Good morning, let's all stand together and we'll sing hymn number 258, number 258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He's a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, Where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, And covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He taketh my burdens off. me up and I shall not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love, and covers me there with his hand. and covers me there with His hand. With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory to God, For such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock That shadows the dry, thirsty He hideth my life in the depths of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. When clothed in his brightness transported I rise to meet him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love, And covers me there with his hand. Let's sing hymn number 199. 199. Sinners Jesus will receive Sound this word of grace to all Who the heavenly pathway leave All who linger, all who fall Sing it o'er Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive a sinful man. Come and he will give you rest. Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ, receive a sinful man. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain Christ receive us sinful men Now my heart condemns me not Pure before the law I stand He who cleansed me from all spot Satisfied its last demand Sing it o'er and o'er again Christ, receive a sinful man Make the message clear and plain Christ, receive us sinful men Christ, receive us sinful men Even me, with all my sin Purge from every spot and stain Heaven with Him I enter in Sing it o'er and o'er again Christ, receive a sinful man Make the message clear and plain Good morning. Let's open God's word together. I'd like to read Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live, will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever, which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises them that are bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous. The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the followless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. The Lord shall reign forever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord. Our kind and gracious, merciful Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight, or this morning, as needy, helpless, hopeless sinners in need of a Savior, in need of grace, in need of mercy, in need of your providing. We acknowledge that You provide all things. Without you, we can do nothing. Even the breath we draw at this moment comes from thy hand. Lord, we come to open your word, and we thank you, Lord, for this pause in our week that's so full of so many troubling things. We're weary, Lord. And we thank you for this pause in the week that we can come. We bow our heads and look at your word. We hear your word preached. We're caused to rejoice in our hearts that thou art still God. Your word is not changed, it's eternal. This world is full of change and decay. full of death and dying and suffering and pain and sin. But we look to the things that are eternal through your word, the things which cannot be seen. And we ask, Lord, that you'd send your spirit and give us eyes to see, hearts to believe. Give our minds some understanding, some light, as the word is read and preached. Fetch us once again to your blessed feet. Help us to. Worship and honor the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, who alone is worthy of any praise recognition. Any. All things are do him. He alone is worthy. We're unworthy. Thank you for him. Thank you for our dear savior. Who came. And submitted under the death of the cross for. For us. Who died for the ungodly? Who came to save sinners? Oh, we find such hope in that blessed word that you've given us, given us a measure of understanding and appreciation for it. Help us as we bask in the glory of his face this morning. Be with our brother as he leads us. We thank you for him. Thank you for the labor. Thank you for enabling him to come. And we ask you to enable him as he speaks. Speak through him, speak to us through him. Remember those that are weak and frail. We're all weak and frail, but there are those who are in a very frail, weak place, sick. And Lord, ask that you be with them. Heal them if it be your will. Most of all, we pray for the lost, those that we know and love, our children and our grandchildren. Leave them not to themselves, their own will, their own way. Intervene in their lives. Stir up their nest. Cause them to be troubled. Cause them to come to Christ. Save them by your grace. Lord, we ask you to go through this service with us. We need you. We look to you. We trust you'll provide our every need, as you've promised. And we ask and pray these things in Christ's dear name. Amen. Let's all stand together and we'll sing the hymn of the bulletin. Our God is love His word is so clear He gave His Son for those He holds dear Not by attraction But by His grace, redeeming love, O see His sweet face. He said thy time was the time of love From everlasting chosen above With courts of love He draws sinful men He loved them unto the end No greater act could Jesus come in To show His love He died for their sin. He'll have compassion on whom he will. Not one of his will go into hell. When Christ passed by and looked on their birth Though they were cast out unto the earth He gave them life and He said thy time was the time of love. As