This morning, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus. We have started a series through the book of Exodus, if you're a visitor, and this morning, it's so rich, I only could make it through verse 9. You'll see why. You'll see why. So, first 9 verses this morning of Exodus 3, where the well-known passage of Moses at the burning bush. This is the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 1. 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 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, for 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 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 the 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, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. There is the reading of God's word, and may the Lord bless it to our hearing. There was an event in Israel's history that gives us a glimpse into the understanding of Moses that really did drive his calling and drove him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. There was something that really moved him, something that drove him. And the event that I have in mind is something that happened in Leviticus, chapter 10, with Nadab and Abihu. You remember that passage? It was this inauguration, if you will, of the priesthood, and they had a massive worship service there, and all the nation was together. It was an exciting time, but we read in Leviticus, chapter 10, that they offered a strange fire to the Lord that God had not commanded in worship. And immediately in response to that, we read in Leviticus 10, verse 2, so fire went out from the Lord and devoured them. Fire went from Him, and they died before the Lord. Can you imagine that? your Aaron. Those are your son. And the Lord says in the midst of all of this excitement and now the fire that had come, I don't even want him weeping right now. Immediately after that event, we get into the heart of Moses. We get into the heart of Moses as to what made him, I believe, such a unique leader and figure in the Old Testament. He says something immediately after that event that helps us so much with this morning we get into his mind remember what he said oh this is what the lord spoke of this is what the lord said saying by those who come near me i must be regarded as holy and before all the people i must be glorified this is what the lord said when did the lord say it exodus 19 when they had approached the foot of the mountain at sinai and god spoke to them moses there and god made it very clear you can't just come to me any way you want to come you can't just go touch that mountain in fact moses if any israelite even touches the base of the mountain they are to be shot with an arrow and put out anyone who comes near to the lord they must regard him as as holy and before all the people he must be glorified for some tragic reason people don't take that very seriously we live today and we think well you know god should just be thankful i get to church you know god should just be thankful that i graced him with my presence that's an attitude i see and no one should press me to have to come i want to test that today what we've seen throughout israel's history was a struggle with god on this issue was a real struggle with god on this issue and it was that truth uh here this truth that the fear of the lord drove moses in his leadership of Israel there was a moment in Moses's life when he learned that there was a moment in Moses's life where all of it started to come really clear and it was a life-changing moment it was a converting moment I would say in fact that what we have in front of us today is his conversion that's our text this morning and I'm going to say this morning it's one of the most important things the most important thing you can learn about your God and it goes against everything you want to accept about your God. The wonder here that this holy God who is holy and set apart from everything that's profane, the wonder that he has come to dwell among his people. And he's not only dwelled with us, he saved us and he's brought us to him and he's not consumed us. That's a marvel. We don't think about a lot understand it it will drive in your life the fear of god the kind of fear of god that pleases him so with that in mind i i this morning want to look at a few things if you're taking notes the first is what moses needed to learn about god the second is what moses needed to learn about himself all with the goal of answering the question how can this holy god come among his people and save them i want to remind us of the particular place we are in exodus in the last section uh what we saw was god putting moses really through a training camp if you will a 40-year boot camp it was a long training out in the wilderness and we saw last time that moses was beginning to understand that he was god's deliverer but he had to learn certain things god took a lot of time to train this servant he had to come out of egypt himself he had to know it was not in his own strength he had to become a shepherd i titled the sermon he needed to learn christ you know god took 80 years to do that to train moses for what he is about to do and now the last 40 of his life he's going to lead the children of israel out and bring them in the wilderness for 40 years and then he dies i don't want to lose that theme this morning of god training his servant i believe that is still what's going on here in the scene that's before us it's a continuation of moses's training to go get them out and what we have now is the most significant event in moses's life the most significant event that happens in our scene this morning as we come to chapter