WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:07.420 This morning in the story of Exodus, we're going to be looking at what I would say is a defining moment, not just in 00:00:07.420 --> 00:00:15.180 the history of Israel and what is entailed through the story of Exodus, but really how the picture of this exodus shapes 00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:19.930 and filters a lot of the way that the Old and New Testament expresses itself to us. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:27.480 This is the story that most of you guys are familiar with the 10 plagues in Egypt, and Moses comes before Pharaoh, says, "Let my people 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:34.860 go." And Pharaoh says no, and it ends up in this disaster for the Egyptian army being swallowed up in the Red Sea. 00:00:34.860 --> 00:00:37.450 I know a lot of us are familiar with that story. 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:44.600 I'm going to hit some highlights to it, to how it peppers the theology of the New Testament, because remember in this series together, 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:51.710 one of the things that we're after is seeing the big picture of God's hand of redemption, his Kingdom coming for us. 00:00:51.820 --> 00:00:58.020 What's expressed in this story really becomes a larger picture of our story as it relates to God. 00:00:58.500 --> 00:01:05.620 This is a defining moment for Israel, and this is a defining illustration of our lives as it 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:06.680 relates to God. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:14.220 And when God gives us these defining moments in our lives, what helps us is he tends 00:01:14.220 --> 00:01:16.640 to reveal himself through two lenses. 00:01:16.740 --> 00:01:22.130 I'm going to talk about that in just a little bit, but those defining moments, we all go through them in life. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:23.190 We meet them in different ways. 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:26.920 Sometimes we see the hand of God in it, sometimes not. 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:34.180 One of my favorite stories I've enjoyed over the years has been this story of this captain at sea in 00:01:34.180 --> 00:01:35.000 the dark of nights... 00:01:35.020 --> 00:01:36.230 and this was some years ago... 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:41.480 but he was in the dark of night, out in the sea, this ship moving with their light on. 00:01:41.860 --> 00:01:45.680 He looks out into the darkness, and he sees another light coming towards them. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:46.900 He looks to his signalman... 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:48.600 This is Morse code days, right? 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:56.000 He tells his signalman, "Tell them they need to turn course 10 degrees to the south." And so he signalman 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.020 flashes his light and says, "Turn 10 degrees to the south," or, "Alter your course 10 degrees to the south." Of which the light responds back, 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:10.660 "Alter your course 10 degrees to the north." Then the captain is furious; he says, "Tell them alter your course 00:02:10.660 --> 00:02:17.920 10 degrees to the south; I am a captain." The signalman does and which another message comes back and says, "Alter 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:25.040 your course 10 degrees to the north; I'm seaman third class Jones." Now the captain is just 00:02:25.040 --> 00:02:32.120 furious: "I can't believe this guy would say this to me, I'm a captain." He says, "Tell them this: alter your course 10 degrees to 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:32.700 the south. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:39.560 I am a battleship." Of which the light responds back, "Alter your course 10 degrees to the north. 00:02:40.220 --> 00:02:47.400 I am a lighthouse." Sometimes we need those defining moments, 00:02:47.880 --> 00:02:48.630 right? 00:02:50.140 --> 00:02:53.000 We don't even know what is awaiting us. 00:02:53.400 --> 00:03:00.440 You know, I think for many of us, sometimes we happen to come around those moments that define us, 00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:06.900 and they're great circumstances, but most of the time I think we encounter those situations, they're in the midst of adversity. 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:10.300 You need God to show up. 00:03:11.980 --> 00:03:19.140 I'm going to talk about where we find that defining moment in our lives and how God shapes that for us, but I want us to see it through the lens 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:19.670 of Israel. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:26.720 And no doubt; when you get to the exodus, there is a need for the Lord, which I don't have control to show you those things, so... 00:03:27.380 --> 00:03:29.240 Oh, it's on this screen, but not there. 00:03:29.440 --> 00:03:29.740 Okay. 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:37.160 Exodus 3:9 says, "As the cry of the Israelites has reached me," God is saying, "and I see the way the Egyptians are 00:03:37.160 --> 00:03:44.780 oppressing them." We're going to look in chapter three in just a moment, but this gives the precedent for how God is 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:52.160 seeing the situation that Israel is in, that their cries are coming up before the Lord, and 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:54.940 God wants to help them in this moment. 00:03:55.030 --> 00:04:03.060 If you know this story, we ended in Genesis chapter 50, where Joseph helps Israel in their situation 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:07.060 where there is a famine happening in Israel and Joseph is in Egypt. 00:04:07.100 --> 00:04:14.420 I don't have time to go through all that again, but Joseph is in Egypt by some divine circumstances, and Israel is experiencing, with his family, is experiencing 00:04:14.420 --> 00:04:15.360 a famine. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:22.340 He sends his children down to Egypt, of which Joseph is one of his children, to help them in this famine, ends up with the whole family moving down to Egypt. 00:04:22.520 --> 00:04:29.900 Israel, who is Jacob, his whole family, all the tribes, the 12 Tribes of Israel; at the time, they're just 12 brothers, end up in Egypt 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:32.790 for this famine, and they live in Egypt. 00:04:33.340 --> 00:04:40.540 And the bible tells us that in the beginning of Exodus, there are rows of Pharaoh then at one point that knew nothing about the history of Israel, 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:44.430 except now he saw now the Jewish people as a threat to Egypt. 00:04:44.820 --> 00:04:47.920 And so he gives out this order in the first couple chapters of Exodus. 00:04:48.020 --> 00:04:55.020 He says, "Look, we're going to kill all males in the house of Israel that's two years old and younger." And 00:04:55.020 --> 00:04:57.900 he gives that order, and they start to kill the children. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:05.080 Well, Moses, one child that's born during this time, his mother doesn't want to kill him; she places him in a basket, and by divine 00:05:05.080 --> 00:05:09.770 circumstances, that basket ends up being met from Pharaoh's household. 00:05:09.840 --> 00:05:11.960 Moses gets brought into Pharaoh's household. 