Exodus 34:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
5  And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

There is some very important and good news in this passage. Earlier, Moses came down from the mount after a forty day stay with God. When he witnessed what was happening in the camp, he became very angry and he broke the tables upon which God had written the ten commandments. They were smashed to pieces. They could not be salvaged.
God and Moses dealt with the sin of the people right after that. Then God told Moses to prepare two tables of stone like unto the first and God would write the same words that were on the first tables which Moses broke.
God’s Word cannot be destroyed. The devil has been busy trying to do that since Genesis 3. The majority of people have accepted some corrupt form of God’s Word just like Adam and Eve did. However, God has seen to it that His Word would always be available to man.

Psalm 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7  Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

There is not a time in the history of this world, where God’s Word has been lost. There are nations today that do not have God’s Word. There are families in Canada that do not have God’s Word. However, His Word has never been lost. People choose not to know Him but He can be known by all who want to know Him.
The vice president of the U.S. caused a stir this week by stating that he hoped his wife would convert from Hinduism to Catholicism. He called his false religion, Christianity. Catholicism is not Christianity. The media picked up on his comments and attacked him for his comments. The vice president’s words carry weight. He is a lost man who tried to suggest that God leads couples together and that those of different faiths need to talk about their differences and resolve them. The Bible tells us that we are not to be unequally yoked. A true born again Christian should never marry an unbeliever. The problem we face is that we have redefined what an unbeliever is. God’s Word is still clear. It is important to follow what He says. We should never be led by our emotions. We need to be led by the Truth.
There are thousands of false teachers today who will tremble in the presence of the Lord when they stand at the great white throne judgment and see their wickedness. There is a well known false teacher from California. He has a large following. He is a heretic. He knows how to say nice things about Israel. However, he lacks discernment. He is quite popular and is asked to speak in many places. Popularity does not equate with truth. He is deceived and a deceiver. He is one of thousands. I know there will be people who will be offended with what I just said. That is sad and it is true. If people would just take the Word of God and believe It, they would see the same thing I am seeing. If you reject the Word of God, you will not see the truth.
Moses was not to delay in obeying this command. He was to be ready in the morning. He was to come up into mount Sinai and present himself there before the LORD. He was to go right to the top… away from the people and away from the things of this world. He was to be separated unto God.
No man was to follow him up there. No man was to be near the mount. No animal was to come near that mount as well, for this time.
Moses did as he was told. He prepared the two tables of stone, and he rose up early the next morning and headed back up mount Sinai.
The LORD descended upon that mount in a cloud. Notice, Moses needed to go up and the LORD needed to descend. We have already noted that Moses was not prepared at this time, to be in heaven where God was. Jesus Christ came down from Heaven and He went back up to Heaven. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. Moses was a man of God, but he was still a man. Moses’ soul is in heaven now. Eventually His body will be there with the LORD.
The LORD came down upon that mount and He declared Himself to be there. He reminded Moses of Who He was. Moses needed to be reminded that he would have no opportunity to be there with the LORD if the LORD were not merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Moses did not have a hard time believing this. However the majority of the nation of Israel did have a hard time accepting this.
God further reminded Moses that He keeps mercy for thousands. He forgives the iniquity and the transgressions and sin. He does not whitewash sin. A person who wants to remain guilty will be judged in his sin. Three thousand had already died of the sin of idolatry. More were plagued and many of them would die in their sin.
God does not have to forgive sin. The multitudes of people who assume that they are going to heaven just because they say so, is not true. If you do not want to know the true God, He will not force Himself upon you. Don’t think He will overlook your sin and accept you just because you imagine that He must.
We have His Word. You can know the truth and you will be judged by the truth. In our text, God warned Moses that His judgment would pass on to the children of rebels if they did not repent. No child can excuse their sin just because their parents were unrepentant sinners. The sad reality is that when a generation rejects God, it usually takes several generations of rebellion before someone in that family turns to God. Welfare parents beget welfare children. Rebels beget rebels.
Moses did not waste time here. He hurried and did what God told him to do. He worshipped God. That is the only right response.
In verse 9 he again wanted to be sure that he had found grace in the sight of the Lord. Moses wanted God to go among them as a nation. He did not want to lead them if God was not there with him. Moses had to acknowledge that they were a stiff-necked people. They were very self-willed.
Moses was pleading with God on behalf of the people. He was behaving like a mediator between a holy God and a rebellious people. Moses included himself in this prayer. He was not like the rest of the nation, but he too needed God’s pardon. He needed to be received by God as His inheritance.
As we have already noted, those who turn to God and are saved are His inheritance. The rest are doomed to hell. It is a choice that each person makes.
Today is the Lord’s day. God’s people need to be in His house today. There are thousands who will be found in some social club where they can feel good in their sin. A few will be like Moses and will realize they need to meet with the LORD and they need His mercy and grace to forgive them. This will not happen through the ‘mass’ or some other ritual. It will happen as individuals humble themselves and submit to the authority of the sure Word of God.
Be sure you are attending a true local church today. It is for your spiritual health.
Pastor Bartel