WEBVTT 00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:33.149 We pray. This passage that we have before us 00:00:33.149 --> 00:00:38.869 is so remarkably famous, known inside and outside 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:42.890 Christian circles or Jewish circles. One of the 00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:44.770 great stories of your scriptures. And so Lord, 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:47.030 I pray that this morning we might hear it afresh 00:00:47.030 --> 00:00:51.090 and new, that we might love you more, that we 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:53.130 might trust you more, that we might give ourselves 00:00:53.130 --> 00:01:00.320 to following you more. having wondered at your 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:06.359 ways. I wonder if I need some new batteries. 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:08.140 I don't know. It seems like it's going out, but 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:09.939 I'm just going to talk and if it goes out, I'll 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.379 have to yell maybe. So what's in a name? You 00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:17.340 know, I think what I mentioned earlier with Peter's 00:01:17.340 --> 00:01:20.439 baptism, the names in some ways do say who we 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:22.599 are. They just identify us, but they often speak 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:24.799 more than that, right? There's some names that 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.739 speak especially more than that. I remember when 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.900 Usain Bolt kind of shot onto the scene, you know, 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.180 his famous like that guy. He was the only sprinter 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:40.840 to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:43.939 in both the 100 meter and the 200 meter. He's 00:01:43.939 --> 00:01:46.359 the only one to ever have done that. He broke 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.560 world records and then he broke his own world 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:52.019 records. He won a total of eight gold medals 00:01:52.019 --> 00:01:54.879 and actually won a lot more of events in the 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.739 world championships. Easily he's the most successful. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:03.060 runner in history and his name is Bolt. Of course 00:02:03.060 --> 00:02:07.519 it is. Maybe you know of the artist John Legend. 00:02:07.659 --> 00:02:10.580 I imagine you probably do. Maybe you know that 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:15.500 his name was actually John Roger Stevens. But 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:17.460 some friends made fun of his voice. They said, 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:20.800 you sound too much like the old guys. It sounds 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.280 like you're mimicking. And he's like, I'm going 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:27.969 to get somewhere. Renamed. Gave himself officially 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:30.770 a new old new last name legend and he's lived 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:34.370 up to it Names sometimes sometimes it's true 00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:39.310 names reveal right they reveal They reveal maybe 00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:41.449 who we hope to be but maybe who we are. Maybe 00:02:41.449 --> 00:02:46.129 who we're living into I mentioned earlier that 00:02:46.129 --> 00:02:53.340 Jesus renames Simon Peter, right the rock And 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:57.120 while Peter certainly wasn't terribly solid in 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:00.460 a lot of the gospel accounts, he's one of the 00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:03.919 great leaders of the early church. My own children 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:08.639 have middle names that are family names. We want 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:12.439 them to remember where they've come from, what 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.000 story they're living into, and live in light 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.900 of those stories in many ways. James is James. 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:21.979 Kenneth is my dad's name. Henry is Henry Julius. 00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:25.740 which I will say is a remarkably noble name. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:30.719 But Julius is my father -in -law's name, and 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.919 Lily is Lily Catherine, which is Melissa's first 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:34.900 name, and her mom's first name, and her grandmother's 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:36.500 first name, and her great grandmother's first 00:03:36.500 --> 00:03:41.840 name. Telling a story. We used to joke some, 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.340 I haven't recently, but James is James Kenneth, 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:47.509 and Melissa's... maternal grandfather was an 00:03:47.509 --> 00:03:49.389 architect, and my dad was an architect, and I'm 00:03:49.389 --> 00:03:52.530 a pastor, so James is bound to design churches. 00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:57.569 We'll see if it happens. We'll see. But what 00:03:57.569 --> 00:03:59.310 I'm suggesting is, in some ways at least, names 00:03:59.310 --> 00:04:01.889 revealed, but they certainly set us up, right? 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:04.710 They give us a story, a background in a way, 00:04:05.349 --> 00:04:08.729 and they set us up for a future. Some names, 00:04:09.250 --> 00:04:14.039 like Hussein Bolt, just fit. So today we're continuing 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:16.759 this story or this series in the story of the 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:20.120 life of Moses, sort of the narratives of the 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:22.180 Exodus, the Exodus text. And of course, it's 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:24.379 not just about Moses, it's also about the people 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:27.040 of God being brought from slavery, being brought 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:31.079 out to God himself to worship him. But of course, 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:32.600 much more than that, it's not just about Moses, 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:33.959 it's not just about the people of Israel, it's 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:37.470 about God. This is a story about God. And of 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:39.389 course in some ways it begs the question, who's 00:04:39.389 --> 00:04:42.009 God? What's going on? Who are we talking about? 