00:05:11.960 --> 00:05:19.520 He's not killed, but he's spared he's raised in Pharaoh's household for 40 years, but he still identifies with his Israel family. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:27.200 So he sees one day, and in 40 years he finally gets sick of the oppression that Egypt is putting on his people, and he actually kills 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:33.900 an Egyptian soldier who is coming against his greater family, or the Israel people. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:41.500 And he finds out a little later that he'd thought he'd killed this Egyptian and no one saw it, but he finds out later people 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:42.990 actually heard about the story. 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:48.040 And he knows that Pharaoh is going to do something to him about it, so Moses flees before Pharaoh can capture him. 00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:55.400 And so for the first 40 years, he's in Egypt under Pharaoh's household; the next 40 years, he's in Midian as a nobody in 00:05:55.400 --> 00:05:59.380 the middle of nowhere, and at 80 years old, God calls him to go back to Egypt. 00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:07.300 And he does it on the backdrop of this statement, that part of the reason God sends Moses back is, he's going to deliver his 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:10.060 people through Moses because of their tears. 00:06:10.320 --> 00:06:13.820 On the other side of that, there's also this sovereign plan of God that's at work. 00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:21.900 But in the middle of this moment, this is going to become a defining moment for Israel, and what Moses acknowledges 00:06:21.900 --> 00:06:29.280 in this story is while God calls him, Moses tries to avoid the situation by acknowledging he's a 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.840 murderer; he doesn't have the best of speech; he feels inadequate. 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:42.060 And Moses is focusing on his past and his mistakes and all his shortcomings, and 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:46.450 God is more interested in his promises and his fulfillment. 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:52.160 And so God calls Moses back to Egypt. 00:06:53.640 --> 00:07:01.720 Exodus chapter five, these first few verses is this encounter where Moses comes before Pharaoh, and look what it says: it says afterward, Moses 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:08.740 and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the lord, the God of Israel says: Let 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:15.820 my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness." And Pharaoh said, "Who is the lord that I should 00:07:15.820 --> 00:07:17.680 obey him and let Israel go? 00:07:18.020 --> 00:07:23.480 I do not know the lord, and I will not let Israel go." Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:31.040 Now let us take a three day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:38.280 or with a sword." Now it's interesting; when God calls us to freedom, I 00:07:38.280 --> 00:07:45.180 think it's important once you look at this story to recognize that when God calls us to freedom, this is how God works: he's not just calling you from something. 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:49.900 But when God calls you to freedom, he's also calling you for something. 00:07:49.900 --> 00:07:51.920 As we said in the song, he's making all things new. 00:07:52.260 --> 00:07:53.180 There's a purpose. 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:57.400 We recognize there's a problem in our lives; it's not just about escaping the problem. 00:07:57.400 --> 00:08:04.740 When you need that defining moment for God to be there in the circumstance, it's not just about erasing the past or getting rid of the problem, 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:11.580 but it's about living out what God now places you in that nature with him, that new nature, that making of all things new. 00:08:11.580 --> 00:08:18.680 And so when the people come before Pharaoh, when Moses and Aaron in particular come before Pharaoh for their freedom, it's not just about getting 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:19.700 away from something. 00:08:22.380 --> 00:08:25.520 But it's to recognize that God calls you to a whole nother thing in him. 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:29.500 Maybe in a spiritual sense, we would say... 00:08:29.580 --> 00:08:36.600 In Christianity today, we sort of treat God as if when we have problems we want to come to him, and then when God answers those problems, we go back to 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:37.220 whatever we want. 00:08:37.500 --> 00:08:38.400 Right? 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:44.580 Even in terms of salvation, when you learn about eternity, the thought that, "I don't want to go to hell, so I'm choosing not hell. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:48.620 I guess I'll take Jesus." And then when you get your "Get out of jail free" card, you then just leave Jesus. 00:08:50.560 --> 00:08:53.010 But the point for which God has created you is not about what you're avoiding. 00:08:53.140 --> 00:08:59.620 Like here as a church, what we're interested in is not about what you leave behind; it's about where you're going. 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:03.100 What God calls you to into him. 00:09:03.140 --> 00:09:06.630 Because we know what God calls you to in him is far better than anything you leave behind. 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:12.440 It's not about your past; it's about your present and your future with him. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:19.780 And so you're acknowledging this in Exodus chapter five, that they're not just leaving Egypt, but this idea of encountering 00:09:19.780 --> 00:09:21.820 God and this worship to him... 00:09:21.900 --> 00:09:26.180 and it's not just simply about what God calls you to, but also about what we have to give. 00:09:27.420 --> 00:09:34.560 It's not, we just stand around and talk about our new identity, but now God has just a way of living out that identity, and they express it through this thought of worship 00:09:34.560 --> 00:09:42.140 here in this verse, that God wants us to go in that relationship with him and to meet with him, and we would offer ourselves back to him and rejoicing 00:09:42.140 --> 00:09:44.480 for what God has done, and there was what Pharaoh says in verse two. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:47.820 "Who is this God? 00:09:49.920 --> 00:09:50.460 I don't know him. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:59.380 Who is this God?" We want to come back to that question in just a moment, but when they start to give this statement to 00:09:59.380 --> 00:10:05.460 Pharaoh about what God desires, chapter six starts to give us the reason for why they're able to do this. 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:06.680 So chapter six, verse six. 00:10:06.680 --> 00:10:07.300 Look at this statement. 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:12.350 Pharaoh doesn't know who this God is; well, God gives now this declaration. 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:19.920 Verse six: "Therefore, say to the Israelites..." and if you follow along in the story, you'll see that when Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, Pharaoh 00:10:19.920 --> 00:10:22.440 doesn't know who this God is, doesn't really care who this God is. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.420 In fact, during Pharaoh's day, Pharaoh would see himself as God. 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:34.360 If you look at the pyramids in Giza, the pyramids are built as a memorial to acknowledge the 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.360 deity of which they thought Pharaoh was. 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:39.260 It was a tomb for Pharaoh, who they called God. 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:41.740 So Pharaoh doesn't care. 00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:43.720 Pharaoh is deity himself, in his eyes. 00:10:45.260 --> 00:10:51.900 And so Pharaoh gets mad at Moses, Aaron, the Israelites for thinking they could even ask this question, and he oppresses them more. 00:10:52.880 --> 00:11:00.060 And so God says, "Look, in the midst of their obstacle, in the midst of the challenge and the difficulty where they need me to show up 00:11:01.400 --> 00:11:06.010 for that defining moment, let's give them this." And God gives his promises. 00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:14.220 Here's what it says: "Therefore, say to the Israelites, 'I am the lord, and I will bring you out from under the 00:11:14.260 --> 00:11:15.400 yolk of the Egyptians. 00:11:15.540 --> 00:11:17.940 I will free you from being slaves to them. 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:22.320 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:26.540 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your guide. 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:34.040 Then you will know that I am the lord your God who brought you out from under the yolk of the Egyptians, and I will bring to you the 00:11:34.040 --> 00:11:38.380 land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 00:11:39.020 --> 00:11:48.680 I will give it to you as a possession; I am the lord.'" Before 00:11:48.680 --> 00:11:56.700 you go anywhere with God, two things you have to trust: you have to trust in his person and 00:11:56.700 --> 00:11:57.360 in his promises. 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:00.920 And that's what God is identifying here, right? 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:03.440 His person and his promises. 00:12:03.820 --> 00:12:05.780 "I am." Person. 00:12:07.020 --> 00:12:10.440 And "I will." His promises. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:17.900 You know, what's interesting about this passage loaded with God's presence and God's promises, the very next verse. 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:27.800 The very next verse in Exodus chapter six, verse nine says this: "And Moses reported this to the Israelites, but 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:34.880 they did not listen to him, because of their despondency and harsh labor." Now, the New American Standard 00:12:34.880 --> 00:12:37.160 Bible translates this despondency... 00:12:37.180 --> 00:12:44.460 I love the New American Standard for the most part because I think it does the best translation from Hebrew to Greek out of any translation of the scripture, 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:51.880 but I will say in this passage of scripture, I do not love that translation, because I think it misses the idea of what despondency is saying, that it's saying about the 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:53.880 nation of Israel, the translation is better... 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:55.900 they have a broken or anguishing spirit. 00:12:59.020 --> 00:13:06.460 They can't hear God's presence and promises, because their spirit aches so deeply within them. 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:08.680 You ever been there? 00:13:11.540 --> 00:13:12.600 Where you know you need a miracle? 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:20.330 You know you need something to redefine the moment you're in, but you just feel so empty? 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:30.280 I think God knows Israel is in this place, and that's exactly why God is about to send something to awaken 00:13:30.280 --> 00:13:31.020 everyone. 00:13:32.180 --> 00:13:39.220 One of my favorite psalms, Psalm 51, verse 17, David's psalm, Psalm 51, in 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:46.540 verse 17 he just says this: "A broken and contrite spirit, the lord will not despise." 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:54.940 When we are at the end of ourselves, God's there. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:04.620 You know, there are times when we want to treat God's promises like junk mail, but I 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:11.490 just want to say to us this morning, God doesn't address your name to his promises knowing that he can't keep them. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:19.210 Everything to do with his promises is built on his identity, which is why his presence is so important. 00:14:20.140 --> 00:14:27.580 And so that's why God, as he delivers this statement to Israel, he recognizes his promise on a backdrop of his identity. 00:14:27.680 --> 00:14:32.320 I love in verse eight what he says to us, just in the recognition in the power of these statements. 00:14:32.380 --> 00:14:39.520 Like he says, "I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob." Look, when you swear, that's 00:14:39.520 --> 00:14:40.420 not a good thing, right? 00:14:40.680 --> 00:14:46.480 But when God swears, it's built on his entire identity to you. 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:53.680 And so when we get to those moments of anguish where the depth of our soul has nothing left in it, what God is saying 00:14:53.680 --> 00:14:58.420 in this passage is that his strength is what carries us through anyway. 00:15:00.340 --> 00:15:06.780 There's two ways to respond to these defining moments, and I think this is exactly what's charactered for us in this story of Exodus. 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:13.420 You see these two primary characters carried forth through these promises of God as he has made his identity known. 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:18.160 And those two characters are Pharaoh and Moses. 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:23.180 You saw Pharaoh's question, right? 00:15:23.180 --> 00:15:25.380 Exodus chapter five, verse two. 00:15:26.640 --> 00:15:27.460 "Who is this God? 00:15:29.560 --> 00:15:36.640 Who is this God?" I feel like if we could see any more to that in the backdrop of heaven, God would say to Pharaoh in those 00:15:36.640 --> 00:15:38.340 moments, "Well, let me show you. 00:15:39.800 --> 00:15:42.860 Let me show you exactly who I am." Because if you look at the story of the exodus... 00:15:43.020 --> 00:15:50.120 I'm not going to go through this in detail, but Exodus chapter seven to chapter 12 into 13, you have the 10 plagues that's brought upon 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:50.480 Egypt. 00:15:51.180 --> 00:15:53.470 You ever just pause and wonder why those plagues... 00:15:55.160 --> 00:15:57.880 I mean, is God just randomly like, "I'm going to just show myself as cool. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:15:58.750 Let's do this. 00:15:58.800 --> 00:15:59.440 Nile, blood. 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:01.720 Throw some gnats and frogs out," right? 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:03.640 You think God is just randomly picking those things? 00:16:04.260 --> 00:16:10.440 Even to the point when God first calls Moses and Moses was worried about coming before Pharaoh he says, "See that stick? 