Well, hallelujah.
The Lord is good, merciful, and mighty.
You have your Bibles turned with me to Exodus, chapter 5.
Happy Father's Day.
I know for many in here, today may not be a happy day.
May be a day filled with tears.
We honor you this morning.
You no longer have your Father with you.
He's deceased and already gone.
We pray with you, we pray for you, we ask the God of all comfort
to minister to your heart and life today.
I commend to each of you, I know, listen, I know that each day today is a hard day.
And for those of you who pushed on and came and are here with us this morning,
thank you for that.
And I'm just going to pray the Lord's going to encourage you and strengthen you
before you leave here today.
And with that void and that inking and that weight that you're feeling,
I pray and then going to pray that he lightens that in your heart this evening.
That his peace surpasses all understanding.
Amen.
Exodus chapter 5, verse 1, just going to read verse 1 and 2.
And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go,
that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?
I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
I'm going to preach on that simple thought, who is the Lord?
Who is the Lord?
Now, I've targeted a good 15 to 20 minutes.
Pastor Brian's got you set on that last week.
Every time these fellas do that, it makes it bad on me.
I have to come behind them and try to take an hour message and get it whittled down.
So I'm going to whittle her down.
Sister Ann's my 20-minute target.
She's supposed to stand and wave.
She said, Well, what happens if you don't stop?
Just sit on down.
Because it'll depend on, she said, Well, how will know?
I said, It'll depend on what's going on at the 20-minute mark.
Amen.
Who is the Lord?
I'll pray for you if you pray for me, and it may not be an hour.
Father, we love you.
We thank you. We praise you. We glorify you.
Who is that old mountain that stands before us?
Who is it?
But at that command, your command, that mountain shall become like a plane before us.
Because it's not by might nor by power, but by your Spirit declares you the Lord.
Speak to our hearts and mind this morning.
May we hear what the Spirit says to the church.
And may we leave encouraged today in Jesus' name.
Amen and amen.
Good to see Brother George back in the house of the Lord.
Amen.
In a day and time that identity seems to be lost,
many struggle to know and to discover who they are.
A clear and precise description can be very helpful.
It's like we spend a lot of our lives searching for our own identity.
But these days that we live in, it's just not the identity of your person.
I'll just keep on going.
People are searching.
A question has been presented in our text this morning that's, I think, worthy of our consideration today.
I think it's worthy of every man in the room.
Every father would be father.
One who stands in the place of father functions in the role of fathers.
I think it is a question that is worthy of our consideration.
It will do us well if we have a clear understanding and precise description of who is the Lord.
To be fair this morning, Pharaoh, the Pharaoh of our text, the king of Egypt that we've read about,
has had no formal introduction until the encounter that he's having with Moses and Aaron as to who the God of Israel really is.
You see, in Exodus 1, the scripture declares there arose up a new king over Egypt,
which knew not Joseph.
You see, Joseph was their connection to Jehovah.
How many remember the story of Joseph?
There arose a Pharaoh who had not known nor been told the history of the Hebrew people that were in the corner of his nation
and who was responsible for their being there.
He had no clue who Joseph was.
So by virtue of not knowing who Joseph was, he had not been introduced to the God of Israel.
In chapter 2, that king dies.
In the process of time, the scripture says near the end of the chapter, the king died.
So therefore now there is another king, another Pharaoh, who is further removed from the history of Jehovah.
Has no clue who God is.
Understands religion, understands worship.
Over 1400 recognized gods in the Egyptian religion.
He knew of Ra, Horus, and many of the others.
He knew that he had a religious structure, but he did not know the God of all ages.
And so now we come on the scene with this short passage of scripture.
Moses and Aaron have now come before Pharaoh.
In the short four chapters, there's a lot taking place.
Moses, who was raised in Pharaoh's palace by Pharaoh's daughter, become like his own.
Taken under his own efforts, if you will, to help his fellow Hebrews and killed an Egyptian.
Now who had had to run for his life because Pharaoh had put out a warrant for him.
Finds himself on the backside of a million desert.
And there he sees a bush burning.
He approaches this burning bush that is not consumed.
He hears the voice from heaven.
Speak to him, take his shoes off your own holy ground.
So he approaches and has a conversation and receives a call and a mandate from the God of his forefathers.
Through many excuses, he makes his way back with the directive to stand before Pharaoh.
