It's nice to be back with you
once again and I bring the greetings from the church there at the
mission in Karanzi. It was lovely to see them, to
see so many children sitting under the word and singing and
it's also nice to be back here with you. I'd like us to turn
together to the chapter that we read, Exodus chapter 3. and the text you'll find in verse
14. And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. We know Moses was born in captivity
when the children of Israel were held slaves by the people of
Egypt. We know that his mother placed
him into a basket and put him on the river Nile and he was
carried away in the tide and got lodged there in the bulrushes
and he was followed by his sister and there he was picked up by
the daughter of Pharaoh who named him Moses. He was called Moses
because he was drawn out of the water and he was cared for originally
by his mother and then he was taken to live in Pharaoh's palace. We know over the process of time
he became concerned about the people of Israel. He believed
maybe that it was the time had come for him to be their deliverer. And he fought against the Egyptian
and he killed one of them and buried him in the sand. And then
the following day, he saw two of his brothers striving, two
Israelites, striving together so that he tried to stop them. And they then said, are you going
to kill us? You killed that Egyptian. And
so Moses runs for his life. He runs into the desert and there
he meets with some girls at the well where he helps them. And
then he is taken back to the house of Jethro where he lives. over the process of time he begins
to be a shepherd and he shepherds the sheep of his father-in-law.
The Lord had not finished with this man. He had preserved him
from the crocodiles for a reason. The Lord had a purpose for this
young man He'd been brought up and been taught all the wisdom
of the Egyptians. He also had some understanding
of his background with the people of Israel and the Lord had preserved
him and kept him for these 40 years in the wilderness. Everybody
else maybe had forgotten about him. His mum and dad, his brother
and sister maybe had forgotten about him but the Lord had not
forgotten about him. And the time had come in his
life when God was going to reveal himself to him and he was going
to do it in a very particular way, a special way, an unusual
way because God is sovereign. God is sovereign in how he reveals
himself to people. Sometimes he does so in extraordinary
events but normally he reveals himself through the normal means. Moses was chosen to be a special
person, a particular person, a person that was going to be
mightily used of God to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt
and God chose to appear to him out of a burning bush. As he was going about his shepherding,
the angel of the Lord appears 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 it was not consumed. And he speaks to him out of the
bush and the Lord introduces himself as the God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob. No doubt Moses would have known
all about his descendants. He would have known about Abraham.
He would have known how God drew Abraham out of the Ur of the
Chaldeans and how he wandered in the wilderness as he walked
through the promised land and the many particular things that
happened in Abraham's life would have been passed down. to Moses. He would have heard about them.
He would have heard about how he went up into the mountain
to sacrifice his son Isaac and how the Lord appeared. The Lord
provided. Jehovah Jireh. He provided there. He would have heard about how
Isaac got his wife and the amazing way in which the servant of Abraham
was directed and guided to that particular place where Rebekah
was. He would have known about Jacob
and his deceitfulness and how he was taken there to work for
his uncle and how the Lord brought him back and restored him and
how his sons grew and multiplied and how Joseph was taken into
Egypt and how the children of Israel grew. Then there came
a pharaoh which knew not Joseph and he would have known about
all of these things. And God appears to him to calm
him down as he looks at this burning fiery bush, unsure about
what it means, the voice comes, don't worry Moses, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God
of Jacob. And immediately his response
is that he's afraid. He understands that God is holy.
This God who appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob is the
true and living God. He is the holy God. The God who
hates sin. The God who does not allow sin
into his presence. And so he is immediately filled
with fear and he says, I'm not able to look upon God and he
falls upon his face. He was afraid. But God speaks
that he has seen the struggling of the people of Israel. He's
seen their affliction. He's heard their cries and he's
come down now to deliver them out of their sorrows, out of
the hand of their taskmasters. And he was going to use Moses
as an instrument in his hand to be his spokesman, to go into
Egypt, to speak to the elders of Israel, to speak to Pharaoh
and to lead them out into the promised land. And Moses, he
begins to argue with God that he's not suitable. He's not the
right person. He doesn't have the ability.