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:12.260 Throw it on the ground. 00:16:13.880 --> 00:16:17.260 When Pharaoh asks, throw this on the ground, and it will turn into a snake." Right? 00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:22.160 God's just not seeing the moment where Moses is doubting and saying "God, how am I going to do this? 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:24.060 How am I going to go before Pharaoh?" And God is like, "I don't know. 00:16:24.060 --> 00:16:25.000 Let's look around for an idea. 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:25.900 There's a stick! 00:16:26.220 --> 00:16:29.620 Hey, pick up the stick and throw the stick down!" That's not how God figures this out. 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:36.780 What God is actually doing in answering Pharaoh's question, he's also saying to Israel his identity and promise 00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:37.280 as well. 00:16:37.280 --> 00:16:41.660 God is not just randomly doing these plagues; he's not randomly telling Moses to throw down the stick. 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:48.800 What God is actually doing is, he is identifying himself from the worldview that the Egyptians and Israelites are familiar with. 00:16:50.060 --> 00:16:57.160 Meaning, when God wants us to understand who he is, he doesn't just arbitrarily come up with these ideas for which we can't conceptually understand 00:16:57.680 --> 00:17:03.680 him; what God does is, he borrows from our worldview to help shape our identity and a correct picture of who he is. 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.700 And in Israel's day, in the bondage of Egypt, they have learned all about these Egyptian gods. 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:12.200 These Egyptians praise them. 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:14.520 They built these pyramids to them; they worshiped them. 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:16.170 Egypt has their own priests. 00:17:18.579 --> 00:17:25.560 And so when Moses takes the stick and he throws the stick down and it turns into a snake, one of the Egyptian gods is identified as a snake. 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:32.680 In fact, if you look up Pharaoh's headdresses, if you ever Google that, one of the things you'll often see on a Pharaoh's headdress is this snake that comes down in the middle 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:36.060 of it, identifying an Egyptian God. 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:45.020 And when Moses first comes before Pharaoh and he throws the stick down, Pharaoh also has his priests throw their sticks down, and what happens to everyone's sticks? 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:46.120 They all turn into snakes. 00:17:48.040 --> 00:17:53.400 But Moses' snake devours the snakes of the priests of Pharaoh. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:54.760 Saying what? 00:17:56.460 --> 00:17:59.400 Their God is dead. 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:07.640 Now, when Moses is called by God to deliver to Pharaoh the message of the plagues and God brings those plagues, those plagues 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:12.280 aren't just random plagues; they're a plague that confronts every God of Egypt. 00:18:13.260 --> 00:18:13.760 To say what? 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:16.700 Your gods are dead. 00:18:18.620 --> 00:18:21.020 Behold, I am the lord, God almighty. 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:31.980 God's response in Exodus to Pharaoh's question is to use the plagues to teach the Egyptians who 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:32.840 this God is. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:39.060 And also demonstrate to Israel, who is broken in spirit, the power of God's promises. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:48.020 I know if you look at those plagues, you can dive further into those, so I want to tell you this, because I knew I wasn't going to go through all of them with you this morning: if you want to know more about them, 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:52.270 if you click on the Alpine Bible Church app, click on Sermon Notes, and you'll see today's sermon. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:58.500 There's a series of questions there, and the fourth question gives you a link to read more about those plagues, if you want to know about those Egyptian gods. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:08.400 But God is borrowing from the worldview of the Egyptians' system of worship to demonstrate the greater goodness of 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:15.720 who he is, so that when God calls them in to worship, they understand exactly this 00:19:15.820 --> 00:19:16.820 God for which they belong to. 00:19:18.500 --> 00:19:20.090 He is mighty, right? 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:25.440 But the bible tells us what Pharaoh's response is in Exodus chapter eight. 00:19:26.260 --> 00:19:32.280 As Pharaoh asked that question, we find out that Pharaoh is really not interested in the question because Pharaoh is more interested in himself. 00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:39.560 And so chapter eight, verse 32: "But this time also, Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go." So the story goes like this: Moses 00:19:39.560 --> 00:19:43.950 and Aaron come before Pharaoh, they say "Let my people go," Pharaoh says no, and a plague comes. 00:19:44.120 --> 00:19:45.830 And Pharaoh says no, and a plague comes. 00:19:45.860 --> 00:19:47.560 And Pharaoh says no, and a plague comes. 00:19:47.620 --> 00:19:54.740 And so it's telling us, in the middle of all the stories at it transpires between chapter five all the way to chapter 13, as Pharaoh 00:19:54.740 --> 00:19:59.860 says no, that every time the reason that this is happening is because Pharaoh hardened his heart. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:03.300 Pharaoh hardened his heart. 00:20:05.560 --> 00:20:07.460 Finally in chapter nine, it says something interesting. 00:20:10.300 --> 00:20:17.760 Pharaoh's heart becomes indifferent toward the way God wants to move, and then in chapter nine, verse 12, finally the lord hardened 00:20:17.760 --> 00:20:23.820 Pharaoh's heart, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the lord had said to Moses. 00:20:25.860 --> 00:20:33.160 So I can wrestle with the idea that Pharaoh hardens his heart, but what do you do with the thought now that God 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:35.060 hardens Pharaoh's heart. 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:41.340 Because if you know the 10 plagues that hit Egypt, you know the last plague is the death of the firstborn. 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:46.450 And that's a pretty serious plague, to see your own child perish. 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:55.870 Why would God harden Pharaoh's heart if he knew that death was going to happen because of it? 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:04.240 Well, in the Hebrew text, this idea of hardening heart, when we read it in English translations today, we sort of get this idea that God shows up and he just hardens 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.120 Pharaoh's heart, right? 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:07.480 The Hebrew text, the picture's a little different than that. 00:21:07.520 --> 00:21:09.280 What it actually says to us isn't... 