Sermon Notes: Exodus 34:8-17
Exodus 34:8–17 – The Supreme Glory of Yahweh - Chris Hamilton (September 21, 2025)
Today we’re continuing in our journey through Exodus. Just a few more months and we’ll wrap it all up. We’ll pick up where Mitch ended last week in Exodus 34, verse 8. Here in a moment, I’ll reference the framework of Mitch’s sermon as it’s pivotal to our first point, but first, stand together and let’s read our passage.
Exodus 34:8–17. And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.”
The title of today’s sermon is this: The Supreme Glory of Yahweh.
Look at verse 8 with me, “And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.” Bear with me for just a moment, recall last week’s message or look at your notes, because the first question we should ask when we approach this passage is, what is the word “and” referring to? It’s joining verse 8 to the previous verses, where the Lord commands Moses to be prepared for inspection in the morning. Moses hears and obeys, but even before this we can recall the cause for God’s reiteration of His covenant… the Golden Calf. Moses’ anger burned hot, the Israelites were punished, and Moses interceded on their behalf multiple times.
And right here at the beginning of chapter 34, we read the account of this beautiful sermon that God proclaimed to Moses and us today.
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (vv. 6–7)
God proclaims His divine name, His glorious attributes, and His divine justice. Yahweh preaches of His holiness, His name, His kindness, grace, love and prefect justice. Our minds, at least my mind, often feels as though this is a contradiction; but, in understanding God as the maximally great being that He is, we can understand this philosophical antimony (this tension between these seemingly contradicting attributes).
Being supremely gracious and merciful, He passed over the former sins in His divine forbearance (instituting the temporary and finite work of the sacrificial system). As supremely just, full atonement for all trespasses was still required and could only be brought about through a perfect, ultimate, and lasting sacrifice. The atoning blood of Jesus Christ satisfied such a cost. By viewing this unlikely union of justice and grace through the lens of the cross of Christ, we see that it is only through God sending Christ as the perfect sacrifice that His wrath, His holy justice was satisfied for His people.
In response to this truth, Mitch pointed out last week that the only reasonable thing to do then is to turn from our sin and turn to Christ. Mitch exhorted us to love and preach the whole of God’s Word, be imitators of Christ, living in relationship with Him, and growing in understanding of His Word and the Times in which we live----all through a right perspective provided through the lens of the Word.
We will make note of 5 theological principles for the glory of Yahweh in our passage today.
Moses response in verse 8 then, is our first point:
1) Moses understood that the only right response to the glory of God is worship (vv 8–9) This is an obedient response to God answering Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33:18 (Show us Your glory). I think it’s worth noting the posture of Moses worship. First, the leader of the Israelites, God’s chosen messenger, without hesitation, immediately bows his head toward the earth. In verse 9, Moses prays, but before he evens gets to that, Moses worships.
Exodus 4 and 12 give a similar description of this posture of worship. Throughout Scripture we see examples of these postures of worship. Prostrate before the Lord, completely laid out on the ground. Sometimes in hands raised. In heads bowed, or in eyes fixed on Heaven. Regardless, these physical postures of worship communicate a heart posture we ought to remember: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps 51:17) False worship is an abomination to the Lord. And look, I get it, as Southern Baptists, we’re scared to move our hands past our lower rib cage. But the point is not what it looks like. The point is our heart. The point in Exodus was the heart of the people. That’s what we see near the end of our passage too. God required then and requires now a whole heart surrender to Him.
When Moses does begin His prayer, it’s very similar to that of his intercession in the previous chapters. But this phrase ‘if now’ in verse 9 stood out to me.
‘If now’… If now, after God’s chosen people committed obscene idolatry, spiritual adultery that led to physical adultery.
If now, after the Israelites created that metal figurine shaped in the likeness of an animal, the representation of a demonic influence.
If now, after Aaron fell prey to the demonic influence and practically functioned as a proxy god for the serpent dragon.
