So we're going to begin our worship now. We're going to sing, first of all, tonight from Psalm 96a.
Psalm 96a on page 126. The tune is Strakathro, verses 1 to 10.
O sing a new song to the Lord, sing praises to His name, and His salvation day by day let all the earth proclaim.
His glory and His mighty deeds to every land declare, How great and awesome is the Lord, with Him no gods compare.
And that's Psalm 96a, verses 1 to 10. If we stand to sing, if you're able, please.
O sing a new song to the Lord, sing praises to His name.
And that's Psalm 96a, verses 1 to 10.
The Lord, in heaven's high.
Of our grand majesty, He has it.
He dwells in glorious light.
All nations to the Lord, ascribe the glory that is due.
And He Him, we go and share, How pure and saith to God, How pure and thee É
His choice with joy and faith, and offering with you.
Worship the Lord, and holy fear, all the land before Him bow.
Tell them, we land, the Lord is King, established is the earth, and cannot do.
The Lord will judge, that we need the sin is true.
Let's now engage in prayer. Let's all call upon the name of the Lord.
Our gracious and almighty God, as we gather once again here in your presence this evening,
we thank you for the many promises that meet us as we come around your word.
We thank you especially for the promise of your presence,
for you are pleased, Lord, to present yourself among your people,
to reveal yourself to them through your word, through the operation of your Holy Spirit.
We thank you, Lord, as we anticipate such a blessing once again this evening,
for we need to take your word at face value,
and believe your promises as they're set out for us.
We thank you, Lord, for that prospect.
We thank you for the way in which that presence of God
truly sanctifies our hearts,
and sanctifies even our place of worship.
We bless you tonight, Lord, that you are worthy of our worship.
You have revealed this to us in your word,
all the reasons why we come to worship you,
and ascribe praise and glory and thanksgiving to you.
We acknowledge you, Lord, as our creator,
the one who has brought us into being,
the one who formed us in our mother's womb,
the one who took charge of our destiny from our conception
and right through to our end in death.
Lord, we give thanks that we can come and place ourselves anew in your hands this evening.
And we know that to do so places ourselves in the custody
and the security that you provide for your people.
Lord, we thank you that you have remembered us,
poor sinners who are lost without you,
that you have not cast us away from you,
even though this is what we would deserve.
And you have remembered us in your pity,
look down upon us in your compassion,
and especially that you have provided for us
a deliverance, a salvation from our sins
to bring us into that wonderful state of redemption.
We thank you tonight, Lord, for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we bless you, Lord, as our Father in heaven,
that you sent your Son into this world,
that you sent him in such a way as took our nature to himself,
forevermore binding together the deity that he had from all eternity
and the humanity that he took to himself
to be formed and fashioned as a man.
Lord, we give thanks for the wonder of his person,
the glory of his person,
the beauty of his person,
the sinlessness of his person.
And we thank you especially for all that has been achieved
through his work here in this world,
for all that he continues to do in this intercession from heaven
as he remembers his people.
Lord, we pray tonight that we may know you
as that Lord and Savior of your church,
that we may know you for ourselves in such a way
as would fall before you in adoration and in awe and praise,
and truly be persuaded that you are the only God
and that you are the only God we need.
We thank you tonight, Lord,
for every way in which your blessing reaches us from day to day,
from week to week in the course of life.
When we reflect, Lord,
on each Lord's Day at the beginning of each new week,
we can cast our minds back to many ways
in which we have come to experience your blessing.
Lord, we acknowledge with shame
that so often we receive gifts and blessings from you
that we are sometimes all too unaware of,
and that our lives are so filled with things
that we do from day to day
that we take so little time to pause
and to reflect upon the goodness of God.
Lord, forgive us, we pray,
for when our lives fail to give you the thanks,
fail to give you the trust
that you are worthy of.
And remember us then, Lord,
we pray this evening
so that we will dwell in your presence for a time
and that we will know that having dwelt in your presence,
we leave this place, Lord, today
better than when we came,
improved in our relation with you
and with each other,
and grown in our knowledge of you,
in our appreciation and love for you,
and in our determination to serve you.
Bless us, Lord, we pray,
as a congregation during this coming week.
Lord, we give thanks for all the activities
that we anticipate during this week to come
as we do week by week.
And we thank you for all that this entails,
for the many encouragements it brings us
to see so many people actively engaged
in your service in the congregation.
And we do pray for all of these activities,
O Lord,
as they go on from week to week.
And we pray especially again
for the work going on amongst our children
and young people
and young adults.
We commend that to you
once again
and give thanks
for all the parents
and all the teachers
and all the leaders
who provide, Lord,
such encouragement for us.
And we're so concerned
to bring their young people
and children to church
and to experience for themselves
what it is to belong
to a believing
and worshiping congregation.
We remember, too,
O Lord,
tonight those who have
particular difficulties
and challenges in life.
Remember those
who are ill at this time.
Remember those
who are seriously ill.
Remember those
who may be terminally ill.
We commend them to you, O Lord,
and ask that you'd graciously
bless them all.
We pray that you'd bless
those who mourn
the passing of loved ones.
We think of these families,
Lord, tonight
who are preparing
for funerals
in these days to come.
Remember each
and all of these families,
Lord, we pray.
Grant them your blessing
and your comfort.
Grant to them
that you would draw near to them
and as they know
in their hurting hearts,
O Lord,
the reality of death
coming into their family circle.
May they know, too,
the reality
of your Holy Spirit,
blessing your word to them
and giving them
the comfort
and the upholding
and the strengthening
that you alone
are able to bring.