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:16.720 God isn't just coming in and hardening Pharaoh's heart like we might read it English; but rather, what God is doing is he's just backing away from Pharaoh's 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:16.840 heart. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:21.960 He's letting go of Pharaoh's heart, and he's allowing Pharaoh's heart to continue down the direction of darkness for which it was already going. 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:26.040 What it's saying to us is, God let go. 00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:30.120 And he allowed Pharaoh to do what Pharaoh wanted to do. 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:37.580 Today, we would maybe say it like this, in a secular mindset, we would say it like this: They've got to hit rock bottom before 00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:38.180 they want to change. 00:21:41.320 --> 00:21:48.560 You ever had that friend in life where you can see them compelled toward a certain direction that's only going to reach to destruction, and 00:21:48.560 --> 00:21:55.180 you want to intervene, and you try to show up and help out, but you realize at one point or another that you weren't really helping anymore? 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:56.170 That rather, you were enabling? 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:04.440 And so rather than do something, you recognize that probably the most loving thing that you could do was nothing? 00:22:05.820 --> 00:22:07.800 And so you just moved away and just prayed for them? 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.700 I think, for Pharaoh, that's exactly where his heart is. 00:22:14.260 --> 00:22:16.860 It's become so callous that even the callousness... 00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:23.940 The beauty of God is that God can still move to work out his will, but he just takes his hands off of Pharaoh to allow him to continue down the heart of destruction, 00:22:24.220 --> 00:22:26.040 that Pharaoh might meet rock bottom. 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:30.480 And to be honest, for many of us, rock bottom is different. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.100 It depends on the situation and our stubbornness toward that attitude. 00:22:33.320 --> 00:22:37.200 How passionate are we to have control for ourselves or to let God have control? 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.880 With Pharaoh, we know he thinks he's really in control, because he sees himself as deity. 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:49.500 And so God allows him to move towards that direction of rock bottom, and he lets his hands go to 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:52.880 allow things to take its course on Pharaoh's heart. 00:22:53.180 --> 00:23:00.420 God graciously has shown up; God has graciously revealed himself as greater than all the false gods of Egypt, and Pharaoh's heart continued 00:23:00.420 --> 00:23:01.540 to be hard. 00:23:03.860 --> 00:23:06.160 And so he lets him hit rock bottom. 00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:11.680 For some of us, there's not even an act of grace in our lives until we get to that place. 00:23:12.020 --> 00:23:19.060 We're so fixated the self that it takes a large movement like that to awaken us to the need, where we need 00:23:19.060 --> 00:23:20.660 God to show up. 00:23:20.660 --> 00:23:27.740 We need those defining moments, not where our hearts are hardened; but rather, where we're awakened to the need for God in our 00:23:27.740 --> 00:23:28.100 lives. 00:23:28.140 --> 00:23:35.280 And so while you see the way Pharaoh moves in contrary to God, then the opposite character within the context 00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:36.880 of the story becomes Moses. 00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:41.680 In Exodus chapter three, we see his story. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:44.680 Chapter three, verse is three. 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:47.860 It says this: Moses said... 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:55.460 Moses sees a burning bush in this chapter, and he said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight. 00:23:56.300 --> 00:24:03.500 Why the bush is not burned up." And when the lord saw that Moses had turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:10.160 and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here I am." And then he said, "Do not come near here. 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:17.200 Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said also, "I am the 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:24.280 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 00:24:24.320 --> 00:24:26.820 God. 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:34.670 So you see how Pharaoh responds in this defining moment at which God wants to reveal himself is, he's hardened his heart. 00:24:35.860 --> 00:24:37.680 And now you see the way that Moses responds. 00:24:40.660 --> 00:24:44.540 God calls him near, right? 00:24:45.020 --> 00:24:46.350 I would say it like this for us... 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:53.300 Two lenses God gives to us when we need defining moments, and Moses is about to encounter. 00:24:55.860 --> 00:25:00.850 We need the eminence of God, his nearness; only because of his grace is it possible. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:05.560 And we need the transcendence of God, his power. 00:25:07.560 --> 00:25:10.920 To be captivated by the glory for which he possesses. 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:17.760 Not only do we need this God to be good, but we need this God to be capable of the promises for which he delivers. 00:25:18.060 --> 00:25:21.320 Both his eminence and his grace, and his transcendence and his power. 00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:26.660 That's what we need for hope in our lives, right? 00:25:26.900 --> 00:25:28.640 And this is exactly what Moses discovers. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:35.360 God calls Moses near, right? 00:25:36.260 --> 00:25:41.800 And at the same time, in the beauty of this burning bush that doesn't actually consume the bush, it's a picture of the Holy Spirit? 00:25:42.380 --> 00:25:42.880 God's presence? 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:46.600 God also recognizes his holiness. 00:25:48.280 --> 00:25:52.440 Sometimes when we see this idea of holiness, we think that it means sinlessness, right? 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:52.870 God is perfect. 00:25:53.540 --> 00:25:57.540 But the picture of holiness in scripture is much, much bigger than just, God's not sinful. 00:25:59.020 --> 00:26:04.560 It's this transcendent power of his glory, which is also represented in his perfection of sinlessness. 00:26:06.120 --> 00:26:13.480 And a lot of what he does here to help Moses recognize the perfection of who he is in his holiness, he says to Moses this weird 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:13.860 thought... 00:26:14.600 --> 00:26:16.760 I don't know that you would ever think to say this, right? 00:26:16.760 --> 00:26:18.660 When someone stands in the glory your presence. 00:26:18.780 --> 00:26:18.900 But... 00:26:19.420 --> 00:26:24.560 "Take off your shoes, boy." My mama would say that sometimes to me as a kid when I'd walk in the house, but... 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:27.780 But this is what God says to Moses. 00:26:27.940 --> 00:26:30.800 Why in the world would God say this to Moses? 