So we're moving into Exodus chapter 3, and you'll see I'm sticking with Exodus for a little while. Where we go shortly, I'm not sure, but anyway. Chapter 3 this week. I'm going to say again what I keep saying, and I keep saying it because I want it to be absolutely clear in your minds, that the Bible, this book that we have, is God's revelation to the multitude of humanity that he loved from eternity, it's the revelation of his salvation of them, his salvation of his people, his multitude, his elect multitude.

Out of this world of sin and rebellion and condemnation for sin, it's Him coming to redeem them, to save them out of that world into His glorious kingdom. And the means is Christ. It's the revelation of Christ. It's the revelation of God, our Redeemer. God is the Redeemer of His people. God is the payer of the ransom price of His people.

And my prayer always, for myself, And for all who hear me is that we might know him, oh that we might know him. This is what Paul said, oh that I might know him, that I might know him, that I might believe him, that we all might believe him, that we might fear him, reverence him, worship him.

That we might rejoice in him, rejoice in all that he's accomplished and all that he's revealed to us. That we might live looking for his appearing, because he is coming again. That we might hope for his kingdom, because his kingdom is glorious. You may be fascinated by the things of this world, but they're just fleeting for a season. His kingdom is eternal. And because in this gospel is life eternal. In this gospel is life eternal.

My text is Exodus chapter 3, those verses we read earlier. But the title of the message is in verse 8. where there God says to Moses, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. I am come down to deliver them. That's our title. I am come down to deliver them. God came to earth to redeem, to pay the ransom price, to pay the release price of his chosen people from the world of Egypt, and that pictures the ransom from the world of Egypt, it pictures he's coming down in the person of his son to redeem his elect multitude, that multitude from every tribe and tongue and kindred into his glorious kingdom. So I've got three points this morning. First of all, Moses prepared. Secondly, God appeared, and thirdly, God's message to Moses and to you and me today. First of all then, Moses was prepared. Moses was prepared. We saw in chapter 2 about him being born. He was a Hebrew baby.

But as all male Hebrew babies at this time, at the edict of Pharaoh at that time, he was to be drowned at birth. That was the sentence passed by Pharaoh on all the Hebrew children. And the midwives, you know, didn't obey Pharaoh, they obeyed God, and they saved as many as they could. But Moses was destined as a baby to be drowned at birth in the River Nile. But that baby, in the purposes of God, who is over all, was raised as the heir to the throne of Egypt. That baby that was destined to be drowned on the edict of Pharaoh was to be adopted as Pharaoh's grandson. And he became the heir of the throne to Egypt. And he grew until he was 40 years old. And he was steeped, he was prepared, he was steeped in the culture of Egypt. He was educated to the highest standard. He was surrounded by the religion of Egypt.

And we know a lot about that from archaeology. You know, you can visit today the pyramids with their religious significance of preparation for the afterlife. You can go around the British Museum and you can see treasures taken from Egypt, the mummies, the dead pharaohs, the dead kings whose bodies were preserved in spices and bandages. You can see these things. They had a great respect and interest in the afterlife. Moses was exposed to all of these things.

But you know, before that, his first few years, he was weaned by his own mother. Remember that miraculous thing in chapter two, how God ordered affairs for Pharaoh's daughter to come and be moved with compassion towards this baby crying in his little ark in the bulrushes. And she wants to adopt him, but she doesn't want to raise him. So she gives him back, not knowing, but she gives him back by the intervention of Moses' sister, Miriam, to his own mother who raised him. She fed him, she breastfed him, she raised him until he was old enough to go to the palace and to be adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. I'm absolutely sure that in those childhood years, you know, this is so important, you younger ones listening, it's so important to listen to the gospel of grace because his parents, his parents, I forget their names now, Jokabed, wasn't it? Amram and Jokabed, that's it.

