The Burning Bush, Part 2

For Moses, this was the greatest year of his life. And this would be the greatest day in the life of Moses in Exodus chapter 3. God would come and manifest Himself in a very supernatural kind of way, in such a way that it would change the life of Moses. Forever. Let me read to you the text one more time so that we get the understanding of it.

The first nine verses of Exodus chapter 3: Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.

And he had led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvel sight. Why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw That he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. He said also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters. For I am aware of their sufferings so I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hitt, and the Amorite, and the Periz, and the Hivite and the Jebus. And now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me.

Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Four things you want to see. The first is the call.

The call in the message. The Bible says, Exodus chapter 3, verse number 4, when the Lord saw That he, Moses, turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses.

Now he said his name twice. A lot like Samuel. Samuel. A lot like Abraham, Abraham. A lot like Saul, Saul. There's a sense of urgency there. Everything was going to change. There's a sense of affection behind that. There's a sense that something is important, and I'm calling you to handle it. I want to work through you. You become the vessel. You become the vehicle. I will use to manifest my presence, to manifest my name. And so he calls to Moses. When God calls you, you need to listen.

And you need to be able to respond. And people will inevitably say, well, if God would cause a bush to burn in my backyard, And speak to me through that fiery bush, I would listen.

I got great news for you today. I got the best news you've heard since last Sunday. Unless, of course, you were here on Wednesday. And then it will be the greatest news you've heard since Wednesday night. God does not speak through a fiery bush. Say, well, that's not good news. Yes, it is. Instead, God speaks through a fiery book. How do I know that? I'm glad you asked. Jeremiah 23, verse number 29, is not my word like f? See that? God says, Is not my word like fire?

Yes, it is. This book is on fire with the words of God. And while he might not use the fiery bush to get your attention, he uses the fiery book to get your attention because it's filled with his words that he calls fire. A hammer that shatters. That's God's word. And Moses would listen to the word of God. He needed to be ready to serve his God. God called to Moses. Now, I want you to notice something.

Look at verse 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. Listen carefully to what I'm going to say. The call to Moses. Is the call to you. The call to Moses is the call to you. Moses received a personal call, right? It was a very personal call. Moses, I am going to send you. You're the man, Moses. And I want you, Moses, to do something. Not only was this call a personal call, his call was a privileged call. Because his call was to deliver the people of God out of bondage.

His call was a deliverance call to be used of God to show people the ways of God. Is that not what God has called you and me to do? As the Father has sent me, Christ said, so send I you. Now, how did the Father send the Son? He sent his Son into the world. Not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. God sent his son into the world to show them the way to the Father. God sends you into the world to show people who are in bondage to their sin the way to Almighty God. The call to Moses.

Is a call to you. It's a personal call. It's a very privileged call. Can you imagine? When God calls you, when God saves you, when God Turned your life around. He did it that you might go and tell other people who are in bondage how they too might be released from the chains of satanic imprisonment. What a call. That's a privileged call. There's no greater call in all the world than that one. And the call c to Moses. The second thing I want you to see is the command in the message.

Moses said, Here I am. And note what God said: do not Come near here. Whoa. Don't come near here, Moses. Why not? You called me. He says, What? Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy gr. There is great symbolism here. The sandals upon the dirt are a reminder of the defilement. Moses, this is a holy place. It's holy because I am here. It's holy because of who I am. It's a picture of us that when we go into the presence of God, we so easily just rush into His presence.

We so easily just want to hurry up and get to church and get through it and then move on. But yet, God wants us to deal with the sin in our life, the defilement in our life. For if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. James said it this way in James chapter 4. He said, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Okay, I'll do that. And then he says Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will. Exalt you. Humble yourselves. Be concerned about your sin. Put away those things that keep you from being all that God wants you to be. You see. God was calling Moses into his service. God wants to use the clean vessel. God wants to use the pure vessel. And if you want to remain in your sin, if you want to remain compromised, In the compromised position, if you want to remain walking and doing your own thing, God says, Wait a minute, I want you to be my representative.

I want you to represent me. If you're going to represent me, you got to be a holy person. And I need you to be a holy person. Because if not, you cannot accurately represent me. That's why, eight times in the Bible it says, be ye holy, for I am holy. God says, This is the way I want you to be.