And we ask, too,
that you'd bless Shawnee,
who owns the county hotel.
And, Lord,
we know what took place
in the fire there last week.
And we, Lord,
pray for him
and pray for his staff
at this time
as they seek to adjust
and to move on
from that event.
We thank you
for the way that,
while the damage
was not insignificant,
yet we give thanks
that it was not worse
and was not what
it could have been.
We pray, Lord,
for all the emergency services,
especially the fire service
who took place,
who gave in a place
in their own place,
Lord,
who gave such valuable
assistance at that time.
And we commend to you
all our emergency services
as they serve us
in our community
from week to week.
We ask that you'll bless them.
We ask that you'll keep them safe,
especially at such times
as these,
oh, Lord,
when the potential for injury
is so much heightened.
And we thank you
for your protective care of them.
And we pray that you'll give
Shawnee and the staff
the means by which
they will move on
as the hotel,
whenever it reopens,
that they will know
your blessing
and know your provision
for them,
Lord,
in these days to come.
And we ask that you
would bless us now
as we continue
in your presence.
We think of other items,
Lord,
that were mentioned
in our bulletin sheet today.
We remember especially
Kenny John in Uganda.
And we pray for him
and we pray for the work
that he's involved with
and the different aspects
of that work.
And God is good Africa.
Remember him
and remember all
who work with him,
Lord,
and come alongside him
and remember all
who are helped
by that mission.
We pray too
for those families
in Uganda
who lost
their young ones,
oh, Lord,
so recently
in that terrible act
of violence.
Oh, Lord,
we pray that
you would draw near
to them
and that whatever
they may be in life,
we pray that they
will turn to you
and that they will know
your blessing
at this time
coming to speak
into their hurting souls.
And we ask
that you would,
as we are thankful,
Lord,
for a relative peace
that we experience,
remember all other places
like this
throughout the world
who today
cannot be peacefully
at rest
and who have violence
and terror
to contend with
each and every day
of their lives.
Gracious one,
bless our world,
bless our world
with the gospel,
bless our world
with the spreading
of that good news
of Jesus Christ,
bless our world
with peace,
the peace that comes
from above.
Grant these mercies
to us, we pray,
as we lay them all
before you
in our prayers,
seeking pardon
from all our sin,
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Let's continue
to praise God.
We're singing this time
from Psalm 138.
Our singing again
is from the Sing Psalms version.
Psalm 138
on page 179,
verses 1 to 6,
the tune is rocking him.
I'll praise you, Lord,
with all my heart.
Before the gods
I'll sing your praise.
I'll bow towards
your holy place
and bless your holy name
always.
Psalm 138
on page 179,
singing the verses
marked 1 to 6
to God's praise.
I'll praise you, Lord,
with all my heart.
Before the gods
I'll sing your praise.
I'll bow to your holy place
unless your holy name
always.
I'll praise you for your faithfulness
and for your God.
And for your God,
and for your love,
O Lord,
for over all things
you have praised
your holy name.
Your holy name,
your holy name,
unfaithful word.
The very day I call to you,
You gave an answer
to my plea.
You made me bold
within myself
with beauty song
You strengthened me.
O Lord,
let all
have kings
give praise
when from your mouth
they hear your word.
let them extol
the ways of God
for it's the glory
of the Lord.
Lord,
although the Lord
God dwells on high,
the lowly person
He protects,
whereas the proud
and for dim one
He knows how far
the heart we share.
Amen.
Our reading tonight
from God's Word
is from the book of Exodus.
Exodus chapter 2.
Just the last few verses
of Exodus chapter 2
from verse 23
and reading on into chapter 3
as far as verse 12.
Exodus chapter 2
So Exodus 2
at verse 23
During those many days
the king of Egypt died
and the people of Israel
groaned because of their slavery
and cried out for help.
Their cry for rescue
from slavery came up to God.
And God heard their groaning
and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham,
with Isaac and with Jacob.
God saw the people of Israel
and God knew.
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 I have heard their cry
because of their taskmasters.
I know their sufferings,
and I have come down
to deliver them
out of the hand
of the Egyptians,
and to bring them up
out of that land
to a good and broad land,
a land flowing
with milk and honey,
to the place
of the Canaanites,
the Hittites,
the Amorites,
the Perizzites,
the Hivites,
and the Jebusites.
And now behold,
the cry of the people
of Israel has come
to me,
and I have also seen
the oppression
with which the Egyptians
oppress them.
Come,
I will send you
to Pharaoh,
that you may bring
my people,
the children of Israel,
out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God,
Who am I that I should go
to Pharaoh,
and bring the children
of Israel out of Egypt?
He said,
But I will be with you,
and this shall be the sign
for you that I have sent you.
When you have brought
the people out of Egypt,
you shall serve God
on this mountain."
And so on.
Again, we pray for God's blessing
to follow our reading
of His Word,
and as we come to look
at this passage
in a short time.
We'll sing again
before then,
in Psalm 99,
in the Scottish Psalter,
Psalm 99,
that's on page 361.
We're singing verses 1 to 5,
the tune of Covenanters.
The eternal Lord
doth reign as King,
let all the people quake.
He sits between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved
and shake.
The Lord in Zion,
great and high above all people is.
Thy great and dreadful name,
for it is holy,
let them bless.
Psalm 99,
these verses 1 to 5.
May 10 enter as Emily
asto's a god maisnets,...
they are the great and part is
not in water in the 12th list.
Let the earth be moved and shake.