three that's what we left off with last time that moses is in training learning to be a shepherd notice it says he's shepherding the flocks i won't go into how difficult sheep are sometime i'll do that anyone who's been with him knows how difficult sheep are for all these years he's been training sheep out in the wilderness 40 years wilderness life tough life learning the wilderness learning how to deal with sheep remember shepherds were totally despised by egyptians which makes this so remarkable god took him out of the palace and put him in the wilderness to be a shepherd but now the time's come now the time has come to send him And so as we come to verse 1 in chapter 3, we read, Now Moses was tending the flock, 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. This is a very important introduction and scene that is setting this up. Moses is shepherd of the priest of Midian, Jethro. And he's keeping all of these sheep out in the wilderness. It's remarkable. sitting there in the back of the desert was a mountain it was called Horeb you'll notice it's referenced here and Moses is the author of this so he's telling you something very important about this mountain he says this is the mountain of God it's referenced as that anticipating something very big is going to occur at this location at this mountain and what the author what moses wanted us to see here is that this very spot would be crucial to the revelation of god to israel once he brought them out remember whatever israel is going to go through moses is going through it beforehand they'll be in the wilderness 40 years moses is right now in the wilderness 40 years prior to that with all the same experiences in other words it's all dress rehearsal to lead them but moses has something very important to learn this is a momentous moment because horeb is sinai he has come to sinai that's where moses has arrived and i want you to think of the scene he's in the back of the desert moses is at the very place where Israel would soon be brought. And think of the imagery. He stands there and behind him are flocks of sheep. He has led all of these flocks of sheep to Sinai. And there he is at the base of the mountain, known as the mountain of God. They say they have some good idea today of where it is. There's two competing positions. The one, Jabal al-Laz, the Saudis have completely barred off and forbid anyone to go in some have gotten in there and smuggled out pictures and say that the whole thing is black on the top the other is Jebel Muso the Bedouins call it that today they say it's Moses's mountain I want to fast forward just for a minute I want to fast forward listen to Exodus 19 then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet was very loud so that all the people who were in the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. There it is. And they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly and when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder moses spoke and god answered him by voice then the lord came down upon mount sinai on the top of the mountain and the lord called moses to the top of the mountain and moses went up and the lord said to moses go down and warn the people lest they break through to gaze at the lord and many of them perish i believe that's crucial moses has come to the base of this mountain all of a sudden verse 2 we read that an 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 i'm used to when i grew up as a child uh talking a lot about the burning bush the burning bush the burning bush boys and girls that's how you know this passage this is the exciting my kids are all excited dad you preaching the burning bush this week if you look carefully it's not really the bush that's burning what do i mean look at the text how does it read the angel of the lord appeared to him in a flame i believe it's even better captured an angel of the lord appeared to him as a flame of fire so what you have is the angel on fire in the midst of the bush now what makes this even more interesting and moses perspective it looks like the bush is burning but the text is giving us a real indicator as to exactly what's happening there's even a play here on the word bush i think the hebrew word is sineh that's a play on sinai at sinai we read that god descended down in fire he would show himself as a pillar of fire ezekiel saw him as a fiery shape when he tries to describe what he saw in that vision it was a fire what we call theophany a fire presence and the text says that the flame was in the midst of the bush what does it say appeared there the angel of the lord the angel yahweh well if you look at verse four it's clear god's speaking out of the midst of the bush the angel of the lord has always been identified throughout history as the pre-incarnate the eternal son of god let me put this together what makes this awesome is that what is described for you is a description of the son of god eternal in all of his glory the glory that he had with his father before the world was Here he is in his glory radiating in the midst of the bush. Christ is on fire. Do you ever think of your God this way? I doubt it. We really don't know how to think of God. You know when God was ready to do a great work of sending a prophet, he always made this really clear. He always made this really clear. There was always an accompanying vision, if you will, a glorious revelation so the prophet understood something that needed to be communicated to the people i can't get isaiah out of my mind i can't get isaiah when he was summoned and called to go in the year that king uzziah died i saw the lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple he was describing his glory spilling out and filling all of the temple blazing resplendent glory awesome brightness of the one who blazes in fire and dwells in an approachable light and then he says all around this throne were were seraphim and and and this is important i know i've referenced it a lot but this is important that they had six wings and and with two they covered their feet i'm going to come back to that with two they covered their faces and then with two they held up if you ever looked at the um the ark of the covenant you'll see the cherubim with wings outstretched they formed a firewall around the throne they were shielding off the glory because if the glory broke out of the wings it would incinerate anything in its path i mean that's the imagery um ezekiel describes it when he says he saw the angels and all their faces and the wings he says what i saw was an appearance like torches going back and forth among the living creatures and out of the fire went lightning nothing but continuous lights and glory and torches passing between the angels you know what that is god's on fire he's on fire in their midst why does that matter well for the first time moses is getting a conception of god in his holiness first time moses saw god for who he is do you realize how important that is for us i've thought a lot about the statement the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge and i believe it starts here it's it's a recognition a submission to an understanding of his grandeur i have a hard time capturing it his his glory his otherness his separateness his radiancy so pure and so lifted up and you respect and honor that so much that it drives an admiration and honor of Him and it has the effect in your life of Psalm 16, I've always set the Lord before my face. I respect Him. I reverence Him. I understand. I have some kind of understanding of how awesome and separate He is from His creatures. And it drives me. He's that magnificent. And I'm looking forward to the day when I'm in glory and can gaze, as the psalm says, upon the one who stands between. It was this understanding of God that would drive Moses. As a matter of fact, when he started leading Israel, you had statements come out all along the way of his leadership. And this is what you would get. Don't forget the covenant of your Lord. Don't forget it. which he made with you and don't make a carved image or form anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire. See, it's this event he never got away from. When the Egyptians were drowned, it's going to come out of his mouth in the song, who is like you, O Lord among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness? Sproul has made it his kind of life project, I think, to try to recover this. And I've heard him more than a few times say that this is the most neglected doctrine in the life of the church today, and if you're going to recover other doctrines, you better get this one back. I was reading Moeller on this, and I thought he said something so powerful. Most people operate out of an understanding of God that is decidedly unbiblical and unorthodox. How did this happen? Unhindered by Scripture, many have progressively redefined God so that the deity was cut down to manageable size. A God that even liberals could love. God was stripped of His attributes and robbed of His holiness. Liberal theology stressed the love of God while denying His holiness and justice. Before long, all that was left was a weak, good-natured deity hobbling about generally hoping that his human creatures would just get along somehow. The God of American popular culture is an indulgent heavenly spirit who is of little threat to our lifestyles and luxuries. The vast majority of Americans claim to believe in God. Isn't that true? But most believe in an idol of their own imaginations. This deity is always there to be called upon in times of trouble. but would never intrude upon our personal space, judge our sins, hinder our happiness. This anemic view of God held by many church members is evident in doctrinal confusion, corrupted worship, compromised evangelism, spiritual deadness, the absence of awe and wonder and exaltation in our worship. Think about this. The absence of awe and wonder and exaltation in our worship indicates that we've rejected the most critical teaching of Scripture the fear of the lord i think that's spot on is it possible there are people here who have cut the deity down to imaginable size so that he never infringes upon what we want to do and fulfilling all of our aspirations of what we want to be oh yeah without an understanding of holiness salvation makes no sense and if you saw a glimpse of that glory right now you would not be singing the song that was out in the 90s i just want to see you i want to touch you i want to you wouldn't be doing that when isaiah saw a glimpse of that glory he dropped and he said woe is me the word is a prophetic curse i'm i'm breaking up in the presence now here's moses he has this experience a different kind of worship experience the angel speaks to him moses moses here i am do not draw near first thing stay far stay far take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. Keep your distance. What is going on? Moses needs to learn something. He had just learned about God and now he's learning about himself. He comes to the mountain. He comes to the Lord and then he's told you keep far away and has to shield his face and then remove his shoes. We read that he hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. you'll notice this emphasis everything would be at a distance and and the driving point Moses