If now, after Moses’ anger burned hot after his communing with God. After he makes the Israelites drink the dust of the calf, rallies the Levites, executes some 3,000 men, God still sends a plague, all the while Moses is back and forth, going before the Lord and interceding on behalf of the people.
If now, after the Lord shows His glory and proclaims His glory in this most majestic sermon.
If now, Moses says, “after all that, O Lord, if I have found favor, if I have found the approval of God Almighty, please let the Lord go in the midst of us.”
Moses earnestly presents this request with humility. His choice words and even the grammar here, only continues to emphasize this heart posture of humility. His body, heart, and speech is laid out before the Lord in submission to Him. Moses asks the Lord again to go with them, to literally be at the most central part of their being as a people. He then calls out the people’s obstinance, their stubborn refusal to change. And then as the good leader he is, Moses adds himself into his plea, asking that God pardon, that He would forgive their iniquity and sin. Moses’ intercession for the people as a whole (including himself) is a plea for God’s mercy and forgiveness for their perversity and depravity of heart and their blatant inability to meet the mark.
But he continued. “Lord, take us for your inheritance.” These words here at the end of verse 9 are all the same Hebrew word. Take us, for your, inheritance. Essentially, “Lord, make us Your own. Remember us, Your chosen inheritance among the nations.”
Scripture explains the people of God as His inheritance or heritage (Deut. 32:9; Ps. 28:9; 33:12; 78:62; 94:14; Jer. 10:16; Zech. 2:12; Eph. 1:11–14). Zechariah 2:12 --- And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
Ephesians 1:11–14 --- 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire full possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Listen to what Piper has to say here. I think it’s very helpful in making sense of our inheritance in God and God’s inheritance of us: “The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance--- that guarantee, is a guarantee unto redemption, this is final redemption of God’s possession [or inheritance]. So, this redemption is the completion of the salvation and the beautification and the glorification of God’s possession. Our inheritance is that we become glorified, and what is being glorified is God’s possession; so, the more beautiful and glorious we become by God’s saving final power, the more beautiful a possession He has. And all of it, to the praise of His glory.” (From Desiring God--- Video: God’s Inheritance and Our Inheritance)
Paul continues in Ephesians 1:17 17 the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may [He] give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, Piper argues, and I agree, that these riches are doubly rich. You’ve probably heard Desiring God’s slogan: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Piper’s explanation of God’s inheritance and our inheritance have a similar ring. “They [these riches] are going to be riches that God creates in us for His own enjoyment, and they are riches that we will experience by being glorified in the likeness of His Son.” (From Desiring God--- Video: God’s Inheritance and Our Inheritance)
So, God’s glory is made known in His inheriting of His people. How? 2) God’s glory is made known to His people through His choosing to make a covenant with them (v 10) God’s glory is made known to His people through His choosing to make a covenant with them. v. 10 — And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. The Lord God, Yahweh, I Am Who I Am, responds to Moses. Behold! Listen! It’s the same word He uses in Genesis when He addresses Adam and Eve about the provisions He gave to them. In verse 10, God is not making a new statement about a new covenant. God instead reiterates His covenant to Moses. Hence the title many of your Bibles probably has right about verse 10 says something like, God’s renewal of His covenant.
Over the next several verses God uses literary repetition. In verse 10, God says He is making, He’s forming a covenant. The same Hebrew word is used again in verse 12 when God warns against making a covenant with the pagan nations, and then again in verse 13 when God commands Moses and Israel to cut down the Asherim. We’ll get more into that in a few moments, but what’s neat here—that I think we miss in English—is that God’s usage of the same word, in this play on words, God effectively explains to Israel again, that He’s calling them from their idolatrous ways and into this covenant, but in calling them out, He calls them to action… in destroying, cutting down the gods and idols of the pagan nations in the land.
Some passages to read that speak to the efficacy and power of God’s promises: Deuteronomy 4:32–35 32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.
