Exodus 34 closes with Moses coming down Mount Sinai carrying the two tablets, unaware that the skin of his face is shining from having spoken with God. This sermon works through verses 29 to 35, setting the scene against the golden calf and the renewal of the covenant, and asking what that strange, borrowed brightness was meant to teach Israel.

The argument is that Moses only reflected a glory that came from outside him, and that the glory faded and had to be veiled. Matthew 17 shows Jesus on a mountain with a face shining like the sun, glory that belongs to him as the eternal Son, while John 1:14 says that glory took on flesh and came down to us. Paul's commentary in 2 Corinthians 3 then names the law as a ministry of death that nonetheless came with glory, and contrasts it with the greater and abiding glory of the ministry of the Spirit.

The application turns on one word: behold. Believers are not told to transform themselves but to look intently at Christ, and the Spirit does the transforming, from glory to glory. The sermon ends with the already and not yet, glorified in Christ now, waiting to see him face to face, and a plain warning against answering conviction with resolutions to try harder.

In this sermon

• God is glorious whether or not our eyes are opened to see it
• The renewed covenant comes to a people fresh from the golden calf
• Why the two tablets were likely two copies of the same covenant
• The Hebrew behind "his face shone" and Michelangelo's horned Moses
• Moses reflected a glory he did not possess and had to veil it
• The shining face marked Moses as the mediator with God's authority
• Matthew 17: Jesus radiates the glory that Moses only reflected
• The Father silences Peter's three tabernacles: listen to him alone
• John 1:14 and the gospel as God coming down, not man climbing up
• 2 Corinthians 3: the ministry of death and the surpassing ministry of the Spirit
• The veil is removed in Christ, not by works or information
• Beholding Christ, and the Spirit transforming us from glory to glory

Chapters
0:00 Created to behold the glory of God
3:59 Context: covenant renewed after the calf
5:35 Reading Exodus 34:29-35
8:12 The two tablets of the testimony
11:24 Why medieval art gave Moses horns
13:03 Moses reflects glory he does not possess
17:34 The veil and the fading brightness
22:30 Matthew 17 and the transfiguration
28:20 John 1:14, the Word became flesh
31:31 2 Corinthians 3 and the ministry of death
38:20 The veil removed in Christ
43:06 Beholding with unveiled face
48:45 Already glorified, not yet face to face
51:24 Behold Christ instead of trying harder
57:22 Closing prayer

Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35 · Matthew 17:1-8 · John 1:14 · 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 · 2 Corinthians 4:6 · Romans 8:30

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Exodus 34:18-28 sets out what God requires of Israel after the golden calf: keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, redeem the firstborn, rest on the Sabbath, appear before the Lord three times a year, and bring the first of the first fruits. Having spent the previous verses telling Israel what not to do, God now tells them what to do instead.

The sermon argues that these commands are not a new covenant but a reiteration of Exodus 20, given because Israel is a stubborn people heading into a land full of foreign worship. Numbers 25 and the incident with Phinehas show how quickly the warning was ignored, and the New Testament warnings about apostasy in 1 Timothy, Hebrews and 1 John are held up alongside it. A distinction is drawn between a lapse or season of doubt and a final, willful turning away.

The closing section works out how these ordinances come to the church. Christ is the Passover lamb, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the fulfillment of the feasts, and the Lord's Supper is where the church now feeds on him. The call is to sweep out the old yeast, tear down present-day idols, and honor the Lord's Day.

In this sermon

• The setting: God renews the covenant after the golden calf and Moses' plea in Exodus 33
• Verses 10-17 say what not to do; verse 18 onward says what to do instead
• The feasts as corporate, not private, worship, rooted in God's deliverance from Egypt
• Playing the harlot and spiritual adultery, and Jeroboam's two calves in 1 Kings
• Apostasy defined, and the difference between final apostasy and backsliding
• Numbers 25, Phinehas and the spear, and the plague that killed 24,000
• Redeeming the donkey with a lamb, and redeeming every firstborn son
• Why God's law leaves no room for the sacrifice of children
• Sabbath rest even during plowing and harvest, and Jesus' answer to the Pharisees
• Boiling a goat in its mother's milk as a Canaanite fertility rite
• Christ as Passover lamb, first fruits, and the meaning of the Lord's Supper