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:45.990 Well, we're talking about the God who knows and 00:04:45.990 --> 00:04:48.089 who sees, right? Who sees and knows like that 00:04:48.089 --> 00:04:51.410 memory verse, the last verse in chapter two. 00:04:51.810 --> 00:04:54.050 It's like about a God who acts, who saves, who 00:04:54.050 --> 00:04:56.550 redeems, who draws his people out to himself. 00:04:58.050 --> 00:04:59.750 And in some ways that's again what we're seeing 00:04:59.750 --> 00:05:02.860 this morning. But we're seeing this God who reveals 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:05.060 himself. And I want us to look at this famous 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:07.319 chapter, which is somewhat long, which was nice 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.379 to kind of break it up and for you to hear different 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:12.860 parts of it. But I wanna consider it with these 00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:17.379 three phrases that we hear in this chapter. The 00:05:17.379 --> 00:05:22.379 first one is, here I am. The second one is, who 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:28.459 am I? And the third one is, I am, okay? So here 00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:33.519 I am. So Moses is tending the sheep of his father 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.240 -in -law. Actually, in chapter two, he's called 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:39.720 Ruel, which means friend of God. So it seems 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:42.620 as though Moses is marrying into a faithful family 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:47.000 in some way, though they're medianites. And then 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:48.899 here is Jethro, but he's tending to somebody 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:52.980 else's flock, and he's leading the flock. He's 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:55.000 gone west from where they live, and he's gone 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.050 to Mount Horeb. actually in some ways prefiguring 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:00.089 what's going to happen when Moses leads the flock 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:04.110 of God west out from Egypt to Mount Sinai because 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:05.889 Mount Horbe and Mount Sinai are actually two 00:06:05.889 --> 00:06:10.689 names for the same place. But it's in this kind 00:06:10.689 --> 00:06:13.870 of situation where he sees this this bush that's 00:06:13.870 --> 00:06:15.709 being burned but it's not being consumed. There's 00:06:15.709 --> 00:06:19.250 this fire that is present sort of drawing his 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:21.550 attention in and he first he sort of looks at 00:06:21.550 --> 00:06:25.470 and he goes this is curious, right? And then 00:06:25.470 --> 00:06:28.370 he goes to it and he hears Moses. I love how 00:06:28.370 --> 00:06:29.870 Melissa read it because I feel like the second 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:34.389 Moses was even more intense. Moses. Moses. Drawing 00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:40.649 him in, right? And his response, here I am. Here's 00:06:40.649 --> 00:06:44.730 where I am. And this little introduction... Of 00:06:44.730 --> 00:06:47.910 course, we don't just have the location of Moses, 00:06:48.069 --> 00:06:50.689 we actually get a couple comments about his story 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:53.170 even there. We have glimpses into where he's 00:06:53.170 --> 00:06:56.990 been. He's on Mount Hora because he's shepherding, 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:59.310 right? He's looking for a new place to tend to 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:03.069 the flock. It's picking up after the end of the 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:09.430 last chapter where we read that he was a sojourner. 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:14.149 He named his son Gershon because he was a sojourner. 00:07:14.529 --> 00:07:16.290 So he wasn't really with his people. I mean, 00:07:16.290 --> 00:07:18.990 Moses is out in a place sort of that's unknown, 00:07:19.189 --> 00:07:23.850 not his homeland. We know from elsewhere that 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:26.750 he had lived 40 years, or from other pastors 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:28.490 that he had lived 40 years in Egypt, and now 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:31.649 he'd lived 40 years tending to his father's flock, 00:07:32.050 --> 00:07:35.660 or his father -in -law's flock. But in those 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:37.839 little phrases, even in the reality that Moses 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.139 is elsewhere, we can actually remember back to 00:07:40.139 --> 00:07:42.180 the last chapter, we can think of the affliction 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:44.879 and the burdens and all that were on God's people. 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:46.920 And actually some of Moses's own story, which 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:51.680 was a story of defending the Israelites and then 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.220 getting rejected by the Israelites, of killing 00:07:54.220 --> 00:07:56.600 an Egyptian and then being sought after to be 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.199 killed by Pharaoh, the head Egyptian. What we 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:02.990 can kind of remember in all of this Moses simply 00:08:02.990 --> 00:08:05.029 being out in the middle of nowhere is all of 00:08:05.029 --> 00:08:07.170 this suffering and all this sin that is in the 00:08:07.170 --> 00:08:09.949 past. So when he says here I am, it's not just 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.629 here I am present here, but here's this, here's 00:08:12.629 --> 00:08:16.250 me and this big story of myself and my people. 00:08:17.850 --> 00:08:20.189 Of course another interesting thing here is that 00:08:20.189 --> 00:08:25.290 this burning bush speaks and it speaks his name. 00:08:27.629 --> 00:08:33.990 So it's his specific name that God knows. The 00:08:33.990 --> 00:08:36.529 burning bush, we can say, knows him. The burning 00:08:36.529 --> 00:08:42.049 bush knows his story, his past, his pain, his 00:08:42.049 --> 00:08:47.230 fears, his doubts. Here I am. You know me. You 00:08:47.230 --> 00:08:51.409 see me. Moses, Moses. And again, if we think 00:08:51.409 --> 00:08:53.230 back in the last chapter, we know some of the 00:08:53.230 --> 00:08:56.129 background here of the naming of Moses, right? 