Joshua 10:12–13 12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
2 Samuel 7:23 23 And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods?
Principle #3:
3) God’s glory is made known to the nations through His marvelous works with His people (v 10) v. 10 — And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
God’s glory is made known to the nations through His marvelous works with His people. God declares that all the surrounding people groups, these nation states of which Israel is to depose, God says they shall see the work of the Lord, Yahweh. The work, an awe-inspiring, fearful work. These marvels unlike anything any have witnessed before.
Deuteronomy 10:21 says, He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Psalm 145:6 -- They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. God says, “that I will do with you.” The chosen people of God will be God’s tool in displaying His marvels and greatness in the sight of the entire world.
Philip Ryken said, “God’s plan was to reveal his glory by showing special favor to the people he had chosen to save. He kept his covenant with them so he would be glorified among the nations.” (Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 1054.)
Hear the lyrics of Psalm 67: 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! Look now to verse 11. “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” First, let me say this. There are so many rabbit trails in this passage as a whole, but in this one verse, this one verse in the Old Testament, the part of Scripture that many look at as “just the old stories of Scripture,” without exaggeration, this verse could be made into its own sermon series. A mini-series, but a series nonetheless. Friend, please listen to me, and recall Mitch’s challenge to you last week. Read your Bible and study it well and then apply it. It is a deep well of truth, and the more we learn, the more we understand how much more there is to learn.
Here’s principle number 4, then we will hit the high points of verse 11:
4) God’s glory commands His people’s obedience (v 11–14, 17) The NASB here says, “Be sure to comply.” That carries some weight to it. “Be sure to comply to what I command you this day. Listen to me, I will drive out before you these nations…”
The following peoples that God names are all nations of pagan worship rituals and culture. From polytheism to blatant demonic worship and child sacrifice, these nations were made up of or were heavily infiltrated by the seed of the serpent dragon: The Nephilim, the Rephaim, and the Anakim.
Like Paul says in Romans, these Nations presumed on the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead them to repentance. But it was not just their “not knowing,” it was a deliberate and obstinate refusal to repent. These were wicked, idolatrous, and adulterous people. Their lineage ties back to Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah. They inhabited the land after the flood, set up kingdoms, nation states, and fortified cities. These were the people, the giants of the land of whom the 10 spies---that were sent with Joshua and Caleb who returned and---reported to Israel that they would be utterly destroyed by the giants if Israel tried to conquer the land of Canaan.
(Following information was summarized from the ESV Study Bible, Blue Letter Bible—Strong’s Concordance, and GotQuestions.org)
The Amorites: mountain dwelling giants. They lived beyond the Jordan and near the border of Syria and Israel. The Canaanites: a broad group of the central lineage of Canaan, the Anakim. They lived on the shores of the Mediterranean and made Jericho. The Hittites: Sons of Heth, son of Canaan. They inhabited the land near modern day Southeastern Turkey. Although they were not known to be giants, they worshiped a pantheon of gods, denying Yahweh. The Perizzites: Villagers and open country dwellers. We see mention of them when Abram and Lot’s households disputed over land for their herds. The Hivites: A multitude of tribes spread throughout the land of Canaan. These nomads wondered throughout the lands of Mt. Hermon to the Southern regions of Syria. In Joshua 9, they are referred to as the Gibeonites. The Jebusites: The People of Jebus. These were the city-folk giants. They inhabited the mountainous regions as well, in fact they inhabited Jerusalem, or Jebus as they called it, until King David conquered them and took the city.
Deuteronomy 7:1–3 reiterates the command for Israel to obey God: “…when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons” Be careful, be watchful, their ways are like bait and lure. Make no covenant with them and their gods.
Joshua 23:12–13, 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
The Lord is communicating a stark warning to His people.….The memory of the golden calf is fresh on their minds. Likely these events all occurred within a week. God’s warning was not to be taken lightly.
From our perspective however, we might even see this warning holding a bit of a prophetic tone… Earlier in Exodus, God said, “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” (23:33).
But what we learn in studying Israel’s history is that they were not obedient to rid the land of the seed of the serpent dragon. In fact, most of those people groups were absorbed into the Israelites through intermarrying or cultural integration, but that was after Solomon decided to enslave them. It was almost as if he toyed with the notion of obedience to God’s command to remove the people, but instead he found a “better” use for them.
