we turn in the bible this morning to exodus chapter 3 if you're visiting that's the second book of the bible we're working through this book and this morning we come to exodus chapter 3 verses 10 to the end of the chapter and i just have to say i i i guess i'm really doing my job here uh the four and five year olds in sunday school were asked the other day by their teachers they were asked who is the child of mary and joseph they said moses so i'm really doing my job and then i said i hope my daughter didn't say that she was the first one to say it lots of work to do exodus chapter 3 beginning at verse 10 this morning and this is moses at not the burning bush i'd like to back up the context is too important let's read it verse one now moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law jethro the priest of midian and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to horeb the mountain of god and the angel of the lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush he looked and behold the bush was burning yet it was not consumed and moses said i will turn aside to see this great sight why the bush is not burned when the lord saw that he turned aside to see god called to him out of the midst of the bush moses moses and he said here i am then he said do not come near take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground and he said i am the god of your father the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob and Moses hid his face but he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. And now our text. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. He said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, Say this to the people of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob has appeared to me saying, I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt. And I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us, and now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. But I know the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And when you go, you shall not go empty. But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So, you shall plunder the Egyptians. May the Lord bless this morning the hearing of His Word. Someone walked up to me the other day and said, it is an amazing thing that God strikes straight blows with crooked sticks. I've heard that so many times in the course of my ministry, and I realize how crooked of a stick I am, so I understand that, I guess. But you understand what that means, right? that god uses weak inadequate frail powerless often rebellious people and he loves to take them and use them to accomplish his will there's a really strange that's a really strange phenomenon though because when it comes to crooked sticks crooked sticks always sort of start out thinking that they're straight sticks and as they think they're straight sticks they're often quite confident to go out and strike straight blows but if god is ever going to use those straight sticks to accomplish his will guess what he has to do make them crooked he has to show those sticks how crooked they really are and here's the irony if once those sticks realize how crooked they are they have a hard time then wanting to go out and strike straight blows that's the struggle do you understand that that's the sermons one that's moses god was raising up and sending moses so that his deliverance of israel would be accomplished through his servant moses that's how god works we see this in the scripture that's how god works he loves to strike straight blows with crooked sticks and i mean really crooked sticks. But here we come to one of the greatest conflicts of Moses' life and really the life-shattering moment, if you will, for him where everything changed and he realized how crooked he really was. In fact, I'm going to make the case this morning that that kind of struggle is so necessary for anyone ever to be an effective and useful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean that all of you have to understand this when you get people in the ministry or people in service who don't understand how crooked they are and how dependent they are it's a disaster to put them into service disaster moses needed to learn where his strength would be found moses needed to understand god's call for him what we have in exodus chapter 3 is a trembling scared timid even a bit belligerent Moses as really you're going to see this week and next week it's kind of a quarrel with God upon God's calling upon his life it's fascinating what God calls him to do is a seemingly impossible task and we see that in our text this morning really as I thought about structuring this and others have noticed this really there are a series of questions that come out in the text, and if you are able to follow the flow of questions, then you'll see what's exactly going on. The questions here we're dealing with are really just two this morning, and then we'll come back to the rest next time. But the two that I want to interact with is something that I started last week with the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. The two questions that Moses asks are, who am I, and who do I say is sending me in other words who are you who am i and who are you and that's what i want to do this morning moses needed to learn that this was so important for any servant to go out to understand and it's this knowledge that we need to have before god ever does use crooked crooked sticks to strike straight blows let's look at this this morning um last time we left off and moses is at the burning bush any prophet who was ever sent by the lord in the whole prophetic line had to first stand in his council and be commissioned and called by god himself this is it this is the first real beginning of this office of prophet as we see it develop as Moses really is the father of it and we see him here in a position prostrate face bowed as he's come into the presence of this thrice holy God holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty and he's trembling and last time we looked at he met the mediator he met Christ I'll show you this and confirm that since there were so many good questions about that last time. The Melech Yahweh, the angel of the Lord, and