You will turn with me to Exodus
chapter three. Exodus chapter three. Here in Exodus three, I'd like
to start reading in 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 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 burnt. 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. And he
said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither,
put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he
was afraid to look upon God. Here in Exodus chapter 3, God
appears unto Moses. and reveals himself to him. And
I love the manner in which our Lord was pleased to do this.
He came to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a burning
bush. Now, I'll go ahead and tell you,
this burning bush that was not consumed is Jesus Christ and
him crucified. The flame of fire certainly signifies
the fire of God's wrath, the fire of God's judgment, how that
God must punish all sin. Now, this bush was a thorny bush. Thorns came as a result of sin.
Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree. And here's the thing,
He was not consumed. There's one sacrifice for sin,
and it's Him. He consumed all of God's wrath
for His people. He wasn't consumed. He consumed
the wrath. And that's what we see right
here, God's holiness. He said, you're standing on holy
ground. That's what, where God is, is holy ground. And when
we see the cross, what a holy encounter that was. Mercy and
truth meeting together, righteousness and peace kissing each other
in Christ on the cross. And we know this, but that's
our hope, the Christ of the cross. That's it. That's all our hope.
Now, I love, too, how it says that Moses turned aside to behold
this great sight. God will see to it that if we
belong to Him, we're going to turn aside and behold this great
sight of our Savior dying in our place, putting our sin away
forever by the sacrifice of Himself. And I love, too, where we left
off there. It said Moses was afraid to look upon God. If God
ever reveals Himself to us in His holiness and reveals what
He's done for us, He'll cause us to fear. He'll cause us to
fear Him. Hear him, that's what we need.
Verse seven, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I am come
down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to
bring them up out of that land unto a good land, and a large,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. unto the place of
the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. God has a people, a chosen, particular,
peculiar people. Did you see it there in verse
7? He said, I've surely seen the affliction of my people,
my people. In Jeremiah 24 verse 7, he said,
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall
return unto me with their whole heart. I don't know if there's
anything in the scriptures I enjoy more than seeing the verses that
say, I will. And they shall. Won't you accept
Him? Won't you follow Him? I will
and they shall. It's not up to us. It's up to
Him and it's done. It's written. Right here He said,
I've seen their affliction. Surely I've seen their affliction.
God sees all things, even the secret things. Everything. A child of God, whatever it is,
He sees it. I may not see it. I probably don't see it, but
he does. Whatever pain, whatever sorrow,
whatever heartache, grief that you're enduring, he surely sees
it. Surely. And he went on to say,
I've heard their cry. If you're crying out to him,
he hears your cry. Elihu told Job in Job 34, 28,
he said, he heareth the cry of the afflicted. He always does.
We don't have to wonder. He always does. I love the end
of verse 7. He said, I know their sorrows. We know this. God is omniscient.
He knows all things, but that's not what it's saying. He knows
our sorrows. How does He know our sorrows?
Because He came and traded places with us. He took our sins and
our sorrows. He made them His own. He owned
them. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He felt it. You know the verse in Lamentations
1. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow in the day wherewith the Lord
hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger, there's
never been sorrow like our Lord endured. Never. Gabe just preached,
I think, Wednesday on the suffering of our Lord and how he was scourged
for us. We don't have any idea what all
that entailed. All I know is I deserved that. In my flesh, I deserve that.
Oh, but praise God, he took that for me. He knows our sorrows. And I love the beginning of verse
eight too. He said, I am come down to deliver them. Why did
Christ come into this world? To make salvation possible for
everybody and see what we would do with it? No, he came down
to deliver them. who his people came down to deliver them. Psalm
34, 19 says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
delivereth him out of them all. Out of them all. You know, not only did he come
to deliver us out of our afflictions, He came to deliver them, it says,
out of the hand of the Egyptians. The Egyptians represent our sin.
