In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of deliverance and worship. He highlights the story of Moses and the burning bush as a symbol of sacrifice and whole-hearted worship. The preacher also mentions the significance of the Israelites' worship after crossing the Red Sea. He emphasizes that God is a fair and just king who will allocate rewards and blessings. The sermon concludes with a discussion of God's plan to deliver the Israelites from Egypt through Moses' hand.

The reason that Moses drew nigh was not just because he was attracted by the fire, but he wanted to know, here it is, why isn't the bush burned out? That's what he wanted to know. Why isn't the bush burned? The leaves were as green, as green as ever. Every twig was still in place, and yet an unearthly fire was burning in it. It was absolutely tremendous. It was evidently a spiritual fire, it wasn't just mere fire as we know there, nor yet was it the fire that later fell upon the altars of Israel, nor was it the fire that soon was to burn in Egypt and run along the ground and consume all sorts of things when one of the terrible plagues struck it. Neither was it the fire that spouts out of the tops of mountains when they erupt. It was a fire that didn't live off anything human at all, or burn anything human or material. That kind of fire is created fire. This is the original fire, the uncreated fire, that doesn't feed on oxygen, like all fire has to, that doesn't feed on wood, and doesn't feed on the fat of animals. You understand this? It isn't even the fire that's created in the heavens when clouds collapse in thunder. That's all created fire. This was the original uncreated fire. That's why the bush didn't burn. Glory be to God. There's nothing to do with human or material things. This of course is why so-called commentators on the Bible make their vast mistakes and want to say that it must have been a wind bush, ablaze in the glory of the sun, you know, or something like that. People who don't know anything except mere human, material, and physical, and mental things. This was God. Amen. Amen. Now, that's why the bush didn't burn, on one explanation. It's not the full explanation. Why is it? Well, what God was doing with Moses was showing him right at the beginning what he could do in a material man, in physical things. What God was showing Moses was that he was one day going to die when he was 120, when his physical strength was still the same as when he was a lad, and his eye was as keen as the eagle's yet. You'll remember that just before he died, God took him up into the mountain to see right over the promised land. He didn't need spits like I'm wearing, so it's easy to see I'm not a Moses. Here then is the glory and wonder that God was showing a man what he could do if he could get hold of that man. The bush had no power of yea or nay. It was inanimate. And the trouble with most men and women is this, that they will not allow God to come into them in the way that he wants to come into them. Therefore, God cannot do the things he wants to do with them, in them, through them. He can't do it. But this is why God came. The time had come in the heart of God when he was going to claim what he had first preserved unto himself, that is little baby Moses floating in an ark of bulrushes on the Nile. God had preserved him. God had kept him. When he didn't, he wouldn't have understood if he'd have been called. He wasn't as old as young Samuel. He wouldn't have understood the call of God. And that's what happens to so many of us. Before you understand the call and the claim of God in your life, God works on you. That's why Paul has to pray that the eyes of your understanding shall be enlightened, that you will come to a time when what God has done in beginning his works on you shall come to ultimate fulfillment in your life. Notice he wasn't a cloistered sage. He was leading the flock in the backside of the desert. That's what he was doing. He was getting on with it. Praise the name of the Lord. And God chose that time to come and speak to him. Something else that we need to notice is in verse 5, that God said to him, don't draw near to me. Don't come near to me. The next thing is, put off thy shoes from off thy feet. The next thing is, the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Now let us realize this, that wherever God comes to you is holy ground. It wasn't especially holy ground as when people sometimes say they're going for a tour to the holy land. I don't think it's a holy land. I think it's been very much commercialized. I think it is as unholy as the Kremlin or the houses of parliament or the White House. Personally, we need to use this word holy in its true sense. Nothing is holy if God isn't there. And when God comes, anywhere he comes is holy ground. That's what God wants you to see. That's dealing with it lastly. That is the last point. The second point is very important for you to realize and me to realize too. God said take your shoes off your feet. What did that signify? That he was a slave. Slaves always went barefoot. Always. They never had shoes on their feet. Moses was not a slave until he met God. Then he had to become one. You know there's a lot of talk in these days about the sons of God. And I can distinct in remembering preaching in one place in Canada where because I spoke on the slavery of man that we've got to become God's slaves. They canceled my appointment. I wasn't allowed to preach anymore because they just come to the new realization of the manifestation of the sons of God. And that was it. I was out. But as soon as you meet the Lord, know this, that you are a slave. You're standing in the presence of eternal majesty, glory. And even though you may claim to be a son, the privilege of being a son is serving. I serve. That's the Prince of Wales motto under his three plumes. Now the wonder and the glory of being the Lord is just placed here before us. And God was speaking to him. And I don't know whether you've got ears to hear it. You must have. You and I have to listen and let God really speak to us and show us the truth. And Moses is bowing down there in fear before the Lord. He was afraid to look on him, absolutely