The readings this evening, you can remain seated for them. Our first reading will be in John 8, verses 48 through 59. And then our second reading, which is also a sermon passage, is a bit shorter than usual. It's Exodus 3, 13 through 15. So just a few verses there in Exodus 3. So let's begin then with John 8, verses 48 through 59. The Jews answered Jesus. Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died, and the prophets who died? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. And so the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. And so they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. And then Exodus chapter three, verses 13 through 15. Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they asked me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel. The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Amen. Let's pray again. Lord, as we come to consider these words, we need your help. We pray that you would send out your spirit again this evening to teach us and instruct us, to convict us and comfort us. We thank you that we have your spirit and that he is strongly active. And so help us now, Lord, guard us from distraction. Lord, give us ears to hear what you speak to us. For we are dependent upon you and your word. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I said last week that this chapter, Exodus chapter three, is so central to so much of what we know of God, and so much to what we wouldn't know of God unless he chose to reveal it to us. And that's really what's happening here. In this chapter, God is revealing himself to his servant Moses, and Moses is going to be the one who then takes that revelation and then represents it to God's people. He's going to be the one who not only learns of God himself, But it's the means through which God will instruct and ultimately deliver his people from Egyptian bondage. Now we saw that last week. Remember just to bring us up to speed where we are in Moses' story or in the narrative in Exodus. Moses is in exile. He is running away from Egypt, but is running away. His exile is not one in which he is fleeing in fear. It's not one in which he is disobeying the Lord or he's like Jonah running from his calling. Not at all, actually in faith he left Egypt and traveled to Midian. In Midian he is wonderfully blessed just in a way like Joseph in Egypt. He's blessed with a wife. He's blessed with children. One in particular he names, his son Gershom. He names him intentionally, if you look back at chapter two, verse 22, intentionally as a means of memorializing or remembering his status as a sojourner in the land. He doesn't belong in Midian, and in a very real way, he knows that he doesn't belong in Egypt as well. He belongs with God's people in the land that God promised to them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a good and broad land, the land of Canaan. And God has reached out to Moses in a quite startling way, because where we are here in chapter three is firmly in the midst of that moment in which Moses was tending his father-in-law's sheep on what would be later called Mount Sinai, but it's also called Mount Horeb. And to remember he was walking and he saw a bush that was set ablaze by a fire, but it wasn't an ordinary fire. It was a fire that did not quench the bush. It was a fire that never went out. It was a divine fire and it was both something that attracted Moses and also in a way you could say probably terrified him. He goes near this burning bush and God speaks to him from the bush and through the means of his messenger, the angel of the Lord, God tells Moses that this is a holy place because where God is, is special, is holy. So he takes his sandals off. And he comes and stands before the presence of the Lord himself. And this is where the Lord tells Moses that he's going to use him as a redeemer to send him back to the land of Egypt, back to his people, to be the one through whom God saves, redeems, and saves. brings his people out of Egyptian bondage. Now, then after receiving this great calling and what God, a revelation of what God will do through Moses, Moses says, this is verse 11 of chapter three, Moses begins to raise objections to this. He has a number of them. The first one is in verse 11. Who am I that I should do this? Which is a bit, it's an odd objection because you kind of think like knowing Moses' track record, his backstory, he's the perfect person for this. It seems logical the one who grew up in Pharaoh's court as a son of Pharaoh's daughter, one who knows the ways of Egypt, but also knows the ways of his people, the Hebrews, one who has chosen to join himself to and identify himself as a Hebrew. That's the reason why he's in exile. He's, of course, the perfect choice, even outwardly speaking. But God reassures him and tells him that this will be the sign, Moses, that you are the one I have chosen. First of all, I will be with you. I will be your strength. I will be your power. I will be the one who sees this through to completion. And then secondly, I will bring you back to this spot, and you will worship me. You will serve me on this mountain, and that'll be proof to you, Moses, You're the one I will use. So that was Moses' first objection. The passage we're looking at this evening, verses 13 through, well, really bringing out, through verse 15 here, is Moses' second objection, which is a simply, if the first one is, who am I? Moses' second objection is, well, who are you? And he doesn't say it like he doesn't know who God is, but he's saying, if I go to the people of Israel, And I say, I'm here to be your deliverer. Follow me out of this land. And they ask me, well, who sent you? What is the name of this God that you come representing? Moses says, what shall I tell them? This is where we get to our text in verse 13. Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and I say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they ask me, well, what is his name? Lord, what shall I say? And God speaks to Moses and says simply, verse 14, I am who I am. That is his name. And say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to be with you. And so what I want to do this evening is just focus on these verses around that name of God. I want us first to see what is a name in general in the Bible. We'll quickly go through that because we've looked at that before in the past. We'll see that this is more than a name, like all biblical names. It is a revelation as well. It reveals who God is, his not only character, but his his essence, especially this name. We'll see that this also involves a reminder for God instructs Moses to go to the people and remind them that this is the one, this God, who is working through Moses, this is the one who was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He's been with you as a people for generations. And there's also in these verses, particularly verse 15 here, there's a charge, the end of verse 15, A charge to Moses, that he is to communicate to the people that this name that he reveals is to be the name to which God is known amongst his covenant people. So that's what I want us to see this evening very briefly. A name, a revelation, a reminder, and a charge. So first, a name. Now what is the name that God reveals to Moses here? If you have an ESV or most English translations will have in all capital letters, I am who I am. And then later on in verse, at the end of verse 14, I am has sent me to you. It is, well, that's the best translation we have. A sentence he gives Moses here to say this is his name, I am. and who I am, which is shortened as, well, just the first two words, I am, which is in Hebrew, four letters that make up the divine name of God. In your Bible, which is a bit translational side note, I've never mentioned this often, but just to refresh your memory, anytime you see capital L-O-R-D, that's this name. That's the same as I am. And it's translated in most English Bibles as capital L-O-R-D, Lord. Have you ever heard of the name Jehovah or Yahweh? That's trying to capture the pronunciation of these four letters. Now, the reason why we don't know exactly how it was originally pronounced is because God's people so revered the Lord's name that they got to a point eventually where they did not even say it. And in place of it, they would say Adonai, which is Lord, which we have That's why we have in our translations Lord used. Or they would simply say Hashem, which is Hebrew for the name, rather than saying God's name. And so ultimately, sadly, the exact pronunciation of it was lost. But it's highly likely that Yahweh is the person. correct pronunciation. So all this to say, what is a name, then, biblically speaking? And in the Bible, a name is far more than a way to simply distinguish someone in relation to another. Like, you think of, you have five kids, you know, they all have different names in order to distinguish them from one another, so to speak. In the Bible, it is often the case that names involve far more complexity. Sometimes names are used to really describe someone's calling or one's purpose in God's plan. For instance, Noah, in a way, Noah's name means rest and his purpose was to, in a sense, bring rest in a time of great upheaval when the whole world was against the Lord and against his anointed. Or someone like Job, whose name means sort of like vexation or suffering. And that's very much what role he played in the history of redemption in some way. He shows us really wisdom in the face of suffering. Think of, say, Abraham, whose name was changed from Abram to Abraham, which means a father of multitudes. His name spoke about his role. in God's plan, or even Jesus himself. He was given the name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins. And the name Jesus, or Joshua, means God is salvation. So names are often tied to someone's role. Names are also, in the Bible, tied usually, in many cases, to character. Perhaps one of the greatest examples of that is Jacob, whose name means hill snatcher. It shows us a lot of his character, swindler, that was ultimately transformed by God, Remember, his name also was changed to Israel, which means one who strives with God because he wrestled with him. But here in Exodus 3, the name of God is tied to his identity. And again, more than just simply to identify himself. like a driver's license or a passport would, but to show you who he is in his essence. Essence is what truly makes up someone's being. It's like who you are, like the deepest answer to that question possible. And here, the revelation of God's name to his people through Moses is tied to his essence. I am. It speaks of his, well, his attributes, A handful of them that we'll look at in a second. It's a special name that God gives to his people in relationship with him. This is not a name by which God is known by nature. In other words, we can learn a lot about God from the creation itself, but we can't learn this name. We can't hear of it. It is a name that is reserved for his people. They are to use, and use cautiously, but well. And so what is a name in the Bible? It's far more than a way to simply distinguish someone from others. It is tied, at least here in this instance, to the essence of the one named to God Himself. Which means, and brings us to our second point, that God's name is relevatory. It opens up a truth about Him. It teaches us who He is and it instructs us. This is what God gives to Moses here. He instructs him. He tells him, this is my name, and you're to bring this name to my people. What can we learn about the name of God? I am. There's a whole lot you could say. You could perhaps write a long book on this. Many have, especially our Puritan forefathers, when they describe theologically who God is, a lot of space is given to this chapter, but I want to summarize it in a few ways here, mainly four things that we learn about God from his name, I Am. And the first one is his self-existence. That's probably the basic one, that's probably the one that is, basic isn't the best word, the ultimate thing we learn here. When God said I Am is his name, and I Am that I Am, He is proclaiming, he's