It sits between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved and shake.
The Lord in Zion, great and high above,
All people is.
Thy great undreadful name for it is holy.
Let them bless.
His holy, let them bless.
Thy great undreadful name for it is holy.
Let them bless.
The King's strength also judgment,
And love's so setless equity.
Just judgment thou dost execute,
And Jacob righteous thee.
Just judgment thou dost execute,
And Jacob righteous thee.
The Lord has got exalted upon high,
And reverently to ye.
Before his boots to worship him,
The holy one is he.
Faith on his boots to worship him,
The holy one is he.
If you turn with me please now to Exodus chapter 3,
And this evening I'm going to look at verses 1 to 10.
Exodus chapter 3, verses 1 to 10.
When you come to read verse 4 here of this chapter,
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God call to him out of the bush,
Moses, Moses.
That is the first time God had spoken for 400 years to the people of Israel.
The last time God spoke to the people of Israel before that
was back in Genesis 46, verses 1 to 4,
where you find God addressing Jacob
as he prepared to go down to Egypt with his family.
And during those 400 years,
not a word had been heard of a revelation from God
to add to what he had said up to that point.
And now we're coming in Exodus 3
to the next stage of God's plan for his people.
It's not a new plan.
Nothing's changed in that respect.
But after all that time without hearing the voice of God,
God again comes to speak to them,
to reveal himself to them,
to give them instructions,
and to provide especially for them the leadership
that Moses is going to bring to them
to deliver them from Egypt
and from their bondage and slavery there.
In chapter 2, verses 24 to 25,
which we also read,
we see that God heard that groaning
and God remembered his covenant
with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob.
And that takes you back to chapter 15 of Genesis.
Just flick through to there.
I'll just read the verses for you.
Chapter 15 of Genesis, verses 13 to 16,
where God there speaks to Abraham
and the promise that he gave to Abraham,
which is now being picked up again
as you come to Exodus chapter 3.
There in Genesis 15, at verse 13,
God spoke as following.
And following, he said to Abraham,
know for certain that your offspring
will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs,
that meant Egypt,
and will be servants there.
And they will be afflicted for 400 years.
But I will bring judgment on the nation
that they serve,
and afterwards they shall come out
with great possessions.
So it goes back to there,
to the promise given to Abraham.
And then all of this time,
since he spoke to Jacob shortly after that,
God had been silent.
And you can see that in chapter 3 here,
this is not a new plan that God is formulating.
It's not as if he's saying,
well, all these years have come to pass.
They're now past these 400 years,
and I haven't spoken a word
to reveal myself further.
So here is my new plan.
This has always been God's plan.
The 400 years of silence
were as much a part of God's plan
as anything else.
They fitted into that program
that God had for his people.
And so the whole thing is just one long chain
of events or non-events,
but everything is within the plan
that God had for them.
And for the past 80 years,
at this moment in this chapter 3 of Exodus,
for the previous 80 years before then,
God had been preparing one man,
this man Moses,
for the task of leading the people of Israel
out of their slavery in Egypt.
The remarkable career of Moses.
He was 40 when he had to flee from Egypt,
having killed an Egyptian,
and ended up in the land of area of Midian,
where he took a wife and had a son.
And now after that time,
40 years has elapsed,
and he's been in Midian for 40 years,
and God is sending him back to Egypt
to lead the people out.
And then the next 40 years of his life,
he'd be leading them through the desert
until they're in sight of the promised land.
Three periods of 40 years
in the life of this one man.
And all of that,
or the first two of these periods,
the 80 years,
are all to do with God preparing him
for this mammoth task
of taking the people,
leading the people out of Egypt.
And you notice in verse 1
what it says about him,
he was keeping,
shepherding the flock
of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian,
and led his flock
to the west side of the wilderness,
and he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
Why does that strike you
as somewhat remarkable?
Well, if you go back to chapter 46,
it tells us what the people of Egypt
thought of shepherds.
When Joseph and his family
came down to Egypt,
chapter 46 and verse 34,
this is what Joseph instructed Jacob to say,
you shall say,
your servants have been keepers of livestock
from our youth even until now,
both we and our fathers,
in order that you may dwell
in the land of Goshen,
for every shepherd
is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Now, why is that important?
It's important because
when it came to Moses being here,
being sent back to Egypt,
having spent these years,
God preparing him
for this great task,
you can see from that
that God does not act
according to human wisdom.
If the question were asked,
what sort of person
would I prepare
if God were to ask us
to go back to Egypt
to lead my people out of Egypt,
you wouldn't actually think
of a shepherd.
You wouldn't think
that a shepherd
would have any place in Egypt
where shepherding
was an abomination to the people.
If you're going to ask the question
as you come into the New Testament,
what kind of woman
would actually bear
the humanity of our Lord,
the Son of God incarnate
as He came into this world,
what kind of woman
would give birth
to the Lord Jesus Christ?
You might say,
well, surely if He's the Son of God
as He is,
and He's coming to take
human nature to Himself,
surely it would be somebody
of a high status,
somebody like a princess.
No, He chose a poor woman
betrothed or engaged
to a man who was certainly
not worthy to Joseph.
And all of that reminds us tonight
of how God operates.
God does not actually pay attention
in that way,
in that sense,
to people who might think
of themselves as fit
and worthy to be used by God
in the advance of His kingdom.
Very often,
as Paul says to the Corinthians,
it's those things
that the world sees
as ignoble,
as too simple,
as just not worthy
to be considered at all.
