God Knows
Exodus • Sermon • Submitted
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· 14 viewsExodus 2:23-3:12 introduces us to 4 attributes of God so that we will be better acquainted with the God we worship.
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Don’t read this line - Exodus - The Biography of God
Don’t read this line - Exodus - The Biography of God
A number of years ago at a Shepherd’s Conference, I heard an old man named Ian Murray speak.
Ian is a church historian.
He’s written different biographies on notable Christians throughout the years.
I just read a biography written by Murray this year, it was on AW Pink, one of my favorite theologians.
Mr. Murray is about 89 years old.
He’s British.
Being an old man with a British accent means he tells stories in the most fascinating way.
They come alive.
He has a way with words, where he introduces you to the men he tells you about, as if they are in front of you.
I would love nothing more than to sit in a comfortable chair, in front of a fire, drinking a cup of coffee, listening to Ian Murray teach me history, because it comes alive.
Exodus reads this way.
Exodus is a biography of God.
Its a biography introducing us to a holy God.
When you think about Exodus, you think about THE Exodus.
But the book is so much more than that one event.
The book of Exodus quickly becomes theological.
Don’t be scared of that word, theological, and don’t be scared of theology.
Theology literally means words about God.
Words of God.
Or God Words.
Exodus becomes great because we learn and develop a theology of God.
As we go through this book, we will learn specific truths about God.
And may we approach these truths humbly, because they are about God.
You can get something wrong about me … and it’s okay.
But we can’t get these truths about God wrong.
To do that is to speak blasphemy.
In today’s text, though its about the call of Moses, it’s also a display of the attributes of God.
It’s reads like a biography, introducing us to not only the actions of God, but we are being introduced to the characteristics and nature of our very unique God.
This means that you are in for a treat this morning.
One of the big theological questions of the world is, “Is there a God? And if there is, what is He like.”
And people invent all sorts of theories, and platitudes to answer that question.
But for us, we can answer those questions, because we have His word.
The answer is yes there is a God, and Exodus shows us what He is like.
Open your Bibles and let’s be introduced to our great God.
Today we see at least 4 different attributes of God within this text.
As is the often the case, some of these attributes will bleed into other attributes as well.
Let’s continue in our journey through Exodus.
Open your Bibles to Exodus 2:23.
Let’s read Exodus 2:23-3:11.
Read Exodus 2:23-3:11
First, we have the Omniscience of God - 2:23-25
First, we have the Omniscience of God - 2:23-25
As we pick up at the end of chapter 2 some time has gone by from where we were last week.
Acts 7 tells us that 40 years have gone by.
The previous Pharaoh that had sentenced all the newborn Hebrew boys to death had died.
With his death also came the death of Moses warrant.
Remember, he was wanted for murder.
The murder of an Egyptian had placed a price on Moses’ head, and sent him fleeing into the desert
But relief hadn’t come yet.
Time hadn’t removed the burden upon Israel.
Israel remained in slavery.
They suffered.
They cried out to God for help.
They cried out to God, but where is God?
In John 4, Jesus said that God is spirit.
You can’t see him.
It’s not like you can go to his house, knock on his door, and ask to see God and give Him your requests.
These past 6 months have been hard because we haven’t seen each other.
When you don’t see your friends, when you don’t see your church family, you feel alone.
You become isolated.
Facetime and text messaging can only go so far in our relationships.
That’s what makes today so special.
We depend upon physical contact for relationships.
God is different from our earthly relationships.
He is not confined to a single location.
He is omnipresent.
Which means He stands above His creation.
Nothing within His creation escapes His watching eye.
Even though He is Spirit and you can’t see Him, He knows what is going on.
The end of verse 23 says, “Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel - and God knew.”
Though they couldn’t see God, what do we learn about God?
He hears.
He remembers.
He sees.
He knows.
God hears.
This is the beauty of prayer.
God’s ability to hear is not limited to whether He is physically present or not.
God does not need to stand in the same room as you, with a physical body, while the two of you make eye contact for Him to hear your prayers.
