speaking, they're devils, okay? But they're not gods. There's only one god. But they call them gods, and god's jealous over that, and he likens it onto going a whoring after. Like I said, kind of dealing with husband-wife relationship. And it even talks about how, you know, in the Bible it'll talk about how basically, you know, god's relationship with that nation is kind of like a marriage. Just like we have, we're the bride of Christ, right? And all that. So that being said, kind of already did, you know, hit on the molten gods and the graven images and bowing down to them and all that. And go to chapter 34 and verse 18. And so you can imagine why he's going through all this, right? It shouldn't be a marvel to you that he's really hitting it hard about these idols, right? And giving a little more on it, isn't he? Because when you saw the Ten Commandments, we understood it, right? Don't make any graven image and don't bow down to it. We understood what that meant. You know, you kind of just read that and understand it. But this is very clear, right? Don't make any molten gods, which is exactly what they did, right? That's the golden calf was a molten god. And he's hitting on that, but he's also stating that I'm going to do great wonders, but you need to not make a covenant with these people. Because if, and this really gets into being unequally yoked, because a lot of people think, well, in the Old Testament, they're racist. They talk about not, like, having interracial marriages and all that stuff. Listen, what they're stating, or what's being stated in here, is that you don't marry people that believe in other gods. I mean, and you say, well, you know, how do you know that they couldn't, or, you know, that it wasn't, like, against the Bible? Because Moses married an Ethiopian woman. You know what that tells me? Is that God stuck up for him, and, you know, there was nothing wrong with her marrying the Ethiopian woman. Now, here's what would be wrong with that. If she worshipped other gods, that's what would be wrong with it. So when it comes to being unequally yoked, it has nothing to do with what you look like or anything like that. It has to do with what you believe. Who are you worshipping? You know, you can find, you know, I could find plenty of white people that don't believe in the Lord and that are worshipping other gods or just being atheists or whatever, right? They're unsaved. But what would that matter when it comes to being equally yoked? And, you know, this whole idea of being against interracial marriage is just plain stupidity. It's not found in the Bible. What we need to be concerned about is that you're marrying someone that is saved and not only saved but walking in the same direction you're walking. You're walking toward the Lord. Can two walk together except to be agreed? That's what you should be thinking about. And so when it comes to this, we see the problem with why they were basically supposed to be marrying people within the country because the idea is they all believe the same thing, right? And if they go outside the country, they're going to end up marrying somebody that doesn't believe like them, and then it's going to pull them away, okay? And notice how it works both ways, right? The daughters will be pulled away onto false gods, but also the sons will too. So, men, if you think that you can just marry some unsaved girl and that she's going to work out, it might. I mean, there's probably a better opportunity or better. It's probably the chances of you getting your wife saved and her following your lead is going to be more likely than the other way around, but you're still playing with fire. It's still not smart. So, and this isn't a whole sermon on dating, but this is a great kind of story to show you why you want to marry people that are believers and you want to marry people that are going the same direction as you, okay? So go back to chapter 34 and verse 18. Now, this is telling, kind of reiterating some about the Feast of the Lord and different things. Now, if you remember in Leviticus, it really covers these feasts, but there's three feasts. There's a feast in the spring, summer, and fall that basically all of the male children have to be there for, okay? Now, in verse 18, it says, The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I command thee, in the time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine, and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou shalt redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. Okay, so it's basically saying if you don't redeem this ass, then you have to break its neck. Okay, that's basically what it's stating. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. So, listen, that doesn't apply to the... It's not like, okay, you don't want to redeem your son, well, then you've got to break his neck. You know, that's not what it states at all, okay? It's stating they're all going to be redeemed, okay? There's no other way of getting out of it, okay? But it's just basically stating that all the sons have to be redeemed. Now, obviously, I've kind of already hit on when we were dealing with this back in chapter 12 and all that, is that the Levites are what the redemption is for all the sons of Israel, okay? All the firstborn. But here we're dealing with all the males, and it says in verse 21, it says, Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. So, these are just kind of reminders that it doesn't matter what season it is. It doesn't matter that if you're reaping, you rest on that seventh day, okay? And in verse 22, it says, Now shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your men and children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. So, in so many words, if you will, and there's other passages where it really kind of defines this, the feast of unleavened bread, which is the Passover, okay? The feast of weeks, and the feast of ingathering. Now, another term for the feast of ingathering is tabernacles. The feast of tabernacles. So, basically, beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year, there's this feast that basically all the male children have to come to. And, you know, the thing that's interesting about this, okay, is that if you think about that, you're basically taking all