most of you know, our pastor's away today, and we're privileged to have Brother Cody Henson with us once again. I think everyone knows him here, but he attends where Gabe Stoniker's a pastor in Kingsport, Tennessee. He married one of our girls a while back, so I guess we've adopted him. Always happy to hear that he's coming to preach for us. I am. He's been a blessing to us. I trust the Lord will bless him to us once again. Brother Cody, come and bring the message. Good morning. You go ahead and turn in your Bibles with me to Exodus chapter 3. I think many of you know that my mom's in the hospital. We recently found out she has cancer. And then I went with her to her appointment this week and found out she had a brain mass, which she had to get taken out about 24 hours after we found out about it. And she's still in the hospital. She's doing okay. And I've been thinking, I didn't know if I'd be able to come here or not. I knew I was planning to come preach here a few weeks ago. I can't help but think I've been dying to worship our Lord. We worship Him in our heart constantly as He enables us to. And whether I'm speaking or not, someone has to. And it's an honor and joy to do so, but I'm telling you, I just want to worship our Lord. And if I'm the one up here speaking, then so be it. The Lord's able to bless us in spite of me, in spite of us, and in spite of our circumstances. You know, I truly think he might send his spirit and bless us today. And I pray he would be pleased to do so. But thank you. Several of you have reached out or commented on her post, and I really appreciate it. It means a lot. We know our Lord cares for us, and we care for one another too, and I'm grateful for that. You know, in good times and bad, we should desire to worship our Lord. May he be glorified here today. Look with me here in Exodus chapter three. I want to consider the first six verses this morning. Exodus three, look at verse one. 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." Here in Exodus chapter 3, Moses is about to meet God. He's about to meet God. He has gone from Pharaoh's palaces and all the treasures and riches of being in Pharaoh's house to residing in the backside of a desert. And he's been here for 40 years. We're told right here he's tending to his father-in-law's sheep in Horeb. And Horeb is Mount Sinai. And we know that's the place where God would later give his law. Now Moses didn't know it. God is preparing him. God has been preparing him. He's been leading sheep. God has been preparing him to lead his sheep. God's been preparing Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. But in order for that to happen, something wonderful has got to happen for Moses first. I love this. I don't know that I ever knew this, but Gabe will often tell us what people's names in the Bible mean, and I hope I remember to do this more often because this blessed my heart. Moses' name means drawn. Drawn. Drawn out, drawn to. He's about to be drawn. He's about to be drawn. And I looked into Jethro's name. Jethro means his abundance. Anytime we come to worship God, anytime we truly enter into God's word, we enter into his abundance, do we not? God is about to draw Moses to himself with his abundant goodness, his abundant grace, his abundant mercy. Moses is in the desert. We must be drawn out of the desert, because that's where we are. Dead in our sin, we're in a desert. We're in a dry land. We need to be delivered from the bondage of our sin. Lord willing, we'll look at that a little bit more tonight. I mentioned he's at the place where God gave his law. If we're trying to keep God's law, that's a hard place to be. That's a place of bondage. That's where the sheep were. We need to be delivered from that place. It's not a good place to be. We need green pastures. We need still waters. We need a quiet, restful place to to lay our head, put our hope. All right. We need God to do something for us. like he's about to do right here for Moses, okay? Look with me at verse two. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses is out here just minding his business like he's been doing for years when the angel of the Lord appeared unto him. He wasn't looking for God. He's just leading sheep. The angel of the Lord is God himself. I looked into this meaning too. The Hebrew meaning means, never heard of this word, theophanic angel. What that theophanic means is manifestation of God. God manifests in the flesh. The word, which is Christ, we're told in John 1, was made flesh and dwelt among us. This is pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, all right? That's who appeared to Moses, okay? Who is Jesus Christ? He's the Lord. He's the true and living God. I mentioned John 1. In the beginning, he's God who was in the beginning. He said in Revelation, I am the beginning and the ending. What got me looking at this chapter was actually verse 14, and I don't plan on even looking at that today, but he said, I am. We're told, I think in John 8, he said, before Abraham was, I am. That's who Jesus Christ is. And that's who appeared right here to Moses, all right? That's who's about to draw Moses. Oh my, what a blessed occasion. Now, how did he appear unto him? It tells us right here in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush, a self-sustaining flame of fire, self-existing, okay? Because that's who God is, all right? There's significance here. There's significance to this flame. We see God's sovereignty. He just appeared. He appeared because He chose to do so. That's what God can do. He's sovereign. He's all-powerful. We want and hope and strive to do things. God does what He will. He does what He wants to do. He doesn't want anything. He does what He will. If He wants it, it's done. We see His deity. We see His glory. I couldn't help but think about how, on several occasions, the Lord our God rained down fire Flame of fire, he ran down fire from heaven. Sodom and Gomorrah, he ran down fire. You remember those prophets of Baal, he ran down fire. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter four. The flame of fire here and fire throughout the scriptures represents God's judgment, God's holiness, his wrath against sin. Look here, Deuteronomy four, verse 24. Deuteronomy 4.24, I'm sure most of you have heard this, but perhaps someone hasn't. Deuteronomy 4.24 says, Most people would be ready to tell you that God is love, and He is. There is no love apart from God. True love comes from God. God is love. Without God, there would be no love. Most people would be happy to admit God is merciful. God is gracious. God is forgiving. God is kind. God is tenderhearted. He's patient, slow to anger, and he is. But here's what most people do not truly know. God is holy. Jealous here doesn't mean he's jealous because he doesn't have something that he wants. No. He has a jealous anger against sin. God is just. God delights in that which is right. That's what it means to be righteous. That's what God is. That's who God is. Now, I point this out to say Moses here is finding out who God is. from God Himself through this flame of fire and a burning bush. And if we're going to learn who God is, I believe the first thing we're going to learn is He's holy. He's holy. We'll see that a few times this morning. Verse 2 again, back in our text. Exodus 3 verse 2, 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." How in the world was this bush not consumed? That just doesn't make any sense. If you go outside and light a bush on fire, it's going to burn. It's going to burn. But I want to be clear. Many people in the scriptures who never knew the Lord were fascinated by miracles he performed. We need to see much more than just a supernatural event. That'll do us no good if that's all we see, okay? This burning bush pictures something. Somebody was in that burning bush. This burning bush shows us Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's who we need to see, and that's how we need to see him. He is God's sacrifice for sin. There's only one sacrifice for sin. There's only one righteousness. It's him. It's a person. And we see this person. We see the sinner's substitute in this burning bush. And I love this when I saw this. The burning bush. I hope someone here hasn't heard this. The burning bush was a thorny bush. It was a thorny bush. Do you know why thorns exist? I believe it's in Genesis chapter 3. Thorns came as a result of sin. Do you remember what kind of crown was placed on our Lord's head as he hung on the cross? It wasn't a crown with jewels or roses. It was a crown of thorns. Why? Representing the sin for which he hung on that cross. The sin of his people whom he came to save. And it's also believed, you look in the interlinear concordance, it's believed that this bush was a blackberry bush. And I've picked blackberries from a blackberry bush, that's a thorny bush. And blackberries are fruit, one of my favorites. I had studied this recently. And I saw, especially in Deuteronomy, but in the scriptures on multiple occasions, God's people are referred to as the fruit of his body. If we're his, if God chose us, placed us in Christ, Christ came to save us, we're the fruit of his body. Why is that important? The bush was not consumed. You think his fruit was? Not a chance. No, he told us, he said, I've not lost a single one. Not one of them is lost. He said concerning his own, he said, they shall never perish. We're vitally joined to him. We're in him. He suffered and he died, but here's the thing. By his death, he's satisfied. That's why the grave could not hold him. Because his death accomplished something. What did it accomplish? The salvation of all his people. The burning bush was not consumed. The bush consumed God's wrath. Christ consumed the flame of God's wrath and his vengeance against sin. He consumed it all. And so he arose. And I'll tell you this, he did it all by himself. This matter of salvation, we're going to get no glory in this. Christ did it all. He gets it all. Look back in our text here at verse 3. Exodus 3 verse 3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. I find that verse interesting. You think when God came to reveal himself to Moses, he could just, nah. Nothing to see here. Today I'm just going to keep on going. If God intends to get our attention, He's going to get our attention. I may not get your attention, but if God plans to, He's going to get it. I know because that's what He did for me. That's what He does for all His people. I've talked to many believers, and we have the same story. In loving kindness, Jesus came, my soul in mercy to reclaim. He lifted me. I didn't lift myself. He lifted me up. I didn't turn to him. He came to me. And he caused me to turn aside and see him. He will appear in his time, according to his will and his good pleasure. None can stop him. You know, Saul of Tarsus, he was a very determined, God-hating man. Did that stop God from saving him? Go home and read Acts 7-9. Tell me what you find. Galatians 1. Did Paul