If you have not yet gotten your
bread and wine, if you'll go ahead and do that now, we'll
have the Lord's table after the second hour. So if somebody hasn't
already gotten there as it needs to, please do that. Hopefully we won't spill them
between now and the time we Our new carpet. Safely through another week.
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting in his courts today. Number 69, let's stand together.
Tom's going to come lead us number 69. Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in His courts today. Day of awe, the week of rest,
Emblem of eternal rest. Day of awe, the week of rest,
Emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
Through the dear Redeemer's name, Show thy reconciled face, Take
away our sin and shame. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in thee. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in thee. Here we come, thy name to praise. Let us feel thy presence here. May thy glory meet our eyes while
we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners' comfort states. May the fruits of grace abound
Bring relief for all complaints. Thus may all our Sabbath truth
Till we join the Church of God. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the Church of God. Please be seated. The call to worship this morning
is Colossians chapter 1 and verse 12. This building is certainly
a gift from God. It really is. Colossians chapter
1 and verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us meet or fit, which hath made us fit to partake in the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. Father, we thank you for gathering
us here this morning, Father, that with those we love, Father,
knowing we have this in common, that the Lord Jesus Christ alone
has saved us, Father, that his shed blood is sufficient to save
us from all sin, that there's nothing left for us to do. We're
thankful, Father, you've given us a preacher that knows these
things and preaches these things and believes these things. We're
thankful for brethren that love us, brethren that come here every
Sunday, Father, to hear your word. Thank you, Father, for
all of your blessings, for the blood of Jesus Christ, for applying
it to us, and for giving us the things of this life, Father,
that incline our hearts unto thee. We ask in Jesus' name,
amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. The
hymn on the back of your bulletin. Precious is the name of Jesus
Who can have its worth unfold Far beyond angelic graces, Sweetly
sung to harps of gold. Precious when to Calvary throning,
He endured the cursed tree, Precious when his death atoning, made
an end of sin for me. Precious in his death victorious,
he the host of valor grows. In his resurrection glorious,
victor crowned o'er all his foes. Precious Lord, beyond expressing
are thy beauties all divine. Glory, honor, power, and blessings
be henceforth forever thine. Please be seated. Caleb's going
to bring special music now. If you'd like to follow along,
it's number 351 in the hardback hymnal. Father, keep me in thy Christ,
there oppression ? Free to all the healing stream
? ? Flows from Calvary's mountain ? ? In the Christ of the cross
? ? Be my glory ever ? ? My raptured soul shall find ?
? Rest beyond the river ? ? Near the cross a trembling soul ?
? Love and mercy found me ? There the bright and morning star sheds
his beams around me. In the Christ of the cross be
my hope. my raptured soul shall find rest
beyond the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring his sins before ? Cause me walk from day to day
? ? With his shadows o'er me ? ? In the Christ of the cross
be my glory ever ? Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait, hoping, trusting ever, till I reach the golden strand,
just beyond the river. In the Christ of the cross be
my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Thank you, Caleb. The change
that you made in that hymn, the words of that hymn are Well, I'm glad you made them,
but I'm especially thankful this morning that the point that you're
making fits the message I want to try to preach. I've titled
this message when God reveals himself. When God reveals himself,
it's not the cross that we glory in. It's the Christ of the cross. And God's word is very clear
when he says, thou shall not make any graven images or any
likeness of anything that's in the heavens. We don't wear crosses
around our neck. We don't put crosses on our churches.
We don't have images of saints that we look to. When God is
pleased to reveal Himself, He reveals Himself to the heart
by His Spirit through His Word. And men that create images or
glory in something that can be seen physically with the eye
do that because they don't have the Spirit of God revealing Christ
to the heart. This matter of faith is a heart
issue. Isn't it? We believe what we believe because
God has revealed himself. To our hearts. In Acts chapter 7. Stephen's
sermon. To these Pharisees. He brings
up Moses's experience at the burning bush. What was Moses'
experience at the burning bush all about? It was all about God
revealing himself for the first time to his people in over 400
years. The Lord had not revealed himself
during the entire time that the children of Israel were in Egypt.
There was another time when God had remained silent, and that's
between Malachi and Matthew, which also happens to be 400
years where God is silent. And Amos makes a prophecy that
is certainly true of our generation when he says, there is a famine
in the land. not a famine of bread and water.