revealing his self-existence, that he is dependent upon no one or no thing. There's nothing that he looks to to provide him life. He has no cause. All of you, you and I, we have a cause. We came into being. There was once a time when we did not exist. And something, some two people, God's plan, you know, just everything works together to cause our existence. But God has life simply in himself. He has no cause. He isn't evolving. He isn't changing. He isn't becoming like we are. We are changing. We are becoming. I mean, just thinking in our sanctification, we're becoming more and more like our God. We're becoming more and more wise, hopefully. We're becoming, as you grow, as when you're younger, stronger, more knowledgeable as you grow older, maybe not as strong. Hopefully you're still increasing in knowledge. We're becoming. There's a degree to us. There is no degree to God. He is not evolving. He is not progressing. He is not changing. He simply is. That's probably the best way of describing what this name tells us about the Lord. I am is a way of saying that God simply is. He has life in himself. This is, by the way, the logical basis for the first and second commandment. You shall have no other gods before me, because there is no other god. That simply is. And this is the basis for the outlawing of idolatry, because it shows us the utter folly of idols that have beginnings, that are made of, say, stuff like wood and metal, that are the inventions of men's minds. And they often, in nearly every case, are, or display, dependency. The gods are dependent upon people, dependent upon higher gods, and so on and so forth. Actually, it's interesting, in the time in which Moses is writing the Pentateuch, and in the context in which he's writing it, in the ancient Near East, The main view of the gods was that, and people, was that the gods got so tired and so fed up with all the work they had to do, they created people to do work for them, which shows us they are dependent ultimately upon their creation, not God himself. So this is a wild and radical thought in a way here. that God is self-existent, and therefore any other claim to deity that rivals him should be, well, just on a logical basis, should be seen as folly. because there's only one God who simply is. So this shows us his self-existence. It also shows us his eternality, which is a way of saying he's eternal. He has no beginning. He has no end. He is not bound by time itself. Time itself is a creation of God. He is the one we read in Revelation 4, who, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Even we read in the book of Hebrews concerning the divine nature of Jesus himself that he is the same yesterday and today and forever, which means that he simply is and simply always has been. And even the way, even the way we speak about it, like to say he always has been or he is eternal, is technically, well, not the best way of describing it because it assumes time. But God is transcendent above even time itself. It's a It's a marvel for us to consider. He simply is. This also speaks of his sovereignty. Because he is the one who has self-resistance, because he is not dependent upon his creation or upon anything higher than himself, then he has all power. He has all authority. He has all might. He has all rightful claim on everything, on our hearts, on every speck of dust in this whole cosmos. He is the one who exercises and has sovereign dominion over all that there is. And this is revealed in his simple name, I Am. And then fourthly, so you see that it speaks of his self-existence, his eternality, his sovereignty, and then you could say his presence. that he simply is, and in the context of Exodus 3, this is applied to Moses and to Moses' words when he gets back to Egypt. He simply is, but he simply is with his people. He is a God who alone exists, but he is with his covenant people. Actually, the very means through which he's with them is by giving them this name, that they might know him. that they might call upon him, we'll get to that in a bit, that God is with his people to save them. Well, first of all, to hear their prayers, their cries when they were burdened in Egypt. He's with them to save them through his deliverer, Moses. He will guide them in the wilderness, fire by night, cloud by day. He will protect them in the wilderness. That very same fire that guards them will be like a hedge to protect them from Pharaoh's army, and God himself, by the power of his might and presence, will lead his people safely across the Red Sea, even as that very same sea is used to swallow the Egyptian army. In other words, God is with his people in his self-existence, in his eternality, in his sovereignty and power to bless them, to be everything they need. It's almost like you can imagine an Israelite or Moses himself saying, you know, God, are you my help? I am. Are you my salvation? I am. Are you my refuge? I am. It's like that is a way that his name shows us that not only is he out there as like some metaphysical thing that we think of. But then, no, he's not abstract. He's with his people. Which leads us to a bit of application here. First of all, how should we think of this as his name? What should we do about it? Just hear it and file it away as some interesting theological truth? Well, no, this should be very much something we meditate on, we think deeply about. We should be astounded by the limits of our knowledge And by the revelation that God has given to us, one of the attributes of God that is often confusing, as if they're not all confusing, there's rightful confusion to them since we're finite, but one of them that, if you're to ask who is God, we don't go to right away, is that he is incomprehensible. Which is a way of saying that, it's not saying we can't comprehend anything about him. but saying that we can't wrap our minds fully around him. He just is. We are derived. He's the creator. We're the creature. He's not bound by time. We are. He's not bound by space. We are. Like there's so much of a qualitative difference between us and God that