{"id":18780,"date":"2016-11-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/law-grace-002-ten-strikes-youre-out-part-1\/"},"modified":"2016-11-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T06:00:00","slug":"law-grace-002-ten-strikes-youre-out-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/law-grace-002-ten-strikes-youre-out-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Law & Grace 002: Ten Strikes & YOU’RE OUT! – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[13],"series_event":[477],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[152],"class_list":["post-18780","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-exodus","series_event-law-grace","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-jim-mcgowan","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Law & Grace 002: Ten Strikes & YOU'RE OUT! - Part 1","sermon_date":"20161120","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":4064,"sermon_slides":4065,"sermon_mp3":4068,"sermon_id":"112016950461","series_or_event":477,"service_type":[472],"speaker":152,"books_of_the_bible":13,"chapter_and_verse":"3:1-10","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Jim McGowan\n\nTen Strikes and You\u2019re Out, Part 1\n\nNovember 20, 2016\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nGood morning to you and Happy Thanksgiving. Normally we have a Thanksgiving service but because of the way the calendar fell this year we\u2019re not going to be able to do that, but you know every day is a day of rejoicing in our hearts, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 I just want to say so much, thank you; thank you to the singers and musicians this morning, the song choices.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t privy to that this time around and what a great selection and I so appreciate that; my heart was truly touched by that.\n\nI\u2019d like to just also welcome those who are going to be listening by way of live streaming this morning; we thank you for listening and tuning in and if for any reason you\u2019re not able to hear this please let your friends know that we do archive all of our messages online so if they\u2019d like to go back at any point in time and listen to the messages they have that as an option.\u00a0 And we do provide all the notes and the PowerPoint presentations also.\n\nAs was mentioned earlier, Pastor is in Massachusetts and I was under the impression that he went there to learn Creole, it just so happens he\u2019s at the, I believe it\u2019s the Baptist Tabernacle Congregation which is a Creole speaking congregation.\u00a0 I\u2019m not certain but I think they are Haitian, but in any case I had the privilege of going and listening to his message from Friday night and it was fascinating watching him speak in English and then the interpreter tried to figure out what he was saying.\u00a0 And all I can say it looked like and sounded like he did a good job because it seems like the people laughed at the right places at Andy\u2019s jokes so that\u2019s a good sign.\n\nAlso I just want to again mention that if you would please be in prayer for Ann as she goes, I\u2019m not sure, she might be on her way or already be in Dallas at this point in time; be sure pray for her and her family as they try to figure out what\u2019s going on with her father.\u00a0 I\u2019d appreciate that, and I guess the last thing I should say is thank you to all of you who came this morning; I know you probably were expecting to see someone quite a bit taller and more handsome than myself but in any case thank you for being here.\u00a0 Deacons, please lock the doors now.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 All right, so you had your opportunity to leave.\n\nHaving said that what I\u2019m going to do this morning is I\u2019m going to pick up with part 2 of a study that I began a couple of weeks back\u2026 Gabe Morris, hello brother, good to see you today; I just wanted to get a shout out to you there, good to see you back.\n\nIn any case this is part 2 of a series that I started on Law and Grace and we\u2019re going to be making some comparisons and such so if you didn\u2019t have a chance to hear that message please, by all means, go back to the website and get that and that should fill in any gaps that you might encounter this morning.\n\nThis morning, first of all let me give you a brief outline.\u00a0 You know, you\u2019re always supposed to have an outline if you\u2019re a good speaker so I threw something together here; now whether or not it works out this way I don\u2019t know, we\u2019ll find out, but here it is anyway.\n\nI\u2019m going to present my purpose, aim and objective again, then we\u2019ll do a brief review.\u00a0 And then this morning it\u2019s important that you understand that I\u2019m going to introduce to the concept of Jewish baseball and I think you\u2019ll find that very interesting.\u00a0 You\u2019ve probably never heard that before.\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll get some contextual background on the verses we\u2019re going to cover.\n\nWe\u2019re going to spend most of our time here in contrasting and comparing Law and grace from Exodus 3:1-10 so if you want to you can go ahead and turn there and be ready for that.