We Are Standing on Holy Ground!
Exodus 3:1-15
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared August 10, 2023)
(Revised September 26, 2023, to remove Genesis 15:13 statement that the Children of Israel were afflicted for 400 years. Bible scholars have different views on when the affliction started during the 400-year period.) (6)
BACKGROUND:
*Of all the heroes in the Old Testament, nobody stands out more than Moses. We see him leading the Children of Israel across the Red Sea on dry ground. We see him on the mountain with God as the LORD writes out the Ten Commandments. And God used Moses to give us the first 5 books of the Bible.
*But Moses also had a past. He was a murderer, and he spent 40 years in the middle of nowhere taking care of sheep. Then the LORD met with Moses, and his life was changed forever. Let's read about it in Exodus 3:1-15.
INTRODUCTION:
*You may not see a burning bush here this morning, but just like Moses, we are on holy ground. You see, that little piece of desert Moses was standing on was holy for just one reason: God was there. God was there, and He is just as surely here today. We are in the presence of the living Lord, and we know this because of Jesus' promise in Matthew 18:20. There the Lord said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.''
*We are on holy ground today. And this truth has great meaning for our lives.
1. FIRST IT MEANS THAT GOD WANTS US TO CONTACT US.
*We see this great truth in vs. 1-5:
1. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.''
4. So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!'' And he said, "Here I am.''
5. Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.''
*God contacted Moses. And God wants to contact us. Notice in vs. 4, that the LORD called Moses' name, and God calls out to us in a personal, individual way. There are over 8 billion people in the world. But that's no problem for God!
*He wants us to be conscious of His presence, and He can show up at any time. This day started out like any ordinary day for Moses, but out of the blue, God showed up! And Moses was never the same.
*God shows up. He wants to be the biggest part of your life every day. He wants to fill your heart. And we don't need a burning bush. because we've got something better! We've got the Bible, the written Word of God. I am so glad we don't have to go looking for a burning bush. We can hear from God anytime we open His Word!
*God meets with us, not through a burning bush, but through a burning heart. Jesus died on the cross for our sins about 2,000 years ago. Three days later, He rose again from the dead, and on that day, two of the Lord's disciples were walking to the village of Emmaus. Jesus joined them on the way. But somehow He miraculously blocked their vision at first, so they didn't recognize who He was.
*Those disciples were terribly sad, because they didn't yet believe that Jesus was alive. Of course they were talking about the crucifixion. Jesus asked them about their conversation, and why they were so sad. They were shocked, and basically responded by saying, "What? Don't you know what happened in Jerusalem? The mighty prophet, Jesus was crucified. We were hoping that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but He died on the cross. Some of the women went to the tomb this morning, and they could not find His body. But they said they saw angels, and the angels told them that Jesus is alive."
*After Jesus listened to His doubting disciples, Luke 24:25-32 says:
25. Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?''
27. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
28. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
29. But they constrained Him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.'' And He went in to stay with them.
30. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32. And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?''
*We don't need a burning bush here today. God sets our hearts on fire when He speaks to us through His Word.
*James Hewett told about a 12-year-old boy who received Jesus during a revival. The next week at school his friends questioned him about the experience. "Did you see a vision?" asked one friend. "Did you hear God speak?" asked another. The youngster answered no to all these questions. "Well, how did you know you were saved?" they asked.
*The boy searched for an answer, and finally he said, "It's like when you catch a fish. You can't see the fish or hear the fish. You just feel him tugging on your line. And I felt God tugging on my heart." (1)
*God is here today to tug on our hearts with His Holy Word, and the still small voice of His Holy Spirit. But have you ever seen stubborn children stick their fingers in their ears, shut their eyes, and say, "La, la, la, la, la, la"? Sadly, a lot of people are like that when it comes to God. They just don't want to hear what He has to say. But God is here to speak to us, if we will only listen.
2. WE ARE ON HOLY GROUND TODAY. THIS MEANS GOD WANTS US TO CONTACT US. IT ALSO MEANS HE WANTS TO CARE FOR OUR NEEDS.
*We can see how much God cares down in vs. 6-8:
6. Moreover He said, "I am the God of your father the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
7. And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
*Sometimes it's hard to see that the Lord cares for us when we are going through terrible trials in life. And that's what the Children of Israel had been going through for a very long time. Stephen the deacon summed up their hardship in Acts 7:17-19, where he said, "But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose who did not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live."