In Chapter five, we see him approaching and beginning to fulfill the mandate that the great I am had given to him.
So he stands and delivers the message.
And Pharaoh, after hearing the message, has a response.
This response is very complicated.
It just seems very nonchalant and blatant.
It seems inquisitory, but that's not how he made this statement.
He's making this statement in question form.
Who is the Lord?
It's not so much so that he didn't know who God was and he wasn't really concerned about finding out who God was.
It was in fact, it was in rejection of this Hebrew God.
Well, who is the Lord?
I don't know him.
And by virtue of not knowing him, I'm not going to let this people go.
It was an affront to his authority as king of Egypt.
It was affront to him.
Well, who is this God who thinks he can tell me, the king of Pharaoh, what to do?
Well, you take that question, who is the Lord, and you begin to examine that.
It's not in the fact that who has the audacity to tell me what to do, but it should have been in reference to inquiring as to, well, who is the Lord?
His inquisition should have been one more of humility.
It should have been more of a humble origin, but it wasn't.
It was derogatory.
It was antagonistic against God.
And God knew when he sent Moses what his response was going to be.
Understand that God knows it all.
Amen.
He's not caught by surprise and he was neither intimidated by Pharaoh's interjection and his inquisitive nature and the result of his going against God.
It didn't bother him, none the least.
He knew what he was going to do.
But for you and I this morning, I think it is good that we get a clear understanding of who the Lord really is.
If we begin to just narrow it down, we could say that he's a friend of the friendless. Amen.
We could say that he is a lawyer in the courtroom on our behalf.
We could say he's the physician when we're sick and in need.
We know him and can describe him.
He's a heart fixer and a mind regulator.
He's the one that brings peace that passes all understanding.
When we understand who the Lord is, this descriptor moves into this point of view.
When I was in sin, dying and on my way to a devil's hell, it was he that gave his life that I may be redeemed.
That's the reason I kindly quench my encouragement and dial it back just a little bit because I think we ought to be more prompt with our best praise.
I think we should offer it first.
I don't think I should have to come back to you mildly and kindly and say, well, is that the very best you've got?
Well, it should be demanded of us unequivocally with the first invitation.
We should know and understand that he is the Lord of glory and he is the God of all ages.
I can understand Pharaoh.
Four centuries come and gone and nobody's told him who Jehovah God is.
He's clueless as to the fact, but when I come before the Hopewell Church of God, saint or sinner in this room, and I ask you who is the Lord, you ought to have a clue.
You ought to have an idea.
We should have some sense of an understanding of who is the Lord.
And if by chance here this morning and by grace you have been redeemed, when the invitation for you to give the Lord the best praise you brought,
your hands should be red, our palms should sting, and our voices should be exulting.
He is the Lord of glory.
He is my God and my Redeemer.
So when I say who is the Lord, do you have a good understanding and a clear definition and declaration as to who he is?
Pharaoh may have had an excuse, but do we?
When we weren't fit to live and scared to die, no doubt in a room this size we have been pushed, some have been pushed to the point of the enemy
to consider, to consider with a fleeting thought of just ending it all.
In a room this size, I know the devil has whispered into some's ears, you ought to just end it all.
But I'm here to tell you this morning he is a liar.
Amen. Because when the devil sees it as an end, God simply sees it as a beginning to the rest of your life.
Because when you turn away from the voices of darkness and your ear being tuned like the Israelites did after verse 2,
when we get into chapter 3 and you begin to understand that there's a king that arose up after the other,
the Bible says that the children of Israel begin to cry out by reason of their anguish and of their toil and their trial.
What are you saying? The Lord shows up when you're at the end of your rope.
That's what I'm saying. Who is the Lord? He's the light in the darkest hour of your life.
He's the hope and the voice that speaks life to you.
Because the devil never has nothing but your demise in his plan.
God has something good for you. It's the elevation of your life.
It's the lifting up of your head. It's the filling you with hope and joy and peace and passion.
All understanding, who is this Lord?
We would say in our day and time he's the banker when the bank says no.
Hey, has anybody ever been there and they say no.
He's the comforter in that midnight dark hour.
He's the only peace that can come when my life is a turmoil and turned upside down.
Who is the Lord? Listen to what David said.
He is my fortress and my strong tower, my shield and my buckler.
But that's not all that David declared of the Lord.
We can find a declaration even more clear than that in that 23rd Psalm that he put pen to.