He is not good with words. But God comforts him. and says
to him, certainly I will be with thee. And this shall be a token
unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth
the people of Israel, people out of Egypt, you shall serve
God on this mountain. And so God comforts him. The
God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob says, certainly I will
be with thee. But he goes on and says more
than that. He gives him his name. He does
something which he hadn't done to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. He says, they knew me by the
one and true God, the true living God, the almighty God. But I
am going to tell you my name. Moses was introduced to the Lord. He had heard about him before.
But now he was introduced to him. You see, often that is the
case, isn't it, in the life of a person. They hear about God
before they actually know him. It was the case with Moses. He
knew the history. Though he had been brought up
in Egypt, yet he had lived with his parents for some time. And
he knew the history of his people. He knew about God. He knew about
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but he didn't know him
fully. There was no relationship there until God stepped in and
intervened in his life and introduced himself. I am the God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob. And now his life was going to
be changed. His life had been quite unique. As it were, being brought up
in Egypt, living in luxury, then going into the desert, looking
after sheep, and now his life was going to change again. He
was going to go on a journey with the Lord. He was going to be used by God
in a mighty way. And so God first had to step
in and introduce himself to him. as I went away the other day
with Oliver, Oliver Winkle from Bedford. And we met at the airport. We began to be acquainted with
one another, asking about wives, asking about family, asking about
work, what we did and our lives, how we came to know the Lord.
And we wanted to get to know each other because we were going
on a journey together. it's the same here with Moses.
God steps into the life of Moses and introduces himself. All that
you have heard about your fathers I am the one. I am the one and
now I've come to you and I'm going to use you and this is
my name. I am and that I am. It is God
who revealed himself to Moses. It is God who said we are going
on a journey. You are going to be sent to Pharaoh. I notice also to something of a
Christophany or Christ revealing himself before he comes to earth
as a man. You notice the many different
words that are used to speak about the one who is speaking.
It says, the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of
the midst of the bush. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. It says, this is holy ground.
He says, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And the Lord said, I have
surely seen the affliction of my people. I am come now down
to save them. When God appears, when Christ
appears, In the Old Testament often it is referred to as the
angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. We read it time and time
again in the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ when God
is going to do something it's the Lord Jesus Christ who steps
in and begins to mediate and to portray that message and to
reveal himself to that particular person. And so it's Christ. He comes and he appears unto
Moses. the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob. Remember in the book of Genesis when God
appeared to Abraham in chapter 17 and the Lord appeared unto
him in chapter 18. And the Lord appeared unto him
in the plains of Mimri, as he sat in the tent door in the heat
of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them,
He ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself towards
the ground. And he said, My Lord, for I've
now found favour in thy sight. Pass not away, I pray thee, from
thy servant. Yet a little water, I pray thee,
be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the
tree. Go down to verse 20 and it says, And the Lord said, Because
the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin
is grievous, I will now go down to see whether they have done
all together according to the cry which has come up unto me.
So one of those men is the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate
visitation of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to Abraham. And we know that Abraham was
blessed with that initial covenant being blessed to him, that through
him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And so this
same God that appeared to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob is
now appearing unto Moses. he speaks to him and he tells
him his name and so although God is so great and so holy and
so his name means eternal and everlasting he is self-existent
he doesn't rely upon any person or anything to exist Yet he reveals
himself to us as one who is well acquainted with his people. He says the high and lofty one,
the great God, hears the cry of his people. He says I have
heard their cry, I have seen their affliction and their sorrows,
I know their sorrow. so is the great God, the covenant-keeping
God. It is also a compassionate God
who understands the frailty and the weaknesses of his people
and the sufferings of his people and the things that they are
passing through. He is the true and living God. He's not a statue, is not in
the imagination of our minds. We are not just here speaking
about nothing. We are here worshipping the true
and living God who is so great. He exists outside of time. He
is so great that he doesn't need us, but we need him. And he delights
to be worshipped and he delights to reveal himself to his people
as he stops Moses in his tracks. and appears to him in a wonderful
way because he's going to use him. He wants to use him and
he encourages him. All that you've heard about me,
it's true. God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Now I'm telling you my name. My name. Often we only tell our names. those people
who are close to us. It's not everybody who knows
our name. We normally put up barriers as
to how much of our name we reveal. At school teachers are not, or
they didn't used to be, be referred to by their first name. You had
to refer to them as miss or missus or mister or sir Or you would just speak their
surname. Mr. So-and-so, Mr. Gudgeon, Mr. Smith, Mr. Boatwright, the doctor. We don't normally call them Dr.