afraid to look on him. There came a later time when he wasn't. There came a later time, you will remember, when people were afraid to look at him and they had to put a veil on his face. But at this time, he wasn't yet ready for the glory that was to be revealed in him. God was calling him. And praise the name of the Lord. He dealt with this man. Let's read on. For he had to learn some other reasons why the bush was burning. Here it is. The Lord said, verse seven, I have surely seen the afflictions of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And so, the next great reason that this man learned why Jesus, why God had come down into the bush was this, and why the fire was there. I have come down to deliver my people. He came down in fire for deliverance. So he says. You understand this, don't you? You must understand it. For God had appeared to Abraham, but he never appeared to him like this. God had come and spoken to others before, but he came down this time for deliverance, and he came down in the symbol of naked fire, revealing himself as original God, the burning spirit, burning with his concern, burning with desire, burning with determination. I have come down in fire, Moses, for this. What a glorious thing for you to see, and for you and I to really grasp. He didn't come down like this before because there were no people to deliver. Not then. But when it's deliverance, when mighty power above anything that Abraham ever saw, or Isaac or Jacob, blessed as they were, when God was going to move in, in this glorious way to go and save a nation, he came in fire. Now, let none of us get into our heads that anything can never be done about a need for deliverance in our present age, unless there's fire. You just get down pale and cool and calm and everything, bearing in mind we don't have to work anything up. Twice it's been prayed in this room tonight. That's absolutely true, but this I'll tell you, that unless fire has already come down on you, you'll never accomplish anything. You've got to be a man or a woman of fire, whoever you are, unless you'll never do anything for God. Never. And fire, if I know anything about it, always blazes up when you feed it. Always. Now, this is quite different from working yourself up. It's not merely emotional. It's something which burns within and flares up and flames out. That's what got Moses. He saw the flaming, burning thing. And who's this? I'm God. Oh, oh. I've come down to deliver. I've seen, I've heard, I know, I see the oppression. And I've come down for you, Moses. Come. Here it is, verse 10. Come. Come now. And say, wait till tomorrow. Come now. Now, when Moses set out that day about his daily business, saying goodbye to his wife that morning, I guess, and I don't know how old his sons were at this time. They were certainly not chickens. And he left them. He had no idea that God was going to stake his claim in his life that day. Neither did his wife, neither did his sons. Nobody knew but God. What 40 years had done to Moses, I don't know. For he'd been 40 years out in the desert, out in the family of a heathen priest. What it had done to him, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder whether that fierce flame of loyalty and identity that was in him in the beginning, whether it had died down or not. I said last night that this man was at that time a reluctant God. For God said, I want you to be a God to Pharaoh. And only very reluctantly, as we shall see even further tonight, was he willing to become that. I wonder also whether he was not just a dying flame, but whether he was just cold ash. I'm rather glad if he was, for this is something else that everybody has to discover. That identify with the people of God as you may. Wish to see them out of Egypt as you ought. You cannot deliver them in your own energy and in your own flame and by your own fire. Fiery preacher you may be, fiery nature you may be, fiery fighter you may be, but you can't do anything. And God has to wait 40 years, he waited 40 years, till it dies down in the man that comes to ash. And when God said to him, from the living fire, come he said, come. I'm going to send you to Egypt and come now. He says, yeah Lord I've been waiting for this for 40 years. He says, no. Well he doesn't really say no, but he might as well have said no. Come now, he says, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. Do you know, beloved, let me tell you this, that when you do have a meeting with God and he speaks to you, every word is weighed and every syllable is true and everything he says will work out exactly. Always remember that. I will send you to Pharaoh. That's right. Now had Moses known then what he knew afterwards and what of course we know because we're so well instructed in Bible reading, that is that God was going to do it. He wouldn't have answered like he did. But you see, we are allowed in this scripture to see the outworking of the human heart. That's what we're allowed to see. Unlike old Abraham for instance, God said, I'm the father of Abraham, the God of Abraham, and God let him out and said, that's what I'm going to do Abraham, look at those stars, old Abraham, believe God. That's it. But Moses wasn't quite there yet. Hmm. He wasn't quite up to his father's standards. Is he his father? Oh yes, father Abraham. He wasn't quite there yet. But let us also learn a lesson, that just because you are not there yet, it doesn't mean that God says, all right, I can't use you and I can't do anything for you. Now, bless the Lord, he has patience. As we were thinking last night, God had sent this man to the backside of the desert to learn patience. Well, let's read on. I'm going to sell you to Egypt, I'm going to sell you to Pharaoh, and that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Let me say this to you, beloved, you may not do anything, and nor may I, unless God sends us. You may not, and you are not to attempt to do it, unless God sends you. Therefore, you and I are to be concerned with getting so close to God, that God can speak to us and do something with us. Now, this will happen to you, as it happened to Moses, if you will not ignore the things that you see. When you see something happen, and