As I said earlier, the central verses in this passage are verses 13 to 14, where God reveals his name to us. It's very important, isn't it, to be able to remember people's names. When we remember someone's name, especially after we've not seen them for a while, It means a lot to the person. It strengthens our relationship with them. If the name fades from our mind and we forget it, that weakens that friendship or that relationship. But remembering a person's name reconnects that relationship. So there's a link between forgetting and a weakened relationship, and there's a connection between remembering a name and strengthening that relationship. As a pastor, of course, it's something I've had to work on a lot. No matter how much I do, I still have some mental blocks when it comes to some people's names. I used to know a man called Tom Carlsey. Got to know him quite well, prayed for him quite often. So every time I see Mark Carlsey here, I call him Tom. And it's become a bit of a standing joke. And I see him and I think Mark, but Tom comes out. Thankfully he's a very forgiving person. And then of course there's Dave and Cammie. In Scotland, Cammy is a male name. And some of my best friends were Cammy. And so whenever I see Dave, the male in this relationship, I call him Cammy. But we're working on that, and I think I've got two Sundays in a row without making that blunder. Again, they're very forgiving, but you know what it's like when somebody forgets your name and it kind of communicates to you a lack of interest, lack of attentiveness, and it just sort of distances you a little bit, doesn't it? And that's true spiritually as well. Israel here in Exodus chapter three were suffering from spiritual amnesia, spiritual forgetfulness. They had forgotten God's name, especially the name Jehovah or Yahweh, Lord, that had been revealed to them way back in Genesis chapter four. but it seems it had slipped from their memory, probably because of their hundreds of years in Egypt, surrounded by many other gods, many other names, and by forgetting God's name, their relationship with Him had really weakened. And it's the same with us too. We have, even more than Israel, revelations of God's names to us. And insofar as we remember them, we recollect them, we think on them, our relationship with God is strengthened. And insofar as they fade from our minds, our relationship with God fades as well. And so we want to ask, how do we recover from spiritual amnesia? If we are forgetful of God, his name, his character, his truths, how do we recover from that? This is what Moses was all about here in Exodus chapter three. He directs Israel to a name of God that they had forgotten. And in doing so, he does the same with us. And his aim in reminding them and us of his name is to reconnect relationally and to rebuild that relationship. So there are two truths that especially stand out in this chapter. And the first one is God's name is memorable. God's name is memorable. You know what it's like when maybe a family is together and they are all talking together and memories start going back to the past. Maybe, yes, with a photo album or a phone with pictures on it and the person's name comes up who's maybe passed away. And all the memories come flooding back and that precious relationship is remembered. And this is what God is doing here. As we saw last week, Moses was shocked when, after 40 years in the wilderness, God appeared to him in the burning bush and said, Moses, I'm sending you to deliver Israel from Egypt. And Moses' response was, who am I? Who am I that Would have any hope of accomplishing this? And part of God's response to Moses is, who am I? Is to say to Moses, no, this is about who I am. This is not about you and your power, but me and my power. Who you are really doesn't matter. It's who I am. that matters, as he says here, I am has sent me to you. These are the words Moses is to speak. God knew after 400 years in Egypt, Israel would have forgotten his name, and therefore he wants to bring it back, to reconnect with them, to rebuild this relationship, and to move forward again. So Moses says, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me what is his name, what shall I say to them? He anticipates going to Israel and saying, God has sent me to be your deliverer, and they'll go, who's that? Not just who are you, Moses, but who's the God that you're talking about? And in response to that, God says to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. As we've said, this name was well known hundreds of years before and had faded. And here, God is saying to Moses, go to Israel and reach into the dark attics of their memories and find that name they used to know me by, dust it off, bring it out, and put it back at the front of their minds. Because by remembering my name, we will reconnect in relationship, and they will follow my words. Now, this name I Am has stimulated a lot of debate as to what it actually means. These are the Hebrew consonants of that name. and Hebrew goes the opposite way to us. And in the Hebrew name, there are no vowels. It's a strange language that has no vowels. But this is a Y, a silent H, a W, and a silent H. And often pronounced Jehovah or Yehovah or Yahweh. And in our English translations, it's usually translated with capital letters for Lord. So wherever you see capital letters, L-O-R-D, it's translating this name of God, I Am, or Yahweh, or Jehovah. So that explains maybe some of the more technical details of the name. What does it actually mean, though? Because it's a rather strange thing to say, isn't it? Go and tell them that I am has sent me to you. Well, there was a lot of things tied up in this name of God. First of all, it's I exist, I am. And of course, Israel had fallen into an atheism regarding God, and they were basically saying God's forgotten us, or God does not exist. And so God comes to their God is not and says, I am, I exist, I am here. And then there's tied up in this name that God is self-sufficient. We are not. We depend on other people. However much we try to be independent, we rely on other people. But God's I am is saying, I exist and I don't need anyone else. I simply am. And I am independent. I exist without the help