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Voddie Baucham - Introducing Israel's God and Savior · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, open them to
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  Speaker 1: Exodus chapter three, Exodus chapter three, and as we've examined
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  Speaker 1: the first two chapters of the Book of Exodus. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know about you, but every time I read through Exodus,
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  Speaker 1: I'm always struck by the same thing. Whenever we think
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  Speaker 1: about Exodus. One thing that I'm struck by is how
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  Speaker 1: much I'm influenced by the Cecil B. Demill movie The
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  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments. Amen. Amen, somebody we're influenced by that movie.
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  Speaker 1: It was just an epic film. And I'm struck by
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  Speaker 1: how many times I'm reading through Exodus chapter two and
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  Speaker 1: Exodus chapter three, and I'm looking for things that were
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  Speaker 1: in the movie that we're not in the Bible. Amen,
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  Speaker 1: and they're just not there. That's one thing I'm struck by.
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  Speaker 1: The second thing I'm struck by is how much significance
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  Speaker 1: there is in these preliminary matters. When we think about
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  Speaker 1: Exus Exodus, we only think about what I would consider
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  Speaker 1: the middle passage of Exodus. And the middle passage is
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  Speaker 1: that great conflict between God and Pharaoh through the agency
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  Speaker 1: of Moses, the deliverance through the Red Sea. I mean
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  Speaker 1: that middle passage, and maybe even up to the giving
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  Speaker 1: of the Law. That's when we say Exodus, that's what
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  Speaker 1: we mean, and we sort of forget the last third
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  Speaker 1: of it altogether, which is the Tabernacle. You say something
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  Speaker 1: to somebody and what is Exodus, About nine times out
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  Speaker 1: of ten they're not going to say anything about the tabernacle.
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  Speaker 1: And that is the last piece of the puzzle. That's
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  Speaker 1: where Exodus ends. Exodus doesn't end on the mountaintop with
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  Speaker 1: the tablets of the Law. It ends with the tabernacle,
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  Speaker 1: God's dwelling place among his people and the instructions about
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  Speaker 1: how God's people worship him. That's the culmination of the Exodus.
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  Speaker 1: And even before that middle passage where there is this
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  Speaker 1: great conflict between God and Pharaoh, through God's Egypt Moses,
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  Speaker 1: there is this preliminary matter, and the preliminary matter of
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  Speaker 1: how God calls Moses to his task and what happens
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  Speaker 1: in Moses's life before he begins this task. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: if you think about it in terms of Moses's life,
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  Speaker 1: there are three forty year periods, and we've talked about
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  Speaker 1: that in the last several weeks. The first forty year
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  Speaker 1: period where he is raised in Egypt. That second forty
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  Speaker 1: year period where he is in Midian, and then that
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  Speaker 1: third forty year period where he is leading the children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel in the desert. And quite honestly, words of
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  Speaker 1: Moses' life are covered here in this first section. So
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  Speaker 1: the part that we're coming to now, Moses is already
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  Speaker 1: eighty years old or thereabouts, and he's only got another
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  Speaker 1: forty years to live. Keep that in mind as we
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  Speaker 1: think about these first three chapters and their significance and
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  Speaker 1: how much is packed into these first few chapters. Today
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  Speaker 1: we're looking at Chapter three, verses one through twelve, and
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  Speaker 1: if I had to title this message today, it's interesting,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we look at chapter three and we think
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  Speaker 1: about the call of Moses, and this call of Moses
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  Speaker 1: that basically happens in three phases, one where God reveals himself,
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  Speaker 1: and the second where God commissions Moses, and the third
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  Speaker 1: where God where Moses debates with God. There are these
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  Speaker 1: three phases of the call to Moses. But if I
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  Speaker 1: had to title this, the title really wouldn't have to
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  Speaker 1: have anything to do with Moses. I would title this
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  Speaker 1: introducing Israel's God and Savior, because really, this part of
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  Speaker 1: the Call of Moses has more to do with who
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  Speaker 1: God is than it does with what God is calling
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  Speaker 1: Moses to do. And in fact, you cannot comprehend Moses'
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  Speaker 1: calling fully unless and until you comprehend who this God
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  Speaker 1: is who calls Moses, because that's what puts his call
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  Speaker 1: in context. That's what makes this call makes sense. It's
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  Speaker 1: when you understand who God is that you understand why
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  Speaker 1: Moses fits in what God is doing and why God
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  Speaker 1: calls Moses the way he does. Several things we see
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  Speaker 1: here about God, and will take these in turn. There
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  Speaker 1: are four. First, Israel's God and Savior is a holy God.
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  Speaker 1: We see that there in those first six verses. Look
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  Speaker 1: with me, if you will. Now Moses was keeping the
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  Speaker 1: flock of his father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midian,
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  Speaker 1: and he led his flock to the west side of
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God,
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  Speaker 1: and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in
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  Speaker 1: a flame of fire out in the midst of a bush.
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  Speaker 1: He looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it
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  Speaker 1: was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside
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  Speaker 1: to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned?