When he began to declare the Lord is my shepherd.
And that wasn't the end of his declaration. Who is the Lord?
The Lord is my shepherd. Therefore, I shall not want.
I'm here to tell somebody this morning that the Lord is your shepherd.
And you can put the wants and desires of your heart upon the table of him.
Because he doesn't leave you in just your hoping and your wanting.
He'll lead you beside the still waters. Hallelujah.
He'll lead you into the green pastures.
He'll prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies.
What does that mean? I don't have to fear.
I can sit right down and feast at the table where the manna of glory fills it every day.
And I have not to fear. I do not have to be afraid.
For yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
For thou art with me and thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
And surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Who is the Lord?
You can begin to look at the statistics of fatherless homes.
Talking to a friend of mine the other day, as we were talking about preaching our Father's Day messages.
He began to read to me some of the horrible stats of teens and young people.
How many of those who were in prison were from fatherless homes and absentee fathers.
And I told him, I said, let me just check you real quick right there.
He's like me, he can get a little hard if he ain't careful.
I said, we got to remember every man that's in our church is not one of those that are absent.
They're present this morning.
So I said, we might order to stop and congratulate every man that's in the house.
Can I say that to you brethren, thank you for being in the house of the Lord this morning.
You're not absent, you're here. Hallelujah.
You're in the house, you're hearing the word. It's being proclaimed over your life.
I'm not saying you're the best father. I don't lay a claim anywhere near being the best father.
Even though I got a big foam finger and I've got a cup and other picture frames that says I am the number one dad.
But down in the depths of my soul, I know that they're just being kind because I know the wretched man that I am.
But what I am is present. I am not absent. I am here. And so are you men.
You may not always done the right thing. You may not always said the right thing.
You may not always behaved in the right way. But men of God at the foot of the cross, there's cleansing.
Who is the Lord? He's the one who ratifies the wretchedness of our soul.
Thank you for being present this morning.
How much more time I got, Sister Ann? You ain't even keeping time, are you?
Somebody else have to be a timekeeper. Five minutes, I'm almost done with page one.
The Lord is my shepherd. Who is the Lord? He's the one that leads me beside the still waters.
He's the one that takes me in the green pastures. He prepares that table.
He's the one who anoints my head with oil. That oil is the representation of his healing touch.
My God, it is our head that needs it more often than our body.
If I can just get my mind wrapped around life, if I can just get a good clear picture, who is the Lord?
He's the one that clarifies my way and dictates my going.
For the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.
Solomon said he's the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley, the bright morning star.
Isaiah said he is wonderful, counselor, mighty God, prince of peace.
And the government, he bears upon his own shoulders.
But he's more than that. In the day of your darkest despair, he's high and lifted up.
Who is the Lord? He's high and lifted up. He's exalted over our situations.
He's exalted over my circumstances. I don't know about you, but when I find myself in turmoil and life's upside down
and I don't know which way to go, it does bring a sense of comfort to me to know that if I have the audacity
to lift my eyes above my situation, he's still seated on his throne.
He's not in a panic running around the palace of heaven. He's not running wild trying to ask an angel
what it is that he should do for old brother Cliff. He's not panicked in one iota.
But he sits there with his feet upon this earth, which is his footstool, my God, which is declared and full of all of his glory.
And he moves on my behalf because he is the lover of my soul.
Solomon declared the great lover of the soul of those in whom he shall redeem.
Who is the Lord?
Y'all see me preaching this at the nursing home? I did two weeks ago.
Didn't get hardly as wound as this, but got wound enough to scare somebody.
When I think about who is the Lord, Ezekiel said he's a wheel in the wheel.
He's the wheel in the middle of the wheel.
Old John, our good Baptist brother standing waist deep in Jordan, looked up to see the Lord Jesus coming down the hillsides,
moving toward the river in obedience of the scripture.
And he declared, behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world.
That's who he is.
Old Pharaoh had no clue who the declaration of Jehovah was.
And I love, I love it.
I love it on that backside of median when Moses is before that burning bush and it turns to leave and make his way.
But when I go back and tell the people who have sent me, you've got to give me something. You've got to give me a name.
You've got to give me some kind of identifier when they say, well, who is the Lord?
And you begin to tell them that I am that I am.
And that revelation of that I am came through the manifest presence of Jesus Christ upon this earth.