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give you a little foretaste of future lessons while we\u2019re going through that section and some things to consider regarding a proper perspectives on Law and grace.\n\nSo again, what is our objective, here it is: in this study we want to compare and contrast Law and Grace because we want\u00a0 to properly understand these two important themes and how they are related to the life of the New Testament Believer<\/em>.\u00a0 Are they related; how are they related and that\u2019s important.\n\nSo let\u2019s begin our review.\u00a0 First of all you may recall when we began talking about the life of Moses and talking about Law and grace, we\u2019re considering this; what I am going to attempt to do over the course of the study, and when I say that that\u2019s not just today but hopefully I will be invited back if I don\u2019t really mess up this morning and then I\u2019ll be able to continue in this study .\u00a0 But we\u2019re going to be considering this topic of Law and grace and we\u2019re going to be in three different sections of Scripture.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to looking at Exodus through Joshua, we\u2019re also going to consider the book of Matthew and then we will also consider the book of Romans thru James and that will be down the road a little bit.\u00a0 But today we\u2019re going to be comparing and contrasting Israel under the Law and the church under Grace.\n\nSo again I always like to start out with a question like this;\u00a0 well, you know, does this really matter, is this really that important and I think it is.\u00a0 For one thing it\u2019s a matter of what the Bible actually says; is it important to know what the Bible says on a given subject or a given topic?\u00a0 I think so, and in fact, the more we can know about that the better we know how to order our lives.\n\nSecondly, making distinctions impacts relationships and identities and again I strongly encourage you to go and look at the first presentation that I did on this where I go into great depth on this but again with this idea of clarity and distinctions with regard to relationships and identities, I have a picture up here of my gorgeous wife in her wedding gown and another picture of my gorgeous daughters and my younger daughter, Rachel at her wedding.\u00a0 And I would presume that you would agree with me that it\u2019s probably pretty important that I don\u2019t get those two confused.\u00a0 Would you agree with me on that?\u00a0 Somebody wave at me, smile, is anybody out there\u2026 yeah, it\u2019s pretty important, if you don\u2019t think so just ask your wife men, and you\u2019ll find out very quickly.\n\nSo just like there are distinctions in terms of relationships between people it\u2019s very important that we understand that there are distinctions between Law and grace also.\u00a0 We say that we in the church have been \u201ccrucified with Christ\u201d and that was so that we might die to the Law, so that Christ would do the living through us and that\u2019s found in Galatians 2:19-20.\u00a0 [Galatians 2:19-20, \u201cFor through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.\u00a0 [20] I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.]\n\nAnd then also one of the things that we spoke about last time was that if we insist as believers on living under the Law the Bible tells us that we are actually trying to be blessed by a ministry of death and condemnation.\u00a0\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find that in 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 [2 Corinthians 3:7-9, \u201cBut if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as<\/em> it was, [8] how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? [9] For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory\u201d]\n\nSo I don\u2019t know about you but I would prefer not to be seeking my blessing from a ministry of death and condemnation.\u00a0 I think I would prefer to receive the riches of glory in Christ Jesus that abound to me.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 And then also last time that we were together I presented this chart to you and it does an okay job, I think, of providing you with some comparison and contrasting\u00a0 points and the most important thing there, of course, is that there are different people groups that are mentioned.\u00a0 Again, if you want a copy of these notes instead of trying to write all this down, those are provided on the website and you can go back and look at those if you like.\n\nLet me point one thing out to you this morning that I didn\u2019t go into a whole lot of depth, I don\u2019t think last time, but you\u2019ll notice on the left hand side under the word \u201cbaptism\u201d that we say here that the children of Israel were baptized into Moses and we, on the other hand, were baptized into Christ.\u00a0 And let me read a little commentary on this, I think it might help clarify that statement so you\u2019ll understand what we\u2019re talking about here:\u00a0 When we refer to this, baptism is the outward expression of the believer\u2019s identification with the object of his or her faith.\u00a0\u00a0 And we find this in Romans 6:3 and Galatians 3:27.\u00a0 [Romans 6:3, \u201cOr do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?