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  Speaker 1: When the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see.
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  Speaker 1: God called to him out of the bush. Moses Moses,
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  Speaker 1: and he said, here I am. Then he said, do
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  Speaker 1: not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for
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  Speaker 1: the place on which you are standing is holy ground.
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  Speaker 1: And he said, I am the God of your father,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
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  Speaker 1: God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was
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  Speaker 1: afraid to look at God. Amen. The burning bush one
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  Speaker 1: of the most lasting images in all of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: This idea of the burning bush and the burning bush
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  Speaker 1: actually takes up very little of this story. It just
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  Speaker 1: kind of passed over when you read it. There's a bush,
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  Speaker 1: it's burning. It's not explored. It's not explained, just a statement.
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  Speaker 1: There it is. Moses saw it. Moses turned, and then
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  Speaker 1: he began to interact with God. But we see in
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  Speaker 1: this first movement that Moses is dealing with a holy God.
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  Speaker 1: Why well, first we see a holy angel. This is
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  Speaker 1: the Angel of the Lord. This is no ordinary angel.
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  Speaker 1: The text doesn't say there was an angel. The text
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  Speaker 1: says the Angel of the Lord. This angel speaks as God.
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  Speaker 1: Notice this, that this angel speaks as God. There is
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  Speaker 1: the statement about this angel. And there's this angel in
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  Speaker 1: this which is burning, and the Angel of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: is there, and then there is speech, But the speech
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  Speaker 1: that comes is the speech of God. This angel communes
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  Speaker 1: with man in a way that God does not normally
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  Speaker 1: or ordinarily commune with man. There is something different about
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  Speaker 1: this angel. Listen to this from J. A. Montyear. He writes,
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  Speaker 1: We can put it this way. The angel suffers no
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  Speaker 1: reduction or adjustment of his full deity. Yet he is
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  Speaker 1: that mode of deity whereby the Holy God can keep
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  Speaker 1: company with sinners. Bible says, no man has ever seen
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  Speaker 1: God and lived. You can't see God and live, you
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  Speaker 1: can't take in the fullness of God. And so here
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  Speaker 1: is God in this bush, or the Angel of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord in this bush? Who is this Angel of the Lord? Again,
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  Speaker 1: it's not Gabriel, it's not Michael. It's not some lesser angel.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, the Angel of the Lord would be one
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  Speaker 1: who would be superior to a Gabriel or to a Michael.
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  Speaker 1: Who is this Angel of the Lord, This Angel of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord who has spoken of in terms of deity,
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  Speaker 1: This Angel of the Lord, who not only speaks four
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  Speaker 1: but it appears speaks as God Mantnu continues, there is
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  Speaker 1: only one other in the Bible who is both identical
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  Speaker 1: with and yet distinct from, the Lord, One who, without
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  Speaker 1: abandoning the full essence and prerogative of deity or or
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  Speaker 1: demising the divine Holiness, is able to accommodate himself to
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  Speaker 1: the company of sinners, and who, while affirming the wrath
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  Speaker 1: of God, is yet a supreme display of his outreaching mercy. Such, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: is the Angel of the Lord, as revealed in the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament, and consequently part and pain rightly does not
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  Speaker 1: hesitate to say these revelations of the unique Angel can
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  Speaker 1: be appreciated only when understood as a pre incarnate appearance
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ himself. This is the pre incarnate Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This is the second person of the Trinity. This is
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  Speaker 1: God the sun in the burning bush. The Angel of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord is the Lord himself, and yet Christ has
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  Speaker 1: no body until the incarnation. This is a unique and
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  Speaker 1: perplexing manifestation, as unique and perplexing as a bush that
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  Speaker 1: is burning, but is not consumed as unique and perplexing
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  Speaker 1: as a voice that comes therefrom that is identified with God,
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  Speaker 1: the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And yet
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  Speaker 1: this is precisely what we see that God has condescended
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  Speaker 1: to Moses. That God, as he begins his activity of
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  Speaker 1: delivering his people, does so through making himself known in
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  Speaker 1: the form of the Angel of the Lord or the
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  Speaker 1: person of the pre incarnate Christ, Moses and hundred Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, Jesus will encounter Moses in his earthly ministry
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  Speaker 1: as well on the amount of transfiguration, as things will
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  Speaker 1: come full circle. But make no mistake about it. On
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  Speaker 1: the mind of transfiguration, it's not the first time that
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  Speaker 1: Moses and Jesus meet. Beyond the Holy Angel, there is
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  Speaker 1: also this holy fire. Notice what the text says, The
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  Speaker 1: Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame
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  Speaker 1: of fire out of the midst of a bush. He
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  Speaker 1: looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was
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  Speaker 1: not consumed. So there is this holy fire, this unusual fire,
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  Speaker 1: this fire that is burning but is not consuming the bush.
