Let's go back to Exodus tonight,
chapter three. Exodus chapter three. If you
were with us last Wednesday night, I began a message on questions
and answers. Moses asked a question and God
answered it. And then Moses asked a second
question and God answered it. I'll review the first question. Moses' first question is found
in verse 11. And this follows the Lord's commandment
to, the Lord's words that He's going to send Moses to deliver
the children of Israel out of their Egyptian captivity. lead them forth out of Egypt.
And Moses said in verse 11, Exodus chapter three, 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 thought a good deal about this
question that Moses asked. I think this indicates two things. Number one, his meekness. His
meekness. He's got a humble spirit. And
the Word of God speaks to that. Hold your place here and go over
to Numbers, if you would. Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter
12. Moses was very rarely angry. It was unusual for him to lose
his temper. He did on a couple of occasions.
But it was in the nature that God gave him, the personality
God gave him. And all of us, you know, we have
different personalities. We remember this. God gave us
the peculiar characteristics that we have. When I say they're
peculiar, I don't mean odd. I mean they're peculiar to each
of us. We have our own characteristics.
Don't ever try to be somebody else. You used to be yourself. I remember many years ago, I
was talking to some older preachers, and I said, who do you think
about when you get behind the pulpit? Are you trying to kind
of be like somebody that you have great esteem for? And they
said this, just be yourself. Just be yourself. And I say to
you men when you get up here to speak for me or when you get
up here to read the Scriptures and pray, just be yourself. Your own personality has to come
out. Your own characteristics have
to come out. lead us to the throne of grace.
Don't go into another voice. Don't try to get real pious sounding
and religious sounding. Talk to God before all of us
just like you talk to us. Don't put on airs with God or
put on airs with people. Just be yourself. And Moses,
God made him to be a humble man, a meek man. And that's a good
quality to have. Are you there at Numbers chapter
12? And Miriam, Moses' older sister. Numbers 12.1. And Miriam and Aaron, Moses'
older brother. They spake against Moses because
of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian
woman. Perhaps his first wife has passed
away. Or they may be even thinking
back to this woman, to the woman that he had married. And verse
two, and they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And this is what they forgot.
The Lord heard. You see that word, it, is italicized. That means the translators put
that in to kind of make it a full sentence, but the Lord heard
as he hears everything. Now, parentheses. And the Spirit of God had Moses
to put these words in. Now, the man Moses was very meek. above all the men that were upon
the face of the earth." That is quite an unusual statement. The meekness and the humility
of Moses exceeded, exceeded the meekness and the humility of
all other men on the face of the earth. That's why Moses was not, he
was never prone to retaliate against anybody. You remember
that rare occasion when the Israelites kind of drove him to the breaking
point, and he said, must I fetch water from this rock for you? And he smote the rock in disobedience
to God because he had already smitten the rock one time. Our
Lord Jesus was smitten once with the rod of justice. The next
time God told him to speak to the rock, said, go in before
the Lord and take the rod of Aaron, that is the high priestly
rod, the priestly rod. And then as the priest interceding
for the people, speak to the rock and water will come out.
But he hit the rock. That was a fit of anger. And
Aaron was angry too. But that was a rare occasion
for Moses. He was not one to retaliate against
people or seek vengeance against anybody. And in that, he's a
picture of our Savior. Our Savior who walked on this
earth. He said, come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn
of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. Our Lord didn't retaliate. He didn't seek vengeance against
those who wronged Him. And He had many people who wronged
Him. They were ready to kill him. A person other than our Savior
most likely would have had this idea, hey, if you're going to
pick up stones and throw them at me, I'll throw them right
back at you. I'll get back at you. You know, Stephen was a
meek man. He was a humble man. It doesn't
mean that he could be very strict in preaching the gospel, and
he was. But when he was being stoned, he prayed for the people
who were stoning him. Don't lay this to their charge.
And our Lord was a meek and a humble man. When our Lord was being
crucified, what humility. And everything that they did
to him, The spitting, the beating, the nails, all of it. He didn't get angry. He didn't get upset. In fact,
the scripture says in Hebrews chapter 11, when it came to the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was a joy set before Him. The joy of redeeming His people. There was no reluctance on His
part. He submitted to the sovereign
will of God. This was God's will. And when
you and I, when we're called to suffer, may God give us a
measure of meekness and humility to remember this is my Father's
will. Don't be rebellious against him
and if somebody does you wrong, I know what the natural response
is. You do me wrong, wait till your
back's turned, I'll get you. Savior wasn't like that. And
Moses wasn't like that. He was a meek man. Our Lord Jesus was led as a A
lamb to the slaughter. A lamb, man owns a flock of sheep. He's leading a lamb and he's
going to kill it and have it for supper. That lamb doesn't know where
he's going. The lamb doesn't know his destination, but our
Lord did because he appointed his own death before the world
began. And yet he was humble and meek. He didn't go against those people. He wasn't rebellious against
them. He's led. He's led as a lamb
to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is done.
