Well, during this season of Advent, we're working our way
through a series on the oh Auntie Fonz.
Seven ancient prayers that pray for the coming of Jesus using
titles, given to him by the Old Testament.
This morning, we're looking at Jesus as Lord, and so I invite
you to stand for a reading of God's word.
This morning, I'll be reading from to Old Testament.
Passages first from the prophet, Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 11.
And then, from the book of Exodus, Isaiah 11.
Beginning in verse 3, Isaiah writes And as the light shall
be, in the fear of the Lord, You shall not judge by what his
eyes, see, or decide disputes by what his ears here.
But with righteousness, he shall judge the poor and decide with
equity for the meek of the earth.
And he shall strike the Earth with the rod of his mouth.
And with the breath of his lips, he shall kill the wicked
righteousness. Shall be the belt of his waist
and faithfulness the belt of his loins. and now from the book of
Exodus chapter 3, Now Moses was keeping the Flop with his
father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian and he led his flock
to the west side of the Wilderness and came to Horeb the
Mountain of God 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 and it was not
consumed. And Moses said, I will turn
aside to see this great sight. Why the bush is not burned.
When the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see God Called
to him out of the bush. Shhhh Moses, Moses and he said,
here, I am then he said, do not come near, take your sandals,
off your feet for the place on which you are standing is Holy
Ground. 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. Then the Lord said, I have
surely seen the Affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I've
heard there. Prior because of their
taskmasters, I know, their sufferings and I've come down to
deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them
up out of that land to a good and Broad land, a land flowing
with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the amorites, the perizzites, the hivites, and the
jebusites. And Now, Behold The Cry of the
people of Israel has come to me. And I have seen the oppression
with which the Egyptians oppress them, come, I will send you.
You to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of
Israel out of Egypt, but Moses said to God, who am I?
That I should go to pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out
of Egypt. He said, but I will be with you
and this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you and you
have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on
this mountain. Then Moses said to God if I come
to the people of Israel and say to them the god of your father's
has sent me to you and they ask me.
What is his name? What shall I tell them?
Them. God said to Moses, I am who I am
and he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent
me to you. This is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated. In the Book of Romans Apostle,
Paul writes that if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the
dead. You will be saved.
Let me read that to you again because it is the most important
thing that we could hear this morning, And the Book of Romans,
the Apostle Paul writes that if you confess with your mouth,
that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that he rose Jesus
from the dead. You will be saved.
From the earliest days of Christianity, one of the most
essential aspects of the Christian faith is the lordship
of Jesus. But what does it really mean to
confess that Jesus is Lord? What we're going to see this
morning is that the lordship of Jesus as more than just a title.
And it's more than just simply his attribute.
But we're going to see is that the lordship of Jesus is his
name. It's the very name of God.
The second prayer of the oh Auntie fawns goes like this.
You can find it in your bulletin, it's there on the
inside cover, it's a prayer to the coming of the Lord.
Oh Lord and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses
and the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sion.
I come and redeem us with an outstretched arm It's a
beautiful prayer. Its title.
Come O Lord comes from language used by the Old Testament.
In particular, we see this language alluded to by the
prophet Isaiah and Isaiah 11. I want you to look with me at
Isaiah 11, verse 4. And listen to who this Lord God
is and what the Messiah will be like, Isaiah 11 for with
righteousness. He will judge the poor and
decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
He will strike. Earth with the rod of his mouth
of the breath of his lips, he shall kill the wicked.
Now, listen to this. Verse 5 righteousness will be
the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his
loins. To say that the Messiah will be
Lord is to say that he is righteous and he is faithful, he
is mighty, and he is merciful. And the story behind this title,
as best told by the story of The Exodus, Exodus chapter 3, It's
in this story. The story of the burning bush.
And God coming to a man named Moses to make a promise that he
would come down and redeem his peoples in that story that we
see that the same Lord who redeemed his people from Israel
is the same Lord Jesus Christ, who redeems us from our sins.
And so this morning as we look at this second oh antiphon
prayer for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to see what it truly means to confess that Jesus.
The son of God is Lord. First thing I want you to know,
I want you to know that the Lord Is Holy.
I want you to look with me at Exodus 3 verse 1.
We're told that Moses was keeping the flock of his
father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led this flock
to the west side of the Wilderness and came to Horeb,
that is Mount Sinai. Now, if you've grown up around a
judeo, Christian culture are, you know who Charlton Heston is?
You've probably heard of Moses. And we know Moses and his story.
Gets picked up here in chapter 3, towards the beginning.
But we know the very very beginning of his story is that
he was a Hebrew and Israelite child, who was adopted into
Pharaoh's household and after he killed an Egyptian for attacking
a fellow Hebrew, he fled to Midian.