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  Speaker 1: There are many who have attempted to explain this holy fire,
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  Speaker 1: to explain what it says about God's holiness. There are
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  Speaker 1: those who say that the explanation lies in Israel, and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Israel is in the midst of the
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  Speaker 1: flame of the Egyptian bondage, and yet they are not
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  Speaker 1: consumed by it. There are others, however, argue that this
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  Speaker 1: is a picture of God himself as a flaming fire
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  Speaker 1: who could consume all through his justice, and yet in
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  Speaker 1: his mercy, does not do so, Killing Davish Wright. Fire, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: regarded as burning and consuming, is a figurative representation of
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  Speaker 1: refining affliction and destroying punishment all at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: When we read about God as a consuming fire, we
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  Speaker 1: read about God as one who brings justice and his fire,
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  Speaker 1: and the flame of his fire is one that is
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  Speaker 1: a picture of justice. We saw that in Revelation that Christ,
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  Speaker 1: when he stands as judge, is one whose feet are
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  Speaker 1: as bronze burned in a fire, and whose eyes are
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  Speaker 1: as a flame of fire. It's the judgment of God,
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  Speaker 1: but it is also the purifying nature of God. God
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  Speaker 1: is purifying his people in this process, and God will
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  Speaker 1: also judge those who have oppressed his people in this process.
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  Speaker 1: Both are fittingly referred to in terms of fire. But
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  Speaker 1: this idea of God presenting himself in flame of fire
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  Speaker 1: is an idea that runs throughout Exodus. First, we see
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  Speaker 1: it here obviously as God calls the Deliverer. But secondly
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  Speaker 1: we see it in the desert as God's presence with
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  Speaker 1: his people, protecting his people by night. In this pillar
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  Speaker 1: of fire, it is the presence of God with Israel. Thirdly,
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  Speaker 1: on the mountain on Mount Sinai in the giving of
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  Speaker 1: the Law, and also in the confirmation of the Covenant.
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  Speaker 1: We read, for example, in Exodus nineteen eighteen. Now Mount
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  Speaker 1: Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended
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  Speaker 1: on it in fire. The smoke of it went up
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  Speaker 1: like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain
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  Speaker 1: trembled greatly. And then again in Exodus twenty four to seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: and to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a
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  Speaker 1: consuming fire on the mountain top. Fourthly, at the end
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  Speaker 1: of Exodus, we see this fire present in the tabernacle.
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  Speaker 1: The last verse of the last chapter of book of Exodus,
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  Speaker 1: Exodus forty thirty eight, the cloud of the Lord was
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  Speaker 1: on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it
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  Speaker 1: by night. And the sight of all the House of
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  Speaker 1: Israel throughout all their journey. The idea of holy fire
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  Speaker 1: is one that is consistent throughout the Exodus. It's also
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  Speaker 1: consistent throughout redemptive history, this idea of purification and the
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  Speaker 1: idea of judgment, and we will see both of those,
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  Speaker 1: Make no mistake about it. In the Exodus. God will
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  Speaker 1: consume Egypt with fire, he will judge them, and God
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  Speaker 1: will purify Israel with fire. He will purge them. So
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  Speaker 1: it is only fitting that the God who will bring
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  Speaker 1: the fire of judgment and the fire of purification when
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  Speaker 1: he calls his agent of deliverance, would do so by
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  Speaker 1: appearing fire in the midst of a bush, and yet
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  Speaker 1: of a bush that is not consumed, meaning that this
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  Speaker 1: fire is not a fire that is out of control,
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  Speaker 1: but a fire that is completely and utterly in control.
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  Speaker 1: As God brings his justice, his justice is never out
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  Speaker 1: of control. God knows how and when to bring justice.
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  Speaker 1: He's precise in his judgments and in his justice and
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  Speaker 1: in his purifying. He purifies his people just enough, and
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  Speaker 1: just like with this bush, his fire of purification can
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  Speaker 1: burn through us and in us and all around us,
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  Speaker 1: and yet not consume us. This is our Holy God
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  Speaker 1: seen in this holy fire. We also see him here
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  Speaker 1: on holy ground Horror referred to as the Mountain of God.
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  Speaker 1: This is another reference to Sinai. It is a holy place.
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  Speaker 1: But why is it a holy place If it is
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  Speaker 1: a holy place, because there is something inherently holy about
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  Speaker 1: this particular place. Well, first of all, it be the
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  Speaker 1: only place that was inherently holy on all the earth
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  Speaker 1: just because it is. It's not. We know this because ultimately,
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  Speaker 1: when God, for example, builds his temple, he builds his
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  Speaker 1: temple on another mountain range, not this mountain range. We
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  Speaker 1: also know that even after God has built his temple,
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  Speaker 1: that there is another place that is another temple that
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  Speaker 1: is even more holy, and that is the dwelling place
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  Speaker 1: of God with men. So it's not as though this
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  Speaker 1: place is singled out because it has any sort of
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  Speaker 1: inherently holy properties. The tabernacle is an example of that.