We have an abundance of material things to provide for us, but
rather a famine of hearing the word of God. The Lord is revealing himself
in our generation. I'm so thankful for that. If
he didn't, we wouldn't know him. We wouldn't know him. We would
be simple-minded, foolish, ignorant, open-minded. We wouldn't know
God. Our prayer this morning is that
the Lord would give us ears to hear. God is speaking. He's speaking. He's revealing
himself. And, He revealed himself here
to Moses. Let's look at Acts chapter seven, beginning in verse 30. And when
40 years were expired, how old was Moses when he had to flee
Egypt? The scripture says he's 40 years
old. So now he's been on the backside of the desert serving. And you remember what he did
when he had to leave Egypt is because he thought that in his
persuasive ways, he would be able to deliver his people from
the bondage of the Egyptians. Now God sends him out into the
wilderness for 40 years. The scripture says he's on the
backside of the wilderness. He's now 80 years old. And he's been working as a humble
shepherd in the desert. God preparing his heart. And
now the Lord's time is to reveal himself. You know, that's our experience. The Lord has to humble us through
whatever circumstances cause us to realize that, Lord, I don't,
I don't have the power to deliver myself or anyone else for that
matter. I'm completely dependent upon you. Notice what the scripture
says in verse 30. And when 40 years were expired,
there appeared unto him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an
angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. You know the
story, it's in Exodus chapter three. Moses was serving as a
shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro in Midian, and Moses sees
this bush on fire. And he said, let me turn and
see what this is. And then when he turns and approaches
the bush, the voice of God speaks out of the bush and says, Moses,
Moses, That's when God speaks, He speaks
to His people by name. That doesn't mean that you audibly
hear your name being spoken. It means that the message is
for you. It's not for anybody else. How
often we listen to a message and say, oh, I wish so-and-so
would have heard that. And here's when we know when
it's meant for us. When God has spoken our name,
Lord, this is for me. Lord, you're speaking to me.
This isn't, you know, I don't know about, I don't know how
this applies or relates to anybody else, but I know it applies to
me and I know it relates to me and I believe it. That's when
God has spoken your name. And Moses said, here am I, here
am I. There's another evidence that
the Lord spoke in your name is your submission to whatever he
has to say. Like Samuel who said to the Lord,
speak Lord for thy servant listeneth. Lord, what is it you'd have me
to do is what Saul of Tarsus said when God knocked him off
his high horse. You see that's what Moses had
to have done. And that's what you and I have to have done.
We have to be knocked off our high horse. We have to be put
into the ground. We have to be forced to say,
Lord, I don't have anything. I can't do anything. I don't
know anything. I'm completely dependent upon you. Here am I,
Lord, speak to me. Might that be our prayer every
time we come into this place? And Moses said, I, and the Lord
said to Moses, I am the God of thy father, Abraham, the God
of thy father, Isaac, and the God of thy father, Jacob, I am. When God speaks, he always begins
by revealing himself. revealing himself. Now there's
a time when God speaks. Notice, notice in our texts,
when 40 years were expired, God's time, like everything else that
God does is perfect. It's perfect. You talk to an
older believer that didn't hear the gospel until late in life.
And oftentimes they will lament their lives thinking, oh, I wish
the Lord had called me sooner. We're going to have baptism this
morning. And Gabe Finby, he's 14 years old, very mature, young
man, who's been talking to me about what the Lord has been
saying to him for some time now. And some of us who were converted
later in life think sometime ago, I wish the Lord had called
me when I was 14 years old. But you know what? Whenever God
called you, it was just right time. Perfect time. Some of us
had to spend 40 years on the backside of the desert before
we heard the voice of God. God knows each one of us. He
knows what we need and when we need it. And he ordains the circumstances
of our lives so that Paul was able to say, when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, when it pleased
him to reveal himself in me and call me by his grace. That's
when the Lord, that's when we're not in control of these things.