the men with you, right? And if you think about Israel, obviously, if you think about, especially the borders originally of Israel were massive. I mean, when you think of Israel today, that's not the original borders. The borders were way past Jordan. They went way down, you know, basically almost toward Egypt, and just the borders were huge. But notice in verse 24, I think this is very interesting. It says, For I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders, neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. There's no excuse, okay, because that excuse would be like, well, I can't just take all my sons with me. Who's going to be here to protect the place if people are going to come and try to pillage it, right? He's promising, stating, when those feasts occur, no one around you will desire the land. They won't try to come in. No one will want to come in. So obviously that takes faith, but at the same time, do you notice how God is just making it easy for them to do this? So they don't have an excuse to say, well, I can't go. I've got to leave some behind. Someone's got to watch the flock. Someone's got to take care of, you know, we're taking all the men with us? And he's basically stating, everything's going to be fine. No one's going to come in, and just showing them, hey, I'll take care of it all. But you need to come in three times a year, okay? And so I think that's interesting on just how the Lord just provides and just makes the avenue, right? He doesn't just ask you to do something and just expect you to just let everything else fall apart behind you. He takes care of all that so that you can get that job done, okay? So go back to Exodus 34 and verse 25. I guess you're probably already there. You're like, your sermon's really lazy, you're just reading it. Well, listen, if you want the sermon to not be two hours long, then don't get on my back about it. But no, honestly, some of this stuff, you know, I don't want to really go too back and forth because it will just be too long. Now, these are kind of just little stipulations here in verse 25 and verse 26 about basically doing these sacrifices, keeping these feasts. And there's whole sermons that could attach to these two verses. You may say, well, you know, why are these verses here? There's whole sermons that could be attached to these two verses, but I'm just going to show you that there's a couple stipulations that are given here in verse 25. It says, Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning. There are so much just in that one verse. No leavened bread, and I believe no leaven whether in the drink or the food. So if you think of the Lord's Supper, the fruit of the vine, there's no leavening, it's not fermented. But also the bread is unleavened. Why? Because of what it represents. It represents the body of Christ. It doesn't have leaven, it doesn't have sin. None's left till the morning. Sound familiar? Because very early in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead, and he was no longer dead. So you can see just in that verse right there, in verse 26 here, it says, The first of the first fruits of thy land, thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. If you didn't know what a kid was, you'd be like, what are you talking about here? A kid is basically a baby goat, if you will. Now, a lot of you guys are starting a homestead and everything else. Brother Matt would know, he probably already has a goat. Does he have goats? Yeah, he does. So he's got goats, he's got a pig, he's just going full bore on it. Anyway, he wouldn't know that this is what a kid is called. But seething means to basically boil something. So basically, not to see the kid in his mother's milk. I don't believe this is stating, okay, when you boil it, don't use the mother's milk to boil it. That's not what I believe it's stating. What I believe it's stating is that the kid, the goat, has to be no longer nursing with its mother. Does that make sense? Basically, you don't just pull the kid from the mother's udder or whatever you call it. Is that what you call a goat? It's getting too deep. But basically, the kid will still be a kid, meaning it's still technically not a full-grown goat, but it's also not a little baby that's drinking its mother's milk. So it's showing you that difference. Now you say, well, what's the importance of that? That's another sermon for another day. And I can think of different things why that would apply, but I think that's a good rule of thumb anyway when it comes to, I mean, when you go out deer hunting, do you just like go straight for the fawn that's like still drinking its mother's milk, but they've shaken his head and you're like, yes. I mean, you think of veal with baby cows and all that stuff. Anyway, the idea here though is basically saying, no, any sacrifices, it has to be a kid of the goats, but it has to be at a certain point. So Exodus 34 and verse 27. Exodus 34 and verse 27. This is where it's stating that Moses was in the mount for another 40 days and 40 nights. And notice what it says here in verse 27. It says, and the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. So one, obviously we know that the words of the covenant, the covenant is the Ten Commandments. So that's something to understand there. Now technically they already broke that covenant because those first two commandments, they completely broke in chapter 32. But the thing that's interesting is that the 40 days and 40 nights and the fact that he didn't drink any water, so that automatically kind of sticks out to me because you think about not eating for 40 days, that's doable, right? I mean, it'd be hard, but you can do it. You can live weeks and weeks without eating, but drinking water, that's usually like three days, I think, before you die. So what this is really showing me here is that he didn't drink water, but somehow he was sustained by the Lord in this. It kind of reminds me of the Garden of Eden and how it didn't rain, but there was this mist that watered the garden, okay? I'm not saying this is how he was hydrated here, but I'm just kind of giving you an example that he was in the mount with the Lord in the cloud, right? He was hydrated somehow, but it wasn't by drinking water like you would normally drink water, okay? I