\u201d Galatians 3:27, \u201cFor if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.\u201d]\n\nConsequently Paul could say the Israelites were baptized into Moses even though they did not undergo literal water baptism in the name of Moses.\u00a0 By following him, that is by following Moses, by submitting to him and his authority the children of Israel expressed their identification with him and that\u2019s what we mean here when we talk about baptism; they were identified with Moses and we now as believers are identified with Christ.\n\nAnd one of the other things that we mentioned last time in regard to distinctions between the Law and grace is we said there was this issue of distance and intimacy.\u00a0 And a significant point in contrast is just that; it\u2019s our access to and our intimacy with God based on these differing systems.\u00a0 Under the Law of Moses, you recall from last time, we said that distance from God was, in fact, a legal requirement, a LEGAL requirement and again I refer you back to our previous session.\u00a0 If you recall I gave you a picture of the temple when it was built and we spent some time reflecting on the fact that the whole temple structure was designed as a way to separate people.\u00a0\u00a0 You had your Gentile court, you had your women\u2019s court, you had your other courts, you had your inner sanctum so to speak and you had your Holy of Holies.\u00a0 Each one was a separation from a legal requirement that was followed.\u00a0 And we also mentioned that the fact that under the Law the Law said do not come near but we also said that when we look at grace what does grace continually say to us?\u00a0 Draw near!\u00a0 And we\u2019ll talk some more about that here in a moment.\n\nWe said it\u2019s pretty important that we understand these distinctions because there are some consequences when we don\u2019t understand Christ\u2019s earthly ministry, for example.\u00a0 And particularly what we pointed out was that Jesus was born a Jew, wasn\u2019t He?\u00a0 And He was living where? He was living in Israel and He was Israel\u2019s King and Messiah.\u00a0 What was it that Jesus did predominantly in the earlier part of His ministry?\u00a0 He proclaimed the gospel of the Kingdom of God but He only proclaimed that to Jews.\u00a0 Jesus introduced the topic of the church only after the Jews had rejected Him as their King under the Law of Moses.\u00a0 And after the Jews rejected Christ as their King and Messiah the church, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, which is not under the Law but under grace, was put in place in order to make Israel jealous, Romans 11:1.\u00a0 [Romans 11:1, \u201cI say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.\u201d] One of the functions that we\u2019re serving right now as the body of Christ is we are making Israel jealous, causing them to be jealous so that they will come to the realization that there is something that they haven\u2019t quite gotten right yet and they have the opportunity to participate also in this.\n\nAll but the very last part of the earthly ministry of Christ was to Jews.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a very significant thing when we\u2019re reading the Gospels.\u00a0 We need to make certain we understand the context: who is Jesus speaking to?\u00a0 More often than not He\u2019s speaking to the Jews in the land of Israel and He\u2019s appealing to them to live under the Law but also to accept Him as their King.\u00a0 All right.\n\nWe said that when we misunderstand the place of the Law in the life of the believer it puts us under a yoke of bondage and if you look at that picture those are kind of self-explanatory, aren\u2019t they.\u00a0 Have you ever felt that way?\u00a0 The Law causes many Christians to misunderstand grace as well, leading them to think that they must do or not do things under the Law in order to be blessed.\u00a0 But the Bible teaches us that under grace what?\u00a0 We\u2019re already blessed because we\u2019re relying on what Christ has already accomplished in us.\u00a0 That\u2019s good news right there!\n\nFurthermore, the problem we run into is when we misunderstand the differences and distinctions between Law and grace we get things out of order.\u00a0 When we mess up in one area of theology what happens to the rest of the system?\u00a0 It collapses.\n\nHave you ever played this game?\u00a0 I\u2019ve never actually played it but somebody out there went yeah, I played it.\u00a0 Well, you know the object of this game is to pull those out; well if we apply this spiritually we don\u2019t want to be pulling those out because if we pull those pieces out, theologically speaking, and we get them in the wrong places the structure, the whole structure is going to come down and now we have a big mess, don\u2019t we?\n\nSo that\u2019s our introduction, that\u2019s our review, let me bring you to something fresh and new and exciting.\u00a0 You know, I would presume that we probably have some individuals out here who like baseball and I can tell by the rousing sound in the congregation that I\u2019m absolutely correct on that issue; thank you for your participation.\n\nThe name of the message this morning is Ten Strikes and You\u2019re Out.