The message is clear though. God’s glory commands His people’s obedience. Jumping ahead to verse 14, (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), God reiterates the 1st and 2nd commandments. He reminds Israel that He alone is worthy of all glory.
I really like how one Hebrew Lexicon describes God as a jealous God: [its] “used of God as not bearing any rival; the severe avenger of departure from himself.” (Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, notes on Ex. 34:14)
Spurgeon said, “There we learn He is jealous for His deity, His sovereignty, and His glory; and He is jealous for His people.” (CSB Spurgeon Study Bible, notes: Ex. 34:14) And one more, J.I. Packer in Knowing God wrote: “God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.” God says His name is Jealous, Packer continues, “He meant that He demands from those whom He has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and will vindicate His claim by stern action against them if they betray His love by unfaithfulness.” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), pp. 153, 155.)
Not included during our corporate time, but another great note from Calvin: “God very commonly takes on the character of a husband to us. Indeed, the union by which he binds us to himself when he receives us into the bosom of the church is like sacred wedlock, which must rest upon mutual faithfulness. As he performs all the duties of a true and faithful husband, of us in return he demands love and conjugal chastity. That is, we are not to yield our souls to Satan, to lust, and to the filthy desires of the flesh, to be defiled by them.… [T]he Lord, who has wedded us to himself in truth, manifests the most burning jealousy wherever we, neglecting the purity of his holy marriage, become polluted with wicked lusts. But he especially feels this when we transfer to another … the worship of his divine majesty, which deserves to be utterly uncorrupted. In this way we not only violate the pledge given in marriage, but also defile the very marriage bed by bringing adulterers to it.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Chrisian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., Library of Christian Classics, 20–21 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), II.viii.18.) God’s glory commands His people’s obedience and His people’s faithfulness.
Our final principle before some points of application:
5) God’s glory demands the elimination of idolatry in His people (vv 13–17) God’s glory is superior to the glory of any created thing: therefore, you shall not make idols, you shall have no other gods before Yahweh, you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain, and you shall keep the Sabbath day holy (keep it unadulterated by holding nothing higher God).
The Pharisees understood this and yet abused it. They made it about them and their adherence to the laws, effectively making their obedience the idol as it boosted their pride. Verse 13, “You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim” Tear down their altars. The language here is to destroy in the same manner of breaking out teeth. This was definitely not a command to store their idols for them, although we see in the Book of Kings and Chronicles that somewhere along the way the Israelites did so. (Deut. 7:5; 12:3; Judges 2:2; 6:25; 2 Chron. 34:3–4)
Break the pillars, dash them into pieces. These monuments, statutes, and pillars of Baal. I’d imagine the imagery of Moses grinding up the golden calf would come to mind upon hearing this command. Maybe even the bitter taste would rise up in the Israelite’s psyche. (Ex. 23:24; 2 Kgs. 18:4; 23:14; 2 Chron. 31:1) Cut down their Asherim.
We covered this earlier, but this word to cut in Hebrew, it’s a contranym (a word with two opposite meanings). God commands Israel to destroy the covenant the pagan nations held with their Asherim. Cut it down. (Deut. 16:21)
The message is quite clear: There is no place for any reverence of false worship. It is an abomination to God. Now to verse 15, God continues the warning. “lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.”
He’s saying here, “Look, it’s only logical, if you make a covenant with these pagan nations, if you take on their gods as your gods, if you intermarry with the seed of the serpent dragon, then you WILL reap destruction.”
You may have noticed, the pronouns used shift right at the end of the verse. It was they, their, their, and then it’s ‘his.’ In the marriage analogy (see the book of Hosea for more on this), if God’s bride is Israel, then the pagan nations are the adulteress man that will lure the bride away if she is not careful. Hence the word and imagery of whoring and prostitution.
