The Burning Bush
Key Passage: Exodus 3:1-6
Date: June 7, 2024
I believe this is either our fifth—I believe it is our fifth Wednesday night on the life of Moses. We did: You can’t get a Moses without faith. You can’t get a Moses without separation. You can’t get Moses without waiting. And then last week, I believe it was lessons from Midian. And then tonight we will just call it the burning bush. The burning bush tonight.
I do not think we will be very long tonight. We are just going to try to get right to it. I appreciate your faithfulness. I mean this sincerely. I know some of you are tired, but you are here. And that is awesome. God is very, very pleased with that. Praise the Lord for it. Good to see everybody out on Wednesday night in the Lord’s house. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Exodus is chapter number three. And we are right here at the 80-year mark of Moses’ life.
When we picked this up, we are in Exodus 3 and verse number 1. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Exodus 3 and verse number 1. The Bible says, “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.”
Most think that is the same as Mount Sinai. Some, and there is a debate, will argue about it. Some will say one side of the mountain was Horeb, the other side Sinai. Some say there were two peaks, you know, and they called one peak Horeb, Sinai. But for the most part, most believe that is the same mountain. Now, that is interesting because later on, remember, Moses will leave the children of Israel over here. He will go up there and get the Ten Commandments. So God was kind of preparing him. He was getting familiar with this territory. And God had him there for a reason.
Verse number two: “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
And Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here am I.” And he said, “Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.”
Moreover, he said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
Just a brief note about being afraid to look upon God: The Bible says he knew God face-to-face. God knew him face-to-face. I did not say Saul; there is a touch difference, but I just wanted to note that. We are just going to try to glean some truth from these six verses tonight. We are really going to go verse by verse tonight, try to get some truths.
Would you do this? Would you pray with God, but maybe just at least one of those truths God would speak to your heart about tonight as we go through those? Would you pray with me that God would do that? Lord, we come. Father, I am just trying to study and preach what Your word has to say. Lord, You said it will not come back void, so I rest in that. Father, would You accomplish Your will in every life tonight from Your word? Speak to us, Lord. These people are hungry. They came out of a desire and character to be in Your house. So would You, Lord, honor that? Would You give them something tonight? Well, we will brag on You. We will thank You for what You do. Father, we ask this in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Let us go back, if you would, please. Let us just go verse by verse. Let us go back to verse number one, Exodus 3, verse number one. Are y’all stuffy in here? Can we just get some fan? Get the fan going. Brother Mark, get a little air flow, and that would be good. Let us get back to verse number one. “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.” Yeah, just wanted for a second to say a word about that.
Now think about this. When Moses was born, his parents kept him for three months. So, if he cried at all, they were there to take care of him. And then the river and the basket and Pharaoh’s daughter, his sister Miriam, you know all that. They were paid to take care of their own biological son. But, you know, probably Moses was—everybody says, “Oh, Moses is going to be Pharaoh’s daughter’s son,” so he was a little bit known there. They may have been more well-off than anybody in their neighborhood because they got extra money for taking care of Moses and all that. Then eventually he is in Pharaoh’s court. Boy, he was trained there.
He may—we do not know this—maybe he was kind of next in line to be on the throne of Pharaoh; we do not know that. But the world kind of centered around him. He was a little bit the old, you know, the teacher’s pet, maybe, if you had everything going, everything placed in his lap. I mean, the world knew about him.
By the time he was 40, he was mighty in words and deeds. Well-educated, he had the world by the tail, if you will. And by the way, he knew what he was supposed to do, but he went about it the wrong way at the wrong time. And then he ran. And for the next 40 years, he was a stranger in a strange land.
For the next 40 years, he was a shepherd.
Shepherds—that is work. I mean, it takes work to keep all those sheep moving and to keep them sheared and keep them healthy and protected. And here is, for just a moment, can I just mention this? I do not know how much labor Moses really did the first 40 years. But those second 40 years, Moses learned to work.
I imagine Moses learned what it was to have calluses on his hands. I imagine Moses knew what it was like for 40 years to go to bed, really tired that night. He learned to work. And can I say something? If we are not careful in America, we are losing just good old-fashioned hard work. And Moses, for 40 years, God said, “Moses, I am going to teach you just how to be a hard worker.”
