Leighton Ford, the husband of Billy Graham’s youngest sister, Jean, tells the story of a Russian cosmonaut. He came back from space and said, “Some people say God lives out there. I looked around, and I didn't see any God out there.”
Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, said he looked in the wrong place. If he'd stepped outside the spaceship without his space suit, he would have seen God very quickly (Leighton Ford, “Hope for a Great Forever,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 96; www.Preaching Today.com).
We laugh at that, but it raises a very important question: Where do you meet God today? Where do you as a sinful human being draw near to a Holy, Almighty God?
I like the way John Fischer put it years ago in his commentary on the contemporary church. He said:
As the church today gets more and more hip—more and more need-oriented, responding to the buttons that people push in their pews—I find myself longing for more of a historical faith. I find myself not wanting to have everything explained to me in simple terms.
I'm not even sure I want all my needs met as much as I want to meet God, and sometimes I wonder if he's really interested in the noise of our contemporary clamoring. Like my dog who can't seem to get anywhere because he keeps having to stop and scratch his fleas, I wonder if we are so busy scratching where everybody itches that we aren't taking anybody anywhere significant (John Fischer in “Longing for Something Old,” Covenant Companion, Oct. 1992, Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 5; www.Preaching Today.com).
How about you? Do you want to go somewhere significant? Do you want to have all your needs met? Or do you want to meet God? If you want to meet God, then I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 20, Exodus 20, where the Bible shows us where to meet a Holy, Almighty God.
Exodus 20:21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was (ESV).
If you want to meet God, then like Moses…
MEET GOD IN THE DARKNESS.
Come near to God in places no one else wants to go. Get close to God in places of confusion and pain.
The “thick darkness” here is literally a cloud, which blocks out all light. But the Old Testament uses the same word in other places to describe deep gloom or misery. In those contexts, people experience such hardship that despair descends on them like a dark cloud (Isa 60:2; Jer 13:16; Eze 34:12; Joel 2:2; Zep 1:15) (Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages). Yet, those are the places where people meet God.
Kara Tippetts, an author, mother of four and co-worker with her pastor husband Jason, went home to Jesus on March 22, 2015, after a long battle with breast cancer. As the cancer spread, Kara courageously embraced her situation, trusting in a Sovereign God. She believed that cancer was not the point, but Jesus was. As Kara and her family processed what God was calling them to live out, she invited her community to join her journey through this seemingly impossible ordeal—how would she trust God in the midst of sickness? And then, how would she trust God in the midst of dying?
In the fall of 2014, David C. Cook published her story, The Hardest Peace. She refused to be defined by cancer and considered every moment a gift and an opportunity to learn more about grace and trusting God; she believed suffering was not an absence of beauty, but an opportunity to understand God's love on a deeper level. Near the end of her life Kara wrote:
My little body has grown tired of the battle, and treatment is no longer helping. But what I see, what I know, what I have is Jesus. He has still given me breath, and with it I pray I would live well and fade well. By degrees doing both, living and dying, as I have moments left to live. I get to draw my people close, kiss them and tenderly speak love over their lives. I get to pray into eternity my hopes and fears for the moments of my loves. I get to laugh and cry and wonder over heaven. I do not feel like I have the courage for this journey, but I have Jesus—and he will provide. He has given me so much to be grateful for, and that gratitude, that wondering over his love, will cover us all. And it will carry us—carry us in ways we cannot comprehend (Blythe Hunt, "Homecoming," Mundane Faithfulness blog, 3-22-15; www.PreachingToday.com).
Kara Tippetts drew close to Jesus in the darkness, and you can too! Don’t cower away in fear like the children of Israel did. Instead, like Moses, draw near to the darkness. Embrace the darkness, and there meet God.
The Apostle Paul expressed His deep desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, but that also meant Paul had to share in Christ’s sufferings (Philippians 3:10).
Do you really want to know Christ and His power? Then expect to share in His sufferings, as well. If you want to meet God, then meet Him in the darkness. More than that…
MEET GOD AWAY FROM ANY IDOL.
Come near to God apart from any other god. Get close to God only by eliminating any other rivals to your devotion and commitment.