\u00a0 Ten Strikes and You\u2019re out! Now we\u2019re going to be focusing this morning on Exodus 3:1-10 and we\u2019re going to get to those verses but it\u2019s really important that I provide you a little bit of historical background and context about Jewish baseball.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 So we\u2019re not going to understand where we\u2019re going if we don\u2019t understand Jewish baseball.\u00a0 You have to understand it; okay?\u00a0 You\u2019re looking at me like you are crazy, well, my wife thinks so too.\n\nSo here we are.\u00a0 Now what\u2019s really important with Jewish baseball, brothers and sisters, is that there\u2019s a big rule book of Jewish baseball and the rule book is from the big inning!\u00a0 [laughter]\u00a0 Whew, how did Johnny Carson do it for thirty years?\u00a0 Now listen: It\u2019s vitally important that you understand that there are DIFFERENT RULES for JEWISH BASEBALL\u2026 they\u2019re different from what you may be accustomed to.\u00a0 Like all baseball of course you have your basic equipment \u2013 you have your caps, and the bats, and baseballs, all those kind of things.\n\nBut there are some differences in Jewish baseball.\u00a0 If you\u2019re playing JEWISH BASEBALL your only opponent is the EGYPTIAN TEAM.\u00a0 So you know, if you remember\u2026\u00a0 I remember when I was a kid watching the Harlem Globetrotters and everywhere they went they played that sad team, bless their hearts, but Israel is playing the Egyptians and it\u2019s really important, you can\u2019t mix these teams up.\u00a0 You know, rosters are important for you that follow baseball, right?\u00a0 Well not only that but you have to understand and be familiar with the fact, as we said, that the rules are a little different; in Jewish baseball it\u2019s ten strikes and you\u2019re out\u2026 let it sink in!\u00a0 Okay, ten strikes and you\u2019re out.\n\nBut that\u2019s not all; it\u2019s really important that you understand again that you may all be very, very familiar with the concept of a fly ball in American baseball.\u00a0 I know you\u2019re familiar with that but you need to understand that in Jewish baseball a fly ball has an entirely different meaning to it.\u00a0 I\u2019m waiting\u2026 [laugher], yeah, it\u2019s a different meaning here, okay.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not all, just like\u2026 you know, in Jewish baseball the players, it\u2019s important whatever team you are on that you have a coach and a manager and all those different positions.\u00a0 Earl, I hope you\u2019re getting a lot out of this, you keep me straight as a former player.\u00a0 Yeah, but you know in Jewish baseball the players are continuously looking to their manager, right; and that would be Moses.\u00a0 Moses is the manager and he\u2019s the one that gives all the appropriate instructions while they\u2019re on the field.\u00a0 Okay.\n\nAnd the key mindset of Jewish baseball, the team is always thinking the most important thing is what would Moses do?\u00a0 What would Moses do!\u00a0 And just like the nation American leagues have their sports paraphernalia the Jewish team does too.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m telling you this and I\u2019m actually getting a little bit ahead of myself but I thought it was pretty important that I kind of give you a little bit of background here.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice, of course, that you can get your baseball cap here; so you can get a Mo Knows Best cap or What Would Moses Do baseball cap.\u00a0 You have to have your paraphernalia in order to really enjoy baseball properly.\u00a0 So now you\u00a0 understand a little bit about Jewish baseball; you\u2019re always wondering, are you going to learn something new when you come to church and now you have learned something new.\n\nSo now let\u2019s catch up here to the contextual background of what we\u2019re actually wanting to talk about today and in order to do that I need to give you a little bit of a historical background, if I could.\u00a0 Here is a timeline of Moses and the Exodus and some other key events.\u00a0 And keep in mind as you look at this chart that these are round numbers; okay!\u00a0 The specific event that we\u2019re going to discuss this morning are going to be those events that happened approximately 1446 B.C. and that\u2019s the Exodus time frame there.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice as you look at this chart that Abraham lived somewhere around 2000 B.C.\u00a0 Moses came on the scene somewhere around 1500 B.C.; we see David around 1000 B.C. The completion and close of the Old Testament was somewhere around 400 B.C.\u00a0 And then of course Christ came on the scene there as\u00a0 you can see.\n\nBut this morning Moses is going to be the focal point of what we\u2019re discussing so let\u2019s move on to that discussion.\u00a0 You will recall, again by way of historical background here, that the Israelites after the time of Joseph, were slaves in Egypt for approximately 400 years.\u00a0 And during that time the Israelites greatly multiplied in number even though they were making bricks for Pharaoh.\n\nAnd\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice there, I have a picture of one of these bricks that they discovered, the bricks were made of straw and mud and they always had the stamp of Pharaoh on them.