Renewed Covenant, Radiant Presence | Exodus 34

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward His people in power and mercy. God reveals Himself as I Am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of His presence. Exodus chapter 34.

Take your Bibles with you. Let's locate that portion of Scripture this morning as we continue down the road of Exodus, our series called Presence. We are really close to the end, and so it's delightful to bring God's Word to you again this week.

Exodus chapter 34, not only here in this location, all of our campuses, I want to welcome them in, all of our guests in this place, other places. Let's get under the weight of the Word this morning. As you find Exodus 34, perhaps pull up in your mind a situation where you were around your family, maybe it was a friend group.

I suspect most of these situations like this happen around the dinner table when you're a kid or as a parent, and you know something's not right with mom and dad, but no one dare say a word. Right? So you kind of act like things are okay, but you can just kind of sense like mom and dad are not getting along right now. You know, the tension's kind of palpable.

People are being civil, they're passing the potatoes, they're doing the right thing externally, but it's pretty clear that there's people in the room who, though they're present, they're not really present. You can also sense the opposite. When you're in a room around a table, and you can just sense the people want to be there.

Like there's relational connections. Perhaps forgiveness has just been extended, and there's a lot of restoration occurring. Perhaps there's longtime relationships, and the joy is deep, but you can just kind of not only sense it emotionally, you can actually see it visibly on people's faces.

The countenances are just beautiful, they're radiant. Because often, reconciled relationships, deep connections, they have a way of becoming very visible. That's Exodus 34 in plain terms.

You see, something had gone terribly wrong between Israel and God. They had breached the covenant. They had committed a horrendous act of idolatry, a golden calf.

Moses saw it, shattered the tablets. What ensued was a mediatorial intercession from Moses to God that turned into really a personal plea for Moses to know God more deeply. God honors that.

We'll see today that He does restore that. The covenant's renewed. Moses comes back down the mountain, and suddenly God's presence, which is now assured with His people once again, the faithful covenant God moves towards His people, and you can see it on Moses' face.

He is beaming. He's radiant. Let's check it out.

Exodus 34. Let's read the first part of this chapter, and then we're going to read the last part. The middle portion, the longest portion, I'll just highlight for you in a moment, but I want us to see the three sections in this chapter, the first one being the first nine verses in which we really see who God is.

So as the covenant is restored and God renews His people, we're going to see, first of all, not just what they are to do, we're going to see who God is because this is the basis for all covenant renewal, God's character. Follow along with me as I read the first nine verses of Exodus 34. The Lord said to Moses, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Be prepared by morning, come up Mount Sinai in the morning, and stand before me on the mountaintop. No one may go up with you. In fact, no one should even be seen anywhere on the mountain.

Even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain. So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning and he took two stone tablets in the sand.

He climbed Mount Sinai just as the Lord had commanded him. The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, the Lord, and the Lord passed in front of him. Now, let me pause there and say that's actually God keeping his word, because that's exactly what he promised in the previous chapter, chapter 33, verse 19.

And it seems to be in a matter of days. So God said to Moses, yes, I'll honor your request. I will show you my glory, but I'll need to put you in a rock, I'll need to shield your face, I'll pass by you, and you'll only see the remnants of it, but it will indelibly mark you.

And this is now when God actually does what he says, and he passes by Moses and proclaims his name. Notice how the Lord describes himself. This is divine self-revelation of Yahweh.

He says, the Lord, the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, verse 7, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin, but he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the father's iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. I think this is hearkening back, I'll pause again here, to chapter 32, verses 33 to 35, where he does say that even though they've repented of the golden calf moment, there will be consequences to come on the day of visitation, when he settles accounts. He's simply explaining the principle of consequences, that often, even in God's compassionate forgiveness, consequences play out over a long period of time.

In response to God's self-revelation, Moses says, he does this, verse 8, he immediately kneels low on the ground and he worships. And then he said, my Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us. And of course, God does.

He assures him of his presence. Here Moses again is expressing his desire. He says, go with us, even though this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin and accept us as your own possession, a very distinct, exclusive relationship.

So in these first nine verses, we really see one of the scripture's classic portions in which God does reveal who he is. And I love the placement of this. Notice that in the restoration of the covenant, in the renewal of this covenant, it's not Moses or Israel, really, that has to act better first.

There's nothing on their part that they're doing to cause God to act. Instead, God, because of his character, is taking the first move. He's the first actor in this chapter.