Chapters
0:00 Where we are in Exodus 34
4:32 Reading Exodus 34:18-28
9:42 Corporate worship and the three feasts
15:41 Why God must repeat himself to Israel
19:27 Numbers 25, Phinehas and the plague
24:58 New Testament warnings about falling away
27:16 Unleavened bread and remembering deliverance
28:16 Redemption of donkeys and firstborn sons
34:40 No place for sacrificing children
36:23 Sabbath rest even at plowing and harvest
43:05 Three pilgrimages and God's protection of the land
47:55 First fruits and the boiled goat
52:45 Moses writes the words of the covenant
54:19 Christ our Passover lamb and first fruits
1:02:55 The Lord's Supper as the seal of grace

Scripture: Exodus 34:18-28 · Exodus 33:16 · Exodus 20 · 1 Kings · Numbers 25:1-9 · 1 Timothy 4:1-3 · Hebrews 6:4-6 · 1 John 2 · Exodus 12-13 · Exodus 22 · Exodus 23 · Luke 14 · Proverbs 28 · Luke · 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 · 1 Corinthians 15

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Exodus 34:10-17 comes immediately after the golden calf, when Israel had broken the covenant in the most flagrant way imaginable, and God says, "Behold, I am going to make a covenant." This sermon asks why God would renew his promise with such a people, and answers that the reason lies not in Israel's worth but in God's character and in the promise he had made to Abraham centuries earlier in Genesis 15.

From there the sermon shows that God's mercy never means indifference to sin. The same God who renews the covenant commands Israel to tear down the altars, smash the pillars, cut down the Asherim, and make no covenant with the people of the land, because those idols will become a snare. Paul makes the same argument to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10, telling believers who already knew doctrine and shared the Lord's table to flee from idolatry and to let Israel's failures in the wilderness serve as a warning.

The application turns personal: work, money, sports, entertainment, comfort, family, and personal preference can all take the place that belongs to God, and the Lord's Day often exposes which of them rules the calendar. But the sermon insists the answer is not trying harder. It is Christ, the rock in the wilderness, the true seed of Abraham, the faithful Israelite and better mediator of a new covenant in his blood.

In this sermon

• Exodus 34 follows the golden calf, Israel's most treacherous act of rebellion
• Genesis 15 and the promise that Abraham's descendants would be enslaved and then delivered
• Israel's redemption from Egypt as the fulfillment of a promise made centuries before
• Moses as the author of the Pentateuch, writing Israel's history during the wilderness journey
• God renews the covenant with a people who could not keep it
• The command to destroy altars, pillars, and Asherim rather than manage them
• Grace in the Old Testament, and the false split between a God of law and a God of grace
• Paul in 1 Corinthians 10: the rock was Christ, and these things were written for our instruction
• The Corinthians' argument that an idol is nothing, and Paul's warning about the table of demons
• Calvin on the heart as an idol factory, and how good things become ultimate things
• The Lord's Day as a means of grace, not a negotiable appointment
• What Christian parents teach their children by what they rearrange
• Christ tempted and obedient where Israel grumbled and failed
• Israel rejecting God at Sinai and rejecting him again at the cross for Barabbas

Chapters
0:00 Introducing a stiff-necked people
2:08 Five things to watch for
3:29 Reading Exodus 34:10-17
6:14 Back to the promise to Abraham
11:16 Israel's redemption fulfills God's promise
12:52 Behold, I am going to make a covenant
15:04 Tear down their altars and idols
19:26 Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 10
28:25 Flee from idolatry
33:25 Where are our golden calves
36:13 The Lord's Day exposes our idols
45:09 God is faithful, we are weak
46:47 Christ the better mediator
55:47 Three closing applications

Scripture: Exodus 34:10-17 · Genesis 15:12-16 · Exodus 34:6-7 · 1 Corinthians 10 · Exodus 32 · John 1 · Acts 3 · Luke 22:20 · Hebrews 9:15 · Galatians 3

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Exodus 34:1-9 picks up after the golden calf, with God telling Moses to carve two new stone tablets and come back up Mount Sinai alone. This sermon walks through the renewal of the covenant, the descent of Yahweh in the cloud, and the proclamation of his own name and character.

Much of the sermon sits on verses 6 and 7, where God describes himself as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, forgiving iniquity and yet not clearing the guilty. The preacher traces this same confession through Numbers, Nehemiah and the Psalms, explains the Hebrew image behind "slow to anger," and works carefully through what it means for God to visit iniquity on the third and fourth generations while showing loving kindness to thousands.