It's the Lord's time. It's the Lord's time. And it
was the Lord's time for Moses' life. And it'll be the Lord's
time for your life and for my life. Now, does that mean that
we have an indifference about it? No, no. The call of God is to come. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time. That's the means by which the
Lord calls his people to himself. But whenever he's called us,
It's his, it's his perfect time and whatever we had to experience
prior to being called, God deemed necessary. So that's the time of the call. The time when God reveals himself
is his perfect time. Now notice in our text, the place
that the Lord calls his people out from. And when 40 years were
expired, when whatever was necessary in your life and my life to be
accomplished have expired, and it's God's time to call us unto
himself, there appeared unto him in the wilderness of Mount
Sinai. There is no spiritual life in
this world apart from the life that God gives to his people
in his church. Zero. Men by nature are dead. in their
trespasses and sins. They are strangers to the Commonwealth
of Israel. They know not God. I don't care how religious or
how moral or how outwardly spiritual men try to be, apart from the
revelation of the gospel to the heart, we live in a wilderness, a dry
and thirsty land. spiritually dead. What great
joy we have in knowing that there's an oasis in that wilderness.
There's a place where the river of God flows clear as crystal
from the throne of God and from the Lamb. There's a place where
God gives sustenance and bread and drink to His people. Where He opens up the well of
life And he says, if any man thirst, let him come unto me,
for out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. What
great joy we have, brethren. What great protection, what great
effort we ought to make to preserve such a special place, a special
place. You look out, where are you gonna
hear about the Lord Jesus Christ in this world? Where are you
going to get bread for your soul? Where are you going to get water?
You're not going to get it from the politicians. You're not going
to get it from the philosophers. You're not going to get it from
the religious leaders. You're not going to get it from the
educators. Why? Because they don't know.
They don't know. And every child of God ought
to be saying right now in his heart, Lord, why did you allow
me? Why did you allow me? Why did you bring me to this
place? Why did you allow me to hear of this glorious truth? Same reason he did for Moses. It pleased the Lord. It pleased
the Lord. He calls us by his grace. And notice also in our text where
Moses was when God called him. Now Exodus chapter 3 calls it
Mount Horeb. Here in Acts chapter 7, it's
called Sinai, the same mountain. This is the mountain of the law.
It's where Moses returns to after bringing the children of Israel
out of Egypt and receives the Ten Commandments. It's the same
mountain that Elijah ran to when he was afraid of Jezebel. and hid himself in a cave. And
the Lord said, Elijah, what are you doing here? You've run back
to the law for safety. The scripture says that Paul,
the apostle Paul, after the Lord called him and saved him, Paul
tells of his own testimony. He said, I didn't learn the gospel
from the man. God took him right after he was
converted to Arabia. It's what the scripture says,
took him to Arabia for three years and God taught him. He said, I learned this directly
from God, a revelation from God. Now the only other reference
to Arabia in the scriptures is Mount Sinai. And I love seeing the Lord taking
Paul back to that mountain. teaching him the gospel in the
shadow of that mountain, saying to him, you see, the gospel can
only be really understood as it's contrasted with the law. That's what this whole book's
about. It's all about law and grace. Where does God call his
people out from? He calls them out from under
the law. We are condemned by the law of
God. We cannot keep the law of God.
God requires the law of God to be fulfilled. And the Lord Jesus
said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it.
Christ Jesus the Lord is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. God requires his law to be satisfied. That's his holy justice. He requires
it. You and I can't keep the law
of God. But that's what all the schemes of salvation that men
have come up with all go back to the womb. They all have something
that man has to do in order to satisfy the demands of the law
to earn favor with God. When God calls you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, he's called you out from under the
law. And he's called you into the
light of his glorious grace in the light of the world, the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, this is a salvation
experience that every believer has. Every believer has. The Lord calls us in his time.
He calls us out of a wilderness where there is no life. He humbles
us like he did Moses so that we come to see that we cannot
save ourselves. Lord, who am I that you should
choose me? I can't speak. Isn't that what
Moses said? Lord, how am I going to deliver
these people? Did I not give you that mouth,
Moses? You're not going to do it. You're
just going to be the instrument. I'm going to be the one to get
all the glory. Where does he call us from? He
calls us from under the law. Men go about by nature. Romans
chapter 10, though they have a zeal for God, they are ignorant
of the righteousness of God. And consequently, they go about
trying to establish their own righteousness. How do they do
it? By trying to satisfy the demands
of the law. We can't keep God's law. That's
why the Lord said, you're not under the law, you're under grace.