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  Speaker 1: God doesn't say this is a holy place, so you
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  Speaker 1: come out of Egypt and you'll stay right here on
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  Speaker 1: this mountain so that you could worship me, or you
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  Speaker 1: they close enough so that you can always come back
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  Speaker 1: to this mountain to worship me. He doesn't. There is
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  Speaker 1: a tabernacle and it moves with them. The picture of
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  Speaker 1: the presence of God being with his people. Therefore, when
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  Speaker 1: God says that this ground is holy, he says it's
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  Speaker 1: holy because He chose it as a place to meet Moses.
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  Speaker 1: The ground is holy because God is there. Because God
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  Speaker 1: is there. The Tabernacle is holy, not because of anything
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  Speaker 1: inherently holy in the materials used to make the tabernacle.
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  Speaker 1: It's holy because God is there. The Temple is holy,
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  Speaker 1: not because of anything in the materials of the Temple,
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  Speaker 1: but because God is there. And the people of God
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  Speaker 1: are holy, not because of anything inherent in us, but
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  Speaker 1: because God is there. This is holy ground. Interestingly enough,
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  Speaker 1: he tells Moses to take off his sandals because he
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  Speaker 1: is on holy ground. We don't know why. This is
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  Speaker 1: not a normal practice. It's not a practice that continues
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  Speaker 1: in redemptive history. We don't see this happening with Israel
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  Speaker 1: when they come, for example, to the Temple or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: This is not the practice that we see. But there
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  Speaker 1: is one there's one biblical background commentary that shed some
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  Speaker 1: light on this that I found very interesting, and that
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  Speaker 1: is that in the ancient Near East, and by the way,
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  Speaker 1: still in the Middle East today. If you remember, for example,
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  Speaker 1: when Iraq fell and the statue of Sadam Hussein was
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  Speaker 1: coming down. Do you remember what people did? They hit
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  Speaker 1: it at the bottom of their shoes, which is the
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  Speaker 1: ultimate insult. When our president was visiting not long after,
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  Speaker 1: they threw a shoe at him. It's the ultimate insult.
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  Speaker 1: But in the ancient Near East, when you stood, for example,
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  Speaker 1: before the king, one of the practices as was to
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  Speaker 1: take off your shoes. I believe this is another instance
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  Speaker 1: of God condescending and communicating with Moses in terms he understood. See,
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  Speaker 1: there is no universal practice that says I recognize your holiness.
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  Speaker 1: And some cultures people bow their heads, and others people
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  Speaker 1: bow at the waist, and others people bow the me
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  Speaker 1: and some cultures people take off their shoes, and other
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  Speaker 1: cultures people turn their backs and refuse to look. In
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  Speaker 1: other cultures, there are different practices in different cultures that
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  Speaker 1: would indicate that there is holiness in their presence. What
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  Speaker 1: God does here is he calls upon Moses to act
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with the practice that was familiar with him,
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  Speaker 1: and that is the taking off of his shoes. Again,
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  Speaker 1: throughout the rest of redemptive history, God doesn't say that
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  Speaker 1: if something's really holy, you take off your shoes, but
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  Speaker 1: hear for Moses. That's what happens. Why because God is present,
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  Speaker 1: because God is holy, Because Moses has a history of
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  Speaker 1: responding in a particular way to individuals who are considered holy,
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  Speaker 1: and all of them peale in comparison to the one
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  Speaker 1: who burns in a flame of fire in this bush. Again,
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  Speaker 1: we don't know for certain. Finally, there is a holy man.
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  Speaker 1: This word holy, this Hebrew word kardessh It means separate,
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  Speaker 1: set apart what holy is. And this is what happened.
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  Speaker 1: What's happening with Moses. Moses is being set apart. Moses
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  Speaker 1: is being separated, Moses is being called out by God.
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  Speaker 1: Moses is being declared holy for this purpose, holy in
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  Speaker 1: that he is set apart as God's instrument for delivering
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  Speaker 1: his people. Notice there is no mention of Moses' clothing.
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  Speaker 1: Why because your clothes can't make you holy. There is
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  Speaker 1: no mention of Moses' haircut. Why because there's no haircut
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  Speaker 1: that can make you holy. There's no mention of anything
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  Speaker 1: that Moses has externally, because that's not what makes him holy.
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  Speaker 1: God didn't say I'm seeking a man with a particular
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  Speaker 1: kind of clothing or a particular kind of haircut, or
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  Speaker 1: a particular kind of shoe, or a particular kind of whatever,
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  Speaker 1: because none of those things can make one holy. It
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  Speaker 1: is God whom makes men holy, and only God who
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  Speaker 1: makes men holy. Does this manifest itself? And the way
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  Speaker 1: we walk, and in the way we talk, and in
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  Speaker 1: the way we dress, and the way we yes, it does.