Hard work is honorable, friend. It does not matter. You say, “Well, they just can’t believe they’re working at McDonald’s or they’re digging ditches.” If they are working, friend, that is an honorable thing. I would rather somebody work and get paid a little less than sit around and do nothing, get paid to sit around and do nothing. Work. Moses was learning to work. Nobody works a little different, but work. Man, work is so honorable in the sight of God.
Can I just say something here? I am not for the government paying for somebody lazy who is sitting around doing nothing. Now, if they are sick, they cannot work, but if they are a well-abled body, they ought to be working. The Bible says it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
Look over, if you will, in Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14—that is a good verse about this subject here. It is my go-to verse when you talk about working. And I understand some, you know, you are looking at a computer all day long. In some ways, that can be really hard work. I am not saying you have got to get calluses on your head, but some kind of work, you know?
But look at this verse, a great verse over here in Proverbs 14, verse number 23. Proverbs 14:23. It would not be bad if maybe one of the politicians had this verse as their slogan or something. That would be a good thing there, you know. But right there, he says, “In all labor there is profit.” How many ever worked about ten hours on a project and you did not accomplish a thing in the world? Man, I have been there, but there was some profit. Well, they used to say it makes you have character. There have been times I said, “Man, I have got too much character as it is.” But the Bible there says, “In all labor there is profit.” I like this: “But the talk of lips…” Never just want to say, “Hey buddy, shut up and stop working.” If you worked as hard as you talked, we would get a lot done here. But the talk of lips tendeth only to want.
Christians at work ought to have a good testimony. You know what? That boy over there, he passes out gospel tracts. That lady, she talks about the Lord. But you know they are a worker. They can say what they want to about him, but they work. That is what it ought to be. It is a good testimony. I do not know how much Moses really worked the first 40 years, but I guarantee those next 40 years, that boy learned to work. And that is part of God’s training. He just learned to work for 40 years.
Now let us go to verse number two. We are just trying to glean some truth from this. Verse number two: “And the angel of the Lord…” Actually, that was the Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. We will see that later on here. “…appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Now, a fire, if I understand right there in the desert, it is not that unusual, you know, in the summertime in some of these desert places. We have forest fires and all that. It is not that unusual. But the thing that made it unusual, he says, “And behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Now, that is unusual.
I do not know everything about it. Many tend to think, and I think maybe it was, a little bit of a testimony representing the children of Israel in Egypt. They were under oppression. They were in the fire, if you will. The taskmasters were whipping them if they did not produce. They were just on them. And yet, and yet, in that severe persecution, if you will, they were not consumed. That is a group. You know, the church, if you study church history, often when the church is under persecution and sometimes has to go underground, a lot of times the church grows. China has had a little bit of an underground revival.
The thing here is this: this bush is burning, but it is not consumed because God was in this thing. God brought that flame of fire. And when a Christian is on fire for the Lord, sometimes they are going to burn out in three weeks if the fire is not from them—if it is a fire from God, they will not be consumed. Now, the devil, when he uses someone, man, he just consumes them. He wrecks their life. That is why you are talking to that man or that lady, and you think, “Man, they have had a rough life. They must be 88 years old.” And you say, “Well, how old are you?” “Well, I am 50.” Whoa. Because living with the devil, man, he wears people down. He ruins their health. He ruins their mentality. He just—he is the worst taskmaster there is. He is the worst master there is. So you live for the devil, boy, he just—by the way, he shortens your life when you disobey the Lord’s commandments. You know, you can lengthen and shorten your days. And the wicked, their days will be shortened, but the righteous, those that live for the Lord, they are not consumed. It actually adds life to people.
I mean, the people that are in church living for the Lord and they are just serving—they are happy people. And their life is just not wasted. It is not consumed. There is value there. I am not always here, but I try, and it is the truth of it. But it is not a drudgery to serve the Lord. Man, it is a privilege to serve the Lord. It is an honor. It will add to your life. And shame on me if I think, “Man, I have had to serve the Lord, Pastor, in 23 years.” Man, that is a great privilege I have had. It did not take away from my life; it added so much to it. That is why it is to serve God. And those that are for God… Now, be careful that the fire is not from you. Be careful that the fire is from God. But if the fire is from God, you are not consumed by it. It is such an honor. You know, it is our privilege to get to serve God. What a privilege it is. This lifetime is short, and it is going to be gone, but during this lifetime, we have the privilege of doing something for the world. It is an honor. And you are not consumed if the fire is from the Lord. Let us keep going. We are just trying to glean some truths and try to gather some truths from these verses here.
