Alright, open your Bibles, if
you would, again to Exodus chapter 3. The title of the message is I Am. The Lord here in this chapter,
day in red forest, tells Moses one of his names, I Am. And this chapter illustrates
how I Am deals with men. He's going to show us in a picture
here how I Am save sinful men. Now the name I Am reveals the
real being of God. Shows us who God really is. John
Hill says He's the being of beings. And how does the being of beings
deal with men? How does the being of beings
save sinners? Now all the different names of
the Lord reveal something of His character to us. And there
are several things the name I Am reveals to us about God. The
first one is God's eternal. I Am, this name I Am, in one
name, I don't understand how this is, but this is what all
the writers tell me, has every tense of the word to be in it.
I was, I am, and I shall be. And I always shall be. From everlasting
to everlasting, He's God. I am. Someone said he's the great
is-ness. God just always is. There's no
past, present, future tense with him. He is. I am is. Moses couldn't tell how the fire
in this bush started. He didn't see lightning. He didn't
see somebody start. He wondered. How'd that fire
start? And there's that bush that's
not being consumed. I'm going to go see. He couldn't tell how
that fire started. It's not recorded. They ever
saw that fire go out? To Moses, as far as he could
see, that fire didn't have a beginning and it didn't have an ending.
And that's our Lord. God's eternal, without beginning
of days or end of days. And there's no need to prove
the existence of I Am. I Am just is. God, I Am. He dwells outside of time. Time
is so critical to us. I've just always got to know
what time it is. I've got my watch. I'm just so tied to what time
it is. There's no time with God. God
sees everything at once. Today is the same as the day
of creation to God. He sees all of human history
at once. Israel had been in Egypt 430
years. Now that's a long time to us.
430 years. And almost that entire time has
been spent in horrible bondage, generation after generation.
And that seems like such a long time for that nation to be suffering. But it's all now to God. We see
history unfold day after day. God sees it all now, exactly
as He secreted it to be. And now is the moment that God's
going to go deliver His people from Egypt. 430 years, but now
the Lord's going to deliver His people from Egypt. Shouldn't
that tell us to wait on the Lord? Now. He'll be on time. He's not going to be late. Wait
on the Lord. And spiritual Israel, this is
a picture of spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel has been in
bondage to sin a long time. almost the whole time of human
history, man has been under the bondage of sin. But God's not
worried. At the exact moment that he decreed,
I Am came into this world to deliver his people from the bondage
of sin. At the exact moment that God
decreed, I Am appeared to remove that yoke of the law from off
of his people. And this is something that's
just wonderful to me. I am, the eternal I am, the being
of beings became an embryo in the womb of a virgin and was
born an infant. That baby laying in that cow
trough is I am that I am. A child is born, but a son is
given. That child had a beginning, the
son didn't have a beginning. He was given. The Son of God,
the great I Am, is eternal. Second, the name I Am tells us
that God is self-existent. God has His being in Himself. We get our being from God. We
get our life from God. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Life is God's to give and it's
His to take away. We're dependent upon Him. But
God's being is in Himself. He's not dependent on anyone
or anything else. We say, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. God says, I am that I am. He's self-existent. And this
burning bush shows us how God is self-existent. That fire burned. That was a real fire. It wasn't
an optical illusion. That was a real fire. But the
bush wasn't consumed. It didn't burn the bush up. Because
the fire didn't need to bush. The fire was self-existent. And
that fire, the angel that appeared unto Moses out of that fire,
is self-existent. This is none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look over in John 8, I'll
show you that. This is the name that our Lord took to himself
in John chapter 8. Beginning in verse 56. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. And the Jews said
unto him, Art thou yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen
Abraham? And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. This is his name. They knew exactly
what he was talking about. He said, I am. Now at this time,
The Lord didn't say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He didn't say, I am the bread
of life, I am the door, I am the light. All those things would
be true. To be crystal clear of who He is, He said, I am. The very same one that spoke
to Moses out of that burning bush. I am God and everything
that that means. And He appeared to Moses in a
flame of fire. Now fire in Scripture is given
to us as a symbol of God's judgment. Our God is a consuming fire,
Scripture says. I Am became a baby, grew to be
a real man. Yet, He was still God. He was always God. And He came
to bear the curse of sin. All the writers say that this
bush that was on fire that Moses saw was a thorn bush. A thorn bush. And thorns are
always symbols of the curse of sin. When Adam fell, God told
Moses, the ground is going to bring forth to you thorns and
thistles. This was a thorn bush. I Am took
on him the sin of his people. And he was made to be a curse
for his people because of our sin. And all of the fire of God's
wrath fell upon our substitute. But the fire of God's wrath did
not consume the sacrifice. The root out of a dry ground
was not consumed by that fire. Just like the bush was not consumed.