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  Speaker 1: It does manifest itself in all of those ways. But
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  Speaker 1: there is not one particular culture that has a corner
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  Speaker 1: on the market of holy and righteous dress. Amen. There
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  Speaker 1: are some places that you go and people distinguish themselves
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  Speaker 1: as holy men or holy women through the clothing that
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  Speaker 1: they wear, so that when you see them, you will
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  Speaker 1: recognize them as holy. And more often than not, they're
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  Speaker 1: filled with the same kind of hate, deceit, envy, pride, lust,
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  Speaker 1: and filth with which everyone else around them is filled.
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  Speaker 1: And yet outwardly they bear the marks of something that
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  Speaker 1: inwardly they do not possess. This is not holiness. God's
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: people are holy because they are set apart for God.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: God's people are holy because God calls him, calls them
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: his people. Moses is holy because God sets him apart
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: for no other reason. Not only is Israel's God, a
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: god who is holy. But Israel's God and Savior is
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: a God who speaks. This is an amazing aspect of
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: this text. Look back at verses four two six. When
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the Lord God saw that he had turned aside to
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: see God called to him out of the bush, Moses Moses,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: and he said, here I am. Then he said, do
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the place on which you are standing is holy ground.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: By the way, another reason, let me just say this,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: going back to the whole idea of the taking off
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: of the sandals, and why you know, I believe this
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: is a cultural thing that Moses would have understood and
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: not something that you carry throughout redemptive history, is because
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: your feet are no more holy and worthy of the
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: presence of God than anything you have on them. Amen. Somebody,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: my feet are no more holy than the cow who
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: died to give the piece of leather that is on
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the bottom of them. Amen. So again, there's something else here.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: And he said, I am the God of your Father,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: was afraid to look at God God is speaking to Moses.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: This is amazing. This is a God who spoke the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: world into existence, and he is now speaking to Moses
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: as you would speak with another man. I said before,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: and I'll say again, we brutalize this phrase through the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: commonality with which we treated. We abuse this phrase by
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the familiarity that we have come to have with it.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: We completely and utterly render this phrase useless because of
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the way we walk around saying God spoke to me.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: God told me this. God told me that, as though
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: we are equating our inward experience with the idea that
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: God met Moses through a fire and a bush and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: actually spoke audible words. This is what it means for
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: God to speak with you, and when it happens, you
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: fall on your face like a dead man before a
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: holy God. Amen, Please stop being flippant about that phrase.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Please stop using that phrase. God doesn't speak to you
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: like he spoke to Moses. God doesn't speak to anybody
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: like he spoke to Moses. God doesn't speak this way anymore.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: According to Hebrews chapter two, he has spoken, and his
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: final and ultimate revelation is in the person and work
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. We have God's words spoken to us,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: So with anything else that God is going to speak
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: to us, He's speaking to us through the scriptures. Please
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: stop using this phrase because it belittles what happened to Moses.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: For me to have an impression and to say God
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: spoke to me is to belittle what happened here with Moses.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: God spoke to Moses. He may move me, he may
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: impress me, he may use people to speak into my life,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: but he doesn't do what he did here. If he does,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: then our Bible should not be leather bound. We should
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: have him in a three ring binder so that we
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: can continue to add the new speakings of God. Because
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: if he's speaking to me like he's speaking to Moses,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: it bears this same authority. We need to be careful
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: with that phrase. God speaking is an act of condescension.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: He condescends to Moses and speaks to him. Unless God speaks,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: we cannot know him. Unless God speaks. Were just left
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: wandering aimlessly in the dark, hoping that we are right
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: about why the world exists and what that means. Man
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: lives by the very word of God. We don't live
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the mouth of God. Amen. God's speech is precious, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: God's speech here is unique. Listen to the first paragraph
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: of the first chapter of our Confession. The Holy Scripture
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of saving knowledge, faith,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and obedience. Although the light of nature and the works
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: wisdom and power of God as to leave men unexcusable,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: God and his will which is necessary under salvation. Therefore,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: it pleads the Lord, at sundry times and in divers manners,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to reveal himself and to declare that his will unto
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: his church, and afterward, for the better preserving and propagating
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and the malice of Satan and of the world, to
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: commit the same holy unto writing, which make it the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Holy Scriptures to be most necessary. Listen to this. Those
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: former ways of God revealing his will unto his people
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: being now ceased. We don't have continued revelation like this,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: which is why the Bible is so important. We worship
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the God who speaks, and we have the word of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: the God who speaks. In fact, when Jesus comes into
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the world, he comes as the word of God. Amen
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Israel's God in savior, as a holy God, and he
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: is a God who speaks. It's ironic that we would
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: sort of take this in the way that we take it.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: You know, he's God who speaks, which means that you know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: of course, he has to speak to us today in
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the same way. Otherwise, you know, we can't know and
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: we can't have the same experience that other people had.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: You see, when you do that, what you do is
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: you run to the experience of other people. You run
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to the experience of the Pagans. The pagans whose God
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: is capricious, the pagans who's God has not created the
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: world or revealed himself in such a way that you
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: can know who he is and what he desires of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: you through his written word that is consistent and always