That's what they represent. In Exodus 14, when they saw,
they came up upon that Red Sea, right? And they turned around
and they see Pharaoh and his army coming. They saw him coming. Moses uttered those wonderful
words. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. Oh, don't fear. This battle isn't ours. It's
the Lord's. But here's what I especially
love there. He said, the Egyptians whom you have seen today, it's
our sin. You shall see them again no more
forever. Forever. Why? Because Christ
came to deliver us from them. He blotted them out, he put them
away, buried them, forever gone. They're all taken away. And I
can't help but notice this in verse eight, the end of God's
people is certain. It's set. Look what he said here.
He said, I've come to deliver them and bring them up out of
that land. You know, if you could stay here
in this land forever, would you? I used to think, oh, it'd be
so great if I could just live here forever. The longer I'm here, the more
I realize what a foolish desire. He said, I'm going to bring them
up out of that land unto a good land. This ain't the good land.
And we live in America. I'm convinced the best place
on earth, but this is not the good land. And this isn't the
large land. He said a good land and a large.
He said, I'm going to bring them onto a land that flows with milk
and honey. You're never going to hunger, never going to thirst
again. Never. That's what God purposed to do
for his people. What a God. Oh, my soul. Praise his name. We have a home
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. No sin, just
righteousness, that's all. No sorrow, just everlasting joy,
unspeakable. If we have Christ, we have everything. Because Christ is everything.
He's all. Verse nine, now therefore behold, the cry of the children
of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression
wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. As long as we're still
here in this life, by God's grace, by God not letting his people
go, which he won't, We'll continue to cry out unto him. I pray we
never stop needing to cry out to him. You know, crying out
unto him is the evidence of life. Just about two months ago, can't
believe it's almost been that long, but we had another baby
born and he came out and he didn't cry
for a little bit. Not gonna lie, it made me a little
nervous. Oh, when he cried, joy flooded my heart. It's a good thing to cry out
unto the Lord. You know, we get frustrated.
Kids like to cry. Well, that's all right. They're
alive. If God has given us life in Christ,
we're going to cry. Oh, we're going to cry. He'll
see to it that we have reason to cry. We ever stop crying,
then something's not right. Something's not right. And know
this, brethren, God will never stop hearing our cries. Never. Never. He delights to hear our
cries. Verse 10, come now therefore,
and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth
my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Here we see God's
purpose for Moses, okay? God's gonna use Moses for something
here. He saved him, he came to him, revealed himself to him,
and now he said, Moses, I'm gonna send you to be the leader of
my people, to lead them out of Egypt. That's what I'm gonna
do with you. Now, this man Pharaoh, he said, I'm sending you to Pharaoh. God raised Pharaoh up that he
might show his power through him. That his name, the name
of God, might be declared throughout all the earth. There's one almighty,
and it's not Pharaoh. Pharaoh? The Pharaoh was always
a mighty man. Oh, but compared to God, he's
nothing. All the inhabitants of the earth, Pharaoh or Pharaoh
not. are repeated as nothing. There's one Almighty, and that's
God, that's the God of Moses. Now, as the man who was gonna
lead them, deliver them out of Egypt, obviously he pictured
Christ, okay? It tells us there at the beginning
of the chapter, he was shepherding some sheep. Our Lord, the good
shepherd. Moses pictured Christ. We know
he also pictured the law later, but glorious picture of Christ. And look here at verse 11, this
will be our text. And Moses said unto God, who am I that I should
go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? Who am I? There are multiple accounts that
either say that, or a word is very similar. And every time
I see one, I can't help but ask myself that same question. Who
am I? You know, naturally, we think
we're something. Naturally, we think we're somebody. But here's
the fact of the matter. We're not. Our heart's desperately
wicked, deceitful, above all things. So don't be surprised
when we start feeling good about ourselves. That just manifests
our sinful nature, OK? Moses was a sinful man, just
like you, just like me. You know, in chapter two, he
killed a man. And you read the account, you say, well, he was
standing up for his brother. Okay, then why did he look this
way and look that way, and all right, I'm clear to go. Sin. Sin. You know why he was in Midian?
