WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.040 Good morning, church. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:06.000 Uh today's reading is from Exodus chapter three, verses seven through twelve. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:14.160 Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:30.000 I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:37.280 And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.799 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:48.640 But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:53.039 He said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.359 When you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:58.960 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:00.159 Please be seated. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:05.680 Good morning. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:08.159 Thank you for joining us this morning. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:11.680 My name is James Rath, and I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:13.840 I've been gone the past couple of weeks. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.879 We went on vacation to Florida and visited my family down there, and that was that was great. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:20.400 I recommend Florida. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.040 That was a fun place to be. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:31.280 So thanks so much to Jacob and Taylor for preaching while I was gone and just the wonderful word that they brought. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:38.480 It's just a joy to hear and uh yeah, wonderful to be ministered to from within the church. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:48.799 Uh this is Palm Sunday, as you just witnessed, uh, a live reenactment of exactly what it was like at the gates of Jerusalem at Christ's entrance. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:57.439 Uh so we can remember this morning here at the beginning of Holy Week that Christ is king, that we proclaim that he is king. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:58.640 He is the Lord. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.519 All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:10.319 And while he entered Jerusalem that holy week and he was hailed as a king, it would be later that he would face an utter humiliation. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:18.159 But on the other side of that humiliation, he would be raised to the highest authority, to the right hand of the Father, where he reigns today. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:25.439 And so we gather together as members of his kingdom, as heirs of his kingdom, with him as our Lord. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:31.840 And so let us worship him this morning with that in mind, knowing that we have a good king on the throne. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:34.400 His promises are sure to us. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:45.039 And he demonstrates his kingship to us in rescuing us, in taking on our enemies as his enemies, as providing for us, as a good king does. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:46.879 We have a good king. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.840 It is good to be under the authority of Christ. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:52.879 So we remember that this morning, this Palm Sunday. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:59.439 Now, before we get into Exodus and continue moving through this story, uh let's pray together. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:05.120 Holy Father, you are our Lord, you are our King. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.560 Lord, you speak to us with a true authority. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:14.879 You took on our enemies as your enemies, and you have defeated them, Lord. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:21.520 Father, we pray that you would receive the honor that is due to you as King this morning. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:25.120 Lord, that we would remember that you are the King who saves. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:29.039 You are the King who went before us to lay your life down on our behalf. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:43.759 That way we might receive the benefits of following you, the benefits of assurance of your love, the benefits of peace of conscience, the benefits of joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.120 Lord, I pray that we might receive all of those this morning in your word. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:48.800 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:51.439 All right, we've got a bit of a busy day. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:56.400 Uh, if you're a member here at Redemption, we have a members' meeting right after the service. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.159 Uh, so stick around for that. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.960 It uh those are always just like a party. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.319 So uh yeah, plan to stick around right after the service. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.199 It'll probably be about an hour for the members' meeting. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.240 Uh uh just a reminder before we get started. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:10.719 Okay. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:25.199 So I used to watch movies and see main characters and think, you know, it wouldn't be that hard because they seem like they know exactly what to do. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:31.519 Like the plot of the movie shows that, like, yeah, they they have to take this next step. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.000 They know exactly the right next thing to do. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:40.560 So it perhaps it's a hard thing to do, but they have a clarity of calling. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:52.639 And many of us spend our lives without a a clarity of calling, and we find ourselves in situations and faced with problems that we are part of the cause of the problem. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:58.240 The solution does not seem readily apparent, and we aren't sure what to do next. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:02.639 And so we wonder what is it that God desires me to do? 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.360 What is it that I am called to do? 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:13.600 But we can kind of deceive ourselves into thinking that if we just had a clarity of call, that this would be easy. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:18.160 We would simply be able to do whatever it was that the Lord asked us to do. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:24.399 But here in the text this morning, we see that Moses receives this very clear call. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:36.639 You know, there's a there's a burning bush that's not consumed, the angel of the Lord is present, he hears the voice of God speaking to him, and he is told exactly what to do. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:45.279 So we think, yeah, well, if I had something like that, then I'd know to quit my job and start this business that I had always desired to do. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:58.000 Or I would know that I need to not quit my job, or I would know that this wilderness situation that I find myself in will finally work itself out and God will provide for me in the ways that are I need to be provided for. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.240 But I I didn't have a call like Moses. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:17.920 Well, I think you'll find, and what I found in my life is that the clarity of God's call, when I experience the clarity of God's call most precisely, it's usually around something that seems almost impossible to do. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:25.920 When God's call is very clear, it isn't like, oh great, this now one less thing to worry about. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:28.160 I'll just go do God's call now. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:35.920 It's usually like, oh man, I'm going to have to humiliate myself in front of someone I love in confession to them. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:38.720 And it's clear. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.600 As clear as the as the burning bush. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:45.199 I understand that this is what God requires of me. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.040 I'm in love for this friend. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.319 I'm going to have to have a hard conversation with them. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:07:04.079 I'm going to have to renegotiate the way that my relationship with my parents have been, or I'm gonna, we're gonna have to have some real discipline for my child, and this is going to be hard to enter into and hard to engage with. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:10.959 And so we get this clarity of call, and then this other dynamic enters where it's like, oh, I know exactly what God requires of me. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:12.879 I can't do that. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:15.279 Who does he think I am? 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:22.319 I'm not the hero in the story who knows clearly what to do and then can just go do it. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:30.319 And so we kind of deceive ourselves and think clarity of call means that there would be some easy path forward. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:45.680 But really, I think what happens is when we receive a clarity of call, what our tendency is, is to turn inward into some type of self-reflection and consider whether or not we are able to live up to such a call. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:52.399 Well, we see that dynamic take place with Moses today, and we see that God corrects Moses' thinking. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:08:04.079 And the whole point of today's passage, I'll just give it to you from the beginning, and then you'll see it over and over again, is that the most important aspect of Moses' call and his ability to perform it is not Moses. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:15.040 The most important aspect is that God is with him, that God has promised to be with him in what he has called him to. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:21.120 And that is where we go to gain confidence to follow the Lord in this promise that God is with us. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:28.800 Now, understanding that God is with us requires understanding who God is and what he's like. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:43.039 When we understand who God is and what he's like, then we can gain this sort of confidence, not in ourselves, but a confidence in him, that the most meaningful thing is that he is with us. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:51.840 So, where we are in the story, you know, we sort of uh we're we're moving along at a steady clip where each passage was like this own story. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:09:11.759 It's the Egyptians uh are oppressing the Israelites, and then we see Pharaoh enact these terrible forms of oppression, and then there's that dramatic story of Moses being rescued out of the waters, and then the one where he just apparently is like Jason Bourne and can just kill a man in cold blood in the desert and hide him. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.399 And he flees to Midian, and there's these dramatic stories. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:21.840 Then we hit the burning bush, and now it's like we're at the burning bush for a long time, uh, just with this conversation with the Lord. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.879 So we're still at the burning bush story. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:26.559 We're still in that scene. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.279 And there's just so much that happens in this scene that I decided to move slowly through it. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:33.519 So we're in that conversation. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:53.279 He has spotted the burning bush, as Taylor described last week, and it captures his attention, and the Lord speaks to him from it, and the Lord declares himself to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and he reminds him of who he is and what story he is really in. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:10:02.000 A story that's been going on long before Moses was born, long before this Pharaoh was in charge, long before Joseph was forgotten by the Pharaoh. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:07.120 It's a story that has been going on since God had set himself to save his people. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:11.200 And that is the story that Moses is in and needed to be reminded of. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:17.200 So God continues speaking to him from the bush, and he says this in Exodus 3, 7 through 9. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:27.679 Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.240 I know their sufferings. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:40.879 Jacob preached a sermon where the text describes how God remembers his promises to rescue the Israelites. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:52.799 And in remembering that promise, he it what's happening is it's not like God is forgetful and he like it, you looked down and saw the string tied on his finger and was like, what was that about? 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:53.919 The Israelites. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:54.559 Yeah, that's right. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:59.519 No, his remembering is a way that humans can understand. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:01.840 You know, we would know what the experience of remembering is like. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:09.200 So God communicates himself to us in ways which we can understand that show he is now going to take action. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:15.919 Here in the world that we live in time and space, God is going to take action according to his promises. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.440 And that's what his remembering is. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:36.159 So now, in the conversation with Moses at the bush, God shares his knowledge with Moses, that he knows what is happening with the Israelites, and he shares it by saying that he has seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:43.679 He has heard their cry because of their taskmasters, and he knows their sufferings. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:50.559 Our God sees, he hears, and he knows. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:56.399 In the Hebrew it says something like, Seeing I have seen, hearing I have heard. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:59.519 I'm the God who sees, I'm the God who hears. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:17.440 The last time we saw something like that was uh shortly after the birth of Ishmael under Hagar, and when she was driven away from Abraham and she was headed back to Egypt, she is in a place of destitution and in the wilderness, and they have run out of water. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.000 And so she knows that both her and Ishmael will die. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:27.919 And so she sets the child alone to cry unto death. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:36.480 And then she makes her way away from the child so that she won't have to hear or look upon the child dying. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:42.080 So she won't have to hear and see the terror of what's happening. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:49.120 And then God meets her and she says, Surely the Lord has seen. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.399 Surely he is the God who hears. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:13:00.480 And he rescues them and says, Hey, look, there's a well over there, and gives them water, and then brings them back into the household of Abraham. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:05.919 And she remembers, God is the God who sees, and God is the God who hears. 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:07.759 That is what he is like. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.200 He knows our suffering. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.919 What does it mean for God to know our suffering? 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:18.480 Well, I can tell you one thing. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.639 God is not suffering. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:26.399 Right now, God is having another great day. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:52.000 You know, throughout uh church history, uh, we have uh theologians have worked and wrestled together to create categories and discover words which summarize the teachings of Scripture and to use those and pass them on to the church so that we might better grasp what the scripture teaches us about who God is, and we might be able to gain a greater understanding of who God is. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:59.120 And one of the terms that's been used to describe God is that God is impassable. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:02.159 I didn't mispronounce it. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.000 Uh impassable. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.480 It means that he is without passions. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:13.759 The Westminster Confession, chapter two, in the first section, it says that God has neither parts nor passions. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:22.639 And I know that that's one of those phrases that we just take great comfort in in your quiet times, that God has neither parts nor passions. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:23.679 So what does that mean? 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:27.840 That God is has he is impassable, he has no passions. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:33.919 It means that God is not like you, he's not like us. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.240 Throughout today, you've had moods. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:45.200 And those moods have been determined by different circumstances, internal and external circumstances. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:50.480 You had a certain mood before you had coffee, and then you had another mood shortly thereafter. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:15:05.440 When the time, when you were loading your children in the car, which is one of the greatest acts of love and service that humans provide to other humans is loading children in the car, you had a different sort of mood. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:09.919 And you're you you know this, your children know this about you. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:34.879 You know, then it about like 10 minutes into the tantrum that your child is throwing, I've read about these, you experience a certain mood, and all of a sudden, your child's ability to come to you and ask for things has been really diminished because of the the mood that you find yourself in. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:43.759 Our God is not tossed to and fro by the circumstances of life. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:52.799 He looks down and he sees and he hears and he knows our sufferings, but he is not he is not suffering. 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.519 Now, why is there actually such comfort in this? 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:08.720 It means that whatever mood you're in, wherever you find yourself currently, God is able to be appealed to. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:15.840 You need to do no work to win him over to saving you. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.559 He is a God who saves. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:27.200 And it is not that sometimes the saving part of him, you know, is winning the day in the mind of God. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.840 No, he is a God who saves. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:37.759 And so when he promises to rescue, then you know that he will. 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:44.879 When you turn to him and you say, I cannot find any comfort in myself, will there be comfort in the Lord? 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.200 Or is he sick of me? 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.159 You need never worry about that. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:55.519 You receive God perfectly as he is, whenever you turn to him. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:57.919 He is not tossed to and fro. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:04.160 He is absolutely faithful, reliable, having neither parts nor passions. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:10.720 All of the goodness that is in God is always available to us when we turn to him. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:18.960 That is all we could possibly receive is the goodness that is in him, because it is all of who he is. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:27.839 In Malachi verses, chapter 3, verse 6, he writes, For I the Lord do not change. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:32.319 Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.720 That's a good one to use in discipline with your child. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:40.400 I the Lord do not change. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.880 Therefore you, O Jacob, are not consumed. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:56.000 It's not it's like God is saying, like, look, if I had moods like you guys do, then you would have been consumed because I am a consuming fire. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:58.319 Good news. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:17:59.599 I don't change. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:01.359 I don't change. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:02.960 I don't get worn out. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:04.720 I don't get tired. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:07.839 You don't find me at my wit's end. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:09.680 I don't change. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:11.519 And I am a saving God. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.839 Therefore, you are not consumed. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.160 And he calls them back to himself. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:27.839 So God tells Moses that he hears and that he knows and that he sees the suffering of his people. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:32.319 And we might think, okay, well, God has no passions, right? 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.400 So, like, could can he really know? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:36.640 All right. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:46.799 Uh sometimes you you ask a question about God, and then uh just in hearing it asked out loud, you realize that you already know the answer. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.640 Can God really know? 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.519 Yeah, he can know. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.559 There's nothing he can't know. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.680 He knows all things. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:11.200 So then the question is, yeah, but then is he able to is he able to uh attune to us, you know, match our sufferings, really, really grasp our sufferings so that we might be pulled out of it. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:13.680 We can almost kind of want. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.319 I think this is why the impassability of God has sort of gone out of vogue. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:28.799 Is because we would we would rather God to just be going to to give such value to our present states that he's just going along with them and he is sort of caught up in the ride of them. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:36.160 And perhaps we could we can manipulate him by our current emotional states into feeling so sorry for us that he must do something. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.400 We don't need to do anything like that. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.079 He sees. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:44.000 He knows, as it is right now. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.000 He sees and he knows. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:49.440 So he is more able to save because of it. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.000 He is more trustworthy because of it. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:56.079 Look, you are constantly changing. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:02.000 Constantly going in and out of good seasons and bad seasons. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.200 There's uh life, you don't settle in. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:13.279 My wife and I were, you know, kids keep growing up and then you gotta keep changing things and mixing things around. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:19.119 And you have different weeks that are, you know, like the normal week, like when you just have a normal week? 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:20.480 Me neither. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:27.599 You know, like I have this like expectation of like what a normal week, what a nor like what we do on a normal week. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:30.880 I don't know, we did that like maybe two times last year. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:33.599 Had that had that week. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:46.799 And we considered, like, man, I we have this sort of desire, like, I wish we could, in a sense, provide more just like stability. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:58.799 And like our kids would just like, here's exactly what a normal week is, here's what it looks like, and you'll you'll have this precise and clear and plain sort of sort of rhythm to what it will be like. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:02.880 We have a desire for that. 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:11.839 And that desire can't be satisfied by the circumstances of this life. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.519 It can't even be satisfied in your own soul. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:27.039 But there is one we can turn to, always, who is not changing, who in the midst of all of our changing circumstances is constantly faithful. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:33.920 Who when he sets ourselves to save, he when he sets himself to save, he will save. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.680 When he makes a promise, it's as good as done. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:46.240 So he explains to Moses, I have seen, I have heard, I know. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:59.599 And in verse eight, he says, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:12.960 out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:30.400 There's kind of a Tower of Babel sort of callback, because when humanity gathered together to build themselves an altar to themselves and neglect God as the highest being, God comes down to see the heights of what humanity was to accomplish. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.119 And he comes down there to scatter the people. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:49.200 But he comes down now, having heard the pain and the suffering of his people, he comes down now to gather them and to save them and to fulfill the promise that he had given to their forefathers, that they would be gathered to the land of promise. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:51.839 They would no longer live as exiles in Egypt. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.559 God himself came down to save his people. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:03.200 That is what God is like he comes down to save his people. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:24.720 Imagine you hearing this I I want you just to hear the hear the words I have come down I'm I'm I'm making this point actually after the the wrong verse. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.079 So wait just a sec. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.240 I'll make in this verse I'll make more points about the land. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:39.200 So he comes down and and he does he's saying I'm not just coming down to deliver them but I am coming down to bring them into a new place. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:48.319 So his hope for them is not mere deliverance but his hope for them is to bring them into the fullness of what he had promised them. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.759 And it's very good. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:24:08.799 The land that he promises to bring them to he he sets this this hope he says I will bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land now remember the Israelites had been multiplying in Egypt. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.519 They are thriving as a people in that sense. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.839 And so the land that they need to be brought to good and broad helps. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:54.720 You know there's um uh more this is gonna sound crazy uh more is better and we can forget that but I I know you know it because there's there's no language in the world that has a bad word for getting a raise you know there's there's no culture in the world that's like we had a great harvest this year and they have a word for that like the sadness of a great harvest and they put they put on sackcloth and ashes and they mourn the the wonder of the great harvest. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:25:03.599 No it it is good to be brought into a good and broad land there's space for the people of God. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:26:01.759 It's a land flowing with milk and honey now what it takes to have milk is grass great grass and so that means they the in that means that there's rain and that God provides for large flocks of sheep and goats and and livestock that are that are provided for and honey that means there's flowers and crops that grow well here and bees you know bees to make the honey this is a good land it's supportive it can provide for them as a people and this is the the vision that right after God it sees the condition that they're in God God gives to Moses like look at this glory that we're heading towards and how big of a land is it? 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:08.720 Well I'm taking my one nation and and this land is full of a lot of nations. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:19.200 So right now it supports the Canaanites the Hittites the Amorites the Perizzites the Hivites and the Jebusites all that land will be yours. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.880 This is a very good hope. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:36.400 Okay so when I was in Florida we I I grew up just south of the Kennedy Space Center and so we drove up to the Kennedy Space Center to take the kids because Disney World is so expensive now. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:47.200 So we uh they have a Saturn V rocket which I think is the greatest achievement of humankind and the well it we'll see what this starship can do, you know. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:50.079 And I'm very into space now. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:27:09.519 I probably will be for a couple of weeks but we went and uh uh the Saturn V tour is really good and so uh they tell they tell the story of its development and they they tell this you like walk in and everything in central Florida is kind of Disney fied. 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:27.839 And so it's kind of a Disney-fied experience it's a technical term and you walk in and you watch a a video describing the uh initiation of the space program and then the Saturn then Mercury and Gemini and then the Saturn V program. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:41.599 And they share Kennedy's speech uh to start the space program but before that they provide this context of the Russians were doing a very good job of building rockets. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:47.119 And the United States was doing a very bad job of building rockets. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:57.680 We and they just show like clip after clip of just explosions on the launch pad and a rocket like going up and like that's not the way they typically fly. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.440 And so that's not what you're aiming for. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:16.319 And so our space program is terrible and then they then the Russians launch Sputnik and Yuri Grigorin goes into space and the United States was being humiliated by our space program and they described it as we were trapped in a fear of the present. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:27.359 But then uh uh Kennedy in his you you've I you've seen clips of it you know the famous speech he says in that way for some reason John F. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:32.400 Kennedy talked like he talked I've never heard anyone else speak like that in the world. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:35.920 And says uh we are going to the moon. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:38.720 And why are we going to the moon? 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.720 Because it is hard to do. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:53.519 For the same reason that you climb mountains in the coolest line for the same reason that Rice plays Texas which is so cool and American and awesome and I was like I'm still pretty pumped as you can tell it's coming up. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:29:19.920 And uh then it cuts to like the the the tour guide who was one of the mission controllers during the Apollo program and he says in that speech Kennedy shifted us from a from a state of fear of the present to a place of hope for the future and that's what kicked off the space program. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:30:05.119 And then we accomplished the greatest thing that we've that we've accomplished and the uh this is this is something like that where God in coming to Moses God is is shifting saying like look I know the condition the condition is under these tyrants and taskmasters and you and I have come down to deliver them but it is not just to deliver them it is to bring them up to a good and broad land a land flowing with milk and honey the the land of all of these other nations it will be the land of my people I have come to do that. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:21.920 And that's what the Lord is like he comes down and he shifts from a fear of the present to a hope of the future and that transforms the way that his people live they become a people of hope. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:31:00.000 And he bookends it and he says and now behold the cry of the people of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them and so he brings it down okay here's his glorious hope all right we've got this problem to solve you know this problem they are under a terrible oppression now he hears the cry and then he shares with him his plan God has said I have come down to deliver my people and Moses is probably thinking great thank thanks for letting me know I ri I wish you the best I hope it works. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:51.599 I tried that once it was unsuccessful you seem to have more resources available to you so then God shares the plan with Moses come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt God says I have come down to deliver my people how is it that God does that strangely he uses people he uses Moses says I have come down to deliver my people come I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt I do want us to hear this my people what what must that mean for the people of Israel? 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:55.440 What would that feel like to know? 00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:55.759 I mean I just want I just want you to imagine just maybe the word getting back to you somehow or something or like you had forgotten and you're oppressed you have no possible vision of the future there's no means of moving into any opportunity you're a slave in Egypt and you hear you know God you know what God called me he said when he was talking about me he said my people he thinks of me as his so that means that he's going to take responsibility for me the true king is coming he's a good king he will come to save and so his intention for how to do that is to use Moses send him to Pharaoh to bring out his people out of Egypt. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:26.640 This all sounded like a wonderful plan to Moses probably until it involved Moses in verse 11 it says but Moses said to God who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt Moses is like this this all sounds very good I love the milk and honey stuff who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:36.079 Some commentators have read this as just a mere humility on Moses' part you know sort of like a hat in hand oh shucks. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:34:02.480 It's like when people win awards like the Academy Awards and they're like I'm just really humbled to win this award I don't I don't really know I don't get that I don't really understand what they mean when they say that like the people who lost you know that's been mostly my experience of humility who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:03.839 I don't think this is humility. 00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:10.159 I think this is something more like reluctance to obey the Lord. 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:24.559 This is something more like reluctance and and I think that because as we follow this story Moses will demonstrate a repeated reluctance to move through and God seems to have a predilection towards reluctant leaders. 00:34:24.880 --> 00:34:55.679 This seems to be a type that he he likes to use and partly it might be because he has no other options and that such is our nature and such is our reluctance to obey the Lord that when he draws close and makes plain and clear his intentions it is often met with uh exposing how reluctant we actually are to participate in the goodness of God. 00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:58.639 And that's seen in Moses's heart here. 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:03.519 Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:14.320 Now Moses probably considered that he had some good arguments for why not remember I'm a fugitive in Egypt so I'm probably not the one to go back. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:44.079 I've tried something like this once and I've failed and it's gone terribly I have been for 40 years living a life that has neglected that whole first part of my life in Egypt I've got a family here now I've got these this flock that I'm tending to which you can see there's all kinds of reasons for me to not go back to Egypt. 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:58.880 But you could also consider that God would be able to respond to that and respond to Moses thinking who am I to go to Egypt and tell Moses a story about himself. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:10.880 The response that I think we might expect to hear from God to Moses at his reticence is something like Moses think about yourself here. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:28.960 You were the infant who was rescued through the waters you were the prince of Egypt who counted as nothing the riches of Egypt so that you might identify with the people of God and seek to deliver them. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:41.679 You are the one who was chased out of Egypt by Pharaoh and came to Midian and there you delivered the oppressed people and you gave them water. 00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:52.000 This is exactly what I mean to do with the people of Israel I mean to bring them out of the dominion of Pharaoh, deliver them from oppression and give them water at Midian. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:58.800 And here you are Moses right now you are talking to me out of the fire at Mount Sinai. 00:36:58.880 --> 00:37:10.239 Now you don't know this yet but I'll give you a little insider trading later on the nation of Israel will be brought out of Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai and I will speak to them through the fire. 00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:19.599 Why you because all that I am asking you to do for the Egyptians is what I have done in your life already. 00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:23.840 So I am I am barely even asking you to trust me here. 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:28.639 I'm just asking you to keep trusting me to do what I've already done. 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:32.320 You're the perfect man for the job. 00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:56.159 And Moses could have heard that and he would have thought sensible sensible I didn't know about the Sinai stuff this is you know the that was a I thank you for that initial deliverance in the basket that was convenient placement with the daughter of Pharaoh God doesn't say anything about Moses when he answers this question. 00:37:56.400 --> 00:38:15.599 In fact he he calls Moses back to no self-reflection when he answers the question the way that God answers Moses' question of why me, which might as well have been it shouldn't be me is by sharing the most important thing about Moses. 