They taught him the gospel. I'm sure of that. I'm sure they taught him the gospel. You say, how could they teach him the gospel? It was 1,500 years before Christ came. How could they have taught him the gospel? Because the gospel is in the book of God, right from the very, very beginning. In chapter three, at the end of it, the way to the tree of life is guarded, and there's only one way to the tree of life, and that's through blood redemption. through the promised seed that would come. His mother and father taught him the gospel as a young child. They taught him. How did they get it? How did they know it? Even though 400 years these people had been in Egypt, this gospel was handed down. Where was it handed down from?

God showed it to Abraham, who taught it to Isaac. God reinforced it to Isaac, who taught it to Jacob. Jacob learned it in his sinful wanderings, and yet nevertheless God had his purpose upon him and handed it down. It was handed down to his sons, to Joseph. who went down into Egypt. That gospel was handed down. They knew it. It must be, because it was God's purpose that from that people, from that line, would come the promised seed of the woman who would crush Satan's head, who would redeem his people from the curse of the law.

And Moses, as a child, before he went to Pharaoh's palace, had been taught that. I'm absolutely sure he had. And then he went to Pharaoh's palace and was exposed to all of those things. And he was there until he was 40 years of age. And then as we saw last week, but let me remind you now, Moses made a choice in Hebrews chapter 11 we read about this because in the purposes of God we don't just have the account in Exodus we have it reinforced with Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter 7 and then again in the faith gallery in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 24 by faith Moses When he was come to years, 40 years old, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was the heir to the throne. He was the adopted heir to the throne. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing, he made a choice, choosing rather to suffer affliction.

Choose you this day whom you will serve, said Joshua to the people when they went into the land that was promised to them. Choose you this day whom you will serve, Moses chose. rather than all of the riches in Egypt, to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And he esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For why? He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. His eyes were set on that promised inheritance of salvation, that promised inheritance of eternal life.

He made his choice. He made his choice and he decided to go out and leave that. He wasn't going to be the heir to the throne of Egypt. He wasn't going to do it. He went out and he acted rashly. He acted hurriedly. He thought, the time's come, I've made my choice. I'm going out. These people are going to leave this country. I'm going to use all of my political influence, all of my knowledge.

I'm the heir of the throne of Egypt. these people need to come out of this country and I'm going to lead them out I'm going to do it by political diplomacy so he goes out to try and get things moving to talk to the people of Israel and he sees a taskmaster treating a Hebrew cruelly and he kills the Egyptian taskmaster and hides his body in the sand and looks all around to see if anybody had seen him and doesn't see anybody.

But then the next day, it becomes obvious that he was seen. And so, having acted rashly, having murdered the Egyptian taskmaster, fear. He was full of courage what he was going to do to accomplish the purposes of God for his people. But now he's a man of 40 years old who's terrified because he knows that Pharaoh is going to have him killed for this.

This is a terrible thing. This was a treacherous thing. He's a traitor to Egypt. He's going to die for that. And he flees. He runs away. He runs away to Midian. And we saw it at the end in the last verses of chapter 2. He runs away to a desert place. He runs away to a desert place and by the providential purpose of God, he comes across these girls who are the daughters of the priest of Midian.

And they're trying to water their flock and other shepherds stop them. So Moses intervenes and helps them and he gets taken into the family, and he's given one of the daughters for his wife, and he becomes a shepherd. A shepherd. Do you realize how significant that must have been for Moses? He was steeped in Egyptian culture. Do you know, in Egyptian culture, I don't know why, I cannot be absolutely certain why, but a shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians. Joseph told them. Joseph told his brothers, don't tell them you're shepherds. A shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. And Moses, who'd been taught that most of his adult life, he becomes a shepherd. And he becomes a shepherd. He's 40 years old. He becomes a shepherd for another 40 years till he's 80 years old. He's away from Egypt. He's away from the distractions of that world of Egypt, from its allurements, from its riches. And he has time alone to think and to pray.

