WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.560 But Exodus chapter 3, we're going to read verses 1 to 15. This evening we're going to 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:19.839 look at the theme of God as, or God is, Yahweh, God is Jehovah, the name of God. From verse 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:27.760 1 of chapter 3, it's verse, page 46, if you want to use the church bibles. Yeah. Now Moses 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.800 was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jeffro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the 00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:40.400 west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared 00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:46.480 to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. He looked and behold, the bush was burning, 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:52.320 yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:58.159 why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:05.920 out of the bush. Moses, Moses, he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near, take your sandals 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:11.439 off your feet for the place in which you're standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:17.519 Lord of, sorry, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:24.479 And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the 00:01:24.479 --> 00:01:30.159 affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:35.120 know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:41.199 bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the 00:01:41.199 --> 00:01:46.319 place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:51.359 And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me and I have seen the 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:57.679 oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may 00:01:57.679 --> 00:02:03.759 bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses said to God, who am I that I should 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:09.840 go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you and this 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.079 shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:21.280 you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:26.240 say to them that God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me what is his name, 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:34.320 what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. Then he said, say to this people 00:02:35.040 --> 00:02:42.960 of Israel, I am, has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:49.680 the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:58.800 has sent me to you. Okay, that's quite a famous passage for us. We know the passage of the burning 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:06.800 bush but also the revelation of the name of God that is given here. I think probably in our tradition 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.920 we don't put a lot of, not a great deal of store or names in the same way that it would have been 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:18.879 true biblically. And certainly very often in the Bible we see the names associated with something 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:25.679 about the character of the individual. And that is clearly the case with God. When God is giving us 00:03:25.679 --> 00:03:34.639 names that he is revealing, he's really condescending to our level. God doesn't have a name, really God 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:42.719 is. But he uses names to help us understand a little bit more about him. And it helps us to 00:03:43.279 --> 00:03:50.799 grasp a little bit about who he is. And the names of God in the Bible help us very much to understand 00:03:50.799 --> 00:03:58.560 his character and his nature. He is revealing himself through the names that he gives. And 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:07.120 there's lots of names of God in the Bible. Can you think of some of the names of God in the Bible? 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:19.199 Elohim would be one, yeah. Very well known name of God. Jehovah, which is the name that we're going 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:27.360 to look at this evening. Yahweh is another pronunciation of it. El Shaddai. Do you know what 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:40.639 that means? Indeed. God Almighty. So there's various names. There's Abba. There's Adonai, 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:49.040 Master. Alpha and Omega. Ancient of Days. Elohim, sort of the supreme name of God. And there's various 00:04:49.040 --> 00:05:04.480 different El. There's God plus different things like Hell Should I, we mentioned. El Sudkenyu. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.280 Do you know what that means? 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:18.959 God of righteousness. Or Jehovah, that's Jehovah Sudkenyu, sorry. Jehovah Jira, or Jehovah Jira. 00:05:20.719 --> 00:05:34.719 God will provide. Jehovah Sabaoth, God of hosts. Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Nisi, God of banner. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:41.040 There's lots of different compounds with El and also with Jehovah that we mentioned earlier. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:48.640 And what we're looking at this evening is Exodus chapter 3 where God speaks about His name. 00:05:49.280 --> 00:05:53.920 When Moses is asking, what am I going to tell the people when I go down to Egypt? And he says, 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:01.360 God says, I am, tell them I am who I am. Tell them I am has sent you. And then he goes on to say, 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.960 say to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abram Isaac and Jacob 00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:12.720 has sent you. And that's what we're going to look at this evening for just a few moments. 