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:33.440 He says this in verse 12 he said but I will be with you and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt you shall serve God on this mountain. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:40.400 The way that God answers this question reframes the question entirely. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:53.760 God often does this throughout scripture where he answers the the way that it almost sounds is something like God answering the question where it could have been prefaced with Moses I don't understand the question. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.400 Of course he does understand and he understands everything. 00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:04.159 But it would be like this question Moses this question actually makes no sense because he's Moses is like why why me? 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:28.960 I don't know if I have what it takes to go or I don't know if that's I'm the sufficient choice for this or the optimal choice for this thing that you're calling to and God says but I'm with you but I will be with you what what else do you need to know here? 00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:44.719 I think you've forgotten who you're talking to I think you know he might say this sort of thing happens to me all the time when I talk with people they forget that you are you are talking to God here. 00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:51.360 It is me it is God who is calling you the creator of of heavens and earth. 00:39:51.519 --> 00:40:11.039 See the bush the fire thing you ever seen anything like that before I'm the author of all things I'm the one who made you the one who made the eye can I not see the one who made the ear can I not hear do I not know? 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:18.239 Is anything not perfectly shown to me or known to me perfectly available to me? 00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:30.000 Is there anything is my hand too short to accomplish anything that I set to so why should you go? 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:55.519 Why should it be you with you you don't need any more information I will be with you and then the sign that he gives him the assurance that he offers him is not is not like okay what about five burning bushes? 00:40:55.760 --> 00:40:57.519 Then will you believe me? 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:08.079 No the sign that he gives him is a is a future promise that he will know on the other side of the success of what he has done. 00:41:08.320 --> 00:41:19.920 So the way that he is able to come to know and participate in who God is is he invites him to have faith in what he has promised. 00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:29.119 And why is it that he can have an absolute faith in that it well at least because God is unchanging he has neither parts nor passions. 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:50.800 He will not change he is as absolutely in control at the burning bush as he will be when they first go into Pharaoh's courts at the repeated rejections of Pharaoh when they are pressed up against the Red Sea and Pharaoh is pursuing God will be as absolutely in control and as with him as he is right there at the burning bush. 00:41:52.079 --> 00:43:07.440 So they can have an absolute hope an absolute trust now what this means for us is we especially in we are sort of trained to think that the most important factor in in any situation is you and we are trained towards self-reflection in order to participate in any hard calling moving forward in order to move in faith towards what is calling us to next we are trained to step back and and self-assess as the most important thing now of course there is benefit to that and it is important to understand your own story how you got into this that's a lot of times the way out of it is it shows itself in how we got ourselves into this but the place to the place to take confidence in whether or not or how you ought to move forward is in that God has promised to be with you. 00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:19.760 That is the place we take confidence that is the most important factor the most important factor is that God has promised to be with you. 00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:29.760 Now great Moses got that promise directly from the mouth of the Lord at the burning bush and so he would have good reason to take confidence in it. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:44:02.320 Well this is not the last time that God would come down that God would come down to deliver his people God would come down more completely not just take Moses but take on flesh that the second person of the Trinity the angel of God the very one who was speaking to Moses from the burning bush would take on flesh not counting equality with God as something to be jealously held, but instead taking on the form of a man Even being born of a woman. 00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:10.960 And he would be born into poverty, and he would be rejected by men, even to the point of death on a cross. 00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:16.079 And that death would mean that our sins are atoned for. 00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:23.039 And so that our final rescue from the true captor would be accomplished. 00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:27.599 And he would be raised in exaltation to the right hand of God. 00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:42.480 And before he was raised, right before his ascension, he would say to his disciples, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. 00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:49.280 And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. 00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:55.760 Well, could God possibly be with you, knowing the state of your sinfulness? 00:44:55.920 --> 00:44:57.920 Haven't you worn him out? 00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:01.519 Haven't you gotten to his wit's end? 00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:04.159 Your kids do that to you. 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:07.760 You reach a point where you can't take it anymore, and you snap. 00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:11.360 Have you done that to God finally? 00:45:12.960 --> 00:45:15.440 His deliverance has been accomplished. 00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:18.559 Our freedom is in Christ. 00:45:20.079 --> 00:45:23.199 How can you take confidence that he is with you? 00:45:23.760 --> 00:45:26.480 Well, he's shown it to the uttermost in Christ. 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:29.039 And he has promised us. 00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:32.079 So quit your self-assessment. 00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:33.679 Hold fast to him. 00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:36.000 This is the self-assessment. 00:45:36.159 --> 00:45:37.599 Am I holding fast to him? 00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:40.320 Come to him. 00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:41.440 Repent. 00:45:41.760 --> 00:45:42.639 Believe. 