That bush was not consumed because God was in that bush. Our substitute
was not consumed because He is God. He is, I am. Instead of Christ, our sacrifice
being consumed, the fire of God's wrath was consumed. It exhausted
itself upon our substitute so that wrath doesn't exist anymore.
Now the flame of God's wrath for sin will never touch anyone
for whom Christ died because he extinguished it by taking
it all in his body on the tree. And if you look over at Isaiah
43, this also applies to the flame of fire of trial. That
flame Not going to harm you. I know it seems like it hurts,
but it's not going to harm you. It does hurt, but it's not going
to harm you. It'll burn off some draws, but
it won't harm you because Christ our Savior is with you. Look
in Isaiah 43. I guess I should get there. Verse two. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers,
based on the overflow of thee, when thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon you." Why not? I will be with you. That's because
I will be with you. Third, the name I Am tells us
that God is immutable. Now, you children are mutable.
It's just a five dollar word that means God does not change.
God doesn't change, ever. You know why change happens in
this world? It's because of sin. We all change. Take a picture
of yourself and look at it in a couple of years. We all change.
It's because of sin. All we do is change because that's
what we are. Sometimes we change by trying
to improve our outward behavior. We have to do that because we're
so bad to start with. We have to try to clean up the
outside of the platter a little bit. And as we age, We change
and get worse. We get weaker. We get more frail.
We get more forgetful because the effects of sin are always
attacking us, causing us to change. We change because there's a defect
in us. Our nature is born defective. There's no defect in God. He
never changes. Change and decay and all around
I see. O thou that changest not. Abide
with me. And he will. He will abide with
his people because God's love for his people is like him. It
never changes. It doesn't even vary. His love
doesn't get stronger and weaker. It's always perfect. Just a straight
line. It's always perfect. God's grace. It'll never change. Ever. His
grace is always sufficient to save. Whatever situation you
ever find yourself in, write this down. God's grace is sufficient
for that situation. It never changes. And when God
does finally change our vile bodies, we'll never change again. Ever. Because we will awake with
His likeness. No reason to change anymore.
We'll awake in His likeness, with His perfection. God never
changes. I Am never changes. Fourth, the
name I Am tells us that God's holy. Look here in verse 4 in
Exodus 3. It's damn red to us. When the Lord saw that Moses
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, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet. For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Now,
God is holy. And that ground was considered
holy because God was in that bush. And he told Moses, you
take off your shoes. Now, he said that because taking
off your shoes here in this context is a sign of humility. It's a
sign of reverence and respect. People in Eastern religions still
take off their shoes and leave them at the door. They do that
because it's a sign of reverence and respect. similar to Moses
here. In Joshua 5, verse 15, Joshua
is getting ready to go take Jericho. And he's out walking, planning
what's going to happen. And he meets the captain of our
salvation. And he told Joshua, get your
shoes off your feet. This holy ground. You don't come
to God through your normal walk through this world. You don't
come through the way of this world or the wisdom of this world.
You don't come to God through your works. You don't come to
God in your shoes. They've got the dust of this
earth stuck to them. God's not going to have a molecule
of this earth in his presence. He's not going to have a molecule
of our sinful works in his presence. You've got to take off your shoes.
God's holy. Now, this is comfort. This is
so encouraging. God told Moses, you're welcome. to approach me as long as you
come with shoes off. You're welcome to approach me
as long as you come as a sinner. Come to God. Come to Him humbly
as a sinner. Come to God as a sinner begging
for mercy. How foolish would it have been?
