Excuses...Excuses...Excuses, Part 2

If you have your Bible, trust that you do, I'd ask you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. As we continue to understand God's call, In the life of Moses in his response to God's call. And we have talked about how Moses would. Hear the voice of God and understand that this was the God of his father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and this God would call him. Into a tremendous ministry where he would be the deliverer of God's people. And as we study Exodus chapter 3 and Exodus chapter 4, we will see that Moses.

pos all kinds of excuses to his God as to why he is not the man to lead these people. Well, through the excuses that Moses gives on this day, we can find ourselves in each of those excuses. And we're going to help you understand what Moses says to his God and how important they are for us to understand so that we can learn about the character and nature of our God. Because we see his gentleness, that is our Lord's gentleness with Moses. We see his care with Moses. We see how he responds to Moses.

In every excuse that Moses gives, we get a bigger. And better understanding of our God and what He wants to do in and through our lives. So, let me read to you the narrative in chapter 3, verses 10 down to the end of the chapter.

And Lord will, we'll get through at least the first two excuses this morning. Verse number 10: Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? He said, Certainly I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.

Then Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. And God furthermore said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the sons 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 this is my memorial name to all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appointed Excuse me, has appeared to me, saying, I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. So I said, I will bring you up. out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Periz and the Hivite and the Jebus.

To a land flowing with milk and honey, and they will pay heed to what you say. And you, with the elders of Israel, will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it.

And after that, he will let you go. And I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed, but every woman shall ask of her neighbour. And the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters, thus you will plunder the Egyptians. This passage is filled with the truth concerning our God, as well as practical applications to how we respond to the character and nature of our God.

Our Lord gives to Moses a requisition. We talked about this last week. We talked about the earnestness in it. Come now, Moses. Now is the time. You are the man, Moses. And with that requisition, Moses responds with great reluctance. And he says, the text says, but M said to God. Those buttolog of scripture help us to understand how we respond. When God calls us. But Moses said to God, Who am I? Who am I that I should be sent to your people to lead them out of slavery? Now that's a good question. Because there are many times we ask the same question: who am I?

Who am I to defend the faith? Who am I to speak for God? Who am I to go to that individual and tell them? I'm just a nobody. But I want you to notice something.

The attitude of Moses is completely different than what it was 40 years before this time. 40 years before this day, Moses believed that he was the one. He thought he could prove to the nation of Israel he was the man. But now, 40 years later, who am I? Who am I to go to these people and tell them it's time for them to leave? Who am I? You see, once you get to that point, now God can really use you. If that's not your attitude, God will have a hard time using you because you'll run ahead of God. You'll try to do things in your own time with your own agenda.

But Moses learned a very significant lesson. That he was not. For the most part, we haven't learned that lesson. We think we are something. In fact, we would like to think that God saved us because of who we are and of what we have done. And how significant I could be in the kingdom of God, that I can really add to God's kingdom, that I can benefit God's kingdom because of my status or because of my position or because of my eloquence or because of my education or because of my background. But no, Moses had all that.

He had to come to the point as Paul came when Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:9 that he was the least of the apostles. Or he said in 1 Timothy 1: that he was the chief. Sinners. And Peter would write in his epistle in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 and 6, that God res the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, he says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up at the appointed time, in due time. You see, God resists the arrogant attitude. He resists the proud.

He can't use those kind of people. He won't use those kind of people. In fact, listen to the words of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 57, verse number 15. Thus says The high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite. and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. God says, This is who I revive.

This is who I dwell with. I dwell with the lowly man. I dwell with the cont Contrite man. I dwell with the humble man because those are the ones that I can powerfully use, because my power will be manifested in them. And that's where Moses was. Who am I? Now, will you note with me how God responds to Moses? God says, certainly, I will be with you.

He didn't say, Moses. Who are you? Let me tell you who you are, Moses. Let me tell you where you've been, Moses.

Let me tell you about your education, Moses. Let me tell you about your eloquent speech, Moses, a man mighty in words, as Stephen would say in Acts chapter 7.