we confess he is incomprehensible, unless he reveals himself to us, unless he comes and speaks to us and gives us revelation about who he is, which is what he does here in his name. And even then, we are stretched, like the limits of our knowledge is stretched, the limits of our theology is stretched, the limits of our ability to even think of, say, a being that is eternal is stretched. If you've ever read Augustine's Confessions, like he has a whole section where he does this, where he's in a prayer to God, he's really just realizing and confessing that he's at the very end of his thoughts. Like, how can I, as one who is bound by space, think of a being that is not? And it's a good question because it's almost impossible, if not impossible apart from just accepting what God has revealed about himself in his word, that he is truly spirit. Another church father, Athanasius, who talked about this around Christmas time, he is one who is very famous for saying that what we cannot understand should drive us to wonder, to awe, to reverence. And very much do we come up against a huge wall of understanding when we think of God's self-existence, his eternality, his sovereign power and dominion, and why he would even care to be with us. And I think that should mean that very much. should drive us to wonder, to be astonished at the God who has revealed himself to us and who has come to us, ultimately knowing the fullness of redemption, come to us in Jesus Christ. These are not just abstract theological qualities about God, but they should not just cause us to say, oh wow, that's cool, but they should be means through which we wonder and are astounded by and continue to meditate on God and His goodness and glory. Nothing that we have in the scripture, no, you could say information that we encounter in the scripture is to be divorced from reverence and awe to the Lord. And so here we have God's, a revelation of God's identity. But there's more than a revelation to Moses here in this passage. For God says in verse 15, or verse 14, he's not only said, you know, go and tell the people this, but he also says something else. Verse 15, go and say to the people of Israel, the Lord, or I am, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is a reminder that Moses is to give to the people of Israel, and it's a reminder that's good for us. This God, who simply is in his power and might and dominion, is the one who has been with his people from the beginning, for generations. He's with Abraham, he's with Isaac, he's with Jacob, and this is so important to know because it means that he is dependable. He has proven himself, he will not fail, even though his people, and when we went through Genesis, we saw this so clearly, even though Abraham, even though Isaac, even though Jacob, very much fail, and do at times, almost like they are trying their best to not fulfill the promises, or to hinder God's promises as coming to fruition, but yet God's not dependent upon them to bring about what he has promised. And so he, is with his people, he is their God, he's been their God for generations, and he will be for generations more. He's with his people, just as he was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, despite their sins and failures, and even despite their enemies, and when it seems like, when it seems like all is lost, when they're as good as dead, when, say they're 90 years old and haven't had a child, and yet they're called father of a multitude, and it seems like against all odds, God has been with his people. He has defended them, he's protected them, he's used them, he's bringing about his promises through them. And that's good news for the Israelites, because it means that he will continue to do the same thing, even though they're a bunch of slaves in a foreign land. It's through them that God is working and accomplishing something that will ultimately lead to the salvation of the ends of the earth through the promised offspring, Jesus Christ. This means that God is, it's the reminder that Moses is to give to the people that this one who has sent him, I am, that this is the God who is active in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's day. This is good to know, a good reminder because it is stressing that God truly is active. He's not sitting back and twiddling his thumbs. He's not standing on the sidelines. He is always active. He's active even in raising up Moses and sending him and preparing and equipping Moses for this task. He's active in hearing the cries and cares of his people. He's active in giving them help. And knowing the fullness again of redemption, he is active in coming himself to be the one who ultimately delivers his people from more than Egyptian bondage, but from sin and death. through Christ himself. So there's a reminder here that Yahweh, I am, is the God who has been active amongst his people and will continue to be. And then finally, there's a charge. And this is our last point. You see this at the end of verse 15. God is speaking either just to Moses here, or this is still part of the quotation that Moses is to speak to the people of Israel. Regardless, it still remains a charge for God's people to this day. He says, This is my name forever. And thus, I am to be remembered throughout all generations. And again, that is true for us today. This is the name by which we are to remember the Lord. And remembering the Lord is far more than simply recalling it. Actually, the word to be remembered is a bit... It's probably not the best word. Memorialized is the better word. I don't even know if that is a word, but it works here. This is the name by which we are to memorialize God. We are to enshrine this name. We are to hold it up as something that is special and good and ours. It is to be enshrined. But not like you would say, take a nice piece of, pottery or china and put it in a cabinet and never use it or touch it. It is to be memorialized in a way that you bring it out often and you use it. You use it carefully, yes, but you use it properly and you use it often. That's what it means to remember God's name throughout all generations. Actually, I think that some translations even translate this as, this is my name by which I am to be called upon or something. by all generations, which is a very good way of capturing what is seen here as well. And so to remember God's name forever, for us, calls us, charges us, just as it charges Israel and Moses here, it charges us to use God's name in a couple of ways. This is application as well. First, independency. I've already hit on this in a number of ways, that God's name is, His name, as I am here, stresses that we are dependent upon him and we should always be. Psalm 20 verse seven speaks of this. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, or Yahweh, our God. We are to look to the Lord with dependency for safety. Israel very much needed to know that, as they would be thrust into a very dangerous wilderness. We're to look to the Lord to remember his name, ultimately for salvation itself, for that deliverance that God promises to bring about. Joel, chapter two, verse 32. It says, it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, which is what the Apostle Paul picks up on to speak that this name is the name of Jesus, the one whom God sends, God coming in the flesh to be, again, our deliverer from more than just like a worldly bondage, but from a spiritual bondage to sin and death, that Jesus comes and it's by dependency upon his name that we are saved by calling upon it, by remembering and memorializing and bringing out and using the name of Jesus. Well, remember Peter's sermon after he was arrested. He speaks of the name of Jesus and says, there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. So use his name in the sense that we are to be wholly dependent upon God for safety, for direction, for ultimately salvation. And he also used his name in worship. To call upon the name of the Lord is the Old Testament description of what it means to worship God. To invoke his name and to do so reverently, not flippantly, for such would, well, fall under the third commandment. Do not take the Lord's name in vain. That implies we should take the Lord's name, but not in vain. We should use it, and we should use it reverently and often and well, and the means through which we do that is worship. Worship that God has directed, worship that God has commanded. And again, God's worship is not something, or God's name in worship is not something that we use just to identify him so that we all know which God we're talking to, but it's a way of confessing who he is and really who we are. He is the great I am. We are dependent upon him. It's a way of, likewise, joining ourselves to Jesus, who said in the face of the Pharisees and the Sadducees trying to trap him in his words, I am. He is the one who has come as the covenant God and Lord of his people of old. He is the one through whom We pray, he is the one through whom we worship. He is the one through whom we approach the Father and the power of the Spirit. So we use his name in worship and closely tied to that in prayer. We're called to pray in the name of Christ. which again I think I've said many times is not, it doesn't mean we just tack in Christ's name on the end of our prayers. So that's a good practice. It's not some magical incantation or some words that we just have to use to make sure our prayers are right. But it's an attitude. It's a faith, it's a dependency that as we pray as Christians in devotion to this Lord, in dependence upon Him, we are praying in the name of Christ. The hope that we have of our prayers reaching the throne of grace is not in our own power or strength, if it were, then we'd be praying in our own name. But it's in the name of the Lord. It's the name of Jesus. He's the one we hope to take our prayers and present them to the Father. This means in all our forms of prayer, whether it's invocation, asking God to be present, we do so in the name Jesus we do so in the name of the great I am this means that in adoration of God for his majesty Well, we invoke his name. We use we reflect on his name We use what God has communicated to Moses here in these very words to drive us to prayer and to adore him as we confess our sins and We come to Him and we say to the Lord, you are the one who has all sovereign authority, you are the one who is, you are the one who is worthy of all my worship and adoration and obedience and I have failed to bring you such. I confess my sins. We pray and we confess in the light of His great name. We give Him thanks for His name, for He's revealed it to us, yes, but also that He is our God and He's the one true God. We do not worship some false, impotent idol. We worship the God who has and possesses life in himself and who gives it to us. And so even in our supplication, that is our asking God for things that are needful, we invoke his name, that he is, and he is able to provide exactly what we need for life and godliness. So we use, the charge here is that we be dependent upon the Lord, we use his name well, And then lastly, we do so passing it on to all generations. This is my name that I need to be remembered throughout all generations. That means one of the greatest ways that we use the name of the Lord is to teach the next generation, call our children to remember these truths, love ourselves so that we would be examples to those who will come after us. That we ourselves might be known as a people who revered name of the Lord. There's a lot we can learn from these few verses here that Moses receives from God in a burning bush. Let us at least for this evening be reminded that God simply is, that he has all sovereign power and dominion and might, that he doesn't depend upon anyone or anything for such life, and that we ourselves should be dependent upon him. Let us, even as we come to this table, reflect upon the name of the Lord that we have fully revealed to us in Jesus Christ, who himself came to us, not in a burning bush, but as a lamb, came to us to give himself for us and to be our means of deliverance from sin and death. Let's pray.