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:37.920 Because sometimes, in being invited to the presence of God and his grace, we forget to be 00:26:38.020 --> 00:26:38.920 captivated by his glory. 00:26:42.080 --> 00:26:46.500 Just what a gift it is that God would call us near, right? 00:26:46.620 --> 00:26:50.220 Not because we're great, but because he's great. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.920 Not because of our power, but because of his power. 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:57.060 Not because of our grace, but because of his grace. 00:26:57.860 --> 00:27:04.880 And when Moses is called to take off his shoes, what God wants Moses to recognize is that, while he's being invited into his presence, he 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:06.880 is not creator; he is created. 00:27:08.560 --> 00:27:12.840 And so he wants Moses' feet to touch the very dirt from which he was formed from. 00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:17.380 "You're creature, I am creator. 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:24.960 Stand in awe of my presence." And it tells us this is exactly what Moses does, right? 00:27:26.540 --> 00:27:30.800 Moses hides his face from God while also being in his presence. 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:38.900 And in verse 11, God tells Moses, "Go before Pharaoh and deliver this message that I am telling you," and Moses is 00:27:38.900 --> 00:27:40.160 skeptical in this moment. 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.800 And I think, for all of us, that's where we are. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:49.040 As we step into who the lord is and we start to learn about him and see his promises, we don't take that step of faith 00:27:49.040 --> 00:27:50.580 just jumping off the edge of the cliff... 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:52.860 We just look at a promise like... 00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:57.520 "Okay, God," and we just want to find, as we put our faith in that there's certain people beneath us. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:04.980 And so Moses and his timid relationship with God, as its getting ready to grow from this point, verse 11: Moses said to God, 00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:12.320 "When I get there, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" And God said this: 00:28:13.980 --> 00:28:14.870 "I will be with you. 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:18.840 And this will be a sign to you, it is I who have sent you. 00:28:19.700 --> 00:28:26.700 When you've brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." Moses thinks about what 00:28:26.700 --> 00:28:27.600 God's saying to him. 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:31.640 He's worried, right? 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:39.720 He's worried about who he is and his ability, but God builds what he desires for Moses to do not based 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:42.920 on who Moses is, but based on who he is. 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:44.640 Verse 12, he says this: "Look. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.020 Here's the reason anyone can ever do anything for me. 00:28:48.020 --> 00:28:49.420 It has nothing to do with you. 00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:54.340 But everything to do with me." And God's reminder to Moses is his presence. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:29:01.260 "I will be with you." One of the ways that God identifies this for Moses, you read on verse 13. 00:29:01.260 --> 00:29:08.560 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and I say this to them: 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What 00:29:08.560 --> 00:29:13.260 am I supposed to tell them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am. 00:29:14.560 --> 00:29:21.000 This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you.'" And here we find in the scripture, the name of God given. 00:29:22.340 --> 00:29:25.600 This name, I am, translates in scripture to Yhwh. 00:29:28.180 --> 00:29:29.580 God's name is Yhwh. 00:29:29.800 --> 00:29:36.200 In Hebrew, it was a Tetragrammaton, which means it's a name of consonants: Y-H-W-H. 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:36.360 Yhwh. 00:29:37.700 --> 00:29:44.720 I think it's important to know when you read your bible, the Hebrews did not want to take this name in vain; they very rarely 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:45.240 used it. 00:29:45.280 --> 00:29:52.100 Even to the point today that they very rarely spoke it, that they will confess, or it is confessed the name Yhwh, that no one really knows that's how it's pronounced. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.670 There were no vowels in between the letters; it was just consonants. 00:29:56.060 --> 00:29:58.080 The Hebrew language, at first, had no vowels. 00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:05.720 And so the only way that you knew how the vowel sound transposed between the consonants was if someone spoke it, but because they never spoke the name Yhwh because 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:09.780 they didn't want to take God's name in vain, we just have an educated guess as to how it's pronounced, as Yah-weh. 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:12.240 Y-H-W-H. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:13.380 And what does it mean? 00:30:13.560 --> 00:30:13.800 I am. 00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:22.300 So interesting, in some languages as they translated the Hebrew word for Yhwh don't have a Y or a W in their language, and so the Y 00:30:22.300 --> 00:30:24.620 becomes a J and the W became a V. 00:30:25.340 --> 00:30:27.180 You might be familiar with that word, right? 00:30:27.560 --> 00:30:27.960 Jehovah. 00:30:28.900 --> 00:30:31.320 Jehovah and Yhwh are the same word. 00:30:32.380 --> 00:30:32.820 Same word. 00:30:33.100 --> 00:30:40.540 And when you read in your English bible, the way that you know the word "Yhwh" is being expressed in scripture is that L-O-R-D 00:30:40.540 --> 00:30:47.620 is the name that we translate it in English, "Lord." If it's in all caps, L-O-R-D, every letter is in caps, it's the sacred 00:30:47.620 --> 00:30:48.380 name of God. 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:48.740 It's Yhwh. 00:30:50.560 --> 00:30:57.580 So God, Yhwh, Jehovah, identifying himself in this specific name, and the way he chooses to define himself as the "I am," and 00:30:57.580 --> 00:30:58.500 this is brilliant... 00:31:00.040 --> 00:31:03.480 If you think about the thought that God could use to express his identity... 00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:10.540 Not "I was," not "I will be," not "Here I sit." It's the "I am," and so what is God saying about his nature to Moses in 00:31:10.540 --> 00:31:11.000 this moment? 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:13.420 Nothing defines him. 00:31:14.860 --> 00:31:16.060 He defines everything. 00:31:17.040 --> 00:31:22.420 And if someone says to you, "Define God," lord have mercy, where do you even start with that? 00:31:22.750 --> 00:31:27.120 How could I even encapsulate in a sentence the identity of who God is? 00:31:28.100 --> 00:31:32.780 And the best way to express it is exactly what God says to Moses: "I am." The self exists... 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:40.760 What God is saying is, "Everything that's been created finds its purpose for its existence in me." Or outside 00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:42.580 of itself, is another way of saying it. 00:31:44.020 --> 00:31:50.600 And God is the only being who has the purpose for his existence within himself, because there is nothing that defines him; he defines everything. 