You know, the writers, I don't know how they know this, but
every one of them says this. Moses, it's been 40 years now
since he left Egypt. Forty years he's been here. And
they say Moses has been wondering and wondering and wondering about
his people back in Egypt. Why are they in slavery? Wondering
what's going on. How foolish would it have been
for Moses to walk up to that burning bush with his shoes on
and say, Lord, I've decided to let you send me down there to
Egypt and set your people free. I've decided, Lord, to let you,
let me go down there and say, God must have struck him down
on the spot. How foolish is that? A sinner comes to God in Christ. And as a sinner, as we are, come
empty. Not just with your shoes off,
come empty and naked and humbly. God welcomes sinners as long
as they come as sinners. Fifth, the name I am. tells us that God's a covenant
God. Look at verse 6, God told Moses, moreover, I am the God
of my 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. Now God always deals with men
through a covenant, through the promise of God. He's the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that tells us three things.
God's the God of election. God's the God of life, and God
is the God of sinners. The God of Abraham. God chose
Abram. Abram wasn't worshiping God.
Abram was an idolater in an idolatrous country, and God called him out
of there to be the father of the faithful. Abraham didn't
choose God. God chose Abraham and said, get
out of your father's house and go to a place I'll tell you.
He's the God of election. He's the God of Isaac. Isaac
was given life from a dead womb. God gave the son of promise. God gives promise life. He's
the God of life. And God is the God of Jacob.
We all know about Jacob, don't we? He's a scoundrel. He's a
cheat. He's a supplanter. But God is
the God of Jacob. He's the God of sinners. Now
that ought to encourage a sinner to come to Him, don't you think?
And God told Moses, I'm going to set that nation free, those
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I'm going to set them
free because of my covenant with Abraham. I told Abraham, I'm
going to bring your descendants to this land and they're going
to and they're going to have it. Now, the Lord never saves
anybody because they're worthy. Everyone that the Lord saves,
he saves because of an eternal covenant of grace. We're saved,
not because we're worthy, but because Christ is worthy. He
fulfilled the covenant. And that made Moses worship. It didn't make him mad. It didn't
make him say, well, now that's not fair. What about my friends
I grew up with back there in Egypt? You know, they're all
grown men and women now. What about that woman that raised
me as her own son? That's not fair. You're passing
her by. Moses didn't say that, did he? He heard about the God
of election. The God that gives life. The
God of sinners. And he hid his face. Afraid to
look upon God. Worshipped God with his face
in the dust. And here's another thing about
the name I Am. It has to be revealed. Moses didn't know this name.
And never would have figured it out. God had to reveal it
to him. Moses, I Am. Now here's a blessing. This is
what you can put in your lunch bucket and take to work with
you tomorrow. The great I Am shows us how he saves his people. Five key words in verses 7 and
8. See if you can pick them out
when we read them. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people which are in Egypt. And I have heard
their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their
sorrows. And I have 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."
The first word is seethe. God said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people. Now, God's elect. They need saving
from sin. Just like this nation Israel
needed to be saved from Egypt. They couldn't deliver themselves
from Egypt. Now think about this. I Am has set His affection on
a people. And think about it now. Israel. This is a people in a terrible
condition. They're slaves. They are completely
under the control of a wicked people. They're oppressed. They're degraded. They couldn't
even stop the Egyptians from taking all their boy babies,
with the notable exception of Moses, and throwing them in the
river to drown them. I mean, they're helpless. They're
powerless. They can't do anything. No one
would want to be an Israelite in Egypt. They're in a horrible
situation, an embarrassing situation. Everybody worldwide looks down
on Israel. bottom of the barrel. Yet I Am is not ashamed to be
called their God. I Am said, those are my people. I've seen them. And the nation
Israel is a picture of spiritual Israel. God's elect are in the
exact same spiritual condition. We're in bondage to sin. And
sin is a cruel taskmaster. It entices you and entices you
with pleasures and just ruins you. And we're a people who are
wicked and vile, enslaved by sin. And we've been in bondage
so long, we don't want to go free. We're comfortable being
right there in bondage to sin. We're not thankful. We're not
looking for God. Yet, I Am is not ashamed to be
called their God. I Am. Says, those are my people. I see them. They're my people.