Exodus 20:22-23 And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold (ESV).
God will accept no rivals to your devotion. You must focus your life on God, and God alone if you want to get close to Him.
Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). So you have to choose. Are you going to focus your efforts on the accumulation of wealth or on getting to know God?
If any athlete was known for focus, it was Michael Jordan. Fred Whitfield, president and chief operating officer of the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team, recalls a time when Jordan asked to borrow a jacket.
When Jordan opened Whitfield’s closet, he found that it was filled with both Nike and Puma products. Nike had given some of their outfits to Whitfield because of his relationship with Jordan, who had a lucrative contract with the company. Puma had given some of their outfits to Whitfield because of his relationship with ex-basketball player and Puma representative Ralph Sampson.
Whitfield recalls that Jordan walked into the living room, laid all the Puma gear on the floor, and went into the kitchen to grab a butcher knife. When Jordan returned to the living room, he proceeded to cut all of the Puma clothes to shreds. He then picked up the scraps and carried everything to the dumpster. Once Jordan came back inside, he turned to Fred and said, “Don't ever let me see you in anything other than Nike. You can't ride the fence!” (Michael Jordan, Driven from Within; www.PreachingToday.com).
Now, that’s what God says to you and me: You can’t ride the fence. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me (Exodus 20:23). You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). So “choose you this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
In the early 1890s, French painter Auguste Renoir overheard two of his colleagues, Edgar Degas and Jean-Louis Forain, talking about the technological miracle that had recently set Paris abuzz—the telephone. Forain was apparently quite proud of being one of the first people in the city to own one.
Degas asked him, “Does it work well?”
Forain replied, “Very well. You turn a little handle, and a bell rings at the other end of the wire in the apartment of the person you are calling. When he unhooks the earphone you talk just as easily as if you were in the same room.”
After reflecting a moment, Degas asked: “And does it work just as well the other way around? The other person can also turn a little handle and ring you up?”
“Of course,” replied Forain, beaming.
“And when the bell rings, you get up and answer it?”
“Why, yes. Certainly.”
“Just like a servant,” concluded Degas (David Zahl; “What 1;792 Blog Posts Have Taught Me About the Internet,” Mbird blog, 12-16-15; www.PreachingToday.com).
Who or what are you serving these days? Is it your smartphone? I suggest you turn off the notifications, so you’re not checking it every time it dings. If you want to get close to God, make sure you serve Him and Him alone.
If you want to meet God, 1st, meet Him in the darkness; 2nd, meet Him away from any idol; and finally…
MEET GOD AT THE ALTAR.
Come near to God in the place of sacrifice. Get close to God at the cross. Listen to God’s instruction to Moses.
Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you (ESV).
God will come to you and bless you on an earthen altar in a place of His own choosing.
Exodus 20:25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it (ESV).
Unlike the ornate Canaanite altars in the land, God promises to meet His people on a plain altar of unhewn rocks. For you cannot approach God through the efforts of your own hand or through your own good works, oh no! You can only approach God with a blood sacrifice as payment for your own sin.
Exodus 20:26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it (ESV).
At the Canaanite altars, the priests exposed their nakedness, because they wanted to entice people to sexual acts. It was a part of their fertility rituals. Well here, God makes it very clear. You can approach Him only with a pure heart.
The problem is no one is pure. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
So God mentions nakedness here to remind people of their sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they became ashamed of their nakedness. So here, God reminds people about the shame of their sin, which separates them from a holy God.
So how can sinful people get close to a holy God? How can you and I approach Him without the shame of our sin? Well, we do it through a plain altar with a blood sacrifice.
You see, God has just handed down the Ten Commandments. Now, God gives directions for an altar, because He knows people will break those commands. “The law and the altar go together.”
So says Maxie Dunnam, former president of Asbury Seminary. He says, “The law reveals that people are sinners needing a Savior. The altar reveals the offer that God makes to us, the offer of sacrifice… [with] the shedding of blood [as] the focal point of [that] sacrifice (Maxie Dunnam, The Communicators Commentary: Exodus).