You're under grace. The Lord calls his people out
from under the law. The means by which the time is
God's time. The place is the wilderness. We're talking about God revealing
himself to us in our hearts. The means by which God reveals
himself. Look in our text. Well, you know what? Let's go
back to Exodus chapter three. Let's go to Exodus chapter three, verse one. Now Moses kept the
flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he
led the flock to the backside of the desert. And he came to
the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him. in a flame of fire out of the
midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses
said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see. It is God that puts an interest
and a desire for the things of God in our hearts. And if we don't turn aside to
see, it's because we don't have any interest in it. But you can
be sure that God's not going to reveal himself until he sees
us turning aside to see. Stopping our lives and our activities
and saying, Lord, I need to know. I need to hear, I need to come. Does faith save? No, Christ saves. Christ saves. Faith is the gift
that God gives to those whom he saves. Is anyone saved without
faith? No, no. Same thing, there's a
turning aside and the Lord waits to see if Moses is gonna turn
aside. And he does, and he draws nigh hither. And he said, God
said to Moses, Moses, Moses, he said unto him, here am I.
God called him out of the bush, out of the burning bush. And
he said, draw nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet
for the place where nigh standeth is holy ground. Now, how many times do we find
the word holy in the Bible? This is the first. This is the
first reference to the word holy. And as we've often seen in scripture,
the first reference to a word is called The rule of the law
first mentioned, when a word is used the first time, that's
usually the best definition given of that word to be carried out
throughout the rest of scriptures. This is the first time holy is
used. And God says to Moses, take off thy shoes from off thy
feet for the ground on which thy stand is holy ground. What
made the ground holy? God was there. God was there. He was calling. He was revealing
himself to Moses. Every place where the gospel
is preached is holy ground. The Lord said where two or three
are gathered together in the midst of them, there I am in
the midst of them. He inhabits the praise of his
people. The Lord's here, that makes it
holy ground. This is where in his time, he
calls his people out of the wilderness and out from under the law and
reveals Christ to them and speaks to them. That makes it holy. It's where Christ is lifted up.
We'll see that in a moment in reference to this bush. But I
want you to notice from the Exodus passage that the Lord says that
he spoke to Moses by the angel of the Lord. Now the angel of
the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You read on that passage
and it's clear. And the Lord said, Just like
in Genesis chapter 15, when the Lord speaks to Abraham, he refers
to himself as the angel of the Lord, and then he calls himself
Jehovah. It's just like when Jacob wrestled with the Lord,
wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long. And that
was the Lord Jesus Christ. These are pre-incarnate appearances
of the Lord Jesus Christ, where he calls himself the angel of
the Lord. And there's many, many references
in the Old Testament where Christ is referred to as the angel of
the Lord. Now, what is an angel? It's a
messenger. It's a messenger. What the Lord's
saying to you and me is, I bring the message and I am the message. And apart from the, this is the
means that the Lord uses. He uses a messenger to preach
the gospel. When we were building this building
a few months ago, the woman that lived, that used to live in that
white house right there, she was out here watching and
the construction workers were afraid of her. They said, stay
away from her. She's a witch." And I said, sure
enough. So I went over to speak to her.
The first thing she said to me, she said, you know, I'm a witch
and I practice witchcraft in this house. And I said, well,
I'm an angel and I preach the gospel in that building right
there. You should come. You know, they were all scared
to death of her because she was intimidating people by telling
everybody that she was a witch. There's no salvation apart from
preaching. How can they call? Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And how
should they call upon him in whom they've not heard? And how
should they, or in whom they've not believed? And how should
they believe on him in whom they've not heard? And how should they
hear without a preacher? God uses the foolishness of preaching.
God could have gone to Egypt on his own. He could have confronted
Pharaoh in the same way that he revealed himself to Moses. But he didn't. He used the means
of a man, a sinful man, a weak man, in order to deliver his
people. Nothing's changed. He still does
that. He sends his messengers. What a glorious blessing. And I'm convinced the reason
the Lord does that is to humble us all. You're humbled in that nobody's
asking you for your participation. We don't have Q and A sessions.