He's calling Moses up and he's giving the commandments. He's rewriting the covenants, so to speak, on the tablets. He's taking the first step.

As much like we saw before, and can we say again this week, it is always God who takes the initiative. God always takes the first step. We love him because he first loved us.

That's what John says. So church, I just want you to see it again in this passage. Even in the covenant renewal, God is the one who is making the move to reconcile, redeem, and renew his people.

Now in this moment, I think the real theological centerpiece of this first section is perhaps verses 5 through about 7, in which God does give us a very distinct, clear description of who he is. Now I'd say to you, this is one of many throughout the arc of Scripture. Numbers chapter 14, Nehemiah chapter 9, Psalm 86, Psalm 103, Joel chapter 2, Jonah 4, 2, and other places give us a similar description.

It's God telling us what he's like. Watch this. It's not us creating a version of what we think.

It's not us making an image. It's not us trying to figure out what we think God should be. God self-discloses himself.

You listen to me, church? God tells us who he is. We don't have the right to adjust that or change that or create a different God. God has self-revealed divinely and supernaturally who he is.

Can we look at that for a moment? This God who takes the first step, who makes the first move? The Bible says in verse 6 that he is a compassionate and gracious God. Remember, he's giving Moses his name. He's passing by, showing his glory, and giving him his name.

His name is the Lord. The Lord's compassionate. He's gracious.

By the way, you should circle the word gracious and then go down to where Moses asked for favor again. Those are words that work together because Moses is not saying, okay, since you're gracious, look upon me and see all that I've done. See how much I've earned, why you should be gracious to me, and then give me favor because of me.

That's not at all the point of the text or even the definition of the word. Because God is gracious, he finds favor not because of who we are. He finds favor because of who he is in spite of who we are.

That's called grace. You never earn grace. You never deserve grace.

You receive grace as a gift. Grace is overwhelming. It's astounding because you never think, that's a fair trade.

The minute you do, you're not understanding grace or the graciousness of God. So Moses here realizes, wow, I'm only finding favor because God, you're gracious to overcome my faults with your faithfulness, to overcome our failures with your faithfulness. It's a beautiful section of God's character.

He's compassionate. He's gracious. My favorite phrase in all of this, if I can be frank with you, is the word slow to anger.

It means long-nostriled. Isn't that kind of a cool word? Now it fits in the Hebrew language because, if you recall, when God does get angry, that word in the Hebrew means flared nostrils, and you can just kind of draw up in your mind the various pictures. But God's not quick to get flared nostrils, and aren't we thankful? He's actually, and this is reverent and theologically accurate, he's actually a long-nostriled God.

He abounds in faithful love. He abounds in truth. This idea of faithful love, it's the word hesed in the Hebrew.

It's used in the Psalms a lot to talk about how His mercy endures forever. He's faithful to all generations. This is really the root word that describes God's covenant love.

It's faithful forever, which is why in this case, God does not abandon His people. He does not force them to go with an angel. Still, He goes with them.

He keeps His promises to a thousand generations. He's forgiving, and notice how these categories, I believe, really, in one sense, wrap up every sin possible. He's forgiving of iniquity, of rebellion, and of sin.

And on the heels of this, He then says, but He won't leave the guilty unpunished because there are consequences that kind of run down the line. I love this because, again, we see mercy and justice perfectly balanced with God. They never perfectly balance with us.

We usually fall on one side or the other, but with God, He is able to be completely compassionate, faithful, long-nostriled, forgiving, and yet completely just and righteous in every one of His actions towards sin. And I'd remind you, He did this ultimately in His Son, Jesus Christ, who has taken on Himself the sin of all of us. Because we could not bear the consequences of all of our sin forever.

We couldn't do this enough to where we'd finally even up the score, so to speak, or have paid enough of the penalty so we could be right with God. There's no way a finite individual can pay for sin done to an infinite God, which is why hell is eternal death, because you're paying forever a debt that you can't actually ever pay. But Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.

When He came and lived the life you could not live and that I could not live, then He died in your place, the death that you and I should have died when Jesus, it's called the gospel, came and took your place, lived your life, and died your death. God accepted that as satisfactory payment for sin. Why? Because Jesus was God.

And so a holy God in flesh can pay for the sin of all who've committed them. Now God asks this, that men and women everywhere repent of their sin and trust in the only name of the one who can forgive them and save them, the name of Jesus Christ. Can I ask you this morning, who are you depending on? What are you depending on to make you right with the holy, just, compassionate God who abounds in grace but who will judge sin? You can never do enough, you'll never be enough on your own to assuage God's justice and righteous anger against sin, but there is one who has, it's His son Jesus.