you know that it's out of the ordinary, you may not be able to explain it, you know, you feel that something's going on here that you ought to look into, and it's going to mean something to you, though you may not know exactly what it is. If you ignore that, then you're sealing your own doom. This is the thing for us to understand. Though we cannot afford to let anything shine unto us, or glow for our attraction, and then ignore it, and then say, oh God, why did you do this for me, oh God, and you see, this is what people do. They ignore the sign, they keep talking about God is a God of grace, well God was a God of grace here, because the law wasn't instituted until Sinai. He was in grace, He was calling this man. Never let us forget that. All that happened before Exodus chapter 20, is still in the era of grace. That includes the redemption, that's something very important for us to understand. It was done by grace and not by law. I don't know whether Nicky had been thinking about this when he prayed so much about grace earlier, but here is the wonder of it. Moses was under grace, praise the name of the Lord, and in grace God comes, and He speaks, and He attracts. It won't be burning bushes, it won't be stars in the sky, no doubt, though God could use both, or either, if He wished. But you know the time when God spoke to you? You know the time when your attention was caught? What did you do? You can explain your own condition. God said to Moses, come, come now. He didn't allow Moses to dilly-dally about. He didn't say, He didn't allow him to say, well let me go home and talk to my wife first. Come now, I'm dealing with you as an individual. Come now, ignore everything else. What's going to happen to my sheep? Ignore the sheep. What's going to happen about my family? Ignore the family. You say, well I never expected to hear you talk like that. That's right. When God is speaking to you, let everybody die. Let everything be shut off. Everything. Concentrate upon God. Listen to Him. Some things, when God speaks to you, are allowable. For when He starts to speak to you, you are completely in ignorance. Undoubtedly, Moses had been taught by his parents and his big sister, Miriam. You will remember her name was. He'd been told many times of how he was saved out of the Nile. He'd been told many times about that. He knew that. But when it comes to being used of God, you've got to keep your ears wide open and listen to the Lord. I can remember, I'm not always remembering them, but at this time on this subject, I can remember things that God said to me. And this I'll say to you, that He's worked out every one of them, every one of them, to the detail. Now that's something you must know. When God speaks to you, if I were you, I'd write it down in a book. Didn't Moses? Didn't David? Didn't Samuel? Write it down. It won't be the inspired word of God, but it'll be something that God is going to do. All right, verse 11. Moses, and this is an allowable thing, Moses said to God, who am I? That I should go under Pharaoh. That I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt. Who am I? Well, well, that's it. That's an allowable thing. That can be humility. What you have to watch is that your humility isn't coupled with fear. That's the thing to watch. God says, certainly I will be with thee. And this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. Two things here. You will always know if God has sent you to join with him, because he'll be with you. That's a tremendous thing. That's right. The second thing that God gave him was this. When you've brought the people out of Egypt, you'll worship God upon this mountain. What a glorious and marvelous truth. That is. These are going to be the signs. One, it's he's going to be with me. Second, will be the confirmation of it. He will be able to look back from a position of true worship of the Lord. And here is something for it all to take to our hearts, beloved, that when God delivers, he wants to deliver us into a place of true worship. Worship of God. Amen. Nobody is really grateful to God, even though they may say, thank you, thank you, Jesus, and sing it. Nobody is truly grateful to God. Nobody has reached the place until they get to worship. And worship is burning for God as God burns for you. Worship is just that. It's true spiritual worship as Moses saw the naked flame and the burning fire. That's what God wants to see in you, in true worship, that you are a naked flame and a burning fire for God. Amen. That's what he wants to see. He doesn't want our polite acknowledgements of his existence and being, nor yet just our thanks. He just doesn't want that. I mean, human beings are satisfied with that, aren't they? See, I can say thank you because somebody guessed I didn't want plain water, but colored juice to drink. But I'm certainly not going to worship the person that did it. You see, he just doesn't want this kind of thanks. He wants something to take place in you that naturally your whole being goes out to God like that, forgetful of anything and everybody. That's what he wants. Worship is one being consumed with one. Worship is one being one with another, that other being God. This kind of worship that we're talking about, that's what worship is. Worship is oblivion, yet worship is utter consciousness and wide awakeness. Worship is oblivion of you or him or her and consciousness of God. As though you're a dead person and you've passed out of former things and you now know God just as much as said dear one whose body we body we committed to the ground today. It'd be wonderful if she's worshiping the Lord tonight. Now here then is the marvel of it. This is the whole story of sacrifice. The whole story of sacrifice, when it is later instigated in the Bible, is that a body is consumed into odors arising unto God, the material goals, and that's what it is. Ascending unto God, worship, offering, wholeheartedness, wholeness, that's what worship is. It isn't a chorus, it isn't a hymn made be aided or hindered by either. God grants it's not hindrance. What a marvelous thing it is to be able to worship the Lord, eh? This would be the sign. Sometimes I think I would have liked to have been there and