In Exodus chapter 3, God calls Moses to be his ambassador. To stand before one of the greatest
kings that this world has ever known. And before the Hebrew people,
who by now are just a broken people with no hope of redemption. and demand from the one and appeal
to the other to bow to the message of God's sovereign will concerning
the children of Israel. That's what he told this man
to do. If you'll notice, when God's talking about coming down
to deliver and send them through the wilderness and give them
the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites, Moses don't say
a word. And then God says, come now, and I'm going to send you.
And he said, wait a minute. Who am I? Who am I? Moses was now a shepherd. All
his royal garments was gone, and all connection to the throne
of Egypt had disappeared. He had nothing of himself to
glory in, nothing of himself to offer. or bargain with. He had no title, no invitation,
and no affection into the land to which he went from either
side. And he was given no weapon. He
had a shepherd's staff. Given no weapon, no army to intimidate
And yet he was to stand in the palace of the God of Egypt. That's
what Pharaoh claimed to be, God. And that's how he ruled. And
that's how they treated him, bowed and worshipped him. He
was going to stand in the palace of the God of Egypt and declare
to him and those that he held in bondage the commandment of
God. God said. God said. I think I'd want to know his
name. Wouldn't you? God said. Everybody says God said. But
it means something different when God's ambassador says God
said. And they said, what's his name?
And then he tells you. There's a difference. And I think
realizing the reality and the magnitude of this mission, knowing
something of the pride and arrogance of Pharaoh, and knowing the This
broken enslaved spirit of Israel, Moses proposed a question. He
said, when I come to the children of Israel and they shall say
unto me, they're going to say this. He said, I know what they're
going to say. They shall say unto me that the God of your fathers
has sent me unto you. And they're going to say, what's
his name? What shall I tell them? What shall I tell them? I find in this question a question
that every true child of God must be brought to ask. What
is the name of this God by which these claims are made? What's
his name? Who is this God? Now it's God's intention to send
a man with a shepherd's staff into the kingdom of the God of
Egypt and tell him to bow down to the demands of the living
God. You think about that. It's God's counsel and sovereign
decree to send a man unto an enslaved people with no weapons,
no training, who are now, I don't know a better word for them than
institutionalized, just like a convict in prison. After so
many years, he's a convict. He can't even make it. They turn
him out, and they do something to go back in, because they can't
live out here. Their whole life is made up of
this bondage and enslavement, and that's all they've ever known.
That's all they know. That's why the natural man comes
in here and hears a few messages, and out the door, he can't take
it. It's not like what he's used to. He don't feed on the same things
you feed on. He don't love the same things
you love. Now Moses is going to go to these people who by
now are institutionalized as slaves and command them to follow
him into another land. Not only follow him against Pharaoh
and against that opposition, which is just insurmountable,
But with nothing. They had nothing. They were slaves.
They didn't have any possessions. Moses said, you're going to follow
me. And the God of your fathers is going to lead us into the
land of Canaan, which is way, way. And there he's going to give
you the land, and that land's already occupied. He's going to take you into another
land, which is also inhabited and well fortified, and take
it away from them to have for a possession, promised to them
in a covenant with these three men that you call your fathers,
who've been dead for years and years and years. What a message. What a message. So I think this
was a fair question. Moses asked, don't you? I think
it was a fair question. I think it was a question I would
have asked had I been there. And even more, I know it's a
question because I have asked in which God has given me the
answer. What is His name? Who is this God that says, I
save and no man can hinder? I do all my will. I do all my... Who is this God? It's not the
same God they're preaching at this revival over here they're
holding for the next two or three days. It's not the same God.
This God, this God says, I'll do what I will. That God says,
I'll do what you let me do. Now, there's a difference. There's
a difference. It's a question I've asked. I
sat out there. I believed in all that free will.
I believed in all that mess. I believed in all man's decisions
and his destiny being in his hands and all that kind of Tommy
Rock. I believed in that. And I sat there. And one day
I heard this name. And I said, oh, who is this God? Who is this God? Why ain't somebody
talking about Him? Oh. He ruleth in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Our God is in the
heavens, David said. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. What he pleased, that did he
in heaven, earth, and hell, and all deep places. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Oh, listen to this, Exodus 3.14,
God said unto Moses, I am that I am. What an answer. And He said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me, has sent you
unto them. I am. Let me give you three or
four things tonight about this name of God, the great I am.