The kind of people
that you would never place
in the world's standards
in a position
of meaningful importance.
No, God does that.
God takes people like you and I.
God takes people
who are just ourselves,
really nothing whatsoever
in His presence
in terms of ability,
but He takes us
and He puts us
and says,
right,
I'm choosing you
to be a servant,
to lead my people.
That's what He's saying here
about Moses.
God's choices
and God's methods,
they don't fit in
with worldly standards,
with worldly ideas,
with human wisdom
and human thinking.
He has His own mind
and His own mind
is always superior.
As He said to Isaiah,
my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are my ways
your ways.
So let's just be
in awe of God
and reflect tonight
upon how He operates
according to His standard,
to His knowledge,
to His wisdom
and carries through
His great plan
of redemption,
sometimes through people
that you wouldn't have thought
at all would be suitable
for fitting into that plan.
Well, two things
we want to look at here.
First of all,
how Moses meets with God
and some of what took place there
as he came to stand
in the vicinity
of this burning bush.
Moses meeting with God,
verses 2 to 5 of the chapter,
and then from verse 6 onwards,
we'll say something about
how God revealed Himself
to Moses.
So Moses meets with God
and God reveals Himself
to Moses.
Here you find in verse 2,
the angel of the Lord
appeared to him
in a flame of fire
out of the midst
of a bush.
And he looked,
and behold,
the bush was burning,
yet it was not consumed.
Here was this
remarkable phenomenon.
It wasn't a dream
that he had.
It wasn't something
that was unreal.
It wasn't something
that was other than
just literal,
actual,
a bush burning
there in the wilderness.
And it was on fire,
very much on fire,
and yet the wood,
the substance of that bush,
was not burnt up,
totally against
what normally happens.
When you light a fire,
whether it's wood
or whatever,
the fire devours
the material
that it burns upon
until it goes into ashes.
Well, here is a bush.
It was on fire.
Flames were appearing
out of it,
but it was not being burnt up.
It remained in its substance
the bush it had always been.
What did that indicate?
What is that about?
What does that teach us?
It's a famous symbol
as it was used
by the church
down through the ages.
Well, it indicated,
as we'll see,
that God's presence was there.
Look at what you read there.
The angel of the Lord
appeared to him
in the midst of a bush.
Now, the angel of the Lord,
as you know,
is a figure that appears
at different stages
in the Old Testament.
And sometimes he appears
and speaks for God,
but actually sometimes
he appears and speaks as God.
So, it's actually
a manifestation of God
in a certain appearance
in such a way
that takes the appearance
of the angel here,
or sometimes it could be
in the form of a human,
but the angel of the Lord
is a manifestation
by God of himself.
And it's not improper
to actually see it
as we treat it carefully.
It's a manifestation
of the second person
of the Trinity
who came to be incarnate,
to take out human nature
in Jesus Christ.
And if you carefully
protect the fact
that he only became incarnate
at that stage
we read of
in the New Testament,
it's still not illegitimate
to say that this was
a manifestation of God.
What came to be more clearly
the second person
of the Trinity
in the New Testament
taking out human nature
to himself.
That's a whole area
of theology.
It's something that has
been studied down
through the years
very profitably
and still has a lot
of mystery to it.
But here is the angel
of the Lord,
this figure,
appearing to him
in a flame of fire
out of the midst
of the bush.
Now, I think it's probably
better translating that
that the angel of the Lord
appeared to him
as a flame of fire.
As a flame of fire.
Not just in a flame of fire.
The angel of the Lord
appeared as a flame.
He took the form
of this flame
in the midst of this bush
that was burning
and was not consumed.
Now, as you know,
the Scottish church
took the burning bush
as its emblem
way back in history
and that still remains
with us.
And very often
it had the Latin inscription
underneath from
the Hebrew text here,
nektamin consumabater,
which means
yet it was not consumed
from the words
that you find there
in verse 2.
He looked,
the bush was burning,
yet it was not consumed.
And sadly,
I think when
our own church
reconfigured
the emblem
of the burning bush
that you find now,
it's just like
three flames
appearing,
but there's nothing there.
There are no words there.
The Latin phraseology
has been
just rubbed away.
There's nothing there,
which I think
is a great pity
because you cannot
really understand
the symbol
without the words.
And the words
actually mean
nektamin consumabater
means
yet it was not consumed.
It takes you
to the whole essence
of what happened here
in the days of Moses.
That's a bit of a moan,
but never mind.
It's something
that I think is important
in its own right.
Anyway,
what it represented
was that
not so much
the bush
representing
the church
and persecution
represented
by the flames,
and yet the church
was not destroyed.
That's how it was
traditionally looked at,
but I think it's better
really to,
if we can be so bold
as to say,
that it's better
to regard
the flames
in the bush
as indicative
of the presence
of God.
The presence
of God
in His people
or in the midst
of His people,
and yet they are not
consumed,
which itself
is a remarkable thing,
that God should actually
dwell in the midst
of a sinful people
that He makes holy,
and yet they are not
consumed.
They are not brought
under His wrath
in such a way
as just lays upon them
what they deserve
for their sins.
So you see here,
God called them,
in verse 4,
out of the bush.
In other words,
the bush there
and the flames
in the bush
were to do
with the presence
of God,
the holy burning
presence of God.
And while the bush
was not consumed,
there is a representation
for you
of the miracle
of the wonder
of grace
that God comes
to live
in the midst
of His people
as the holy God
because He doesn't
change His holiness.
He doesn't actually
leave His holiness
as it were aside
or limit that holiness
in any sense
in order to dwell
amongst us
as a people.