And here we pick up his story, keeping watch over his flocks
verse 2. And the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush
and Moses looked and behold the Bush was burning yet, it was not
consumed. I want you to try your best to
imagine this in your mind. Here is Moses keeping watch over
his flock. And out of nowhere, the angel of
the Lord comes. Now already that was an amazing
sight. But it came in the form of a
burning bush. A bush that was on fire and yet
it wasn't burning up. It wasn't consumed.
This is one of the most iconic images of the Bible.
The burning bush. a story that has become familiarized to us
not just by bought the Bible, but by popular culture An image,
the burning bush that would have been to become the symbol of the
nation of Israel. A symbol of the fires of
Affliction that they have endured throughout their entire
history. But you see, I think that the
burning bush is not simply an image that should remind us of
Israel as a nation. but the burning bush I think as an image
of God himself, Coming down the fires of judgment.
And yet not to consume his own people.
Book of Deuteronomy tells us that the Lord, our God is a
consuming fire, a jealous God, a God who is mighty and righteous
and holy, And God had come and The Exodus to bring judgment.
But with his judgment he brought Redemption.
And we noticed that here and the burning bush that God bring all
of his Holiness close to a man named Otis.
Now, I want you to notice what it says, look again with me
tells us that the angel of the Lord appeared Now, that word
that phrase is really a title and in the Hebrew, it's best
translated. As the angel of the Lord, not a
angel of the Lord. But the angel of the lord, we
see this title used often throughout the Old Testament.
When we see the very presence of God himself, In fact, the angel
of the Lord could be translated literally as the messenger of
the Lord and for centuries, Christians have wondered whether
or not this was an angel or perhaps this was a christophany
and other words, a a pre-incarnate appearance of
Jesus now whether or not that's true.
What we do know for certain is this this was no mere Angel
because of what happens. Next, look with me at verse 4.
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God Called to him
out of the bush. Not the angel of the Lord
anymore but we're told it was God himself.
God is the one who called to Moses out of the Bush and he
says, Moses Moses and Moses answers back.
Here are mine. Now, the word that we see here
in verse 44, God is the word. Lord.
Do you see it? And if you see this word Lord
and you hear this word, Lord used for God, throughout the Old
Testament. There are many people who hear
that word and think of that word and immediately, what they
imagine God to be as cold and archaic.
He's the Lord Are perhaps other people you hear that and you
think of his attributes, his kingship his authority as
Majesty, his sovereignty. But again, what I want you to
see this morning is that the word Lord is so much more than
his attributes. It's a name.
And if you're looking in your Bible or you're looking at your
bullets, and I want you to notice something about that
word. Do you see that?
It's an all capital letters. Lord, if you ever noticed that
before you've ever wondered, why is Lord printed in all caps in
my Bible? Why do we see it that way over
and over and over again in the Old Testament?
Well, the reason is any time that you see the word Lord and
all caps, it's there in the place of the name, yah Yahweh.
It's the Covenant name of God. But you see, for the people of
Israel. They believed that his name was
too holy to say out loud and so instead they used a different
Hebrew word in its place. It's the word Adonai.
It means Lord. And so every time you see the
Lord in all caps, you're not just reading at description
about God. But what you are reading is a
placeholder. Given and reverence for the
Holiness of God. To say that God is Lord, is to
say that he is. Holy he is completely other.
He is righteous and he is just and he is majestic. and we see
that here, And what happens next in verse 5?
That wasn't enough for Moses to see the bush burning and yet not
consumed, and they then hear God's voice.
Call out to him from out of the bush.
Then God says this verse 5 do not come near.
Take your sandals, off your feet for the place on which you are
standing. Is Holy Ground.
It was a common display of reverence to take the shoes off
of your feet when you enter into a holy place.
The Lord is telling Moses this place.
Now, this area around the burning bush, I have claimed, it
is like my temple, it is, Holy Ground. bow down and show
reverence and take the sandals off your feet and he goes on and
says, I am the god of your father, the god of Abraham, the
god of Isaac, the god of Jacob, and then notice what Moses does
We're told that Moses hid his face and was afraid to look at
God. Now again I want you to imagine
everything that Moses just seen a burning bush on fire and yet
not consumed. But what is Moses afraid of?
He's not afraid of this site. He's not afraid of the burning
bush know, he's afraid of the Lord.
Why Because the Lord Is Holy. And when we fully appreciate the
Holiness of the Lord, it should fill us with a holy fear.
For the Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord, the
reverence and awe of his holiness.
But again, I want you to notice something about the promise of
the burning bush that God in his holiness.