00:08:56.669 --> 00:09:00.470 Moses' biological mother. probably with many 00:09:00.470 --> 00:09:03.629 tears, put him in that basket that she had daubed 00:09:03.629 --> 00:09:08.190 with bitumen and pitch, placed him in that basket, 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.889 then placed that basket in the river, which was 00:09:10.889 --> 00:09:12.669 the place to which the baby boys were supposed 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:14.529 to be thrown to be killed, and yet she was seeking 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:16.850 to save his life. And then Pharaoh's own daughter 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:22.190 rescues him. And it's in that context that we 00:09:22.190 --> 00:09:25.870 read that he was drawn out. And he was called 00:09:25.870 --> 00:09:28.559 Moses because he was drawn out of the Nile. It's 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:30.039 kind of interesting. There's some controversy 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:34.840 over this naming of Moses because the Hebrew 00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:39.620 name Moshe means to draw out from. It's kind 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:43.000 of like the word Exodus. Exodus means to go out 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:47.179 the way, out the way. Exodus is the Greek words, 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:51.159 the kind of the road out. But in chapter two 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:54.250 verse or chapter two verse 10, what we read is, 00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:56.629 she named him Moses because she said, I drew 00:09:56.629 --> 00:09:59.029 him out of the water. But the controversy is 00:09:59.029 --> 00:10:01.549 who's the she there? What's going on here? I 00:10:01.549 --> 00:10:03.309 mean, it seems as though it should be Pharaoh's 00:10:03.309 --> 00:10:05.730 daughter, but there's no reason why Pharaoh's 00:10:05.730 --> 00:10:08.789 daughter would know Hebrew and also would name 00:10:08.789 --> 00:10:12.629 a little boy a Hebrew name. She would have raised 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:14.929 him, of course, in her own, largely in her own 00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:20.110 family with the Egyptian customs. And actually 00:10:20.110 --> 00:10:28.350 kind of interestingly, the word mess or moshe 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:33.710 means one born or a child that's what the he 00:10:33.710 --> 00:10:36.269 so not just the Hebrew mean word means to draw 00:10:36.269 --> 00:10:39.970 up but the Egyptian word means child of so it 00:10:39.970 --> 00:10:42.750 would have made sense that this this princess 00:10:42.750 --> 00:10:46.470 would have said oh my child Mosu, Mesu. But there's 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:48.750 this kind of conflation. Is it Hebrew? Is it 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:51.029 Egyptian? And right there in itself, you're kind 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:52.850 of wondering, oh, this is most the story. He's 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:55.789 kind of a sojourner. What is it? Who's the she? 00:10:55.950 --> 00:10:58.029 Is it his sisters? That doesn't really make sense. 00:10:59.210 --> 00:11:01.990 Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that it's 00:11:01.990 --> 00:11:03.549 kind of a tricky thing that invites you into 00:11:03.549 --> 00:11:06.009 the story of Moses. His name itself is kind of 00:11:06.009 --> 00:11:08.190 inviting you into this conundrum that not only 00:11:08.190 --> 00:11:10.190 he finds himself in, but the whole people of 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:12.610 Israel. And actually, beyond this, this is kind 00:11:12.610 --> 00:11:15.769 of interesting. So the name, the Egyptian name 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:20.690 Mesu or Mes, this idea of being born of a child, 00:11:20.850 --> 00:11:23.230 you can find actually a lot of Hebrew or Egyptian 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:25.669 names. Sorry, I'm confusing this. Let me give 00:11:25.669 --> 00:11:28.950 you a couple examples. There's a Pharaoh that 00:11:28.950 --> 00:11:32.929 we know who is named Ahmose. That means born 00:11:32.929 --> 00:11:37.570 of Ah, which was the moon god of the Egyptians. 00:11:39.289 --> 00:11:43.149 There's an Egyptian name that we know, Kahmosa, 00:11:43.629 --> 00:11:50.710 which was named after the deified soul in Egyptian 00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:57.269 sort of deities, which is the god Kah. So you 00:11:57.269 --> 00:12:00.789 guys probably have heard of the pharaoh Tutmos, 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:06.330 right? Mos, that's that same kind of name. Tut 00:12:06.330 --> 00:12:10.659 being... one of the Egyptian gods again. So it's 00:12:10.659 --> 00:12:13.580 actually a pretty common name in Egypt, this 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:17.360 kind of Moshe, Moses, but it would always have 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.240 had a suffix, or sorry, a prefix that said what 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.500 god you were born into, and yet Moses doesn't 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:25.740 have it. So there's all this import that his 00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:27.980 story is being brought into this Moses, Moses, 00:12:28.100 --> 00:12:32.639 but also this idea of there's no prefix, that's 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.169 the god who is, right from the beginning. tends 00:12:36.169 --> 00:12:39.110 to and takes care of Moses. Anyway, I think it's 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:42.769 an interesting debate. I hope I didn't lose you. 00:12:43.649 --> 00:12:46.529 But Moses was drawn out. He was saved. He was 00:12:46.529 --> 00:12:52.649 rescued. And then he's brought to this place 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:54.809 in God's providence. He's brought to this very 00:12:54.809 --> 00:12:57.149 mountain that God will call him to bring the 00:12:57.149 --> 00:13:01.870 Egyptians to later on. Moses was just Moses. 00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:04.090 He wasn't the son of Ah, or the son of Ka, or 00:13:04.090 --> 00:13:08.700 the son of Tut. But whose was he? Whose was he? 00:13:08.899 --> 00:13:10.899 Which people did he belong to? Which God was 00:13:10.899 --> 00:13:15.000 caring for him? So he comes to the burning bush 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.600 and twice, Moses, Moses. And I think in that 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:23.000 he's saying, I know your story. I know the story 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:28.500 of your people. And I am the one who is your 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:31.460 father intending to you. But who is this one 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:35.059 who's calling him out? Well, we're told in verse 00:13:35.059 --> 00:13:37.600 two that it's the angel of the Lord. In verse 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.600 four, we're told that it was the Lord who he 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:45.360 turned aside to see. And we know that this idea 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.399 of the angel of the Lord is sort of present in 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:50.440 the Bible that sometimes God appears in an angelic 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:53.620 form. Anyway, we know that that's kind of what's 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:55.720 said, but what seems to be pretty clear too is 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:57.419 that Moses isn't really sure what's going on. 00:13:57.460 --> 00:13:59.200 He's just kind of checking it out. What's happening 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:04.309 here? What is this that I see? And God is revealing 00:14:04.309 --> 00:14:07.970 himself as the fire that burns but is not consumed. 