Exodus 3:1-15 "The God of the Burning Bush"

Introduction: When asked what he believed the problem was with the world, R.C. Sproul responded, “They don’t know who God is.” to which they then asked, “What do you believe the problem is with the Church of today?” His response was the same, “They don’t know who God is.”

In Exodus 5 we find one of the most memorable showdowns in history. Moses is staring in the face of the most powerful ruler on the face of the planet demanding that he free the people of God by the command of God Himself and Pharaoh, full of hardness and arrogance, responds by saying, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” And though this was a question full of pompous arrogance, this is a massively valuable question, “Who is the Lord?”

A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

What you and I believe about God shapes everything about us. Not what you have fooled people into thinking you believe about God, not what you say you believe about God on Sunday, not what your lips say you believe about God, but what the depth of your very soul testifies about it’s belief in God. This belief will affect everything about you: your friendships, your performance as an employee, your home life, your marriage, your prayer life, your devotion time, your testimony, your eagerness to be with the Church, this belief is more than a piece of paper on a wall or a churches statement of faith, this is your hearts foundational declaration and image of who your God is, and we all have a god. The atheist has a god, the drunkard has a god, the prostitute has a god, the drug dealer has a god, the professor has a god, the pharisee has a god, the liar has a god, and you have a God too and the thing that you and I must be careful with this morning is whether our God is the one of the Bible or not. We must be very careful not to allow our imagination to slide into the sinful workshop of ‘Build-a-god’ because, even though we may staple the name of the God of the Bible onto it, that doesn’t make it so. God is independent of our thoughts and He will not be placed within the box of man’s wishful ideologies to satisfy anyone for He, in Himself, is totally self-sufficient and self-satisfying and if you and I find ourselves latching onto the life-altering reality that God is totally unchanging and is forever faithful to His attributes, we will find our feet cemented into the truths of the Word and our backbones strengthened like never before. And so, as Moses stood facing this most powerful and wicked ruler he could stand with total assurance in that he knows the Lord. And this morning as you and I stand in this wicked world we must also know who the Lord is for ourselves. With this being said, look with me in Exodus 3:1-15. It is here we will find Moses’ encounter with the Lord and today I want to give three notes about the Lord.

Sermon Body

Moses’ whole life seemed to have been a comic book-like description of powerful working of God’s delivering grace. This is Moses, the babe who survived the raging river and ravenous crocodiles. This is Moses, the one who went from having a death sentence to being adopted by royalty! And here in Exodus 3:1, this is Moses who’s life looks like a total failure. He was once seated with royalty as an adopted prince and now we find him shepherding smelly sheep. And not only that but they weren’t even his. And not only that, but it was in Horeb. I could imagine how a conversation may have gone had someone not heard of Moses fleeing from Egypt.... Moses’ life once looked like he would do great things for God, but now, he just looked like a failure who wouldn’t amount to anything.

Illustration: I want to be transparent with you guys today. I’ve dealt with what I believe may have gone through Moses’ mind lately. This would’ve been a total identity change. Sure, he knew standing up for the Jews would have been a change, but he at least expected them to have his back! But now, everythings different and he’s living a life he never expected…

However, in the midst of God’s delays we find that these are not God’s denials of us. Moses may have seemed cast out of Egypt, but this was God bringing Him in to witness Him in a way he could’ve never imagined. In the midst of this elderly man’s everyday mundane life the God of the burning bush appears to him!

I’m from the south and we like to burn stuff. (Christmas tree and George)...

But as big as that fire was, it died because it had no lasting fuel source. However, here we find that this fire is God’s representation that within Himself, He is total self-sufficient. He needs no other (cont.)…

Not only this, but we must notice that there is nothing important about this bush. The only reason that you and I are speaking about a plant that is decayed and gone is not because of the importance of the bush, but because God Himself placed His glory upon this that it might be a representation of His glory to those around it and this is true of us! The only impressive thing about you and me is that God has redeemed us and made us trophies of His grace and is using us as representatives of His goodness to those around us. This is who He is and this is where we find our first point:

He Is The God Who Seeks

How beautifully comforting is it to know that when our lives are a mess, there is a God

that has it all together and it isn’t as though, in His glory, He is simply fine with us being informed of His existence but He has appeared to us! It was not God who was lost in this time of Moses’ life. Notice that it is God who knew who Moses was in verse 4 and not Moses knowing who God was. It is so reassuring to know that in the pain of our life there is a God who knows you, He knows your name, and He knows where you are.

And does this not sound just like Christ? Titus 2:11-15 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.” Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came for the outcast like Matthew, for the broken like the leprous, for the messed up harlots. Christ, in the midst of trials, has brought you here that you may experience HIM!

He Is The God Who Stoops To Save

(v4-5) The Consecration of God

Holiness means separation. Something that is holy is set apart and when it comes to God, holiness means that He is set apart from all of His creation.