that whole congregation worshipped the Lord. And you know where they did it, don't you? Moses says it afterwards, let us go three days journey into the wilderness and worship God. You know when it was, don't you? It was the other side of the Red Sea. When they sang, when they prayed, when they were at last utterly free, oh hallelujah, when it was all over and they were through. Glory, and the last enemy seemingly was dead. What a tremendous thing it was. Well, let's go back, because we've gone quarter to nine. How did he get round to there? Let's, let's go on, shall we? I can see we should have to have two months at this. Not this time though. And Moses says to God, behold, this also is an allowable thing. When I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? What do you think this was? Do you think they'd forgotten the name of the God of their fathers? Or do you think it was going to be a test of Moses' genuine name? That they did know his name, and they were going to see whether this wild shepherd from the backwoods, nobody had seen anything of him for 40 years, was genuinely their deliverer. What do you think? Well, here is the glorious thing. You know the revelation that's coming, don't you? The times you've sung it in a hymn. We're so familiar with it. But they wanted to know with whom they were dealing. Here it is. God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. And God said, moreover, unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto 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 unto you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say unto them, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob appeared unto me saying, I have surely visited you and have seen that which is done to you in Egypt, and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites, the Terizites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God." What a tremendous thing. Who is your God? Who is your God? Well, your God and my God is I Am. I Am. That's your God and my God. The great eternal I, conscious of no one but himself, I, as he was in the beginning. Hallelujah. Isn't it great? I think this is tremendous, beloved, that you and I can trace our lineage, spiritual lineage, through Jesus Christ, of course, now our Deliverer in the new covenant, right straight back to God. Right back to himself, when there was no one else but he. Original and pure and holy and glorious, eternal, almighty. So, what's in this great I Am? I Am that I Am. That's who I am. Who God is talking to. And when God comes and talks to you, it is this one that is talking to you. You should be, and I should be, and this by his grace, caught up into the eternal being, our attention held. This is why I said no one else must be consulted, no one else taken into consideration at this moment, just the coming of God, the calling of God, and the purposes of God. You know, I don't know many people that get caught up with God like that. I don't know whether you do. Too many of us have a thousand other things, or perhaps it's only a hundred, but another one is sufficient to distract us. This, that, and the other. Oh, I've got to, now my relationship to them, my relationship to these, my relationship to this, my sheep, my father-in-law, my wife, my children, my home, my responsibility as a husband, my this, my that, my the other. A dozen things, the devil will bring them in a split second, to turn you away from God when God is concentrating upon you and his purposes, not just for you, I know it concerns Moses, but for others. Through you, as I have already said, Moses had learned to identify with the people of God. This is really one of the greatest secrets, young man or older man, whoever you are, unless you've learned this whilst you're reaching out for gifts and ministries, unless you've learned total identification with the people of God, you haven't even seen it. Isn't this the famous thing about Jesus? It was read to us this afternoon, those of us who were gathered in the little service there at Cap Craig, that for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself identifies with them. That's not the exact word in the scripture, took part of the saying. Identification. Until you've got there, you'll never be of any use in Ockenheath or anywhere else in the world. Did you know that? This was fundamental to all the other great gifts and ministries and things that Moses had and wielded. Identification, identification, God repeated in your heart and in your mind, so that far beyond, though this is the only way, identification with Jesus Christ on the cross and in the grave, you are identified with eternal purposes in your thinking and in your attitude and with the people of God. That you suffer with them, that you know their souls, that you see, that you hear, that you are a human being, alive, quickened and awake unto God in the midst of the distress of the world and the terrors of the age. How then, young man, young woman, are you ever going to accomplish anything, unless you know these things? These are the things that are written into your Bible. We learn much from this man, Moses, because he was the mediator, as Jesus is the mediator. What a glorious thing it is, I am, I am. You won't need me to emphasize to you that this is almost what Paul the Apostle said. He said, by the grace of God I am what I am. He said that into the Corinthians and that's what, that's what it was with Moses. Moses was only what he was by the grace of God, no different from Paul at all. The law has not yet been instituted. And in any case, either under the law or not, all God's callings come on the line of grace. What a tremendous thing. Let it grip your heart, man. Whatever you do, don't live in this world without this being from God. Oh, if this kind of fire should get lighted in every one of us tonight. We'd stop bickering and quarreling if we quarrel and having this disfavor or distemper. We'd come out of the realm of disillusion. We'd see the whole thing. We'd see that all these other things are just the ploys of Satan to turn us aside of the main thing of God. That's what we'd see them as. We'd see them just like that. But no, we let ourselves get so