of anyone else. I am and I always am. Then thirdly, the name means I am everlasting. You and me, we have a past, we have a present, and we have a future. We say I was, I am, and I will be. God doesn't say that because he does not have, as it were, a past, a present, and a future. He just always is. He can say what I was, I am, And what I am, I will be. I am from everlasting to everlasting. I am everlasting. Fourthly, it says, I am unchangeable. What he was, he is, and he will be. Fifthly, it means I am a promise keeper because you'll notice that Almost all the time this word occurs, it's in connection with the promises of God. It's often called God's covenant name. And you see it here. God said to Moses, say to this people of Israel, the Lord, notice the capital letters, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. So he's connecting again his name with relationship, with covenant relationship, with keeping promises to his people. So all of this is tied up in these four Hebrew consonants, or these four English capital letters. God's saying I exist, I am self-sufficient, I am everlasting, I am unchangeable, and I am a promise keeper. All of these truths met the need of that moment. And in these few verses, that name I am occurs four times to really drill into Israel's head, this name, and to make them think of all that it truly means. And he says, this is my name forever. Of all the names, he says, this is my name forever. And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. And that's why it's so important to pause and remember God's name, not just in the sense that we can repeat it, but that we can relate to it. And so as we hear this name, Lord, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, we are called to relate to God as the everlasting one, as the self-sufficient one, as the unchangeable one, as the promise-keeping one. Everything about this name is calling us into relationship with him. Now that's why he says, this is how I want to be remembered because as you remember this, you will connect with me and we'll rebuild our relationship together. And it is a wonder, isn't it, that this awesome I am, this awesome Jehovah, this awesome Lord wants to come and connect with you and me. That's why he wants us to remember this name, because as we remember it, we remember who he is, and we're filled with humble awe and wonder that such an immense being wants to come into our lives to deliver us. It's a memorable name. And when we think of this name, we think, of course, of the one who fulfilled it completely, Jesus. he came and in In John chapter 18 and verse five, Jesus said to them, remember this is when the soldiers came to take him in the garden for crucifixion. Jesus said to them, I am. Now, I put a score through he there, because it's actually not in the original Greek. It's simply I am. And there is no pronoun, he. What's Jesus doing there? He's saying, I am. I am the fulfillment of this name. I am the fullest declaration of this name. And then we read, Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am, and again, there's no he there in the original version. We read, they drew back and fell to the ground. So this name is not just a comfort to God's people, it's a terror to those who are not. And here when Jesus identifies with this I am, look at the effect. Probably hundreds of soldiers here terrifying to a normal person. He simply says, I am. And they hit the ground. They cannot stand in the presence of this awesome God. And here at the very depths of Christ's humiliation, he's reminding that he still is the great I Am. And then of course he filled out this name in this, he filled out this name in different ways. In the New Testament he says, I am the bread of life. I am the water of life. I am the good shepherd. I am the door of the sheep. I am the bread of life. I am the true vine. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. In Revelation, he says, I am the first and the last. I am alpha and omega. I am alive forevermore. So he not only fulfills this name, he fills out this name. And in Jesus, we have the fullest declaration of who God is in the flesh. How can we forget God's unforgettable name? He gave us it in such a way that His name is memorable. So let's call it to our minds, not just the name, but the meaning of the name, and the intention of the name, and the fulfilling of the name in Jesus, and the filling out of that name in Jesus. And as we remind ourselves of his name, we will reconnect, we will rebuild our relationship with God. He's designed his name in that way. But what does remembering God's name do? Well, it recharges our spiritual batteries. God's name is powerful. God's name is powerful. And here's a picture of the Israelites leaving Egypt, laden down with all the jewels and precious stones of Egypt. So God sees Israel's weakness. and he promises powerful acts. He says, I've observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. He's promising them powerful acts. I'm gonna come into your powerlessness and I'm going to powerfully deliver you. but he doesn't just promise powerful acts. He promises empowering faith. He promises to put such a faith in these Israelites that they will grow stronger. And we see that, for example, in verses 19 to 20. I know says God through Moses, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I'll stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. and I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and so on. So here we've got the Israelites, they're a timid bunch, but once they hear God's name, and they reconnect with God through it, they get a new courage, a new fearlessness. In verses 16 and 17, after saying what he was going to do, he says, these Israelites, who previously were saying, I don't know who you are, Moses, and I don't know who your God is. Once they get God's name, it says they'll listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt. It's this group of slaves, weak, helpless, and yet God's name empowers faith so that they go with Moses to their tyrannical despot, and say, let us go. And even when God says he's going to oppose you, he says, I will stretch out my hand, and after that, he will let you go. So here we have faith that