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I Will Not Go With You (Exodus 33:1-11) I. The Lord Declared II. The People Responded
Here’s a Table of Contents for your sermon script, structured with clear headings and subheadings for easy navigation:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction: The Consequences of Sin and God’s Covenant Faithfulness
- The Golden Calf and Its Consequences
- God’s Unbroken Promise: Entering the Promised Land
- The Key Question: How Will We Enter?
II. The Believer’s Assurance and Warning
- Eternal Security: "No Man Can Pluck You Out of My Hand" (John 10:28)
- Two Paths: Blessing or Hardship in the Journey
- The Loss of Spiritual Blessings (Though Salvation Remains)
III. Exposition of Exodus 33:1–11
A. The Lord Declared (Exodus 33:1–3)
- God’s Command to Enter the Promised Land (v. 1)
- The Angel’s Role in Victory (v. 2)
- The Devastating Warning: "I Will Not Go with You" (v. 3)
B. The Stiff-Necked People
- Definition: Stubbornness and Rebellion
- Biblical Imagery: The Yoke of Obedience
- Modern Application: Rejecting God’s Counsel
C. Life Without God’s Presence
- The Tabernacle as a Symbol of God’s Dwelling
- Empty Religion vs. True Communion
- Physical Prosperity vs. Spiritual Poverty
D. The People’s Response (Exodus 33:4–11)
- Mourning and Repentance (v. 4)
- The Command to Remove Ornaments (vv. 5–6)
- The Tent of Meeting Outside the Camp (v. 7)
- Moses’ Mediation and God’s Presence (vv. 8–11)
IV. Gospel Parallels
- Conviction of Sin Leading to Repentance
- Jesus as the Greater Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5)
- The Holy Spirit’s Indwelling: God With Us (Romans 8:9)
V. Application: Choosing God’s Presence
- The Folly of Chasing Blessings Without God
- The Joy of Intimacy with Christ (John 15:13–15)
- A Call to Examine Our Hearts
VI. Closing Prayer
- Repentance and Surrender
- Pleading for God’s Abiding Presence
This structure organises your sermon’s flow, making it easy to reference key sections. Let me know if you’d like to adjust or expand any part!
Context of the Sermon
This sermon explores Exodus 33:1–11, where God warns Israel after their idolatry with the golden calf: "I will not go up in the midst of you" (v. 3). Though He keeps His promise to bring them into the Promised Land, He withdraws His intimate presence due to their sin. Through this passage, the sermon confronts a sobering truth: believers can still be saved yet live without God’s nearness when they persist in disobedience. It contrasts two ways to walk with God—one of rebellion (marked by emptiness) and one of repentance (marked by His presence)—and points to Christ as the ultimate mediator who restores our fellowship with God.
Hook: "What If God Said, ‘You Can Have the Blessing—But Not Me’?"
Imagine God granting your deepest desires—success, comfort, even victory over enemies—but with one unbearable condition: "I will not go with you."
That was His warning to Israel in Exodus 33. They would still enter the Promised Land, but without His presence. And this isn’t just ancient history. Many believers today live the same way: clinging to salvation but drifting from God’s voice, trading intimacy for empty religion or temporary gains.
This sermon reveals:
- Why God sometimes steps back from stubborn hearts—and how to draw near again.
- The difference between having blessings and having God.
- How Jesus guarantees what Moses could not: "I will never leave you" (Hebrews 13:5).
If you’ve ever felt distant from God—or if you fear the cost of your choices—this message is your turning point. [Read on to discover how to live in the fullness of His presence.]
This hook combines urgency, relevance, and hope, prompting readers to engage with the full sermon to find answers. Would you like any refinements?
Sermon Summary (150 Words):
This sermon examines Exodus 33:1–11, where God declares to Israel, "I will not go up in the midst of you" (v. 3) after their idolatry with the golden calf. Though God keeps His promise to bring them into the Promised Land, He withdraws His intimate presence due to their stubborn rebellion. The message warns believers that salvation is secure, but sin can rob us of God’s nearness, leaving a life of empty religion or worldly success without true fulfillment.
Moses intercedes, and the people repent, stripping their idolatrous ornaments—a picture of genuine repentance. Yet only Christ, our perfect Mediator, fully restores broken fellowship with God. The sermon challenges listeners: Will you pursue blessings from God or God Himself? True joy comes not in the Promised Land, but in God’s presence. Jesus promises, "I will never leave you" (Hebrews 13:5), offering what Moses could not—a relationship that sin may strain but cannot sever for those who repent.