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: examinable and testable. But the Pagans who always want a
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: personal revelation that you can't question. Irony of ironies. Those
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: who desire to serve a God who continues to speak
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: today in the way that he spoke to Moses, are
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: actually belittling the revelation of God, not inhancing it. Again,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: this is why God's word is so crucial and critical
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: to us as believers. Thirdly, Israel's God and Savior is
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: a god who delivers his people. We'll see this in
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: verses seven through eleven. Look there, then, the Lord said,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I have surely seen the affliction of my people who
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: their taskmasters. I know they're suffering. And again that word
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: know is this intimate word. He knows intimately. He knows
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: like a man knows his wife. He knows they're suffering.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: And I have come down to deliver them out of
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: out of that land to a good and broad land,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizites, the Hittites,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: and the Jebuzites. And now behold, the cry of the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: people of Israel has come to me, and I have
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Moses said to God, who am I? That I should
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: of Egypt. He reels God as a god who delivers
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: his people, which means that he is intimately aware of
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: the plight of his people. That's what we saw on
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: last week. God knows, He knows exactly what his people
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: are going through, exactly what his people are dealing with,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and it does not catch him by surprise. In fact,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: everything that his people are dealing with has come to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: them from his sovereign hand. God has prepared a people
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and a place. Isn't it amazing? God doesn't just say,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to deliver them out of this oppression.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: He says, I have come to notice the word that
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: he uses, the word picture. I've come down to take
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: them up out of Egypt. But not just to take
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: them up out of Egypt. But I'm going to take
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: them up out of Egypt. And I know exactly where
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take them to. Where's he going to
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: take them to the land that he promised to Abraham
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: back in Genesis. He knows exactly where they're going They
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: know exactly where they're going because God has made a promise.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: So God is prepared to people, and now he has
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: prepared a place. It made no sense whatsoever for all
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: of that land to be given to Abraham. It made
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: no sense whatsoever for all of that land to be
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: given to Isaac and his family. It didn't even make
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: sense for that land to be given to Jacob and
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: his family, although his family was much larger and larger
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: than Abraham's and much larger than Isaac's, they didn't need
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: a nation. However, now hundreds of years later, God has
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: preserved and prepared a people who are now actually a nation.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: The Egyptians are fearful of them because they are so plentiful,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and now it makes sense that God would put them
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: in the land that is broad. Don't you love that terminology?
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: This land is broad? Why did you use that terminology?
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Because they're outgrowing Egypt so much so that the Egyptians
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: are putting them to death. God says, I'm going to
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: take you to a land that is broad. And not
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: only is it broad, but it is flowing with milk
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and honey. It is a prosperous land. And notice that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: God is the only deliverer. It's beautiful here. Please don't
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: be too hard on Moses in verse eleven. Our natural
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: tendency in verse eleven is to say, you know, oh,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: here's Moses, and Moses is doubting. Moses saw a bush burning,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Yo cut him a little slack. He hears the voice
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: of God. For forty years he was in Egypt. He
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: understood that he was a Hebrew. He desired to be
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: a deliverer. He wanted the deliverance of his people, and
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: yet when he tried to do something get backfired on him.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Now he's been in the wilderness for forty more years.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: He's eighty years old. He's an old man. His strength
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: is gone, his popularity in Egypt is gone. They won't
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: even remember him. He doesn't have any plans, he doesn't
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: have an army, he doesn't have any weapons. And God says,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: you are going to deliver my people out of Egypt.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: So verse eleven, when viewed in that context, it's not
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: this picture of cowardice and faithlessness. It's a legitimate issue
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: to raise Amen. Look at verse eleven and notice the
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: way that he raises it. But Moses said to God,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. The answer
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: is your nobody. That's why you've qualified for the job.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: It took forty years to make you nobody. You see,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: forty years ago, Moses might not have answered asked that question.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Forty years ago, when he's in his prime, in the
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: prime of his physical power and the prime of his
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: grasp of his mental capacities, in the prime of his
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: political power, in the prime of his hubris. Forty years ago,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: God may have come and Moses would have said, yes,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: let's go, I can take Pharaoh. But now, as an
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: eighty year old man, and who's been tending sheep for
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: forty years, who probably can't remember the last time he
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: experienced a kind of hand to hand combat, whose language
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: skills absolutely would have diminished by now forty years he
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: hasn't spoken to an Egyptian. And now God says, you're
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: going to deliver the people, that's the right question. Who
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: am I? Because the fact of the matter is, Moses
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: is not the deliverer. God is the deliverer, and the
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: reason he chooses Moses and uses him at this phase
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: of his life is so that there will be absolutely
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: no doubt, you're old, you're weak, you're scared, you're perfect.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Let's go Finally, Israel's God is a god who seeks
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and saves worshippers. Look at verse twelve. I love verse
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: twelve for a number of reasons. But look at verse twelve.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: This is God, he said. But I will be with you,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: and this shall be the sign for you that I
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: have sent you. When you have brought the people out
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. I
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: love that most of this. Who am I to do this? Essentially,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: God answers this question by saying you're nobody. He says no, no, no, no, no, no,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I'll be with you, and he goes here, here's how you
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: know I'm going to give you a sign. Moses, you're
