Excuses...Excuses...Excuses, Part 4

Turn with me, if you would, in your Bible once again to Exodus chapter 3. There's nothing else more important in all the world than pursuing God. He wants us to know him. He wants us to know him more than we'll ever understand this side of eternity. In fact, over in Hosea chapter 6, verse number 6. The Lord said this, for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. There's something that causes great delight in God, and that is for the people of God to know Him.

We have quoted to you many times over the years, Jeremiah 9:2 and 24. It says, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kind, justice, and righteousness on the earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord. God delights in something. He delights in the fact that God's people seek to know him.

You see, knowing God is more than just an accumulation of facts about God. Just because we go to seminary or go to college or go to church or go to school to learn about God doesn't mean we know God. We must understand that. The knowledge of God goes way beyond acknowledging his existence. Knowing God means that God rubs off on you in such a way that he alters everything about your life. That is the knowledge of God. Over in 2 Peter 1, verse number 2, it says this about the knowledge of God. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God.

Do you know that the more you know God, the greater peace you experience, and the greater grace? You experience. Grace and peace are multiplied in your life based on how much you know and understand your God. It changes my life. It impacts my life. It alters my life because it's life's most important pursuit. Now, why do I tell you that? I tell you that because that's why we're spending time in Exodus chapter 3. On that phrase, I am. We need to know our God. That when God revealed to Moses His memorial name, The name that he wants to be remembered by from generation to generation, he gave this name: Yahweh, Jehovah.

I am. Why that name? We told you. Number one, it declares his pre. He is unlike any of the Egyptian gods. Because he had no beginning. He has no end. He is a God who was, who is, and who is to come. The Alpha and the Omega. It declares. His pre. Moses had to be able to take this back to the people of God and tell them that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the preeminent God. all the world. But it goes beyond that. Psalm 8, verse number 1 says what? He says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.

How excellent is thy name? How preeminent is thy name in all the earth? Jehovah's name is the preeminent name. Yahweh's name is the pre name. God says, You want to know who I am?

I am is who I am. Now, listen, we took you back to the book of Revelation to show you that. The I am of the New Testament is the I am of the Old Testament. Jesus is Jehovah God. We showed you last week in Revelation chapter 22. We took you through the Gospel of John. We took you to John chapter 4, in John chapter 8, in John chapter In John chapter 18, how God would use that name. I am To pro his preeminence to the people he came in contact with. We also showed you that not only did it declare his preeminence, but it demonstrated his power.

And showed you how when he spoke the name, people would fall over backwards to show that he was willingly giving his life away, that he wasn't a victim, that no one took his life from him, but he willingly gave it up because that's the way he is. He is the all-powerful God. Of the universe. But you need to understand something. That this God, our God, Jesus Christ, Jehovah God. Yahweh, the reason he calls himself that is because that is his redemptive name. That is his redemptive n. You see, this was the God who was going to redeem Israel.

That is, he was going to bring them out of bondage. He was going to redeem them from where they were and take them out and lead them to his promised land. So when Jesus shows up on the scene, he shows up and says, I am because. He is the Redeemer of the world. He is the man who offers redemption to the world. That is his redemptive name. Now listen, Revelation chapter 1. John gets a vision of the glorified Christ. And upon seeing that vision, He f at his feet like a dead man. And in Revelation:, Christ says, Do not be afraid, John.

I am the first. And the last, and the living one. And I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death. Hades. John, I am. I am the first and the last.

I am the living God. I am declares his preeminence. Demonstrates his power and describes his provision. And this is where we left off last week. It describes his provision. I know some of you are thinking, well, if you wouldn't review so much each week, you probably get done a little faster. But you probably forgot about what we learned last week, unless you bought the tape and listened to it a couple of times. But repetition is the mother of learning. And so, what you repeat, I mean, the book, the 66 books of the Bible, are a repetition.

Of the same thing. Just said a different way by different authors, by the God of the universe. But God said the same thing over and over again. He said the same thing in Genesis, He said in Revelation. Why? Because we are prone to forget. We're prone to neglect the truth that we have learned. You see, what did Christ condemn the Pharisees for? You search the scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life, but you missed me in them, John 5. You missed me! How can you read the Bible and miss me?

He says. You guys are the religious know-hows. You guys know everything there is about the Old Testament, and yet you read the Bible and you missed me. How can you do that? We do it every day, don't we? We m God. The Bible is a revelation of who God is. And so when God says, I am, before Abraham was, I am, you must understand John 8:5, the great I am.