Have you ever talked to your spouse while he or she is watching TV?
Poor Amanda.
I might be watching a baseball game.
I’m caught up in the moment.
I’m locked in.
I’m in the zone.
Rooting for my team.
She says something.
I hear the sound of her voice.
But I don’t hear the words.
She then says, “Are you listening to me?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then what did I just say.”
Suddenly, what I thought I heard, is gone.
I wasn’t listening.
The omniscience of God, the all knowing nature of God, means that He can hear your prayers, and everyone else’s prayers with locked in focus.
The omniscience of God is that He knows you.
And He never loses focus.
That’s why we can pray at anytime, from anywhere.
We are not deists, who believe that there is a god, but he is distant.
The deist thinks that God is in heaven, lounging in his Lazy-Boy, and is far too lofty to consider us lowly people.
He created the earth, but then abandoned us.
That is not God.
God created.
And God cares.
His caring is made evident by hearing, and knowing, and understanding.
God not only hears, but He remembers.
You see that it says, “and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”
God remembering does not mean or imply that He forgets.
We think of remembering as meaning that there was something you were bound to forget.
So you tie a string around your finger, so you don’t forget.
I set reminders on my phone, that alert me on a certain date, at a certain time of something I need to do, because I forget.
We write things down in calendars, or memo pads, because we forget.
Not so with God.
God does not forget.
God is faithful.
God is faithful and remembers His promises.
Never prone to forgetting them.
God has a plan, and time will not erase that plan.
Originally, He made a covenant with Abraham.
This was back in Genesis 12.
The promise was that Abraham’s descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky, or the grains of sand on the beach.
They would be uncountable.
This promise included a land.
God would take Abraham and give him a land.
There would be an offspring, who would become a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
And yet, here is Israel, in slavery.
And the question is where was God?
God was not distracted.
God had not forgotten.
God had not abandoned.
This was His plan.
God’s plan, was that Israel would be in slavery, for 400 years.
About 700 years earlier, God had told Abraham all of this would happen..
They’d be away from this promised land.
Genesis 15:13, “God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”
God does not forget.
God is true to the smallest detail.
He said, “Know for certain ...”
There is no wavering here.
Don’t be surprised when you read of Israel, God’s chosen people, being in slavery, and being in slavery for 400 years.
This is something God said would happen.
“Know for certain -” this is going to happen.
If anything, we should be concerned if they weren’t in slavery for 400 years.
The omniscience of God, means that God knows all things.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
And He also remembers all things.
God will never forget you.
Exodus 34:6 says, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love -”
God has a love that is unending.
He knows His own.
He will not forget what He has promised.
God even has promises with Himself, that He will not forget.
Look forward in your Bibles to I Peter 3:3-4, “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
It’s been almost 2000 years since Christ came.
That’s a long time.
And people start to wonder -
“When’s He coming back?”
“Is the return of Christ real?”
Skip down to verse 8.
Peter reassures us, and calls us to patience.
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
What’s keeping Christ from returning?
His patience.
He has made a promise to Himself.
All of His elect will reach repentance.
This passage isn’t describing God’s birthday wish.
He’s not blowing out His candles on his birthday cake, saying this year, “I hope that people will reach repentance.”
Let’s not speak so weakly of God.
Why hasn’t Christ returned, because His will is that none of His elect perish.
Each one will reach repentance.
And He is waiting with patience for all of those that He promised in eternity past to come to faith.
God knows
Verse 25 is strangely comforting, “God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
God knows you.
God knows your life.
God knows the unique situations that you face.
God knows your suffering.
Remember, God is not a distant God who watches His creation from afar.
We are not deists, worshipping some unknown God.
God is a God who is involved with His creation.
So much so that when His creation sinned, because He Himself is just, He is obligated by His own nature to punish sin.
And yet, God loves His creation.
So how did He maintain truth to His character of being just, and of being loving?
God never compromised.
God never is just without love.
Or loving without justice.
You cannot divide, separate or remove any of God’s attributes.
He is all that He has ever been, and all that He will ever be.