we looked at the structure of that somewhat last time, in the bush. But he had learned something so wonderful about the Lord. That this holy God is a consuming fire, on fire, and can't tolerate any sin. And that this holy God, thrice holy God, and by the way, it was Sproul who used to emphasize that when God speaks of attributes and things, he doesn't give the kind of emphasis to any other attribute that he does this. And you understand why. You don't have love, love, love. But you do have holy, holy, holy. And you understand why he did that because humans will never really accept a thrice holy God because we love to cut down the deity to a manageable size we looked at that but notice here that his love is emphasized that he loves these people that he wants to come get these people i've i've i'm concerned about them moses i see what they're going through i see the hardship that they're in i know their sorrows and notice see here how god is not an open theist if you will he knows the future he's declaring the future he's telling the future he's determining the future just wonderful i can't imagine what moses thought face bowed to the ground terrified he hears god say i know their pains i know their sorrows and here's verse eight i have come down to deliver them verse eight is really glorious isn't it i've come down and i'm gonna go get them and i'm gonna bring them out and i'm gonna give them a land flowing with milk and honey i'm gonna get i'm gonna plunder that nation and i'm gonna fill them with everything good you imagine when moses heard that i'd imagine that fear turned into fear and real excitement you're sitting there and you just heard god say i'm coming down i'm getting off the throne i'm getting off the throne and i'm coming down and i'm going to go get them the angel of the lord is before him as a flame of fire how exciting this must have been i wonder what he thought wow god's coming this is going to be awesome this is going to be awesome and all of a sudden his world must have been shook up when he heard this come now therefore i will send you to pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of israel out of egypt you're going to do what me you're going to send me in the pharaoh's palace i'm sending you moses now notice um this is not up for debate the whole thing moses tries to debate but this is not up for debate this was god's calling on him god had already set him apart god had determined this god had decided this it's a remarkable moment though that i really don't want to lose that god could have directly come down and sent the angel of the lord in blazing fire and the angel could have walked into pharaoh's power palace and he could have shot fire bullets at him there could have been a real desert shootout. Notice that he took one of the most crooked sticks he could find to do it. It's a remarkable thing. It's a remarkable thing. Moses is such a fascinating character to me. In the Old Testament, he's my favorite character to study. He's belligerent. That's not why I like him but he's belligerent he pushes in chapter 4 god to anger god chose one to do this great task who would put his patience to the test the most you ever think about that he would put god's patience to the test and it was a long history of this if you look throughout the old testament of God calling figures and prophets. I mean, really, these guys were the most unlikely of candidates. I think of Jeremiah, who at the beginning of Jeremiah, he's a kid. He's a youth. He's a scared little youth. I think of Amos, the sheep herder from Tekoa. You know, how could you ever use a farmer to do that? You know how stubborn farmers are? Jonah was a temperamental mess. Jonah was one of the most unstable prophets. Elijah would run at Jezebel's threat and hide in a cave and hide whimpering. What are you doing here, Elijah? God loves these types. And what we learn in Exodus 3 and 4 is that Moses actually had all kinds of weakness and frailty. You're seeing how crooked this stick really is. Moses was cowardly. Moses had speaking problems, so he says. Ultimately, Moses is defiant. At one point next week, he's going to say, send someone else. And that's when God had enough. Well, what we have this morning are Moses trying to make a series of excuses to get out of this. And they come really in this form of these questions that I raised remember his face is still at the ground his face is covered and he is afraid to look upon the Lord and all of his glory and what's the first thing he says in verse 11 once the call came you have that specific call that came I'm sending you come now and what does Moses say what's the next words that Moses says who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Who am I? You know that feeling? What's encompassed in all of that? I can't do this. Why are you calling me? I think it's important to stop and to realize that's not the Moses we met initially. Moses was at one point a do-it-yourselfer. When he killed that Egyptian and he buried him in the sand, Moses was hoping to start the revolt. Moses believed that he was taught by his parents. He was the deliverer. He believed that. And he assumed that all the children of Israel would have known that. And so he wanted to lead out the children of Israel. And he took down the one and everything went wrong for him. He was too confident in himself. And even last week when God came to him at the burning bush and he hadn't first recognized and understood what was going on, when God called, Moses yells out, God calls to him and says, Moses, Moses, here I am. Something's happened. Something's really happened to Moses. I believe with all my heart that when one truly stands in the presence of God, it humbles somebody greatly. When Moses saw himself as he should have all along, what did he do? He covers his face. He was afraid to look. What we have here is Moses seeing himself for the first time in the light of the glory of God. First time. He had come to the light. Jesus said a lot of people stay away from the light because they never want to have their deeds exposed. That's why people don't want to come to church because they don't really want to deal with the real problems of the human heart. But when you stand there and you come to