The first thing I want you to see here is that there is no
knowing God apart from divine revelation. Moses didn't know
this God. He didn't know anything about
this God, about this name, this glory. He'd heard about God. You can't tell me these The children
of Israel didn't know something about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They knew something about them. They knew something about their
history. And they knew something about God. But they didn't know
anything at all about this. He said, who shall I tell them
sent me? And God said. You see, that's
where it comes from. God said. What can and must be
known of God can only be known by divine revelation. God is
spirit. He is invisible. I get so tired
of hearing these idiots on TV talking about seeing God. I saw
God last night and He spoke to me and told me to build a statue. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15,
speaking of the God-man Christ Jesus, it says He is the image
of the invisible God. The invisible God. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 17, Paul
refers to Christ. He said, Now unto the King, eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Oh, that's what he
saw in Christ. And then in Hebrews 11, verse
27, it says, By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the King, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Invisible. How did he see Him?
He saw Him by faith. Spoke to Him out of that bush.
Told Him His name. Hit Him in the cleft of the rock.
Let Him see His hinder part. Let Him see His glory. He declared
unto Him who He was. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. And whom I will I'll harden.
I'm God. That's who I am. Moses endured seeing Him who
is invisible. The only way you can see the
invisible God is by faith in Christ. In this thing of deliverance,
the first thing that must take place is a declaration of the
name of God. We've got to know something about
this God. That's what this whole thing
of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel is all about, is
to declare who God is. and to show you in the person
of Christ and the work of Christ that God's not trying to save
all men. If He was trying to save all
men, all men be saved. God's not trying to do anything.
God's doing exactly according to the counsel of His own will. Ain't that what it says? Regardless of what the religion
of our day has to say about dreams and visions Feelings and experiences,
the only way God can be known is for God Himself to make Himself
known. He has to do it. And the name
of God is who He is. Paul makes that clear in Romans
chapter 10. You cannot call on the name of
the Lord if you don't know His name. You can't do it. You can't
do it. Now they knew the name of Pharaoh,
didn't they? They knew his name. That's what
struck fear into their heart. They knew his name. His name
dictated where they lived and how they lived and most especially
what that life was all about. They were born under his authority,
born into slavery, knew nothing but slavery. The oppression of
this evil god king was to command them to do what he told them
to do and then to leave it up to them to provide their own
material. That's always the way of false religion. All worldly
religion commands men to work and then makes it their responsibility
to provide what they refuse to give. Isn't that right? The more they complain, the more
they just put it right back on. Put it right back on. You need
to give more. That's your problem. You need
to come more. You need to do this more. You
need to pray more. You need to do this more. There was nothing
there except rumors and conjectures passed down from the days of
Joseph as to the name of God. What can and must be known of
God can only be made known by divine inspiration. And then
the second thing, and this is where I think we need to give
some attention to, is why God made himself known. He didn't
have to. They didn't deserve it. Why did God make Himself known?
He tells us, He comes down to deliver us. That's when God makes
Himself known. God makes Himself known to save.
He's not making Himself known to these guys out here that have
turned their back on Him and turned their back on every bit
of light that God's ever shined on them. He's not out there declaring
his name. He has no intention of saving
them. He declares his name to men and women he intends to save. That's who he declares his name
to. He said, you go tell my people,
my people, down in Egypt. You go tell them. And then all
of you, all the elders of Egypt, come with you. And you come right
up to the palace of the king, and then you tell him. You tell
him. Oh, God makes Himself known to
say in Exodus 3, verse 8, 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 and so on, unto all these heathen
nations, and give them that land. And therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of Israel is coming to me, and I have also
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them.
Come now, therefore, and I'll send you. I'll send you down
there. Now, surely everybody here tonight
knows by now that Jesus Christ is the one true revelation of
God. That's the brightness of the
Father's glory and the express image of His person. That's where
that name is declared as far as the revelation can be known
by a man. It can be known in Him, that
revelation. The very last book of the Bible,
and which bears the very name itself, begins with these words,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now that's what the whole book,
that's what everything was about up to that point, and everything
from that point on was about, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that sums it all up. God
reveals His Son, reveals His name to those who are objects
of His affection. And then think about this, old
Moses, he wasn't out there tending sheep on his knees praying that
God send him down to Egypt. He wasn't planning on going.
He was just surprised. If you can read that and not
realize that Moses was shocked out of his shoes, God said, come
now and I'm going to send you. Whoa, wait a minute. It's just
like he said, wait a minute. Who am I? Who am I? go down into Egypt. He wasn't
doing that. This was all by the sovereign
grace of God. He set that man apart. How shall
they preach except they be sent? God set him apart and sent him
down to Egypt. God was already in their hearts.