And the minute that you place faith in Jesus Christ and say, God, will you through Jesus forgive me and count me righteous, God can justly and righteously and mercifully do that. He's not escaping the law, He's not bending the law, He's not avoiding it, He's actually acting justly and mercifully to forgive others through the death and resurrection of His son. So I urge anyone here who's kind of skeptical of Christianity but curious, who's wondering if today's the day, oh, I pray today is the day of salvation for you.

And you will see Jesus in all of His glory and God in all of His compassionate justice and you will turn to Christ and run to Jesus, the refuge of your soul, and ask God to save you through Jesus. You say, Todd, what does that look like? It means that right now, while you're in your chair, your eyes are looking at me and you're listening to my voice. You can ask God to save you like this, say, God, I do believe, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son and my savior, that I'm lost and I can never do enough or be enough to save myself from my sin.

But I repent of trying and I turn to Jesus. And so, God, would you save me through your son? And God will be a gracious, compassionate, abounding and faithful love and truth God to you. And He will save you from your sin.

I'm praying that many today here in this location, other ones will turn to Christ and experience exactly who God says He is, as He has self-revealed Himself here. In those moments, we do experience a lot of gratitude. I can sense it in your responses, I see it in your faces, that you're just so grateful that God's covenant of faithfulness overcomes your failures, amen? That He makes the first move.

Even initially in salvation, He makes that in sanctification, God's always seeking to reconcile us. Well, as you think about this further, you'll notice that in response to God's covenant action, there is now an expectation of covenant allegiance. This is the largest section of this chapter, it's verses 10 through 28.

I want us just to highlight some things here to let you see exactly what God now is expecting. You could say what God is requiring. I want to say to you that as you read through these, and we kind of highlight some verses, you may be tempted to think, well, man, that's a pretty rough list.

But God always empowers what He expects. And it's hard for me to humbly describe how once you're born again, how your allegiance is not forced. Because you read this, you're like, man, that's some strong requirements, they better get in line.

Yes, obedience is the expectation, but obedience is always empowered because of this new relationship. Here's the way I like to say it, you're going to find out that this section is about covenant allegiance, but it's in response to God's covenant action. It's how people who are dearly loved and forgiven, and that they've been extended grace, it's how we respond.

Notice that in this text, it's pretty heavy, pretty intense. But even in this section now, it does not begin with you better do this, this, and this. It begins with actions God has taken.

In fact, he begins in verse 10 by saying, I'm making a covenant, so God is the one taking the initiative. And then at least four or five times after that, there are words that indicate God is taking action. He's restoring people.

He's asking them for distinct behavior, for worship that's exclusively to him. And so there is an allegiance here, but it's not after God's actions once again. And so I think if you look at this section and you're looking for a theological centerpiece, you should circle verse 14.

Notice what verse 14 says, the Lord is jealous for his reputation. And so you're never to bow down to another God. He is a jealous God.

So God is not wrongfully jealous. He is rightfully possessive of his creation. And so because of his covenant action to redeem them, bring them to himself, he expects rightfully exclusive distinction and allegiance.

Notice how this theological center, verse 14, is amplified. In light of what God has done, verse 12 says, you don't make a treaty, he's speaking of the Israelites here, you don't make a treaty with foreigners and find yourself corrupted and polluted and pulled away. Verse 13, he says, the idols are in your territory, tear them down, smash them, chop them down.

Verse 14, never bow down to another God. Verses 15 and 16, the implication is to not prostitute yourselves with other gods. Verse 17, a hearkening back to the golden calf, he says, do not cast images of gods for yourselves.

And then from 18 to 26, there are a number of things that appeal to the rhythm of their life, observing festivals, redeeming the firstborn, resting on the Sabbath, bringing the firstfruits. All of these are distinctive behaviors that would cause an onlooker to say, you belong to Yahweh. Furthermore, they would cause the onlooker to say this, you belong only to Yahweh.

So these verses here in the middle of this chapter really do speak to how God's covenant is rooted, watch this now, in relational ownership. And this is why God can call for covenant allegiance, for two things from His people, listen very carefully, distinction and exclusive worship, that God wants you to be known as His people by your obedience to His word. He wants you to worship only Him, that's a distinctive factor as well.