*It can be hard to see that the Lord cares for us when we are going through hard times. King David went through a season like that, and he recorded his anguish in Psalm 13. David began by saying:
1. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3. Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4. Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed against him''; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
*Then David remembered that God really does care for us, and he finished Psalm 13 with these words:
5. But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6. I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
*God's ways are mysterious, but we must not doubt that He cares for us. Again in vs. 7-8 the LORD said, "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land. . . "
*Here is proof that God cares for us. He surely sees our affliction. He hears our cries. He knows our sorrows. He comes down to us. And He will deliver us!
*God cares for us, and if you are ever tempted to doubt it, go back to the cross. Jesus Christ cares so much that He was willing to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus took our punishment, so that we can take His eternal life. And we will have eternal life, when we put our trust in Jesus, when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior. No matter what happens in our lives, we can know that our God cares.
*Some of us here have probably seen the movie "Unbroken." It was one of the top movies in the country when it came out in 2014, and it was based on the best-selling book about Louis Zamperini. He was an Olympic athlete and World War II hero. In 1943, Louie's plane crashed into the Pacific. He and another crew member survived for 47 days, stranded at sea, only to be captured by the Japanese. Louie was sent to a P.O.W. camp in Tokyo, where he received brutal treatment. The movie tells the amazing story of his courage, perseverance, valor, and miraculous survival. At the end of the war, Zamperini and the other prisoners in the camp were set free to return to their homes. Back home in America, he kissed the ground and hugged his family.
*But Franklin Graham tells us that there was much more to Louie's extraordinary life. "He himself always said that the biggest and most wonderful miracles came after the war, and that part was not included in the Hollywood movie. Louie had been tortured in the Japanese camps. And when he was finally freed, he came home filled with bitterness toward life and rage toward his captors. Louie experienced constant nightmares, became a heavy drinker, had a violent temper, and nearly destroyed everything that mattered to him, including his marriage. His wife feared for her own safety and that of their little daughter, and she began preparing divorce papers. Then a neighbor invited the couple to come to nearby Los Angeles to hear a young, little-known evangelist named Billy Graham."
*And Franklin Graham said, "It was 1949, and my father was preaching in a huge tent downtown. Louis wanted nothing to do with any evangelist, but his wife went anyway, and her heart was changed by the power of the Gospel. She tore up the divorce papers, and persuaded her husband to go with her a few days later. He did, -- then walked out during the meeting.
*She begged him to return another day. That time, while my father preached, Louie knew the Holy Spirit was working within him, and he resisted. The moment the invitation began, he grabbed his wife's hand and headed toward the exit. But in the aisle, overwhelmed by the realization of how broken his life had become, he turned around and gave his life to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. He left the tent with God's complete forgiveness.
*From that day forward, everything changed. Louie started reading the Bible. His nightmares disappeared, he gave up drinking, his hatred and violent anger melted away, and he began to live for Christ. To his own amazement, he soon found himself desiring reconciliation with his Japanese tormentors. He traveled to Japan, visited prisons that held Japanese war criminals, shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with many, and expressed forgiveness personally to any of his wartime captors that he could find.
*These extraordinary acts of reconciliation were widely reported in the media across Japan and the United States, and God used the stories to touch many hearts, and bring the power of forgiveness and reconciliation into many more lives. Right up to his death in July 2014, at age 97, Louie never tired of telling people about the Savior." (2)
*Louis Zamperini found out that the Lord cared for him. And no matter what happens in our lives, we can be sure that God cares for us.
3. WE ARE ON HOLY GROUND TODAY. THIS MEANS GOD WANTS TO CARE FOR OUR NEEDS. IT ALSO MEANS HE WANTS TO CALL US INTO HIS SERVICE.
*God has a call for all of our lives. Please look at God's call to Moses in vs. 9-10:
9. "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.''
*God called Moses, and He calls all of us to make a difference for Him. As Guy Caley said, "Here is God's plan, the way he reaches out to a suffering world. He calls us, and sends us to be His hands.
*God sees the plight of the orphan in China, hopeless and destined to live out her days in poverty and spiritual darkness. He sees the successful businessman you went to high school with who has achieved everything he wanted but aches with the emptiness of it all. God hears the cry of the single mom who lives down the street, whose frustration and despair has her on the brink of taking her own life. God cares about that barefoot and filthy kid who seems to have no supervision and no hope for the future. And because He sees, because He hears, because He cares, God says to us: 'Go now. -- I am sending you to bring them out.'" (3)
*Someday God may send you to a far-away place. But right now He has planted us in a place where we can make a difference for Him. And even the smallest acts can make a tremendous difference for someone else.
*Don't hold back on the Lord, even if you feel inadequate, even if you feel afraid. Moses felt the same way. And I am glad that God included the next part of the story in His Word, because it will encourage us to step out in faith.