He was already doing the work in their hearts. They were already
crying out. They didn't even know who to
cry out to. They were just crying out. Crying out. That's the way we get. God sends
something in our lives to intervene and just stop that natural flow
of things and he just, pow, whatever it is. I know one man he sent
a disease to, crippling disease, took away from him his career,
took away everything. He had multiple sclerosis. And I can remember like yesterday
hearing him tell so many. It just thrilled his heart. Somebody
come in that church and tell him. He said, I just thank God
for EMS. They said, EMS? He said, yeah,
multiple sclerosis. He said, if God hadn't given
me multiple sclerosis, I wouldn't have heard his gospel. And that's
the truth. That's the truth. Oh, how he
rejoiced. He rejoiced. God intended to
keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were now
with Him in glory and looking on to see this promise that was
given to them fulfilled. What an evidence it ought to
be to you and I when God sees fit to reveal His name unto us. The only way to know God is for
God to make Himself known. And when God makes Himself known,
it's a sure evidence that He intends to save them that hear. You remember those Jews? They
sent out spies to spy on them, and they sent out spies to listen
to John the Baptist, and they sent out spies for inquiry among
those where Christ did miracles and so on among the people. These
Jews just kept sending out, and they'd come and listen to them.
and poke at him and send the doctors of the law out there
to question him and try to trick him and trap him and all that
kind of stuff. Finally, they got fed up with
it. And they said, if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Tell us. He said, I told you. I told you. But you hear not, because you're
not of my sheep. That's the problem. My sheep
hear My voice. When God makes Himself known,
He makes Himself known to save. And then thirdly, let's just
look at that name He gives Him here. I Am that I Am. You know, when you deal in the
Old Testament with the names of God, try to bear in mind that
no one name, no one name, no one thing can fully express the
name of God. All of these different names.
I think there were 14 names in the Old Testament and New Testament
which God revealed to men and called Himself. Jehovah Jireh
and Jehovah Sid Canoe and Jehovah Shalom and all these different
names. But when dealing with these names, no one name truly
tells it all. Only in Christ is His name manifested
as far as it's possible for that revelation to be known. And up
to this point, God had revealed Himself as God Almighty. I'll give you a reference to
that one of these days. I don't have it tonight. But
He had revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph
as God Almighty. God Almighty. But now, He expands
the revelation. And He said, I am that I am. Now, I am means all-sufficient
one. That's what that means. All sufficient
ones. In the Old Testament, it's a
couple of names that I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce.
And in the New Testament Greek, when he talks about I am, it's
Ejah, E-J-A-H, I think, or E-J-E-H. But it means all sufficient one. It means the unchangeable one. It means the ever-present one. That's what this name means.
Certainly, he told Moses, I go with you. Why would I send you
down to Egypt? Why would you even think a thought
like that, that I would send you down to Egypt and not come
with you? He said, you know, I already
told you I came down. I came. This is the all-sufficient
one. So he's our ever-present, all-sufficient,
unchangeable God. And he's the God of. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. He was their God as He was David's
when they were curiously wrought in the bowels of the earth. That's
what David said. He knew me then. Back yonder,
every how long ago it was, when God scooped up that piece of
red earth and formed man and breathed in his nostrils, David
said, you knew me when I was curiously wrought in the bowels
of the earth. He said, you knew me then. You
knew me then. Oh, he was their God, same as
he was David's. And he was their God when he
called them out of heathen idolatry, as he did their father Abraham. And passed by one to choose him,
as he did in Jacob. And to provide a sacrifice in
their stead, as he did to their father Isaac. And He is their
God as He speaks now to Moses. You know, the Lord Himself gives
a commentary on this. We read these Old Testament scriptures,
and I'm the same as you. I don't get anything out of this,
but after 30 years of hearing it preached and studying and
looking into these things, I'm beginning to see a little bit
in here. And the Lord Himself gives us
a commentary on this declaration, I am the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Over in Matthew chapter
22, where He's talking about His resurrection. And the Lord
just turned around and looked at him, and He said, but as touching
the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which
was spoken unto you by God? Have you read that? I am the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
God is not the God of the dead. What he was telling Moses was
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, they're all right here
with me. And I am their God right now,
ever present. And they're looking on and seeing
the promise fulfilled. I'm not the God of the dead,
but of the living. And those who believe in, trust
in, and follow me never die. He's the God of Winston Warwick. If he's your God, he's the God
of Winston Warwick, and he will not change, and you will not
perish. That's what he's telling them.
He's the all-sufficient one. In Christ, He goes into some
detail as to what this sufficiency is. If you go through the book
of John, take you a special marker, and every time you see these
words, I am, mark it. Mark it. He said, I am He which
was for to come and who would tell you all things. I am the
water of life. I will be in your well of water,
springing up into every last I am the bread that came down
from heaven. I am the light of the world.
I am the true vine. I am the good shepherd who giveth
his life for the sheep. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am. I am. The grand and glorious revelation
of Christ is that of the all-sufficient, ever-present, unchangeable God. The living God reveals Himself
to men to save. In John 5, verse 24, it says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed, passed from death
unto life. Paul says in Colossians chapter
1, he's the firstborn of every creature. Therefore, that which
gives him purpose and being. Everything out there has its
purpose and being in Christ. He's the creator of all things,
sustainer of, Lord of all things, preeminent over all things. All
things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. Moses said, who am I that I should
go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel?