Who is the Lord?
Mr. Brown brought our attention last week to Peter's confession.
Who do men say that I, the son of man, am?
Some say Isaiah, Jeremiah, that's one of the other prophets.
Let me pose this question to you like it was to Peter and like it was to Pharaoh.
Who do you say that he is?
What is your clear declaration?
What is your clear understanding?
We live in a world that's lost its crazy identity.
We live in a world that's upside down.
It's topsy turvy.
I read an article this morning that almost made me mad enough to preach something else.
I'm interviewing people in a city in Virginia of all places.
Going around interviewing them.
Do you think we ought to cancel Mother's Day and Father's Day and call it Parent Day?
I tell you, I'd refuse.
I'm just telling you right now.
That's the shape and the condition and the identity of this world.
People have no clue.
They're just spinning in space and time and trying to make their way through life with confusion and chaos all around them
until somebody might stand up and say, who is the Lord?
I'm telling you.
I'll give you some direction.
I'll give you some clarity about meaning in life, the meaning of the life of humanity,
as if they worship and bow down and glorify he who is the Lord.
Adonai, he who is high and exalted, he who is lifted up.
Elohim.
Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
Who is the Lord?
The living God.
Name above all.
Name at which every knee will bow.
That's who he is.
That's who this Lord is.
His presence every tongue will confess that he is Lord.
That's who.
Who is the Lord?
Abraham called him Jehovah Jireh.
I can see Moses now if an identifier was presented.
If Pharaoh would have said to Moses, just give me one example.
Just give me one example of who is this Lord you're referring.
Could he not have went back to Abraham, oh, Father Abraham?
Could he not have went back and begin to tell and preach the story?
Could Moses not declare to Pharaoh he was called out of the land of the Chaldees and he came out
and he saw in the heavens and heard the voice of God tell him to count the stars.
He who was childless, he who had no heir, but he heard the voice of God say,
count the stars and look at the sand of the earth.
Your descendants will be as the stars of heaven or the sand of the earth.
That's how many you're going to be.
That's how many of you are going to come forth.
And he began to share.
He could tell him who Jehovah Jireh really was.
About finally as an old man, he has a son.
But finally as an old man with a teenage boy, he hears that voice again saying,
hey, I want you to take your son, your only son,
and I want you to go and I want you to sacrifice him and give him back to me.
I don't see where he argued.
I don't see where he put up a fuss.
All I see is where he has his servants get ready to go.
And they made their way toward the Mount of Moriah.
And it would be there on that hilltop of Horeb that he would stand,
build an altar and lay his son who said, Dad, I've got the wood and you've got the fire.
But where is our sacrifice?
Who is the Lord?
It's the confession of Abram.
He would declare to him, the Lord shall provide for himself.
He could take him to creation.
And declare to Pharaoh in the beginning, what's God?
He could tell him the whole thing.
He would pin it with his own hand.
Moses could tell him who the Lord was.
Who is he?
Some of the Old Testament ones called him Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord, our banner.
What did the psalmist say?
He took me to the banqueting table and his banner over me is love.
That's who he is.
He is love.
Some called him Jehovah-Sid-Kanu, the Lord, who is our righteousness.
For our righteousness is as filthy rags.
But he is the one who clothes us with himself and by his grace,
therefore bestows righteousness upon us.
Some would call him Jehovah-Salih, the Lord, my rock.
Others would call him Jehovah-Roth, the Lord, my healer.
Others would call him Jehovah-Rohi.
But I'm here to tell you, as Gideon would declare, he is my Jehovah-Shalom.
He's the peace that comes when I need him the most.
That's who he is.
So with that, I present again that question, do you know him?
My mind begins to echo and hear, oh, SM Lockridge, that's my king.
Do you know him?
Do you have a clear understanding?
Do you have a good focal point now of who he is and what he's declared of himself
through his word?
Do you really know the Lord God as your own personal Lord and Savior?
Do you love him with all your heart?
Do you have a relationship with him?
Do you want to obey him, a desire to obey him, or are you like Pharaoh
just following religion and going through routine, claiming that you're on your way,
but you've not even met the way?
I'm trying to quit.
You might all stay and it might take me a minute to close.
The Bible says in Hebrew, y'all not going to stay and I'm going to preach.
I mean, that was the invitation to get you out of here.
If you stay seated, I'm going for it.
I see about a half a dozen of you sprung.