We don't do Bible studies where everybody gets together and puts
in their two cents worth. We sit and we listen to a message
that God has given to a preacher. And that's very humbling for
you, I know it is. But trust me, trust me on this one. The most humbling experience
is to stand up here if you don't believe in a tribe. God humbles
us all that Christ might get all the glory, all the glory. Yeah, wonderful means that the
Lord has given to send a weak, sinful man to preach the gospel.
Here's the angel of the Lord declaring, and that's in the
book of Revelation when John saw the seven churches of Asia
Minor and the seven stars that were in the hands of the Lord.
And John asked him, who are these? These are the angels over the
seven churches of Asia. and he was referring to the pastors. God, give us the grace to love
and pray for each other as he humbles us all in speaking to
us and calling us out by his grace, all for his glory. So we see in Luke's, in Acts
chapter seven, When the Lord calls, we see from where he calls,
under which circumstances he calls, the means by which he
calls. Now, our God is the first cause
of all things, but he uses secondary causes. He uses the preaching of the
gospel as a secondary cause. He's the first cause. We could
even say that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the death
of Christ on Calvary's cross is a secondary cause. God's the
first cause. Christ is the first cause. But
that means was necessary in order to be able to fulfill. The Lord could have gone to Pharaoh
on his own. He sent Moses, didn't he? The
Lord uses means to accomplish his purpose. I've met plenty
of folks over the years that take the sovereignty of God to
what is its natural conclusion. If you didn't have scriptures,
if you didn't have the spirit of God, you would make this conclusion. Well, if God is absolutely sovereign
and if God is absolutely omnipotent, then whoever he chose in the
covenant of grace is going to end up in heaven. And whoever
he didn't was going to go to hell and nothing else matters.
We don't have to preach the gospel. We don't have to meet. We don't
have to evangelize the world. We don't have to send out missionaries.
We don't have to, we don't have to pray. You see, that would
be true if God didn't use means and if we didn't have the scriptures
confirming that God uses means. So let's don't, let's don't deny
the means that God uses. And, um, I want to, I want to finish this
message with the most important part of it. And that is the message,
the message. What did God say to Moses? Same thing he says to me and
you called his name. And then what'd he say? I am. The first thing the Lord does
when God speaks, he always begins by revealing himself. And the revelation of God settles
all controversies. Paul said to Timothy, without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness for God was manifested
in the flesh. God was manifested in the flesh. God was justified in the spirit. God was seen by angels. God was
preached unto the Gentiles. God was believed upon in the
world, and God was received up into glory. Not unto us, Psalm
105, verse one, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto
thy name be glory. For thy grace and for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. You see, it's not about me and
you, brethren. It's about Him. It's about Him. When God speaks,
He always speaks. Men want God to speak in order
to experience some deliverance from circumstances. They want
to experience God's power. They want to see some miracle.
Now, this was a miracle. This bush was burning and it
wasn't being consumed. But don't look for that sort
of miracle today. The miracle today is when the Lord reveals
to our hearts and gives us faith to believe what that bush represented,
and what that fire represented, and what that holy ground represented,
and what the taking off of his shoes represented. The Lord himself
is the message. Men want God to speak in order
that they might discover the will of God for their lives.
They want God to speak in order that they might experience the
power of God or see a demonstration of God's power. When God speaks, he always reveals
himself. Moses, when he comes back to
the same place, testifies to that. Moses had gone to Egypt. He'd seen the miracle of the
10 plagues. He had seen the dividing of the
Red Sea. He had seen the manna come from
heaven. He had seen the water come from the rock. He had seen
the mountain which shook and burned with fire. And what did
Moses say? When God said, okay, it's time
for you to move on from this mountain now. Moses said, Lord,
if you're not going with us, don't take us from here. And
then Moses said this, Lord, Show me your glory. Show me your glory. If God shows us his glory, he's
gonna show us Christ. That's what he did for Moses.
That's what he did for Moses. He said, Moses, no man can see
God's face and live, but I'll tell you what, there's a place
near unto me, and that place is Christ, and it's a rock. And that rock is Christ, and
I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, and I'm going to
hide you in that cleft. That's where you and I need to
be. We need to be found in Christ, who himself is the glory of God. Show me thy glory. When God speaks, don't look for
him to reveal some hidden secret in history or in
the future or do something physical for you? Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. That's what
Isaiah, Isaiah said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. Job after all of his complaints. And what was Job? You read the
book of Job. Job was doing exactly what you
and I often do. Lord, deliver me from this. Help
me here and help me there. And then accusing God for the
circumstances that he was in, being mad at God. And then when
God spoke, what did God say? Who is this that darkens counsel
without knowledge? Job, brace yourself like a man. I'm going to ask you a few questions.