Let me tell you about how you were brought up to be next in line to be the Pharaoh, Moses. You're the right guy for the job, Moses. God didn't say that because all that was irrelevant. The relevancy was, I will be with you. I'm with you, Moses. The point being, it doesn't make any difference who you are, Moses. That's not an issue. You're a non-essential here, Moses. I'm the essential one. I'm going to be with you, Moses. And because I'm going to be with you, everything about you matters. You see, Moses saw Moses from Moses' perspective.

God saw Moses from God's perspective. And you see, God was telling Moses, because of me, this can happen. Without me, it can't happen. Forty years earlier, Moses tried to enact the Exodus by himself. And the nation of Israel rejected his leadership. But now God says they are ready to receive his leadership.

Certainly, Moses, I will be with you. You. Have you ever done a study of that phrase? Surely I will be with you? God promises to Moses His active presence in his life. That phrase, I will be with you, is the key to your ministry. It's the key to your calling. God has called you to a magnificent work. And that work is accomplished only through the presence and power of Almighty God energizing your life moment by moment. And God says to Moses, certainly, Moses, I will be with you.

It's the exact same thing that Jesus Christ Said to the disciples at Matthew 28 when he said, That all authority has been given to me both in heaven and in earth. Therefore, as you go, Make dis. And I want you to teach them, and I want you to baptize them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And he says these words, and I will be with you to the end of the age. God says, I'm with you, because that's what I'm about.

God promises the active presence of Himself in the life of Moses. Moses, you do what you're called to do because you got me. It's about me, Moses. So Moses asked another question. He asked another question. But before he asked the question, notice what God says.

He says, Moses, I want to tell you something. Here's a sign. Here's a guarantee. Not only will I be with you, but when you bring them out of Egypt, you're going to come right back to this place, Mount Sinai. The mountain of God. And you will worship here. Flow! That's an assurance. That's a promise that God made to Moses. You're coming right back here, Moses. Guaranteed. This 8,000-foot hill in the middle of the desert is a place you're going to come back to, and you and my people are going to worship me right here.

Here. Moses would have said, Man, that's great, let's go do it, Lord. But that wasn't it. He had another excuse. If you thought the first one was really good, oh man, this one's even better.

This was amazing. Listen to this. Verse 13. Then Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, Okay, I'm going. I'm on my way. You know, we're the same way, right? What are we going to say when we get there? Well, what if they ask me a question about how all those dinosaurs got in the ark? What am I going to say? What if they ask me a question about why does God allow all the innocent people to suffer? What am I going to say? What if they ask me some deep theological truth that I have no idea how to answer?

What am I going to say? What am I going to do, Lord? Suppose I go to my neighbor. Suppose I go to my boss. Suppose I represent you and I get involved in this conversation. We give all these verbal excuses. What if this or what if that? Or, you know, if we lived our lives in the what ifs. we'd be in deep trouble. Think about it. The what ifs very rarely ever happen. They happen in our mind. Oh, what if this happens, or what if that happens, or what am I going do next, Lord? Here's Moses. Okay, I'm on my way, and I'm going to your people.

Here we are, and and and And I say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Here I am. His presence is with me. He has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, they may say, and if they do say this, I have to have an answer. Notice what he says.

He says, What if they say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? Listen carefully. When Moses asked this question, What is his name? What shall I say to them? Who shall I say sent me? He wants to be able to give them an answer. Listen, this is so important. This is so relevant to your life. How will I answer them when they say, Where has my God been for 400 years? Why has my God allowed me to suffer for 400 years? Why has God allowed the firstborn of the Hebrew wives to be born, to be thrown into the Nile River and be drowned?

Ever been asked that question? Why is it my family has suffered so greatly? Now how do you answer those people? How do you answer anybody who says that how would God allow my little baby to die in infancy? Why would God allow my family to be wiped out? Or why would God allow tragedy? You see, Moses has to have an answer. He has to be able to go to the nation of Israel and explain. Look, look. You've been in bondage for 400 years. Your affliction, your oppression has been great. It's time for us to leave.

