The Heart of God
Notes
Transcript
Preliminary:
Preliminary:
Today is Mother’s Day and while I am not going to necessarially preach a Mother’s day sermon, mother’s are usually remembered for their heart. Their love - care- nurturing - they may have been stern and strict, but a good mother is motivated by their love and care of their child.
Our sermon today takes those attributes we see in a mother’s heart and magnifies them to show us the heart of God.
Let’s read about it in Exodus 3:1-8
Read: Exodus 3:1-8
Read: Exodus 3:1-8
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God. 7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Moses is a familiar story, but let me refresh your memory just a little.
Moses was born a despised Hebrew boy. Was supposed to have been thrown in the Nile, instead His mother threw him upon the mercies of God.
God spared Moses and placed him in the Pharaoh’s court.
As he grew he saw the treatment of his people and was not impressed. In his eager and perhaps unwise endeavor to stand up for his fellow people he killed an Egyptian.
This made him an outlaw - he ran and found a job tending sheep on the backside of the desert. It was here that he met God.
In our text this morning God gave Moses four precious verbs that comprise the heart of God I want to talk about them a little this morning.
I have seen (Exodus 3:7)
7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
God as it were looked down through the mighty expanse of heaven and saw the abuse, misuse, and displacement of His chosen people by the Egyptians.
For over four hundred years the children of Israel had been in the land of Egypt and had been reduced to slaves and prisoners. They faced not only slavery, but all of the horrors that came with it. They were in a bad place. No doubt they felt forsaken, forgotten, alone, sad, fearful, depressed, helpless, But God meets Moses out on the backside of the desert, in a burning bush and says to himMoses I HAVE SEEN - I have certainly seen, or I have seen indeed - the affliction of my people in EgyptGod knew where they were, and what was happening to them.
We have a God that knows right where we are
He could see their tears at night
He could see their lacerations from the whips
He could see their heartache and loss
He could see their pain and sorrow
He could see it all
I’m reminded of a beautiful story from Genesis 16 where Abram and Sarai were childless so they thought they would hurry up God who seemed to not be paying any attention to their plight. They bring Hagar into the situation and Hagar conceives. That just brings up a whole other awkward situation - the maid could conceive but the wife could not - and Sarai got pretty mean and harsh with Hagar - who had not asked to get into this situation.
So Hagar decides to run away from it all. She fled from Sarai and the situation. But I love how the Bible says - “And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.”
Now this wasn’t just any angel as you read on you find that this was probably what theologians call a Theophany - an Old Testament sighting of Jesus, the preincarnate Christ.
Hagar is so moved that she comes up with a new name for God listen to this:
13 And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
No other character in the Old Testament ever confers a name for God - names often express essential characteristics or attributes - such as this one - THOU GOD SEEST ME
I’m glad we have a God who sees.
He sees when we are exhausted and can’t think right
He sees when we are abused or not treated right
He sees when we are hurting or not feeling well
He sees everything our thoughts, our heart, our actions, why we do what we do - THOU GOD SEEST ME!!!
But it’s not just that God sees look at what he says next....
I have heard (Exodus 3:7)
I’m so glad God hears.
He heard their cry.
He could hear when they went to bed at night so hungry they could hardly stand it but they didn't have enough to eat.
He could hear when they were so tired they could hardly climb into bed at night from being so overworked.
He could hear the weeping of the mourning families of those who had been killed or beaten and bruised by the evil taskmasters.
I want you to know this morning He is hearing you this morning too he hears us when we cry out to him.
Your prayers are not going unheard.
He listens,
he hears,
he's keeping note of every prayer.
And your prayers will be answered
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Prayer, Guidance Through
A woman asked G. Campbell Morgan, “Do you think we ought to pray about even the little things in life.”
Dr. Morgan, in his typically understated British manner, replied, “Madam, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God.”
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Why make your requests be made know unto God - because God HEARS!!!
It’s not just that God Sees and God Hears but also God Knows..
I know (Exodus 3:7)
That means to understand - to have a cognitive comprehension of what is going on.
We sometimes sing that song -
No one understands like Jesus.
He's a friend beyond compare;
Meet Him at the throne of mercy;
He is waiting for you there.
No one understands like Jesus;
Ev'ry woe He sees and feels;
Tenderly He whispers comfort,
And the broken heart He heals.
No one understands like Jesus
When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged;
Jesus cares and will not fail!
I am so glad that Jesus knows all about everything we are going through and he cares. Look at what he says next -
I am come down (Exodus 3:8)
I See
I Hear
I know
And I am going to do something about it -
We have a God who acts a God who works a God who knows what to do -
God tells Moses “I am come down to deliver them” and my what a victory God did win for them.
Whatever your issue, problem, situation this morning God sees, God hears, God knows and cares and He will come down and HELP.