just... He was on his way arresting God's saints. And I believe, killing. He killed Stephen, right? Consented to his death. When God caused light to shine, the light shines. When God says, let there be light, there's light. We could sit here all our life with no desire, no interest in going, no care for our soul, no desire for Christ and his word. When all of a sudden, what happened? I find myself believing, I find myself needing Christ and crying unto him for mercy. Well, I think I'm gonna go to service. I think I need to see this great sight of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You didn't care before, I know. But God gave me sight to see. God gave me eyes to behold Him. And I can't see anything else. There's nothing else valuable to me anymore. Christ is all. What'd you do? Nothing. He did it all. When I first looked at verse three, I didn't really see a whole lot. Oh my soul, I see what God's done for me. I believe Gabe's preaching this morning on when the Lord was being led to the cross and someone referred to him as a king and the people said, we have no king but Caesar. God will enable us to see our king. God will enable us to look at the cross and see our Redeemer. Oh, we thought it was He that was going to redeem Israel. God can enable us to see that. God can cause us to see Him. Our Savior. You know, there's there's one thing needful. There's only one thing we need to see, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. and him crucified. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all to myself, all his people, all his chosen, all the father gave to him and placed in his hands. He referred to them as all whom the father hath given to me. John 17. If God enables us to see him, we'll say there's nothing like him. There's none like that. I've never heard such good news in all my life. Verse four, 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. The Lord knew Moses would turn aside. God made him willing to do so. And I'll tell you this, we won't do it on our own. We're not gonna get the glory for this, all right? And yet, and yet we're told, God watched to see what he would do. God knows if we're believing on Him right now. You see, here's two things, all right? God is sovereign in everything, and we're responsible. We're sinners. We're responsible for our sin against God. God's word declares the great commandment to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone, to love Him alone. all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's the commandment. It goes out to everybody. Okay? We're told this gracious fact in Romans 10. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let me tell you something. God's people will call upon the name of the Lord. They will. He said, Whosoever cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. You can take that to the bank. It's a fact. And if we come to him, if we call upon his blessed name, God's going to get all the glory for that. All of it. Because salvation is of the Lord. It's not of us. It's not, well, he's done his part. Now it's time for me to do my part. I need to make my decision and be resolved and get dedicated and all that. That's foolishness. That's glory in himself. And God will not have that. He said, my glory, I'm not going to give to another. I'm not going to share it. It's his. It's his alone. It's blasphemous to think that I could get some credit for standing before God accepted. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. Now notice here, God called Moses by name. He said, Moses, Moses. I love when he would come to his child and he would say their name twice. I just love it. That's how God does it. That's how this works. God comes to his child and he calls his child by name. He calls his child personally. The Lord knoweth them that are His. He knows them. Their names are written in heaven. Their names have been recorded in a book called the Lamb's Book of Life. And they're not going to be blotted out. Because we're in Christ. We're with Him. I want to show you a couple verses. Turn to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. God knows who will believe. God knows who will call upon Him. God knows who will be saved. And here's why. Because He purposed to save them. And He purposed in time. We just sang a song. Thy time was the time of love. He purposed the time of love when He speaks life to them and imparts faith to them, causing us to see Him and believe on Him. Look away from our vain selves. Look here, Isaiah 43 verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Now look at this. I have called thee by thy name. And he didn't stop there. He said, thou art mine. Does that not bless your heart? Seriously. Well, now you just need to believe God. Yeah, you should. But we need Him to come to us. We need Him to call us by name out of our darkness to Christ the light. Look at chapter 45 right here in Isaiah. Isaiah 45 verse 4. Isaiah 45 verse 4. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee thou hast not known me." He calls us by name, and here's something glorious. He gives us a new name. He gives us His name. We're told in Jeremiah, our name, because of what God has done for us, is the Lord our righteousness. What a name. What a name. My soul. John 10 verse 3 says, he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out. He's the Lord our shepherd, our good shepherd, our great shepherd, our chief shepherd, and he'll never let us go. You know, I love that account where the man had 99 sheep and then one went off into the wilderness. He went and he finds that sheep and he brings it home rejoicing. Oh, if God brought a lost sheep home today, they will be rejoicing in heaven. He tells us this. What a blessing. And don't worry, brethren, we can't mess this thing up. Well, God found me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. But I better keep myself. I better watch out. I better not sin anymore. Yeah, we ought not to sin anymore, but we're still sinners. I'm glad that song we just sang didn't say Christ received sinful men. No, Christ receiveth sinful men. It just may be we find ourselves in a dark place. Seems like we've left the heavenly pathway, as it says. Oh, sing it over and over again, Christ, receive us, sinful man. You make this message clear and plain. Couldn't be any plainer, could it? We've gone astray, but our shepherd will see to it that we've returned unto him, the shepherd and bishop of our souls for all eternity. He'll see to it. We don't have to. And know this, too. If God calls us with that holy calling, we'll answer. We'll hear him. You notice what Moses said there? Look back in our text. The end of verse 4, God called Moses, Moses, and he said, here am I. I'm here. Again, in John 10, he's talking about his sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice, not because we gave ourselves ears to hear. He said that the seeing eye, the hearing ear, the Lord hath made both of them. We're not going to see, we're not going to hear unless he gives us the ability to do so. He said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them. What a blessing to be known of God, known of the Good Shepherd. And he said, they follow me. Somewhere here in the first 14 verses, he says, the Lord tells Moses, he said, my people are going to worship me on this mountain. Oh, won't you please just worship God? God will see to it that if we're his, we do. He's going to be worshiped. And he'll also see to it that every knee is gonna bow, every tongue's gonna confess he's Lord, to his glory, the glory of God the Father. Verse five, and he said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Draw not nigh hither, stand back, don't come any closer, why? mention holiness. This matter of God's holiness has got to be dealt with. May God enable me to deal with this. May God enable us to hear this. I told you God appeared in a flame of fire, picturing His holiness. God comes in holiness and now He's addressing the matter. I thought of Isaiah, remember what Remember what was told to Isaiah, I believe in chapter six, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Are we aware of God's holiness? Do we know how holy God is? By nature, we don't know. I venture to say most churches in this town don't have a clue God is holy and what that means. Here's what that means. Habakkuk 113, thou art of pure eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity. That's holiness. You and I don't, naturally, we don't know anything about that. We just sweep sin under the rug. We forgive one another. Or we try. But our forgiveness isn't holy forgiveness. You turn right around and wrong me again, you better believe I'm gonna hold that over your head. God is holy. If God forgives, God forgives. It's done. He's holy. He's holy. Oh God's so holy, we can't approach unto him. We can't We can't have anything to do with him. People think God's their buddy. Oh, me and God got a good thing going. Is that right? Maybe the God of your imagination, but maybe the God who has no hands but yours, but not the God who reigneth. You just read it in the psalm. God reigns. He's God. His name implies the very fact that he reigneth. God is holy. We are sinful. We need to acknowledge this. This world needs to acknowledge this. If we're going to stand before him, oh, I'd hate to leave this world not knowing that. God hates sin, and that's exactly what we are. That's exactly what we are. That's all we are. You ever wonder why hell exists? Everybody will acknowledge hell exists, right? Why? It's for those who don't straighten up and fly right, no? Hell exists because of sin. People who die in their sin, that's where they go. People who die without a without a sin covering. People who die without a righteousness before God, that's where they go. That's why there's a place called hell, OK? And I mentioned fire. It's called the Lake of Fire. Where the worm dieth not, the worm dieth not. It's God's eternal punishment for sin. That's what it is. You ever wondered why the Lord Jesus Christ, right before he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, you ever wondered why he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? How in the world could he be forsaken by God? He is God. Here's how. Because God is holy. God is holy. He knew no sin. There was no guile in his mouth. He only ever did good. And yet, when he hung on that cross, bearing the sin of his people in his body on the tree, when God found sin on his son, his only begotten son, in whom he's well pleased, forsaken. Wrath, fury fell on him. Because God is holy. He spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, all his people. All who love him, all who are the called according to his purpose. Spared not his own son. You see, God will by no means clear the guilty. We see that at Calvary, don't we? Oh, we see it clearly, don't we? Trading places with us, and that's what he did. That's why he came. Not to die for his own sins, but to die for the sins of his people. Again, he had