Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 19 in your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book. Let's
all stand together, number 19, pleading for grace. Sovereign ruler, Lord of all,
prostrate at your feet I fall. You are holy, wise, and just. I'm a creature of the dust. All things move at your command,
governed by your mighty hand. ? Heaven, earth and hell I see
? Fulfill all your wise decree ? Dares a man resist his Lord
? Stand against the sovereign God ? I will bow before your
throne ? Seeking grace in Christ your Son ? His blood and righteousness
? Lord, I plead with you for grace ? If you will, you can
I know ? Grace and mercy to me show ? Will you, Lord, my soul
forgive ? Grant this sinner grace to live I've no other hope but
this, Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now I'm conquered by your grace. In the dust I hide my face. Give me Christ or else I die. I upon your grace rely. ? Oh, for mercy now I plead ?
Help me, Lord, the grace I need ? Turn, oh, turn to me and say
? All your sins are washed away ? In my Son, your debt is paid
? He, for you, the ransom made Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to begin this morning
in Exodus chapter 3, if you'd like to open your Bibles to Exodus
chapter 3. Excuse me. talked to Marvin this week, and
he is supposed to go home maybe by Tuesday of this week, so that's
earlier than expected, and they're encouraged with the progress
that he's making, so we're very thankful for that. And also,
Gabe Stoniker and a couple of the men from Kingsport are leaving
this week to go over to visit with Willie and the church there
in Malawi, which you've been supporting. So, Lord enables
you to pray for that trip. I know they would appreciate
that. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, thank you. Thank you for your grace and
thank you for the ability to sing these hymns of praise and
worship with some understanding. Lord, we pray that you would
increase our faith and give us more light and more understanding. Pray, Lord, that you would bless
your word to our hearts and cause us to find our hope in Christ.
Lord, if we're to worship thee, you will have to send your spirit
to enable us. Lord, we we ask that you would. We pray that our hearts to be
opened. We pray, Lord, that you would
enable us to to turn aside from those things that so easily distract
us in this world and to set our affections on things above where
Christ is seated at thy right hand. We pray for your spirit
to open your word and and speak to our hearts. We thank you for
the for the good progress that you've given to Marvin, and Lord,
pray that you'd continue to give him full recovery. Lord, for
Gabe and the brethren that are going over to Africa, we ask,
Lord, that you would bless their trip, give them safe travel,
and cause your word to have free course as they preach Christ
to your people there. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Last Sunday, we were looking
at what David said to the Lord in 2 Samuel chapter 7, when the
Lord told David, no, you're not going to build me a physical
house. Your son Solomon's going to do that. But I'm going to
build you an eternal house. And he was talking about the
fulfillment of the seed of David coming in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the eternal kingdom of God. And David, when
he hears this promise, responds with, who am I, O Lord, and what
is my house that you have brought me hitherto? And what a blessing
it is when the Lord enables his children to come to that conclusion. Lord,
why me? Who am I? Why would you distinguish
your grace upon me? Why would you cause me to differ? Why would you make a difference
between me and the Egyptians? Lord, I'm an Egyptian by nature
and by birth and you could have just left me there. Oh Lord,
who am I and what is my house? that thou hast brought me hitherto,
that you've done all these things in my life and brought me to
the place where I have been enabled by your grace to trust Christ
and to believe on him. Four other times in the Old Testament,
men say this phrase, who am I? The first one we'll find in Exodus
chapter 3, I've asked you to open your Bibles there. Moses
says to God at the burning bush, who am I? The next two we're
going to look at, David says again, and the last one that
is mentioned is in 2 Chronicles when Solomon is beginning the
construction of the temple and he cries out to the Lord, Lord
who am I? Who am I? What a wonderful blessing that
when the Lord enables us to confess with our mouth and believe in
our hearts that all that we have is of grace and that we are unworthy
of anything. It settles everything, doesn't
it? all the thoughts and feelings
of entitlement that we might otherwise have, all the complaining,
all of the disgruntled spirit go away when the Lord enables
us to say from the heart to the Lord, Lord, who am I? Why me? Why would you do this