don't know how that worked, but obviously the Lord can do it, and there's an avenue in which he does it. So the big takeaway from this is don't think that you're going to actually not drink water for 40 days and 40 nights and actually live, okay? But I do believe that this is a case where he's with the Lord in the mount, and obviously the Lord is somehow sustaining him where he's not drinking water, okay? So I believe this is a miraculous thing that's going on there and really showing you that, hey, with the Lord, you don't need to eat or drink. He can literally keep you alive, you know, for 40 days and 40 nights at least. So now, so I just kind of want to answer that because you know that there's naysayers out there. There's people like, oh, you know, hey, you wouldn't have survived or whatever, you know, like you can't go that long without drinking water, but the Lord can provide. I mean, the Lord obviously in this case, it was a miraculous event, okay? So now the last portion of this chapter is kind of the crux of the chapter, if you will, in verse 29 is where he comes down off the mount that his face is shining. It talks about how his face shone, which is just another way of saying it's shining. And verse 29, it says, And it came to pass that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony at Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. So basically it's stating that Moses had no eye. He didn't realize it. He didn't realize that his face was just shining so much, okay? And it says in verse 30, it says, And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. So I mean, that's how much. It wasn't just like this little bit of glow. I mean, it was so much that they were afraid to even approach him, okay? And then it says in verse 31, It says that Moses called unto them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them. Okay, so now he's basically going to tell them everything that the Lord spoke to him. Verse 32, And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. So at this point, they're finally hearing everything that God had spoken to Moses. So you remember in chapter 25 to 31, I mean, all that stuff that he's supposed to be telling them, he wasn't saying to them because he's dealing with his golden calf, he's dealing with the fact of trying to keep God from killing everybody that's there and interceding, and then he goes back up into the mount for another 40 days and 40 nights, gets two more tables of stone that have the Ten Commandments written on them, and then he comes down, and now he's telling them what God had said, okay? So at this point, they're finally hearing. That's why in chapter 35 we start seeing them build things. And he's telling them, okay, here's all the things that we need to build. Here's all, you know, the priest garments, all these different things, right? But in verse 33, it says, until Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. So at this point, it's stating here that when he spoke with them, he had to put a veil on his face. So it was so bright that basically he couldn't just speak to them normally. He had to put a veil over his face. Verse 34, So when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded, and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in speaking with him. So basically, get the picture, I mean, basically he would come out, tell them everything that the Lord said, but when he did it, he didn't put a veil over his face because they're afraid, and they're afraid to even approach him. But then when you go back and talk to the Lord, you take the veil off. Now, in the New Testament, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. It talks about this story, okay? This story about Moses' face shining, and it really shows you that in the Old Testament, there was a veil on the Word of God, if you will. That basically, when you're reading the Old Testament, there's this veil that's there. It's not all just revealed, if you will. Now, what we're going to see is that the New Testament reveals it. So yes, when you're, see, to us that are saved and we're looking at this and we have the New Testament, the Old Testament is revealed, okay? But to them, it was just like this veil's there where they're just not seeing past kind of like the here and now. It's kind of like you see all these sacrifices, you see all this stuff, but they're not seeing past that, okay? Obviously, there's the remnant. There's people that are saved. I'm not saying no one saw past that. Moses did, right? Moses is the one that's talking with them. So obviously, I'm not saying like everybody, but on a general scale, when it comes to Israel, they were not seeing past that veil. They were doing these ordinances, they were keeping this covenant, if you will, the best they could, but they weren't seeing past it. And verse, go to 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 2, it says, Ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Notice this, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. So what is this talking about? This whole chapter is dealing with the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament. In the Old Testament, what was the Old Testament? What was that covenant? The tables of stone. I mean, it was the commandments written on the tables of stone. And he's stating here that when we're talking about this epistle, we're not talking about that which is written on tables of stone, but that's written on the heart. And you say, well, what is this even talking about, written on the heart? Well, go to Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6. See, God already knew that there was going to be another covenant. And no one did a whole series on this, on all the allegories of the Old Testament and New Testament and how this was all in the works. It was all planned from the very beginning. The New Testament wasn't some afterthought. It was just the fact that the first covenant had to come first to basically prove a point or to show how that New Testament, one, why the New Testament needed to be there, and two, it foreshadowed everything that the New Testament had to accomplish. But in chapter 8, Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6, it says, But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. So