Let us go back to verse number three, if you would. Chapter 3 and verse number 3 tonight. Are y’all with me tonight? I appreciate it. I thought you were asleep. Man, you have been ready to go from the moment. Get ready. I appreciate that. That is wonderful. 3-3. Here he is: “And Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’” Now let us go to verse number four. We will go back. We will hit it in a second, but I want you to see what happens. “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses.’” And he said, “Here am I.”
But for just a moment, in that verse number three, would you notice where Moses—he did not just turn aside to sit. He said, “I will now turn aside.” And here is what I am getting at: He had to do it on purpose. He was probably caught up with that one sheep that is always running astray, and that one over there is sickly, that one over there needs food. This one over here is complaining. He was just caught up with this busy life. Anybody out there like that? I am, man, for sure. And he saw this thing that God was doing, and the bush was on fire and it was not burning. And Moses had to say, “I am going to turn aside. I am going to take the time. I am going to carve out the time and I am going to make it. I am going to on purpose turn aside.” Friend, if you are going to walk with God, you will not do it by accident.
You are going to have to say, “I am going to just carve out time. I am going to turn off my phone, turn off the TV, everything, and I am going to turn aside and see what God is doing in my life.” Moses had to; he had to say, “I am going to do it.” And he did it. You are just not going to—this is interesting—but typically weak things and beggarly things demand your attention.
Shame on me. This is confession time, all right? Somebody put their collar on backwards and all that stuff, you know? Well, they say a guy dressed like a mother and be called a father, that type of thing. But anyway, I have been in people’s houses, Bible open, sometimes giving them the gospel, whatever it is, and that is thinking Bluetooth is over there. You know what I am talking about? I am not saying it is a sin to have one, but be so very careful about it. Oh, should I go back to that one or not? Should I hit that one a little bit or not? Miss Angel, who—she is on it. I like old Esther Roloff; he used to take them out back and shoot them, amen. Come on now, you know. I was at a preacher’s meeting one time, and Larry Brown, he got a sledgehammer out and just beat a TV to death. I mean, he did literally beat it to death. I can tell you what, I like it. Woo, amen. You know, America can be better off, you know. But anyway, where was I at? Oh, oh, I am there in someone’s living room with my New Testament open or whatever, and I am reading about—I am trying to minister to this person. And you know what my flesh does? My eyes drift over that stinking Bluetooth. I am like, “Paul, what are you doing?” And, you know, I am trying to, but man, it just demands your attention. And the things of the world typically do that. The Bible is not necessarily going to—its hands are not going to come out of the Bible and say, “You are going to read me.” You are going to have to say, “I am going to turn aside.” You have got to do it on purpose, if you will, because you have a flesh; you have got to make yourself. Some weather and morning time, wherever it is, sometimes it is going to be wonderful. Sometimes it is not going to be wonderful. You are just going to say, “You know what? I am going to turn aside.”
So often the wonderful times happen because of this time. But Moses said, “I will turn aside and see this thing.” You have to do that. If you are going to walk with the Lord, it is not going to be just, “Well, okay, maybe it will happen.” It is not going to happen. It will not. Your flesh is real, the devil is real, the world is real. It will not happen. And Moses, man, he said, “I am going to turn aside and see this thing.” By the way, praise the Lord, y’all are wonderful. Y’all are in church on a midweek service. That is pretty awesome. Some of you, I know, you said, “I am going to make myself turn aside and see this thing.” I appreciate it; it is wonderful. God is pleased with that.
Let us keep going. We are just trying to get some truths out of this. Look at verse number four, would you please? Verse number four: “He turned aside to see this…” And in the verse before, “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,” that meant something to the Lord. That is what the Lord noticed. That is what registered. That is what He noted in His word. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, the Lord sees it when you turn aside and see Him. He sees that. He is watching for that. After he did that, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here am I.” After he did that, the Lord saw that. God was honored. He was pleased with that.
