Who is God?
Notes
Transcript
Who is God?
Who is God?
This is the question that we are dealing with tonight. Huge topic. Not going to cover it over the course of 30 minutes because God is infinite—meaning there is no bottom that we can get to in our study of who God is.
But Scripture does teach us something about God, enough for us to know who God is, what he is like, and why knowing God matters for our lives.
Maybe you are here and you dont believe in God at all, that is the case for 25% of college graduates in the United States. So the chances are relatively high that that are some of you who dont believe in any God at all. Or maybe you are struggling to know who God is or what he is like…Well tonight I hope that we can find some answers to who God is…what he is like, and why it matters for our lives.
We will find some of these answers in Exodus chapter 3
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 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. I know their sufferings, 8 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. 9 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. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 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.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
Exodus 3:1-
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 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. I know their sufferings, 8 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. 9 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.
Exodus 3
God’s Name
God’s Name
Look at
13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”
14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”
Moses is commissioned by God to do something that Moses knows he cannot accomplish. He is told that he is to go demand the King of Egypt to free the Hebrew people from slavery. Moses knows this is Mission Impossible. So Moses asks an understandable question, “When the people ask me what God sent me, what do I tell them?” God responds very directly, “Tell them that ‘I AM’ has sent you.”
The phrase “I AM WHO I AM” has been one of the most widely debated phrases in all of scripture. The literal translation can be said like this, “I am who I have always been.”
But in reality, God answers Moses question in this way because God knows how ridiculous the question is…It is almost like God answers Moses sarcastically, “What do you mean?! They know exactly who I am…”
Why does God answer Moses in this way? I think it is because God wants Moses to know at least three things about Him:
God is Eternal
God is Eternal
God is Independent
God is Independent
We love independence in our culture, do we not? We have a declaration of independence, we sing songs like i.n.d.e.n.d.e.n.t do you know what that mean…she got her own house...
The word immutable means, “Without change.”
Independence is something we long for in our culture. But the reality is that none of us are independent. We are all very dependent on many things.
When God tells Moses that He is I AM, he is saying that he is the idependent, self-existing one. Nothing defines God. He is self-sufficient, absolute, and autonomous. He has no needs. He has no unmet desires. He existed before creation and apart from creation. He is perfectly complete in and of his triune self at all times.
He is also expressing His “otherness”, I am who I am…and the implication is, and noone else is like me...
When God emphasizes his name to Moses, he is esse
God is in a class all by himself, He is completely “other than” anything else ever.
He’s wiser than you
Stronger than you
Better than you in every way possible
Yet, he became one like you, lived for you, died for you, rose for you, and offers you His life by faith in Jesus…let that land on you for a minute...
God is Immutable
God is Immutable
God is Immutable
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc…
But implicit in the name of God is the fact that He will never change. He is the “I am according to who I am.” Meaning that He will be who he has always—eternally been. There is no change in God. For the poeple of Israel at this time, they needed to be reminded that God was still who he always was. He was the God who had walked with their forefathers, He had bless Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. And he was the God who was sending Moses to free them from their bondage. Their circumstances had changed, they had lost their land, lost their hope, lost their faith…but there was one thing they couldnt lose…they couldnt lose the promise that God had made to them. And he was sending Moses to remind them that God was who He always had been and just like he had done for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—He would do for them.
God is Immutable
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc…
But implicit in the name of God is the fact that He will never change. He is the “I am according to who I am.” Meaning that He will be who he has always—eternally been. There is no change in God. For the poeple of Israel at this time, they needed to be reminded that God was still who he always was. He was the God who had walked with their forefathers, He had bless Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. And he was the God who was sending Moses to free them from their bondage. Their circumstances had changed, they had lost their land, lost their hope, lost their faith…but there was one thing they couldnt lose…they couldnt lose the promise that God had made to them. And he was sending Moses to remind them that God was who He always had been and just like he had done for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—He would do for them.