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that archeology has actually discovered this, there is an actual picture of a brick with Pharaoh\u2019s stamp on it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Israelites would have been doing.\n\nIn order to control the population of the Israelites and to limit their ability to potentially rebel, (you know the story) Pharaoh ordered the killing of all the male children two years old and under.\u00a0 And so what happened?\u00a0 Moses was placed in the little basket and sent down the river and eventually he was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter and she raised him up out of the water, from whence he received his name, Moses, which means to draw, right, draw out.\u00a0 And Moses was then educated in Pharaoh\u2019s household.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fascinating story how God did that.\n\nFast forwarding just a little bit, Moses was living like a Prince of Egypt all this time, being educated and trained and at one point something terrible happened: he ends up killing an Egyptian and he was about forty years of age when that happened.\u00a0 And this caused him to what?\u00a0 He had to flee Egypt and go into exile and at that point in time what happened?\u00a0 He goes from being a Prince in Egypt to following the sheep; what a fun thing that must have been.\u00a0 So what did he do?\u00a0 He fled to Midian, he became a shepherd, he married a local girl and he started raising a family.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure when that happened Moses thought okay, whew, I got away from that bad situation I can just sort of chill out here in Midian and just raise my family and everything is going to be fine.\n\nWell, at this point in time one of the things I want to bring to your attention is that when we look at the life of Moses, for the sake of conversation to kind of help us understand, we can sort of break his life down into separate segments of forty years.\u00a0 The first forty years he was in Pharaoh\u2019s court and he was being raised and trained as a Prince of Egypt.\u00a0 And then he messes up and what happens? He finds himself out in the wilderness, following the sheep and he\u2019s there another forty years.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know about you but at 80 years of age I think I probably would be thinking retirement is right around the corner here, I\u2019m going to retire from the sheep business and let my kids take care of me.\u00a0 But no, that\u2019s not what happened, as you know; there\u2019s a remaining forty years that we\u2019re going to talk about where he began his life as the Lawgiver and the leader of Israel.\n\nSo all of this to say that now I\u2019m bringing you up to what we want to actually talk about this morning.\u00a0 And that\u2019s going to deal with an actual contrasting and comparison of Law.\u00a0 So if you have\u00a0 your Bibles open, and I hope you do, to Exodus 3:1-10, I\u2019m going to read these, it\u2019s a lengthy passage but it bears reading so you can read along there quietly as I read here.\n\n\u201cNow Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-Law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. [2] The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. [3] So Moses said, \u2018I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.\u00a0 [4] When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, \u2018Moses, Moses!\u2019 And he said, \u2018Here I am. \u00a0[5] Then He said, \u201cDo not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.\u201d [6] He said also, \u201cI am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u201d Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.\u00a0 [7] The LORD said, \u2018I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. [8] So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite\u201d and the mosquito bites\u2026 no, I\u2019m sorry, I got carried away.\n\n \n\nVerse 9. \u201cNow, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.\u00a0 [10] Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.\u201d \u00a0All right; so what actually is happening here?\u00a0 Well, at 80 years of age God has decided it\u2019s time for a career change for our Moses here.\u00a0 And there he is, following the sheep.\u00a0 Moses doesn\u2019t know it but the end of his shepherding career is just about to end; he\u2019s about to receive a new assignment from the Lord shepherding the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t know it but this will be a much harder assignment.\n\nNow let me take a slight rabbit trail just for a minute because the angel of the Lord is mentioned in this passage.\u00a0 So let me just take a moment and just give you some information about this.\u00a0 As you can see here on the screen it says \u201cso the angel of the Lord appears to Moses as a burning bush that never burns up.\u201d\u00a0 And that gets Moses\u2019 attention and draws him toward the burning bush for a closer look\u2026\u00a0 He\u2019s pretty brave, I don\u2019t know if I would have gotten closer but maybe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are some interesting points about this person, the \u201cAngel of the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 One of the important things to consider is that the angel of the Lord speaks as God and he does the things that God does.