no sin. I want to be clear. But trading places with us, he was made sin. He was made to be guilty. He was made a curse. He became us. I'm just quoting scripture to you. And by trading places with us, he's given us his name. He's made us to be righteous in him, accepted. Oh. Verse five again. And he said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet. Why did God command Moses to take his shoes off? That dirt was not holy. I'm telling you, that dirt was like any other dirt, or sand, or whatever the ground was. The ground in and of itself was just ground, okay? I want to be abundantly clear. So why did he say you're standing on holy ground, take your shoes off? Oh, if God enables us to see Christ crucified, we'll see why Moses had to take his shoes off. His shoes represent something, all right? When we deck ourselves, I'm wearing what I believe are nice shoes that you gave me. Thank you. I'm wearing what I deem to be a nice suit, a nice shirt. My mom bought this tie for me. His shoes represented a covering. that he put on himself. You see where I'm going? There is a, it's like in the garden after Adam and Eve ate of that fruit, when their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked. They immediately went to cover themselves. Wouldn't you? That's natural to us, isn't it? That's what we do. But our man-made covering must be taken off. We can't come to God in a self-righteousness We all go about to establish our own righteousness, not knowing Christ, not submitting to Him. I told you there's one righteousness. It's not Him plus us. It's Him alone. Him alone. We suppose that we're good. We have some goodness that we think is in us. God says we don't. Nothing. Wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores from the bottom to the top. That's all we are. No soundness in us. Here's how we must come to God. As we are, in my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross, the Christ of the cross, we cling. Any sort of covering we have conjured up, got to cast it off, cast it out. Empty handed, that's how we must come to Christ. We can come to God, but only through Christ, only through the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. But by me. So here's the command. Come to Christ. Come as you are. But here's one problem. We won't. and we can't. I thought about not saying that, but I think you'll see why I'm saying it. Turn to John chapter 5. I usually just say it. I don't usually turn, but I want us to see it. John chapter 5. Now here's the point of this, okay? Coming to Christ Being saved from our sin cannot be the result of our will or our ability. That's why this is important. All right? Look here, John 5, verse 39. This is our Lord speaking. John 5, verse 39. He said, Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. You won't do it. He went on to say, I don't receive honor from men. He told these people, I know you, in verse 42, you don't have the love of God in you. Unless God does something for us, that's all of us. You read through the epistles that the Apostle Paul wrote, he made sure to always mention, not by the will of man, not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's God that showeth mercy. It's of his mercy. It's of his mercy. We're talking about being consumed. You know what the scriptures say about those who aren't consumed? It's of his mercies that we're not consumed. That's why the sons of Jacob aren't consumed. Because his mercies are new every morning, they endure forever. Turn right here a page to John 6, look at verse 44. We will not come to Christ. John 6, 44 says, no man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Look at verse 37. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. For us to come to Christ, God must draw us. Just from the account that we're looking at this morning, do you suppose Moses would have ever come to Christ had God not come to him? Of course he wouldn't. Of course not. No one ever has and no one ever will. We come to God when God comes to us. We love him because he first loved us. How many of his disciples followed him because, well, they just decided to follow him? No, he came to them and called them by name and said, follow me. And immediately, they just dropped everything and followed him. That's who God is. That's how powerful God is. That's how good God is. How kind, how gracious. He makes his people willing in the day of his power. draws us to himself, draws us to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Moses' name, don't you? Drawn. Drawn. And know this, brethren. If we're drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the flame of God's wrath against sin, the punishment against sin that we so rightly deserve, if we're drawn to Christ, that flame will not come nigh us. It's not going to happen, because it came to our Savior. It came to Him. It fell on Him. And here's the fact of the matter. We're in Him. I love how Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Does that not bless your soul every time you hear it? We were crucified with him. And when he rose from the grave, we rose in him. You know, Mary supposed him to be a gardener, and yet she was risen in him. She didn't know it, but she was going to. Those disciples on the road to Emmaus, you think, oh, my soul, until he until he showed them who he was, they didn't have a clue, did they? But now they live, move and have their being in him. And so do we, if we're in him. Oh, to be in him, to be one with him. This burning bush represents