the light, everything's exposed. You see everything. Everything is brought out into the open. You see the filth. You see the sin. You see the iniquity. You see what's really going on in the heart. I found a great quote by Calvin this week. Listen to what he said. It is certain that a man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself. In other words, you don't know who you are. You have no way to define who you are. You don't even know you until you've stood before His presence and you've had some kind of understanding of His holiness and His glory. And then you shrink back. You shrink back in fear of your own life. You shrink back of who you are. You shrink back because you've finally seen it. I've always, and I know you can't say this in any kind of absolute, but you generally know people who are not converted by an attitude. There's always an attitude or a certain amount of confidence in the self. We call that pride. There's a sort of self-confident demeanor of one's own wisdom and one's own abilities. And there's a disgust when anyone ever tells them that something's wrong with their life. There's a disgust, there's an anger, there's a reaction, there's an abrasive confidence in the person that they're going to run life their way, they're going to do things their way, and no one, no one should ever tell them that it should be different. Who in the world should tell me how to live my life? That's the attitude. That's generally an unregenerate heart. That was Saul. When Saul was on the road, remember he was persecuting Christians and he was dragging them away until he came into contact and bumped into the glory of God on the road to Damascus and it knocks him down and blinds him and you get an entirely different figure after that. And if you've never seen it, just read Philippians 3. I used to have confidence in this and this and this and this. I've counted all his animal dung to have a knowledge, knowledge, of my savior he would say in romans chapter 7 i was alive without the law once but when the commandment came sin revived and i died i was doing fine until i finally heard the commandment and then sin revived in me in other words i saw it and then i died moses is at sinai moses has been crushed at sinai that's where he is right now moses has just felt the weight of the law And when you're confronted with that, a sort of despair happens. The kind of response of Isaiah, I'm undone. Woe is me. I can't do this. And then for the first time, you have an understanding of how drastically defective your life is and the terrible predicament you are in before God. a whole way of life has just been killed and your statement is this who am i who am i my feet are unclean i need to be washed you see all these broken sinners coming to jesus in the gospels who would say that not the confident not the self-confident now this is um what everyone gets riled up over about Christianity today. It really is. This is what people hate Christianity for. This is what people don't want to deal with Christianity for. They think, well, you're making it a killjoy. You're taking away, I mean, who wants to hear that? You're taking away all our self-esteem. And I say, amen, I am. God is. But does God want to tear you down to leave you there? No, no, no. He certainly wants to tear you down. I want you to understand that he wants to tear you down. To raise you up new. So that you would then go in his power. Think of this morning. That they would then go in his power. And you would know where your confidence really lies. The hard part, and we'll see this with Moses, is for him to understand that God breaks down to lift up. That he confronts to heal. that this humbling Damascus Road experience at Sinai, that Moses would then finally understand that God has set us apart and created us unto good works which He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That's what He wants. Who am I? Moses, nothing. You're right. When one is there, get ready. Because then God's ready to really use someone and really make them effective in service. I mean that. You have to get there. Moses is 80, and we never stop getting there. Now, God answers Moses in two ways. In verse 12, when he says, who am I, God says something that should have greatly encouraged him. And the encouragement in this calling is so real and so practical. I want to make sure you get that this morning. God says in verse 12, I will certainly be with you. Isn't that a wonderful statement? Did you hear that? In whatever he has in the calling of to be his workmanship, I will certainly be with you. You'll never be alone. If we thought like that, if we believe that, I think for a moment you have to feel the weight of what god was asking him to do if we don't if you don't feel that this morning then i again i don't think i've done something here you have to feel the weight of what god was asking him to do do you know what they believed about pharaoh you ever read these scriptures well i delivered israel with a strong hand and a might an outstretched arm you know why god kept saying that because it was all over egypt that pharaoh they had depictions of this of him slaying his enemies with his arms. God says, Pharaoh's going to see my arm. What is he about to face? This feels absolutely impossible. I mean, he has to go before Pharaoh, the greatest, most powerful monarch of the day, and order all of God's people to be released at his word. Do you know how possible that is. That's like telling one of you to march down into ISIS headquarters and tell them to let go of the people or else. You're going to end up in orange suit, you're thinking. Moses, I'll be with you. What are you going to do? What if that was God's call? You going to ISIS? You're going to Isis, Paul said we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If we live like that, if we had confidence in that, what glorious works of providence would we see unfold? But if in reality we're honest, we haven't even gotten over the issue of whether God is really with us. What amazes me about this section is how reassuring God is with signs. God knows the greatness of the task. God understands that. I'll tell you what, Moses, I'm going to even give you a sign. I will confirm that. When you have brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, notice this is done deal as he speaks. It's going to happen. When you have brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Where you're standing right now, I'm going to repeat. There's going to be a grand worship service right here. I'll repeat the scene. And I will be there and remember the sign of the burning bush was Moses was not consumed. I will be among the desert shrub and not consume them. And that's the very thing that Deuteronomy 5 after the law says were not consumed. They had a worship service. Moses would experience nothing but his presence the whole way. Moses would see the Shekinah glory drop down out of heaven. And when they're passing through the sea, it would form a fire cloud around them and shield them through the sea. The presence was right in front of them. I'll be with you. Israel was learned to teach, taught to say, what God is there that's so near to us as our God? For whatever reason we can call on him, he answers us, he's near to us. I'll be with you. And I'll give you a sign. Hold that thought. Moses raises a second problem. Verse 13. And Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me, what's his name? What shall I say to them? In other words, who are you, Lord? Let me understand this. You will be with me, but the people don't even know you. What am I going to say to them? What am I going to tell them? That I saw some God in a bush? I don't even have a name for you. I love to think about that dilemma. What instruction had Israel had in the knowledge of the true God? Well, what this all presupposes, and we know this from what the later prophets said about Israel and Egypt, is that the knowledge of God had been lost among the people. The knowledge of God was gone among the people. They were worshiping bull calves. They were worshiping other gods in Egypt. They had no knowledge, and they didn't even know his name. Lord, when I go in there and I start telling them that I was out in the wilderness and I saw this fire in a bush and it told me to come, What do you want me to say is your name? You're personal. Give me a name. What do I say? That kind of bolsters the problem, doesn't it? How do you expect me to bring deliverance when I don't even know the name? You see what Moses is feeling? It's an absolutely impossible task. How could I take the Word of God to a spiritually dull people, a paganized people, sitting in Egypt all these years, draw the line. isn't that your dilemma today we have a whole pile of preachers in training here we have a seminary in our backyard who does a wonderful job training and they've got to go out and they've got to confront people's lives think about this they've got to confront people's lives and they have to tell them that they're sinners and they've got to tell them about the wrath of God they've got to tell them about deliverance and the lord says i want you to go and i want you to go preach i want you to preach now now think of the dilemma here i want you to preach an exclusive gospel jesus is the only way there are no other ways to heaven can you hear it can you hear the struggle of countless students who've left here and gone out and felt this lord if i go out and preach that in an age when few could give an orthodox definition of the trinity they don't know you i mean we're all afraid to tell our neighbor about jesus because we think they might think we're being exclusive or that we're better than them so we just zip it up i mean how many are you telling about jesus you want me to take a message in a pluralistic society think about this in a pluralistic society in a time when everyone's doing what's right in their own eyes, when everyone's saying live however you want, do whatever makes you happy, and the preacher has to deal with an entire generation of churchgoers who has no longer any interest in doctrine, the church is a club, how do you do this? And everyone wants to bolster a feeling that they're good and feel good about themselves and no real interest in the knowledge of God and studying theology. We can barely get people to value church today? You want me to go and say to people they need to be delivered out of Egypt? They need to be saved from the wrath of God? You want me to say that every other pagan religion is false? You want me to tell them that yours is the only true one? You want me to tell them if they keep doing what they're doing, there's a real place called hell when they don't even respect you or know you are you serious lord you see it do you feel it well you might be saying i'm glad i'm not a prophet or a pastor how about this now here's your pressure lord do you want me really to go speak to my son or daughter or loved one or parent or mom who's completely compromised chosen a path of darkness choosing to reject you and doing it in love for sure you want me to go and speak to them do you know how mad they're going to get and the pressure is we stop speaking I'm not doing it I give up Lord at least give me your name and then comes the momentous verse 14. I am who I am, Moses. You say to the children of Israel, I am has sent you. What? That should be the feeling. That should be the emotion. Everyone who's ever read that name is still confused. And we do the best we can to explain it. It's given in the first person, has to be understood and has been understood as the verb to be the traditional understanding of this name is to understand the meaning is god is the one who always is he is who he is he will always be who he is he's completely self-existent that's that's wonderful explanation but i think herman boving captures it god is that which he calls himself and he calls himself that which he is who is God God is who he is and that's all there is to it Moses that's the sense you go tell them I am who I am that's who sent you you don't have to make a case for my existence I have a hard time when we get people debating atheists over the existence of God I've always struggled with that you don't have to make a case for my existence I'm not asking you to do that. I'm asking you to go testify of the truth of which you're able to give testimony. I'm not arguing. You tell them the God of your fathers sent you. That just made matters