00:06:13.840 --> 00:06:26.000 I am who I am. Or I will be who I will be. Yahweh is the Hebrew. And it is then translated the Lord 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:36.720 in the third person in that verse that we looked at in verse 15. And if you notice there in verse 15, 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:46.959 it's the Lord in small capitals. And that's always how the Bible writes out Yahweh or 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:59.759 some of the older verses of Jehovah. And we find that again and again, well, just under 7,000 times 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:08.719 in the Old Testament, a massive revelation of the name of God. And it was so holy that the Jews 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:16.399 slightly later wouldn't even pronounce it. They wouldn't even speak it. They wouldn't even write it 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:24.959 in full because they regarded the name as so holy. Which is why there's some questions about 00:07:25.919 --> 00:07:32.799 exactly how it sounds and what pronunciation we use with it. They replaced the name Yahweh with 00:07:32.799 --> 00:07:39.359 Adonai, which is one of the other names of God, but we'll not get into the etymology of the word. 00:07:39.359 --> 00:07:44.639 Just want to speak for a moment about the name itself, then the context briefly, 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:51.360 then the shock factor, then the comfort, then the challenge, five things very quickly 00:07:51.919 --> 00:07:58.719 that we can look through the name. So the name I am, who I am, I am has sent you, 00:07:58.719 --> 00:08:08.879 Yahweh, the Lord. But the I am name of God is a remarkable name. And I think it speaks of several 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:13.439 things, a lot more things than we're probably going to discuss tonight. But I think part of it is 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:25.360 that it speaks of mystery, inscrutability, God who just is, but the God who exists and doesn't reveal 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:32.879 everything about himself, who was, who is, and who will be the I am, the self-existent one, 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:40.000 the one, and that name kind of, it sucks up some of the other characteristics that we've been looking 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:48.720 at, the fact that he is eternal, he is the ever-present God, the unchanging one. So what I will be, 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:55.679 I have been, and what I am, I'm going to be, always the same, the infinity of the living God. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:05.440 And it's such an important revelation to speak of himself in this way. He's the great I am in 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:12.160 in how he reveals himself, because it's just a reminder to us that whenever we look at the Bible, 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:19.120 it actually doesn't matter how old it is. It doesn't matter how culturally different the situation 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:25.600 that God was speaking into was. It's completely irrelevant that society has changed, because it 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:31.440 doesn't matter, because God is exactly the same. He's the same God. He's outside of time. You know, 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.680 we've been looking at some of these mind-blowing concepts over the last number of weeks, and it 00:09:35.680 --> 00:09:43.920 just reminds us that the God is unchanging. He's the eternal present. He is the eternal I am. He is 00:09:43.920 --> 00:09:50.800 always what he says he is, and what he reveals himself to be. He's not capricious. He doesn't 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:58.720 change with time. He doesn't mold himself differently depending on the time in the society 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:04.320 and the culture that he finds himself in. So the name of God as he reveals himself here 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:12.240 just reflects a little bit of his unchanging, glorious, infinite and eternal character. 00:10:14.560 --> 00:10:19.519 But what about the context then, because the context is always important, the way in which 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:24.960 and the reason God reveals himself. And we're going to look at the venue, the visuals, and the 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:31.680 verbals quickly in this context. So you've got the venue. Where's it happening? Who can tell me 00:10:31.680 --> 00:10:42.800 quickly? Where's all this happening? Where's this passage from? Where's Moses? Horib. Horib, correct. 00:10:42.800 --> 00:10:50.480 Mount Horib. Yes, the desert of Sinai, the Mount of Horib. But Mount Sinai, a very important place 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:58.800 publicly where God went on to reveal to Moses his Ten Commandments. So it's an important place for 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:08.960 God's revelation as he makes clear more of his character. What about the visual here? What visual 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.920 do we have in this story? If it's at Mount Horib in the desert, what's the visual that 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:27.519 is bedding this revelation around? What's Moses looking at? A burning bush. Yeah, the answers are 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:32.639 very easy. You don't need to worry about not getting ten out of ten. So it's a burning bush. 00:11:33.439 --> 00:11:39.919 And that's an important context, because Moses recognizes, you know, when he looks at this burning 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:47.360 bush, that it's something, there's something dramatic happening here. He knows it's out of the 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:56.959 ordinary, because the bush is there. It's burning, but it's not being consumed. And it says in verse 00:11:56.959 --> 00:12:01.759 two that the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of the bush, 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:11.919 even before God explains that he is there. And so there's this visual that helps us to understand 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:18.639 and tells a little bit about the name that he's going to reveal. And for Moses, there's fear in 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:26.559 the presence of God. There's a sense of danger, because there's a fire. There may be warmth for 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:37.679 him as well, but there's this remarkable, miraculous, inexhaustible ball of energy, you know. And, 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:46.319 you know, it's a desert. In a bush in the desert, light it with a lighter. Just goes up and it's 00:12:46.319 --> 00:12:53.679 away. So it's not like Heather on a Highland Glen, which might take a long time to light and smoke 00:12:53.679 --> 00:13:02.639 for ages, but it's in the desert. And yet there's this ongoing fire where the bush is not being 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:13.199 consumed. It's not burning up. And it's there and in that context, that visual context of the burning 00:13:13.199 --> 00:13:21.679 