It is the holy God,
the God who is
as holy today
as He was
in the days of Moses,
as He was
from all eternity.
He was perfectly holy,
righteous,
pure.
And this is the God
who dwells today
with His people
and in the midst
of His people.
And God called Him
out of the midst
of the bush.
So there you find
this remarkable phenomenon.
So remarkable
that Moses
went to draw near
to the bush.
It drew his attention.
It stimulated
his curiosity.
How could this be?
How could there be
such a thing
as a bush
in the desert
burning really
with fire,
with real fire,
and yet that bush
is not consumed?
The wood
is not being burnt up.
What is this?
Moses turned aside
to see.
He 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
and said,
Moses, Moses,
and he said,
here am I.
He said,
don't come near.
Take your sandals
off your feet
for the place
on which you are standing
is holy ground.
Moses is stopped
as he seeks
to draw near
to get a closer
look at this
remarkable bush.
And God stops him.
God stops him
by calling out
his name,
Moses.
And it's actually
a personal summons
where God is speaking
to Moses
and actually stopping
him at that moment
by repeating his name
which really
is a summons
to him to come
and pay attention
to what God
is now going to say.
And that's really
where our service
of God begins,
isn't it,
for ourselves.
We come to serve God
not because we wake up
one day and say,
I think it would be
a good idea
to be a Christian
or I think it would be
a good idea
to be a minister
in the church.
That's not where
our service begins.
It begins in our
meeting with God.
It begins with God
bringing us
to know himself,
to be interviewed
by himself,
to speak to him
and for him to speak
to us through his word.
And it doesn't matter
whether we're in pulpits
or whether like yourselves
you serve God
in different ways.
That's where our service
begins.
It begins with our
personal meeting
with God,
our personal relationship
with God,
our personal meeting
with God
in such a way
as reveals himself
to us savingly.
And as we come
to be saved
and brought to know him
through Jesus Christ,
he sets us on our way
to serve him.
And that's where
our service begins.
And that is
very important.
And Moses responds,
Here I am.
You often find that
in different parts
of the Old Testament
especially
where God is addressing
someone like Moses
or maybe it's Isaiah
or others
where he calls to them
and repeats their name
as summoning him
into his presence
and where their
immediate response is,
Here I am.
Here am I.
In other words,
Moses is standing there
ready to serve,
responding to the call
of God,
responding to the voice
that speaks to him
out of the bush,
the voice he knows
is the voice of God.
Here I am.
And God says to him,
Do not come near.
Take your sandals
off your feet
for the place
on which you are standing
is holy ground.
It wasn't holy ground before.
It wouldn't necessarily
be holy ground afterwards.
Why is it holy ground
there and then?
It is holy ground
because God is there.
It's holy ground
because the holy God
is there.
It's holy ground
because God has chosen
to make his presence
live there
for that moment at least.
That's what makes
a person holy
when God comes
to bring them
to himself,
to reveal himself
to them,
sanctifies them,
sets them apart,
lives in their lives.
That's what makes
a place a holy place.
A holy place
is not a place
because it's associated
with something in the past,
something to do
with religion.
It's not a holy place
because people have chosen
to regard it
and label it as holy.
There are many places
in the world today
where there are no longer
church services
or any services held at all
where there are just
empty buildings
and people will tell you,
no, you go into that place
and it just feels so different.
It feels so holy.
Well, maybe that's the case.
But what makes a place holy
it's the presence of God.
And when God is in a place,
that place is holy
while God makes His presence
known there,
while God is present there
here tonight.
God's presence.
God being in a place
through His people
or in His people,
it renders this place sacred.
It's not sacred
because of its history.
It's not sacred
because of whose congregation
actually uses it.
It is sacred
because it's associated
with the divine presence of God.
And when God is present,
as Moses has instructed,
you approach very carefully.
you pay regard
to what God's presence
is about
and whose presence it is.
This holy God,
this pure God.
He had to take off
His sandals of His feet
because I think His sandals
would have had
some dirt on them,
some dust on them.
That would have been itself
a representation,
if you like,
of defilement.
And He wasn't to carry that
into the presence of God.
Take off your sandals
for the place on which
you're standing
is holy ground.
And whenever we come
into the presence of God,
we should be conscious
that we're always coming
into holy ground,
onto holy ground.
We're coming to deal
with God ourselves
in our personal,
individual sense.
We don't draw near to God
and stand as if we had
a right to His audience.
We don't come into His presence
without being conscious
of the defilement of our sin,
even when we know
that our sin has been forgiven,
that we are cleansed
by the blood of Christ,
that we are His people.
We still come into His presence
and we acknowledge His holiness.
We acknowledge His perfect holiness
because His holiness
has not changed.
Even if He's changed
our lives for the good,
you still come into
the presence of God
and you do what Moses did.
He hid His face.
You come with humility
and you come with confession
of your uncleanness.
Why do we still,
in prayer,
ask God to cleanse us,
to forgive us our sins,
to make us holy
because we're coming
into the presence of God
and we're conscious
of our defilement,
of our sinfulness,
of the dirt of our sin.
And we appear before God
and say,
Lord,
as such a person as I am,
as a sinner in myself,
I am not worthy
that I should come
into Your presence.
I need to,
Lord,
ask You to
cleanse me,
to prepare me
to meet with You,
to prepare my heart
that I'm coming
to meet with this holy God.
