There will not be services tonight,
and we'll have services tomorrow night to bring in the new year
together and observe the Lord's table together. The Lord announces his name in verse 14, and God said to
Moses, I am that I am. Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. Look over in chapter five. And afterward, Moses and Aaron
went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
let my people go. that they may hold a feast unto
me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Now, Pharaoh asked
this question in haughty arrogance. Who is the Lord that I should
obey him? haughty arrogance. But there's not a more important
question that we could possibly consider. Who is the Lord? Interestingly, I saw a program
on TV this week entitled, Who is God? And Morgan Freeman, of
all people, was giving his take on who is God. He was traveling
to all kinds of different countries. They'd show him getting on the
plane and going to India. And then he went to Egypt and
all these different places to try to find out who is God and
look at the different religions, what they had in common so we
could find out who God is, who is God. And this was his conclusion.
He said, I believe God's in all of us. the best, the best version of
me is God. If the best version of me is
God, then you're in big trouble. Who is the Lord? Who is the Lord? Now, some 40
years before the Moses came into Pharaoh, he had thought that
the children of Israel would understand that he was the one
that was going to deliver Israel. And he sees an Egyptian mistreating
an Israelite and he comes to that Israelite's defense and
he kills that Egyptian in zeal for his people. And he thought
that his people would have understood how the Lord by his hand would
deliver Israel, but they didn't understand. As a matter of fact,
they rejected him. They rejected him. And he has to flee Egypt. And he spends 40 years on the
backside of the desert, tending his father-in-law's sheep. He
didn't even have his own sheep. He went from the wealth and influence
of Egypt. being the son of Pharaoh's daughter
to being a shepherd on the backside of a desert. Forty years pass,
and I don't know what was going on through his mind on the backside
of a desert, but let's pick up reading in chapter 3, verse 1. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro,
his father-in-law. He'd been doing this for 40 years,
the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside
of the desert. And he came to the mountain of
God, even to Horeb. It's what would later be called
Mount Sinai. Verse two, and the angel of the
Lord. Now this is a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he
looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. Now in this, we have a defining of the Lord Jesus Christ. This bush that burned with fire
and was not consumed. Now two things I want you to
consider about this bush that burned with fire and was not
consumed. The scripture says the angel
of the Lord appeared from this bush. Number one, This fire did
not need the energy of the wood to sustain it. This fire was independent. This speaks of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has no needs. He has life in himself and he's
not dependent upon anything. That can only be said of God,
no one else. Me and you are so dependent.
We're dependent upon him for our next breath. We're in his
hand. Whether we acknowledge it or
not, that's the truth. We're utterly dependent. He is independent. He's God. Let me remind you of
something. He doesn't need you. You need
him. you. He's utterly independent
in and of himself. That flame and that fire was
not dependent upon that wood for energy. Utterly independent. There's the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only God is utterly independent. That describes everything else
about him. His eternality, his immutability,
his infinite, he's independent. No needs. Next thing I want us
to consider is that wood that could not be consumed by the
fire. That is the humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He could not be consumed by that
fire. Only He is like that. Now, when
the fire of God fell upon Elijah's sacrifice. Remember how that
sacrifice was consumed, and the dust was consumed, and the rocks,
the altar, everything was gone. But when the fire of God's wrath
fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He consumed the fire. He could not be consumed. Now this is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. both His deity and His humanity,
the God-man, Christ Jesus. Verse three, and Moses said,
I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush
is not burnt. Now, he probably had seen it
and looked down and didn't think anything about it. But maybe
a couple hours later, that bush is still burning. Maybe six or
eight hours later, that bush is still burning. It's not going
out. This is a great sight. I'm going to turn aside and see
what's going on here. Now, he didn't know yet, but
he saw here. This is something I don't understand.
And he wanted to go and see it. Verse four. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, I think that's interesting, the Lord
was looking at him. And when he saw, he turned aside to see
this great sight. You know, the Lord's looking
at me and you right now. And he is looking at what interest
we have in this great sight of this bush that burned and could
not be consumed. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Moses did not know it, but he knew, I don't understand this.