Came down. And he drew near to Moses god in
his Holiness, came with fire. But he didn't consume the bush.
Because he wasn't going to consume his own people.
God in his Holiness came down, this is what we celebrate at
Advent. And we see it throughout the
story of the Bible. God came to Abraham.
God came to Moses god came to David.
God came to the prophets and God has come to us in Jesus.
This is what we celebrate and it is our hope, the Incarnation of
the son that God has come to us. And he has come in righteousness
and in faithfulness to bring Salvation to his people to the
second thing I want you to know. I want, you know, the Lord is
our savior. Exodus, 3 verse 7, I want you to
look with me. We're told then the Lord said I
have surely seen the Affliction of my people who are in Egypt, I
have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.
I know, their sufferings, I want you to hear that this morning,
if any of you are suffering of any of your Afflicted, I want
you to hear these words. God knows our sufferings, he
heard the sufferings of his people, their cry for over 400
years for Generations. The people of Israel were
enslaved in Egypt, they were oppressed.
They were beaten, they were subjected to a ruthless
dictator, Exodus 113, you don't have to turn there, just listen.
This is how Exodus begins. So the Egyptians ruthlessly made
the people of Israel work. As slaves.
And made their lives, bitter with hard service, and mortar,
and brick, and all kinds of work.
And the field for 400 years. The people of Israel were
enslaved in Egypt, And the Lord heard their suffering and he
came to a man named Moses to deliver his people out of Egypt.
Exodus 3 verse 8, this is what God says a promise that he gives
to Moses for his people. I have come down to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the
land, to a good and Broad land, a land flowing with milk and
honey, and throughout the Bible. All of Redemptive history, The
Exodus becomes these story that captures this great story of
redemption. That just like the people of
Israel were enslaved to Egypt you.
And I, we are enslaved to sin. And just like God, sent a man
named Moses to redeem. His people.
God sent a true and greater Moses.
Jesus. To set us free.
This is the language that Jesus used in John chapter 8.
We're told that Jesus said to some Jews who believed in him,
he said if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and
you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and they
answered him. We are The Offspring of Abraham
have. We've never been enslaved to
anyone? How is it that you say we can
become free. As you hear me talk about the
slavery of the people of Israel and the slavery of our sin.
Maybe you're Wondering the same thing.
Maybe you hear those words either, they just kind of like
inner one here and go out the other because you've heard them
before or if you're really thinking about those words this
morning you're wondering just like these people.
How can we be slaves? We live in the United States of
America, we know nothing but Freedom.
That's what we are built around. How could you say that we are
slaves. And here's the problem.
If you don't recognize. The slavery of sin.
Then you have no need to be set free and if you have no need to
be set free, you have no need for a savior.
And this is how Jesus responded. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say
to you everyone who practices sin.
Is a slave to sin. You see this is what sin does to
us. It corrupts us so much that we
think sin is freedom. Freedom from God's rules.
Freedom for what he would tell us to do in the freedom to
choose our own way. But as we saw last week, there
is a way that seems right to a man that ends in death.
And when we sin we think we are choosing freedom.
But what Jesus is telling us this morning and we are being
reminded of is that sin actually enslaves us.
And this is true. Not just conceptually but
experientially. I want you to think about.
What sin is like in your own life?
And the way that it holds sway over your heart.
How often? After we give into temptation
and we sin, how often it is that we say, I didn't even want to do
that. So why did I do it?
Because we are enslaved to sin. And there is no human being who
can free themselves. We see this in the story of The
Exodus. Again Moses comes to God.
Exodus 3 verse 11. He says, who am I?
That I should go to pharaoh and bring the children out of Egypt.
That's a great question. Moses isn't just being humble.
He recognizes that there is no one who can do this great task.
Just like there's no one who can free themselves from the slavery
of sin God's response in. Verse 12 is I will be with you
and this will be a sign for you that I have sent you and I have
brought you the people out of Egypt and you shall serve God on
this mountain. It's a promise.
That God will redeem his people. He will free them from slavery.
And brothers and sisters. I want you to hear that same
promise this morning. That once again, God has heard
the cries of our sufferings. And that is what we celebrated
Advent. That and knowing our sufferings,
he sent his son Jesus, to Bear our suffering and sin on the
cross to die in our place and to rise again, to give us victory
over sin so that we could be truly free.
But here's what you have to know.
And the same way that slavery. Feels like freedom, but it's
really just sin. the way of Jesus to us, sometimes feels
Like, it's slavery. The Apostle Paul says, that's
exactly right. And that it is better to be a
servant of Jesus rather than a servant of sin.