00:14:10.389 --> 00:14:13.009 Maybe, I mean, Moses had been raised, remember 00:14:13.009 --> 00:14:15.690 by the, or he had been born into a Levite family, 00:14:16.009 --> 00:14:20.190 faithful family. Maybe he knew all the great 00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:22.590 stories of the Israelites and he knew, he could 00:14:22.590 --> 00:14:26.269 think back to Genesis 15 and the great story 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:29.259 of God making his covenant. with Abraham and 00:14:29.259 --> 00:14:35.460 how God went through the cut -up animals as fire 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:38.539 and smoke. So we had this sense, maybe there's 00:14:38.539 --> 00:14:41.879 something divine going on here. Fire and smoke, 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:44.120 of course, happened a lot more as God's presence 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:46.360 in the book of Exodus alone. Actually there, 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.159 Mount Hort, Mount Sinai, Exodus 19, fire and 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:52.860 smoke. You can think of the pillar of fire later 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:55.639 on in this very book, but you could also think 00:14:55.639 --> 00:15:00.850 of chapters 33 and 40 as God appearing in smoke. 00:15:01.350 --> 00:15:05.090 Anyway, if Moses was in doubt that this voice 00:15:05.090 --> 00:15:10.970 that spoke to him was the voice of God, what 00:15:10.970 --> 00:15:14.070 seems pretty clear is that it is. He says, come, 00:15:14.269 --> 00:15:16.830 you know, take your sandals off because where 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:21.629 you're standing is holy. Where you're standing 00:15:21.629 --> 00:15:25.450 is holy. We should say it's set apart. And the 00:15:25.450 --> 00:15:27.289 last time that we actually heard that word holy 00:15:27.289 --> 00:15:30.029 was all the way back in Genesis chapter one, 00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:32.230 about the seventh day. That was the last time. 00:15:32.809 --> 00:15:34.789 It's holy, it's set apart for God. So he would 00:15:34.789 --> 00:15:36.009 have maybe said, okay, there's something going 00:15:36.009 --> 00:15:39.269 on here. Something happening here, this is divine. 00:15:39.889 --> 00:15:41.909 And what's happening is God saying, I want you 00:15:41.909 --> 00:15:46.269 to stay, right? Take off your sandals, stay, 00:15:46.490 --> 00:15:50.970 but also don't come too close away. Understand 00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:53.730 that I am separate and yet I'm inviting you in. 00:15:55.139 --> 00:15:57.879 What we're seeing in all of this around Moses 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:01.700 saying, here I am, is that God is altogether 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:05.740 other. He's the fire that can burn and not consume 00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:07.720 what he's burning. He's the sacred one. He's 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.600 the holy one. And yet he knows, invites him to 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:13.659 be present to him. He knows his story. He knows 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:15.919 the story of his people. He's the God who is 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.080 altogether distinct and beyond, and yet the God 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:22.620 who is showing up, who is present in the here 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:27.259 and now. He's revealing himself both in the burning 00:16:27.259 --> 00:16:31.860 bush, I think even very possibly in Moses' own 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:36.139 name, as the God who exists and who exists outside 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:39.200 of our realities, unlike the Egyptian God, but 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:41.960 who comes into our stories and our realities 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:47.740 and our place and our presence. So God reveals 00:16:47.740 --> 00:16:50.590 himself and he says this. I'm the God of your 00:16:50.590 --> 00:16:52.750 father, which is very interesting actually, because 00:16:52.750 --> 00:16:54.350 the next, the couple times that he also says 00:16:54.350 --> 00:16:56.389 something similar later on in the same chapter, 00:16:56.389 --> 00:17:00.330 he says, I'm the God of fathers, Abraham, Isaac, 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:02.669 and Jacob, but here it's your father. He's saying, 00:17:02.669 --> 00:17:06.250 I know your story specifically, your father. 00:17:07.390 --> 00:17:09.630 I know what's happening down in Egypt. He says, 00:17:09.650 --> 00:17:11.190 I'm the God of your father, the God of Abraham, 00:17:11.250 --> 00:17:14.650 the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. He's the 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:18.690 God who is. and who was, right? I'm the one who 00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:23.990 was. I'm the God of these other folk. He's the 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:26.809 God of Moses' father, the faithful Levite. He's 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:29.549 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So anyway, 00:17:29.769 --> 00:17:34.529 here's the here I am, right? Moses standing before 00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:38.150 God, before the burning bush, and the holy God 00:17:38.150 --> 00:17:40.250 being present to Moses, to this world, to this 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:43.650 people. But the second phrase we have that I 00:17:43.650 --> 00:17:45.710 want us to consider that kind of keeps this story 00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:52.549 going is when Moses says Who am I? So when we 00:17:52.549 --> 00:17:57.009 turn to the second paragraph We learn this reality 00:17:57.009 --> 00:18:01.329 again that God is present to the world This is 00:18:01.329 --> 00:18:03.930 actually kind of interesting. He says he sees 00:18:03.930 --> 00:18:08.599 the affliction of his people in Egypt Verse seven, 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:09.980 I've surely seen the affliction of my people 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:12.819 who are in Egypt. I've heard their cry because 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:15.859 of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:19.000 I've come down, I have come down to deliver them 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.339 out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring 00:18:21.339 --> 00:18:25.119 them up out of that land, to a good and broad 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.880 land. I don't know if you heard those sort of 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:32.079 verbs there. God sees, that's what it says. God 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:39.269 hears. God knows. God comes. God brings, which 00:18:39.269 --> 00:18:41.190 is really kind of interesting because there are 00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:43.869 some verbs that are in the past tense. I've heard. 