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve given you quite a lengthy list there of passages in the Old Testament where we see this happen.\u00a0 [Genesis 16:7-12; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; Exodus 3:2; Judges 2:1-4; 5:23; 6:11-24; 13:3-22; 2 Sam. 24:16; Zech. 1:12; 3:1; 12:8]\n\nSo this is kind of interesting; who is this \u201cAngel of the Lord\u201d?\u00a0 As we see in this account, many who saw the angel of the Lord said that God had spoken and that they had seen God.\u00a0 Appearances of the angel of the Lord though, interestingly enough, ceased at Christ\u2019s birth and so we take this to be the Pre-Incarnate, Son of God, and His appearing in the Old Testament, all through the Old Testament.\n\nAll right, so back to our topic here.\u00a0 Moses is about to have a career change, the angel of the Lord appears to him and the bush doesn\u2019t burn up and then something interesting happens in verse 5, God calls Moses by name twice and Moses responds by saying, \u201cHere I am.\u201d\u00a0 Let me stop there for a moment; one of the things that you\u2019ll discover in the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments is that when God wants to emphasize something He says it twice.\u00a0 Okay!\u00a0 And in this instance He calls Moses by name twice and then we have Moses\u2019 response.\n\nLet me give you a couple of examples of other places where we see this same thing happen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When God spoke to Abraham God calls, He called him, \u201cAbraham, Abraham,\u201d in Genesis 22:11.\u00a0 When He spoke to Jacob, He said Jacob, Jacob, in Genesis 46:2.\u00a0 And when the Lord spoke to the young boy, Samuel, he cried out \u201cSamuel, Samuel,\u201d in 1 Samuel 3:10.\u00a0 And then in the New Testament guess what?\u00a0 When the Lord wanted to get the apostle, the soon to be apostle Paul\u2019s attention he said, \u201cSaul, Saul,\u201d in Acts 9:4 and in Acts 22:7 and Acts 26:14.\n\n[Genesis 22:11, \u201cBut the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, \u2018Abraham, Abraham!\u2019 And he said, \u2018Here I am.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 46:2, \u201cGod spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, \u2018Jacob, Jacob.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Here I am.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 1 Samuel 3:10, \u201cThen the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, \u2018Samuel! Samuel!\u2019 And Samuel said, \u2018Speak, for Your servant is listening.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Acts 9:4, \u201cand he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, \u2018Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?\u2019\u2019\u00a0 Acts 22:7, \u201cand I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, \u2018Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?\u2019\u201d Acts 26:14, \u201cAnd when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo when God speaks your name and calls it twice it\u2019s time to listen up.\u00a0\u00a0 We can sort of relate that, I don\u2019t know what your upbringing was like but in my household, you know, and I\u2019m not giving anybody free liberty here to call me this, but my name in my household was Jimmy.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 That was my family name.\u00a0 My name when I was in trouble was different.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 You know, it wasn\u2019t Jimmy this, Jimmy that, it was James Allen McGowan\u00a0 and when you hear that holy trinity you were in trouble, right.\u00a0 You\u2019d better listen up because bad things are about to happen.\n\nWell, it\u2019s kind of a similar idea here, God is getting his attention and just like my parents used to get my attention, as it were.\u00a0 So God calls Moses but look what He says to him, \u201cDo not come near.\u201d\u00a0 So He says Moses, Moses, don\u2019t come near.\u00a0 That\u2019s a little strange, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Like Moses, come here but don\u2019t come near.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 And so what we see happening here is Moses, who\u2019s going to be the Law\u00adgiver, notice, he was not allowed to come any nearer to God.\u00a0 This is an important point here about the Law.\n\nSo God called but He says keep your distance.\u00a0 Moses is then told to do what?\u00a0 He says take off your sandals, remove your sandals because you are on holy ground.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 And then God proceeds to tell him who He is, I think this is really fascinating, God said, \u201cI AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u201d \u00a0And I just love that\u2026 I LOVE the way God identified Himself.\u00a0 You know, God knew that Moses knew who those individuals were.\u00a0 And so God was telling Moses I\u2019m not just some deity, I\u2019m not one of those guys that you used to worship back in Egypt; here\u2019s who I am!\u00a0 And He clearly identifies who He is.