In verse 12 of Exodus 3, we see that once God brought his people
out of Egypt, God says, this is the sign that you will serve God
on this mountain. Christopher Walken as a
professor and Scholar of modern and contemporary philosophy and
expert, and post-modernism. And he says that the story of X,
this is really the story of not, just of the Bible, but the story
that any person in our postmodern age would be able to
get behind because it's a story about Freedom.
It's what our age wants the most, we want to be free and
that story makes sense to our age until this last line.
You Shall Serve God on this mountain.
That for our culture says, whoa, wait a minute.
I want to be free, but I don't want to Bow the knee.
Advent. teaches us, once again, that the King has come down to
us, And we haven't been invited by grace and mercy to Bow the
knee and to find Freedom and submitting to the lordship of
Jesus. So, the third and final thing
before we sing, I want you to know the Lord is the one true
God. Exodus 3 verse 13, then Moses
said to God. If I come to the people of
Israel and say to them the god of your father's has sent me to
you and they ask me. What is his name?
What will I say to them? Now what you need to understand
is that for 400 years, the people of Israel were enslaved
and a polytheistic culture. And so what Moses is asking here
is a pretty basic and fundamental question.
He's asking, which God are you? We've heard about all of these
Egyptian gods for 400 years and so, when the people say well,
which one of these Gods sent you Moses?
What am I supposed to tell them? And this is God's response.
Verse 14. God said to Moses.
I am who I am. Say this to the people of
Israel. I am has sent me to you.
In other words, I am the one true God.
I am the one that all of these lesser gods have pretended to
be. I am the god behind everything
that you assume about the world and about culture and about
life. And about goodness, I am And you
and I Live. Now, once again, enslaved in a
polytheistic culture, not a culture that boughs down to
Egyptian gods, but a culture that vows down to money, and
sex, and power and Prestige, and what people think of us and
where we live, and our ZIP code, and the list goes on and on and
on. And God says, I am the Lord.
I am. I am the one true God.
Later, the Gospel of John, tells us a story.
A story about people coming to Jesus.
And as these Jews came to Jesus, they said, are you greater than
our Father, Abraham? In other words, who you think
you are teaching and Performing, Miracles, and doing all of these
things, you really think you're greater that.
All those who have gone before us.
Even our Father, Abraham and Jesus responds this way.
He said, truly truly, I say to you before.
Abraham was I am. What was Jesus saying?
Jesus was saying, I am greater than Abraham.
And greater than Moses and greater than all the profits.
I am the Lord. I am the Fulfillment of the
burning bush. The majesty and Holiness of God,
come down to earth. I am the great deliverer of the
one who's come to save his people from the slavery of sin.
The Passover Lamb Jesus is saying I am the Fulfillment of
the law. The bread of life, I Am The Rock
from which the water flowed. I Am The Great.
I Am, I am the Lord and this is why John tells us the people
picked up stones to throw them at him.
Because they heard exactly what Jesus was saying.
So what does it mean? To confess that Jesus is the
Lord. What does that mean for us?
Two thousand years later. After his first Advent to
confess, that Jesus is the Lord. It is to say that he is.
The one true God. And a culture that is beckoning
for us to worship. So many other things, This is
why Mere Christianity c.s. Lewis said that you cannot say
that Jesus was just a wise man or a moral teacher because of
what he says, right here in the Gospel of John.
His claims don't allow us to make that assumption either.
He's a liar or he's a lunatic or he is Lord.
So once again, I ask you this Advent, what do you really
believe? What do you really believe about
the person of Jesus? Apostle Paul says that if you
confess with your mouth, that he is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
And what does it mean to confess that Jesus is Lord?
To confess that Jesus is Lord, is to confess that he is.
Holy He is mighty and he is all powerful.
And yet he has come near to us to confess.
That Jesus is Lord, is to confess that he is the savior.
The one who's come to redeem us from our sins.
And to confess that Jesus is Lord, is to confess that he is
the one true God. There are over 5,000 religions
in the world today. And Christianity is the only
one. that says that the one true God has not asked that we go to
him because we never can But the one true God has come to us.
His name is Jesus. He is the king of kings and he
is the Lord. Let's pray.
Father in heaven. May we see?
Your lordship. Maybe see that you father, Son
and Holy Spirit, are the Lord. That you are God of the Covenant
of promises that you have kept and that every promise has found
their yes and amen in Jesus yours son.
And so he pray, Holy Spirit. What did you and Abel us now to
confess with our mouths that you Jesus our lord and believe in
our hearts. That you Jesus rose from the
dead. To conquer our sins.
It is in that power that we now pray that you would come to us
once again. That you would light up our
hearts and that you would come. One day to make all things new.
We ask now that you would do this, do this not only in the
season of Advent, but all the days of her life in Jesus name,
we pray, amen.