The God of the Impossible, the Great I AM

Reading …

God said to Moses “I am who I am” … This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation… Ex 3;14,15

Introduction …

The book of Genesis is an incredibly important book …
- Yet of all books it is rubbished, deliberately misinterpreted and vilified… by Post-modern thinking …
  - Both within and outside of so called Christian theology it is being changed from historical reality to poetic nonsense.
    - And that in the main to accommodate the theory of evolution.
  - To interpret it in the light of poetry makes its impact for today meaningless
    - To interpret it in the light of historical fact fits it into the Biblical narrative perfectly and makes it massively important today.
- So for the next six weeks we are going to explore …
  - Lessons from the Book of Genesis.
  - But firstly I want to go to Exodus 3;14 and lay a foundation of who God is upon which we must build.

A brief side road…

Faith …
- Post-modern thinking …
  - To have faith means abandoning intellect …
    - That is a lie …
  - Even the most ardent atheist exercises faith in decision making
    - Because faith is based in history
    - E.g. Investing money in blue chip investments.
- The truth is that faith for the future is based in past history.
  - And we will see how it works out in Moses life.
    - And God himself refers Moses back to the history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  - The foundation of faith in the Bible is history…

Context …Israel in Egypt …

It has been 400 years since the death of Joseph.
- The numbers of the children of Jacob and his family have increased exponentially … Ex 1;6
  - So much so that the new Pharaoh was very concerned about the threat they posed … Ex 1;9
  - So they enslave them and decide to kill all the young males born.
    - In an attempt to stop the growth of their population.
It is no co-incidence that …
- It is into this scenario Moses is born …
- He is adopted by Pharaohs daughter
- Is brought up in the palace … Acts 7; 20-22
  - Studies very effectively at the university
  - And becomes powerful in speech and action.
But it seems he never forgot his roots …
- And goes to visit his brethren …Acts 7;23
  - Where he kills an Egyptian who is mistreating a fellow Israelite …
- In doing so Moses believed that the Israelites would see him being used by God to rescue them … Acts 7;25
  - He sets himself up as a deliverer but failed …
    - And had to escape to Midian for 40 long years.
    - Here Gods starts to reveal himself to Moses …
      - And prepares him to deliver Israel.
None of this is co-incidence…
- I deliberately use Stephens account in Acts 7 as recorded by that most reliable historian Dr. Luke to show that it is a historical fact not poetic nonsense.

Understand Moses situation …

Moses is being asked to do the impossible …
- Get Pharaoh to agree to let them go
- Get the Children of Israel to agree to go …
  - All 2 million people plus their livestock etc.
    - Even today they are rules by a coalition government
- Get them to Palestine … 400 to 600 miles
  - Over the sea
  - Thru the deserts of the Arabia
  - Beating off the marauding Amalekites with an army that did not exist.
  - Then driving out the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, and Jebusites etc.
- Feed, water and clothe them
It is an impossible task.

Gods reveals Himself to Moses …

It is in the fact of the burning bush that God commissions Moses to go as the deliverer of Israel …
- Knowing his past failure …and the enormity of the task he objects with … Acts 7;35
  - Who am I that I should go… Ex 3;11
    - Once a prince now a shepherd
    - One attempt at deliverance but rejected by the people
- But God … changes everything
  - Promises to go before Moses …
    - I will be with you… Ex3;12
  - And He therefore reveals himself to Moses like never before …
Historically
- The God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  - Moses knew the history …
    - How the Lord had intervened in their lives and blessed them, protected them, enabled them.
The certainty of His promises …
- He reveals his heart for the people in their slavery
- And he promises to fulfill his promises of a land flowing with blessing made to the fathers …
His character and person
- Then He reveals His very person and character as Moses objects …
  - He uses three phrases …
    - I will be …vs 12
    - I am … vs 14
    - The Lord … 15
  - The Hebrew translation these words are all the same …
    - But their uses are different
- I am speaks of …
  - Being absolute …
    - No beginning no end … always I am
    - Self-existent, self-sufficient, all sufficient
    - Totally independent …
      - All other beings and creation is dependent on Him

No development or progress in His person … complete
- The revelation of himself has been progressive but not His person
The absolute standard in every way …
- Truth, goodness, beauty, justice, love.