Well, of course, God sees them. God sees everything. No one's
hid from God. Nothing is hid from God. Hagar
said, Thou, God, seest me. He sees everything. Of course
he does. But this doesn't mean just see, you know, like I see
where y'all are sitting. This means to see with regard. God saw Cain just as well as
he saw Abel. But God saw Abel with regard.
He saw Abel in the blood of that sacrifice. He saw Abel in Christ
with regard. He saw Cain with the fruits of
his worms. God saw the Egyptians just as
well as he saw Israel. But God took special note of
his people. He took special note of the affliction
of his people. And God's going to fulfill his
promise to Abraham. Those people he sees in bondage
there in Egypt. And that's just like spiritual
Israel. God saw spiritual Israel fallen in Adam. He saw them fallen
into bondage to sin. He saw them under the condemnation
of the law. He saw his people afflicted by
sin, tormented by the law. But he's promised to deliver
them from sin, death, and hell. God sees His people with special
regard and He'll never lose sight of one of them. Ever. I've seen
my people. The second one is heard. I've
heard their cry. I am. He hears the groans of
His people. You rest assured. You cry unto
God. He hears you. He heard Israel's cries of pain,
their cries of torment. He heard their cries for deliverance.
God hears the cries of His people. His ear's not heavy that it cannot
hear. Cry to God. Would you cry to God for mercy?
And do it like blind Bartimaeus. Don't quiet down. Cry to him. If he doesn't answer, cry some
more. If somebody tries to hush you, cry louder. Cry to him. Keep crying. I Am hears the cries
of his people. And it's not just a noise that
he perceives. He has compassion. on their prize. Look at Psalm 116. Psalm 116, verse 1. I love the Lord, because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications, because he hath inclined his
ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live. He hears his cry. He inclines
his ear to the cries of his people with compassion. He hears. The third word is know. God says, I know their sorrows. Now again, God knows everything.
Of course he knows. But this is talking about a special
knowledge. A knowledge with compassion and
identification with his people. God's elect are born into this
world dead in sin. We're born in a dead and dying
flesh. And I Am knows. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we're dust. How can I Am, the eternal, unchanging,
self-existent, holy I Am know my frame? Because He took upon
Him our frame. in order to be our substitute.
He knows our frame. I Am knows our sorrows. He knows our sorrows that are
caused by sin. And how can the I Am, the holy
I Am know the sorrows of my sin? Because he became a man, acquainted,
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And he was made to
be sin for his people. He knows a whole lot more about
the sorrows of sin than we do. He took on Him those sins. And
I Am, the Eternal I Am, without beginning of days or end of days,
He knows the sorrows of death. Because He died as a substitute
for His people. He died that His people may live. He died the death that we deserve.
I know, He says, I know And every trial that we go through, every
step we take on this planet, I am has been there first. Hebrews chapter 2. He suffered
everything that we suffer, yet without sin. He knows. And with that knowledge comes
the ability to comfort. Hebrews 2 verse 17. in all things that behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered,
being tempted." He's able to succor, he's able to comfort
them that are tempted. I know, he says, I know, I know
the sorrows of my people. And he's able to deliver. is come down. He says here, I
am come down to deliver them. How the great I Am came down
to be our Savior. How far can we imagine I Am came? How far did I Am come down to
be a man? It's a whole lot farther than
we can ever imagine. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9, you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be made rich. He was made poverty. Look over
in Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 verse 6. This is what Hap Yates says is
the longest journey that was ever made. Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God? But he
made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself. He came down and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. I Am came down, down,
down to deliver His people from the condemnation of sin. The
One who stood as a substitute for His people and bore the condemnation
that their sin deserves is none other than I Am. He came to bear
our condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. He came down to deliver His people
from the curse of sin by being made a curse for us. And He has
removed that curse from His people because He was made to be a curse.
Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. I Am came down,
down to where we are, to deliver His people from the power of
sin. When He gives those people spiritual
life, they're born again, He says, shall not have dominion
over you. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. And I Am came down. He came down as far as to go
into the tomb to deliver his people from the fear of death.
He died to take the sting out of death. He came down. And the fifth word is bring up. Bring up. I've come down to deliver
my people and to bring them up out of that land to a good land.