the new covenant can also be called the better covenant, the better testament. And that mediator is obviously talking about the Lord Jesus. But in verse 7 it says, For if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their, what, hearts. See the difference there? What are we talking about, the new covenant? And he's saying not commandments written on the tables of stone, right, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Right? So in the New Testament, it says, I'll write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities who I remember no more. And that he saith, the new covenant he hath made the first old, now that which the cave and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. So when it's saying that they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, what that's talking about is that the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him. In the New Testament, it talks about how the Holy Ghost is indwelling us. We have that anointing that wasn't in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God would come upon people, but being indwelled with the Holy Ghost is a New Testament thing. And the New Testament is basically saying, instead of the laws being written on stone, they're written on your heart. And you have the Holy Ghost that draws that out, that's dwelling inside of you. Okay, so that's kind of just showing you what he's talking about here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 is that we're not talking about this first covenant, this Old Testament, if you will, we're talking about the new and how it's better and going on and showing the contrast between the two. Verse 4, so 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 4, and once I'm done, we're going to go through this 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and then we'll be done. I just want to show you, this is where it brings up this story about how Moses' face was shining or shown, and what that represents, right? So, obviously physically it represents that his face was shining so much that they couldn't see, like they were, it's kind of like if you're staring at the sun and you're just like, ah, I can't see you, you know, like put something over that so I can actually look at you when you're talking to me, right? And so obviously there's the physical aspect of why there was a veil, but what it represents is the fact that basically the children of Israel didn't see past that, right? They didn't see past that glory because there was a veil there, which obviously shows you that there's a veil in the temple that's between the holy tabernacle and then the holiest of all, right? In verse 4 here it says, Such trust have we through Christ to Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth light. So what it's going to state here is that we're able ministers of the New Testament, and it's saying the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth light. The letter is dealing with the letter of the law, right? The law, the first covenant, the Spirit is dealing with the New Testament, and obviously how that gives light, right? So the law doesn't save anybody. The Spirit, though, and if you think about the words that I speak in it, they are spirit and they are light, the Spirit of God gives us light, right? Born of the Spirit, all that, okay? But keep reading there, it says in verse 7, But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, what is the first covenant called? The ministration of death. So when people try to say, well, you know, the Jews, they're saved under the Old Testament. They're saved under the ministration of death? Okay, that's interesting how that works, right? Then it goes on to say, and you say, well, how do you know that's talking about written and engraven in stones? Okay, so that's obviously talking about the Ten Commandments. It says, was glorious. So it's not saying, well, the law is evil, right? The law is bad, the law is simple. No, the law is good and just and right, but it's glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. So what it's saying here is the glory of Moses' face shining was the glory of that first covenant, of the law that was given. And he's basically saying, that was glorious, it was so glorious, and glory is another way of saying, like, shining or bright, right? The glory of the Lord is talking about his brightness. God is light. And what it's saying here is that it was so glorious that they couldn't even look at his face. They had to put a veil over it. That's how glorious it was. And it's stating here, which glory was to be done away. You know what that means? The plan was that that was going to be done away. It wasn't like, oh, they messed up. Got to find a new plan. No, it was administration of death from the very beginning, the letter kills from the very beginning, and it says it was to be done away. But it was glorious. It's not like the law is bad. It's not like the law is unjust, right? It's the fact that we fail, that we don't keep it, okay? And keep reading there in verse 8, it says, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. So it's basically saying, if the first covenant was so glorious, so glorious that when Moses came down with those Ten Commandments, his face was so shining that they couldn't even look at his face. They had to put a veil over it. How much more glorious is the ministration of righteousness and of the Spirit? Does that make sense? How much more glorious is it? It says in verse 10, it says, for even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelled. It's kind of like this. It's so bright. Think about this. Bright, sunny day with the sun shining. Take a flashlight out there and let me know if you can see that flashlight. That's what we're talking about, that the glory of the second covenant, the new covenant, exceeded in glory so much that you can't even tell the glory of the old. Does that make sense? That's how much it exceeds. It's not like, okay, we got two flashlights. That one's really bright. This one's, you know, we can still see it, but it's just not as bright. Now, we're talking about the difference between if you're out on a sunny day and the sun's just blaring and then you try to shine a light on something and seeing if you could even notice it. That's