And God's preparing him. God's preparing him. in a time scale that we would think is ridiculous. It's more than a typical lifetime. Time for God to make him ready. to do what he has for him to do. Do you know, there's a lesson for all of us in this. We tend to be impatient for the kingdom of God to come. We tend to be impatient for things to come our way on that road to the kingdom of God. And we get impatient, but God assures us, just wait, just wait. If you were to look at Habakkuk chapter three, Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 3, God says this to Habakkuk.

He's wondering, when are these things going to happen? When is justice going to be put right? When's it going to happen? And he says in verse 3 of chapter 2, for the vision is yet for an appointed time. Who has appointed the time of what he's going to reveal? It's God that has done it. He will do it in his time. He says, but at the end it shall speak and not lie.

Though it tarry, wait for it. Though it seems to drag on and on and on, patiently wait for it. Because it will surely come. It will not tarry indefinitely. If God has said it's going to happen, it will happen. Many times, scripture calls on the people of God to wait. Psalm 37, verse 34. Wait on the Lord and keep his way.

That doesn't mean go into idle do-nothingness, but it means be sure that you know that all things are in the hands of God, and we should seek his guidance with the things that we do. You know, often in the Old Testament account, Somebody, a leader, would be rebuked because he didn't inquire of the Lord. Lord, what will you have us to do? Will you have us go there or will you have us do this?

Inquire of the Lord. The people of God were to inquire of the Lord and wait on him to open doors. Isaiah 40 verse 31, I think I showed it last week. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Because all things are in his hands. He says, they shall mount up with wings of eagles. Those wings of eagles are the wings of faith, believing in God.

Wait on God to open doors, as Paul did. Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 9 says, a great door and effectual is opened unto me. One of the letters to the church is in Revelation. I think it's in Revelation chapter 3 and I think it's Philadelphia. I'm not absolutely sure. But he says, God says to the people there, I have opened a door and no man can shut it. And other doors he closes and no man can open it. We wait upon the Lord. So Moses was prepared for the work that God had for him to do. Where was he prepared?

He went to Bible Seminary, didn't he? Which Bible Seminary? He went to Midian Desert Bible Seminary, and God taught him there. Don Faulkner said of Jonah, Don Fortner said, what was the Bible seminary that Jonah went to to teach him how to preach to the Ninevites? It was Wales Belly Seminary. He went to Wales Belly Bible School and there he was taught of God to preach the gospel.

Moses was taken from a royal palace with a royal inheritance to a lowly shepherd's existence in a very poor place in the desert to make him meek It says later of Moses that there was no man who was more meek than Moses. Although he was such a great leader, who in God's purposes accomplished great things, he was meek, he was lowly, he was down. There used to be a song that we used to sing, he that is down need fear no fall, he that is low no pride.

He was taken from the wisdom of Egypt to what in the world's eyes is foolishness in order to confound its wisdom. You know what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 27? But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, Midian desert, to confound the wise, all the culture and power and riches of Egypt. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen. God chooses that which is weak, that which is low. When I am weak, then I am strong. My strength is made perfect in weakness is what God says to his people.

The world and its politics and its diplomacy expects great politicians to work wonders on the international stage, when years ago, it's quite a long time ago now, it was the years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, I think, but there was Henry Kissinger, and whenever a crisis occurred in the world, everybody was thinking, oh, Henry Kissinger will sort it out. Henry Kissinger will go and get the parties together. He will speak to them, and then he's got a way with words, and he'll use his great political diplomacy, and things will get sorted out.

The world expects that. Moses was fresh from the palace and its culture. You would think, yeah, perfectly suited. Why not just get on with it then? He's got all the power of the politics of the palace in Egypt. No, not in the purposes of God. He needs to be prepared. How's he prepared?

For 40 years of humbling experience as a shepherd in the Midian desert. And then, as it says, when Christ came in Galatians 4 verse 4, when the fullness of the time was come, then the fullness of the time came for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham. What? I thought we're talking about Moses. Yes, we are.

But he used Moses to fulfil his promise to Abraham. What did God promise to Abraham? I will make of you a great nation. In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Why? Because from you shall come the promised seed of the woman. the gospel, the Christ shall come.