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc…
But implicit in the name of God is the fact that He will never change. He is the “I am according to who I am.” Meaning that He will be who he has always—eternally been. There is no change in God. For the poeple of Israel at this time, they needed to be reminded that God was still who he always was. He was the God who had walked with their forefathers, He had bless Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. And he was the God who was sending Moses to free them from their bondage. Their circumstances had changed, they had lost their land, lost their hope, lost their faith…but there was one thing they couldnt lose…they couldnt lose the promise that God had made to them. And he was sending Moses to remind them that God was who He always had been and just like he had done for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—He would do for them.
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc…
But implicit in the name of God is the fact that He will never change. He is the “I am according to who I am.” Meaning that He will be who he has always—eternally been. There is no change in God. For the poeple of Israel at this time, they needed to be reminded that God was still who he always was. He was the God who had walked with their forefathers, He had bless Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. And he was the God who was sending Moses to free them from their bondage. Their circumstances had changed, they had lost their land, lost their hope, lost their faith…but there was one thing they couldnt lose…they couldnt lose the promise that God had made to them. And he was sending Moses to remind them that God was who He always had been and just like he had done for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—He would do for them.
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc…
But implicit in the name of God is the fact that He will never change. He is the “I am according to who I am.” Meaning that He will be who he has always—eternally been. There is no change in God. For the poeple of Israel at this time, they needed to be reminded that God was still who he always was. He was the God who had walked with their forefathers, He had bless Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. And he was the God who was sending Moses to free them from their bondage. Their circumstances had changed, they had lost their land, lost their hope, lost their faith…but there was one thing they couldnt lose…they couldnt lose the promise that God had made to them. And he was sending Moses to remind them that God was who He always had been and just like he had done for Abraham, Issac, and Jacob—He would do for them.
Maybe that is why God has you hear tonight.
Maybe you need to hear that God does not change. Maybe your circumstances have changed. You lost someone or something you love. You lost an opportunity. You lost a scholarship. You lost your hope. You lost your faith. You lost your emotional health. You lost your friends. Maybe you need to hear that God has not forgotten you. He never changes. God is always loving, he is always patient, he is always kind, he is always forgiving, he is always gracious. He always saves, He always protects, He always provides, He always helps…He hasnt changed his mind about you and he never will.
says...
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:
tells us that God “chose us before the foundations of the world...
The writer of Hebrews writes it this way,
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews
reminds us that God says, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Martin Luther said it in this way when he wrote
“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!”
God never changes. He is immutable. The cross is the evidence that God has made is decision about you and neither height no depth, no things present, nor things past, nor angels of demons, nor anything else in all of creation can keep you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
In short, the name that God gives Moses tells us about His Godness...
But there is one last point from this passage that I want us to see...
Human beings arent big fans of changes, are we? Growing up I used to hear old people joke about the only two things that will never change: Death and Taxes. But both of those things change all the time. This year my taxes changed tremendously. And death changes too. People die in new ways all the time. People come back from the dead—Jesus, Lazarus, etc...
God is Involved
God is Involved
Notice verses 1-4...
1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
God is a Person
God isnt just far off in the distance. He is more near than you could ever imagine. More involved in your life than you will ever comprehend in this life.
How do I know?
Because God calls out to Moses…
Throughout the rest of the book of Exodus we find that God is involved in Moses world. He speaks with Moses, guides Moses, provides for Moses, empowers Moses, befriends Moses, Instructs Moses, and protects Moses.
This is important because we see that although God does not need creation, God is deeply concerned about His creation. He loves his creation. God loves his creation so much that he became a creature to redeem it.
And if God loves creation so should we.
If God doesnt say that he is “not of this world” neither should we.
That means we need to learn how to enjoy and appreciate creation. We need to learn to sing and dance, laugh and play, work and rest, enjoy good food and good drink. We need to enjoy good movies and music. Appreciate the beautiful things of life…why? Because God is the author of them all.
....
Jesus is bigger and better than you could ever imagine.
Jesus is CS Lewis…the author
And Jesus is Asland…the savior who puts all wrongs to rights.
Trust and enjoy Him...
Let’s pray