And if there's one thing
that's wrong with the world,
and if I may say
if there's one thing
that's wrong with
the wider church
throughout the world,
it's that we've lost sight
of the holiness of God
and lost sight
of what the holiness
of God means
and what the holiness
of God imposes upon us
in terms of our approach
to Him.
I don't mean that
we should be legalist
or legalistic,
that we should actually
be just formally
coming before God
in a fashion
that would formally
acknowledge that
this is the holy God.
What I mean is
when we come to
the presence of God
consciously,
and really dealing
seriously and earnestly
in our hearts
with who God is
and what God is like.
How dare we come
into His presence
if we were to do so
at any time
without due preparation
and due thought
and due prayer.
Because our God is holy.
And as our God is holy,
we have to treat Him
with that respect
and awe
and worship
that He is worthy of.
And so here is Moses
meeting with God.
The burning bush
draws his attention.
God speaks to him
and the angel of the Lord
out of the midst
of that bush.
He hears the words of God.
And what we'll see now
from verse 6
is what God added
to what He said.
He instructed him
regarding taking off
the sandals of His feet
and that the place
He was standing in
was holy ground.
But that was just
the introduction.
And then he went on
to add to that
the substance
of the message
or the revelation
God had for him
and it was this.
He said,
I am the God
of your father,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
And the Lord said,
I have surely seen
the affliction
of my people
who are in Egypt
and so on.
So you see,
God is revealing Himself
here to Moses
as the covenant God
of His people.
That's why I said
early on in our study
tonight that
this is not a new plan.
This is not a different God
to the God
that Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob worshipped.
He is actually emphasizing
to Moses,
I am that God.
And despite the fact
that 400 years
have gone by
when I haven't said
a word
to the people
you belong to,
I am still
the same God,
I am still
the same covenant God,
I am still committed
to these people
in the covenant,
promises that I made
to Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob.
That's why He calls them
in verse 7,
my people.
I have surely seen
the affliction
of my people
who are in Egypt.
Now one of the things
that you and I
should be deeply
thankful for tonight
is that we are not
dealing with
a different God
to the God
that Moses came to know
and Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob knew.
He's the same covenant God.
He's the God
who has not changed
in terms of His covenant promises
and His covenant dealings
with His people
down through all of these
thousands of years.
He's the same God
to you tonight
as He was to Moses.
He hasn't changed.
His promises haven't changed.
His objectives
have not changed.
His purpose
has not changed.
And tonight
you're thankful
that you don't deal
with a God
who is fluctuating
from one moment
to the next,
from one year
to the next,
who actually says,
well, I'm not going to be
to you today
what I was yesterday
or last year.
I am the God
of your Father,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
If there's one thing
that characterizes
this God
we worship tonight,
it's His consistency.
His consistency
as the Holy God
committed to His covenant,
committed to His promises,
committed to bringing
His people out of slavery,
committed to bringing
them home
to be with Himself.
Now you see,
Moses has gone
from curious
to being in awe.
He hid his face
for he was afraid
to look upon God.
And as we said
a minute ago,
that's really
taking us
to the heart
of worship,
isn't it?
Worship is not
something you just
follow through
mechanically.
We don't sing
the Psalms
just in a formal
fashion mechanically
without really thinking
of what we're saying.
And even if we're thinking
of what we're saying,
we don't just sing them
as if it was just
a matter of routine.
We sing them
as part of our
relationship with God.
We sing them
and we read His Word
and we proclaim His Word
and we listen to His Word
because we live
in awe and obedience
and humility
in the presence of God.
We hide our face,
as it were.
We're afraid
to look upon God.
And yet God
has revealed Himself
so wonderfully
in the person
of Jesus Christ
which is saying
to you tonight,
you can approach Me.
You can come to Me.
You can come to Me
through Him.
You can come into My presence.
I've made provision for you.
You are safe
in the grace
that is in My Son.
Is there any greater privilege
than that?
You know,
if you know your heart
and I know my heart
as surely we do tonight
as sinful human beings,
one of the things
that should impose
the greatest wonder on us
is that we can come
into the presence of God.
That we can live
in fellowship with God.
That we can be represented
by this burning bush
in which God dwells,
in which the flame
of God's presence,
God's living presence
is there
and yet we are not consumed.
We are not swallowed up
and devoured
in God's wrath
against sin.
Why?
Because of Jesus Christ.
Because He is our shield.
He is our exceeding
great reward.
In Him,
we come into the presence
of God
and through Him,
we hold that relationship
with Him
that His grace
has opened for us.
So there's your covenant,
God.
And God will not change.
Whatever happens
in your life,
however different
your life may be tomorrow
from what it is today,
whatever events
in your life
may yet lie in wait
for you in God's providence
that you have never
experienced before,
whatever depths of pain
or challenge
or difficulty
await you on life's journey,
and we cannot predict these.
But I guarantee you,
and you can guarantee
for yourself
on the basis
of God's Word
and what God's Word
says about Himself,
that this is what is true
always of you
when you are in Christ,
when you know Him
as your Savior.
I am the God
of Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob.
I will remain
the same to you.
I will be faithful to you.
I will never change
my relationship with you.
You are my people.
Here's the wonder of grace,
this covenant God.
He's not just
the covenant God,
though.
He is the concerned God.
Concerned,
I mean in the sense
of being involved
with His people.
Because look what He goes on
to speak of here
from verses 7
through to verse 10.
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.
I have come down
to deliver them
out of the hand
of the Egyptians
and to bring them up
out of that land
to a good and broad land,
a land flowing
with milk and honey.
There are four elements there
that are themselves
wonderful
in the truth of them.