And I'm going to turn aside to see this great sight. That is when the Lord spake to
him. And I want us to see the Lord
initiated this. Any experience any man has with
the living God, God initiates it, not man. The scripture says,
there is none that seeketh after God. You will not seek God. You might be religious. Everybody's
that way. But no man will seek the living
God unless God first seeks them. And this is God seeking Moses. When the Lord said, seek ye my
face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. And this
is what's going on. God initiates this with Moses. And any experience me or you
have of the living God, it will be God initiating it with us. You can't take any of the credit.
Well, I was seeking God. If you were, it's because he
put it in your heart. You'd be just fine without him
unless the Lord does something for you. Now let's go on reading. Verse four. And when the Lord
saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the
midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. Now this is one of six
times that the Lord repeats somebody's name. Samuel, Samuel. That's when Eli said, here's
what you're to say, speak Lord. thy servant heareth. The Lord said to Peter, Peter,
Peter, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat, but I've prayed for you. Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things. One thing that's neat only one. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? It's hard for thee to kick against
the bridge. You're just making things more difficult for yourself. Moses, Moses, I pray that the
Lord calls my name and your name this morning, don't you? Moses, Moses. And he said, here
am I. If the Lord speaks to you, you
will respond. You will, for sure. No doubt
about it. He never speaks in vain. Moses,
Moses, here am I. And he said, verse five, Draw
not neither hither, don't you come any closer. Put off thy
shoes from off thy feet for the place wherein thou standest is
holy ground. Turn with me for a moment to
Joshua chapter five. This is the other place in the
scripture where we have this kind of language. Beginning in
verse 13. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold,
there stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his
hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, neither. Lord doesn't take sides. The Lord doesn't take sides.
That's not the issue. Are you on my side or are you
on the side of my enemies? Neither. As the captain of the host of
the Lord am I now come and Joshua fell on his face to the earth
and did worship. That's what happens when people
see the Lord. They worship. They worship. and said unto him, what sayeth
my Lord unto his servant? Now, whenever you see the Lord,
you're not concerned so much about what you're gonna say to
him, but what he says to you from his word. And the captain
of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off
thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. The holiness, the otherness,
The separateness, the uniqueness of God. What does holy mean? Means he ain't like me and he
ain't like you. He's altogether other. Men really do not have a concept
of sin until they have a revelation of the holiness of God. Now, if right now you do not
see yourself as utterly and completely sinful, right now, there's only
one reason. You've never seen God. That's the only reason. You've
never seen God in his holiness. You see, a concept of sinfulness
comes only from seeing something of the holiness of God. Would you turn with me for a
moment, keep your finger there, Exodus 3, and turn to Psalm 22. Now these are the words of Jesus
Christ from the cross. You can read where he said this
from the cross in the gospel accounts, but it's first spoken
in Psalm 22, verse 1, and remember who's speaking? It's Jesus Christ,
yes, David speaking, but this is first of all the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ from Calvary's tree. And he says, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now on the cross, he was forsaken
by God. At this time, he was afraid to
call him father. My God, not my father, my God. You see, he'd
been forsaken. He'd been cut off. He'd been
cast away by his father. And he cries, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring,
oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you hear not. In the night
season, and I'm not silent. Now here's the reason. that but
thou art holy. You want to know why Jesus Christ
was forsaken by his father on Calvary's tree? Because he's
holy. And he hates sin. And Christ
was made sin. And God forsook his own son. because he is holy. Now, until we see God in his
holiness, like Isaiah did when he saw the Lord, he said, woe
is me. When Daniel saw the Lord, he said, my comeliness, that
which was, I felt good about, it turned into corruption. Job
said, I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ears, but
now mine eyes seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself and repent in dust
and ashes. When Peter saw who the Lord was
really for the first time, he said, depart from me, Lord. I'm
a sinful man. Moses, don't come close. Take your shoes off your feet.
Place you're standing is holy ground. Now, until we see something
of His holiness, we are not going to have a view of our own sinfulness.
will be just like that Pharisee. I thank Thee, O Lord, that I'm
not as other men are. We're always going to be comparing
ourselves to somebody else. And we can always figure out,
well, we're a little bit better than they are. I might not be
as good as that person, but at least I'm better than that person.