00:18:44.990 --> 00:18:48.690 There's some that are in the present. There's 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:50.970 some that are future -oriented. God's bringing 00:18:50.970 --> 00:18:55.230 his people out. He's the God of their fathers, 00:18:55.289 --> 00:18:57.829 but he's also the God of their plight then, and 00:18:57.829 --> 00:19:01.880 he will be the God that will be with them. He's 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:03.579 the God of the past, but he's the God of the 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:05.299 present, he's the God of the future. I think 00:19:05.299 --> 00:19:06.900 all this actually comes together in verse nine 00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:09.559 and 10 more, it says this. And now behold, the 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:12.380 cry of the people of Israel has come to me, has 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:15.420 come to me, and I have also seen the oppression 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:18.019 with which the Egyptians oppressed them, present, 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:22.420 oppressed them. Come, I will send you Pharaoh, 00:19:22.940 --> 00:19:24.980 that you may bring my people, the children of 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:30.460 Israel, out of Egypt. The past. the present, 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:35.559 the future, all contained right there. So Moses 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:41.940 asks, well, who am I? He asks, who am I that 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:44.140 you should use me towards this then? But he says, 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:50.140 who am I? And I think, of course, Moses could 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:52.299 have thought back on his story and could have 00:19:52.299 --> 00:19:55.420 thought about how he was prepared in a unique 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:58.630 way to be able to do some of this work. Maybe 00:19:58.630 --> 00:20:00.450 he could have thought about how he had these 00:20:00.450 --> 00:20:02.309 faithful Levite parents that tended to him and 00:20:02.309 --> 00:20:04.750 cared for him and that God was divinely caring 00:20:04.750 --> 00:20:06.809 for him and all of that and how he was raised 00:20:06.809 --> 00:20:08.829 with the finest education in the land, right? 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:11.769 Like the top Egyptian universities, how he learned, 00:20:11.769 --> 00:20:14.109 I don't know, the customs of how do you go and 00:20:14.109 --> 00:20:16.349 speak to a pharaoh? He was the perfect person 00:20:16.349 --> 00:20:19.230 for it in a lot of ways, right? Maybe he's thinking 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:21.210 back as he says, who am I? He's like, well, there's 00:20:21.210 --> 00:20:26.769 some ways in which this might fit. But he also 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:28.730 knew, as much as he knew these positive things, 00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:31.430 he knew likely all the negative things. He had 00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:34.650 killed an Egyptian. Pharaoh had had it out for 00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:39.109 him. He thought he sought to kill Moses. The 00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:41.650 Israelites themselves, when he sought to care 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:46.130 for them, they rejected him. Of course, I think 00:20:46.130 --> 00:20:48.170 this invites us into our own stories where we 00:20:48.170 --> 00:20:50.329 can think of both the blessings that we have, 00:20:50.329 --> 00:20:52.170 but also all the doubts and all the fears that 00:20:52.170 --> 00:20:54.450 we have. We kind of come before God and we're 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:59.509 like, who are we? I know you have a story, maybe 00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:01.470 a plan in some ways for my life, but I also look 00:21:01.470 --> 00:21:06.170 back and there's so much tragedy. Who am I? I 00:21:06.170 --> 00:21:08.849 think it's one of the great old questions that 00:21:08.849 --> 00:21:13.049 is as relevant today as it was long ago. It's 00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:14.690 one of the great questions on the journey of 00:21:14.690 --> 00:21:18.829 our life. There's a lot of times where this seems 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:20.589 most poignant. Let me tell you one of them in 00:21:20.589 --> 00:21:25.549 my life. I remember with vivid clarity. when 00:21:25.549 --> 00:21:28.210 Melissa and I were leaving from St. Mary's Hospital 00:21:28.210 --> 00:21:30.690 in Richmond, Virginia when Lily was just a day 00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:35.150 old. And they let you just leave the hospital 00:21:35.150 --> 00:21:39.029 with a baby. It's like a remarkable thing. And 00:21:39.029 --> 00:21:43.210 I went to go get the car. We were driving Melissa's 00:21:43.210 --> 00:21:46.910 CRV. And we went to go get it and pulled it around 00:21:46.910 --> 00:21:50.789 and Melissa's there with Lily in a car seat. 00:21:50.829 --> 00:21:56.200 And I'm like, who am I? What is ahead of me? 00:21:56.819 --> 00:22:00.400 And I know that we had planned and we had certain 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.440 stories and certain difficulties in our lives 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:05.339 that set us up for that and lots of doubt. And 00:22:05.339 --> 00:22:07.359 we always have, this question seems to come up 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.619 all the time with vocational changes and of course 00:22:09.619 --> 00:22:11.819 the development of children and engaging with 00:22:11.819 --> 00:22:21.059 friends. Who am I? How, what can I do? And frankly, 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:23.299 so often we really don't have a good sense of 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:27.380 our identity and our ability and our own stories, 