He says,
I have surely seen
the affliction
of my people.
Where has God been
for 400 years?
He hasn't spoken
for 400 years.
Where has He been?
What's He been doing?
He's been looking
at His people.
He's been intensely
interested in His people.
The 400 years gap
of speaking
is no indication
that God has forgotten them,
that somehow or other
they have fallen out
of God's favor
or God's view.
I have seen,
surely seen the affliction.
I have certainly seen
the affliction
of my people.
God's eye
is never off His people.
Whatever His providence
has ordered for them.
There's another
wonderful jewel
that you can put up
and hold
in the casket
of your heart.
I have surely seen
your affliction.
There isn't a drop
of suffering
in your life
as a Christian
that has not already
been entered
into God's record book,
that God has not
taken careful note of,
that God is unaware of.
I have surely seen
the affliction
of my people.
And then He says,
and I have heard
their cry.
I have heard their cry
because of their taskmasters.
In other words,
not only has God
been taking note
of where they are
and what's being done
to them
and the suffering
they're going through,
He has heard their cry.
He has actually been moved
by their pained cries.
I don't let anybody think
or tell you
that God
is a God
who is so stiffly
in regard of His people
that He's on the borders
of their lives,
looking from a distance
into their lives,
but really totally unmoved
by anything
they're going through.
I have heard
their cry
and I know
their sufferings.
He's been moved
by their predicament,
by their conditions.
And I know
their sufferings.
What a God!
What a privilege
they have
that despite all the fact
that they haven't heard
from Him
for 400 years,
He has all the time
had His eye upon them.
And He's now saying to them,
I know what you're going through.
I've heard your cry.
I haven't just listened to it,
but I've heard it
in a way that's moved me
to pity you.
And here I am.
I'm ready to come
to your rescue.
Well, there is God
for us tonight, friends.
And when you look at Jesus
and the fact that
that is God
having taken our nature
to Himself,
the person of the Son of God
who has come
to take our nature.
Why did He take our nature?
So that He would take our sins
and die for our sins.
But one of the other aspects
of that is that He would be
a faithful and merciful
High Priest.
That He would be able
to support us
in all our sufferings,
having been tempted
in all points
like as we are
and yet without sin.
That is the God
who is moved.
The God who takes note
carefully of our predicament
and our sufferings.
And who tonight
is assuring you
if you're experiencing suffering
on His behalf
for His sake.
God's not just
got a casual acquaintance
with you
or acquaintance
with your predicament.
He's taking stock
very carefully,
very lovingly,
in a very covenantal way
that this
is what His child
is going through.
And He's saying to you,
I'm here for you.
I know your suffering.
I know what you're going through.
And then He says,
I have come down
to deliver them
out of the hand
of the Egyptians,
to bring them out
of that land
to a good
and broad land.
I have surely seen
their affliction.
I have heard their cry.
I know their suffering.
And now,
fourthly,
He's saying,
I have come down.
There is God,
you see,
reminding Moses
that He's actually on high.
Here He is,
represented in the bush,
in the flame of the bush.
The voice is coming
from the midst of the bush.
But Moses is under no illusion,
left under no illusion
as to who God is
and where His position is.
I have come down
because I am up there.
I am the King.
I am the Creator.
I am the One
who controls all things.
I am the Sovereign God.
But I have come down.
You see,
His view of the people,
His hearing their cry,
His seeing of their sufferings,
His knowledge of their sufferings,
is now something
that lies behind His action.
His concern for them
has led to this great action.
I have come down.
And where do you better see that
than in the person
of Jesus Christ, His Son?
Because when you look
at the life of Jesus
in the Gospels
and in the Epistles,
when you look at the record
of His life in the Gospels,
and when you look at the amount
of time that's given
or space that's given
to His trial
and then His death
on the cross,
which is the greater part
of all the four Gospels,
you can really say
as Jesus is crucified
and as He expires
on the cross,
you can take these words
of Exodus 3
and very meaningfully
apply them
to what you're seeing.
I have come down.
I have come down
to deliver them.
And I have come down
to deliver them
and to take them up
into this great land,
a land flowing
with milk and honey.
In other words,
what God is saying
to us there
is really
in the two sides of it
to deliver them
on the one hand
out of the suffering
of Egypt,
out of the bondage,
the slavery of Egypt,
and bringing them
into the wonderful liberty
of Canaan
and the bounty
of that land.
That's in essence
an image of salvation
for you.
What is salvation?
Salvation is God
taking us out
of our sin and misery,
that state into which
we fell and brought ourselves,
and He's taking us
out of that
and into that great land,
the inheritance
that awaits in heaven
for His people.
That's salvation.
That's redemption.
That's this God
acting
on behalf of His people
and for His people
to deliver them,
but also to bring them in too.
And you notice
how He describes
the land of Canaan,
not just a land
flowing with milk
and honey,
and then the place
of the Canaanites,
the Hittites.
Why does He mention
all of these here
at this point?
I think it's more
than just to actually
remind Moses
of what He's going
to be confronting
when they reach
the land of Canaan.
He's more or less
saying to Moses,
I think,
at this point,
this land is so good
that He's able
to sustain
all of these people
here and now.
That's the land
I'm taking you into.
And who is He saying
this about?
That He's going
to deliver them
out of the hand
of the Egyptians
and bring them
out of that land
to a good and broad land.
Who's He talking about?
He's talking about slaves
who don't have a land,
who don't have
an inheritance,
who don't have
a place to call their own.