That's all our concept of sin is until we see God in His holiness. Don't come nigh, Moses. Verse six. Moreover, he said,
I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. He reveals himself as the covenant
God. And Moses hid his face. for he was afraid to look upon
God." Now that tells us right there that angel that was in
the bush is nobody less than God. The God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Moses was scared to death. He got down on his face. He wouldn't
even look up. He was afraid to look at God. Verse 7, And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people which are in Egypt. Now remember back in Genesis
15, he told Abraham, your seed are going to go to Egypt and
they're going to be afflicted for 400 years. And after that, I'm
going to bring them out. Well, this is the taking place
of that when he makes himself known to Moses in order to bring
his people out of Israel. And the Lord said, I've surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have
heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrow. And I am come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and 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 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, and I've also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I'll
send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my children,
the children of Israel out of Egypt. Now you will remember
that 40 years earlier, he tried. And he thought, they'll understand
if God's using me for this. And they didn't understand. He
tried, he was ready for the job. He tried, he failed. Verse 11,
now the same one who thought he was able with God's help no
longer wants the job. And Moses said unto God, who
am I that I should go into Pharaoh and that I should bring forth
the children of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I? I can't do this. There was a
time when he thought he could. 40 years later, he sees he can't. Verse 12. And he, the Lord said,
certainly I'll be with thee. There's Moses credentials. He doesn't need anything else.
Certainly I'll be with thee. And this should be a token unto
thee. that I've sent thee when thou has brought forth the people
out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. This
is gonna be the proof that I've been with you. You're gonna find
yourself with the people of God right here, delivered from Egypt.
You'll know I've been with you. Verse 13. And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children
of Israel, And she'll say unto them, the God of your fathers
has sent me unto you. I know what they're gonna say
to me. They're gonna say, what's his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. That's actually what I've entitled
this message. I am that I am. Tell them I am hath sent thee. If I called your house and wanted
to speak to you, and someone that didn't know me answered
your phone, and I said, I want to speak to so and so, and if
they said, well, who shall I say is calling? What if I said, I
am that I am? Tell them I am, is the one calling. They'd probably hang up on me,
wouldn't they? This guy's crazy. Where's he coming up with something like
that? Yet, this is the name of the Lord. I am that I am. No one else can say this. Not I was, Not I want to be. Not I used to be. Not I could
be. Not I should be. Not I will be. All of us speak like that. Not
him. I am that I am. I am eternal. Nobody made me. I am independent. I have no needs. I am immutable. I can't be increased. I can't be decreased. I don't
change. Now, Jesus Christ took this name
to Himself. In John chapter 8, verse 24,
He made this statement. If you believe not that I am,
you shall die in your sins. He took this name to himself
that belongs to God only. The Pharisee said, you're not
yet 50 years old. And you say Abraham saw your
day? And he replied, verily I say
unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And that's when they took
up stones to stone him. When he is arrested, a multitude come after him. And
he says, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And his reply, I am. And they were driven backwards
by an irresistible force. The Lord is letting them know
I'm no victim. I'm in absolute control of this. I am. This is the name of Jesus
Christ. Now, in Exodus chapter three
in our text, this is spoken in the plural in the Hebrew. The father says, I am that I
am. The son says, I am that I am. God, the Holy Spirit says, I
am that I am. This is the name of God. And I love that passage of scripture.
In Hebrews chapter 11, verse six, it states, he that cometh
to God must believe that he is. Somebody says, well, I believe
in God. Well, congratulations. So do the devils. That's not
what that's saying. It's not talking about, well, I believe
in the existence of God. Everybody does. It's only logical. It's only, it's the only thing
that makes sense. Somebody's got to cause everything.
Everybody believes in the existence of God, but that's not what I'm
talking about. I'm not talking about believing.
Well, I believe there's a God. Do you believe his isness? Do you believe his isness? Do
you believe he is as he reveals himself to be in his word? Now, here's what the natural
man does. He manufactures a concept of
a God that he feels comfortable with. That's God. God's like
this. God's like that. This is my God. This is who God is to me. I'm not interested in any of
that. I want to know who He is. Here's what He is to me. Could
care less. Who is He? It's kind of like when people
take scriptures. This is what this means to me. Don't give me that.