Can I just make a note about that? God knew his name. God knew his name. Can I say this, friend: He knows your name. He knows Alan Johnson. He knows that. He knows Tammy Wood. Mark Carter. He knows your name. And Moses said, “I am going to turn aside and see this great thing.” I mean, I have seen fires, but where the bush is not burned—this is something from God. And I want to turn aside and see what God is doing over here. And God saw that. When God saw that, God said, “I am going to call you.” He made it personal. It was not like the Lord just speaking to everybody. God said, “No, Moses, this is me and you, just one-on-one.” He knows your name.
Look over in Psalm 91, if you would please, a wonderful passage—that last verse of Psalm 91. Psalm 91, verse number 14, because this whole Psalm is a wonderful Psalm. Verse number 14: “Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high because he hath known my name.”
He knows your name. By the way, God is very capable of calling you. And God can whisper; you know, the whisper of God can be so loud sometimes, so distinct sometimes. And God called his name, but it was after he had turned aside to see it. You know, it kind of goes with that James passage over there: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Kind of the same thing. He turned his side to see Him. The Lord saw the other turn. God said, “All right, I will draw nigh.” He is making it very personal with him.
Can I say something else about this? When the Lord shows up and talks to Moses, Moses was doing this thing for 40 years. There is just a little principle there: Do what God has called you to do until He calls you to do something else.
I mean, Moses, 40 years—God, probably wore out. He is 80 years old. He is on the backside of the desert. I mean, they do not have air mattresses back then, you know, on the backside of the desert. They just—they do not, Brother Kevin. I am sorry, but they do not have the RVs, you know, back there, you know, and the pickup trucks and all that. I do not know what—he is sleeping in open stars or ten or what, I do not know. But he is 80 years old. But he was doing what God called him to do. He just stayed there doing this. And he turned his side to see the Lord. And God said, “I am going to show up.” Boy, He made it so personal. He called him by name: “Moses, Moses.” Sometimes you feel like you have been forgotten. Anybody know I am here? Anybody know what is going on? God is watching it all. And He can call you by name when He is ready to. He knows your name.
Let us keep going. We are just a couple more things; we will be done tonight. Look in verse number five, if you would please. Verse number five, Exodus 3 and verse number five: “And he said, ‘Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is…’”—the first time it is mentioned in all the Bible right here—“…holy ground.'”
Now, if you are out here very much, you know, I am pretty big on the first time a word is used in the Bible; often you can build a great definition off of that, and then the way the Bible is defining itself. And this is the first time “holy” is used in the Bible. And from this, really, I get the definition: you are separated unto the Lord from the world. He is coming over there; he is getting close to the Lord. And that is part of holiness, for sure. Holiness is just not not doing, not doing, not doing, not doing that. Well, a fence post does not do a lot of those things. Fence posts do not drink or smoke or cuss, you know. But it is not close to the Lord. Both are important. You just have a list of rules; you do all the rules, you are not close to God. Often you become a hard, you know, just routine-oriented, performance-oriented Christian with no relationship, no closeness, no soul. God does not want that. It becomes hollow sometimes.
So this thing of holiness is getting close to the Lord, but part of getting close to the Lord is as you get close to the Lord. What is that verse? Just in a minute—James 4:8: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you; cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts.” So as I get closer, and I am getting close to God, God says, “Oh, oh, can’t get any closer. You take your shoes off.”
Now, what is significant about the shoes? Would you look over in John 13 real quickly? John chapter 13. And I think the Lord really here is teaching much about this. This is Jesus when He is washing feet. The humility of Christ is just amazing. And I want you to notice what happens between Jesus and Peter.
And it is very—Jesus is teaching so much from this. John 13, verse number five there. Are you in verse number five? You are there, amen? Good. Here we go. Verse number five: “After that he poured… Jesus poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said unto him, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” Peter saith unto him, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Very strong. Simon Peter saith unto him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” I like Peter’s attitude. But He is teaching, and watch this. Jesus saith to him, “He that is washed…” If you will, he has been saved, he has been washed in the blood of the Lamb… “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet only, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all.”
