Passage: Exodus 33:1-10
The Big Idea
After the golden calf, God makes a strange offer: “Go into the land with all its blessings, but I won’t go with you.” It was a test of the heart. Do you want God’s blessings, or God Himself? Repentance begins when we choose Him over His gifts, stop trying to look good, and meet Him outside the camp, at the cross.
The Heart Wants What It Wants
Blaise Pascal wrote that the heart has its reasons that reason does not know.
What does our heart really want? I’ve met so many people, and I’ve been one of them, who discovered they wanted things that made no sense, even destructive things. My brain knows they’re bad for me. But the heart still wants what it wants.
Some popular movies tell us, “Follow your heart!” That’s terrible advice on its own. Scripture says the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). Following it is like trusting a sleazy used car salesman of self-destruction.
And I’ve bought that lemon so many times. I’ve chosen the golden idol. I’ve turned my back on God.
Today we learn how God draws His children back into His presence. And strangely, it starts with God withdrawing His presence.
If you’ve ever fallen into sin and wondered how to get back to God, listen closely.
God’s Strange Offer (Exodus 33:1-3)
God told Moses to go up to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would send His Angel ahead to drive out the Canaanites and bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. But God Himself would not go with them, or He might destroy them on the way, because they were a stiff-necked people (Exodus 33:1-3).
Strange timing, right? They had just rejected God for a golden calf. God even said, “We are not okay. You’re stubborn, and I’m angry about how you’ve rejected Me.”
Step 1 in repentance: blessings, or God?
This was a test of their hearts. God had already disciplined the nation. Now He was after their hearts. He knew what they needed to reconnect with Him.
They needed to realize their sin had disconnected them from Him.
So God offered them the blessings they wanted, through an angel. Not the Angel of the Lord, God Himself, but just a servant angel. God could have given them the land through an angel just as easily.
Would that work? “You can have My blessings, or you can have Me. Which will you choose?”
Heart change begins when we decide that God Himself is what we want. A relationship based not on the things He gives, but on Him giving us Himself.
As Martyn Lloyd-Jones put it, every other blessing is worthless if God isn’t with you. What’s the value of Canaan, of milk and honey, of possessions, without Him? They realized His presence and fellowship were infinitely more important than everything else.
They Mourned (Exodus 33:4)
When the people heard this hard news, they mourned (Exodus 33:4).
The test results were in, and they were good! Good, because the people saw this as bad news. Like when a cancer test comes back negative, and that’s great news.
Their hearts were soft. They were grieved at the thought of losing God’s presence. Step one was complete. They realized they wanted God, not just the blessings.
Would you serve God if He took everything away? Would you remember God if He gave you everything you wanted? If God offered you everything, with a guarantee He’d walk away and leave you to enjoy it, would you take that deal?
It’s a test of our affections. What do we really want?
Off with the Ornaments (Exodus 33:5-6)
God had Moses call them a stiff-necked people and tell them to take off their ornaments while He decided what to do with them. So the people stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb (Exodus 33:5-6).
Step 2 in repentance: stop trying to look good
Step one was faith: “I believe God is what I really want.” Step two is humility: stop trying to look good.
The ornaments were the things they used to make the flesh look good, to cover what was ordinary or weak, to look like something they weren’t.
Now they began to admit the truth about who they were. That’s exactly what they’d been so stubborn about.
If we look honestly around the church, we see the same thing everywhere: people putting on “ornaments” to cover their weakness. “This will make you special. This will help you today. Buy this book. Say this prayer. Attend this event. Volunteer. Give.” But here the people stripped off anything that made them look good or covered who they really were.
Humility is vulnerability. It terrifies a lot of people, because it’s scary to be open with a God who knows exactly how messed up we are.
But it’s step two in getting right with God. And humility is always connected with receiving blessing. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11).
Outside the Camp (Exodus 33:7-10)
Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off, and called it the tent of meeting. Everyone who sought the Lord went out to it. Whenever Moses went out, the people stood at their tent doors and watched him. When he entered, the pillar of cloud came down at the door, and the Lord spoke with Moses. And all the people stood and worshiped, each at his own tent door.
Moses really wanted to meet with God. If God wouldn’t be in the camp, fine: he’d set up a place where God would meet with him. He could have given up. But this relationship meant something to him.
Does it mean something to us? Will we get up and meet with Him in our living room or closet?
Moses led. He didn’t force anyone to come. If people wanted to stand and watch, they could. If they wanted to join him, they could.
Where did he meet with God?
Outside the camp.
Jesus suffered outside the city gate to make His people holy by His own blood. So let’s go out to Him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace He bore (Hebrews 13:12-13).
What happened to Jesus outside the camp? He was crucified. And that’s where we’re to meet with Him every day: back at the cross.
Go to the cross daily. See the blood of the innocent Lamb freely offered for you. Consider His perfect love, that He gave His life for you while you were still a sinner. Drink in the all-sufficiency of the cross like your morning coffee. He won’t disappoint you.
Summary: Two Responses to Sin
These two responses help us understand repentance:
- Faith. It has to be about a real relationship with God, not just His blessings. I trust that He is the One who will meet my needs and satisfy my heart. Blessings can never take His place.
- Humility. I stop covering myself up. I have sinned, and I’m broken. Fig leaves didn’t work for Adam and Eve, and ornaments won’t work for me.
These two are essential for a relationship with God that can be restored when we fail.
- Do you believe God alone can satisfy your heart?
- Do you admit you’re broken and need His mercy and grace?
If faith and humility are in your heart, you have a place to meet with God. It’s outside the camp. It’s at the cross.
Jesus takes all our sin and suffers for it. He offers us freedom, and then He meets with us. What a wonderful Savior.
He restores us to real fellowship with God, even when we’ve clearly turned our backs on Him. I’m the first to raise my hand: I’ve sinned and fallen short. But Jesus is the hero of my story. He pulled me out of the mud, washed me, transforms my heart daily, and invites me into deep communion with God, where I know Him and He knows me. That’s the point of the gospel: God delights in us, and we delight in Him.
Grace Takeaway
Never think God wants you to accomplish something to delight Him more. He simply asks that we humbly receive and trust His Son. Choose Him over His gifts, take off the ornaments, and meet Him at the cross. That’s how the heart comes home.
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