And then for the next three chapters, what did God do? God just revealed
himself to Job. That's all he did. Job, where
were you when I set the boundaries of the sea? Where were you when
I flung the stars into the sky? Job, come on, you seem to know
so much. Tell me. What did Job say after God finished
speaking? I had heard of thee with the
hearing of mine ear, but now Mine eyes have seen thee and
I repent in dust and ashes for surely I spoke without knowledge.
I know what I was saying. Do you want God to reveal himself
to you? Do you want God to speak to you? Do you? Ask him to make himself known
to you. Ask him to reveal himself to you. In Luke chapter 24, after
the resurrection, when the Lord met those disciples on the road
to Emmaus, and he opened up the scriptures to them, and beginning
with Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, he expounded unto
them those things concerning himself. And they got to Emmaus,
to the disciples' house, and the disciples compelled him to
stay. You see, that's Moses turning
to see the bush. Compel the Lord, turn your heart,
ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you. And in the breaking of bread,
which is what we're doing right now, we're breaking open the
bread of life. Their eyes were opened and they
knew Him. And as soon as they knew who
he was, he left them. That's my experience. The glimpses
of God that I get are momentary. Why does he do that? That we
might keep knocking and keep asking and keep searching and
keep hungry and thirsting after righteousness No, the Lord's
not gonna just make Himself known to you and cuddle you into some
soft place for the rest of your life. No, He's gonna keep you
struggling to know Him. There's no end to this. It's
called a walk of faith. We don't walk by sight, we walk
by faith. We don't walk by feeling, we
walk by faith. Did not our hearts burn within
us as He spake with us along the way? We have that plaque on the back
wall. Those Greeks came to the disciples and said, sir, we would
see Jesus. Could you, could you allow him
to, or could you, could you allow us to come into his presence
and let us hear him, see him? When Moses saw it, he wondered
at the sight and he drew near to behold it. And the voice of
the Lord came. The voice of the Lord came. When
God's voice comes to our hearts, we just know that what he says
is true. We hang all our hopes on what
he has spoken. And what He has spoken, He's
spoken to us in His Word. And we just hang all our hopes
there. Lord, I've got no place else to go. You alone have the
words of eternal life. This bush was on fire. Fire is
a picture of judgment in the Scriptures. It's also a picture
of purifying. This fire falling on this bush
is a picture of the wrath of God, the judgment of God that
fell from heaven on the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is
the bush that burned but was not consumed. To purify. to put away, to sanctify,
to make holy, to exercise the full judgment of God. This is
the cup that the Lord prayed would pass from you. Scripture says in Hebrews chapter
12, that our God is a consuming fire. Malachi chapter three says
that our God is a refiner's fire. And here we have a picture of
the fire of God falling on the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course
the fire that is not quenched, the fire where the worm dieth
not, the fire that burns with fire and brimstone, that's hell's
fire. And when the scripture says the
Lord went to hell for us, that's what it's referring to. He experienced
the fiery wrath of God's judgment to deliver us from what we deserve. Genesis chapter 15, when God
made that covenant with Abraham, scripture says that there was
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that went between those
sacrifices. That's the fire of God. You and
I need the fire of God to be quenched, don't we? We need it
to be quenched. Our God is a consuming fire.
He's not gonna look over any sin. Every single sin's gonna
be punished. You remember when Elijah went
up on Mount Carmel, those 450 prophets of Baal, and Elijah
said, tell you what, we'll build two altars. You make your sacrifice
to Baal, I'll make my sacrifice to Jehovah. and the God that
answereth by fire, he shall be God. And they agreed. And they
cut themselves and they prayed and they did all their spiritual
incantations and nothing happened. And all along Elijah is mocking
them. At one point he said, maybe Baal
has gone to use the bathroom. You just need to holler a little
louder. Perloning, that's what that word means. I mean, he's
mocking them. And the gods of this world need
to be mocked. And then Elijah prays. He took, first of all, he built
the altar with 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel, all
the people of God. He took the two bullocks, which
is a picture of Christ, and put them on the altar. Then he ordered
them to get four barrels of water and pour on the sacrifice. And
they drenched the sacrifice in four barrels of water. And he
said, do it again. They did it again. He said, do
it a third time. They did it a third time. 12 barrels of water.