00:31:52.100 --> 00:32:01.800 And so when Moses thinks about the glory of this God, the way that God recognizes himself is the great "I am." So 00:32:01.800 --> 00:32:07.380 when you think about these defining moments with God, two lenses. 00:32:09.540 --> 00:32:16.190 Two lenses become important for us: his eminence and his transcendence. 00:32:18.520 --> 00:32:24.980 His nearness and his grace and his power to fulfill his promises, right? 00:32:27.860 --> 00:32:32.370 When you read scripture, can I tell you guys... 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:39.660 Our souls, you'll find in the book of Exodus this story. 00:32:40.900 --> 00:32:47.360 This picture of the exodus of Israel becomes a continued theme that is borrowed throughout the rest of scripture. 00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:55.780 Because just like the Hebrew Israelites in the time of slavery, we all need God. 00:32:56.680 --> 00:33:01.400 And we all need our souls to be defined by his goodness, because this world is broken. 00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:07.060 And apart from the hope that he provides, there is no ultimate hope. 00:33:08.600 --> 00:33:14.270 And so this story of exodus for these slaves become an illustration for every soul in this world. 00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:16.790 We all need an exodus. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:20.470 We all need God to rescue us. 00:33:20.700 --> 00:33:24.540 We all need to experience his eminence and his transcendence. 00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:28.520 In fact, one of my favorite passages of scripture... 00:33:28.520 --> 00:33:29.540 I think I quote it fairly often... 00:33:29.940 --> 00:33:30.580 Romans 12. 00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:38.880 Paul says, "I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God," which is a reasonable 00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:40.160 act of worship, right? 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:47.340 This phrase that Paul gives, it's all about this worship with God in his eminence, in his closeness to us, right? 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:55.440 You ever think, "What led Paul to say that?" Now, when you look in scripture at the preceding verses, at the end of chapter 11, look at 00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:55.600 this. 00:33:56.040 --> 00:33:59.540 What leads Paul to talk about worship in such an intimate way? 00:33:59.540 --> 00:34:05.980 The end of Romans chapter 11, he says this: "Oh, the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God. 00:34:06.120 --> 00:34:13.199 How unsearchable are his judgements and unfathomable his ways, for who has known the mind of the lord, or who became his counselor? 00:34:13.520 --> 00:34:16.620 Who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:20.199 For from him and through him and to him are all things. 00:34:20.620 --> 00:34:23.260 To him be the glory for ever and ever. 00:34:23.260 --> 00:34:30.260 Amen." It's the glory of God and the holiness of God made known in the life of Paul as he 00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:37.320 expresses it to us that it captivates his soul in an expression while God is both transcendent in his life, he 00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:39.080 recognizes that God is also eminent. 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:47.300 That same God who spoke everything into existence draws my soul near. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:57.240 And I need that defining moment for which I can let go of the things that have tried to define me in 00:34:57.240 --> 00:34:57.980 my past. 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.170 And let God define me with his presence. 00:35:03.420 --> 00:35:08.840 And it's possible because of his power and his promises. 00:35:11.580 --> 00:35:16.900 When you read the book of Revelation, I want to end with a couple sections from here, but... 00:35:18.560 --> 00:35:24.080 When you read the book of Revelation, I would encourage you to approach the book this way: as a worship book. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:32.480 It's a worship book to a church that's about to endure persecution, or is enduring persecution for their faith, and the hope that they have in the lord, right? 00:35:32.520 --> 00:35:33.060 It's a worship book. 00:35:33.400 --> 00:35:35.080 People have butchered it throughout the centuries. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:36.640 Revelation is a worship book. 00:35:38.060 --> 00:35:41.230 And when you read the book of Revelation and you see the worship... 00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:48.500 Here's the beautiful thing: in Revelation chapter seven, you see these songs echoed constantly 00:35:48.500 --> 00:35:50.330 throughout the presence of God in the book of Revelation. 00:35:51.240 --> 00:35:54.420 And I just highlighted one of these songs, because they all have this general theme to them. 00:35:55.180 --> 00:36:03.720 And I would say this: in Revelation, when man sings songs to God, it's a song of salvation, right? 00:36:03.740 --> 00:36:08.050 A song of salvation, because God has come near, and God has rescued us. 00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:10.220 That defining moment of worship. 00:36:11.340 --> 00:36:15.080 My identity now belongs to him; it's about where I'm going, this song of salvation. 00:36:16.560 --> 00:36:24.900 And it says in chapter seven, verse 10, "The crowd, with a loud voice sang, 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb.'" Salvation. 00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:25.300 God is near. 00:36:25.860 --> 00:36:26.380 Praise God. 00:36:27.780 --> 00:36:29.280 You know what's also interesting in Revelation? 00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:30.860 There's also the song of the angels. 00:36:33.160 --> 00:36:34.600 And what's the song of the angels? 00:36:37.260 --> 00:36:39.520 It's the song of God's holiness. 00:36:41.720 --> 00:36:48.880 Bible tells us in Peter that the angels long to look in to what God is doing in creation by saving us; that it just befuddles them that 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:54.920 God would come down to this earth and subject himself as a servant and a slave, to sin, to die for us on the cross. 00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:01.160 And so for the angels, it's not the song of salvation, because they don't experience that salvation. 00:37:01.200 --> 00:37:06.990 God wants salvation for us; for the angels, it's the song of holiness, because of his glory. 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:07.600 Right? 00:37:07.600 --> 00:37:14.940 And so it tells us in Revelation, when you read chapter four, verse eight: "And the four living creatures, each of them having six wings, are full of eyes around 00:37:14.940 --> 00:37:15.600 and with them. 00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:22.960 And day and night, they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the lord God almighty who was, who is, and who is to come." You 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:29.180 know, I think sometimes I hear people make fun of worship songs because they say it says the same thing over and over, or worship songs that repeat themselves a lot. 00:37:29.540 --> 00:37:36.590 But I just want you to know, when you get to heaven and you see angels, they're just going to say "Holy holy holy" all the time, so they're going to drive you nuts if you don't like the way worship... 