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: afraid I'm going to give you a sign. Oh Lord,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: thank you so much, because I really want to sign,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you know, I would really like to have a sign
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: this bush. That's pretty amazing. That's awesome, that's great, and
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: that's a sign I know. I mean, that's why I
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: hit my face because I know that this is God
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: and that's a sign. But now you're telling me I'm
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: going to go deliver the people out of Israel. You're
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: gonna give me a sign that would be a wonderful thing,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: so that when I go, I can have confidence because
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: I've seen a sign that's gonna let me know that
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: this is going to happen. What's the sign? The sign
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: is when you come back here and worship me, you'll
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: know that it was me. It's probably a little bit
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: different than than what Moses would have wanted. Obe Obe,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: how will I know? How can I know? You will
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: know because I will do what I said I'm going
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: to do. Several things about this are very important. One
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: we know here that God is actually not just delivering
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: a people who are oppressed, but He is actually calling
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: and collecting a people for his name to worship him.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: God is not merely alleviating the suffering of an oppressed people. See,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: that's a liberation theology. Liberation theology is built on this
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: idea and this reading of the Exodus that basically says
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: God is always on the side of the oppressed. Liberation
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: theology sees the Exodus and says, this is all about oppression,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and this is about what God does for oppressed people
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: all over the world, and they're missing something here. Listen
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: to this statement. One commentator is put it this way.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: A persistent aspect, especially of modern man, is his belief
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: that the underdog, the minority group, the oppressed, the downtrodden,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the persecuted race or nationality is the virtuous one and
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: its superiors and or oppressors are the evil ones. They
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: are unwilling to see evil on both sides and to
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: seek the good in one only God. This proneness of
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: men to identify the good with one or another leads
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to the perversion of justice. Justice can only be identified
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: with God. Then all men and all groups of men
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: must be summoned to follow justice and serve it. If
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: we buy into the liberation theology idea that God is
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: just here and God is just listening to Israel because
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: they were oppressed, like no one was ever oppressed, First
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: of all, you don't know history. The ancient Earies was
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: filled with oppressed people. Israel was not the only oppressed people.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: That is not why God is responding. We're also ignoring
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: what we heard earlier. God says, he hears, and he remembers.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: What does he remember? He remembered his covenant with Abraham
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: and Isaac and Jacob. If we just buy into the
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: liberation theology idea that God is merely acting because these
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: people are oppressed, and oppressed people are always good and
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: oppressors are always bad and inherently evil. Then we miss something.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: And there are several implications of this. Let me give
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: you five. This idea rob's ancient Israel. If it's significant
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: place in redemptive history. If all they brought to the
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: table was being oppressed, then we don't understand redemptive history.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: God said his love on this people before they were oppressed. Amen. Secondly,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: this idea reduces salvation to mere deliverance from oppression. That's wrong, folks,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: that's wrong. God can save you in the midst of
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: your oppression and it's still salvation because this is not
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: our home. Amen. Thirdly, this idea makes worship contingent on
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: and responsive to earthly deliverance. How many of you know
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: this is where a lot of us are. It's hard
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: to worship when things are difficult. It's hard to worship
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: when you're asking God to deliver you from something and
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: you haven't experienced deliverance yet. Why. Because we have this
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: idea that God is worthy to the degree that he
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: delivers us from whatever it is we feel like where
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: we need deliverance from. Listen, God is worthy of worship
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: regardless of your circumstances, and in fact, whatever your circumstances are,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: it's better than you deserve. Four. This idea negates the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: idea that of God calling and having a people. That
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: God calls and has a people, that he specifically sets
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: his love on a people. And the beauty of this
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: idea is that even from God's promise to Abraham, we
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: know that it's not one particular ethnic group, and in
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: a New Testament we get an even broader picture of
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: the fact that gentiles are grafted in to this people,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: and that we become part of this people. He chooses
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: this people in Christ. Fifthly, this idea makes righteousness external
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: and corporate and not individual. Now all of a sudden,
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: in order to be righteous, all you have to be
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: is part of a particular group of people that's oppressed,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and that makes you the righteous one and the holy
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: one just because you're part of that group. It doesn't
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: matter who you are individually. If you're part of that
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: group that's oppressed, you're the righteous. And in order to
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: be not holy in night righteous, all you have to
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: do is be part of a group that is oppressed
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: and other people and there you have it, folks, this
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: is real. This is alive and well today in America.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: This is alive and well today. Trying to teach individuals
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: on college campuses this whole idea that there are certain
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: people groups that are oppressed and they are holy and
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: righteous because they are oppressed, or because they're poor, and
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: they are another group of people that's wealthy, and because
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: they are wealthy, they are oppressors. And God is automatically
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: on the side of the poor and the oppressed, and
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: automatically against people who are wealthy. This is alive and
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: well in America today. We hear this all around us,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: and some of us have actually bought into it. It's
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: a lie, people, it's a lie. God calls his people
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: for his own namesake. God calls his people for his glory,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: and God calls his people so that they might worship him.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: God is also demonstrating his sovereignty here. I'm gonna give
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: you a sign, Moses, what sign are you going to give?