Now that “not all” is talking about Judas. He said, “You are all saved, you are all clean. Not all of you”—one of them is Judas, the traitor. He was not saved. Later on, He said, “Better that he had not been born.” Just because he repented does not mean he had to change him out. He did not get saved because it was not better for him to be born. He did not get saved. Everybody says, “You are clean, but not all.” Judas did not get saved. But He said, “Look, Peter, I do not need to wash all your body, your head and your hands. I do not need all that. You are saved, you are clean, but your feet.” Now, what is that picture? You are clean, you are saved, can’t lose that, but we walk in this sin-messed-up world.
Man, just—you just live and breathe. You wake up in the morning, and I mean, just your phone or you turn the—you look outside the house at the time. And as you walk in life, people do things to you. You have feelings, you battle those feelings, those thoughts, and people do something wrong to you, or you feel like they did wrong, or problems come, and lack of faith in this. All just as you walk in this world, you know what happens? Feet start getting dirty. And the world just cakes on. How many has ever gotten in trouble by walking in your house with dirty shoes on? Anybody out there? Yeah, come on now. Whoa, Miss Brenda even raised her head. I figured it would be the opposite way, right? She said, “Oh, yeah.” Man, I have been there before, you know. And by the way, this is where some of those Eastern Oriental people that have the tradition of taking their feet up—some of that comes back to this. They take their shoes off. They do not take their feet off. Pretty hard to take your feet off. But that is the thing. But He is teaching a lesson: Man, apostles, you are saved, but man, you walk in a sin-messed-up world. And I do not care who you are, what Christian you are. You walk in this world; you are going to get dirty feet. And we all need our feet washed by Jesus. And Jesus is willing. That is when we go to Him—those that have fellowship, not those who do everything right, those that walk in the light. Jesus is the light. And they allow Jesus, and they confess their sin, they come to get Him right, and they allow Jesus. That is humbling. I mean, Jesus is so humble in washing, but it is also humbling for somebody to watch it.
We have never had a foot washing service. I do not think it is a mandate or the ordinance in the Bible. I am not saying I am against it, and I am not saying whenever we will do it here. But I do not think the Bible commands us to do it. But I do not have a problem necessarily washing somebody’s feet. I really do not. But it is a whole lot more humbling to me for somebody to wash my feet. You are going to find out how sticky and sorry my feet are. You do not know what I am talking about. All of us. And I swear everybody’s—I could not have it down and wash my feet. And I understand those feelings. And when I go to Jesus day by day and say, “Man, I am living in this sin-cursed world, I have ill feelings, I have ill thoughts, I have sins, and I do not know how it happens by just walking this world,” and that happens. And you have to come humbly and let Jesus clean.
And going back over here to Exodus: and holy—if you are going to be holy before the Lord, you have to get close to Him. There is going to come a point as you get closer that the Lord will say, “Hey, you are going to have to take your shoes off on that issue right there.” You are gathering worldly philosophy, the worldly thoughts, worldly feelings. If you are going to get close to Me, hope Moses, you cannot come any closer. He will take your shoes off.
And by the way, it is so different for us to be truly holy. I mean, Brother Patterson, he probably has—I do not know what his weakness is. I think he has a swig sometimes in a jacket. I am not sure, you know, but I am joking about that. But his weakness is probably totally different than Brother Frank’s weakness. But the Lord can come to all of us specifically and say, “Hey…” God came to Moses and said, “Take your shoes off.” And God comes and He says, “You do not get any closer. You have got to stop talking about people. You are going to have to stop the critical fault. You have got to stop watching that. You have got to turn that off. You have got to do it, whatever.” And that is holiness. When I separate from the world, I leave my shoes off and I get closer to God. Both of those are so important.
I mean, here is the crazy thing: Sometimes out of ritual, maybe sometimes to look at everybody, we separate from everything, but we are not close to God. That is not true holiness. That is hard shell, mean sometimes. No, no, you are welcome to God. You are going to be a humble, sweet Christian. You are not going to be sharp-tongued, cutting everybody down, talking about it. You are not going to be doing all that. True holiness is separating from the world unto God. First time in all the Bible, holy is mentioned right there. And what a great definition. And Moses, if you are going to get any closer, you are going to have to take your shoes off because you are walking in a sinful world. I mean, I get your feet to get closer to God.