Because God is with me. And they're going to ask me, What is his name? What is the relevancy of that God to my life? Where has he been for 400 years? Folks, the answer to that question is in Exodus chapter 3. You need to understand Exodus chapter 3. In such a profound way that you will always have an answer for those who suffer great tragedy. And God answers Moses. And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. This is his name.

This is it. I am. The understanding of that name. Is the answer to understanding tragedy, persecution, turmoil, calamity, whatever you want to call it, in the life of an individual. Because that's the answer God gives to Moses. He also says later on that this is my name forever, and this is my memorial name. To all gener. This is it, Moses. This is who I am. I am. Spelled with four Hebrew consonants. It's called the tetragr. We pronounce it Yahweh or Jehovah because we take the vowels From Adonai and Elohim to make up the name Jehovah or Yahweh.

This name, so sacred, the Jews won't even pronounce. Is the name I am the great name of God that speaks of his relevancy to them, their situation, their condition. And his deliverance of their lives. This goes way beyond my mind. This goes way beyond any way I can explain it to you. I'm not sure I can explain it to you, but I can give you an idea. Of what is being said. Because it speaks of the immensity of God, it speaks of the unchanging character of God. Speaks of the self-existence of God, it speaks of the eternality of God.

We know the phrase in John 8:5. When Christ was talking to the religious leaders, and he says, Before Abraham was, I am. Now, I want you to note something. If Jesus would have said before Abraham was, I was, he'd have been right. But he wouldn't have been totally right, he would have only been partially right. That's why he said, I am. He identified him with Who he was in Exodus chapter 3. Because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus in the New Testament. I am. Now, the implications of this are absolutely astounding.

They go way beyond our comprehension. But it means this: it's from the Hebrew word to be. It speaks of God not only existing in the past, the pres, and the future, because he does. But it speaks of God existing in the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. You need to understand that. If we were to say that God existed in the past, that would be a wrong statement. Although he did exist in the past, he ex in the past. If we say God exists in the present, we would be right because He does exist in the present.

If we think that he will one day exist in the future, we are wrong because he already exists in the future. How do we know that? Book of Revelation. I mean, how did John get to where he was? From the island of Patmos to end time events. Because in the mind, the plan of God, they already exist. Because he exists in their realm. You see, God is outside the realm of time. We don't understand that. We live lives governed by clocks and calendars. Without clocks and calendars, we are a lost people. But there are no clocks and calendars in heaven.

That's one thing you won't find there. No need of them. God exists outside the realm of time. We have such a hard time comprehending that. But it is so important to grasping what it is he said to Moses on that day. Because this is my memorial name. This is it. Now, listen, two things I want to share with you before we close. Listen to what he says. This is my memorial name. My memorial name. Look at Exodus chapter 13.

They're getting ready to go out of Egypt. The plagues are over. Verse number 19. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Why? Why did Moses take the bones of Joseph with him? For he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God shall surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you. Turn back to Genesis chapter 50. Joseph is dying. They're in Egypt. Everything is swell. Everything is going great. And this is what Joseph says in verse number 24. I'm about to die, but God, listen, will surely take c of you.

And bring you up from this land to the land which he promised an oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Listen.

This was no spiritual allegory. This was an active promise of God to Abraham. Joseph believed it. So Joseph says, Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here. He says, my bones are going to be a memorial. They are going to be a testimony of one thing and one thing only: that God will take care of you. And the only way God can do that is if He is, I am. That's it. Just like He took care of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, now Joseph, He says, Listen, here is a testimony.

Here is a fact, ironclad assurance, you take my bones with you when you leave, and they will stand as a memorial. That God will take care of you. So, in Exodus chapter 13, Moses gathers up all those bones, puts them in a bag, and says, Okay, let's go. Why? Because God did exactly what he said he would do. God took care of them. Even amidst their affliction, even amidst their turmoil, even amidst their oppression, God preserved a nation and kept his promise. That's our God.