Sermon Notes
From Hidden Places to Sacred Spaces
In the Cleft of the Rock
August 30, 2026
Sincerity is not the same thing as faithfulness.
Exodus 19:4-6; 8
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Moses goes to the people…
The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
Are they sincere?
Covenant confirmed →
Exodus 24:3; 7
“Everything the Lord has said we will do.”
“We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
What happens when leadership is shaped by the people?
Exodus 32:1
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron is shaped by the pressure of the people.
Exodus 32:7-10
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Exodus 32:21
He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
Was it Aaron’s idea?
Exodus 32:30
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
God tells Moses, “You and your people go to the promised land, but I will not go with you.” Moses is wrestling with God!
Exodus 33:15
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
Moses is shaped by the presence of God.
Exodus 33:18-19
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Exodus 33:21-22
Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
The cleft of the rock is where a hidden space becomes a sacred space, and Moses learns the heart of God.
Exodus 34:6-9
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Exodus 34:29
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.
You don’t have to announce or advertise that you have been with God. People experience it.
How is God forming me?
Who is God preparing….?
- Presence
- Character
- Shepherding