And here is God
because this is redemption,
taking us as slaves
of sin,
taking us out
of the slavery of sin,
and giving us,
instead of that bondage,
giving us the broad
land of heaven,
the inheritance
that is undefiled,
incorruptible,
and awaits in heaven
for His people.
You see,
He's calling it
not just a good land,
but a broad land.
Here are these people
as slaves in Egypt,
and where are they?
What's their condition?
They're being squeezed.
The life is being squeezed
out of them.
They're in the land of Goshen,
a very good part of Egypt,
but they've multiplied hugely.
They're now being squeezed
into this small area
compared to the whole of Egypt.
And God is saying,
that's not your home.
The land I have for you
is a good and a broad land.
There's plenty of space
for you there.
You're going to thrive there.
It's the best I could give you,
a land flowing
with milk and honey.
From owning no land,
they come to an inheritance
in Canaan,
the best plot on earth.
This is salvation.
This is salvation portrayed
in the history
of these people of Israel.
This is salvation
as it's represented there,
God delivering us
from sin,
from the confinement,
from the bondage of sin,
from the restrictions
of a sinful life.
What is He doing?
He's taking us out of that.
He's delivering us.
He's taking us
into a broad
and good land.
Redemption,
salvation,
heaven,
and inheritance
in glory.
That's why the New Testament
so often speaks about this.
I can just,
in finishing,
remind you of one version,
the letter to the Colossians,
chapter 1,
verses 12 to 14.
This is the prayer of Paul
for the Colossian Christians.
May you be strengthened
with all power,
giving thanks to the Father
who has qualified you
to share in the inheritance
of the saints in light.
He has delivered us
from the domain
of darkness
and transferred us
into the kingdom
of His beloved Son
in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins,
a good
and a broad land,
a land flowing
with milk and honey.
But you notice finally
verse 12
of Exodus 3.
This will be
the sign for you
that I have sent you
when you have brought
the people out of Egypt.
You shall serve God
on this mountain.
The word serve there
really means worship.
You shall worship God
on this mountain.
There you have it.
There's the climax.
The whole point
of salvation
is that we will come
to be worshippers of God.
Why has He saved you?
What is His purpose
in saving you?
To place you along
with others
who will forever
worship God,
giving praise
and honor
and glory to Him.
You look at the passages
in the book of Revelation
that give you
some indication
as far as we can
of what heaven is like.
And how is it described?
Well, it's very often
described as that place
where there is praise
and honor
and glory
given to God
and His majesty.
Where our people
are gathered together
as a saved people
of God
worshipping Him
forevermore
without interruption.
There is, friends,
our privilege
to know God
as our deliverer,
our Savior,
the one who is promising
tonight to bring us
into this broad
and good land,
the land of heaven.
Isn't that your hope?
Isn't that your prospect?
Isn't that your experience
already
of this God?
Aren't you here
as a worshipper
of God tonight
because
He has saved you?
because He has delivered you,
because His promise
is to you,
I will bring you
into that inheritance
as surely
as I have delivered you
out of the bondage
of sin.
To God
be the praise,
to God
be the glory,
to Jesus Christ
be all majesty
and dominion
and power
now and forevermore.
because only He deserves.
This great covenant God
deserves our worship
and our allegiance.
Let's pray.
Our gracious God,
we find it so difficult
to find words adequate
to describe the thoughts
of our hearts
even as we come
to realize
the enormity
of your redemption.
And Lord,
we pray that
as we consider
this evening
the wonder
of your deliverance
of your people
from sin
and the wonderful prospect
of being brought
to be finally with you
in that heaven
that flows
with milk and honey
spiritually,
we thank you tonight
for that redemption.
We thank you
for the one
who has brought it to us,
who has come into this world
and given himself
to the death of the cross,
who has given himself
to be made a curse for us,
the one who knew no sin,
to be made sin
for his people,
that we might be made
the righteousness
of God in him.
Sanctify us,
we pray.
Give us day by day
to be concerned,
to draw near to you,
the holy God,
living by faith in Christ
and being persuaded
that not only
is it our privilege
to do so,
but as we exercise
our privilege,
Lord,
help us,
we pray,
to be convinced
and to have assurance
that you will not
lay your hand upon us
to destroy us,
but that you will ask us
again into your presence
to experience more
of your blessing.
Hear us now,
we pray,
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Let's sing in conclusion
now from,
in the Scottish Psalter,
from Psalm 99 again.
Psalm 99,
page 361,
verses 6 to 9.
To the tune Bethesda,
Moses and Aaron
among his priests,
Samuel with them
that call upon his name,
these called on God,
and he them answered all.
Within the pillar of the cloud
he unto them did speak,
the testimonies he them taught
and laws they did not break.
And so the psalm concludes,
do ye exalt the Lord our God,
and at his holy hill
do ye him worship,
for the Lord our God
is holy still.
Verses 6 to 9 of Psalm 99.
Moses and Aaron
among his priests,
Samuel with them
that call upon his name,
these calls on God,
I need them answered all.
Within the pillar of the cloud,
he unto them did speak,
the testimonies he them taught,
and laws they did not break.
Thou answeredst them,
O Lord our God,
Thou wast a God that came,
are done to them,
O Lord their deeds,
Thou rooted,
fengenest have.
Do ye exalt the Lord our God,
and at his holy hill,
do ye him worship,
for the Lord our God,
our God is holy still.
I'll go to the door here,
to my right this evening.
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you now and evermore.
Amen.
Die of whom he is holy by the Lord is holy with you,
O Lord your glory
and themision to God.
YN