This promise to Abraham was that your people, the people that will physically descend from you, will inhabit this land of Canaan, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now the time had come for God to fulfil the promise that he made to Abraham. And so, so, God appeared.

Here's the second point. In verse two, There he is in the backside of the desert. It's not just in the desert, he's in the worst place of the desert. He's in the most lowly place of the desert, the backside of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, which is Sinai, even to Horeb, that's Mount Sinai, where God met with them and gave them the law later on when they came out. And it says in verse two, And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses to 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. This was a dry, dry desert place. It would be a very dry bush. If you've ever set fire to some very, very dry wood, like a dry bush like this, it goes whoosh! In no time flat, it's gone. It doesn't hang around long.

But here, the angel of the Lord appeared to him out of this bush. The angel The angel of the Lord is the messenger of the Lord. And the messenger, that's what angel means. When revelation is written and it's to the angel of the church, it's to the messenger of the church, the preacher of the church. Ephesus, at Thyatira, at Laodicea, all of those. Angel means messenger, and the messenger here that appeared is the angel of the Lord, the messenger of the Lord.

This is Christ the Lord, Christ the Lord. You see, we know it's him because in verse 4, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see this flaming fire in this bush, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, Moses, Moses. It was God, the Lord, who called to him. This angel of the Lord is God, the Lord. God called to Moses.

In Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1, We read there in Malachi chapter, the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts. The Lord whom you seek, God whom you seek, you expecting God to come into time to do the redemption of his people, to fulfill the promise of God from the foundation of the world, from the fall in Eden, He's you're looking for him. He's the Lord whom you seek and he shall suddenly come to his temple.

He shall suddenly There won't be great preparation that if suddenly he shall come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant He's the one who speaks the words of God's covenant of grace the messenger of the covenant shall come to his temple to his temple Well, yes He walked around that second temple when he came.

Our Lord Jesus Christ walked around that second temple in Jerusalem. He ministered in that temple. He taught in that temple. But that's not the temple that he's talking about. The Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. What is his temple?

In John 2 verse 21, we read there that Jesus, when he's talking to the disciples, and he said, see these stones, they'll all be taken down, and in three days I'll rebuild them. And the Jews said, you can't do it in three days, it took 46 years. And then it tells us in John 2, 21, Jesus was speaking not of that temple of a pile of stones, he was speaking of the temple of his body, of which the pile of stones is just a picture.

It's just a picture. He would come to his body, he would appear, God would appear in his body, the messenger of the covenant. God the creator is hidden from his creation. God the creator, we read, he dwells in light unapproachable. You can't come near it, you can't get near it. He's invisible, God is invisible. Yet all around us, creation shouts intelligent design. I put an article in the bulletin, you'll see, it says in Romans chapter one, I forget the verse, but mankind in general is without excuse for disbelieving God because all around shouts the intelligent design of God.

But why can't we see? Because sin and rebellion has separated between God and man. So that when Moses later in Exodus in chapter 33, he asked that God would show him his glory, God says in Exodus 33 verse 20, no man shall see me and live. No man can possibly look on the essence of God and live. Why? Because he's holy.

To an extent that we just cannot, as sinners in this flesh, in this world, we cannot come close to comprehending. the enormous great gap between the holiness of God in heaven. No man shall see me and live. It cannot possibly be that a sinful man can look upon the holiness and the perfection of God and live. You can't do it. Yet by grace and by redemption's payment in the lifeblood of God himself, God incarnate, God in Christ, By that way, the unknowable God is seen as the friend of sinners. John 1 verse 18, no man has seen God at any time.

The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. God, in the person of the messenger of the covenant of grace, appeared to Moses, in this verse 2 of Exodus 3. He appeared to Moses. God, who you cannot look upon, but in the person of the messenger of the covenant of grace, appeared to Moses, the sinner, to give him a message of redemption from bondage. Look how God appeared.

It was a flame of fire in the midst of, and the word there for bush is really a thorn bush, a prickly thorn bush, the sort of thing that we shy away from. Fire speaks of the righteous judgment of God. Our God is a consuming fire. Our God is of purer eyes than to behold evil.