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:29.700 our past and our present. And so of course we 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:31.819 move into the future with a great deal of fear 00:22:31.819 --> 00:22:36.180 of the unknown. Isn't there a good reason why 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:40.680 personality tests are so wildly popular? We're 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:42.880 asking the question almost all the time, who 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:50.579 am I? An ENFJ, seven. Hi, I, whatever it is, 00:22:50.579 --> 00:22:53.539 you know, we have all these typing systems because 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:55.680 we'll constantly ask this question, who am I? 00:22:57.259 --> 00:23:03.799 But what does God, how does God answer him? I 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:09.180 will be with you. That wasn't exactly the question 00:23:09.180 --> 00:23:12.480 that Moses asked. It's not the answer to the 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:16.200 question he asked exactly. But it's actually 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:19.529 the exact answer that he needs. Think about it. 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:22.029 It's the exact answer that that Jesus gave his 00:23:22.029 --> 00:23:25.150 disciples right when he was there on The mountain 00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:27.210 at the end of Matthew chapter 28 when he said 00:23:27.210 --> 00:23:29.549 go and make disciples of all nations Baptizing 00:23:29.549 --> 00:23:31.009 them in the name of the Father the Son and the 00:23:31.009 --> 00:23:34.910 Holy Spirit, and I'm with you Because undoubtedly 00:23:34.910 --> 00:23:38.809 their question was but who are we? I Mean we 00:23:38.809 --> 00:23:41.410 have these stories with these afflictions with 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:43.809 these doubts with these fears. We have some abilities 00:23:43.809 --> 00:23:50.700 But who are we? He says I'm with you Who am I? 00:23:51.460 --> 00:23:58.519 God says I'm with you. I will be with you. God's 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.119 response is that Moses is the one. Who am I? 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:07.220 You're the one that I will be with. Which I think 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:09.900 leads us to our third phrase about identity in 00:24:09.900 --> 00:24:15.710 this text, and that's the I am. Because somewhat 00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:19.289 naturally, if Moses is like, who am I? And God's 00:24:19.289 --> 00:24:23.609 answer is, I will be with you. The natural next 00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:29.089 question is, but who are you? Right? Who are 00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:33.250 you? And I think this is what Moses is really 00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:35.470 doing, but he does this in an indirect sort of 00:24:35.470 --> 00:24:37.589 hypothetical way, right? Because what he says 00:24:37.589 --> 00:24:41.069 is, If I come to the people of Israel and say 00:24:41.069 --> 00:24:43.450 to them, the God of your fathers has sent me 00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:47.329 to you and they ask me, what is his name? What 00:24:47.329 --> 00:24:51.089 shall I say to them? He poses this hypothetical 00:24:51.089 --> 00:24:56.970 question. And by the way, we also don't ever 00:24:56.970 --> 00:25:00.630 hear them asking that question. I think actually 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:02.730 the best way of interpreting that is actually 00:25:02.730 --> 00:25:05.430 Moses is himself saying, here I am. And he's 00:25:05.430 --> 00:25:09.220 like, I'll be with you. And he goes, well, Can 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:11.779 I get around this question of saying, but who 00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:14.480 are you? Somebody else wants to know, and I kind 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:20.160 of want to know too. And we can understand, of 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.339 course, why the Israelites might want to know, 00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:26.019 right? Moses has been gone 40 years. He's been 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:29.559 totally AWOL, right, for 40 years, and he didn't 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:34.180 exactly leave on good terms. So it makes sense 00:25:34.180 --> 00:25:36.039 that somebody would be like, well, why are we 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:38.039 going to listen to you? Who sent you anyway? 00:25:38.430 --> 00:25:42.470 But we never hear that that happened. So Moses 00:25:42.470 --> 00:25:46.150 is sort of saying, well, who are you? And of 00:25:46.150 --> 00:25:47.730 course, we can also think there's a lot of reasons 00:25:47.730 --> 00:25:49.789 why people also might go, well, what's going 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:52.849 on here? Who is this God anyway? Because how 00:25:52.849 --> 00:25:55.150 many centuries had it been since Abraham and 00:25:55.150 --> 00:25:57.990 Isaac and Jacob? How many generations had passed 00:25:57.990 --> 00:26:00.670 away in slavery in Egypt? And unquestionably, 00:26:00.730 --> 00:26:02.230 one of the great questions that they would be 00:26:02.230 --> 00:26:04.829 asking is where is God in all this? Who's God 00:26:04.829 --> 00:26:11.180 in all this? What's his name? I've said this 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:12.920 a few times. Name is not just about identity, 00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:17.779 but also about character. What's his name, or 00:26:17.779 --> 00:26:20.319 who are you, is sort of a way of asking, what 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:27.200 can you do? What can you do? The Hebrew word 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:30.619 for name is shem, which is much more than just 00:26:30.619 --> 00:26:35.039 a title. Not just what somebody has called. It 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:37.539 stands for who they are their fame their honor 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:39.460 their reputation. It's kind of like us saying 00:26:39.460 --> 00:26:44.319 my name is at stake You know It's like your name 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.980 is your track record my track records at stake 00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:53.200 a reputation So if it's a question that the Israelites 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:58.839 might ask it's also Moses's question Who am I? 