emotionally involved and embroiled with this, that and the other, him and her, on things that are moving off the central thing of the will of God. So anything, anything can happen except that people concentrated on doing this great will of God. Although at the moment, this man, oh undoubtedly, I'll ask him, I told you that last night where I'm right or wrong, but somewhere if I know this man Moses with the kind of heart he had and the mind he had and the kind of person he was, he will have dwelt long upon the conditions of his people back there in Egypt. Of course he would. Wouldn't he? You may take it as a given fact that unless you've got heart concern, you'll never be useful to God. Never. For that's where salvation came from. Heart concern in God. Heart concern. How many of us know anything about it? How many? I'm not now talking about the sugar and soap stuff of opera and that kind of thing. I'm talking about reality. God help us. So many of us are struggling to keep our noses above water every day. We're never, never, never in this great program of deliverance. I am. Listen, listen. Verse 8. I am. Come down to deliver. Yes, that's right. I am talking to you. I am. You can't go beyond that Moses. You can't go outside it. Wherever you are, I am. Wherever you start to think, I am. Project your thinking forward, I am. I am when you go into Egypt. I am here in the backside of the desert. I am. I am. I am. Not your wife. Not your life. Not your husband. Not your children. I am. Living that consciousness and all these other things will come right. Gotten into true perspective saves us fighting for life when we should be just moving sweetly in the will of God. What a glorious thing it is. What a marvelous thing it is to have this understanding. This is my name forever, he says. This is my memorial unto all generations. That's right. There's no memorial unto God save this one. What a tremendous thing. Bricks and mortar aren't a memorial. Two sticks of wood in the cruciform is no memorial to God. It's his name. I am. I am. I am ruling over everything. God had survived, yea more than survived, the rebellion from Lucifer and everything else. God had survived Adam's betrayal. God had survived generations to turn against him. God all conquering. I am. Generations destroyed in the flood. Angels put down in the darkness. I am. Egypt. Pharaoh. Whatever they're doing. I am. The children of Israel. Go and tell them I am. You are in this condition. It's through no fault of your own. That's the message to Israel in Egypt. But I am. And remember when he said I am he had first said this or it is recorded of him that he remembered verse 24 of chapter 2 his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have remembered. I am. What a glorious thing it is. Listen. Let me say something to you. Whoever you are in the room tonight, you're not forgotten of God. God hasn't forgotten any promise he's made. God has not forgotten anything to which he has committed himself. Nothing. Isn't it a glorious, wonderful thing? I want you all to go home tonight and sleep on this. God wants you to as well. But though that's a wonderful bed on which to lie, remember he's looking. He's looking for someone too. He got him in Moses. What's God got in you? He laid hold of your life. What's he got? You might say, well, who am I? Nothing, Lord. I'm all right. I'm nothing. I can't. God said, ah, but I am. I can. Praise the name of the Lord. Listen in verse 18. You go and say this to them. I'm in chapter 3. Thou hearken. Thou listen. Verse 19 I suppose we must press on. I hope everybody in the room is as warm as I am. If your thirst isn't as great as mine is, or perhaps I also hope that you're not quite as warm as I am. So, no, don't shut off the heat. I can go with it. That'll be good. Makes me think I'm in some warm country. Verse 19. I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof. And after that, he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass that when you go, you shall not go empty. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment. And ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and you shall spoil the Egyptians. Now in case some heart in this room may be wondering about that last verse, as I used to wonder a long time ago now. You know, to some ears it might sound another form of stealing. Moses had to write, thou shalt not steal. What was God saying? Listen, listen. One thing he's saying to you is this. You may lay your hands on all the jewellery in the world, but I want to tell you, you'll only borrow it. You'll die and leave it behind. It won't be yours. It's only ever borrowed. Get that. The second thing is this. That it was no more than what they were owed. They'd been a slave nation. And the money and wages they ought to have been paid, God said, look I know that you've earned it. Just take it. It's mine. All the gold is mine. See all these people that claim to have gold, precious stones and jewels, and there is a morality among men. I want to tell you this. That basically they don't belong to any man. I've told you, you only ever have them for a while. You borrow them and then you die. You can't take them with you. There are no pockets in a shroud. And you don't have to pay to get into heaven. And the gold of heaven is a lot different gold than the gold of earth. All right. So that's what the Lord was saying. They've withheld your wages. They've turned you into a slave nation. Now you just borrow them and go. Well glory be to the name of the Lord. God is very fair. I don't believe he's a socialist. On the other hand, I don't believe he's a capitalist. I believe he's God. Amen. I don't know what you believe. I'm not going to discuss politics with you, what color or shade you may be. But of this I'm absolutely certain that God is a wonderful king. And I want to tell you that in his balances all things are weighed. And in the end there will be a fair allocation. And it will be paid in wages or gifts. So this world knows nothing else. Let's understand that. And when God gives to you, you don't borrow. Yours forever. Amen. But God at this time was moving for towards an earthly kingdom. Now listen. Egypt. Verse 19. Pharaoh won't let you go by a mighty hand. Pharaoh's hand. And I will stretch out my hand. God's hand. Chapter 4. Verse 1. Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is in thine hand? Pharaoh's hand. God's hand. Moses' hand. But before we examine that, let's have a look at this. God said, verse 18 of chapter 3, They will hearken to thee. Moses now contradicted God. He's gone into something he shouldn't have done. It was allowable that he should say, Oh Lord, who am I? God reassured him. He said, Well, I am. And I've chosen you, Moses' exposition. He was allowed to say, What is thy name? For God has not revealed himself by this name before. That was allowable. But this that he said was not. And in all your dealings with God, now listen, you must understand the Bible is written for your learning, for your instruction. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And one of the things for which it is profitable is this, instruction in righteousness. I'm quoting Paul's letter to Timothy. Have you read this before? And you will see what you must not do when you're dealing with God. You must not say, If God says they will hearken to you, you must not say they will not hearken to me. Now that's contradicting God. Slaves can't do that. You must not contradict God. And when I'm talking on these lines, something that so shattered me almost was in when I first heard it many years ago now, all that comes back to my mind. I'm sure some of you've heard it before. I was sharing a conference with a man. We'll show you how long ago it is now, because I don't often share conferences anymore. That's not through my own willfulness. It's just the way it goes. And I heard him stand up and say, you know, he's written books as well. I won't tell you his name, but you can buy his books and read them. Or perhaps you hadn't better. But you know what I mean. They're purchasable, procurable, or whatever it is, borrowable. All right. I heard that God had, he said he'd had a great meeting with God, and then something happened. He said, I said to God, you can't do this to me. Listen, that man has still not accomplished anything for God. I know him. You can't talk like that to God. You may be considered to be a preacher, a conference man. I don't know what. But you can't talk like that to God. You must have a heart that comes back at God like that, denying what he says. Challenging God? Was Lucifer much worse than that? Here, then, is the whole tremendous thing. Now, the Lord didn't say, don't talk to me like that. Here's the, here's the loveliness of God. He went on, he was on the line. What, what is in thine hand? And he said, a rod. And the Lord, and the Lord said, cast it on the ground. He cast it on the ground. It became a serpent. Yes, Moses fled from it. This was the first of the great signs. God gave him three. I wonder if we'll be able to get through all three of them tonight. I'm certainly being long-winded, aren't I? Here is the truth. I just want to share with you the things that it has meant to my own heart, that is all. And, and uh, cast it on the ground, he said. You think you've got a staff there? Listen, Moses, I want to tell you that you can't do anything by your own hand. You can't do anything by your own staff, either. Throw it on the ground. There it is, deadly. See, in his own strength, he'd slain the Egyptian. He must have been a great, strong man, this man, Moses. Let not the strong man glory in his strength. Throw it on the ground, he said. Go on, throw it on the ground. It was a serpent. And you know what, Moses, Moses might have thought, how have I been taking round with you all this time? It's a devil's instrument. He runs from it. And then the Lord said to Moses, put forth thine hand, take it by the tail. But, Lord, surely, now I know that's wrong. If you're going to get a serpent, you've got to get hold of it. I'll tell you how to catch a serpent, if you don't know how to catch a serpent. Go up behind it, quick, and get hold of it behind here, you see. Mind you, don't try it on a python, or anything like that. But that's the way to catch a serpent, up behind its head, so that it can't turn to bite you. That's what you do with a serpent, you see. That's the other thing. And God said, get hold of him by his tail. Moses said, no! But he was learning. He's learning. He's learning. But this is absurd. That's right, I'm going to tell you to do absurd things, Moses, by your standards. Absolutely absurd things. Get hold of it by the tail. And it was a rod again. Glory be to the name of the Lord. Wasn't that wonderful? That was the first sign. See what he's got in his hand then. So they may believe, verse 5, that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous of snow. And he said, put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom. Behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take up the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. There's one thing that God was going to persist in. And if ever you're going to do a work for the Lord, this is something too, that you've got to get into your mind. Because it doesn't happen first time, you don't quit and run off. God was going to test the man out, he had to go and learn patience. If people won't respond when you talk to them, and they don't respond even though you can show signs and wonders, you don't pack up, you don't run away. You don't say, I'm going somewhere where it's easier, I'm going somewhere where the fish are biting, or something like that. You go through with God. This is one of the great tests of whether a man is really called and sent of God. One thing he gets is something, I know it isn't grammatical, but I like it, stickability. That's what he does. When God has sent him, that's where he stays, and that's where he goes through to the end. The test is never whether you get immediate success. The test always is this, certainly I will be with thee. I am with thee. I am says, I will be with thee. Glory. That's the test. If God is with you, if the vision remains undimmed, if the call is clear, that's when you go through. If the devil can beat you there, if he can hoodwink you on your call, and you start questioning whether you were sent, and whether you really are in God's will, and all this kind of business, he'll have you defeated. What a wonderful thing it is to go through on the call of God, and not for every minute talk about running here, or I may not stay, or I will not go, or something of this nature. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Of course, to stick to a thing, if God hasn't sent you to it, is worse still. But it's a glorious thing to know that you're in the will of God. Dear old Moses, God gave him two revelations, well three revelations of his hand. You know, one was the serpent, the other was the leprosy and the cleansing, and the other one was the pouring out of the blood. You've got them together. The serpent was the originator of the leprosy, the sin, the devil, and Moses was going to defeat the one that came in the garden and defeated Adam. If you like, he was going to be, I know this isn't true, but I want to leave the idea of another Adam, I know Jesus was the second Adam, that's alright, but I'm only talking in type now, the type of the real mediator. Okay, and he was going to get hold of the devil, going to make him a servant of God. He said, what? The devil's not here to serve God. I want to tell you, beloved, that everything has to serve God's purposes. Pharaohs, and principalities, and powers, and devils, and poison, and everything. I want to tell you that if you're a man sent in the will of God, everything's got to serve. Everybody, let the devil hear that too. That's right. Don't you go there being afraid of the devil. Get a hold of him. What? Yeah, that's right. See, it's a rod. Hallelujah. You remember what that rod was going to do in the future. That's right. And what's this? Put it in your bosom, because the devil, when he put poison into the human race, put in the leprosy of sin. Put it in there, Moses. Throw it out. First you're going to deal with the devil, then you're going to deal with sin. Now that's the order of it. When God redeemed Israel through the blood, we're coming to that in a moment, you will know that God dealt with the devil's representative, Pharaoh. That's right. Dealt with him first. Then after that, he instituted the great system for dealing with sin, called the atonement. Hallelujah. And you will know the place that blood has, in this great, great, great thing. All right. He put his hand back in his bosom, and this time it came out pink. Hallelujah. Just like the rest of his flesh, it came out pink. Wasn't that wonderful? Hallelujah. One of the dreadful things about leprosy is its false whiteness. You knew that, did you? All you medical people know a lot more about this than I do. I hope you do, unless you don't know much. But the dead, dead whiteness of leprosy, when it's run its course through the system. You remember that Naaman was a leper, white as snow, yet he could still mingle with his host. He wasn't put out because the leprosy had run through his whole system and done its deadly work on the surface. And he could still mingle with men. And that's the tragedy with so much sin. It can be so white on the surface and it can still mingle with men. But that whiteness means that the man is dead. That sin has run its course through the whole of his system and he's totally dead on his feet. There couldn't be a better type than leprosy for speaking of sin. It's even whiter than a whited sepulchre. Whiter, white as the snow. What a marvelous thing then this is that the Lord is showing him. And then of course the precious blood. Well you will know that Moses started with water on the Nile. The same glorious Nile to which he was going. See. And then his hand was going to handle the blood. What a glorious thing it was. The blood became blood on the ground. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto thee from the ground. God told Cain. Is that right? And I want to tell you that the voice of the blood is one of the strongest voices unheard by man that speaks in this whole universe. One of these times perhaps I'd like to talk to you a bit about that. But here is the tremendous thing. And you know this is why one of the reasons God destroyed Egypt. Because of the blood. It cries from the ground. Now if you read through your Bible on this theme, which I hope you will attempt to do, you will find that this is why God said this. One of the reasons Israel was sent into captivity in Babylon was because of the blood she had on the ground. Did you know that? And here, there it is. This is my justification for all the judgments Moses. This is it. For I think you will agree with me that the judgments of God on Egypt were terrible. Ten terrible plagues. Ten shocking judgments. We're not going to have time to deal with them tonight and I'm afraid we haven't got a meeting tomorrow night. You can wait until next Tuesday I'm sure. Except that I want to say this. That I'm going to deal with this one last thing of Moses really saying no to God. Isn't it a shocking thing that you can be on your knees with your shoes off bowing before God and coming up with all sorts of what might be thought reasonable statements. But they're all coming from a no, no, no, no insight. I've had a letter. I had it the other week actually. Been away for a whole month. I haven't been able to write any letters I would say for three weeks of them or even dictate any. But one of them I received said this. I want to be everything that God has. I'm not quoting it verbatim but it burns itself into my heart to meditate over before I answer it. Before the person is wanting an answer. I really want to be what God wants me to be but even while I'm saying it there's a voice inside saying no, no, no, no. She thinks it's the devil she's casting out. But God never cast devils out of Moses. He had a deal with Moses. And it's you stubborn, sinful, willful. You. You don't need devils casting out of you. You won't go God's way at all. A thousand excuses. Blame the devil. Blame some pharaoh. Blame this. Blame that. But God knows and in this moment you do too. Moses was saying no, no, no. God heard it although he never said it. Here it is. Moses said to the Lord verse 10. You see what was wrong with Moses? He was expecting God to do the wrong thing. He wasn't thinking along