\n\nThere\u2019s something else that comes through in this very brief statement here, which is fascinating to me, is that God is an individual God.\u00a0 He\u2019s an individual God; He cares about individuals AND He knows them by name.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that fascinating?\u00a0 You know, that\u2019s true about\u00a0 us, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 God knows us by name.\u00a0 The reason I\u2019m emphasizing that right now is that so many times in our lives as believers we find that things start to go wrong in our life.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Circumstances start to change, things start to happen and one of the first things we often do is God, are you there?\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you forgotten me God, don\u2019t you know how I\u2019m trying to live for you and serve you?\u00a0 Why are my prayers bouncing off the ceiling Father?\u00a0 Read thru and okay to here\n\nYou know, the whole time God is still calling your voice, right?\u00a0 Calling your voice, telling\u00a0 you that He\u2019s there, reminding you that He loves you, reminding you that He would have sent His Son to die on the cross if you were the only person that had ever lived on planet earth.\u00a0 He loves you that much.\u00a0 Now I don\u2019t know about you but that sure does a lot for me; it really ministers to my heart because people don\u2019t always treat me very well. God always treats me wonderfully.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nSo God said do not come near.\u00a0 Now when I teach this in a Sunday School format where I have a little bit more liberty I can actually play this video clip from the Ten Commandments and it\u2019s great, you know, when Charlton Heston comes there you hear \u201cMoses.\u201d\u00a0 How many of you know\u2026 I didn\u2019t know this for years, how many of you knew that the voice of God was actually Charlton Heston?\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 I thought that was kind of interesting.\u00a0 So here he is, he\u2019s coming up and God says don\u2019t come any nearer, and suddenly what happens?\u00a0 Moses hides his face because he\u2019s afraid to look at God\u2026 afraid to look at God!\u00a0 This is fascinating; what\u2019s the difference, a difference between the Law and grace?\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep this contextually sound here.\u00a0 Who is God dealing with here?\u00a0 He\u2019s dealing with an Israelite, isn\u2019t He?\n\nLet\u2019s come over to the New Testament where God again deals with Israelites in a book that\u2019s specifically addressed to Israelites, the book of Hebrews; that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed.\u00a0 Hebrews 4:16, the book of Hebrews is written to believing Jews and look what God says to these believing Jews.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that marvelous?\u00a0 Before Christ it was don\u2019t draw near, maintain your distance, limited intimacy, but after Christ it\u2019s draw near and don\u2019t just draw near but do so confidently.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that fascinating?\n\nWe\u2019re not done, Hebrews 7:19, look at this, \u201c(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which\u201d what? \u201cwe draw near to God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Hallelujah!\u00a0 Wait a minute, I\u2019m not done.\u00a0 Hebrews\u00a0 7:25 says what? \u201cTherefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.\u201d\u00a0 What a contrast between Law and grace.\u00a0 We jump back now to Exodus 3:6, look what God said; here He is again defining who He is, we mentioned that.\n\nOne of the things I\u2019d like to point out to\u00a0\u00a0 you here is that in the Septuagint version, which is the Greek version of the Old Testament, this expression, \u201cI Am\u201d is eg<\/em>\u014d<\/em> eimi<\/em> [\u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03af] ; now those of you that are linguists may understand that there are some languages that when they use a verb that the person is contained in the form of the verb.\u00a0 For example, if you speak Spanish and I say yo<\/em> hablo<\/em>, I speak, I do speak, I am speaking, I don\u2019t even have to use a pronoun there.\u00a0 But if I want to be emphatic in what I\u2019m saying I say [can't understand word] me, I do it, I\u2019m the one doing it.\n\nThe Greek is similar in that regard.\u00a0 He could have just said eimi<\/em> and that would have said \u201cI Am.\u201d\u00a0 But He didn\u2019t, He said eg<\/em>\u014d<\/em> eimi<\/em> [\u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03af].\u00a0 That is, profoundly emphatic, PROFOUNDLY emphatic.\u00a0 I Am God says.\u00a0 I myself am!\u00a0 Okay.\n\n \n\nIn verses 14-16 which we\u2019re not going to cover but I just want to point out to you He goes on and He uses this expression again.\u00a0 He says here in verse 14, \u201cGod said to Moses, \u2018I AM WHO I AM;\u2019 AND He said, \u2018Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, \u2018I AM has sent me to you.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 And they would know immediately that that was a term for deity; they knew that.\n\nAnd that\u2019s the point here, this is a deity claim, \u201cI AM\u201d in these passages and also in the Greek Old Testament is a claim to deity.