So he opened not his mouth. He knew exactly what was in store
for him because it was purposed in the covenant of grace that
he lay down his life for the sheep. He had to die to redeem
His people. And here's our meek and humble,
the Lamb of God. Not full of vengeance, but willing. Willing to go forth. You remember He said in John
chapter 10, nobody takes my life from me. I got the power to lay
it down, I got the power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my Father. He laid down His life. Nobody
took His life from Him. He died willingly. And He certainly did not threaten
with vengeance those soldiers who nailed Him to the cross They
laid that cross down on the ground and then the Savior, and I'm
sure He willingly, He just laid right down. They didn't have
to tell Him twice. Lay down and stretch out your
arm. He did it. He's a meek servant of Jehovah. He's doing God's will. He redeemed
us joyfully. He was glad to do it. He was honoring God. He was saving
His people by sacrifice on the cross. So Moses is a picture of our
Lord in the fact that He's a meek and humble man. And I tell you, we can learn
a very practical lesson here. When somebody does you wrong,
so I'm not going to speak to them anymore. I'm done with them. Didn't you do a lot of wrong
to God? He didn't cut you off. We're
quick to cut off people. I tell you, you wrong me, I'll
just cut you off. I won't speak to you ever again.
Boy, that's not a very nice attitude, is it? I told somebody not too long
ago, as I think back on my ministry, there have been several people
who cut me off. And I'm sure they thought I deserved
it. But I cannot think of any instance
where I've cut anybody off. Don't burn the bridge that connects
you to somebody. And don't seek vengeance. I tell you, this business of
meekness and humility, that's a quality that we admire, and
we admired in Moses. And here, verse 4, and the Lord
spake suddenly unto Moses. And I don't have time to go into
the rest of this, but the Lord said to Moses, Miriam, and Aaron,
three of y'all come over here. They left the congregation of
Israel. The Lord came down on a pillar of cloud to meet with
those three. He said, you hear my words. If
there is a prophet among you, I make myself known unto him
in a vision, speak to him in a dream, as he did occasionally
to Miriam and Aaron. But he says in verse 7, my servant
Moses is not like that. He says in verse 8, I speak to
him face to face. And the Lord then smote Miriam
with leprosy. Don't speak against His servant.
You see, Moses didn't fuss with his sister. He didn't quarrel
with her. He didn't seek revenge against
her and nor against his brother. See, Moses believed what we say
we believe. God is sovereign in all things. And He'll take care of things. I like the fellow down in Louisiana
told me this one time. He said a man had a farm right
beside a church building and he had plow his fields in the
springtime and in the fall whenever he had his big diesel tractor
made a loud noise. And he'd get on that tractor
while he was having preaching service. And somebody said, you
ought to go over there and fuss at that man. He said, no. I think
the Lord knows he's riding his tractor and revving it up to
try to disrupt our service. He said, God pays his debts,
but he don't pay his debts when we'd like for him to pay them.
But he always settles up in his time. And Moses believed that. And the Lord took up his cause.
Could we, as a people of God, could we trust the Lord to take
up our cause? and not be angry and vengeful,
upset. So I think this indicates, number
one, as you go back to the text, Moses' humility. Number two,
I said it indicates two things here. Here's the second thing. I know Moses was a meek man. He knew his limitations. But his question also, second
thing, indicated a weakness of faith. What had the Lord said? Look
at verses 7 through 10 again. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, I've heard
their cry back in Exodus 3 now. I've heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I've come
down to deliver." Listen to the words. I've 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 larch unto a land flowing milk and
honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me." Now remember,
he's speaking to Moses. And I have also seen the oppression
wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Now he says to Moses, Come
now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt. Moses heard the promises of the
Lord. It's one thing to know your limitations. It's another thing to forget
who it is that sends you. He's the all-powerful one. Tell
you what, if God gives a command to you to do His work, don't
you talk about, who am I? I can't do that. If God calls
you to do it, you can do it, though you're weak in yourself.