James. We'd call them Dr. Gudgeon. We see as revealing the full
name as something of a closeness to be used by those people who
are near us, who we are friendly with. Even our parents. Very few children are allowed
to refer to their parents by their first name. It's a sign
of disrespect to call your mother or your father by their first
name. We call them mum or mummy, dad
or daddy. You go beyond that it's seen
as a too close relationship, too friendly. But God says to
Moses, I'm going to tell you my name. I'm going to reveal
to you my fallen name, who I am. I'm not going to be a God at
a distance but I'm going to be a God who is close at hand and
I'm going to reveal to you my name. The name of God. He says and
you are going to go to my people. Not with some general term for
who I am. God has appeared to me. you're
going to go to them my people and you are going to tell them
that your God the God of Abraham and of Jacob and of Isaac of
Isaac and Jacob has appeared to me and this is his name. Verse 15 it says and God said
moreover unto Moses thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my
name forever. This is my memorial for all generations. And so he says the Lord. Now
the Lord comes from that translation of
Jehovah in chapter six. Verse three, when God is again
speaking to Moses, in verse two it says, And God spoke unto Moses
and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, and by the name of Almighty God.
But by my name, Jehovah, I was not known to them. And so he gives him his name.
that his name is Jehovah. And the reason why it's always
translated as Lord in capital letters in our Bible and in many
Bibles is because they wanted to follow the respect that the
Jewish people had to God. A Jew would never write the name
of God. Remember the Ten Commandments?
do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain and they believed
that if they wrote it maybe in the wrong spirit or in the wrong
way that it would be a sin and so they never wrote the full
name of God and so to carry that tradition on the translators
translated the name Jehovah or Yahweh as Lord in capital letters
it is a mark of respect to God. This is something that our culture
has lost completely. We hate respect, we hate authority
and it's seen in the way that people worship God, people speak
of God, people speak of Christ. It is a blasé attitude. When they come into the presence
of God, when they come to worship God, God is just like our mate. Jesus is just like some chap
we've met down the street, but he's not. Moses is told, get
your shoes from off your feet for the place whereon you are
standing, it is holy. And so when we come to worship
God, we're coming into the presence of God. It's a holy work that
we are committing, a holy act of worship that we are entering
into. It's to be taken extremely seriously. If the translators wouldn't even
write the name Jehovah because of offence to God, maybe it was
spelt differently, maybe it was said differently. And so they
translated it as Lord, to keep that respect and reverence to
the Almighty God, the Almighty God with whom the angels of God
bow down and worship, the holy beings of God bow down at his
throne and worship him. Who are we? being able to enter
into the presence of almighty God except through his beloved
son the Lord Jesus Christ and yet this God reveals himself
to Moses and says I am that I am. Go to them and say the Lord Jehovah
has appeared unto me and so he tells him his name. When we choose
names for our children normally we choose names that we like.
Maybe we look at the meaning and we think it's a nice name
with a nice meaning and we name our child. We choose it because
we like it and that name singles them out, makes them distinct.
But that name is given to them, it is tagged on to them. And I looked up James Gudgeon. James Gudgeon in England, there's
about, I think, like 26 people called James Gudgeon. But James
Thomas Gudgeon, there's only me, I think. But James Thomas
Gudgeon, who lives at 5 Pashley Road, definitely It is only me. And so our name singles us out. It could be a million people
and our name is called. James Thomas Gudgeon from Pashley
Road. It would be me. The only me who
could put my hand up because my parents chose that name for
me. It distinguishes me. It separates
me from all of the other people upon the face of the earth. But
that name was chosen because my mum and dad, they liked it.