4. WE ARE ON HOLY GROUND TODAY. THIS MEANS GOD WANTS TO CALL US INTO HIS SERVICE. AND IT MEANS HE WANTS TO GIVE US THE CONFIDENCE TO GO.
*Moses was feeling very reluctant in vs. 11. There he asked God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?''
*Moses needed confidence to serve the Lord, and God wants us to know that we can find all the confidence we need in Him. So the Lord didn't even bother to answer Moses' question. In vs. 12 God simply said, "Certainly I will be with you." It's as if God said: "Moses. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you don't feel qualified. The only thing that matters is that I am sending you, and that I will be with you." Christians: God will be with us too!
*In vs. 13-15, Moses was still afraid, so, he said:
13. . . . "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?''
14. And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'''
15. Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD 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 this is My memorial to all generations.'"
*In Hebrew this name "I AM" was "Jehovah" or "Yahweh." And this great name for God shows up 6,823 times in the Old Testament. The exact pronunciation and spelling have been lost, because this name was so holy the scribes and teachers didn't dare to pronounce it or completely write it out. Instead, they would write the Hebrew letters equal to our letters YHWH. And in many of our English Bibles it shows up as LORD written with all capital letters. (4)
*And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.''' God is basically saying here, "Before time was, I AM. Through all eternity, I AM. I AM your provider, your peace, and your perfection. I AM your strength and salvation, your healer, and your helper, your guard, and your guide, your riches, and your righteousness." Or as Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door of the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". (5)
*That last statement takes us back to the night before the cross. And Jesus died on that cross for our sins. Then He rose again to give eternal life to everyone who will believe. So all Christians can echo the words of Philippians 4:13, and say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"
*God wants to give us bold confidence to do all we can do together with Him. By ourselves, we can't. But together with God, we can! And God will be with us every step of the way. As Jesus said in Matthew 28:20: "I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
CONCLUSION:
*If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then the truth is that you are always on holy ground, because He will always be there with you. And you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! Let this truth sink in more than ever before, as we go back to God in prayer. And if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, now is the time to call on the Lord to save you too. Would you please bow for prayer.
(1) James S. Hewett, "Illustrations Unlimited" - Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988 - p. 188 - Source: "Bible Illustrator for Windows" - Topic: Faith - Subtopic: In Christ - Index: 1206 - Date: 7/1996.591 - Title: How You Know
(2) Sources:
-"Franklin Graham: The Rest of the ‘Unbroken’ Story" by Franklin Graham - December 29, 2014 - https://billygraham.org/story/franklin-graham-the-rest-of-the-unbroken-story/ - https://billygraham.org/story/unbroken-path-to-redemption-continues-zamperini-story/
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbroken_(film)
(3) SermonCentral sermon "When God Calls Your Name" by Guy Caley - Exodus 3:1-10
(4) SermonCentral sermon "Jehovah/Yahweh - I AM" by Marc Kelley - Exodus 3:1-15
(5) Adapted from:
-SermonCentral sermon "Thou Shalt Call His Name I AM" by Jerry Shirley - Exodus 3:10-15
-SermonCentral sermon "Because I AM" by Jennifer Mears - Exodus 3:14-16
(6) Sample sources:
-Albert Barnes - Genesis 15:13-15
Know, know thou. - Know certainly. This responds to Abram’s question, Whereby shall I know? Genesis 15:8. Four hundred years are to elapse before the seed of Abram shall actually proceed to take possession of the land. This interval can only commence when the seed is born; that is, at the birth of Isaac, when Abram was a hundred years of age and therefore thirty years after the call. During this interval they are to be, “first, strangers in a land not theirs” for one hundred and ninety years; and then for the remaining two hundred and ten years in Egypt: at first, servants, with considerable privilege and position; and at last, afflicted serfs, under a hard and cruel bondage. (ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - Published in 1847-85 - Genesis 15:13-15 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021)
-John Gill - Genesis 15:13
and they shall afflict them four hundred years; this term "four hundred years" is not to be joined either with the word "afflict" or "serve"; for their hard servitude and severe affliction did not last long, but a few years at most; but with the phrase, "a stranger in a land not theirs"; and the rest is to be included in a parenthesis thus, and "thy seed shall be a stranger in the land not theirs (and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them) four hundred years"; so long they should be strangers and sojourners, as they were partly in the land of Canaan, and partly in the land of Egypt, neither of which were in their own land, however not in possession; within which space of time they would be in a state of subjection and servitude, and be greatly afflicted and oppressed, as they were particularly by the Egyptians before their deliverance from them, see Exo_1:11. These four hundred years, as before observed, are to be reckoned from the birth of Isaac to the Israelites going out of Egypt. (JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Genesis 15:13 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021)