Listen. Translates God to me. Jesus Christ, John 1, became flesh. Okay, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld this glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The I am trans God to me. When Jesus Christ came to earth and said before Abraham was, I am, he was saying, Look, I am going to show you God. I am full of grace, I am full of truth, and I'm going to translate God to you so that you come to understand who He is. Now, when you go to the great I am, the alpha and the omega, in the book of Revelation, He mandates our submission.

Why? Because the book of Revel tells us He's coming again. And if you don't submit yourself to the one who's coming again, you're going to die in your sins. So when he says, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, he mandates.

Our submission because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every tongue will confess that, every knee will bow. And yet in the Gospel of John, seven different times, Christ describes to us his provision. Remember, I am declares his preeminence, demonstrates his power, and Moses would see that power. As the plagues would unfold. And the nation of Israel would see that power as the plagues would unfold. Pharaoh would witness that power as the plagues would unfold.

And yet he would harden his heart against the truth of God. Because he would not submit to the great I am. And yet, Jesus Christ. Translates God to me because He is God in the flesh. And He describes to us our provision. So if you've got your Bible, we're going to go back to the Gospel of John again. And Lord willing, we'll finish these today. And we can move on to the third excuse.

I thought about, instead of tying the message, excuses, excuses, excuses. Entitled Explanation, Explanation, Explanation. Because every time Moses gives an excuse, God explains something about his character. God explains to Moses who he is. So the excuses of Moses Helps us understand the character and nature of God. And so we spend time here because God wants us to get who He is. Listen.

If this is God's memorial name, if this is God's name from generation to generation, if this is God's redemptive name, then we got to know it inside and out. We got to grasp it. We got to get it because it describes his provision. It goes beyond his preeminence, beyond his power. To how He provides for you and me. So, in the Gospel of John, we have those great seven I am statements that help us understand how God provides for His people. The first one is John 6, verse number 35.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst. Thirst. Now I know that most of you know about the seven I am statements in the Gospel of John. I am the bread of life. We need to understand the significance of that because this describes God's provision for his people. Listen, I am the bread of life eliminates my hunger. And my thirst. To understand that God is bread eliminates my hunger and my thirst. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is called the house of bread. So this one who was born in the house of bread now takes on this name, I am, Eg, Am. I am. The redemptive God of the universe says to you, I am your b. If you come after me, if you partake of me, you will never hunger and you will never thirst. Meaning that God satisfies every need that we have. He eliminates my hunger. He eliminates my thirst. Now, notice this about bread.

Bread is that universal staple. Bread is available for all men. Bread is available to the rich. Bread is available to the poor. B Bread is that Food that allows us to live from day to day. And Christ is saying: look, as bread is to your physical body, I am to your spiritual soul. You need bread to live day after day after day, but you need me to live forever. That's why Christ said, Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4, verse number 4.

It's the bread of life. It is the great I am, and the bread that sustains me is the life of God. But there's something unique about bread. Bread has to be prepared. You know, you can't go out to your tree in the backyard and pick a loaf of bread off your tree. You can pick an apple off your tree, a plum, an orange. But you can't pick bread off your tree. Somebody has to prepare it, don't they? They got to mix it. Put it together, put it in a pan, put it in the oven, make sure it's prepared just right.

Take it out, wrap it up, you go to the grocery store, take it off the shelf. But somebody had to prepare that bread for you. The world can't prepare this bread. Can't do it. God prepared this bread. And God sent this bread to us, the bread of life. And so while it is a universal element, it's unique. Because it has to be prepared by someone else. And it says over in John chapter 6, verse number 58, these words, This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.

We can admire Jesus Christ. We can say all kinds of good things about who he is and what he did. But unless you partake of that bread, unless you take Him into yourself, you have no part with Him. We must understand that. And Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He eliminates my hunger. John chapter 8, verse number 12. Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. As the bread of life, he eliminates my hunger.

As the light of the world, he penetrates my darkness. He is the light of the world. Now, listen, John in chapter 1 would refer to Jesus Christ as the light. In fact, he says over in chapter 1. These words: In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Verse 6: There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.

And then over in chapter 3, he says this, and this is the judgment that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds. Were evil. So when you come to John chapter 8, verse number 12, Christ says, I am the light of the world.