It's attached to me. But for God, his name is not
just attached to him. It flows out from him. It is who he is. His name has
a particular meaning. It says something about him and
there are many different names in the scripture which refer
to us, which tell us about God. And here he says, I am that I
am. And so as Moses goes to the people
of Israel he's to say the name of God. It is God who has sent
me. It is Jehovah who has sent me. It is the Lord who has sent me. It is the great I am who has
sent me to you. This self existent being who
has no beginning and no end. It literally means to exist or
to be. So it is God's name. It's only God who can be called
I am because it's him who alone exists by himself. Self-sufficient
and unchanging, free from any need of anybody else. There's no limitations to God. If you look at us, we are limited. We are finite. We are frail. We need God. We need other people. We're not independent. But God,
he exists outside of time. He is all-mighty and all-powerful. He is the Jehovah. And he chose Moses to be his
messenger. He says, go to them and say,
I am has sent me unto you. Moses was going to be God's representative
on earth. What a privilege it is to be
called by God, called out of nature's darkness, and to be
chosen and to be spoken to by the true and living God. To have
the Lord Jesus Christ reveal himself to you, maybe not in
such a dramatic way as he did to Moses but maybe in another
way. But it's still a personal way
that the Lord has appeared to you and to me to show himself. has called you by your name,
He has revealed His name to you. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to die for sinners and He has chosen you and He
has showed you who He is. And Moses was chosen to be God's
prophet, to lead the people out of Egypt. And he felt himself
to be completely unworthy. I'm not eloquent, neither heretofore
nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I'm slow of
speech. I'm of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, who
has made a man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb or deaf
or the seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore
go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt
say.' And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand
of him whom thou wilt send." In other words, send somebody
else. I'm not able. After all that God had revealed
to him and showed him, all that he had done to his forefathers
and how he had revealed his name to him in this remarkable, intimate
encounter, yet Moses is afraid. is afraid to obey God. And we know as time goes on reason
he is sent and Moses is used mightily by the law and he is
told certainly I will be with thee and it is proved that God
was with him. And so he comes to the people
of Israel and he tells them the name of their God. We know that
Everything goes downhill for a little while yet the Lord miraculously
overthrows the Egyptians and brings the people of Israel through
the Red Sea and into the Promised Land. But they needed to know
the name of God. They needed to know God because
his name says something about him that they needed to know. And this is what they needed
to know. They needed to know that God was and is, I am. They needed to know that he had
always been with them. He's a self-existent being who
doesn't change. He had already heard their cry.
He already knew because he had told Abraham that they would
go into a foreign land and be slaves for 400 years. And so
they needed to know that the Lord had been with them. They
needed to know that the Lord was with them and they needed
to know that the Lord would be with them. And that's something
that we need to know. need to hold this truth in our
mind that God is I am, He is Jehovah, He is the Lord, He has
always been and always will be and He is the same yesterday,
today and He is forever and so He always has been with you and
He always is with you and He always will be with you and so
his name is greatly important because it singles him out from
all of the other false gods upon the face of the earth. There
is no other god that can be called I am. There is no other god that
can be called Jehovah, the true and living God. All other gods
are creation of men's hands and imagination of their minds. But
God is the true and living God. Jehovah is the true and living
God, the father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who brought
out the children of Israel from captivity, who gave his beloved
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reveals his name to his
people. And I was thinking about this,
I thought about Joseph. You know, Joseph, he was hidden
from his brothers. They came to him a few times
and they spoke with him. They didn't recognise him. But then he says to them in Genesis
45 verse 4, And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me,
I pray you. Just like Moses. He sees the
burning bush and he's told don't come too clear. But God reveals
himself to Moses. Come near to me, I pray you.