But even in this moment where His claim upon us is non-negotiable, notice something, it's always grace then obedience. God again takes the first move. Both are in sequence here, it's grace then obedience, it's God's action then our allegiance, it's God's work then our response.

So they're both, there's a sequence here, but they're both fully expected, they're both in full. Here's why this matters, because legalism says, okay, I'll obey so God will save me and love me and bless me. It hinges on you, that's legalism.

Cheap grace says, since God loves me, it doesn't matter what I do. Both are false extremes, they'll strangle your spiritual life. Biblical grace says, it is overwhelmingly motivating to see how God has acted towards me, I will respond to Him with exclusive worship, I'll be distinctly His.

That's what God's calling for here. Now, in light of that, knowing that the old covenant has already been fulfilled, there's a principal question we should ask ourselves. What rival allegiance do you tolerate today? What little G God, what idol is always either whispering or screaming in your ear, give me your love? Maybe it's an appetite you keep accommodating instead of starving.

You know, that website, that substance, that spending habit, that entertainment, that sexual temptation that keeps pulling your heart away from Christ, keeps luring you away. You keep negotiating boundaries around it instead of tearing it down, smashing it and chopping it. Can I just pastorally remind you that temptations are not meant to be managed, they are meant to be fled.

Maybe it's in a relationship where someone's approval, it's just become way too important to you. And you realize that obedience to Christ will disappoint some people. It's going to create tension that you're not sure you're ready for.

It will cost you something. And so, in light of that, you just keep compromising on the edges to try to keep the enemies at bay, to keep the criticism at a distance. Let me ask you a question, whose displeasure are you more afraid of, man's or God's? One may come in the here and now, it will fade.

One will come later and it could be eternally disastrous. Do not fear them who kill the body, fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Maybe the idol you're tolerating is success or money, position, control.

I want to say something to you very plainly, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with things like money, achievement, financial security, planning, ambition. The Bible gives us good distinction that it's selfish ambition that gets us into trouble. It's the love of money that's the root of all evil.

In and of themselves, these things aren't necessarily bad. But if you cannot imagine living your life without one of them, if you can't imagine joy without them, you have turned a little g, you've turned a good thing, excuse me, into a little g God. And what idols always do is if we don't smash them, they smash us.

They're deceitful and we think they're life-giving and what they actually do is they take life. The evil one always comes to kill, steal, and destroy, and he always begins by deception. He disguises himself and then he divides.

So just be aware, these little things that perhaps you think are just not a big deal, you're tolerating them, they actually could be a poison that you're drinking. Maybe it's an area that you've declared off-limits to God's authority. Maybe in the house of your life, you're like, God, you're welcome on the main floor.

You cannot go to the attic and you sure can't go to the basement. Off-limits, but on the main floor, you're welcome to visit for a little while. And God's not a resident like Colossians 3, 16 says.

He just kind of pops in when you open the door. Perhaps you're saying, God, you can have my Sundays, but you cannot have my sexuality. You can have my beliefs, but don't mess with the bitterness that I'm holding.

You can have my appointed service at that one hour a week, but don't try to get my whole schedule. And so you've compartmentalized your life to the degree that God is a commodity that you utilize when you want to. He can stay for a while on the main floor, like I said, but that's not how God operates.

That's not the Exodus 34 God that we read about. God will not be compartmentalized. He'll not compete with other gods.

Exclusive allegiance means that there's no rooms in which Jesus can be so like, you can't go in there. There's no closet he can't look. So let me ask you again, what rival allegiance are you tolerating that actually could be the death of you? Why don't you stop managing that and destroy it, chop it down, smash it, tear it down.

Now one thing we're seeing through these 28 verses is that God wants a distinct people who worship him exclusively. But this call to that isn't something we have to muster up. His action produces that allegiance.

So I think we're seeing some things here. We're seeing our presence principle kind of taking shape. So can we just kind of reveal this right before we go to our third section? This is what we're seeing unfold in this chapter, that God's covenant faithfulness, even after our failures, it really calls us to renewed obedience and exclusive worship.

Notice the order here, God's faithfulness. Even after our failures, it motivates us, it causes us to respond in this way. So will you read this one time with me? We'll see it again in a minute, but just read this with me.

God's covenant faithfulness, even after our failures, calls for renewed obedience and exclusive worship. And when these two things are in place, when this happens in our life, here's the result. It's the third section, begins in verse 29.