However, when Jesus came, He offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sinners on the cross. There, He shed His blood once and for all, securing eternal redemption for all who put their trust in Him (Hebrews 7:27 & 9:12). So the sinner no longer needs to approach God WITH a sacrifice, no. It’s only necessary to approach God THROUGH the sacrifice Jesus already made for sinful people on the cross.
How about you? If you want to meet God, you have to approach Him through the cross. You have to acknowledge your own sin, recognize that Christ paid the penalty for your sin on the cross, and trust Him to save you once and for all.
Jesus made it very clear when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Come to God through Christ. If you haven’t done it already, I urge you to do it today. Trust Christ with your life and experience an eternal, intimate relationship with a holy God.
When you play the game of Monopoly, one of the best cards to have is the famous “Get Out of Jail Free” card. But when you play the game of “real life,” the card doesn't work quite so well. At least, that's what a man in Minnesota found out a few years ago.
An officer pulled him over when he saw the man without a seatbelt. As it turned out, the driver had a warrant for his arrest, and he was driving a car registered to someone else with an arrest warrant. As the officer searched the driver, the driver “pulled out the infamous Monopoly card.”
The card may have “provided a few laughs for law enforcement, [but] the man still landed himself in jail.”
The county sheriff's office posted on social media about the incident, saying, “We appreciate the humor! … 'A' for effort!” (Brian Lisi, “Minnesota Man Tried Handing Deputy Monopoly 'Get Out Of Jail Free' Card, Did Not Get To Pass Go,” New York Daily News, 6-28-17; www.PreachingToday.com).
When people try to avoid God’s judgment by their own effort, it’s just as silly as trying to use a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. “He who sits in the heavens laughs” at such effort as He holds such people “in derision” (Psalm 2:4) and condemns them for all eternity. That’s because our sin is so offensive to a holy God that only the remedy is a bloody sacrifice.
That offends some people, but the Bible is very clear. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).
After a serious car accident in Venezuela, Carlos Camejo was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials released the body to the morgue and ordered a routine autopsy. But as soon as examiners began the autopsy, they realized something was terribly wrong: the body was bleeding. They quickly stitched up the wounds to stop the bleeding, which in turn, jarred the man to consciousness.
Camejo said, “I woke up because the pain was unbearable.” Equally jarred was Camejo's wife, who came to the morgue to identify her husband's body and instead found him in the hallway—alive (“‘Dead’ Man Wakes Up Under Autopsy Knife,” Reuters, 11-14-07; www.PreachingToday.com).
The old saying is true: the dead do not bleed. That’s because our blood is the essence of what it means to be alive. Moses will later declare, “Life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11). Energy and power is there.
Your energy is in your blood, but even that is not enough to cover your sin and give you eternal life. For that, you need the blood of Christ.
Artist and Reformed theologian Jill Carattini says, “[Christ’s] blood cries out with enough life and power to reach every person, every sorrow, every shortfall, every evil. He is the Lamb who comes to the slaughter alive and aware, on his own accord, and with his blood covers us with life… He beckons a broken world to his wounded side, offering love and life, mercy and power in blood poured out for you (Jill Carattini, “The Dead Don’t Bleed, a Slice of Infinity,” RZIM.org; www.PreachingToday.com).
Jesus beckons YOU to His wounded side. Please, respond to His offer of love and life, mercy and power in His blood shed for you. If you want to get close to a holy God, you must depend on the blood of Christ.
Saigyo Hoshi, a 12th century Buddhist, wrote this poem after visiting a Shinto Grand Temple:
Gods here?
Who can know?
Not I.
Yet I sigh
and tears flow
tear on tear
(Tae Aung, “The Study of World Religions in a Time of Crisis,” Books and Culture, May/June 2016; www. PreachingToday.com).
This poignant and sad poem reflects the heart of many to get close to God, but they won’t find Him in any temple. You cannot find God through your own human effort, but the good news is God found you! When you couldn’t reach up to Him, He reached down to you, and He invites you to meet Him in the darkness, away from any idol, at the foot of the cross. Please, come to the Lord today, even in your pain.