Because he was afraid that Pharaoh was gonna kill him, so he fled
to Midian. And here he's been in this desert for 40 years.
I have no doubt Moses used to think highly of
himself. Perhaps when he slew that man that slewed one of his
Hebrew brothers, perhaps at that time he felt worthy for God to
use him. God put him in the back side
of a desert. Now it's time. You know, Moses,
the Pharaoh at the time, At the time of Moses' birth, the Pharaoh
had ordered all male Hebrew babies to be killed. Moses was a male
Hebrew baby. God spared him. God spared him
physically. God spared him spiritually. And
I love this too. Instead of Pharaoh's orders leading
to Moses' death, Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house. Isn't that
something? Does that not show you who's
in control? Does that not show you who has their way? Does that
not show you the goodness of God? What was special about Moses?
I'll tell you what was special about Moses. It says he was a
goodly child. He was chosen in Christ. That's the only good
thing about him. God chose him. Christ was in
him. Christ was in him and he was
in Christ. And it was all by God's work. It was all God's
doing. That's what was special about Moses. And if there's going
to be something special about you or me, that's it. That's
it. That's it. Moses was just out
here living his life. thinking he's something when
he's nothing, no knowledge of God, no desire for Christ but
God. But it pleased God to appear
unto him and reveal himself to him. Make himself to reveal his
son in him. That's exactly right. Who are
we? Sinner. That's it. Nobody, nothing. That's it, nobody. Who am I that God should call
me and send me to deliver His people? Who in the world am I? Turn to Ephesians chapter 3.
The Apostle Paul had a similar confession. Ephesians 3 verse
7. Ephesians 3 verse 7. Paul writes, Now here's his confession. who am less than the least of
all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." What he's saying
is, who am I that God should be so gracious to me, that his
grace should come to me, save me, make me to be a minister,
to stand and declare the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ, who am
I? Again, he was a man who was very
self-righteous, just like us. God came to him, knocked him
off, laid him low. That's what I pray God would
do for us. It's not a one-time thing. We
need that continually, continually. So easy to get lifted up with
pride. I'm telling you by experience. Paul said, I've become a fool
in glory and here's you a thorn in the flesh. Thank you, Lord.
I pray you take it away. My grace is sufficient. You're
going to keep looking to me. That's what we need. Now, this
resonates with me. I'm standing here trying to preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ right now. Please God, by the
foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. I'm standing
here. Pray God is with me, but this matter of who am I, it's
not just for preachers. It's for all of us. Let's take
this a little further. Who am I that I should come into
God's house and worship Him? Who am I that
I should be so privileged to be here where God's put His name
and given us a true understanding of His Word and someone to hopefully,
honestly, and sincerely declare Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Who am I that I should get to partake of that? Who am I that
I should get to hear the gospel preached and have faith to believe
it? Who am I that I should be enabled
to behold this great sight like Moses did? Who am I? Who am I that I should get to
be called a child of God? Child of the King, redeemed of
the Lord, Who are we? Who am I? Who am I that God should have
anything to do with me other than cast me into hell
forever? You ponder that. We need to ponder
that. Because that is exactly what
we deserve. It's exactly what we deserve.
I love this verse. David said in 2 Samuel 7, verse
18, he said, I pray we can say the same thing. Oh, it's like
David said there at the end. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
and assured in all things. Who am I that he should be so
gracious and merciful to a wretch like me? Who am I? Praise his
holy name. Praise his holy name. God doesn't
save those who deserve it. Nobody deserves it. Nobody. There's one who's worthy, and
that's Christ. That's it. Look back in our text, Exodus
3 verse 11 again. Exodus 3, 11, and Moses said
unto God, who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? I love the Lord's response. And
he said, 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 out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this
mountain. I'm going to end the message
just by breaking down this verse. I see four precious promises
that God gave to Moses right here in verse 12. I'll briefly
mention all four of these. First, he said, certainly I will
be with thee. Let me tell you something. Some
of you have been in the faith a lot longer than I have. Perhaps
most of you. If God is not with us, we will
not make it. Has that been your experience?