When God warned Moses to not come any closer He was separating Himself from Moses to emphasize the gap between the divine and the human. v6 tells us that when Moses realized who he was in the presence of, he then hid his face and realized that he was an unholy man. The Bible says in Habakkuk 1:13 that God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil, and it may very well be said that God is too pure for our eyes to look on Him and this is the problem with human beings… We were made to gaze upon the glory of our Creator like Adam who walked and talked with God, but we have fallen into sin and in our unholy condition it is no longer safe for us to be in the presence of God. And so we ask this question: “How will we ever survive an encounter with God?”

The Bible tells us that we will all stand before God’s throne on judgment day and when that day comes if we are not holy we will be destroyed.

There are many people who think of this and begin to exaggerate their own holiness to make themselves feel more comfortable as they think of that day, or they down play God’s holiness that they feel as though it is not as serious as it is. But Scripture is totally clear that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that there is not even one who is righteous.

The only way for us to come into the presence of this holy God is to become holy and this is why God sent His Son to be our Savior. 1 Cor. 1:30 says, “It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption —in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

And now that we trust in Christ as our righteous Savior we are accepted by God through Christ alone. Colossians 1:21 says, “Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—”

The grace that God has shown at Calvary frees us to approach God not as Moses, hiding our faces in fear, but by faith since we are hidden in the righteousness of Christ.

And it is an awesome thing to come into the presence of God. When we see Moses meeting God in the burning bush, he was not simply gaining information about God— but he was encountering God himself! Moses was meeting the glorious God of all of Heaven and Earth who rages with beauty and splendor. But who in the world would expect such a powerful God to have any interest in fallen humans? But here we see that the God of the burning bush is a God of compassion.

(v6-10) The Compassion of God

First, notice His concern.

There are four verbs to notice here in v7-10: He has seen, he has heard, he has known, and He had come. Not only does He notice them, but He knows them. Notice how He calls them “My people” in verse 7.

When God’s people suffer they sometimes wonder if He even cares for them at all. But as we learn here God sees our suffering, and not only that, He cares about it and responds to our cries for help!

Second, His compassion in His covenant.

When God identifies Himself he says He is “The God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” There are two big notes to take from this:

If by ‘father’ God is referring to Moses’ Dad, Amram, then God is pointing out that He is that same God that rescued Moses from the Nile, that He is the same God that Moses’ parents taught him to serve before he went to Pharaoh’s court.

He also says, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” and this sounds impressive and fancy until we remember who these guys were. These were deeply flawed men who were liars, tricksters, schemers and dreamers. But, God is a God of grace and He entered into a personal relationship with them of covenantal love. God gave them an unbreakable promise of eternal blessing within Himself. And in Hebrews 11:16 we are reminded that even though these were flawed men, God is not ashamed to be called their God. When we come to Him in faith, He is pleased to be known as our God forever. Rejoice in this today, Church, you are loved by the very author of love Himself.

What was He saving them from? (v8)

John Calvin said, “We again, instead of supposing that the matter has no reference to us, should reflect that the bondage of Israel in Egypt was a type of that spiritual bondage, in the fetters of which we are all bound, until the heavenly avenger delivers us by the power of his own arm, and transports us into his free kingdom. Therefore, as in old times, when he would gather together the scattered Israelites to the worship of his name, he rescued them from the intolerable tyranny of Pharaoh, so all who profess him now are delivered from the fatal tyranny of the devil, of which that of Egypt was only a type.”

Israel’s bondage is a picture of our slavery to sin. And until we come to God in faith, we are living in the Egypt of our sin, we are enslaved by its passions and desires. And just as the children of Israel were under Pharaoh’s whip, we are under Satan’s. Therefore, we are in just as much need to be freed as Israel was and if we are to be rescued it will have to be God who must stoop down to save us! And, if I may borrow the imagery, the Exodus is not over! The offer of grace is still on the table as God has proved His love in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us and if you would believe that you are a sinner and that He is the Savior you would be saved today! There was never one to trust in the sacrificial lamb who fell to the death angel and there has never been one to trust in Christ, the Lamb of God, who shall fall into the final death.

3.) He Is The God Who Sends

God, in v10, has made it clear that Moses has a mission to perform. And here we have a mind boggling reality that people struggle with even today: God’s sovereignty in redemption and man’s responsibility in the Great Commission. God uses human beings—sinful human beings—to carry out his saving purpose. Moses had tried to save the Israelites once before, all by himself. The attempt was such a complete disaster that Moses had to leave the country. But God used the events of Moses’ life to prepare him for ministry. Now the time of preparation was over, and God was commissioning Moses to lead his people out of slavery. This is how God almost always operates. The sovereignty of God’s grace does not make our ministry unnecessary—it makes it mandatory! The work of salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. Nevertheless, God uses us—as he used Moses—to accomplish his saving purpose.