needed to learn is you can't just come you can't just come as you want you can't you can't just come as you are do we think we can today imagine what's going on in Moses's mind how could Moses, if I'm there, I'm thinking to myself, how could I be in his presence? How could I be in his presence and not be consumed? And this is the dilemma of Exodus. As a matter of fact, I think you've come to the thesis of Exodus right here. I can't get away from it. You see God sending a prophet to deliver Israel out of Egypt. For what reason? You should all be asking the question, How's that even possible? Especially when in verse seven, God says this. And then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings. This is the heart of a compassionate God. And I have, here it is, come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them up out of the land to a good land. You should all have said, whoa, at this point. How can this God come down and do that? How can God even begin to do that? He's too holy. He's a consuming fire. How can he dwell among sinners? How could this God actually accomplish that? How could he come down and deliver two million bumbling, complaining Israelites who are going to constantly complain against him? And now I believe you have the single great issue of Exodus. You see, what I believe the problem for Israel is is not Pharaoh. He's not a problem for God. He's going to be dealt with rather swiftly in this book. What is Israel's major problem in the wilderness? God! God! When Sinai comes and he publishes his law, how in the world are they going to attain to that standard if he's perfect and holy and just? I mean, they make a golden calf right there at the foot of the mountain. How can the bush not be burned? How can God save sinners? How can he really take his place among us and not destroy us? Because one little sin renders us cast away. I hope we understand that. The fundamental issue. How can God go with Israel? That's the question of the Exodus. How can God do it? How can a holy God rescue stiff-necked people? How can sinners survive in the presence of a holy, thrice holy God? Remember what would happen with a golden calf? They make this calf. They say, this is Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt. This is the Lord God. And then God says this to Moses right after that. I want you to listen to this. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. I'm not going up in your midst. I won't do it. Lest I consume you on the way, for you are stiff-necked people. Don't think that's just in Israelite blood, by the way. It's in German, Irish blood. It's in Dutch blood. We're all stiff-necked. It's a nature thing. They made a calf. They worshiped it. God says, my presence is gone. I'm done. I can't go. I can't go. I will consume. Moses, if I get down there and I come down and dwell with you, it's over. They will be toast in the wilderness. Remember what happened? It says that Moses interceded. If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. I love that. Listen to this. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace? in your sight. Except you go with us. So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found grace in my sight. I know you by name. I'll go. How? How could Moses ask that? Because of what he learned right here. In fact, let me solidify it just a little bit stronger for you. In Exodus 24, when you come on the mountain, listen to what happens. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up. And they, we read right over this, they saw the God of Israel. They saw him. There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. Here's what it is. They beheld God and ate and drank. They had a supper on the mountain and they saw God. And then the Lord said to Moses, come to me, come to me. The whole story centers this morning on this. It's one problem the text has raised that we still haven't answered. How is the bush not consumed? That's what drives this text. How in the world can there be fire in that bush and it not be consumed? When what we've learned today is that God is in the midst of the bush on fire. I read commentator after commentator that tries to explain this. Well, this is Israel's sufferings. This is Israel being refined by fire. I don't think so. Don't you see it? A lowly desert shrub whom God has chosen to be among and not consume. Turn over to Deuteronomy 5, where I read earlier, and go just a little bit further and you'll see this. Verse 22 of Deuteronomy 5. I feel it's so necessary for you to see it with your own eyes. So, Deuteronomy chapter 5. And here's what it says at verse 22. These words the Lord spoke to you in the assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire or the cloud and the thick darkness with a loud voice and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire you came near me all the heads of your tribes and your elders and you said behold the lord our god has shown us his glory and greatness and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire this day we have seen god speak with man and man still say it lives he lived now therefore why should we die for this great fire will consume us if we hear the voice of the lord our god anymore we shall die for who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living god speaking out of the midst of fire as we have and has still lived go near and hear all that the lord our god will say and speak to us that the lord our god will speak to you and we will hear and do it now we'll come back to that later we lived moses just learned how that's possible how is that possible here's what overwhelmed moses god would take his place among