Well, it's time for me to figure this thing out and keep myself.
Pray I never get to that place. Moses prayed in Exodus 33 verse
15, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Lord, if you're not gonna go
with me, don't let me go. What a great thing to pray before
standing here and trying to do this. Lord, if you're not with
me, don't let me get up there. Or don't let a word come out
of my mouth. It's true in preaching, but again,
it's more than that. This is true for all God's people.
We need Him to be with us. Always, every moment, whatever
comes our way, know this, child of God, He will be with us. He
said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I think
this is one of Gabe's thousand favorite verses. It says, For
I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand. Saying unto thee, fear not, I
will help thee. I like to think it gives my children
assurance when I hold their hand. I love holding their hand. Brethren,
God's holding your hand. And he's holding us in his hand. Second thing right here, he says,
I have sent thee. I have sent thee. You're not sending yourself,
Moses. God forbid we send ourselves. When I stand to preach, God forbid
I send myself. I don't want to dare stand here
or anywhere else and open God's word and try to preach from it
if I don't feel convinced God has sent me. It's too serious.
Here's why. In Jeremiah, there's a verse
that says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. They
sent themselves. That's not what happened here.
God said, I've sent you. Rest assured, Moses. Be still. It's me. It's God. I've sent
you. I've sent you. Jeremiah, the Lord told him this.
In Jeremiah 1, verse 7, thou shalt go to all that I shall
send thee. And whatsoever I command thee,
thou shalt speak. I can't tell you how much that
comforts me. I'm sending you. You're going to go exactly where
I send you. You're going to declare the message I give you. And he
went on to say, I will hasten my word to perform it. He said,
I'll put my word in your mouth, and I'm going to do this. I'm
just using you to do it. God's work from start to finish.
And know this. When God sends, it's never going
to be in vain. He said, my word shall not return
unto me void. It's going to accomplish that
which I please. It's going to prosper in the thing where to
I send it. Because he sent it. It's his word. This is his gospel. By God's grace, we're his people.
Look into him. Third, he tells Moses, he said,
He said, the people shall be brought out. He said, when thou
hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, not if, when, when, not, well,
if they cooperate, if they're faithful, were the children of
Israel faithful? Are we? Do we now deserve God to do for
us what He's done for us? Are we worthy now? God forbid. You ever wonder if you're going
to be delivered from your afflictions? You ever begin to doubt? Gabe just preached on this. He
is faithful. The Lord who called us, he's
faithful. He's faithful. And God promised. And He's faithful
that promised. God's the one who called us,
and He that called us. Faithful to do it. Faithful to do it. Now, who are we that God should
deliver us? That's the message. Who am I
that God should deliver me? Who am I that God should be mindful
of me? What is man that thou art mindful of him? We're unworthy and we're unfaithful. But Christ is worthy, and He's
faithful to do that which He promised to do. Now lastly, at
the end of verse 12, He said, here's the token. When all this
comes to pass, you shall serve God upon this mountain. You're going to go. I'm sending
you. You're going to go to Pharaoh. You're going to deliver my people.
He went on to say down here in our text, you're going to tell
him Let my people go, and he's gonna say no. But God's gonna
see to it that he eventually will, when it's time. And he
said, when this is all said and done, Moses, you're gonna come
right back, right here on this mountain, and you're gonna worship
me. Don't you love that? That that
is so, That's so certain to me. That's so, it's not, well, we'll
see how this thing goes. No, you're gonna worship me right
here. Right here. What a God. What a great, glorious
God we've been blessed to know and blessed and privileged to
worship. May we never cease to wonder, who am I that God should
do this for me? That God should have mercy on
me, a sinner. Glory to his name. All right, you're dismissed.