Follow along with me as I read this, Exodus 34 verse 29. The Bible says that as Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain, he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. So remember the promise God kept to Moses that I'll let you see my glory and I'll pass by you, I'll put you in the rock and I'll cover you, you'll see the remnants.

That moment had a big effect upon Moses, like a divine suntan's going on here, okay? Verse 30, when Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone. It's the second time that phrase is mentioned. And so Aaron, the Israelites, they were afraid initially to come near him, but Moses called out to them, indicating, hey, don't be afraid, come on, I'm not dangerous, it's not catchy, it's not an infection.

He says, come over here. And so Aaron and all the leaders of the community, they returned to him and Moses spoke to them. Afterwards, all the Israelites came near, so they must have seen that Aaron and the leaders, they didn't get damaged.

That must have been a safe moment, so hey, we'll all go now. And so they all came near and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. What a wonderfully reliable messenger.

Instead of saying, hey, you love my face? I'm pretty big deal, aren't I? Like you got a tan like this? I mean, none of that, he just says, hey, you're all here, here's what God said, you've got to love a leader who's just a conduit. Like I'm not here for my own fame, I'm not here for my glory, I'm not here about my face, I'm here about God's face. I mean, he just gives the word straight up to them.

When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, it's probably an act of leadership kindness, like, hey, I don't want to have you squinting all the time, we'll figure this out. I'll put a veil over my face. But whenever he went to the Lord to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out, meaning that he probably got like another surge of facial radiance.

So he goes back down, talks to the people, and he's bright again. So he puts the veil on, tells the Israelites what God had commanded him to tell them. Verse 35 says, the Israelites would always see that Moses' face was radiant, meaning this was like a repeated pattern.

Then Moses would put the veil over his face and he'd speak with the Lord until he went to speak with the Lord. So it's just beautiful here because what you get a glimpse into, what we get a glimpse into is this transformation that took place because Moses was with the Lord. Now, understand something about this closing section.

It's describing what God does, which is essentially, he changes us, he transforms us. But this change in Moses, this ability to radiate God's glory, watch this, it's not something he did. He didn't muster this up, he didn't go to some makeup room and say, hey, I want to put on some glory base, I want to really look impressive to the people.

He just spent time with God and God's glory, God's majesty. Those moments of seeing God as he really was, it affected him. It brought deep joy that was visible.

But understand, it wasn't Moses' own doing. So we say this, Moses' radiance was a derivative radiance. You say that with me? Derivative radiance, meaning Moses didn't produce it, he was a reflection of God's work.

So I think you see through this chapter in multiple ways, you and I are not to try to take credit or produce, we're to respond to what God is doing and who he is. That's what changes us. It's God, his glory, his work, his covenant action.

And as we respond to that, we experience change. We are transformed by who God is and being with him. Now Paul references this very moment in his letter to the Corinthian church.

In fact, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, just listen to how Paul mentions this moment in time and correlates it to the Corinthians. He says this in verse 18, we all with unveiled faces, so there's nothing between us and God, we're looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord. And we're being transformed into the same image, in other words, the Lord's image.

From glory to glory, the use of that word hearkens back to Exodus when God showed his glory to Moses and it radiated upon his face. He's saying we are looking upon Christ now and we too are being changed from glory to glory, from understanding more about who God is every single time. And this transformation, this change is from the Lord who is the spirit.

Now that's just one verse. The whole chapter is really a better read. You can do it on your own.

Here's what I want to bring to your attention. When you read 2 Corinthians 3 and you think about what happened in Exodus 34, the temptation is to think Paul is simply saying this, God changed Moses, he'll change us. That is a true statement, but that's really not what Paul is driving at.

Because if you read 2 Corinthians 3, what Paul is really driving at is how the way we're changed now by looking at Christ is far better in the New Covenant than it was in the Old Covenant. He's actually showcasing that how God changes us is way better than what God did with Israel. Let me prove it to you.

In these two texts, which I think he's contrasting things. In the Old One, Moses' encounter with God's presence changed his face. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, God changes what's inside of us.

So in the Old Covenant, external. The New Covenant, internal. It also says in the text that Moses' radiance faded over time.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, yours increases. That yours gets better from glory to glory until one day, fully sanctified in God's presence. So do you see the difference? That's temporal in the Old Covenant.

The New Covenant's eternal. So let me ask you a question. This is Paul's point in the chapter of 2 Corinthians 3. Which changes people? The letter of the law? The tablets on stone? Or the spirit of the Lord? The answer is an overwhelming the spirit of the Lord.