Moses’ Reluctance

At first, it seemed that Moses was ready to accept any task of the Lord. As he responds “Here am I!” in verse 4, and then he takes his sandals off in v5. By taking off his sandals, Moses let his actions speak as loudly as his words. In ancient times slaves usually went barefoot; so Moses was indicating his willingness to serve as he adopted the posture of a servant. But this was all before Moses actually knew what God wanted Him to do, and as soon as God showed him, he started to have some doubts.

I want you to notice two questions that are fundamental to our obedience to the Commission set before us. First, “Who am I” and second, “Who are You, Lord?”

One Church Father said, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”

Who am I? (v11)

This was not so much an existential crisis where Moses is questioning his identity, as it was a practical question where he is questioning his ability. Moses knew who he was— but he wasn’t sure if he had what it takes to get the job done. The Egyptians are the most powerful people in the world and last time Moses tried to do something like this, it took him forty years to recover from it and last time he saw the Jews, they called him a murderer!

While this may seem like humility, and it could be, Moses seems to be stubborn in this conversation. In the midst of God’s calling on your life, you do not have time to sit back and review your resume but to readily obey without hesitancy. Hebrews 13:21 tells us, “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

But in the midst of Moses un-surety and questioning, God doesn’t respond in saying, “Oh Moses, you were trained in Pharaoh’s court, you were adopted by royalty, you were taught lessons out here in this wilderness, Moses, there is no one as qualified as you are! You are Egyptian enough to stand up to Pharaoh and Hebrew enough to love the Jews! It’s a perfect match!” But that’s not how God works, He will not share His glory with another. And it is in the midst of such a questioning time that God’s magnifying was not the Servant, but Himself.

Philip Ryken said, “If he had shown Moses that he was fully qualified for his calling, that would have led Moses to trust in his gifts rather than in his God. The real question was not who Moses was, but who God was, for “God said, ‘I will be with you’ ” (Exod. 3:12a)

Peter Enns wrote, “Moses’ assertion that he cannot do this task is correct, but entirely beside this point. He is not doing the saving. Moses says, “I cannot do this.” Yahweh responds, “You’re not, I am.”

Therefore, in the midst of God’s calling the focus of our ability is not within us, but within Him and where there is God’s calling there is God’s promise of His presence. When Joshua inherited the mantle of leadership God told Him, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And Christ has made the same promise to us today in Matthew 28:20 where He said, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” In making this promise, God has given Himself to us forever and always. And when you know that God is with you you can launch a full out assault on Hell with a water pistol because you have been commissioned by the Sovereign creator of all things and He has promised to be with you always. But who is this that is with us? Let’s notice Moses' second large question in v13.

Who are You?

There are many people today who are unsure of their identities. With rising cases of gender dysphoria and teens and adults alike running rampantly to “find themselves”. There is a God who takes no second thought at making it clear that within Himself, He is who He is. But the name that He reveals to Moses, and to us is here in verse 15 and in our English translations it read LORD, but in Hebrew it is Yahweh (Can you believe we know His name?)

Stuart Douglas said, “The name should thus be understood as referring to Yahweh’s being the creator and sustainer of all that exists and thus the Lord of both creation and history, all that is and all that is happening—a God active and present in historical affairs” And this is the One who has sent Moses as His representative to the world.

Conclusion

Knowing the name of the God he met at the burning bush was a great help to Moses. Once he knew God’s true identity, he was able to go back to Egypt and say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you.” The rest of the exodus is the story of God living up to his name, proving that he is the eternal God of covenant grace.

Knowing God’s name is also a great help to us. If God is the Great I Am, who always is who he is, then we serve the same God that Moses served and the only difference is that He has revealed to us another name and it is the only name by which we must be saved, Jesus Christ. In John 8, the Lord was trying to convince the religious leaders that He was the Christ and He finally opens up and says, “Verily verily, before Abraham was, I am!” Christ was claiming to be the God of Moses, the great I am, the Eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient God in the flesh.

It is Christ who was there speaking to Moses that day, it was Christ who was with Moses as he confronted Pharaoh and as he parted the Red Sea. It was Christ who was concerned with the pain of His people and who delivered them. And it is Christ today who knows the pain in your life. And most of all, it is Christ who knows your bondage to sin today, my lost friend and He will hear you and deliver you if you will cry out to Him. If you will repent of your sin and believe that Christ is God in the flesh who came to bear your sin on the cross and that He has arisen from the dead that you and I might have eternal life then you will be saved.

Once we believe in Christ, we may come to Him with our questions and He will not turn us away. What He wants from us is that we put our faith in Him that we will deeply experience Him, that we will go where He sends and trust that He will be with us forever. This is the promise of our Lord to His people and these are three lessons from the burning bush.

1. No matter where you are in life, God may be leading you there to experience a deeper relationship with Him.

2. No matter what you’ve done or where you’re at, God is able to deliver you from sin.

3. And no matter matter how much you’ve messed up, as His child, He has called you to represent Him, now go.