Getting To Know God – Part 1
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
John 14:23-24
“Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.
“He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ISV)
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
Please open your Bibles to Exodus 3:1-15
It seems to me that recently we have been talking a lot about living lives that are pleasing to the Lord. Now, we know that lives that are pleasing to the Lord are lives that exhibit love-driven-obedience.
The Lord God could certainly make us be obedient out of sheer force if He wanted to do so, but, that is not His nature.
We see this in the hierarchy of the two great commandments
(Matthew 22:37-40)
We see this in our current memory Scripture (John 14:23-24)
And we see this in our very first memory Scripture (John 3:16-18)
The Lord loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His One and Only Son for our salvation!
Here’s the thing; we can search through to find all the verses that pertain to obedience and try to follow them out of duty but that would NOT be satisfactory to the Lord. The Lord desires love-driven-obedience and we cannot love someone we don’t know.
Just imagine that you want to get married and you are told that there is only one person you can marry; there is no other choice. You are told that this marriage will be great but you are not given much information beside the fact that this person is the best person you will ever find and that there is no other.
You are also told that there are the things you are to do and attitudes you need to have so that when you do get married and meet this person you both will be pleased to spend the rest of your lives together.
Isn’t that similar to what happens to new believers sometimes?
- They are told that all humans are born into a condition called sin and that that sin separates us from God, now and in eternity.
- They are told that God the Father sent the Son of God to be the perfect Sacrifice for our sin so that we could be reconciled with God.
- They are told that God’s grace calls us to salvation and that if we place our faith and trust in Him, if we believe in Him, we will be forgiven of our sin and we will become a son or daughter of God.
- Then they are told to live a life pleasing to God and to love Him.
- And then we will spend eternity in Heaven in His presence.
The question is; who is this God? Can I really know Him?
In both of these scenarios a person would have many questions, the first of which might very well be, “What is his name?”
Well, someone very important in the Bible had the same question.
(Prayer for help before reading …)
Read: Exodus 3:1-15
Read verses 1-4 and then go back to verse 2 to explain:
- LORD
o There was a time in ancient Jewish history, about 300 - 400 years before Christ, when a human tradition was established that the name of the LORD was too holy to write or say so the literal name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was rendered YHWH. Those reading the Scriptures would then say “the Adonai” meaning the Lord in place of God’s name.
o This used to be translated as Jehovah but most Jewish scholars believe that Yahweh is more accurate.
o It is interesting to insert the name Yahweh when reading the Bible and coming across “the LORD” as Yahweh.
o One of the desires of Yahweh was that His name would be great among the nations of the earth as it says in Psalm 86:9, “All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, Yahweh; they will bring glory to Your name.”
o This tradition was meant to show respect but in actuality it erased Yahweh from the vocabulary of Israel and reduced His great name to Lord.
o By the way, in the Old Testament there are many pagan gods referred to as Baal. Guess what Baal means? Lord.
o Man made traditions are rarely, if ever, beneficial to the kingdom of God.
So, we know God’s name is Yahweh. What else might we want to know about Him. Well, we see something very interesting in verse 2 …
Also, in verse 2 we see the phrase, “The Angel of the LORD”” or “the Angel of Yahweh”. What does that mean?
- In the Bible there are two variations of “angel of the LORD”
- “The Angel of The LORD” appears 51 times in the NIV and “an angel of the Lord” appears 10 times.
- “The Angel of the LORD is only found once in the New Testament and it is in reference to an earlier mention of “an angel of the LORD”.
- “An angel of the LORD” only appears in the New Testament
- In each instance of “The Angel of The LORD” you need to look at the context to see if is Yahweh Himself or merely an angel from Yahweh.
- Whenever “the Angel of the LORD” speaks as God Himself it is most likely a Theophany (an appearance of God the Father) or a Christophany (a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus).
Let’s just look at verses 2 and 4 on the screen and just look at the circle here …
“There the angel of the LORD (Yahweh) appeared to [Moses] in flames of fire from within a bush … When the LORD (Yahweh) saw that [Moses] had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush …”
- The angel of the LORD (Yahweh) is in the bush as a flame of fire
- When the LORD (Yahweh) saw Moses go to look it seems as if Yahweh is somewhere outside the bush looking on from a different perspective
- The God (Elohim) called to Moses from within the bush
- Either “the Angel of the LORD” is God (Yahweh) or Yahweh is in the burning bush with a created being we know as an angel who is NOT God.