The closing turns to Moses as mediator and priest, praying that God would go in the midst of a stiff-necked people and take them as his own inheritance. That prayer is then set alongside the high priestly prayer of John 17, where Jesus prays not only for the apostles but for all who would believe through their word.

In this sermon

• Why Moses carves the second tablets while God still writes the words
• God's law does not change even when his people fail to keep it
• The parallels with Exodus 19, and why Aaron and Joshua are barred from the mountain
• Forty days and forty nights as a pattern of testing in Scripture
• God's condescension in descending in the cloud rather than speaking from afar
• The proclamation of Exodus 34:6-7 repeated in Numbers 14, Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 86
• The Hebrew image behind "slow to anger" as long of nostrils
• Loving kindness to thousands set against iniquity visited to the third and fourth generations
• Moses praying as mediator, including himself in "our iniquity and our sin"
• The request to be taken as God's own inheritance, echoing Exodus 19:5
• Moses as a type of Christ, and John 17 as the better prayer for future believers
• Psalm 103 and sins removed as far as the east is from the west

Chapters
0:00 Recap and the plan of chapter 34
2:53 Reading Exodus 34:1-9
5:15 New tablets, unchanged law
7:28 Parallels with the giving of the law
10:07 Yahweh descends and passes by
12:50 Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger
13:24 The same confession across the Old Testament
18:07 Why the name Yahweh is repeated
23:00 Third and fourth generations explained
27:57 Moses bows and prays for God's presence
34:45 Moses as a type of Christ
35:50 The high priestly prayer of John 17
40:15 As far as the east is from the west

Scripture: Exodus 34:1-9 · Exodus 32:19 · Exodus 19 · Exodus 33:18-23 · Numbers 14 · Nehemiah 9 · Psalm 86 · Exodus 20:4-6 · Deuteronomy · Exodus 33:3-5 · Exodus 19:5 · John 17:9-23 · Psalm 103:12 · Romans

About Mercy and Grace Church
Mercy and Grace is an expository preaching church in National City, California, committed to preaching Christ, and him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse by verse through God's Word.

Join us in person — Sundays at 12:00 PM, 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA 91950.
Website: mercyandgracechurch.com
Email: ncmercyandgrace@gmail.com

Mercy and Grace Church is an expository preaching church in National City, CA, committed to preaching Christ, and Him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week, Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse-by-verse through God’s Word, unpacking the doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, sacraments, and the perseverance of the saints — with a clear focus on the Gospel of salvation secured in Christ. Whether you’re new to Reformed theology or have walked with the Lord for years, these sermons are here to root you deeper in Scripture. We meet every Sunday at 12:00 PM at 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA. Learn more or connect with us at mercyandgracechurch.com.

Exodus 33:1-11

Mercy and Grace Church is an expository preaching church in National City, CA, committed to preaching Christ, and Him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week, Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse-by-verse through God’s Word, unpacking the doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, sacraments, and the perseverance of the saints — with a clear focus on the Gospel of salvation secured in Christ. Whether you’re new to Reformed theology or have walked with the Lord for years, these sermons are here to root you deeper in Scripture. We meet every Sunday at 12:00 PM at 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA. Learn more or connect with us at mercyandgracechurch.com.

Mercy and Grace Church is an expository preaching church in National City, CA, committed to preaching Christ, and Him crucified, by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. Each week, Pastor Bobby Lugo and our teaching elders walk verse-by-verse through God’s Word, unpacking the doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, sacraments, and the perseverance of the saints — with a clear focus on the Gospel of salvation secured in Christ. Whether you’re new to Reformed theology or have walked with the Lord for years, these sermons are here to root you deeper in Scripture. We meet every Sunday at 12:00 PM at 1200 E. 8th Street, National City, CA. Learn more or connect with us at mercyandgracechurch.com.

Is God in denial?

Mercy and Grace is a church committed

to preaching Christ and Him crucified

by scripture alone to the glory of God alone. Located in National City, CA. Mercy and Grace meets every Sunday at 12:00PM under the expository preaching from pastor Bobby Lugo and other teaching elders. For more information about our church, beliefs and other ways of connecting with us, visit our website at http://mercyandgracechurch.com. We pray to see you on Sunday, and pray you are blessed by listening here today.