And they came near and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom
you sold into Egypt. He reveals himself. He tells
them his name. God reveals himself to Moses
and he tells him his name. And the name is important. Joshua. And Joshua takes over the leading
of the people of Israel as Moses is taken off into the mountain
and says you will not go over into the promised land. And Joshua
is used of God to take the people through the river Jordan and
into the promised land. God speaks to him. Joshua 1,
now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came
to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses'
minister, saying. So it's the Lord, Jehovah, the
same God who spoke to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the
same true living God. He speaks. And he says, verse
5, There shall no man, there shall not any man be able to
stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of a good courage,
for unto this people shall divide for an inheritance the land which
I swear unto their fathers to give them. As I was with Moses,
So Joshua can look back and be encouraged. Moses was told, certainly
I will be with you. A God who never changes. He promises certainly I will
be with you. He says to Joshua, You look at
Moses. I was with Moses. You see all
that I did for Moses, now I'm going to be with you. Moses has
gone, now I'm going to be with you. As I was with Moses, so
I will be with thee. He reveals himself as the same
God. Joshua, we know is a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the same name, Hebrew. Translated into
English is Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ's name. In Greek, translated from Greek into English
becomes Jesus, but the same name, the Deliverer, the Saviour. What do they say about Jesus? Call his name what? Thou shalt
call his name Jesus. Why? Because he shall save his
people from their sins. And so his name wasn't just a
name that his mum and dad liked. It was a name that was manifesting
what he is and what he had come to do. As Joshua was going to
deliver and bring the people into the promised land, the deliverer,
the saviour, so Christ was going to come and did come to save
his people from their sins. And this Jesus Christ revealed
himself to the apostle Paul and he introduces himself as I am Jesus. Acts chapter 9. when he's on
the road to Damascus and there's the light from heaven shone round
about, he's running away from God, he's fighting the Christians,
he's fighting ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
appears to him, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who art thou
Lord? And the Lord said unto him, I
am Jesus. who thou persecutest. Is it hard
for thee to kick against the pricks? And so as Moses is introduced
to God, the great I am, so the Lord Jesus Christ introduces
himself to the Apostle Paul and says, I am Jesus, the one that
you are persecuting. Jesus, the one who came into
this world to save sinners, thou shalt call his name Jesus, because
he shall save his people from their sins. Has he appeared to you? Has he
appeared to me? Maybe you just know of the general
revelation you hear about the Lord Jesus Christ when you come
to chapel. Maybe it's like Moses. You're
wandering in the desert, wandering in the wilderness. You know about
God. You know about Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob. but God has never come and met
with you, never come and revealed himself to you and said, I am
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I am Jesus. The reason
why he appeared to the Apostle Paul is because he loved the
Apostle Paul. Even though the apostle Paul
was fighting and resisting him, yet the Lord Jesus loved him.
From the foundation of the world, he was loved. And so that time
came when he appeared to him and he revealed his name to him. That intimate name, that intimate
relationship began. So I said, we tell people who
we love our full name. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
he tells people who he loves his full name, I am Jesus. Jesus
Christ, the son of God. And it's him who brings about
that reconciliation between the great I am and the great I am
not. Us sinners are reconciled with
the great I Am, the God of heaven and of earth, through the Lord
Jesus Christ, his beloved Son, for he came into the world to
save sinners. And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am, and to our God he has a name. Yes the name is not
written throughout the whole scripture because he is holy
and out of due respect to him it is translated as Lord. But
he has a name. He's the unchanging God. The covenant keeping God. The
loving God who delights to hear the cries of his people. Our
Father which is in heaven. I am that I am. And thou shalt
say unto the children of Israel I am. has sent me unto you. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let's conclude in singing our
final hymn from Hymns for Worship, number 139. 139. May the mind
of Christ, my saviour, live in me from day to day by his love
and power controlling all I do and say. Hymn 139. May the mind of Christ my Saviour
live in me from day to day, by His love and pampered drawing,
all I do and say. May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour, so that all may see I triumph
Coming through the waters, fill the sea. Here exulting, self-amazing,
this is victory. May I run the race before me,
strong and brave to face the foe, looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go. upon thee, as I seek the lost
to win, and may they forget that I know, see in loving him. Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
do thank thee for thy word, for that way in which thou didst
reveal thyself to Moses, thou didst tell him thy name. We pray, dear Lord Jesus, that
thou come and reveal thyself unto us. that thou reveal thy
name unto us, that we may know thee in our personal way. For
greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his
life for his friends. We pray, Lord, that we may be
found amongst your friends. We may know you as our Lord Jesus,
the friend of sinners. To be with us now, we pray, in
the interval of worship. And do bless us this afternoon
and around thy table. Do meet with us, we pray. And
now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God the Father, with the fellowship and the communion of the Holy
Spirit, do rest and abide with us each now and for evermore.
Amen.