Let us just a couple more things. One more thing, really, we are done. Would you go back over to Exodus chapter number three, verse number six? Exodus 3, verse number six. We are just kind of trying to pull out truth as God would have us trying to. I hope He will speak to our hearts through it. Verse number six: “Moreover, he said, ‘I am the God of thy…’” Notice that. Not “fathers” right here. Who is Moses’ father? It was Amram, a Hebrew, a Levite. “Moreover, he said, ‘I am the God of thy father.’” Remember when you were a boy, you were raised by biological parents? Remember they told you about Jehovah God? And I think he woke up at this point, but he is really pointing this out: “Hey, moreover, I am the God of thy father.”
He keeps going: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Just a brief thought here, truth here, if you will. He said, “I am the God of thy father.” Here is the thing: there is not a perfect father.
And there is not. And I have watched people sometimes because their parents, Christian parents, are not perfect—and they are not—that they tend to reject God and that style of Christianity, as you will, or whatever may be. They just kind of reject it all because my mom and dad were not perfect. And there is not a perfect parent. So God here is coming to Moses. And the first thing He says, “Hey Moses, I am the God of thy father.” I do not know; maybe Moses kind of battled bitterness because my parents gave me up to Pharaoh’s daughter. I do not know.
But God here, when it comes to the first thing He said, “Hey, I am the God of thy father.” I have seen a lot, sometimes second-generation Christians—you know what I mean about that? Their parents were first-generation Christians. They got saved, and maybe they are the ones, the first ones saved in the family. Their family tree was messed up—alcoholics, whatever it may be, and messed up. And the parents got saved, and God truly changed their life. But they got a lot of flaws because they grew up in some messed-up homes. And I watch sometimes that second-generation Christian, you know, that generation, they rebel against Christianity because look what Christianity did to me. And I always want to say, “Man, man, if it was not for your parents getting saved, it would be about 10,000 times worse than it is. Do not get mad at God or Christianity. If they are the ones that made your world a little bit sane, it would be so much worse if they did not get saved.” But Satan is good.
Sometimes, I do not know, but it seems even some preachers are just kind of scorners and cynical about the old-time preachers. And just because—always knocking the old-time preachers, “We are not like that. We are not like that. We are not like that.” Praise the Lord for the old-time. Even if you do not want to be like them, do not shoot at them all the time. God used them greatly in their time. God can deal with them old-time preachers if they are not right and everything, but do not spend your life shooting at them. Thank God for what they passed on to us. Satan has crafted all that.
And the first thing God really—He called him by name, Moses, Moses. But when He describes Himself here, “Moreover, he said, ‘I am the God of thy father.’” Moses, your dad was not perfect, but he served Me. And I am the God of your father. And those former Christians that may have invested in and led an example to us—are they perfect? No. But God is a God of our fathers if you have saved parents. And do not let Satan take some flaws in them and turn you away from the Lord.
See past that and say, “Hey, God is not flawed; they are flawed. I am not going to live in denial about it. I am going to love them beyond that.” True love does not lie. True love sees the truth, but true love loves them hence by the—and it does not get mad and bitter and turn away from God. Moses, “I am the God of thy father.” Then He goes on, the Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—all those covenants that God had made. He is about to fulfill them, and He is going to use Moses to fulfill them. By the way, over in Genesis 15:13, I believe it is, God said, “Look, Israel, you are going to be in that—you are going to be oppressed 400 years.” Another place, 430 years, they were in there, all told, 430 years, 400 years of oppression. And those covenants and those promises God made—He is God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob.
And then notice the last part, and we are done here: “And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” If I truly get close to God, I do not come out cocky. I do not come out thinking I am all that, looking down my nose to everybody else. I come out very reverential, a little bit of fear, godly fear, reverential fear. I come out and I am thinking, “Well, I am so close to God.” I come out saying, “Boy, I have so far to go. I am not even worthy to look upon Him.”
If I truly get a glimpse of God—Isaiah, you know it, Isaiah 6. He saw the Lord, high, lifted up. The train filled the temple. Well, Isaiah said, “Woe is me!” Man, if I get close to God, I will not be thinking bad about everybody else. I cannot worry about them; I have too much to worry about right here. Moses, God is revealing Himself to Moses. And boy, the next thing Moses says—he said, or did—he said, “I cannot look on it.” By the way, when you see a big, mighty, powerful God, your problems do not look so big either.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - - The Burning Bush - Wednesday PM 1192022