- How can God be in the burning bush as The Angel of The LORD and outside of the bush as well as an observer?
Here we see a glimpse of an attribute of God called omnipresence; God is everywhere at all times. One of the greatest descriptions of this can be found in
Jeremiah 23:24
“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD?
Or Hebrews 4:13 where it says,
“And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
So we know about the God whom we are learning to love?
We see that God, whose name is Yahweh, is present everywhere at all times. He is as close to you right now as the seat you are sitting on, and, if you are saved He is filling your very being at this very moment.
Ok, let’s continue reading verses 5-15 and see what else we can learn about Yahweh who gave His Son for our salvation …
(At verse 12 briefly mention how God (Elohim) speaks of Himself in the third person. It is as if I were to say, “If you come to the parsonage at 7:00 AM you will probably see Pastor Steve making coffee in the kitchen.”)
Finally we get to verse 14 where God identifies Himself as “I Am Who I Am” which can also be interpreted as “I Will Be What I Will Be”.
This is our God with the name of Yahweh; the I AM!
It does not matter when, where or how you intersect with the I AM He is still the I AM.
If you are reading of the Old Testament Yahweh you are reading about the I AM.
If you are praying the Lord’s prayer saying, “Our Father who art in heaven …” you are praying to the I AM.
If the Holy Spirit is calling you to salvation or convicting you of sin you are dealing with the I AM.
If you are reaching out to Jesus for Salvation you are crying out to the I AM.
The I AM who walked with Adam and Eve is the same I AM who reveals Himself to Moses in verse 14.
The I AM who is revealed in verse 14 is the same God the Father who sits on the throne of glory in Heaven and whose name is written on a host of righteous ones in Revelation 14.
There are many facets of the Name I AM; one of them being that God is immutable; He does not change.
We hear about soldiers going off to war and coming back changed, some stronger and some damaged, but either way they may not be the same person who left home to serve his country; their personality may have been changed by what they experienced.
The I AM is immutable; He does not change.
A person who comes to Christ for salvation and then allows the Holy Spirit to mold him into the image of Christ has changed.
But, The I AM is immutable; He does not change.
Psalm 102:25-27
“In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.”
Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Let me give you an example of God’s immutability and you can go home and check it out!
Deuteronomy 31:8
“The LORD (Yahweh) Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Hebrews 13:5
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
Yahweh, the I AM, has promised to never leave you nor forsake you, right?
I challenge you to go through the Bible and find an instance where Yahweh, the LORD, abandoned anyone!
Time after time after time the people of Israel would abandon God and then they were on their own. That’s a frightening place to be.
Do not be deceived into thinking the God of the Old Testament is any different than the God of the New Testament.
He is faithful. His desire is for you to be saved. He is immutable.
Certainly, we are not immutable. Sometimes we change.
Was there a point in your life when you placed your full faith and trust in Jesus but you have left Him; you have forsaken Him?
It may not have been suddenly or even an observable move.
Perhaps you are still going through the motions but the relationship has gone. He has not moved away from you; you have moved away from Him.
This past week I heard preacher on the radio telling about how his wife, Cathe, as a teenager, had been fervent for Jesus. Cathe loved going to church and reading the Bible and worshiping in times of prayer.
Gradually she drifted away from Jesus until in college she found herself using drugs and alcohol and living a life that was totally away from God.
One day one of her friends found out that she use to attend church and asked her about it. Cathe told her friend that that part of her life was the most peaceful, satisfying and enjoyable part of her life.
Her friend was shocked by this confession and asked her why she had ever stopped being a Christian and Cathe had no explanation at all for what had happened. Her friend also was curious as to what a person does to become a believer in Jesus.
Cathe explained the plan of salvation to her friend and her friend soon placed her faith and trust in Jesus. Soon after that Cathe rededicated her life to Jesus as well.
Do you see yourself anywhere in that testimony?
Did you once have a life close to Jesus but now perhaps you are lukewarm at best?
Jesus didn’t move away from you, you moved away from Him just like the prodigal son.
And just like the Father in the prodigal son, Jesus is waiting for you to return to him. Will you?
So, what are you going to do with Yahweh, now that you know His name and that He is everywhere all the time and that He is unchanging and wants to have a spiritual relationship with you?
Final thoughts. Possible invitation. Prayer. Dismissal