for me? It gives us grace to rejoice in
the Lord always. It settles every other problem
and every other issue. Forgiveness with God. Lord, who
am I that you would send your son to pay the penalty for my
sins and that you would not charge me with my sins. Lord, who am I? Our ability to
forgive one another comes as the result of our being forgiven. Lord, who am I? Joy? Happiness? Peace? It answers all of these things. Assurance? Hope? Comfort? any judgmental attitude that
we might have. Truth is, by nature, we think
far too highly of ourselves. By nature, we think far too low
of Christ. And when our Lord, by his grace,
is pleased to bring us to this place where we're able to say,
from the heart, Lord who am I? It settles and answers everything
else. The first who am I that we find
in God's word is expressed by Moses at the burning bush in
Exodus chapter three. And what I want you to see by
this who am I is, Lord, why would you make me to be a sinner? That's a miracle of grace. For
the Lord to cause you to believe that everything about you is
sinful, that every imagination of the thoughts of the heart
are only evil and that continually, for the Lord to cause you to
believe that that in me, that is in my flesh, apart from the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no good thing.
For the Lord to bring us to that place where he brought Job to
say, behold, behold, I see something now I never saw before. I am
vile. To say with Daniel, my comeliness
has been turned in me to corruption. That's what Daniel said. To say
with the prophet Isaiah, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm a man
of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean
lips. My eyes have seen the Lord. Who
am I? That's the place where Moses
now is. Now, I don't know where the backside
of the desert is, but it sounds like a pretty desolate place. The Bible says that Moses spent
40 years on the backside of the desert. Someone asked me recently,
what's the significance of Moses killing the Egyptian when he
was 40 years old and burying his body? Well, the significance
is that Moses tried to take into his own hands, by his own strength
and by his own ability, the deliverance of the children of Israel from
bondage. And when he saw the Egyptian abusing an Israelite,
he killed him. Moses, oh, he was the son of
the king. Pharaoh's son. Educated, wealthy,
young, strong, powerful. All the things that would impress
men in the flesh, Moses had at the age of 40. Now, at the age
of 80, 40 years now he's been in the wilderness. What has God been doing for Moses
on the backside of the desert? Has he not been humbling him?
So that now when the Lord speaks to Moses, notice in verse 11
of our text in Exodus chapter three, and Moses said unto God,
who am I? Now he didn't think that about
himself 40 years ago. 40 years ago he thought, I got
this, I can do this, now. God has humbled him, God has
weakened him, God has caused him to see that the Lord's strength
will only be made known in his weakness. New Testament parallel to Moses,
of course, would be Saul of Tarsus. Well-educated, influential, wealthy,
a man of power and influence, and what did he say? Those things
which I thought were gain unto me I now know were loss. They were the things that were
keeping me from trusting Christ, and it wasn't until the Lord,
until the Lord knocked me off my high horse and put my face
in the dirt, and he then caused me to say, Lord, what would you
have me to do? See that? Before the Lord reveals
the glory of His grace, He has to cause us to become sinful. I say before, you understand
what I mean by that. I'm not talking about in order
of time, because they happen simultaneously in order of time.
But to be made alive, we've got to be made dead first. To be
found, we've got to be made lost. And it's a great blessing to
be made dead. It's a great blessing to be made
lost. It's a great blessing for God
to put you on the backside of the desert for however long it
takes until he brings you to that place where you say, with
a man who previously had great confidence in himself, and now
what does he say? Lord, who am I? Who am I that I should go into
Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? Lord, I can't do this. Well,
that's the very place you need to be in order for you to do
it. For my strength is made perfect
in your weakness. What a blessing. And God causes
us to be able to say, Lord, I was self-righteous. I trusted
in my works. I trusted in my wisdom. I was the rich man in my own
righteousness. Lord, who am I? that you would
cause me to believe that I'm a sinner. Now, this is a faithful
saying, and this saying is worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am chief. Who am I, Lord, that you would
make me to be the chief of sinners? Every believer believes themselves
to be, you know your sin better than you know anybody else's.