John had already talked to us about the light. When you go to 1 John 1 and verse number 5, he says, God is light. This light penetrates my darkness. Listen, before man is born again, the light Has to shine in his life. The Bible says over in the book of Ephesians, the fourth chapter, Paul says.

That he wants us to walk no longer just as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. He's describing the unbeliever. The unbeliever is in a world of darkness, and to be in a world of darkness is to be excluded from the life of God.

And so the light of the world comes to penetrate my darkness. To shed light on my sin, to shed light on my lost condition, to show me the way that I might understand that Jesus Christ. Is the Savior of the world. So John would come and say that this light was unleashed on the world. Unleashed on the world. And it would penetrate the darkness of man. And yet, Man would love darkness rather than light because his deeds were evil. And this light being unleashed on the world is a light that's unending.

John chapter 10, verse number 9: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, or shall go in and out, and find pasture as the door of the sheep. He initiates my walk. He initiates my walk. He is the door of the sheep. He would lay down. He would be the only entry into his foe. If you enter by him, he says you'll be saved. You'll be able to go in and out, which is a reference to security, as people were to go in and out of a city without any fear of what would happen to them. And you'll find pasture.

You'll be satisfied because I am the door of the sheep. As the door, he initiates my walk with him. As the light, he penetrates my darkness. As the bread, he eliminates my hunger. As the good shepherd, John 10:11, he obliviates my fear. He obliviates my fear. He says in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He was a hireling and not a shepherd. Who is not the owner of the sheep beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hireling and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. As the Good Shepherd, He obliviates my fear. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou, who, the good shepherd, is with me. And this is how God provides for us. He eliminates my hunger. He penetrates my darkness. He initiates my walk. He obliterates my fear. I have nothing to fear because of the good shepherd. And that's what Christ tried to portray to his men in John chapter 18: that he would protect them.

Remember, the hireling runs away when danger comes, but because he's the good shepherd, he stays. He protects his sheep, and that's the way our God is. It goes on to say in John chapter 11, verses 25 and 26, that I am the resurrection and the life. Meaning that he dictates my destiny. I am the resurrection. I am the life. He who believes in me. Will never die. Well, wait a minute. How can you never die? If Hebrews 9:2, it's appointed that a man wants to die, and after that, the judgment, how can you never die?

Oh, you'll never be separated from God ever. Why? Because death is separation. And if you believe that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life, you will never be separated from God. You will always be with God. You will live forever with Him. And he dictates to me my destiny. Revel 1:17 and 18, he holds the keys to death and Hades. Death is the condition, Hades is the place. He holds the keys. He's the master controller of man's destiny. Christ is the resurrection and the life. Over in John 14, verse number 6, what does Christ say?

I am the way, the truth, and the life. As the way he illuminates my path, as the truth he renovates and elevates my mind, as the life he liberates my soul. Christ says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.

I will renovate your mind because I will give you my truth. I will illuminate your path because I am the only way to God. Because I am. And if I am is Jehovah God, then the only way to get to God is through I am, who is Jesus Christ. The Lord God of the universe. And I am the life. I will liberate your soul. That's who he is. And then John 15:1, what does he say? He says, I am the true vine. He cultivates my growth. He cultivates my growth. He talks about bearing fruit, bearing more fruit, bearing much fruit.

because that's what God wants to see happen in your life. He wants you to be a fruitful person for him. And because he is the vine and we are the branches, there is a pruning process that Christ takes us through. So that we might be able to bear more fruit for His glory and for His honor. Listen, I just briefly covered those seven I in the book of John. It would be good for you to go back and spend time studying the context in which he said them and what exactly he was doing as he talked to his men about who he was.

But you need to understand. Moses would begin to fully grasp his God. And while in Exodus chapter 3, it would not all come clear for him, it would become more clear with each passing day. That this God of the universe, this I am, was declaring to Moses on that day his preeminence, that he was demonstrating to Moses that day his great power, and he was. Describing to Moses his provision for his people because this was his redemptive name. And this is how God wants to be known from generation to generation: that I am a redeemer of my people.

I am a deliverer of those who are in bondage, and I will rescue them from their fears. That's our God. That's who we need to know. That's who we need to passionately pursue. And I ask you today: do you know him as Redeemer? Do you know him as Savior? Do you know him as liberator? Do you know him as the great provider of your soul? Don't leave today without making sure that you understand. I am. Let's pray to God.