The Son, condescended to the earth.
He lived with us.
He lived like us.
He was one of us.
Though a king, He was treated like the worst.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus knows the human experience, because He took on a human nature.
Jesus Christ becomes a demonstration of God’s justice and love all at one place.
The Cross becomes an example of the consistency of God’s own attributes.
Always the same.
What does this mean? It means you are not alone.
God has known you from eternity past, before you even knew you.
I know that sounds weird, but He has always known everything about you.
Before creation started.
Before there was matter, He knew you.
Ephesians 1:4 says, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
Before creation God knew you.
Then as He was forming you in your mother’s womb, He knew you.
Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Every single one of your days, God knew them, like pages in a book.
That’s how well He knows your life.
The omniscience of God means that while you may feel alone at times, you have a God who:
Hears you.
Remembers.
Sees.
And knows.
You have not been abandoned.
Consider this God that we worship.
We don’t worship a vague higher power.
We worship Yahweh, the only True God.
Who shows:
Compassion.
Kindness.
As we proceed into chapter 3 we see the Presence of God - 3:1-3
As we proceed into chapter 3 we see the Presence of God - 3:1-3
After killing an Egyptian Moses fled to the wilderness, to where the Midianites were.
Verse 1 says that he is on the west side of the wilderness.
I like how the KJV says, it, “to the backside of the desert.”
He’s in the middle of nowhere.
If he were in Riverside County, he’d be in Blythe.
He was raised as a prince in Egypt, and now he’s hanging out in the dives.
Look at verse 2, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.”
God appears to him in a bush that appears to be on fire.
This is called a theophany or more specifically, a Christophany.
This is an appearance of Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, in the Old Testament.
Here he’s called “the angel of the Lord.”
Notice this isn’t any ordinary angel.
It doesn’t say that this is an angel of the Lord.
This is THE angel of the Lord.
And further proof of His deity and identification, the reason why I can be so sure of Who He is, is how he introduces himself in verse 6, “I am the God of your father ...”
He doesn’t say, “I’m an angel.”
He doesn’t identify Himself as the Created.
He identifies Himself as the Creator.
Elohim.
God calls Moses to Himself.
When Moses left Egypt, he left it all.
He was a man on the run.
He left as a fugitive.
He ran from his heritage Israel and Egypt.
For 40 years, he’s been a nomad.
He’s been a shepherd.
He’s wandered from place to place.
He was a man with no identity.
But in verse 6, God calls Moses back.
“And 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 at God.”
Moses had run from his past.
God was calling him back to his past.
We’ve seen that God is omniscient.
We’ve seen that God is aware of everything that is going on within His creation.
He hears.
He sees.
He knows.
He remembers.
And now we see that God is present with His creation.
His interaction with His creation, is not only knowledge, but it’s involvement.
He interacts with His creation.
We see this on the first page of the Bible, “In the beginning God created ...”
God establishes order.
God gives rules to His creation.
Chapter 2, God communicates with Adam.
Chapter 3, God walks in the Garden with Adam and Eve, communicating blessings and curses.
Here, God knows of His people’s suffering in Egypt, and now He is going to act.
The angel of the Lord comes to Moses.
He communicates to Moses.
He speaks through a bush that appears to burn, but the bush is never consumed.
God is a communicating God.
He speaks to His creation.
He created language.
Language is not something that evolved from nothing.
Language is something that God created.
God created language so that He could speak to His creation.
And even today, God communicates.
He communicates through His written Word.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
This means that when God’s word is read, it’s just as if you were there with Moses at that bush.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God penetrates the human heart.
When we say read your Bibles, its not just so you can grow in knowledge.
It’s so the Holy God, who appeared to Moses in the bush, would communicate to you through His Word.
The presence of God reached its climaxed with the arrival of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:23 says, ““Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”
During the incarnation, when Jesus came, He didn’t come as an immaterial spirit.
He came in the flesh.
He came as the God-man.
He came in glory.
His physical actions, His perfect righteousness and obedience, are now counted to those who have faith.