substitution and satisfaction. Christ was not consumed. And I thought of this verse in John 10. He said, told us that he laid down his life. He said, I laid down my life as sheep. He said that I might take it again. Don't you love that? He laid it down. No man took it from Him. He laid it down that He might take it again. And then later in the chapter, talking about His sheep, whom He knows, who hear His voice, who follow Him, He said, I give them eternal life. He took that life again, and He gave that life to His people. And it can never be lost. It can never be taken away. Never taken away from us. We're in His hand. He's in the Father's hand. We're one together. Forever. Back in our text, verse 6. Exodus 3, verse 6. Here, God reveals Himself to Moses as the God of promise. The covenant God. That's how he revealed himself. You see, God made a promise to save a particular people from their sins. Pictured by the children of Israel, okay? All Israel shall be saved. It's not talking about the nation, it's talking about God's holy nation, peculiar people chosen in Christ unto salvation. That's who it's talking about, all right? But the people that Moses delivered out of Egypt, That's who that picture is, God's people, okay? Let's consider this real quick and I'll close. He said, I'm the God of thy father, the God of Abraham. The God of Abraham. Abraham was an idol-worshiping God-hater. Did you know that? A liar. Whom God chose from eternity. He chose him to be forever referred to as the friend of God. You think about that. He had a son, the promised son of his and his wife's old age, Isaac. Isaac. Like his father, he was a sinful man. He was. Read about him. Sinful man. Scripture say in Isaac, shall thy seed be called? Isaac was chosen of God. Isaac was used for God to refer to him as the God of Isaac. That's why I want to name my son Isaac. I love that name. I pray he's the God of my Isaac. Jacob, the God of Jacob. I particularly love this one. Oh my, hmm. That evil brother, that selfish, greedy brother, that trickster, that no good, vile boy, Jacob. God said, I've loved him. Oh, I've loved him. Why in the world would you love him? Because I chose him in Christ. That the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. We might be to the praise of the glory of His grace. Oh, Jacob. God came to him and called him by name, didn't He? Wrestled with him. Jacob wouldn't let him go, but God wouldn't let him go. Never will. He said, You're mine. We just read it. We just read it. Here's what God told Moses. He said, I'm the God of sinners whom I promised to save and never let go, chosen and loved in my beloved son. What was Moses' reaction to that? Look at the end of the verse, verse 6. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Now that makes sense to me. I can enter into that. When God is pleased to reveal Himself, He reveals His holiness, and He reveals Himself by revealing His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God the Son. And He did it here to Moses through the form of a burning bush that was not consumed. And I'm telling you, that bush is Christ. That burning bush is Christ, and he was not consumed. Oh, my soul. If God ever speaks to us, if God ever reveals Christ to us and in us, fear will lay hold on us. And this is the kind of fear I'm talking about, reverence. Oh, a reverential fear to fall down at his feet, to cry out to him for mercy. You know, when Moses asked God to show him his glory, he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. He told him, he said, I'll be merciful to whom I will. I'll be gracious. I'll have compassion on whom I will. That's his glory. That's his glory. I pray God might reveal Christ to us today. Christ in the burning bush. God bless his word. Let's have a word of prayer. God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word, your holy, precious word. Every word of it is so pure. I pray that you would be pleased to show us the Lord Jesus Christ in it. If we don't see him, We don't see anything. There's one great sight, and it's him. I pray you'd be pleased to reveal him to us today. There are a lot of people here. Lord, please speak to each soul here, if it be your will. We thank you for your goodness to us. You are so good and so kind. Please have mercy on us and our loved ones. We pray for your will to be done in all things, and regardless of our circumstances, please cause us to trust you. It's so easy to fear and be afraid and to doubt you and your goodness, Lord, forbid us from doing so. Enable us to trust you at all times. Please save us. Don't let us go. Be with all the afflicted, I pray. Keep your hand upon us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you, Cody. Glad I was here to hear that. Couldn't help but think during that message, what a savior. Let's sing that together. Hallelujah, what a savior. Let's stand in number 127. Man of sorrows, what a name For the Son of God who came Ruined sinners to reclaim Hallelujah, what a Savior Bearing shame and scoffing rude In my place condemned He stood Sealed my pardon with His blood Hallelujah, what a Savior! Guilty, violent, helpless we, Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be, Hallelujah, what a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, It is finished was His cry, Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King, All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing, Hallelujah, what a Savior! We'll meet again tonight at six o'clock, God willing. You're dismissed.