I don't care what it means to you. What's it mean? What's it
mean? Who is God? Now only in the Bible do we find
a declaration of His isness. You won't find it anywhere else
except in the Word of God, the scriptures of truth, the Bible. This book claims to be inspired
by God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture. Somebody said,
do you expect me to believe that? Well, I hope you do. If you don't,
I'm sorry. But it's easy to believe the
Bible is the Word of God. Let me tell you how. It's easy
to believe that God created the universe, isn't it? It's hard to believe
anything else. I mean, it's hard to believe
that all of a sudden there was a big bang and all of a sudden,
here's the universe. Yeah, that's hard to believe.
It's easy to believe that the universe was created by the will
of God. Now, if God's powerful enough
to create the universe, he's powerful enough to inspire men
to write a book that he wrote and to preserve it and to make
himself known in that book. Now, the Bible claims verbal
inspiration, all scripture. is given by inspiration of God.
And in the Bible, God tells us who he is. His name. His name is who he
is. Now, let me show you an example
of that in Exodus chapter 33. Come back to Exodus 3 in just
a moment, but look in Exodus 33. This is after the sin of the
golden calf, Moses is seeking the Lord. And he says in verse
18, and he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. What a request. And he said,
I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. Now, look down in chapter 34,
verse five, this is where the Lord does what he said he would
do. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sins that will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children under the third and the fourth generation. Now, the
only way you can understand that statement, it's a gospel. He'll
be merciful, He'll be gracious, and under no circumstance at
all will He ever clear somebody that's guilty. The only way you
can understand that is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You were made to be, by what Christ did, not guilty, justified
before God. And when He clears you, He's
not clearing you in any other way because you're not guilty.
You're perfect, justified in God's sight. You have no sin.
You can't understand the gospel apart from that. Now, here's
what happens when the Lord makes his name known. Verse eight,
Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. There's nothing else to do. When
you find out who the Lord is, there's nothing else to do but
to worship. And let me remind you this. You
only worship the Lord when you see you have absolutely no control
over Him. You're in His hand. Now when you find yourself there,
you'll worship. If you have any power, any control,
you'll never worship. If you have a free will, you'll
never worship. It's only when you find yourself
in His hand that you will worship like Moses did. And he said,
if now I found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee,
go among us, for it's a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity
and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. Now, this
is the Lord's instance in his name. Now, who the Lord is is
not predicated on anything mere you think. Here's who I think
the Lord is. Doesn't matter. He is who he
is. I am that I am, and he makes
himself known in this book. There's no knowing his isness,
there's no knowing him without this book, and there's no true
understanding of this book without revelation. This is not something
you can figure out. Not education, not intellect, revelation. You and I to know him are shut
up to him revealing himself to us through his word. Now let
me show you that in the scripture. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
11. I want you to look at this with me. Matthew chapter 11. beginning in verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father. You know
what the Lord is saying? I am so infinitely great, equal
with the Father, that nobody can know me but the Father Himself. How much do you and I know of
Jesus Christ? Just a little bit. If we know
anything at all, just a little bit. But it's what He has made
known, and look what He says next. And no man knows the Son,
but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. The only way me and you will
know God is if Christ is pleased to reveal him, reveal his isness
from his word. Now, If you know me, there are certain things about
my character when you hear, you'll know that's Todd. That's how
if you know me. And if you hear things that are
contrary to who I am, you'll know that too. If you know me. Now, like I said, his isness
is revealed in this book and This book describes what only
he can say of himself. You and I can't say this. I am
that I am. Now, he only is independent. He only is immutable. He can't be diminished. He can't
be increased. He never changes. He only is
simple. No parts to him. He's not part
this and part that, which make the whole. He's the only simple
being in the universe. All other beings are part this
and part that. I love thinking about this. Jesus
Christ is holy. He is the holy one of Israel. His love is a holy love. His wrath, and there is such
a thing as the wrath of the Lamb. His wrath is a holy wrath. His sovereignty, His absolute
control is a holy sovereignty. His mercy is a holy mercy. His justice is a holy justice.