how much the New Testament exceeds the Old Testament. It's called the better covenant, the better testament, but it's not like it's just a little better. It's just a little bit. No. Notice, just read that again. What does it say? It says, for even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelled. It's like it didn't even have any shine. It didn't shine at all compared to this, okay? So it says in verse 11, for if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. By the way, the Old Testament's done away. It was done away when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians chapter 3, but it says in verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. And if there's a thing that you understand tonight at all is that the New Testament is great plainness of speech. The Old Testament a lot of times can be very cryptic. Nothing wrong with that. It's just the fact that if you're going to know doctrine, know this, is that the New Testament is going to be the most clear on any subject. And if you're twisting the New Testament to fit something in the Old Testament, then you're wrong. The New Testament's going to be very clear about it. The Old Testament is where you got to really kind of dig in and make sure that, hey, that's right. And keep reading there in verse 13, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face. So notice the difference between New Testament and Old Testament, right? Is that in a lot of times the Old Testament would just be referred to as Moses in law, right? But it's basically showing you the contrast, plainness of speech, but not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Notice that they couldn't look to the end of it, right? So if you think about it, it's like, oh, we're doing this Passover thing here, and they're doing that over and over every single year, but they couldn't look to the end of it as far as what that actually represented, okay? And I'm talking about Israel as a whole, because obviously there was a remnant according to the election of grace. There are always people that are saved there. But holistically, Israel was not. And especially when Jesus comes, you know, born of the Virgin Mary, I mean, He came into His own, His own received and not. They didn't see past that. They didn't see, you know, the end of that which was commanded, if you will. In verse 14 it says, But their minds were blinded, for unto this day remaineth the same veil and taken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. What is that talking about? They get saved, that veil is taken away. They get saved, it's like, oh, there it is. The veil is taken away, they can see plainly and understand. You know what that means? That we can read the Old Testament without a veil in front of our faces, right? If you're saved, we have the New Testament, we don't have to look at the Old Testament as this veiled book, because the veil is taken away in Christ. So, I hope all that makes sense, you know, as far as what that represents, but this story about his face shining really does show you the fact of just how Israel as a whole was blinded to what was really going on with that covenant. Okay? And no marvel because even today, Jews and Judaism and people that look at the Old Covenant and unsaved people that claim to be Christians that are looking at that Old Covenant, they're still not looking past that veil. They're like, no, those sacrifices saved them from their sins. You're not looking past the veil. You're just seeing those sacrifices. You're not understanding that, hey, that was for purifying the flesh. That had nothing to do with purifying your conscience. Because the blood of bulls and of goats shall never take away sins. But they're not looking past the veil. And until they get saved, that veil is just remaining there and they're not seeing past it. And it'll be like that until they get saved. Okay? Whether Jews or whether they're just people that claim to be Christian that don't understand the Old Testament, but they're not going to understand it until they get saved. So Exodus chapter 34, definitely a very interesting chapter. As we continue through our study through Exodus, we're going to be going back into the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and all this. This is where they're actually building it. And like I said, when I went through it the first time, or when we were going through those earlier chapters, I was kind of just hitting on like, here's exactly what it looks like, you know, as much as we can, right? You know, obviously I'm reading it. I can't just show you a picture of what it is, right? But here's the physical elements. Here's exactly what they're doing. Here's what the Bible's stating on this. When I go through them making it, I'm not going to re-preach those sermons, but I'm going to be more so hitting in what does this stuff represent? You know, like why are they making it this way? Why did God do it this way? And all that. So don't just tune out and be like, well, I don't have to come for the next five weeks or whatever because I've already been there. No, it's going to be a new sermon. There's going to be some new things that I'm going to be showing you on the same avenue. But let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the Book of Exodus. And to just pray that you'd help us to understand it, help us to just know these passages in and out, and especially passages that we may look past and think that they maybe don't apply to us very much. Lord, just help us to understand it. Help me to study these next chapters coming up, out to find some nuggets of truth, and Lord, help me to preach it rightly. And Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go to the retreat. Keep us safe. Keep us healthy. And Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So Brother Dave will come, sing one more song, and then it will be dismissed. All right. Take your songbooks and turn to song 270. Song 270 in your songbooks. And if you would stand, we'll sing just as I am song 270. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou pits me, come to thee, O Lamb of God. I come, I come, just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood, to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God. I come, I come, just as I am.