Face To Face Series

One day, Jay Leno got a letter from a kid saying he was in trouble because he had told his friends that Leno was his uncle and that they would drive around in his uncle’s Lamborghini. The kid’s friends called him a big liar, so the boy asked Jay Leno if he could drive him to school in his Lamborghini. Leno said, “It so intrigued me that I called the kid, of course speaking to his mother first, and said, why don't we do this next week?

So, Leno drove out to where the kid lived and picked him up. Then they waited until the opportune time, when most of the buses are in front of the school and all the kids are hanging out. That’s when they pull up in front of the school. The doors go up on the Lamborghini. The kid steps out and goes, “Bye uncle Jay!”

And Leno responds, “OK, Billy, take care, I'll pick you up next week and we'll go driving.”

This leaves the mouths of all the boy’s friends hanging wide open (Drive Team, “A little bull goes a long way,” Drive, 4-14-21; www.PreachingToday.com).

Jay Leno’s presence changed that boy’s life. How much more the presence of God in your life? Is that what you want? Then turn with me, if you will, to Exodus 33, Exodus 33, where Moses shows you how to realize the presence of God in your own life.

Exodus 33:1-3 The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people” (ESV).

God offers to Israel His protecting angel and a prosperous land, but He threatens to withdraw His presence from them, because their stubbornness angers Him. Earlier, they had complained that they had no bread or water in the wilderness, questioning whether God was with them (Exodus 17:7). Even so, God provides manna from heaven and water from a rock. Then, while God was giving the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, the people of Israel reject the One who had provided for them for a golden calf. They are obstinate in their rebellion, so in order to protect them from His wrath, God declares that they can go on without Him.

Exodus 33:4-6 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ” Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward (ESV).

As a sign of mourning, they stripped off all their jewelry. Now, when they left Egypt, they stripped or plundered the Egyptians of their jewelry (Exodus 3:22; 12:36). Here, they strip themselves of that same jewelry to express sorrow for their rebellion, and to demonstrate their desire to turn from their sin back to the Lord. They realize that it is not enough to have God’s provision and protection. They need God’s presence, as well. My dear friends, if you want God to go with you through life, do what Israel did here.

REPENT OF YOUR REBELLION.

Grieve over your sin. Mourn over your stubborn resistance to God’s will.

James 4 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:8-10).

Do you want the presence of God in your life? Then grieve over the sin in your life.

Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

There is an old story from the Middle Ages about a young woman who was expelled from heaven. An angel told her that she could return only if she brought back the one gift God valued the most. So she brought back drops of blood from a dying patriot. She collected coins given by a destitute widow for the poor. She brought back a remnant of a Bible used by an eminent preacher. She even brought back the dust from the shoes of missionaries who served many years in a distant land. Although she brought back these things and more, heaven’s gates refused to open for her.