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: He doesn't say I'm gonna give you a burning in
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: the bosom, as our Mormon friends would like to believe.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: He doesn't say that he's going to give him some
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: subjective and intuitive sense so that he can just know
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: that he knows that he knows. God says, you'll know
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: because it will be fulfilled, because it will not fail.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: I will demonstrate my sovereignty, and then you will know.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Until then there's trust. But that's who God is. Isaiah
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: forty six nine to eleven. Remember the former things of old,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: For I am God, and there is no other. I
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: from the beginning and from a ancient times, things not
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: accomplish all my purpose, calling a bird of prey from
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I have purposed, and I will do it. This is
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: our God. There was no contingency plan. God is sovereign
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: and he's going to save his people. And God says
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: to Moses, you'll know that it was God because it's
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: going to happen, just like I'm telling you it's going
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: to happen. Finally, we see God creating this distinct people
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: to worship him, and it comes together beautifully in John
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: chapter four, when Jesus encounters the woman at the well
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and she finally says that she perceives that he is
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: a prophet, and then she asks him this question. You know,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: we worship on this mountain, and you people worship on
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: that mountain. Which one is right? And God doesn't say, Oh,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: that mountain is the one that's right. God says, the
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: hour is coming and is now here with those who
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: worship God won't worship him on this mountain? Know that one? Why?
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: Because the Father is seeking worshippers who will worship him
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: in spirit and in truth. God is calling out a people.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: And what distinguishes the people whom God calls out? How
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: can you tell this, holy people? This set apart people
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: for God? How do you know what are they marked by?
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: You know what they're marked by? Worship? God sets them apart.
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: God calls them his own, and they cannot help but
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: respond in worship. That, friends, is why we must not
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: end Exodus prematurely in our minds. Exodus does not end
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: with the law. It ends with the tabernacle. Exodus ends
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: with worship. Exodus ends with God in the midst of
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: his people, and God's people responding to God in their
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: midst through worshiping God, through worshiping God in accordance with
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: what and accordance with what God has spoken. Because he
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: is a God who speaks. He is a God who
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: so their worship is holy. He is a God who speaks,
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: so their worship is in accordance with what he speaks.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: He is a God who delivers as people, so their
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: worship is an expression of gratitude for their deliverance and salvation.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: And He is a God who calls together this people
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: of worship and continues to call together this people of worship.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: This is who we are in Christ. The same one
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: who spoke to Moses from this burning bush is the
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: one who calls us out as a people to worship God.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: He calls us from the bondage of our sin and
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: frees us and delivers us. Why so that we can
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: go and pursue anything that we want, any way that
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: we want to know, So that we will be a
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: peculiar people, as Peter says, a royal priesthood, that we
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: might offer sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ,
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: that we might worship Him appropriately, and that we might
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: be a people marked out, called out, and distinguished, because
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: we worship him with all that we have and with
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: all that we are. And how much more significant should
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: our worship be when our deliverance does not come from
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: one who goes and stands before Pharaoh with a rod
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: in his hand, but one who dies on a tree
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: and is buried and is resurrected on the third day,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: one who takes our sins upon himself, one who satisfies
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: the righteous judgment and indignation of a holy God on
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: our behalf, one who has our sin imputed to him
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: and his righteousness imputed to us. One who dies for
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: our sin for our and raises again for our justification.
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: How much more for one who not takes us to
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: a land flowing with milk and honey, but to the
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: new heaven and the new Earth. How much more? How
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: much more for one not who calls us to pack
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: up the tabernacle and take it with us and set
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: it up every time we set up camp, but one
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: who says that his spirit will dwell within us. How
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: much more should we be marked by the worship of
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: this one true God. Interesting as we introduce Israel's God,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: we meet our own a God who is holy, a
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: God who has spoken and continues to speak in and
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: through his word, a God who delivers his people. In fact,
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: that's how we become his people, by being delivered from
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: our sin and placing faith in Jesus Christ, and one
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: who delivers and calls out a people to worship him.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: This is our God, This is whom we worship. This
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: is our Savior, this is our King, This is the
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: very lover of our souls. The one who saw us
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: in the midst of our oppression, came down and delivered us.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, we still await that land, but we know
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: that the one who promised is faithful, and what he
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: promises will always come to pass. Place your trust in
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: him and in no other, for He indeed is our
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: own lay hope. Let's pray, Faithful, righteous, and redeeming God.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: We bow before you, acknowledging your holiness, thanking you for
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: having spoken, rejoicing in your deliverance, and embracing the privilege
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: of worship. Grant by your grace that these things might
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: remain in the forefront of our minds as we continue
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: and come before the Lord's table. Grant this we pray
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: for Christ's sake. Amen.