In your weakness, His strength is manifested. We have to be careful here. You
know, it isn't meekness and it isn't humility to, well, deny
the gifts that God has given us. Well, I can't preach. Well, now, God has given me a
little bit of ability to preach, so I can't sing. Really? You got a voice, don't you? You
can sing? Don't deny what God has given
you. See, Moses said, who am I? God
has said, I'm going to do this. And Moses said, who am I? God
said, I'm going to send you. Who am I? I'm nobody. I don't
have any abilities. Moses, if God says He's going
to use you, just be thankful. Be thankful. Whatever it is God
calls us to do, let's do it with enthusiasm, do it with joy, whatever
it is. Somebody said, if the Lord said
to one angel, go down and sweep a floor, he'd do it with enthusiasm
and joy. And if He says to another angel,
go down and rule the country, he'd do it with enthusiasm and
he'd do it with joy. because the command comes from
God. Whatever you do for God, and I speak to anybody who seeks
to serve the cause of God, whether you play the piano, play the
organ, you sing, you lead the singing, you preach, you teach
a Sunday school class, don't do it. Well, I can't do it, but
nobody else will. I guess I might as well. Put
some spunk into it. Be enthusiastic. When you vacuum the floor, when
you clean the toilet, when you fold a bulletin, do it with joy. Don't say, well, I can't do anything. See, Moses got caught up in his
inabilities. The issue, Moses, is not your
inabilities. The issue is, who is your God? And what did he call you to do?
And if he called you to do it, you can do it. You can do it. As God called a man to preach
the gospel, let him preach. Others may have better gifts. Others may have different abilities. But if God gives a man a message
and gives him a people to preach to, Who is that man to say, man,
I'm nothing. I can't do this. I thought you
said God called you. If God called you, He'll give
the ability to do what He called you to do. You know, I used to work at church
camp, and I'm thankful for that camp. That's where I met Nancy.
I met Nancy at church camp many years ago. But every Friday night,
I'd show the same movie, and before me, others showed the
same movie entitled To the Regions Beyond. And I'd see people every
year and every week, because we had camp five or six weeks
in the summer. And they'd go up, because they'd
say, who wants to volunteer for full-time Christian service? I'll tell you what's wrong with
today's religion. We've got too many preachers,
especially, who have volunteered. This is not a volunteer work.
You're drafted to do it. Some of us remember the draft
into the military. They didn't come say, you want
to go? Here, sign on this line if you want to go. That's the
way it is today. But there wasn't no, do you want
to go? It's, you're going. You're drafted. And I'll tell you, when God calls
a man to preach the gospel, he's drafted. He's drafted. Moses, I know in yourself you
have no ability, but it's God who called you. It's God who's
going to equip you. It's God who's already given
His Word. You will lead my people out of
bondage, and my people will worship me on this mountain. Get with
it. Get with it. Don't talk about
what you can't do. Talk about who God is. Talk about
who Christ is. The Lord promised him His presence,
and the Lord promised him that he and the children of Israel
would worship on that mountain. Get busy, Moses. Let's get busy. God's answer is probably not
the answer that Moses expected. But it's not a matter of man's
ability. It's a matter of who issues the
call. See, if God calls you to do something,
He'll give you the ability to do it. Don't you worry about
that. Passed by a place where there's
all these sick folks waiting for the troubling of the water
in John 5. The man had been there 38 years. The Savior walked over. The Savior stepped over all these
other invalid people and sick people and diseased people. Just
stepped over them. Walked over to one man. Said,
will thou be made whole? I'd like to get in the waters
when they're troubled, but somebody else gets in before I do. The
Savior said, I say unto you, rise, take up your bed and walk. And the man didn't say, but I
can't. I tell you what, if the Master,
if the Sovereign issues you a command, with the command comes the ability
to obey. And that man, he got up, rolled
up his little mat, put it under his arm, off he goes. With the
command comes the power to obey. And you know, that's the way
it is with sinners. I tell you to repent of your
dead works, of your idolatry, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
but my words aren't effectual. But if God speaks the words of
might and power and strength to your heart, with that command
comes the ability. You know what you'll do? You'll
turn from idolatry. You'll turn from trusting in
your false religion, your false God. And you'll turn to Jesus
Christ. This is the Savior I need. This
is the salvation for me. Salvation that's forever. Salvation
that's all of grace. Salvation accomplished by the
doing and the dying of the Son of God. With the command comes the ability
to obey. I know it's not going to be an
easy mission for Moses. But it's not His mission per
se. It's the mission God put Him
on. It's the mission God gave Him. Whatever God calls you to do,
I don't care what it is, do it with joy. I know Susanna runs the bulletins
off and I take them home and Nancy folds them. She's ever
so careful to fold them. Do it for the glory of God. Whatever
you do, do it for the glory of God. Anything. Locking the doors. Unlocking the doors. Giving a
bulletin to somebody. Speaking to people. Show some kindness and friendliness. Good to see you, brother. You
have no idea. There may be somebody in this
small group tonight who sure could use a hug or an encouraging
word from you. So I'm kind of shy. I see you talking. Anyway. Well, here's the second
thing. I've got to go quickly now. The second question. Moses
said, okay. Verse 13. Moses said, Behold, when I come
to the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God
of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say
unto me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? When
I go to them and I say, listen, I've come to lead this great
body of people out of bondage. The Lord sent me. Well, Moses, we don't see anybody
standing with you. You're here by yourself. And
you say, God sent you. What is His name? Who is it? Who sent you? And Moses said,
Lord, what am I supposed to say? And God said in Moses verse 14,
I am that I am. And He said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. He's
always the I Am, always in the present tense. From eternity
past to eternity future, from everlasting to everlasting, the
angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is always the I Am. He's always in the present tense. Everything is before Him. I know we're bound by time, but
He isn't. He made time. He created it. And He is the same now as He
was when He created the heavens and the earth. And He'll be the
same when He closes out the heavens and the earth, when He rolls
up the heavens, as Paul says in Hebrews 1, like a scroll.