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:06.200 Who are you? What can you do? And what's really 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:09.000 also interesting is that in the, I don't know, 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:13.500 humor in some ways of this text, God in some 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:16.039 ways doesn't really give his name. He does in 00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:18.119 a way, but he also doesn't. At first, he gives 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:23.859 more of a sentence. Ah ya, ah share ah ya. I 00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:28.819 am who I am, or I will be who I will be. He does 00:27:28.819 --> 00:27:31.789 go on to say, you know, his name is Yahweh. We 00:27:31.789 --> 00:27:34.329 always have it capitalized. When you see that 00:27:34.329 --> 00:27:38.630 capital L -O -R -D, that's the name of God. In 00:27:38.630 --> 00:27:42.470 English, we just say Lord, but it's Yahweh. But 00:27:42.470 --> 00:27:46.650 that is also actually the verb, I am, I will 00:27:46.650 --> 00:27:50.250 be, I will be who I will be. Of course, people 00:27:50.250 --> 00:27:52.529 have taken this phrase, this sentence, and even 00:27:52.529 --> 00:27:55.490 this name to mean that God is the altogether 00:27:55.490 --> 00:27:58.849 transcendent being. He's the self -existent being. 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:02.119 He's the self -sufficient and the eternal one, 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.440 and that is all true. But I think there's some 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.359 more things that we can say about it. One is 00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:11.400 that the Lord, when he reveals himself, he doubles 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.220 the verb. So there's only three words, and one 00:28:15.220 --> 00:28:20.059 of them is the same word twice. In the Bible, 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:22.579 when you repeat something, you're emphasizing 00:28:22.579 --> 00:28:24.539 it. It's kind of like putting it in italics or 00:28:24.539 --> 00:28:27.400 bolding, making it bold or underlining it. It's 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:29.099 like saying, hey, listen, this is important. 00:28:30.660 --> 00:28:38.559 I will be. So there's that, which in part is 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:41.680 saying that the future will reveal my character, 00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:45.200 I am, which is calling for both trust and hope. 00:28:45.819 --> 00:28:47.900 Another interesting thing is that the tense of 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:50.819 the verb carries with it both this present and 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:53.019 future, which is why if you read some translations, 00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:55.660 sometimes you're gonna read I am who I am, and 00:28:55.660 --> 00:28:59.200 sometimes it's I will be who I will be. Because 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:01.440 the tense itself has to do with this idea that 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.440 who I am now is the one who will be. I will be 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:10.700 faithful. I am who I am, I was, I am, I will 00:29:10.700 --> 00:29:15.500 be. I'm the faithful one. You can hang your hat 00:29:15.500 --> 00:29:18.799 on my ability, a consistency. This is the God 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:21.660 who you can know and you can trust. He's the 00:29:21.660 --> 00:29:24.119 God who made his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and 00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:29.279 Jacob and it will make good on them. But one 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:31.740 of the things we also, I think is important to 00:29:31.740 --> 00:29:35.519 see is this word, ahya, is in some ways what 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:38.079 he's actually already expressed in verse 12 when 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:41.980 he said, I will be. Which is kind of odd because 00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:43.900 what he's saying is I already said, I will be 00:29:43.900 --> 00:29:46.660 with you. I'm the one who is with you. I will 00:29:46.660 --> 00:29:48.859 be with you. That's what he says in verse 12. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:55.240 And now he says, I will be who I will be. Moses 00:29:55.240 --> 00:30:00.099 says, who am I? back then and God says that's 00:30:00.099 --> 00:30:03.480 not so much what counts. What counts is that 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:08.839 I am with you. That's the bottom line and I will 00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:15.140 be with you. Okay now the text goes on at the 00:30:15.140 --> 00:30:17.140 end of the chapter goes on to say that you know 00:30:17.140 --> 00:30:19.279 Moses is going to go tell the leaders of Egypt 00:30:19.279 --> 00:30:21.660 that God has a promise for them to bring them 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:23.799 out from their affliction that God has a plan 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:27.029 for them you know that he says Pharaoh's not 00:30:27.029 --> 00:30:29.750 gonna listen, don't worry, I got this. And then 00:30:29.750 --> 00:30:31.589 he also says he has a provision for them, which 00:30:31.589 --> 00:30:33.910 interestingly says, you're gonna plunder the 00:30:33.910 --> 00:30:35.809 people. I'm gonna provide for you out of their 00:30:35.809 --> 00:30:38.529 plunder. Let me say a quick comment about that. 00:30:39.109 --> 00:30:41.450 Because that idea of plunder might kind of rub 00:30:41.450 --> 00:30:44.680 you wrong. But one of the things that actually 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:47.279 commentators say is here are slaves that have 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:50.039 been mistreated For hundreds of years who have 00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:52.759 not been paid for hundreds of years and in some 00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:55.099 ways they are getting recompensed I mean they're 00:30:55.099 --> 00:30:58.000 getting what they had worked for and actually 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:02.500 you see that exact idea in the Israelite law 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:05.339 in Deuteronomy if somebody had to become a slave 00:31:05.339 --> 00:31:06.980 to another for a little while when they were 00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:12.109 let go they were to be paid so the story of of 00:31:12.109 --> 00:31:14.329 the exodus actually becomes the ethics of the 00:31:14.329 --> 00:31:16.069 people of God, which is kind of interesting. 00:31:16.970 --> 00:31:19.490 But anyway, we see a promise, a plan, and a provision. 