bush that God reveals himself and speaks. And then we have the verbal. So we've got the visual, 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.079 we've got the venue. And then we've also got the verbal of what God says here. And there's, 00:13:26.079 --> 00:13:32.959 there's, I wonder if you can pick out the two main things that God says here to Moses in the context 00:13:32.959 --> 00:13:42.959 of revealing His name. There's two things that you might pick up on that He says to Moses in the 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:56.480 context here. Can anyone think what they might be? Sorry? Do not come near. I hadn't thought of that, 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:05.519 but that's absolutely part of the holiness of God in the revelation of His name, but also in 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:19.759 the burning bush and the holy ground that it was burning on. So there's that recognition of God's 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:30.720 holiness. But there's two things primarily that He's speaking to. In verse 7, He says, 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.840 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I have heard their cry. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:44.240 So this recognition that He's coming as a covenant God to send Moses to redeem the people 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.759 out of Egypt, they're His people. And in verse 12, He goes on to say, 00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:56.960 you're going to bring my people out of Egypt and they shall serve God on this mountain. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:06.400 And then if you've got your Bibles there, in chapter 6, He's also revealing Himself 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:16.639 as the God who is going to be with Moses in what He does. First in the same chapter in verse 3, 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:28.639 in chapter 3, verse 6, He says, I am the God of your Father. No, that's not the right verse. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:38.159 Sorry, verse 12, He says, He said, but I will be with you and this shall be the sign for you, 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:42.559 for I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve them, God. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:47.519 So He's saying in these early verses, one, these are my covenant people, the people I love. 00:15:48.239 --> 00:15:53.759 And secondly, He's saying to Moses, I'm going to be with you. So it's relational what He goes on to say. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:16:02.239 And in chapter 6, He says the same thing. I appear to Abram, to Isaac, to Jacob as God Almighty, 00:16:02.239 --> 00:16:08.879 but by my name the Lord Yahweh, I did not make myself known to them. I also established a covenant 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:15.039 with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they live as sojourners. Moreover, 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:19.840 I have heard the groanings of the people of Israel from the Egyptians' oldest slaves, 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:25.279 and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people, I am the Lord, 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:30.320 I will bring you out from the burden of the Egyptians. And so you've got this recognition 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:37.600 that when He's speaking and revealing His name, He's revealing Himself in this personal name, 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:45.279 Yahweh, or the Lord, as the covenantal God, the God who is committed to redeem His people. 00:16:48.800 --> 00:16:56.080 And that's going to be revealed in the Exodus, which is a monumental Old Testament event. He's 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:03.519 heard their cry, they're His people, and He's going to bring them out of Egypt. And He's going to do it 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:10.799 through Moses, but He says to Moses, I'll be with you. So there's this redemptive purpose that He 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:20.559 speaks in covenant, but also this intimate and personal promise to Moses in the revelation of 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:28.240 His name. So it's quite interesting because it's a transcendent name, I am who I am, but it really, 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:35.519 it shrinks down to something really personal. I will be with you. This great transcendent God 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:42.480 who reveals Himself, I'll be with you. The covenant God is going to come to His people, 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.920 redeem His people who are slaves and bring them out of Egypt. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:56.880 So that's the context that we find this revelation of God's name. Now we're going to move quickly 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:03.680 to the shock factor in John chapter 8. If you've got your Bibles. 00:18:06.080 --> 00:18:14.080 John chapter 8, we're going to read 10 verses from verse 48 to 58. Jesus is arguing with the Jews, 00:18:15.280 --> 00:18:22.880 the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the children of Abraham, the Abraham who God had entered into 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.920 covenant with, and the Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan, 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:34.800 Jesus, and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honour my Father and you 00:18:34.800 --> 00:18:40.800 dishonour me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and He is the judge. 00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:47.360 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:54.479 now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps 00:18:54.479 --> 00:19:01.599 my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than Father Abraham, who died? And the prophets 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:08.719 died? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:15.279 It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say He is our God. But you have not known Him, 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:23.039 I know Him. If I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:30.399 and I keep His word. Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:37.599 So the Jews said to him, you're not yet 50 years old, and you've seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:46.719 truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:53.839 but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. And now that's the shock factor, maybe not for us 00:19:53.839 --> 00:20:01.679 as our knowledge of God and the Bible, but an absolute shock for the Jews for whom this was 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:09.759 the unpronounceable name, I am. And Jesus, this is not a grammatical error here. This is Jesus 00:20:10.560 --> 00:20:21.920 taking the Old Testament, most glorious revelation of God to himself and saying before Abraham was, 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:29.600 I am. And so doing, in that one sentence, he's just soaking up everything about the character of 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:38.000 God to himself. He's taking it, the covenantal, personal, promissory name of God, and he declares 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.839 himself to be the ultimate revelation of the I am, of this redemption bearing God, the God who 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:53.279 comes for His people. And it's a remarkable statement, and it's clearly what he meant as he spoke here, 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:00.079 because the Jews were all about to stone him for blasphemy. It was the most blasphemous thing 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:10.799 he could have said, very God of very God. And he's taking that name of Jesus, that name of God, 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:20.720 the I am, taking it to himself. And so that Old Testament revelation of I am, which 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:29.839 was translated Adonai, and Adonai in the Old, or was replaced by Adonai because it was such a holy 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:36.559 name, that the Adonai of the Old Testament became curious of the New Testament in Greek, which is 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:43.759 Lord, translated Lord. And so we find that the testimony of the early believers is that Jesus 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:53.279 is Lord. Jesus is master, Jesus is king, Jesus is Yahweh, Jesus is redemptive, and Jesus is personal. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:22:03.839 It's a remarkable revelation here that we find Jesus taking, and then the New Testament attributing 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:09.200 to him all the way through 700 times and more, he's called Lord in the New Testament. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:19.279 And in the English translations, it's the same small capitals all the way through to indicate 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:28.160 that it's not just Lord as in servant with his master, as sometimes people were called, 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:35.279 but that he's taking the name of God himself. So he takes all these attributes 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:48.639 and the character of God himself and subsumes it in himself. And I think probably one of my favorite 00:22:48.639 --> 00:22:59.039 verses in the Bible in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21 is, when we think about this Christ, 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:11.920 this Yahweh, this remarkable God who becomes flesh, also becomes sin. Therefore, we are ambassadors 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:17.279 of Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:24.879 God for our sake. He made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:35.840 of God. That remarkable truth that this covenant keeping personal God of the burning bush of the 00:23:35.840 --> 00:23:46.080 holy ground becomes sin in the person of the sun for our salvation. So there is, it's quite good to 00:23:46.080 --> 00:23:52.720 be to think of the shock factor of that, particularly for the original readers in John's Gospel. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:24:03.120 And briefly before we finish, we come to the comfort and we come to the challenge. So the 00:24:03.120 --> 00:24:11.920 comfort of this revelation of God's name is that he's the great I am. So the God that we worshiped 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:19.519 tonight is the God who will be what he will be, was what he was, is what he is, never changes. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:26.559 He is the eternal present. And when he says one thing, he's not going to change it. And so it's 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:32.960 driving us back to the promises and to the revelation that he gives us in the Bible of himself. He's a 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:44.559 covenant keeping God. And as believers, we have the presence of God in our lives. There was presence 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:52.720 at the holy place in the burning bush and there is a greater presence for us in the 00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:01.279 person as we've been looking at of the Holy Spirit. And that covenant keeping God is our God tonight. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:07.679 And it's important to remember that one or two of the lads here are part of the grace group. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:14.799 And I'll not embarrass them this evening by asking them to memorize or repeat the memory 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:22.560 Sam that we're doing. I could do it obviously, but we wouldn't want to show off on such an occasion 00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:30.640 as this. But Sam 27 begins, you know, the Lord is my light and salvation, the Lord small captals, 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:39.040 the Yahweh, Yahweh Lord is because he reveals himself as the saving God and he's David's God 00:25:39.040 --> 00:25:45.440 and he's David's redeeming God. And it speaks about, and you're going to look at that in the 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:50.240 city group, you're going to look at some of the wonderful things that are said in this Sam about 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:56.000 the Lord. And it's one of many examples. But one of the things that I really like in this 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:05.039 Sam is it speaks about him being the one in verse 5 who lifts me high upon a rock. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:11.440 He lifts me high upon a rock. This is the Lord. It says lots of things about him, you know, 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:18.960 protection and safety and power. But he will hide me in the shelter in the day of his trouble, 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:24.079 in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:30.639 a rock. And that's because David knows and understands and grasps his promises. And that's 00:26:30.639 --> 00:26:34.319 why it's so important for us to know the promises of God because he's unchanging, 00:26:34.879 --> 00:26:39.199 because he's the I am God. And it's not like he promised to Israel and then he promised to the 00:26:39.199 --> 00:26:44.240 disciples and they promised to the church in Ephesus. And well, what does he promise me? But 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:51.439 it's exactly the same. So we know his promises and we claim them because of who he is. And his 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:56.240 covenant promises are brilliant when he says, I will redeem you when we put our trust in him. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:01.440 That's what he's going to do. We're all going to meet again like this in glory sooner or later 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:06.880 because he's made these promises. Our feet are on the rock. We'll be there. You might not think so 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:11.519 sometimes. You might wonder what about, but that's a great hope and that's a great future we have. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.920 Time changes nothing. And his, the revelation of his character in New Testament is there to 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:24.880 encourage us as well. I just think very briefly in terms of his, the comfort of his I am sayings, 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:32.640 which are related to this. When Jesus says I am various things, there's that connection, 00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:41.680 revelation again of himself. Time will be we'll get all seven New Testament I ams. I am, Jesus said. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:52.160 The good shepherd. The bread of life. Light of the world. 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:01.200 I'm the door or the gate. The way the truth in the life. 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:16.880 True vine. Yeah. Well, David, the back there. Well done. From beyond the IT comes this rude word. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:19.600 And I think, did we say resurrection in the life? 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:30.240 Anyway, if we didn't, that's seven. And these are his I am promises of his character, 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:38.160 revelations, kind of broadening the I am concept of who God is and reminders to us 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:46.160 of who he is for us. Covenant promises, covenant revelation. And that's a great comfort. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:56.640 But it's also a great challenge for us. It's not only a comfort. And I think there's always that 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:05.120 balance in Scripture that there's comfort, but there's also challenge. I hope I've got the right 00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:16.800 reference here. Exodus 34. When Moses takes the new tablets down to the people, he says, 00:29:16.800 --> 00:29:22.880 the Lord, small caps, descended in the cloud and stood with them there and proclaimed the name of the 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:31.920 Lord Yahweh. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:38.400 and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:47.120 to thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Comfort. Comfort, really. Comfort from 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:53.599 these words. Amazing character. But we can't stop there. But who will by no means clear the guilty, 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:58.799 visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:06.719 on to the fourth, third and fourth generation. Recognition that God's justice will prevail 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:17.440 and that the guilty will not be let off in the great just character of God. And our recognition 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:25.680 is that Jesus came in salvation as the great Yahweh, but he will return to take his people 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:31.600 and to bring judgment. So when we're looking at doctrine, when we're looking at the nature of 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:38.399 God or the character or the name of God, it should never be boring. It should never be idle chat 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:47.439 or mere fireside debate, debating about the fine things of theology. It's life and death. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:53.279 Doctrine is life and death. It should interest us because it's revelation of the person of God. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:31:04.879 And the reminder to us is that in his perfect, unchanging eternal justice, any who die out 00:31:04.879 --> 00:31:12.240 of Jesus Christ are lost eternally. And so doctrine and the truth of God and the revelation 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:20.079 of God should never just be for the shelf. It should never just be to look at and be amazed by. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:28.879 It should drop us to our knees, both in thankfulness and with a weight and a burden of responsibility 00:31:29.439 --> 00:31:39.119 to share the mercy of God with those who are lost. And remind ourselves of the fact 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:46.559 that we saw on Sunday, try to remember my timing, that we do greater works than Jesus. 00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:53.919 In other words, he is anointed us and given us the privilege of being those who cooperate with 00:31:53.919 --> 00:32:00.559 them in bringing in the kingdom and sharing the gospel and seeing people saved. And that's a great 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:08.879 responsibility for us and a great burden and a great challenge. But it drives us to the Yahweh. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:15.519 It drives us to the one who provides, the one who gives, the one who's the Messiah. We don't take 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:20.879 that burden on our shoulder because that would crush us, crush us. But we're just called to be 00:32:20.879 --> 00:32:29.680 faithful and to be honest and to be open and to be consistent and to be prayerful for the lost 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:38.799 and comforted by his intimacy, his friendship. I am with you, he says, and his covenant promises 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:46.799 that are ye and amen that never change. So God is Yahweh.