When He destroys the earth or renovates the earth by fire,
He'll still be the same. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Like Moses, you see, we go forth
and we preach the name and the character of God. Our business, the business of
our church is to preach the Lord Jesus, the great I Am. We're telling people who He is. There's no need to tell them
what He did until you first of all identify who He is. He's
the great I Am. He's the eternal God. He's always
the same. He's Jehovah who saves. This
is the one, there is no past with Him, there is no future
with Him. This is the eternal God. And He says, I am. And that's
an expression or a phrase that our Lord used Himself during
His ministry. And John is unique in that he's
the one who keeps on bringing up the fact of the deity of the
Lord Jesus. And that's John's, the theme
of the Gospel of John is indeed the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. He's the Son of God. And so it's
John, not Matthew or Mark or Luke, but it's John who keeps
emphasizing He is the I am. The I am of the burning bush
is the I am who said, I am the bread of life. He is the I am who said, I am
the good shepherd. He is the I am who said, I am
the light of the world. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the door. I am the resurrection and the
life. I am the true vine. He is the eternal I am. The Jews in John 8 were talking
about, they were of their father Abraham. And our Lord said, your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And they said, well,
he's not even yet 50 years old. Abraham saw it. And our Lord
said, before Abraham was, I am. And they knew exactly what he
was saying. I am the eternal God. Picked
up stones to stone him. I am. In John 18, when they came to
arrest him, He saw them coming, this massive
bunch of soldiers. Here they come after him. He said, who, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth,
because justice can't have the Savior and the sinners for whom
he's going to die. And divine justice struck out
against Him and all of His people, all of the elect of God, all
of the chosen of God. We go free. Justice dealt with
Him. My friends, that's the good news
of the Gospel. That's the glad tidings. He took
my place. He died my death. I am. I am. There is a depth to that that
no human being can ever fathom. Our Lord Jesus is the I am. And
secondly, he says, you tell them, I'm the covenant God. You see
verse 15, and God said, moreover, don't leave this out. 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." That's
Trinity right there. You see that? That's Trinity. The three persons of the Trinity,
not three gods. but the three persons of the
Trinity in covenant union and agreement for the salvation of
a people chosen unto salvation. You tell them, Moses, who I am,
and you tell them this is my name forever, a covenant God. Oh, we rejoice in the covenant
of grace. And I'll give you this, one more
thing. What will be the result of this? God tells him what the result's
going to be. How are the children of Israel
going to receive this? That the One who sent Him is
I Am, and He's the covenant God. Verse 16. And gather the elders
of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me,
saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done
to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring
you up out of the affliction of Egypt, under the land of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, on the land flung with milk and
honey." And let me tell you something. The Lord is saying, once they
know my name, once they know who is sending
you, I am who is the covenant God. Verse 18, they shall hearken
to your voice. They shall hearken to your voice. There's a verse, Psalm 9 and
verse 10 says, they that know thy name will put their trust
in thee. Moses, once they know my name,
once they know who I am, He'll put their trust in me. And they shall hearken to thy
voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto
the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, the Lord God of
the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go, we beseech
thee. Three days journey into the wilderness,
that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Who is he? Who
is He? He's I Am. He's the God of the
covenant. Father, Son, and Spirit. The
God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of
Jacob. Well, let's sing a closing song.
Let's sing about the great power of our Lord Jesus Christ.