Child of God, I know my sin better. And to whom much is given, much
is required. And who's been given more light? Who's been given more grace?
Who's been given more privileges and more understanding and more
blessings and remain as unbelieving as you? You see, every child
of God, by God's grace, says, Lord, who am I? Why? Why would you have mercy upon
me? Let me show you a passage of
scripture. Turn over with me to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Read
verse 25. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind which lifteth up the ways thereof." Now, that's
conviction of sin. He's not talking about just the
storms of life. You know, truth is, the Bible
says the way of the wicked is hard. When it comes to the storms
of life, Oftentimes, the unbeliever brings
more trouble in their own lives by their disobedience and by
their defiance of God and by their indulging in the things
of this world. You see what I'm saying? When
it comes to the storms of life, unbelievers can have and normally
do have much worse circumstances than believers have. The way
of the wicked is hard. It's hard. No, the storm that the Lord brings
is when he slays us by his spirit and causes us to see that that
we have no righteousness before God, that we're hell deserving,
and that everything about us is sinful. That's the, who read, Mark, you read the
scriptures this morning in men's study, where the Lord said, coming
to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. A lot of people
laboring with storms and trials, but only when the weight of sin
is placed on you. Only when that happens, by God's
grace, are you heavy laden. Now you've got a burden you can't
bear. We might be able to figure out
a way to get through all these other things, and we do our best
with the trials of life. But with sin, there's no way
out. You shut up. Lord, why would
you cause me to be heavy burdened, heavy laden? Why would you give
me a weight that I cannot bear? Why would you cause me to become
a sinner? That's what Moses is saying,
who am I? Look at the next verse. They mount up to the heaven and
go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. As a sinner, we try to make things right with God. We try to pray and what happens? We're just left right back with
our sin. They reel to and fro and stagger
like drunken men and are at their wits end. They go to and fro
looking for some solution, some answer for their sin problem.
and they end up staggering like drunkards until they come to
their wits end. There's the blessing. There's
the blessing. Because the only time we cry
is when we're at our wits end. Lord, I've got no place else
to go. I've got no one else to help. I've got no out. I've got
no plan B. I've got no exit. I've got, Lord,
I'm, Why would you put me in such a place? Why would you love
me so that you would cause me to see what's true for everybody
else? But they don't know it. You see,
this burden of sin is true for all men. The difference is that
they don't know it. And now Moses, after 40 years,
has come to believe it. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. And he bringeth them out of their
distress, that he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves
thereof are still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. Not trying to fix this sin problem
anymore. not trying to atone for my own
sins, not trying to make up for my sins, I see now in coming
to my wit's end and crying out to the Lord that that's what
the Lord Jesus did and I can rest in that, I can rest in Him. Lord, why would you make me to
differ? Why would you cause me to believe
what is true of everyone else? Then are they glad because they
be quiet, so he bringeth them to their desired haven. Oh, what a blessing. He bringeth
them to their desired haven. What is our desired haven? Is
it not heaven? Is this not the means by which
the Lord brings us to glory? Is this not what the prophet
meant when he said, I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, thoughts of peace and not evil? to give you an expected
end? Is this not what the Lord did
when he calmed the sea on the Sea of Galilee when the disciples
said, Lord cares not that we perish? And the Lord spoke and
the sea was flat. And the scripture says, and immediately
they were on the other side. He brought them safely to the
other side. Here's the blessing. Lord, why would you do this for
me? Who am I that you would make me to believe what is surely
true of all other men? And I love what Moses, go back with
me. Go back with me. These four,
who am I, might become two messages. Let me say that up front. Look
at verse 14. This is so wonderful. And the
Lord said, certainly I will be with thee. I'm going to be with
you. You're not going by yourself.