I want you to be a clean vessel. That's why in 2 Timothy chapter 2, it talks about the fact that Timothy was to cleanse himself as a vessel. Not engaging in sin, not engaging in youthful lusts, but fleeing immorality, fleeing those things that would cause him to compromise the message of God. And God says to Moses, Remove your sandals, Moses.

This is holy ground. Holy ground. I am a holy God, and I want to use you. But I need to use clean vessels. The third thing I want you to see is the clarification in the message.

It says in verse number six, he said, Also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Moses hid his face. God clarified exactly who he was. He says, Listen, I am the God of your father Abraham, Isaac. In Jacob. Now you've got to imagine Moses. God spoke to Abraham. God spoke to Isaac. God spoke to Jacob. Now God's speaking to Moses. And a little later on, Moses would ask the question, kind of a redundant question, down in verse number 13 of Exodus chapter 3: What shall I say to them? What is your name? Who are you? He would ask. And God would respond, you tell him I am sent you, which speaks of his eternal nature.

The eternal quality of our God. You tell him, I am sent you. The great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who always was, the God who always is, the God who always will be, because He always was. The eternal nature of God. And God would clarify to Moses who he was. You know, that's important. I read a verse on Wednesday night. I thought that I would read again this morning to you, because I think it's very important, especially in our day and age, when it comes to people. Identifying who spoke to them or who is speaking.

It comes in the book of Isaiah, the 8th chapter, 19th verse. It says this in verse number 19, and when they say to you, cons the mediums and the spir who whisper and mutter, should not a people consult their God? You know, we consult all kinds of people for answers to what we should be doing. And God condemns those who consult Spiritists, who get into the occult, who get into demonism. To look for answers. Why don't they consult me? God says.

Should they not consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. If someone speaks to you and they don't speak according to this word, what word? The word of God, they have no light in them. Meaning, they're not Christian. They're not saved. That guy on TV saying, God spoke to me. God said this to you. If it's not here, know what God says?

They have no light in them. And God would clarify exactly who he was. He wanted Moses to understand his awesome character. And Moses hid his face. Moses was filled with fear. See, again, that's why, that's how you know that these people who say God speaks to them. Are not true believers. Listen, if God spoke to you, you hide your face. You don't go on TV. If God speaks to you, you're filled with fear, like Moses was. Filled with fear. The unbeliever, Romans 3, has no fear of God before their eyes.

None whatsoever. But Moses. Upon seeing the holy character of God, listening to the holy voice of God, hit his face. Because he immediately was confronted with his own sinfulness. Like John was in Revelation 1 when he fell at the feet of the glorified Son of God like a dead man. Like Peter, James, and John in Matthew chapter 17 on the Mount of Transfiguration, they fell over. Because the holy character of God, like Ezekiel, like Isaiah, like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. Why? Because God was there.

Let me tell you something. Nobody stands in the presence of God. You bow before Him. You bow before Him. And you hide your face because He is so holy and we are not. And so many times you wonder why God doesn't use us. Maybe it's because we don't shake enough. Maybe it's because we don't fear him enough. Because the more you fear him, the more you'll be used by him. Because that's the kind of vessel he can use. What's lead number four to the compassion? The compassion in verses seven and eight, the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.

And I have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. Let me tell you something.

God shows his compassion. I've seen them. I've heard their cry. Remember back in chapter 2, verses 24 and 25, God heard, God remembered, God saw, God knew exactly what to do. It was at the right time that God would come to Moses and say, Moses, I've seen how these people have been oppressed by the Egyptians. I've heard their cry, Moses. And I'm going to come down and I'm going to deliver them. Wow, can you imagine that? Moses, man. God said, I'm coming down, Moses. I'm coming down and I'm going to deliver my people.

Moses, man, must have the awesome situation in his life that God would come down. And deliver his people. Look what it says. I'm going to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land. Listen, is that not what salvation is? I'm going to deliver you out of that bondage. I'm going deliver you out of that sinful ch. And what am I going do? God says, I'm going to bring you up to the spacious place.