00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:44.239 Hold fast to him. 00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:46.480 He is ready and willing as ever. 00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:49.360 How do I know that he is as ready and willing as ever? 00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:50.800 He's unchanging. 00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:54.480 He's perfectly ready now. 00:45:56.559 --> 00:45:59.519 So let us remember that, that God is with us. 00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:02.559 Are there any questions today? 00:46:03.199 --> 00:46:03.519 Okay. 00:46:05.679 --> 00:46:10.559 If God is impassable, why does the Bible describe God's moods such as anger? 00:46:10.719 --> 00:46:12.000 Yeah, I know. 00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:18.320 So excuse me. 00:46:18.559 --> 00:46:28.880 This is um This is one of those aspects of God that is so hard to grasp. 00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:33.519 It's like his his unity or his simplicity. 00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:43.599 Here's what this means. 00:46:50.800 --> 00:46:56.639 God does not have good hearts. 00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:03.760 God is good. 00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:11.119 God does not have loving aspects that he moves into and out of. 00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:13.039 He is love. 00:47:18.480 --> 00:47:28.400 So all the f a phrase that is helpful for this is all that is in God is God. 00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:36.400 Now we think that there are certain virtues or principles. 00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:51.679 And we often think this way in our assessment of God, and you can hear it come out when people will see something in the Bible and they don't like it, and they'll say, I couldn't believe, like, for example, I couldn't believe in a God who sends people to hell eternally. 00:47:54.159 --> 00:47:59.920 And so what we're saying is there is a principle that is actually above God. 00:48:00.719 --> 00:48:07.119 And if God doesn't adhere to this principle, then he is not to be considered as God. 00:48:09.119 --> 00:48:13.360 But there is no principle that is above God. 00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:16.800 And there is not even a principle that is within God. 00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:19.760 All that is in God is God. 00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:25.679 And so when we come to Him, we receive all of Him. 00:48:27.039 --> 00:48:33.199 There's a similarity to this question, and it's just as much difficulty, but it is a deep mystery that the Scripture reveals to us. 00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:45.679 It's like, well, how can God be one and united and a unity and simple and three persons that are distinct and have no mixture with one another? 00:48:47.280 --> 00:48:51.840 And then I'll just say something like, well, well, that's why we have the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:48:52.079 --> 00:48:57.840 If God weren't one, we would just have three gods, but He is. 00:48:58.800 --> 00:49:11.599 And if God were just one and He did not reveal Himself to us in three persons, then there would be no persons who accomplish our salvation. 00:49:12.960 --> 00:49:24.400 The difficulty of finite creatures grasping the eternity and wonder and glory and simplicity of God. 00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:27.360 Simplicity does not mean easy to understand, by the way. 00:49:27.519 --> 00:49:28.480 Sorry for using that. 00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:30.800 It means it has it doesn't have any parts. 00:49:31.199 --> 00:49:32.639 That's all that means. 00:49:36.159 --> 00:49:41.599 It means an incredible accommodation to our frame on God's part. 00:49:42.320 --> 00:49:48.079 And so God relays Himself to us in ways that are sensible and meaningful to us. 00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:51.840 And so God has something like anger. 00:49:53.519 --> 00:49:59.920 It is not exactly like our anger, but it's analogous to our anger. 00:50:00.239 --> 00:50:04.239 And it is revealed to us in time and space in these particular ways. 00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:31.119 But you might think of it like uh uh pure white light through a um, what is that on the Pink Floyd album? 00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:33.039 Prism, thanks. 00:50:33.840 --> 00:50:37.199 You might think of it as pure white light shown through a prism. 00:50:37.360 --> 00:50:47.360 And the way that God accommodates our frame is we cannot receive a pure white light and see any distinction or meaning in it that we're able to participate with in the particularity that we are. 00:50:47.519 --> 00:50:54.639 And so God accommodates our frame by showing all that is in him through ways that are accessible and meaningful to us. 00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:58.800 It is it is a wonderful accommodation to our frame. 00:50:59.679 --> 00:51:04.320 All right, that was a little theology of God there at the end. 00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:10.880 Okay, now let's turn to our time of communion. 00:51:13.039 --> 00:51:29.440 Now I'm going to take some time this morning and read the whole section on communion and exposit it a little bit because this is something that I realize, and us as an elder board have realized, we I haven't really taught on very clearly. 00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:32.960 And I think it would be helpful to bring a bit more clarity here. 00:51:33.599 --> 00:51:35.440 So Paul writes this. 00:51:36.400 --> 00:51:49.039 He says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. 00:51:49.440 --> 00:51:51.679 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:51:52.239 --> 00:51:58.880 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:51:59.199 --> 00:52:03.039 Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. 00:52:03.360 --> 00:52:09.199 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:52:10.559 --> 00:52:14.559 Now you're all familiar with that part because that's typically where I end our reading. 00:52:15.039 --> 00:52:21.199 But Paul continues on, and he describes the nature of coming to the table. 00:52:21.440 --> 00:52:25.280 And in that we see who is welcome to the table. 00:52:25.519 --> 00:52:45.840 The context that Paul is writing in is he's describing that there had been this blurring between the at the church in Corinth, between the Lord's Supper, which is this particular sacrament instituted by the Lord, and these love feasts, which were basically like the church gathering together and just enjoying meals together. 00:52:46.079 --> 00:52:53.519 And the love feasts were there's they're informal, and there was not a particularity to them of what they were. 00:52:53.840 --> 00:52:58.800 But the Lord's Supper is to be set apart, is to be counted as holy. 00:52:58.880 --> 00:53:03.199 It is given to us by the Lord as a distinct thing that we participate in. 00:53:04.559 --> 00:53:16.400 And so Paul goes on and he says, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 00:53:16.639 --> 00:53:22.719