I will be …
- I will become whatever I need to become to meet all needs.
  - Whether that is in the form of a presence, guide, protector, provider, creator, sustainer…
  - He is absolute and can become whatever He needs to become to whoever He chooses.
    - All sufficient one.
The Lord …
- Yahweh … Jehovah
- It means …He is
  - So whenever we refer to “the Lord” we are saying He is … the absolute one.
  - We refer to Him as … He is
  - He refers to himself as … I am.

Application …

It’s a nice story that we know so well…
- But how does it apply to us today …
Firstly …
- This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. … Ex3;15
  - The I AM never changes from generation to generation.
  - He is today and will be tomorrow what he was to Moses
    - The God of the impossible… the absolute one
  - And that is the way He is to be remembered forever.
- Any miracles in your life recently…
  - They don’t have to be earth shattering incidence to be miraculous …
  - I believe there are many incidences that we right off as co-incidence but are directly from the hand of God.
    - E.g. Brother David and the $5 and the flight money $300
      - Co-incidence or miraculous ????
        
        Like Moses God was teaching this man faith and preparing him for great miraculous things which would lead to the deliverance from sin of many Chinese people.
    - But we are independent and self-sufficient …
      - He saw miracle after miracle because he lives by faith.
      - And we do not know that sort of faith do we.
Secondly …
- John gives an account of Jesus who is confronted by the Jews and Pharisees …
  - Their question is ...Who are you …John 8;25
- Jesus reveals himself by saying …
  - Before Abraham was I am … John 8;58
- And immediately they pick up stones in keeping with the law to stone him for blasphemy… Lev 24;16
  - They knew exactly what He meant …
  - For He was claiming to be the Lord, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
- Today God reveals himself to us in and thru the Lord … Jesus …Christ.
  - He is to us the all sufficient one, who meets every need.
    - E.g. Joseph Scriven … What a friend we have in Jesus
Thirdly …
- Paul writing to the Philippians says …
  - That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess … that Jesus Christ is Lord… Phil 2;10

Conclusion …

What are we saying …
- History proves that God in and thru the Lord Jesus is the great I Am … the God of the impossible.
  - Pharaoh drove the people out of Egypt despite saying …
    - Who is the Lord that I should obey Him …
  - That the Lord used Moses and Joshua to take the people to the promised land which He gave to them …
    - Thru faith in the I am Moses achieved the impossible
  - Thru all the unfaithfulness of Israel He kept his promises …
  - Then in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus history once again proves the truth that Jesus, as part of the trinity, is the great I am.
We started by saying faith is based in historical performance …
- Which is the point of the great hall of faith in Hebrews 11 …
  - There the historical accounts of impossible incidence in the lives of great men of faith from Genesis are recorded as examples for us…
    - Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.
      - All history upon which we today can build our faith.
      - And proceed into the unknown with great confidence and purpose.
- Therefore
  - Based on Gods faithfulness to who he is and his promises …
  - Based on the outcome of the lives who put their faith in The I Am.
    - We must today put our faith and trust in Him to be our Great I Am .
    - Doing extra-ordinary miracles in our lives.
God in and thru the Lord Jesus will be whatever he needs to be to meet our needs.
- Call Him Jesus for He will save his people from their sin …
  - He is our Saviour that is why we follow him
- He is our healer …
  - As Isaac, Paola and Steven can testify today.
- He is our protector …
  - As I can testify after my MTB accident.
    - A co-incidence that no car drove over me.
He is all of these things today because he is absolute and never changes from generation to generation… Mal 3;6
Genesis is historical …
- Regarded in any other way makes it meaningless with no application for today.
- Next week we will look at Gods order for mankind as laid out in Genesis and see how our failure to adhere thereto is having consequences today.

The God of the Impossible, the Great I AM - Part 1 of 6

Written by:

Lawrence Payne