00:31:20.109 --> 00:31:22.230 But what I want us to sit in is this idea of 00:31:22.230 --> 00:31:25.289 the revealing of God and His name, the revelation 00:31:25.289 --> 00:31:31.410 of God. This chapter, this is one of the great 00:31:31.410 --> 00:31:33.970 chapters of the sort of turning points in the 00:31:33.970 --> 00:31:38.150 story of Israel. God revealing himself. He calls 00:31:38.150 --> 00:31:40.309 Moses, but he's also revealing himself. He's 00:31:40.309 --> 00:31:42.930 giving his name. And that name actually in the 00:31:42.930 --> 00:31:45.470 Hebrew Bible, the rest of this Hebrew Bible appears 00:31:45.470 --> 00:31:51.410 some 6 ,000 times. And it's right here. Right 00:31:51.410 --> 00:31:53.769 here, God revealing himself as the one who is 00:31:53.769 --> 00:31:56.089 and who will be with his people. Then when they're 00:31:56.089 --> 00:31:57.990 like, who am I? He says, that's not so much what 00:31:57.990 --> 00:32:03.119 counts, but the fact that I am with you. I'm 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:05.579 the God who sees, who hears, who knows, who comes, 00:32:05.740 --> 00:32:09.240 who brings. None of it's lost on me and I am 00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:12.240 with you. I'm the creator, I'm the savior, I'm 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:17.640 the sustainer. I will be with you. But as this 00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:20.059 name is mentioned some 6 ,000 times in the Old 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:22.559 Testament, what's really interesting to me and 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:24.420 I hope to you as people who gather together to 00:32:24.420 --> 00:32:28.180 worship Jesus. is that Jesus grabs onto this 00:32:28.180 --> 00:32:31.099 idea of the I Am. In fact, specifically, there 00:32:31.099 --> 00:32:33.480 are seven times in the Gospel of John 7, the 00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:36.819 perfect number in the Bible, where Jesus says, 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:43.460 I am. He says, I am the bread of life and the 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:48.079 light of the world. I'm the good shepherd. I'm 00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:51.700 the resurrection and the life. I'm the true vine. 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:58.430 I am the way and the truth. and the life. And 00:32:58.430 --> 00:33:00.630 what he's doing is he's taking all of these Old 00:33:00.630 --> 00:33:04.009 Testament references, the hope of Israel itself, 00:33:04.089 --> 00:33:07.430 the hope of Moses itself, and he's saying, it's 00:33:07.430 --> 00:33:15.390 me. I am. All of them find their fulfillment. 00:33:15.809 --> 00:33:18.589 All of the hopes of God's people find their fulfillment 00:33:18.589 --> 00:33:22.690 in the revelation of God in Jesus, the great 00:33:22.690 --> 00:33:28.039 I am. And if this is the revelation of God here 00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:30.440 in Exodus 3, and think about this, this is the 00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:33.619 revelation of God as the God who sees their affliction, 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:36.259 who brings them out from slavery and brings them 00:33:36.259 --> 00:33:38.900 to himself. This is also the revelation of Jesus, 00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:42.019 who sees our sin. The fact that we are not, I 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:44.460 mean, many of us aren't slaves like the Israelites 00:33:44.460 --> 00:33:47.180 were, but we are all, the Bible says, slave to 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:50.119 sin. And what Jesus does, why, he's given the 00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.259 name of Jesus because he will save his people 00:33:52.259 --> 00:33:56.599 from their sin. God sees affliction. He comes 00:33:56.599 --> 00:34:00.339 God takes on flesh and dwells among us and he 00:34:00.339 --> 00:34:03.799 says I'm going to bring you to myself that where 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:07.940 I am You also will be all that is contained in 00:34:07.940 --> 00:34:11.320 this chapter. We see more fully in our Lord Jesus 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:21.179 himself So Today when you're sitting here and 00:34:21.179 --> 00:34:25.570 you're saying here I am Part of what I want you 00:34:25.570 --> 00:34:27.349 to know is that God knows your story completely. 00:34:28.150 --> 00:34:30.010 He knows your affliction, your sin, He knows 00:34:30.010 --> 00:34:31.849 your questions, He knows your doubts, He knows 00:34:31.849 --> 00:34:34.630 your fears, He knows your history is completely 00:34:34.630 --> 00:34:38.090 known to Him. What I also want you to hear is 00:34:38.090 --> 00:34:40.809 when you're sitting here and you're saying, who 00:34:40.809 --> 00:34:45.389 am I? Actually, the most important answer you 00:34:45.389 --> 00:34:48.250 can receive is God saying, I will be with you. 00:34:49.230 --> 00:34:51.250 Because I think for me, a lot of the times when 00:34:51.250 --> 00:34:53.269 I'm saying who am I, I'm wondering, what's my 00:34:53.269 --> 00:34:56.849 future? Who am I? What do I have to offer? Why 00:34:56.849 --> 00:34:58.329 would you call me to do such and such thing and 00:34:58.329 --> 00:35:02.010 what God says is I'll be with you in it. And 00:35:02.010 --> 00:35:04.190 when we're sitting here and we're asking or we're 00:35:04.190 --> 00:35:06.829 saying here I am and who am I what God is saying 00:35:06.829 --> 00:35:12.530 is here's who I am. I am the one who is the one 00:35:12.530 --> 00:35:15.489 who was who is and will be forever and I am the 00:35:15.489 --> 00:35:22.130 one who acts for you. I am with you always, even 00:35:22.130 --> 00:35:25.250 to the end of the age. This was God's word for 00:35:25.250 --> 00:35:28.469 Moses. This was God's word for his disciples. 00:35:29.170 --> 00:35:32.230 And this is the hope of Christians. That God 00:35:32.230 --> 00:35:35.809 is with us always, even to the end of the age. 00:35:35.869 --> 00:35:38.269 That's his name. That is his character. Let me 00:35:38.269 --> 00:35:43.610 pray for us. Lord, a text that is known and it 00:35:43.610 --> 00:35:46.250 reveals this fact that you meet us in our wondering 00:35:46.250 --> 00:35:51.550 of why us. you see and you know and you act for 00:35:51.550 --> 00:35:54.130 your people and you draw us out from slavery 00:35:54.130 --> 00:35:59.889 to sin to life with you the great I am God I 00:35:59.889 --> 00:36:02.510 know so many people when Jesus was here when 00:36:02.510 --> 00:36:05.230 he said such words rejected him and others found 00:36:05.230 --> 00:36:06.889 life in him I pray this morning that we would 00:36:06.889 --> 00:36:10.710 find life in you They'd meet us in our coming 00:36:10.710 --> 00:36:14.289 to you that you draw us into your presence, that 00:36:14.289 --> 00:36:16.829 you would assure us with your presence, that 00:36:16.829 --> 00:36:19.610 we would know that you are with us always, even 00:36:19.610 --> 00:36:24.170 to the end of the age. Amen. Thank you for listening 00:36:24.170 --> 00:36:26.949 to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this 00:36:26.949 --> 00:36:28.949 sermon has encouraged you to worship God and 00:36:28.949 --> 00:36:31.789 to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider 00:36:31.789 --> 00:36:34.210 subscribing to this podcast and joining us in 00:36:34.210 --> 00:36:37.780 person each Sunday at 10am. You can find us online 00:36:37.780 --> 00:36:41.219 at SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:43.980 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:36:43.980 --> 00:36:44.320 bless.