His power is a holy power. Holy and reverend is thy name. I love to think of His eternality. He's before all things. Whatever
it is you say, He's before it. Why? Because He is eternal. His power is a holy power. His goodness. You know, He's
good. Somebody says, how could a good God let this happen? Well,
whenever we make a statement like that, all we're showing
is how stupid we are. He's good. Whatever you and I think about
it, whatever He does, it's good because of who does it. His power
is a holy power. It's demonstrated in creation
when He created all things by the Word of His power. It's demonstrated
when He became flesh. What power for God to become
a man! It was demonstrated in His law
keeping. What power to keep the law! It
was demonstrated in His death that God could die, the God-man
could die. I can't explain that. How could
God die? I don't know, but He did. He had the sin of His people
and He died. His power was demonstrated when
He was raised from the dead. His power was demonstrated when
He ascended back to the Father. Oh, the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ. How His power will be made known
in His coming. His power is seen in Providence,
where he controls everything and everybody. He's even controlling
the thoughts that are going through your mind right now. And it's
not hard to him. It's not difficult. He controls
everything. The Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient. He's never learned anything.
He's never had a new thought. He's all wise and all knowing. He's absolutely just. I love
thinking about this. He's grace. He's full of grace
and truth. He is love. God is love. Jesus
Christ is love. Having loved His own, He loved
them unto the end. Now, who Jesus Christ is, and
this is, who is the Lord? Pharaoh said that I should obey
Him. Well, who He is is revealed in this book. Not in your mind,
not in your thoughts. Here's what I think. Get rid
of that. It's only going to drag you down
to hell. Everything you think, you can count on it, it's wrong.
It's wrong. His isness is found only in this
book. What you think of God is seen
by how you respond to his holy word. Jesus Christ is the great
I am. Now, concluding, concluding. I am that I am. That can actually read, I save
in the manner which I save. That's found in His name. Who God is is seen in how He saves. And to reject any aspect of how
He saves in His Word is to reject the character of God. That's
how important this is. I save in the manner which I
save. His manner of salvation is who
He is. And listen to this. The cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God made the universe through
the cross. That's His purpose in all things. He made this universe to manifest
who He is through the cross. And every attribute of God is
manifest in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want
to know who God is, look at the cross. There you'll see His justice,
His holiness, His hatred for sin. There you'll see His mercy,
His grace, and His love. There you'll see His power in
putting away sin. There you'll see His power from
the cross in taking somebody like me, sinful as I am, and
making me perfect before God. The cross. is who God is. The cross is I am that I am. Now remember, the name of the
Lord is who he is. It's his attributes. Listen to
this scripture. It's found over and over again
in the Bible. It's in there a whole lot. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. That's a good word. I'm in that group. I'm in that
demographic. Whosoever. Are you a whosoever?
Listen up. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. That doesn't just mean articulating
a word. I'm calling upon His sovereignty. Lord, save me as an act of Your
sovereign will. Save me by Your justice. Save
me by Your grace. Save me by Your power. I'm calling
upon Him to save me. Whosoever shall call, Lord, help
me. I'm calling on Your name. Help
me. Save me by Your grace. Reveal Yourself to me. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you, if I, call upon the name
of the Lord, we shall be saved. And if I'm not saved, you know
what I've done? I have refused to call upon the
name of the Lord. Now this one who is the great
I am said, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise, for no reason
cast out. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. laboring under the burden of
not being able to please God by your works, heavy laden, and
he said, I will give you rest. May God give us the grace to
call upon his name. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. Lord, we're calling upon Your
name. Lord, save us by Your grace.
Save us as an act of Your sovereign will. Save us by Your justice. Make us just before You. Put
away our sins. Save us by Your power. Save us
by your mercy. Lord, we're calling upon my name.
Lord, take this your word and bless it for your glory and for
our good. And Lord, how we thank you for
the excellency and the glory of thy son, the God-man who made himself known in the
bush. In His blessed name we pray,
amen.