When you the believer die, God sees Christ’s life instead of your own.
For those who are hurting, lonely, isolated, lost, I give you this incredible hope.
God is near.
God acts.
God communicates.
His presence, is very real.
For those who are born again, the Spirit of God dwells within you.
You cannot get any closer, than having His Holy Spirit within your heart.
The third attribute in this text is the Holiness of God - 3:4-6
The third attribute in this text is the Holiness of God - 3:4-6
The holiness of God is a difficult concept to describe or teach.
For the created to be in the presence of the holiness of God, it’s almost unnatural.
It’s vulgar.
Have you ever gone into an old cathedral?
Outside the cathedral, there is sunlight, noises, and people are carefree.
They don’t give much thought about where they walk, or how they walk.
Then you go into the cathedral.
As you step over that threshold, and enter, you are greeted with high ceilings.
You look up, and they seem to go forever.
The cathedral doesn’t have a flat roof, they angle up.
You follow those angles, angles up, drawing your eyes uncomfortably higher..
You look down the cathedral, and it’s long.
It’s not like this room, where the back of the room is close to the front.
You look into the cathedral, from the back of the room.
You see the altar, at the opposite end of the building.
If you are going to approach that altar, you’ve got to walk past pew after pew after pew.
It’s a long awkward walk.
The building is made of old stone.
No drywall in there.
The floors are hard.
They are tile.
The ceilings are high, with no styrofoam ceiling panels.
The sound isn’t deafened here.
Each step that you take, causes an echo.
It’s quiet in here, and the echo of your steps violate the silence of the sanctuary.
Your presence in this cathedral is unnatural.
It’s as if you don’t belong here.
Whatever strangeness there is with a man in a cathedral, its magnified in the presence of God.
The Bible gives us examples of what the holiness of God means when we approach Him.
For example, Isaiah 6.
Go there now.
Read Isaiah 6:1-5.
God’s holiness requires that there be special angels to serve in His presence.
These angels were created so that they could exist in the presence of God.
They had 6 wings.
1 pair to keep them afloat.
1 pair to cover their face, so that they didn’t gaze upon the holy God.
1 pair to cover their feet, just in case they landed on the holy ground before the holy God.
These holy angels cried to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
They aren’t saying this to God.
They are saying it to each other as if they are warning each other to be diligent in their ministry before God.
As if they are reminding each other of the fear of God that is required if they are to serve in His presence.
Remember who you serve.
Your God is holy, holy, holy.
Don’t touch the ground.
Because God is holy, holy, holy.
Don’t look at Him.
Because God is holy, holy, holy.
God speaks, and it says that the very ground shook, and Isaiah lost it.
““Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
This is the response of a man in the presence of God.
Back to Exodus 3, Moses finds himself in the presence of God.
He encounters the holiness of God.
The first thing that God does in verse 5 is give limits.
“Do not come near.”
A boundary is given.
"You are in the presence of a holy God.”
And you cannot rush into His presence unprepared.
Then God gives instructions.
“Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
The reality of the holiness of God affects the other attributes we have already seen.
The holiness of God should affect our understanding of the nearness of God.
The holiness of God should affect our understanding of the presence of God.
If this holy God is near and present, doesn’t that mean it should affect our daily lives?
If God is near you, shouldn’t that affect the way you live?
You never are just existing through life.
The presence of God is not something that happens only on Sunday mornings.
In reality, you are living through life, with a holy God who is near you and very present.
And this is the God that we worship.
This should make us a little uncomfortable.
The seraphim covered their face and feet and cried holy, holy, holy.
Isaiah was undone.
Moses took off his shoes.
What is your preparation for worshiping God like?
We cannot be too quick in our approach.
I’d say the average person wants to go to a church that is:
Casual and contemporary.
Most people approach Sunday morning with the wrong view.
They pursue what they want.
They want Burger King Church, where they can have it their way.
They want a church that is targeted at the individual.
The holiness of God should change that approach.
It should affect what time we go to bed the night before.
Because you should be awake and alert as you participate in the service.
It should affect what you wear.