Certainly, I go with thee. Now here's the last thing I want
you to think about concerning the name of God that He gives
us to declare. The revelation of His name is
sufficient not only to save but to serve Him all the days of
our lives. There is such a sufficiency in
the name of God that it transcends, now listen to me, all circumstance. You ever heard somebody and you
try and talk to them about the Lord and they say, yeah, but
what if? What if? What if? What if? Somebody said
take all them what ifs and put them on a silver chain and hang
them on the neck of Christ. That's what you do. There is
such a sufficiency in the name of God that it transcends all
circumstance, all opposition, all enemies, and all powers.
Listen to what he tells Moses here. Exodus 3, verse 18. He said, I have come down to
deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. to bring them
up out of the land unto a good land, and a large unto a land
flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of these heathen
nations." Now this promise, this great I AM, there is such a sufficiency
in that name that God speaks as though it were already known.
He said, here is what I am going to do. And you go down and tell
them I AM told you that. This promise transcends all the
opposition of Pharaoh in Egypt. There ain't nothing empty in
this thing. He said, here's what I'm going
to do. And he ain't going to listen to you when you tell him.
They're going to hear you, but he ain't. It transcends all the
opposition of Pharaoh in Egypt, all the unbelief of Israel. All
of the natural obstacles like the sea and the wilderness and
the lack of bread and no water. Their clothing didn't wear out.
Their shoes never wore out. Forty years out there tomping
around. All of their idolatries and doubts
and all of their ignorance of worship and all the walled cities,
fortifications and giants and canyons. There was such a sufficiency
in His name that it transcended all those things as though they
weren't even there. He said, here's what I'm going
to do. Here's what I'm going to do. Oh, no wonder Paul said,
if God be for us, who's going to be against us? Huh? Now that's
the thing. Is He for us? He is in Christ. He is in Christ. I heard somebody
say one time this big giant of a fellow was in front of him.
And he said, I didn't know what to do. And he said, I knew if
he hit me one time, I was a goner. So he said, I did the only thing
I could do. He said, I hugged him. He said, he can't hit you
while you're hugging him. He said, I hugged him. And I'm
telling you, that's what to do with Christ. Yeah, you don't
want Him to hit you. Just hug Him. Embrace Him. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Oh, He said, certainly I go with
you. When you're asked who sent you,
you tell them the great I am. The all-sufficient, ever-present,
unchangeable God of glory. And this is my name forever,
God said to Moses, and this is my memory. unto all generations. And you go tell my people what
I've given you to say, and they're going to hear you. They're going
to hear you. I don't have a doubt that God's
people are going to hear what I preach. They're going to hear
it. God's people will. Those who
ain't God's people are going to stomp and throw their Bibles
and whatever. But God's people are going to
hear. They hear. My sheep, he said, hear my voice. And I tell you the name of God
is that by which God's people are delivered in particular.
It's given with purpose and on purpose to a fixed and unchangeable
end. And some will hear and some won't.
And the some that will, the some that will not have nothing
which to charge God. If you could ask Pharaoh today,
he wouldn't have a thing he could charge God with. How many times did God warn that
man? How many times did God speak
to him? And not harshly. He said, we beseech thee, Moses
said. You go down and tell him we beseech
you. Let us go. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't
do it. And then he'd repent for a little bit. For a little bit. And then he'd harden his heart
again. He was warned, he was instructed, he was threatened,
and each time he hardened his heart. Now listen to me. Each
time God hardened his heart, God hardened his heart. Beware
of how you hear the name of God declared and His sovereign will
and salvation. The hardness of your heart may
be the wrath of God that abides on all those who believe not
on His Son. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God." How does the wrath abide
on them? They don't hear and they don't
see. He that believeth not the Son.
Jesus Christ is that prophet like unto Moses who come unto
us bearing the revelation of the great I Am, the All-Sufficient
One. All God's sufficiency is in Christ. And when Judas led that mob there
to take the Lord, he said, whom do you seek? And one of them
said, Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord said, I am. Ain't
that what he told them? And they fell backward on the
ground. I am the all-sufficient one. Come and get me. Come and
get me. Oh, may God be pleased. Not to
just let us see that name, but to see hope in it, see deliverance
in it, salvation in it. That's what Moses, he declared
that name not in the abstract to those people, but in the light
of deliverance. He said, I've come down to deliver.
Now, here's my revelation, here's my name, the All-Sufficient One. Who does He deliver? Those who
find their salvation in His sufficiency. Find Him to be all.