And this may give us a clue as to why some of you still really haven't seen substantial, progressive life change. You're doing everything on the outside that you think you have to do, like a recipe, like an equation. You're trying to utilize God, turn the screws, leverage Him to get what you want, and you have no relationship.

And so your change is maybe turning over a new leaf, it's short-lived, you kind of make a right turn for a few months, but nothing really changes inside. It's because you're looking at the letter of the law and you're trusting tablets of stone to change your life. But this is what God said through the prophets about that very situation.

He said, there's a day coming when I'll take your heart of stone and I'll turn it into a heart of flesh. In other words, what's cold and lifeless, I'll make it breathing. How does that occur? The prophets would say this, because the Lord would breathe upon His people.

He would blow upon His people and bring life to them. In church, I just want to remind you, what does God do when He transforms us? He brings life to us through His Spirit. And yes, no doubt, Moses saw a change here.

It was so radiant, the people noticed it and had to shield their faces, his face. It was bright. It was clear he had been with the Lord.

Paul says that just falls way short of what looking at Christ today actually does. It changes you internally and eternally from glory to glory. The new covenant is far better than the old covenant.

This is what the book of Hebrews is all about. Way better than Moses, way better than angels, because we have Christ who has fulfilled everything the old covenant anticipated. He fulfilled every single law.

He obeyed every single command. He lived in your place. He died in your place.

Look at Christ. That's where the change comes from. As I think about this third section, and I'm going to just bring the car to the garage now and you're ready to park it, okay, I'm reminded this is really the heartbeat behind our mission.

You know, our mission, if we're not careful, can seem very external. We want to develop devoted followers of Jesus Christ. That's our mission in a nutshell.

There's a strategy to it to celebrate, grow, and serve. We celebrate at a weekend service, grow in community, we serve on a team. That's required of every member.

We have a vision in front of that mission is to be a multiplying church with a sending heart. So we're going to always be aiming towards that. But the centerpiece of all that is simply this, to develop devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

That's the great commission, and so that's our mission. We don't get to make it up. We don't get to write a different one.

God gave His church a mission. When you hear that and when you think about how does that happen, you could think equationally, not relationally. You could think external, not internal, like, okay, so I'm going to learn a bunch of theology.

I'm going to learn all about God. So you've got your, you know, 10, 11 core doctrines, you know, the three sub points under each one. I mean, you're going to serve, you're going to do more for God.

I'm going to learn about God, I'm going to do more for God. So you're pretty, you know, philanthropic, you're generous, you give extra hours to serve, you get your name on an actual team. And so, man, you go in there, you churn it out, like, dude, I'm serving, I'm doing something, and I'm learning something.

And we can turn being a devoted follower into a classroom experience that's all based on what you know, and there's no real relationship. That's not the heart of our mission. I want you to hear it well.

The heart of our mission is you experience internal transformation by the Holy Spirit so that your character and conduct does change. There are noticeable differences. You live distinctly different.

You have one God, and you worship Him exclusively, yes, to all of that. But it's not done because you have to impress someone or prove something. It's done because it's the natural outflow of your heart to a covenant God who always takes the first step towards you, who loved you first, who gave His life for you.

And so your life becomes this overflow of, yes, love and service. All those things are true, but they're from a different well. That's a devoted follower.

And I just want to ask you a question. Is that the kind of life you're experiencing where your response of allegiance to God is from a well that can never get over His actions towards you? Kind of brings to mind our presence principle, doesn't it? Can we read it again together? This one sentence that kind of summarizes the entire chapter? Together, church, God's covenant faithfulness, even after our failures, calls for renewed obedience and exclusive worship. Now as you ruminate on that, I want to ask you three questions that I want you to use as we respond.

In light of this chapter, in light of what we know it says to us, both in summary form as well as in extended form, do I know God? Ask yourself that question, do I know God? His character, how He has self-revealed Himself. Not do you know the version of God you want, or the depiction of God you wish you could create, or the God that kind of fits your life. Do you know the self-revealed, divine being Yahweh? Does Yahweh, does God have all of you? This really deals with your allegiance.

And thirdly, are you becoming like Christ? This interchange of God's actions and your allegiance, is it slowly but surely transforming your life so that you are becoming more like Christ? I want you to think about those three questions as you respond. They really give us a very clear progression of action. Know His character, give Him your allegiance, reflect His glory.