God's line. He was expecting that if God wanted to do this he'd make him a great preacher. God never did make him a great preacher. He thought if God was going to send him to Pharaoh he would know all the sophistries, all the language, all the eloquence of the courts of the kings for he'd been brought up in Pharaoh's court for 40 years. He couldn't go like some great actor and make some declamatory oration. You see? But he thought if God's going to send me there I shall get the gift of preaching from some of you men my feet. You want it. And I want to tell you that unless God gives it to you voluntarily and he's made you that don't you reach after it for you've got an awful responsibility the moment it comes. That isn't to say you shouldn't speak when God gives you the opportunity Moses did. But he never was an eloquent man and you know neither was the Apostle Paul. Did you know that? If you read his epistles you'll find it. He said so. You don't have to be a great speaker in order to be a great man or woman of God. You don't. I'm not eloquent. Listen. The Lord said unto him who made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say and he said oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send and God got angry with him. He said well you know I never thought God ever got angry under grace. I only thought he got angry under law when the laws were broken. Uh huh. God was angry with him. Has God ever been angry with you? Now when God's dealing with you if you keep fencing with God the no no no inside excusing yourself hiding this way running away that way God will get angry with you. Only until he loses temper he'll gnash on you with his teeth. He doesn't lose his temper. Anger doesn't mean that you're dancing about like a some wild dervish going to cut somebody's head off. Doesn't mean that. He was angry with him. Why? Because after all that you know the episode with the serpent and with his hand what do you think? He was still saying I can't go. I can't go. I'm not going. Uh huh. This is what he said. And this is why I think Moses missed so much. He's not Aaron the Levite thy brother. I know that he can speak well. And also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what he shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and he shall be even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth. And thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand wherewith thou shalt do times. I don't know what you want to do now. I want to hang my head before the Lord and say you were angry with him but you didn't say I finished with you. He still said I'm going to make you a God. That's the wonder and love of God. God isn't sickle like us thank God. He doesn't look for a place to duck out and not fulfill his purposes. He's made up his heart oh blessed be the Lord. Believer let me say to you here is a place for you to rest tonight. That he has said and he's going to go through. He doesn't call a man or a woman for nothing. Amen. There comes a time when God if I may put time to God makes up his mind and he's going to do something you see and then you got to go through. You got to go through. You might make him angry instead of giving him pleasure. But somehow he does not always chide or keep his anger forever. This is what the psalmist said. Far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us. It's a marvelous thing and I want to say this. I don't suppose there's anybody in this room that sometime has not made God angry with them. I mean with them. But listen what you haven't made him do is cease loving you. What you haven't made him do is wish he'd never called you. What you haven't made him do is change his purposes in deliverance. You haven't made him do that. And praise God what you can't do is defeat him or wear down his strength for he's called you. He loves you. And after all being earth I pray. Hear an embrace that will but dust. What a glorious feeling. You know what psalm I'm quoting from don't you? Well one of these times when you've got the time look it up and you might find over the top of that psalm the psalm of Moses the man of God. Don't call all the psalms David. Psalms William. Like so many people erroneously do. The psalm of Moses the man of God. Yes and God knew he was but dust and God loved him and God had a purpose in his heart for that man. Now beloved listen. So he has for you. Of course you'll never be a Moses. I'm ever so glad. I don't want to order people to their death by the thousands as Moses had to. I'm glad I don't belong to that covenant but to a better one. I'm glad of that. But this I do know. That he served God as a true man of God should. He was no worse than you or I. In fact perhaps you may think he was much better. But the lessons we can learn from his life are put into the scriptures for us to see. That we should know that the Lord loves us so deeply so desperately. And there are some wonderful things about you. Especially if you know as Moses how to identify with the people of God. Especially if you can say oh what am I? Who am I? And if you're not very eloquent. If you be like Moses you can become very powerful. And that's the important thing. For God wasn't so much interested in sermons and sermonizing as he was in deliverance. Deliverance. We're needing a lot of deliverance all around us aren't we? In our area, in this land, throughout the world. May the Lord then lead us on and show us this great way. For we're going to see it and we'll have to defer it until another time. Let's pray. The reason that Moses drew nigh was not just because he was attracted by the fire. But he wanted to know, here it is, why isn't the bush burned out? That's what he wanted to know. Why isn't the bush burnt? The leaves were green. As green as ever. Every twig was still in place. And yet an unearthly fire was burning it. It was absolutely tremendous. It was evidently a spiritual fire. It wasn't just mere fire as we know that. Nor yet was it the fire that later fell upon the altars of Israel. Nor was it the fire that soon was to burn in Egypt and run along the ground and consume all sorts of things when one of the terrible plagues struck it. Neither was it the fire that sparked...