He cannot look upon iniquity, yet He came into creation to speak with a sinner, and he appeared and he spoke. Who is it that spoke? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was the Word of God. The Word of God is the expression into His creation. It's the manifestation into creation of the hidden God. No man's seen God at any time, the only begotten Son. He has declared Him. The Word was with God and the Word was God.

And He, God, spoke to Moses, the sinner, from a thorn bush. The thorn bush speaks of the curse of sin on creation. Genesis 3, 18, thorns and thistles it will bring forth to you. In that which symbolized fallen man, that which symbolized fallen man, God spoke to Moses. God spoke to Moses.

It says in Romans 8, verse three, God sent forth his son in the likeness of sinful flesh. This angel appeared in a thorn bush. God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh. When God appeared in the children's flesh to redeem them from sin, it says in Isaiah 53 verse 2, he was as a root out of a dry ground.

There was no comeliness that we should desire him. He was like this bush, this dry prickly thornbush. He was a root out of a dry ground. The dry thornbush burned with fire, and it would be consumed in an instant. It burned with the fire of God's glory, the Shekinah glory of God. It burned with the symbol of God's judgment, righteous, holy judgment against sin. But the physical manifestation of God made like unto sinful flesh, this bush was not consumed. Whereas you would expect a dry desert bush to be consumed by fire, this one was not.

You see, God incarnate knew no sin. He knew no sin. In the likeness of sinful flesh, yet he knew no sin. But he was made sin. He was made sin when he was made the sin of his people, to pay the price of that sin. But even then, He was not consumed by judgment, for he rose from the dead. He rose from the dead. He saw no corruption. He didn't suffer the corruption of hell. He saw no corruption. He was raised to newness of life. He was raised for the justification of his people.

What a great sight this must have been. Verse 3, Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. It's amazing, there it is, the flame, this Shekinah glory of God flame of righteous judgment on a bush that should have been gone in an instant was not consumed. What a great sight was presented to Moses. in this barren place. The Shekinah glory of God shone in the eyes of Moses. God had said, no man shall see me and live, and yet the Shekinah glory of God shone in the eyes of Moses. What an alluring sight it must have been. I will turn aside and see what this is. This is fascinating. I must go and have a closer look. Look at verses four to six.

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and he said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, don't come any nearer. Draw not nigh hither. Take your shoes off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. He's coming near, fascinated. interested in what this site is. Stop, says God.

Take your shoes off. You're on holy ground. The world's defilement, the world's sin, must not come into the presence of God. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. But God in Christ, God in Christ, told his disciples to take their shoes from off their feet, didn't he? in that upper room. God, in Christ, told his disciples, take your shoes from off your feet.

Why? Because he was going to wash their feet. He was going to wash their defilement of this world off their feet. Is that not fascinating? Whenever man was to approach God, and it happens several times in the Old Testament, take your shoes off your feet. This is holy ground. You cannot stand on holy ground with the defilement of the world.

But God in Christ in that upper room told his disciples to take your shoes off your feet and then he washed their feet of the world's defilement. But here Moses was afraid to look because no man, no sinner shall see me, the holy God, and live. Yet he declares himself, God declares himself to Moses to be the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

What do we know about all three of those? They're sinners. They were all sinners. Jacob was a great sinner, a cheat, a scoundrel, a swindler. They're sinners, but they're redeemed. And when he's speaking to Moses, 400 years after they've gone, they're living in heaven. They're alive in heaven. The people, the ones saved by God, they're alive in heaven. Just as Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, they're alive in heaven. and they're representing God's beloved people who have walked through the fire of divine judgment in Christ and not been burned.

Did you hear what I said? In Christ, because his people, the multitude that he loved from before the beginning of time, are united with him. And whereas you or I on our own would be instantly consumed if we walked through the fire, yet in union with Christ, like this bush, we walk through the fire of divine judgment and are not consumed and are not burned. Isaiah 43 puts it like this in verse two. This is God speaking to his people. He says in verse one, he's the God, the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, the people of God, and formed thee, O Israel.

Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, and thou art mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. And when you walk through the fire, the fire of judgment, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, and so on. That was the experience of Daniel's friends, wasn't it? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. but God walked with them in the person of his son. He walked through the fire which was picturing the judgment of God, like the fire in this bush, but the bush was not consumed and they were not consumed.

Do you not feel that we're treading on holy ground here. You say this is just an ordinary room. Yes, I know that. There's nothing special about this. But when we think on these things, when we think on these truths, these mysteries of God, great is the mystery of godliness.

We're treading on holy ground. or that God would shine light into the hearts of his people, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that he would give faith so that man who cannot look upon God is called by God in Isaiah 45 and verse 22, look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am God and there is none other. So then, quickly, God's message to Moses in verses 7 and 8. He says, I've seen the affliction of my people in Egypt and I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them into the promised land.

God was aware. That's a poor word, isn't it? God says he knows. He said at the end of chapter 2, verse 22, God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant. He hadn't forgotten his covenant. He's always aware of his covenant. He knows the very hairs of our head. He knows about every detail of his people's affliction in this world of sin.

He knows about the sorrows of his people and he's come to deliver them out of Egypt's slavery and take them to the liberty of the promised land. And that is a picture. It actually happened. But it pictures Christ coming down. in a body, in his temple, the body of his flesh, to redeem his elect from bondage. He came to redeem his people from the curse of the law by being made that curse for them, and to take them to their eternal inheritance.

Here is the promise of great salvation, from Egypt's slavery to the promised land, to promised land liberty, and nobody else is able to save them, God alone. How would they escape if they neglected it? It says in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? We won't escape if we neglect it.

How did Christ come down to deliver his people from the curse of the law? It tells us in Hebrews chapter 2, if I can find it quickly, Hebrews chapter 2. where it tells us that he's coming to bring many sons to glory. He's coming, it says there in verse 10, in bringing many sons to glory, he's coming down to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. And what did he do? What did he do? Verse 14, for as much then as the children The elect of God, the multitude, are partakers of flesh and blood. We live in bodies of flesh and blood. He also, our God, in the person of his Son, the Word of God, himself took part of the same. Why?

So that he might die as the substitute of his people. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. What was the devil's power of death? His power to accuse the people of God of sin and therefore of deserving of separation eternally from God, so that God could not have these things called human beings in his presence for eternity. He, Christ, came to destroy him that had the power of death.

By what? By partaking of their flesh and blood. and dying in their place to pay the price of justice to the holiness of God, and to deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, because he didn't take on him, our God didn't take on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Adam.

He doesn't say that. It's just the seed of Abraham. It's the people that he chose in him from before the foundation of the world. This is what God did. He came down to save his people from their sins. He adopted the nature of his people in order to die in their place, to deliver them. He came down so that his people might have abundant life.

I am come, said Jesus in John 10 verse 10, that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. even that penitent thief on the cross next to Christ when he died, no righteousness of his own at all, none whatsoever, but there he was promised, today you will be with me in paradise.

Do you know that this life is yours? How shall you escape divine justice? How shall you escape the consuming fire of God into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall if you neglect this salvation? Our Lord Jesus Christ is this true God who appeared in the thorn bush of of human flesh to Moses, who came down to redeem his people.

His name is I am that I am, the self-existent, the eternal God, who came down in Christ to redeem his people. He said to the Jews, this is what he said to them, John 8, 24, if you believe not that I am he, what is your name? I am that I am. If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. and that's a dreadful thing. You'll die with your sin debt outstanding. You'll die responsible for it, and the judgment of God must instantly consume you. I call on you, and anyone who will hear, seek him while it is still today, while it is still the day of salvation. He's promised, it's in his word, he's promised it, that if you seek with all your heart, you will find him, and you will find life eternal. Well, God willing, next time, we'll look in more detail at that name. I am that I am. But for now, we'll leave it.