worse. You want me to march into Pharaoh's harem, the most powerful God of the nations, demand that he let my people go and convince the people that I am sent me. Yep. And the issue is, Moses himself is being forced to believe God's promises. Moses himself is being forced to receive God for who he is before he'll ever have confidence to be God's prophet and be a witness to others. And that's true for you today, Bill and Penny. That's true for you, Kim. It's going to be true for Luke when he stands up and professes and is sent. If you stood up here believing, you first came to an understanding that you have nothing good in yourselves and now that you've stood here you've received a kind of calling common to every believer I'm not talking about the office of pastor or prophet I'm talking about sin salvation Heidelberg's servants I'm not speaking about the the set apart callings in the way that we're talking about Moses here I'm talking about the general calling of every believer to be a witness to the grace that you've received and it'll never happen it'll never happen until you have a confidence and assurance god's with you that god uses really crooked sticks to strike straight blows and that god is not only with us but he's brought us and proved it to you to the mountaintop to worship and he's confirmed it with a sign every time you take the supper that he's with you they need to hear something moses they need to hear something you know what those people need to hear. This is what you've got to look at. You've got to look at the bigger picture. They need to be delivered out of there. They need to get out of there. I'm even going to tell you how this is going to go. Pharaoh's going to stiffen his heart, but they will come out. I'll show you who's in charge of the heart. You're going to learn a lot about who's in charge of the human heart. I will control that heart. I'll show you who's in charge of that heart, but they're going to come out. But my people need to understand, I love them. They need to hear that. They need to know my deliverance. You leave it to me to show the power and produce the results but you go and testify. Richard Bauckham says witnesses are not expected like lawyers to persuade by the rhetorical power of their speeches but simply to testify to the truth for which they are qualified to give evidence and all of you are qualified to give evidence of the truth of what God has done in your life. The world needs to hear it in utter misery what is that truth well you know it you know this greater story and i'm closing with this this morning how did god defeat the world the son think of the real story here think of the father and the son in the eternal covenant son go down there go down there confront sin, death, the devil and set my people free. The Father loved you. What was a seemingly impossible task he became obedient unto death. He comes in a manger under the sentence of death under foolishness to the world. That glory is hidden under the veil of that humanity so that we couldn't see it. a weak human nature he took on though he was with no sin and he achieved our deliverance through what seemed to be utter failure when they nailed him up and pinned him to a cross and they're all saying crucify him and it seemed like they won and jesus says it's finished i just won i set free all of those who are my children who were in bondage to fear of death all of these all of their lifetime i've set them free i've won the victory and nobody would have ever thought it could be accomplished and he went around telling everyone of his disciples and his people let me tell you who i am you know jesus took the ims and applied it to him which tells you it's him right here i am who i am and now he has revealed himself in glory jesus said to them most assured that i say to you before Abraham was I am this was the name revealed to Moses at the burning bush and Jesus just said I am I am I am who I am and guess what let me tell you what the I am is like I am the door whoever enters by me will be saved I am the good shepherd I care for my sheep I lay down my life i am the resurrection in the life i am the son of god lo i am with you always through the close of the age the one who is i am highly was given the name remember what god did has exalted and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God uses crooked sticks to strike straight blows. So don't be afraid. What are you fearing? If you're looking at a person who you're talking to or you're talking to a son and a daughter, don't you believe he has control of the heart? I think sometimes we shut up in fear and zip up the mouth but it's all wrong don't stop speaking the truth in love he uses your feeble witness and accomplishes salvation he's with you you know the i am you've seen that glory in the face of who jesus christ is he not in control does he not have the future determined will he not bring us there and he's given you a sign of the supper to confirm that to reassure you that he's with you and now he desires that all of us go out and tell others the wonderful things that the lord has done for us you have that ability go tell let's pray heavenly father What an encouraging passage to show where true strength lies. And we give You the glory this morning because without You, Lord Jesus Christ, we can do nothing. You've confronted us. You've assaulted our old man. You've torn him down and we have stood before the counsel of God and we have agreed with Your law that it is holy, righteous, and good, but that we are great sinners fallen far short of the glory of God in need of salvation. and you've answered us. You've saved us. And now use us understanding that we are crooked sticks to strike great blows in people's lives that they would be saved. We're amazed that you use sinful human beings to do this. But it is that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us when you choose these foolish means to save. Give us confidence. Give us strength. And I pray for these brothers and sisters this morning, they'd be greatly encouraged to go out in assurance of faith and be your light, for you have answered us in the person and the work of Jesus Christ, the great I am. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.