I'm going to give you an inheritance that's incorruptible, that's undefiled, that never fades away. God brings us out of that bondage and brings us into his marvelous kingdom. And that's what God was going to do with the Israelites. You know, it's important to note that he also says. That this land flowing with milk and honey is the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Jebus. The parasite. You know, with the blessing of God comes the battles. With God. We forget that, don't we? We forget that.

They were going to face battles. Because they were God's representative. And whenever you're God's representative, you're going to face battles, right? And so he would tell them that they're going to bring him into this spacious land, this great land. And you know the story that when they get to that land, They're afraid to go in. Except, of course, with Joshua and Caleb. But for the most part, they're afraid to go in. But that's what God wanted to do for them. Was to use them in a very powerful, meaning kind of way.

And lastly, in conclusion. Let me give you some principles. First is this, before God calls, don't run ahead.

Before God calls, don't run ahead. You know, it's important for us to be able to wait for God to speak, for God to lead us, and God to guide us. If you have no word from God. Stay put. Don't run ahead. Now, Moses knew that he was the deliverer. We've talked about this in days past. When he was 40 years old, he ran ahead of God. It wasn't God's timing. And that's why his plan was rejected. And that's why this time, 40 years later, when he goes back, his plan will be received by the nation of Israel.

Because now it was God's time for it to happen. If you run ahead of God's call in your life, you run alone. You run alone. You must make sure if God is speaking to you, you know exactly what chapter and what verse He said to do exactly what it is you're supposed to be doing. Number two, when God does speak, when God does call you.

Don't resist. Don't resist. As we will note in weeks ahead. Moses was kind of reluctant to fulfill this call. There was some res on his part. It could be because of his own insecurities. It could be because of his own inferiority complex that he had. But there was a certain resistance. It is life about doing God's call. You will note that when God calls you, you should not resist his call. You should not be rel in following that call. In fact, if you feel un for the call, you're probably the right person to fulfill.

That call. Number one, before God calls, don't run ahead. Wait. Wait for Him to speak to you through His Word. When God finally does call, don't resist that call.

And when God finally does call, number three, don't regret. Where you've been called and to what you've been called. Don't regret it. It's easy for us to regret where we're at in life. At one time, we believed that God had spoken to us through His Word and God had led us. He will instruct us. He will teach us in the way that we should go. He will guide our steps. And we believe that this was God's call upon our life. You find it a lot of times in a marriage situation. I know that God wanted me to marry this person.

I know He did, and now I'm regretting every single day of my life. Well, wait a minute. When he stood at the altar. And you said those vows, believing that God had led you together, what happened? Don't regret God's call upon your life. Maybe you're in some ministry facet the church. And you're beginning to regret the fact that you ever decided, yes, you would do this. If God's called you, God will accomplish a great work in and through you. You must remember that, like Saul, who was Paul. That call might be a personal call.

That call might be a privileged call. But the call to a Christian is always a painful call as well as a purposeful call. God told Ananias, you tell Saul how much he must suffer for my name's sake. That's the pain, and that's the purpose of the call of God upon your life. When God speaks to you through His Word and God calls you to minister for Him, yes, there will be pain. But there's a great purpose behind that pain, and that's for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Which leads me to this.

When called, don't retreat from that call. You might regret it. You might resist it, but don't retreat from that call. Don't back away. If God's called you as He did Moses to lead people out of bondage. Into light. Don't back away. It's so easy to get discouraged. It's so easy to quit. It's so easy to back away and say, you know, I've had enough. Don't retreat. Keep press forward. Why? Because God called you. And God wants to use you in a mighty way. So, before you're called, don't run ahead. Wait for God to speak.

And when called, don't resist. Don't regret. And don't retreat. And one more thing. If you're here today and God is calling you to his kingdom, don't refuse. Don't refuse the call of God. He said in John chapter 8, verse number 24, un you believe that I am God, you'll die in your sins. He said in John:, You were unwilling to come to me that you might have life. Don't refuse God's call upon your life. You see, God, before he calls you to serve, He calls you to salvation. He calls you to be born again.

And today, if you're here, never giving your life to Christ, today is the day of salvation. Don't refuse God's call.