on the sacrifice, saturated, the trench around the sacrifice
filled with water and Elijah prays and the fire of God falls,
consumes the sacrifice, the altar, the rocks and licks up the water
and the dust. And as soon as the sacrifice
was burned, the fire went out. Now that's what happened on Calvary's
cross. That's what this burning bush
is all about. God saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob. I am the covenant keeping God.
That's what he was saying. And in Luke chapter 20, you remember
when the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection asked
the Lord, they gave him this ridiculous scenario. They said,
you know, Moses told us. that if a man had a wife and
he didn't have any children and he died, his wife was to go to
his brother and she was to have children by him for the dead
husband. But this woman gets passed down
to seven different brothers, and none of them gave her children. Whose wife will she be in the
resurrection? And the Lord said to them, you
do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. He said
that children of this world marry and are given in marriage. And
what a precious thing it is for believers to enjoy that union
together. But in the kingdom of God, there's
no marriage. There's no giving in marriage.
Brethren, if the Lord takes you before he takes your spouse,
I promise you, you won't miss them. They'll miss you. The one left behind is gonna
miss the ones taken, but the one taken is not gonna. Why?
Because the Lord said to them, he said, they'll be like the
angels. Their love will be perfect for everyone. You're not gonna
have the kind of relationships we have here in this life. And
then the Lord quoted this passage of scripture. He said, have you
not also heard what Moses said? When Moses said, I am the God
of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, for our God is not the God of
the dead, but he is the God of the living. He's the God of the
living. And the Lord used this very passage
to declare the truth of eternal life and the resurrection from
the dead. He didn't say, I was the God of Abraham. I was the
God of Jacob. We don't say, well, some loved
one that's passed. Well, Jesus was their Lord. No, he is their Lord. He's the
God of the living, not the God of the dead. He's the covenant
keeping God. He's the God of life. And there's
our hope. We have no life apart from him.
Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground on which
thy stand is holy ground. Holy ground. You know what our
feet represent? They represent our creatureness.
The seraphims were created beings, and they had six wings, and with
two they covered their face, and with two they covered their
feet. We have feet of clay, and our
feet by nature are swift to shed blood. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
the scripture says, his feet are like burnt brass in the fire. And he was wounded in his feet
for our transgressions. And the Lord is saying to Moses,
expose your creatureness before me. For the land of this, the
place of which you stand is holy ground. Your feet are defiled. They need to be made holy. and
only by virtue of your union with Christ will that be. You see, by nature, we're like
Mephibosheth, aren't we? Crippled in both our feet from
a fall. We fell in our father, Adam,
and our feet are, well, they're feet of clay. And we're crippled. And the Lord said, what did David
say? Come here, Mephibosheth. Hide your feet under my tablecloth.
I'm going to feed you the king's fare the rest of your life. And
Mephibosheth sat right there. That's what we are. The Lord's
saying, expose your sinfulness before me. Agree with me that
you are a sinner. We're like that man at the gate
called Beautiful, who was crippled in his feet and couldn't stand.
And Peter and John said, silver and gold have we none, but such
as we have, give we unto thee, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
stand and walk. And our feet still remind us
of our need to have them washed every day, don't they? When the
Lord washed the disciples' feet, Peter said, wash not my feet
only, but my whole body. And the Lord said, no, you're
clean all over. But you've been walking out there
in the world and you gotta have your feet clean. And the washing
of the water of the word of God washes our feet every time we
sit under the gospel, every time we come before the Lord. We're
always in need of having our feet washed, aren't we? We are. And you remember Ruth? I can
remember in religion, we used to wonder what was Ruth doing?
Ruth was a single woman. who went to the threshing floor
at night and uncovered the feet of Boaz and laid at his feet.
But not knowing the gospel, we had all sort of perverted ideas
about what that meant. But there we are, we're Ruth.