them he would tabernacle among them he who is a consuming fire and he would dwell in their midst and not consume them why because of one thing god said in this passage i remember my covenant with abraham isaac and jacob moses in exodus 3 has come to christ moses needed to understand moses needed to teach god's people to understand that to be in his presence you need a mediator because you can't do the law that's who met him that day and god was setting apart moses to show and shadow and teach really clearly israel's need for the true mediator and deliver because without one god can't be among his people the bush here is not consumed because christ is there that's that's why moses is trembling this holy christ is among us and he's not consuming us and every time the disciples wanted to explain who he is they got it peter saw it at the transfiguration he saw that glory he saw the glory that surrounded him it's him do you know that you need to come to Him? I don't know where all of you are. I know that it's possible to sit in a church a long time. I know it's possible to just do something out of family tradition. I know it's possible to be here and be bitter in heart and not be born again. You have to come to Christ. Moses comes at 80. And he finally saw this God, who He is in His holiness, And the wonder that God would make a way for us to come before his face and you realize that's what you're doing right now. You're in the presence of angels. 1 Corinthians, we looked at last time. You are before the face of God and not consumed. And there's only one reason. Because a cross was put up. That's who the fire hit that day when he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You need to take off your shoes. why did moses do that well no one agrees no one knows all i can think of is that jesus made it a very big point in his ministry that you need to have your feet washed and that it was a really hard thing for peter to put out that foot to get it washed i don't need it lord you're not doing that for me. If I don't, you have no part with me. You need to be watched. This is what all of God's saved people have always understood. And let me speak frankly, when this gets a hold of you, it's a marvel that you stand in awe understanding this holy God would make a way that He even cares about me. But He does. He loves me. The text says I've seen their affliction. I see what they're going through. I see that they're hurting. I see their sorrows. And I want to be with them. That should drive the fear of the Lord. Because with Him, there is forgiveness. Therefore, He's feared. I was thinking of Exodus 34 after the cold and calf. How could it ever be possible? This is why. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed. I almost hear the excitement on this. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and Moses drops his head and worships. He bows. It says, Moses made haste, bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. So I say today in closing, You see what this God has done for you. He saw your oppression in this world. He saw you mulling around in darkness in bondage to everything that you really want to be in bondage to. And he heard a cry and he came down and he got you. And he says, I know your sorrows. I see. I love that statement there. He knew them. Sovereign over them, but he knew them. And today he's telling you that his intended purpose is not to consume. his intended purpose is for you to have fellowship with the father and the son through the work of the spirit and he loved us so much that he did it in giving a son who in john 1 says he came down to do what tabernacle among us you're going to see a tabernacle drop in the wilderness that Jesus came to tabernacle among us. And the marvel of this whole story of our lives is that this holy, pure, righteous God would even care to do that. I hope you have a proper knowledge of Him, a knowledge of God and of yourself. That's where it all starts. And if it's driven your life, it will drive your life in awe and respect. And you're not going to ask the question, well, do I have to come? That indicates a real problem. I get to come. He paved the way through the blood of his son and I get to come here right now and worship. And right now, if Elisha were praying and he'd say, open their eyes, Lord, to see, you'd see angels all around you right now on a mountain. That's what he's done for you in Christ. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for new testament our god is a consuming fire amen heavenly father we bow in awe and reverence and first i suppose asking for forgiveness that we've taken you lightly if what moeller said is correct we've committed great sins in cutting down the deity to a manageable size so that he would never infringe upon what we want to do with our own lives and fulfill our own american dreams and we ask for forgiveness and we ask that our eyes would be fixed on the righteousness that is provided for us in christ that he was given and that the bush is not consumed we're not consumed we're here we live and we praise you for it and we ask that we would then reverence you and that since there is forgiveness with you, our whole lives would demonstrate a setting of the Lord always before us in godly fear to reverence, adore, worship, recognize, honor, respect you and your majesty and glory. Thank you for your love. Thank you for the promise to Abraham. Thank you that through all of this nothing could annul that and that you made good on it. And today we have life. and we're before the face of God in worship. May we always treasure it as we should and treasure you as we should. In Jesus' name, amen.