Fear not. I am with thee. When the waters
rise, they will not overtake thee. When you walk through the
fire, you'll not be burned. Why? Because I'm with you. I'm
with you. And this shall be a token unto
thee. This shall be the token. This
shall be the sign. This shall be the evidence that
I was with you and that I gave you success in bringing the children
of Israel out of Egypt and that I have sent thee. When thou hast
brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God
upon this mountain. Now the mountain where the burning
bush was was the same mountain that the Lord took Moses up on
when he gave him the 10 commandments. It's Mount Sinai. It's the mountain
of the law. How can I stand in the presence
of a holy God, knowing that he has a law that must be fulfilled,
knowing that his law must be satisfied, knowing that as a
sinner, I've never been able to keep any part of it, I've
never been able to satisfy any bit of it. How can I, this'll
be the token unto you, Moses, you're gonna worship me on this
mountain. And the law is not gonna slay
you. And the only reason the law is not gonna slay you is
because there is a place near unto me. There's a rock and I'm
gonna put you in the cleft of that rock. And I'm gonna put
my hand over the rock and I'm gonna cause my backside to pass
by you. Moses, I'm gonna hide you in
Christ. Oh, that cleft in the rock, the
Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says our rock is
higher than their rock. He's the rock of ages. He's the rock on which faith
builds everything and everything else is shifting sand. He's the
cornerstone for the church. And I'm gonna put you in him
because he has met the demands of my law. He is the end of the
law for righteousness. The law cannot judge you. The
law being hid in Christ, the law has nothing to say to you.
The law has been silenced. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. We're in Christ, the law can't
judge us. Moses, when you get back here,
this'll be the evidence. You're gonna be able to worship
me on the mountain of the law without being consumed by my
law. I'm gonna put you in rock. I think it is significant that
the Lord said, I'm gonna cause my backside to go by you. You know how we fret over what
might be in the future and how men by nature desire to know
the future. All one has to do is profess
to be a prophet and have some word from God about some future
event and men flock to hear what he has to say. We don't know
what God's got in store for us. We don't know what the future
holds. We know who holds the future. We know that he's going
to work all things together for our good and for his glory, those
that love him and those that are the called according to his
purpose. You see, the hope of our salvation
is not in knowing what's going to happen in the future. The
hope of our salvation is God's backside. It's looking back. We look back 2,000 years to Calvary's
cross. When the Lord Jesus bore in his
body all the sins of all of God's people and put them away by the
sacrifice of himself. When he made of himself an offering
to his father. When the father saw the travail
of his soul and the father said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied
by my by my servant shall justify many." And we're justified by
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. And by faith,
we look back not only to an event that happened in time 2,000 years
ago, but we look back before time. We look back to the covenant
of grace that was established in eternity past when God the
Father chose a people and the Son became their surety and the
Holy Spirit entered into that covenant promise. This is before
the stars were made, before the angels were made, before man
was made, before anything. God has always had a people and
he's loved them with an everlasting love. That's where we look. We
think, how could God the Father elect, and God the Son redeem,
and God the Holy Spirit regenerate, and make a promise to one another
to do that, and there be one that would be lost. How can it
be? It can't be. What greater foundation, what
greater hope, what greater peace do I have than to rest my immortal
soul on that promise? Not on promises that I made to
God, but on promises that God made to God. There's my hope. I'm gonna cause my backside to
go past you, Moses, and you're gonna look back, and the only
way you're gonna survive the mountain of the law that quakes
with terror and fire is to be found in him, to be found in
Christ. Who am I? That's what Moses is
saying, and God answers this question. Moses? You're nobody. You're a sinner.