Are you getting dressed for others?
For yourself?
Or for the Lord.
The holiness of God should change your attendance.
I’m saddened by what people consider more important than the worship of God.
Vacations.
Sports.
Sleep.
Family.
Birthday parties.
What could be more important than the Lord God?
We should be using worship as our excuse for not doing these things.
“I’d love to come to that barbecue you’ve got planned, but I’ve got an appointment with Yahweh.”
The holiness of God should affect how we prepare for church in the morning.
I Corinthians 11, in preparation for communion tells us to examine ourselves.
This means to contemplate the cross.
To remember He who died on it.
Why He died.
And how He victoriously rose from the grave.
You cannot approach the Lord’s table casually.
The holiness of God is not an empty doctrine.
It affects our approach to God.
And lastly, we have the Decree of God - 3:7-11
And lastly, we have the Decree of God - 3:7-11
After introducing Himself, God states His plan.
We’ve seen this already, God has a plan.
This plan was made before the foundation of the world.
In eternity past.
When all there was - was the Triune God in absolute perfection, He had this plan.
He is not making things up as He goes.
God is not reacting.
He plans.
You see this plan in verses 7-10.
God knows their suffering.
His plan is to deliver Israel from the Egyptians.
Remember last week, Moses tried to deliver the Israelites on his own.
It resulted in murder and him fleeing.
This time God is going to take all the credit.
God will free them.
Not only will God deliver them, but He will take them to a land.
This is the land that was promised to Abraham.
Its described as a land flowing with milk and honey.
It’s a good land.
When God speaks of this land, He’s not being vague, this is a specific place.
He says its the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
It’s a real place on the map.
At the time it was occupied.
God will not only free Israel from Egypt, but he will take them to an occupied location, and use Israel as judgment upon the people there for their sins
Again, this was the plan of God.
This was something God explained would happen 700 years earlier, in a conversation with Abraham.
Genesis 15:16, “And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
That 400 years served a purpose.
The decree of God is awesome.
Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases”, He means it.
God does whatever He pleases.
There is no challenge before Him.
He is never wishing for something to happen.
It happens.
God’s plan includes using people.
Not just any people.
He uses:
Sinners
Weak people.
Lowly people.
Verse 10, God says, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
You can hear shock in Moses voice as he says in verse 11, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Who am I?
He wasn’t quoting a Casting Crowns song.
He was questioning whether or not he was the best man for the job.
He wasn’t qualified.
40 years earlier he had committed murder.
He had a death sentence on his head.
He fled into the desert.
For 40 years he’s been living as a shepherd with the Midianites.
He was a nobody.
He was outclassed.
He may have been raised royalty, but he’s lost his connections.
He doesn’t know anyone in Egypt anymore.
Surely, there’s got to be a better man for the job.
But that’s not God’s plan.
God’s decree, God’s plan is that He will use people to accomplish His job.
Why?
So that He will receive the credit.
So that God will receive the glory.
The weaker the man, the greater the glory.
And at the end, people will say, “Wow! Look what God did! There’s no way Moses could have done it on His own.”
Verse 12 God says, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
God was with Moses.
He would confront Pharaoh.
He would announce the plagues.
He would intercede.
And when it was all done, Moses would come back to this mountain, to this spot, Sinai, and serve God, by receiving the Law and delivering it to Israel.
God continues this today.
God continues to use the weakest, the smallest, and the least equipped.
He gifts people.
By His Spirit gives them what they need to accomplish His work.
This means that when you see someone being used by the Lord, that’s a testimony to the power of God.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
That task, is something that God prepared beforehand.
It was decreed by God.
When you see someone using his gifts, you are seeing something that God planned beforehand, before the foundation of the world, and you are seeing it be fulfilled in front of your eyes.
You are seeing God’s predestinating power at work.
This is a biography of your God.
This is a biography of your God.
He is:
Omniscient.
Present.
Holy.
And sovereign in His decrees.
This God cannot be approached lightly.
In our sins none of us can.
It’s only because of Christ, that we can approach Him.