I Am is going to come down and bring His people up. Bring them
up out of sin into righteousness. He's going to bring them out
of law up into grace. He's going to bring them out
of bondage up into freedom. He's going to bring them out
of darkness up to light. He's going to bring them out
of sorrow up into joy. He's going to bring them from
death to life. He's going to take them out of that kingdom
of darkness and translate them into the kingdom of His dear
Son. And brother, you're not going
to go out empty. Look at the end of the chapter
here, verse 21. I'm going to bring my people
up. And I'll give this people favor
in the sight of the Egyptians. See, the Egyptians have looked
down on them, been oppressing them. I'm going to give my people
favor in their sight. And it shall come to pass that when
you go, You're not going to go empty. If they're going to give
you all their silver and their gold and their best clothes,
you're going to put it on your sons and your daughters, and
you're going to go up. And you're not going to go up
empty. You're going to go up full, filled with the Spirit
of Christ. I Am is going to take His people
out of this land of sorrow and death. He's going to take us
out of this land of sin and out of this body of sin. And He's
going to take us to a land of glory, where we will be forever
with the Lord. Is it a land flowing with milk
and honey? Got pearly gates and streets of gold? I have no idea.
And I don't care. Tell me this. If I am there,
then that's glory. And that's where I desire to
be. I am. I'm going to bring my people
up. I've seen. I've heard. I know. I'm come down. And I'm going to bring up. You
notice there's no invitation there. He didn't say, Moses,
now would you like me to do this? Moses, would you like me to come
into your heart? No, this is Moses is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to save my people from their sin. I'm going to deliver
them out and they're going to go up full. Now, this is interesting,
let me give you this in closing. Salvation is of the Lord. We read these verses, this work
of salvation, this work of delivering God's people from Egypt is all
the work of the Lord. He said, Moses, this is what
I'm going to do. I'm going to deliver my people from bondage.
But look in verse 10 where he tells Moses, Moses, I'm going
to deliver my people from Egypt, but come now, therefore, and
I'll send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring my people,
the children of Egypt, the children of Israel of Egypt. Now in all
this work of salvation, all this work of deliverance, Moses is
not even mentioned because this is all the work of God. God's
will is that those people be free. But then he sends Moses,
a man, to go to Pharaoh to preach his gospel to those people there.
And Moses can go there in full confidence because of verse 12.
And I am said, certainly, I will be with thee. Moses can go in
full confidence because God's going with him. Now, Moses has
been in this desert for 40 years. He forgot everything he knew.
Moses is 80 years old. I remember Henry saying one time,
Moses, you reckon you'd get kind of old for this kind of work?
Wouldn't it be good for a younger man to go instead of Moses? He's
not going to have the energy to go do all this work. Wouldn't
it have been better 40 years ago When Moses was in the strength
of his life, he was confident, he was sure. Wouldn't it have
been good at that time for Moses to lead the people out of Egypt?
Moses had plenty of vim and vigor. He had the best education and
money to buy. Moses had friends in high places. Wouldn't it have been good for
Moses to deliver his people then? No. No. God had to take all of
the starch out of Moses. It took 40 years in the desert. for Moses to learn to trust entirely
in the Lord. Forty years it took him to learn
that. Moses saw more God in the desert than he ever would have
seen in Pharaoh's court. Bruce Crabtree made this statement
last month, I think it was, in the preacher school. He said,
you can be too great for God to use, but you can never be
too little. God whittled Moses down for 40
years. He didn't have any ability left.
He didn't have any strength left. He forgot everything he learned.
Now, Moses can serve the Lord. And he says, Moses, you go. You
go and you preach the gospel. You go and give the people my
message. And Israel's going to hear you.
Israel's going to believe you. The Egyptians won't. They're
not going to believe you. They're going to hate you. They
won't let them go until I do mighty works. But you go tell
them anyway. comeeth by hearing. Moses, you
go preach. You leave the results to I Am. I can be comfortable with that.
Can't you, John? I can be comfortable with that.
I just preach and leave the results in the hands of I Am. Because
we have this promise from Him. I'm going to deliver my people.
I've seen them. I've heard their cries. I know
them. I've come down to where they
are. And I'm going to bring them up. I am that I am. Okay. Lord bless you.