This might make you uncomfortable, and honestly it should. This is an overt denial of God’s design and desire. Idolatry is not just a fixation on little figurines “more than we probably should.” Idolatry is a complete abomination. (Lev. 17:7; 20:5; Deut. 31:16; Judges 2:17; Jer. 3:9; Ezek. 6:9)
Spurgeon commented on God’s wrath in response to Israel’s unfaithfulness, “When He beholds His throne [that is the throne of our hearts] occupied by false gods, His dignity insulted, and His glory usurped by others [then I would argue, jealous, is as tame a word we possess to describe His fury].” (Spurgeon Study Bible with my own added commentary)
Look at Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; Do not dwell among the people. Drive them out. Do not make a covenant with them (do not be neighborly with that which is of the serpent dragon, and do not defile yourself by intermarrying with them). (Num. 25:2; Ps. 106:28; 1 Cor. 8:4, 7, 10; 10:27) If you do, you will have walked among them. Then you will be invited to stand amongst them in their worship. You will sit to eat the fruit of their worship. And further, you too will play the harlot and whore after their gods.
Psalm 1:2 --- but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Turn to God, delight in the Law of the Lord. Meditate on His Word day and night. The unholy union, the unequally yoked marriage there sounds much like Solomon and the bad kings of Israel and Judah to come, that prophetic tone becomes a little clearer.
Nehemiah recounts the unfaithfulness of Israel in the days of the rebuilding of Jerusalem in chapter 13: And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.” God’s glory demands the elimination of idolatry in His people. Our last verse. Verse 17, “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.” In case it wasn’t clear, the golden calf was not a good idea.
So, if you’re taking notes, I hope you caught that. God’s point is, there is no need for you to turn to anything else in all creation, especially something you can make with your own hands, because He, the Lord God Almighty, is your God. God makes the application of verses 11 through 16 abundantly clear in verse 17 and cements this oracle as a command for Israel going forward because of their past disobedience. (John I. Durham’s commentary on Exodus in the World Biblical Commentary series is immensely helpful in reframing this seemingly abrupt and misplace command, p. 461)
Now… let’s look at our application.
1) Because God is supremely glorious: a. Be quick to worship God i. Moses exhibited prayer as part of worship, and we should absolutely follow suit, but his first response to God’s glory was worship. b. Be earnest in your worship of God i. Moses’ intercession on behalf of the Israelites over and over again did not cease until the Lord answered him. ii. Philip Ryken, on commenting on repetition as an essential element of prayer, said, “We pray in this way---not in spite of God’s promises, but because of them.” (Philip Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory) c. Be contrite in your worship i. Psalm 51 – I’m only reading a handful of verses, but I strongly encourage you to not only read this on your own, but incorporate it into your personal time with the Lord.
1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
2) Because God is supremely glorious: a. Meditate on His Word i. Read, study, know, teach, and proclaim. Be a creature of the Word. b. Pursue holiness fervently i. “We will never drift toward holiness.” – MacArthur (and SWO) ii. Paul in Philippians: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, (2:12) iii. Hebrews 12: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,… iv. 1 Peter: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1:14-16) v. Jesus on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:13-14): But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. c. Make it your aim to eliminate sin and idolatry in your life i. John Owen: Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. (The Mortification of Sin)
1. This is not a game. Eternity is at stake. ii. C.T. Studd: Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. (Poem by C.T. Studd) 1. Do not waste your life by pursuing destructive habits. Surrender to God and His will. 2. How? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. iii. Finally, Romans 6:11-13 --- So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. In a moment we are going to pray.
But like Moses, let us first worship.
I encourage you all to bow your head as Moses did or take another posture of humble worship displayed in scripture. And in this moment, posture your heart in submission and humility to God. It will be silent for a little, but that’s okay. Then we will pray together.
So please, join me in bowing your head or taking a posture of humility before God, and worship Him. Praise God for His marvelous works. Praise God for He is supremely glorious. Thank God for His Word. Thank God for His work in your life. Confess your need for His mercy each day. Ask God for eyes to see His sustaining grace in your life. Ask the Lord to make us holy. Rejoice in the Lord.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.