We're Ruth. And we go, this is the threshing
floor. This is the place where the Lord separates the tares
from the wheat. How's he separated? Whether or not you believe him
or not. Whether or not you hear from him or not. And what did
the believer do? Uncover the feet of our Boaz,
our kinsman redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we lie down
at his feet. We sit like Mary at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His feet are precious. Moses,
take off the shoes from off thy feet. What did John the Baptist
say? I'm not worthy to unlatch the sandals from off his feet. His feet aren't like our feet. Take off the shoes from off thy
feet. Oh, how beautiful are the feet.
How beautiful are the feet of him that preach the gospel of
peace. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one that brought that peace. He is the gospel of peace. How
beautiful are his feet. When does the Lord speak? When
he's pleased. You and I are dependent upon
him to speak when he's pleased. We can't do anything to manipulate
or force his hand. We beg for his mercy, Lord, speak
to me. Where does he speak? In the wilderness, to those who
are under the law. By what means does he speak?
Through an angel, a messenger. And what's the message? What's
the message? I am the God of the living, not
the God of the dead. And that bush, that bush that
burned, that was not consumed, that's the Lord Jesus who quenched
the fire of God's wrath and was raised from the dead because
God was satisfied. God was satisfied. He's not satisfied
with you and me, but he's satisfied with Christ. What a mess we are. How glorious He is. How glorious. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
bless Your Word to our hearts, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Gabe, you go get ready, buddy.
And Tom, you're going to lead us. 190. 190. Just remain. You want to remain
seated or? Okay. bless the name of christ the
lord we bless him for his holy word who loved to do his father's
will and all his righteousness We follow Him with pure delight,
To sanctify His sacred right, And thus our faith with water
seal, To prove obedience that ? Baptized in God the Father's
Son ? ? And Holy Spirit free and one ? ? With conscience free
we rest in God ? ? In love and peace through Jesus' blood ?
? By grace we are saved ? Here he comes. I've got two for the Morton's
table. Good. Thank Jeff for that. I've been
so encouraged with this young man for several months now. Most of you all watched him.
He makes a beeline for me after the service and wants to talk
about what he just heard. And he's got some friends that
are religious and he's been trying to talk to them about the gospel.
And the Lord has revealed to Gabe the difference between what
he believes and what his friends believe. And we were talking
the other day and he said, I can't believe they believe such foolishness.
And he'd been to some of their youth group meetings where he's
listened to their, you know, their youth preachers preach.
And he said, it's just the opposite of what what I've been hearing
and what I believe. And he said, I can't believe
they believe that. And I said, well, the real miracle
is that you believe the truth. And he agreed and said, no, that's
the miracle. Well, Gabe, we're so thankful
for you and encouraged with you and your family. And we rejoice
in baptizing you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Married with Christ in baptism. and raised to walk a new life
in Christ Jesus. In all God's people said, Amen. Let's pray for Gabe. And we're
going to have the Lord's table. Gabe's going to be able to participate
in that as well. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we thank You for Your mercy and for Your grace. We thank You
for Your calling spirit. And thank You for the revelation
of Christ that You've made known to Gabe's heart. for the desire
that you put in His heart to profess you. Pray for your hand
of protection and guidance and healing and strength to be upon
Him. Just make yourself and grow Him
in your grace and the knowledge of Christ. We pray that for each
of our souls. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 17 from the Spiral Gospel
Hymns hymn book, number 17. We'll do two hymns for the Lord's
Table. Number 17, and then we'll sing
hymn number 191 from the hardback. Number 17 first. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body
Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate, to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope
and expectation, we rejoice to keep this feast. Celebrating
our redemption, Now number 191 from the heart back. Here O my Lord I see thee
face to face and handle things unseen. Here grasp with firmer an eternal
grace and all thy weariness upon thee lean. Here would I feed upon the bread
of God Here drink with thee the royal wine of heaven Here would
I lay a shiny, jerkly load. Here taste the breast, the foam
of sin forgiven. I have no help but thine, nor
do I need another arm, save thine to lean upon. It is enough, my Lord, enough
indeed, My strength is in thy might,
thy might alone. Thine is the sin, but thine the
righteousness. Mine is the guilt, but Thine
the cleansing blood. Here is my hope, my refuge, and
my peace. My blood, my righteousness, O
Lord, my God.