But my by grace, I'm going to save you. And the proof of that
is going to be that you're going to worship God without any fear
of the law. You know, worship God without
the fear of the law. You're not going to run to and fro. You're
not gonna be trying to atone for your own sins. You're not
gonna be trying to offer up something to God. You're gonna look in
faith to Christ and know that he did everything that God required
and all of your hope will be in him. What a blessing. That the Lord would say, To you
and me, your sins are forgiven thee. And we say, who am I? The second who am I, and we're
only going to do two this morning. The second who am I is found
in 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel chapter 18. Saul, King Saul, is jealous of
David. God has blessed David. The people
have rallied around David. Saul feels threatened by David
and is trying to figure out a way to get rid of David. And so Saul
says to David, I will give you my daughter in marriage, but
I require for her dowry, 100 foreskins of the Philistines,
thinking that when David went to get the dowry that the Philistines
would kill him and he'd be done with David. And David thought, that's no
problem. And he brought 200. And what
a picture of our redemption. The Lord Jesus, the word circumcised
means to cut off. And the Lord Jesus was cut off
from the land of the living. And in the body of his flesh,
he died and was buried. And that was the dowry. That was the dowry that he paid
to the wife's father. I shared this illustration a
couple of weeks ago up in Pennsylvania at Caleb's church and told them
about a family that I knew that had been in my home that were
from India and they had an arranged marriage. They'd been married
for years, had grown children and looking forward to grandchildren
and their parents put them together when they were children and that
was very strange for me at the time. But as I was sharing that
illustration, there was a couple in the service in Pennsylvania
who were from India who were living in an arranged marriage
just a couple weeks ago in Pennsylvania. And we have an arranged marriage. The father has chosen for his
son a bride. according to his own will. Both these marriages turned out
great, as far as I know, as far as I could see. Not advocating that, I don't
know, but spiritually we have an arranged marriage, don't we?
And what a blessing that the Lord would would choose us. So David's gonna have to, oh,
I know what I was gonna say. In India, the custom is that
the wife pays the dowry to the husband's family. And far as
I can tell, in every culture where dowry is practiced, that's
the way it works. The women are subjugated to the
authority of men and if they want to get married they've got
to be prepared to pay a dowry to the husband's family. That's
not the way it is in Scripture. The times that dowry is mentioned
in the Scripture, the husband pays it to the wife's family. You remember when Eleazar went
to get Abraham's son Isaac, a wife, and Rebekah was there. And Eleazar
gave to Rebekah's family a great dowry. The husband paid it to
the wife. Paid it for the wife. He was
purchasing the wife with this dowry. And that's exactly what
the Lord Jesus... David's a picture of Christ here.
When he went to the cross, he paid with the cutting off of
his flesh, what God required for the dowry of his wife. He purchased her with his own
blood. But David, though he is not overwhelmed
with the idea of having to bring back to Saul, the four skins
of the Philistines, he says, no problem, I'll bring back 200,
and he did. But what he is overwhelmed with
is this. Here it is, look at verse 18.
1 Samuel chapter 18, verse 18. And David said unto Saul, who
am I? And what is my life or my father's
family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king? Now that's what overwhelmed David. I'm going to be in the king's
family? Who am I? I'm just the son of Jesse. I
grew up as shepherd. I'm nobody. And you're gonna
make me an inheritor of the king's family? Is this not what John
said in 1 John chapter three when he said, Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, we, you and
me, should be called the sons of God? Who am I? Who am I, Lord, that you would
make me to be a sinner? Who am I that you would adopt
me into your family? He came unto his own, his own
received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave
he the power to become the sons of God, who were born, not of blood,
not of descent, nor of the will of flesh, not of decision, nor
of the will of man. It's not by descent, it's not
by dedication, it's not by decision, but we're born of God. When we're born physically, we're
born into the family of Adam. Sons of Adam is all we are. Fallen
Adam. When we're born spiritually,
we're birthed into the family of God. Who am I? that I would be son-in-law
to the king? That overwhelmed David. And by
God's grace, that'll overwhelm us. Who am I? All right, let's take a break.