Hebrew 3 and 8 through 12 says, harden not your hearts as in the provocation
in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
and departing from the living God.
For you the half of years may we hear what the Spirit's saying to the church.
It's this morning.
This has been burning in my heart for a couple of weeks now.
If you're hearing the voice of the Lord, if he's speaking to you as to who he is for you,
I ask that you obey him.
Please don't declare as Pharaoh, who is the Lord that I should obey him?
Who is he?
I'm Pharaoh.
Why should I obey him?
Many do that.
Many are doing that today.
But our confession should be, here I am, Lord.
It should be that of Isaiah 6 after he sees the Lord, high lifted up and exalted,
sees the glory of his train that filled the temple,
saw the doorposts move and quake at the utterance of his voice.
After being purged and cleansed from a live cold from the altar,
who shall go for us?
Be Isaiah's declaration.
Here I am.
Send me.
What about it, men of God?
Remains with Psalm 24, 7 through 10.
Lift up your head, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in.
Not maybe, not possibly, but he shall come in.
The question is, who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty.
The Lord, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts.
He is the King of glory.
For Moses, he's the I Am.
To you and I today revealed as the I Am.
I am the light of the world.
Jesus declared of himself, I am the door.
There is no other way.
Speaking of way, I am the way, the truth, the life, the bread,
the water, the vine.
I am.
I bless the Lord to you.
I get overwhelmed when I begin to, it's hard for me to contain myself,
when I think about who the Lord is.
John the Revelator, he self describes, I am Alpha and Omega
at the beginning and the end.
The lion of the tribe of Judah.
And he who was, is, and is to come.
He's a lamb presented as though his vesture is dipped in blood.
A supreme sacrifice but supreme ruler.
Lord of lords and King of kings.
Rated race, King of kings.
Who is it to you?
He's my Redeemer.
Isn't that what Job called him?
I know that my Redeemer lives.
I don't have to have anyone tell me what I was.
I'm very well aware of what I was.
You might not believe it, but standing before you today
is a different man than the Lord saved a long time ago.
So I know what he is to me.
I know what he is to our family.
I know what he means.
Who is the Lord?
You need prayer this morning, make your way to the front.
I want to pray for you.
I want to pray over every man in the house.
Ask the Lord to keep us, watch us, protect us.
Help us be the provider that he is for us as we provide for our families.
What say you men?
Come on down.
I want to pray over you.
Boys, you're going to be men.
Come here and stand in front of them.
Let them pray over the top of your heads.
There's some good examples in this room.
They're all ugly as mud, but there's some good examples.
I was just looking across and I thought, my, what an ugly bum.
There's no mirror pointing back up here.
But I look and I see men that are present today.
Some of them may be late getting in, but you're in.
You're here.
You're here whenever you get here, so long as you get here.
Get here.
There's some men of faith.
Young men, find some of these fellas.
You got a problem?
Talk to one of them.
They'll help you.
I know we're kind of thick-headed.
We don't think we have problems until it's scattered all at our feet
and we think, uh-oh.
There stands Jordan, little Leo, miracle.
Another one up top, I see him.
Miracles.
One on the way, miracle.
Father, over the household of faith this morning, I stand.
Stretch your hand this way toward these men.
None of us stand here claiming to be perfect before you.
May not have the best examples, doing the best that we can
before we do and win, but here they are.
Lord, over these men this morning, I'm thankful they're here today.
They're present.
They're here.
And I pray, Lord, your touch over their life.
There's fathers and will-be fathers in this crowd.
Their day is coming.
And Lord, when they enter this house, may they be able to look
around the room and see other men with their hands extended
in warm tears, going down their cheeks and flooding out of their eyes
to know that strong men weep in the presence of a mighty God.
Strong men weep in recognition that they are weak before him,
but stronger because of him.
Who is the Lord?
One day that your children or grandchildren or sons-in-laws
who may have not had the example they needed concerning the things
of the Lord, as a pharaoh who came to power and not knowing.
If they have not known, be ready to tell who the Lord is.
Watch over these men of God.
In our imperfections apply the precious blood and grace of Calvary
as we humbly repent before you, Lord.
Cleanse us our imperfections.
Strengthen our weakness according to your grace
that we be men of God, men of God, men of God.
In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
The Lord spoke to your heart today.
Give him a good praise offering, would you?
Amen.