is courageous, faith overcoming opposition, and faith that is rewarded. God says to these people, and try and remember the condition and situation they're in, and all their poverty and their pain, skin and bones some of them, most of them with scars from their taskmasters whipping. And they're told that when God acts, and they act in faith, that not only will he deliver them from Egypt, which was miracle enough, but the Egyptians will give them gold and silver and jewels. They'll load them down with so much wealth that they'll hardly be able to carry it. And they're leaving Egypt then, some days later, And the Egyptians are saying to him, here, take my jewels, take my rings, take my bracelets, take my necklaces, take my medallions. Oh, here's some gold coins. Here's some treasure. Here's some really expensive leatherware. Just take it all and go. It's really almost inconceivable, isn't it, that that would happen? Yet here God prophesies it. And it happened. It was as if all the wages they had been kept back from for hundreds of years was paid in one day. God is a just God. He protects and delivers the oppressed. He sees injustice, and He will act to put things right. It may take a long time, but He will do it. And that's what he does here. They've plundered you, so you shall plunder them. See how powerful God's name is? That can not only perform such powerful acts, but empower such powerful faith to believe that this was going to happen. And again, That same God of the Old Testament is revealed in a similar way in the New Testament. We have this name, this verse in John 14, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now, many Christians today view this as some kind of magic spell. That if they say Jesus' name enough, with enough faith, They can get anything and do anything. And so you have these often on Christian television and huge crusades around the world where hundreds of thousands of people are there and you have all these Christians yelling out, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, come out of him, in Jesus' name. That is not what Jesus is meaning. when he says, if you ask me anything in my name. It's not a magic spell. It's not some kind of superstitious arrangements of words. In my name means in alignment with me, in alignment with my character, in alignment with who I have revealed myself to be. We've seen already that God's name is about revealing who he is. And so he's saying, if you ask anything that aligns with who I am, who I've revealed myself to be, my mission, my plan, my purpose, if you ask anything in alignment with me, I will do it. So there's a great power through his name. You think of an ambassador. A president sends out an ambassador, and that ambassador goes into a faraway country, and he begins to think, oh, I know what to do here. I know how I can fix this. I know how I can make this better. and he walks up to the situation of the people and he starts yelling out, in Trump's name, in Trump's name, in Trump's name. What is that? There's no sense that it's connected with the president's policies. It's just whatever this ambassador wants to do. He'll soon be sent home. Because the ambassador's aim is to bring those he's speaking to into alignment with the president's will. And so it is when we pray in Jesus' name, we're saying, your will be done and align my will with yours. So it's a powerful name. But we see that also in another verse, in Acts 4 verse 12, the apostles go out to preach and they say, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so they go out and they are declaring the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the great I am, And they're pointing towards Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner, Jehovah Sakenu, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace, Jehovah Shema, the Lord who is there. All these multiple names of God, they're declaring as fulfilled in Jesus. And therefore, there's no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. And then in Romans chapter 10, Paul says, whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's not, again, just saying Lord, Lord, Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord is calling on God's character, calling upon who he is, saying Lord, you are You are there. You are self-sufficient. You are everlasting. You are unchangeable. You are the great promise keeper. You are there. You are peace. You are righteousness. You are life. You are the door. You are the wind. You are the first. You are the last. You are Savior, Jesus, Yeshua. You are all of this and I need all of this. And you've promised that if I call upon your name, call upon who you are, I will be saved. And so he invites us all to call on his name today. To take that name on our lips and to remember it, to strengthen our relationship with him, to sense his power coming into our lives and respond with powerful faith. and to seek full salvation from Him. That kind of faith is rewarded with far more than gold and silver and riches. It's rewarded here with many blessings, but it's rewarded eternally in heaven. So calling his name, anyone can do that. The youngest child here can take the name of the Lord on their lips and say, I'm calling on your name, Lord, and you've promised if I call, you'll save. And the oldest person here can do that as well. Even if it's been a long, long time since you've remembered God's name and you've reconnected with God you've built a relationship with and that's faded and it's forgotten over many decades maybe and yet he says, call on my name and you'll be saved. You don't need to wait till you go home either. Right here, right now, in that seat, call, call, call on his name and you shall be saved. God's name is powerful. And therefore, we have an answer to our question, how do we recover from spiritual amnesia? Remember, believe, and call upon God's name to experience an empowering relationship with him and powerful deliverances from him. That's what Exodus 3 teaches us. That's also what Jesus teaches us. It's the same God, the same Savior, who's been given a name above every name, and at that name, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Yahweh. He is Jehovah. He is the great I Am. Let's pray.