00:37:37.200 --> 00:37:40.410 But think about this: what are they recognizing? 00:37:41.740 --> 00:37:43.040 Here's man, eminence of God. 00:37:44.140 --> 00:37:48.700 Here's angels, transcendence of God, and all of it encapsulates the glory of who he is. 00:37:51.060 --> 00:37:56.180 As you look at the story of Moses and say, "I need that God... 00:37:58.520 --> 00:38:05.680 I need to be able to lay down and just rest on some promises that precede my power, because I am not capable 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:07.280 of fighting this fight. 00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:11.140 There are times where I just need that defining moment of rescue. 00:38:12.980 --> 00:38:19.140 And in that power, I need to know God is near." And you know, just as Moses had that miracle, you have that same miracle today. 00:38:19.140 --> 00:38:20.020 Do you know where we find it? 00:38:21.160 --> 00:38:22.540 It's the cross. 00:38:25.510 --> 00:38:27.170 It's the cross of Christ. 00:38:29.020 --> 00:38:31.560 And what makes it personal is because it was for you. 00:38:34.120 --> 00:38:40.440 God draws near, and the power of who he is pays for the depth of your sin. 00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:48.970 Victoriously to the point he overcomes the grave, to show you just as Moses doubted the bush... 00:38:49.100 --> 00:38:49.640 "God, who am I? 00:38:49.680 --> 00:38:52.380 What am I going to say?" And he says, "I say. 00:38:52.880 --> 00:39:00.000 I say." God, you don't know what I've done or how bad I've been or what other people think or 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:01.220 the lack of talent that I have. 00:39:01.240 --> 00:39:02.600 It's not about what you say. 00:39:04.680 --> 00:39:05.900 It's about what he says. 00:39:08.160 --> 00:39:08.780 And he's enough. 00:39:11.140 --> 00:39:18.200 At the cross, the eminence of go and the transcendence of God making himself known in your life, that you can rest in that 00:39:18.200 --> 00:39:25.330 defining moment, so that at every encounter that you have in this world, you get to look at it all through the lens of the cross, 00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:28.340 because in that cross, you have victory no matter what. 00:39:31.340 --> 00:39:36.140 In scripture, what this became known as, I think is really the song of Moses, Revelation 15. 00:39:38.840 --> 00:39:45.900 The wrath of God has finished, and look what it says about God's people: "And they sang the song of Moses, the bond servant of God and the 00:39:45.900 --> 00:39:50.160 soul of the lamb, saying 'Great and marvelous are your works, oh lord God the almighty. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:52.350 Righteous and true are your ways, king of the nations. 00:39:52.720 --> 00:39:59.720 Who will not fear, oh lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy, for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.'" 00:40:00.820 --> 00:40:07.380 This is what it's saying, is the song of Moses is about that, the idea of salvation and this powerful, transcendent God. 00:40:08.720 --> 00:40:10.170 This God who rescues powerful... 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:14.620 powerful in his nature that is holy and good. 00:40:15.040 --> 00:40:16.190 It's the song of Moses. 00:40:17.200 --> 00:40:22.420 Now, usually I like to end these things by giving you a little snippet of church history, and that's exactly what I'm going to do this morning... 00:40:22.500 --> 00:40:24.190 only I'm going to give you a little bit of Utah church history. 00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:33.040 Some of you guys may not know these characters, but to me they mean a lot. 00:40:35.520 --> 00:40:36.880 2004, I came to Utah to visit. 00:40:38.440 --> 00:40:41.720 And I did not care much about Utah at the time, because I didn't know anything about Utah. 00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:45.520 But I had never seen the Rocky Mountains, and so here I was. 00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:54.140 And I met a couple from Lehi who had been praying for this area for 00:40:54.140 --> 00:40:55.120 as long as they had known the lord. 00:40:56.940 --> 00:41:00.840 And while I was here, God started working on my heart for the possibility of planting a church here. 00:41:01.820 --> 00:41:03.800 And I met these guys: Pat and Larry Thomas. 00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:11.280 And they said to me, "If you move to Lehi and you plant a church, we're in." To which I said, "Sweet, we've got a church of two families. 00:41:12.140 --> 00:41:19.260 I will see you in a couple years when we move back out here." They had been a joy to me because their relationship with God has been 00:41:19.260 --> 00:41:24.820 constant, and their encouragement to me has been constant throughout their lives. 00:41:24.820 --> 00:41:31.960 But recently, as some of you know if you know Pat, you know she's been battling with some things that have just 00:41:31.960 --> 00:41:33.440 worn her out. 00:41:35.140 --> 00:41:41.980 And I was at the hospital visiting with her this past week, and she sat there, and she... 00:41:41.980 --> 00:41:47.540 Every day, even though she was at the hospital, she had still picked up her bible that morning, and she had still met with the lord. 00:41:48.680 --> 00:41:55.840 And she told me about the story that she had read about the lord; it was about King David and the war that happened 00:41:55.840 --> 00:41:58.780 with him and Absalom, his son, as Absalom tried to rip the kingdom away from him. 00:41:59.160 --> 00:42:07.020 And she said, "You know what King David did?" She said, "Finally, in the middle of all that and all the turmoil, he just turned it over to the lord and said, 'God, your will be done.'" And 00:42:07.020 --> 00:42:12.660 then she looked at me in the moments of her life, recognizing she's not got 50 years to plan for. 00:42:14.220 --> 00:42:21.900 As her body is failing in different times throughout these last couple years, she said, "You know, just like King David..." She 00:42:21.900 --> 00:42:23.440 was looking at her own situation. 00:42:23.820 --> 00:42:29.060 She said, "Trusting in God, it's a scary thing to do. 00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:31.780 Because it's about letting go of you. 00:42:34.140 --> 00:42:41.320 But trusting in God is such an incredible thing to do, because he has more power than 00:42:41.320 --> 00:42:48.440 I could ever imagine." And as I sat there listening to her, I kept thinking to myself, knowing 00:42:48.440 --> 00:42:55.580 that this week I would be sharing this message, I recognized that her song, the song that she's singing from 00:42:55.580 --> 00:42:58.320 her soul in this moment, it's the song of Moses. 00:42:59.880 --> 00:43:03.290 Her soul is crying out in the song of Moses. 00:43:05.680 --> 00:43:12.940 That the eminence of God and the transcendence of God, just as Moses was at that bush doubting everything that was within 00:43:12.940 --> 00:43:19.580 him, to let go of that and just say to God, "You are so good. 00:43:20.620 --> 00:43:21.300 You are good. 00:43:22.460 --> 00:43:30.060 And as you've made yourself known, so my soul will trust." Because 00:43:30.060 --> 00:43:36.660 God's going to tell you, for all of us, just like Moses, that's the story we get to live in every day. 00:43:38.180 --> 00:43:42.140 That right now, my soul can worship because God is near. 00:43:43.340 --> 00:43:50.480 And at the same time, in everything that he says, I can continue to hope, because he is good and he is holy and he is big 00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:51.580 and he is capable.