Key Question: Are you walking with God—or just heading toward heaven without Him?
Sermon transcript:
I Will Not Go With You (Exodus 33:1-11) I. The Lord Declared II. The People Responded
Introduction: Blessing or Hardship in the Journey
Whenever there are sins, there will be serious consequences. The children of Israel had built and worshiped the golden calf, and because of that, the instigators or main people involved were killed—about 3,000 of them—and the others had to experience a devastating plague. But God is a covenant-keeping God, and He will not break His promises. The children of Israel would still enter the Promised Land. The question is not whether they would enter the Promised Land, but how they would enter it.
Take a moment and consider our lives. We believe that once we are saved, we are always saved. We will not lose our salvation. Jesus said, ‘No man can pluck you out of my hand.’ (John 10:28) Ultimately, we will enter into our Promised Land, which is heaven. There’s no doubt about that. But the question is how we will enter it—the hard way or the way that is filled with blessings.
That is what will happen to believers who disobey God and His Word. They may be true believers, but whenever they sin, they go astray and drift away from God. They may not lose their eternal salvation, but they will lose their spiritual blessings, of which the most precious is the presence of God in their lives. They may still arrive at their final destination, but as they go through this earthly life, it will be a path that is filled with miseries, sadness, heartaches, pains, and consequences they have to face due to their sins, disobedience, and foolish decisions they have made along the way.
This is what we want to consider from today’s passage in Exodus 33:1–11. The title of our message is: ‘I Will Not Go With You.’
I. The Lord Declared
Our first point: The Lord declared. Beginning with Exodus 33:1, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:" So God commanded Moses, who was the leader of the children of Israel, to lead the people into the Promised Land.
Verse 2, "And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite." The children of Israel not only had Moses, their leader, but they also had the angel to help them defeat the inhabitants of the land—the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. This was an ordinary angel, and angels were spiritual beings vested with power given to them by God. No human being or nation would be able to fight against the angels who were sent as God’s messengers.
Up to this point, everything seems well and good. After all, they had Moses as their leader and the angel to help them defeat the enemies. God would still keep His promises, which He gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They would enter the Promised Land, and it was described as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 33:3a)
Who are the stiff-necked people?
But here is the problem. Look at the second part of verse 3, "for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way." It does not mean that God could not control His anger. Here it meant that God had kept His part of the covenant, which He had made with their forefathers, to be their God. But they had broken their part of the covenant, which they promised to keep: to be His people. By breaking His commandments, they had separated themselves from Him. They had proven themselves to be a ‘stiffnecked people.’
In those days, the masters would put a yoke or burden on the animal’s neck and then direct it to plow the land. Sometimes, there would be certain animals that would refuse to wear the yoke or refuse to move. That is the picture of a stiffnecked animal. Using this imagery to describe the children of Israel, God was saying they are a stubborn group of people who refuse to bow their heads and wear the yoke of obedience to Him.
Basically, stiffnecked people are stubborn. They always think they are right and never admit they are wrong. They refuse to listen to good spiritual counsel. If they ask for advice, they do not follow it and just go ahead with their own plans anyway.
Oftentimes, God will use the situations and circumstances of life—like trials, sufferings, and afflictions—to teach His people spiritual lessons, like the way the yoke or burden was used to break the animals’ will. But when the stiffnecked people go through the trials, they would murmur and complain and even blame God. They never learn anything. They never change. They never grow. And the saddest part of it is that they don’t even realise it.
Dear friend, are we a stiffnecked people? If we seek biblical counsel from the Bible or from people who have the spiritual authority to teach us the Word of God faithfully, then we must follow it. If we are wrong and we are being corrected, we must repent and change. If we go through certain trials, instead of murmuring and complaining, the first thing we need to ask ourselves is: What spiritual lessons can I learn from this situation? You and I must never be a stiffnecked people.
Take a moment and consider what it means when God said, "For I will not go up in the midst of thee." (Exodus 33:3b) Remember, God had promised to dwell in the midst of the people, and this was represented by the tabernacle, which was located in the centre of the Israelites’ camp. That was the reason why He gave them specific instructions on how the tabernacle ought to be built.
So this would mean the plans for the tabernacle would be put on hold. They would move into the Promised Land without the tabernacle. Without the tabernacle, there will be:
- No altar for sacrifice,