\u00a0 Now why is that important for us?\u00a0 Because if we fast forward, law to grace, here we go, law to grace, if we fast forward we see someone else pretty important using a very similar expression, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Jesus, when He\u2019s confronting the religious leaders of His day says what?\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born,\u201d eg<\/em>\u014d<\/em> eimi,<\/em> \u201cI myself am.\u201d\n\nNow lest you\u2019re unsure of what He\u2019s saying, to clarify that the Jews did what?\u00a0 They immediately picked up stones to stone Him.\u00a0 Does that leave any doubt in your mind that they understood what He was saying?\u00a0 They knew exactly what He was saying\u2014Jesus was claiming deity!\n\nYou may remember this chart, we\u2019ve seen this many times before over the course of about three years, and look here, Jesus said I AM the bread of life, etc.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to read all those to you, you\u2019ve heard them many, many times before but Jesus is making an emphatic statement in each one of these, I Myself AM, I AM, I AM being in fact God AM the Bread of Life [John 6:35]\u00a0 I, being in fact God AM the Light of the world.\u201d\u00a0 [John 8:12]\u00a0 etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 [I am the Gate for the sheep, John 10:7, cf. v. 9.\u00a0 I AM the Good Shepherd, John 10:11, 14; I AM the Resurrection and the Life, John 11:25; \u201cI AM the Way, the Truth and the Life,\u201d John 14:6, \u201cI am the True vine,\u201d\u00a0 John 15:1, cf. v. 5.\n\nYou may not have thought about this but that wasn\u2019t the only place that Jesus used this I AM expression; you\u2019ll recall that when He was in Gethsemane He also used this expression, when the guards came to apprehend Him.\u00a0 It says, \u201cSo Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him went forth and said to them,\u201d now who\u2019s He speaking to?\u00a0 He\u2019s speaking to those that have come to take Him away.\u00a0 He says what?\u00a0 \u201cWhom do you seek?\u201d And what do they say?\u00a0 They answered Him, \u201cJesus the Nazarene.\u201d\u00a0 He said to them, \u201cI AM .\u201d\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice the \u201cHe\u201d is in italics, that\u2019s because that\u2019s not in the text.\u00a0 That\u2019s supplied.\u00a0 The actual expression is eg<\/em>\u014d<\/em> eimi, <\/em>I Myself AM God; the One you seek I Myself AM God.\n\nAnd what an interesting thing happened when He said this; \u201cAnd Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.\u201d\u00a0 And then in verse 6, \u201cSo when He said to them, \u201cI am,\u201d they drew back and fell to the ground.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I imagine they did.\u00a0 [7] \u201cTherefore He again asked them, \u2018Whom do you seek?\u201d And they said, \u201cJesus the Nazarene.\u201d And what happened?\u00a0 [8] \u201cJesus answered, \u2018I told you that I am;<\/em>\u201d eg<\/em>\u014d<\/em> eimi<\/em>, \u201cI being God Am the One you\u2019re seeking.\u201d\u00a0 And then He tells them to let the others go free. [\u201c\u2026let these go their way.\u201d\n\nBack in Exodus 3:6, again what we discover is here is this person who\u2019s going to be the law-giver to the nation and what is going on here.\u00a0 [Exodus 3:6, \u201cHe said also, \u2018I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.\u2019\u00a0 Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.\u201d]\u00a0 He hides His face\u2026 He Hides His face!\u00a0 Well wait a minute, this is Big Moe, right, this is \u201cThe Man.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe hides his face\u201d because He\u2019s afraid to look at God.\n\nBut what about grace?\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at grace in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 4:6, what it says.\u00a0 [3:18] \u201cBut we all,\u201d believers now, \u201cwe all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord\u2026,\u201d] in other words we are not having to hide our face from the glory, we\u2019re encouraged to behold it.\n\nThen he goes on, [4:6] \u201c\u2018for God who said, Light shall shine out of the darkness\u2019 is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,\u201d we\u2019re beckoned to behold God, behold the glory of Christ.\n\nAnd back in Hebrews 12:2 where he once again, speaking to Jewish believers, He says we fix our eyes on Jesus, we\u2019re not veiling ourselves from the glory; we\u2019re not hiding our face from God, we\u2019re fixing our eyes on the majesty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 [Hebrews 12:2, \u201cfixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d]\n\nIs there a difference between Law and grace?\u00a0 I think there is.\u00a0 In Exodus 7-10 here, it\u2019s kind of an interesting passage that we read.\u00a0 [7]\u00a0 \u201cThe LORD said, \u2018I have surely seen the affliction of\u00a0 My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.\u201d\u00a0 And look what it says here, God says, \u201cSO I HAVE COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM\u201d\u00a0 have you ever in your life wondered God, where are You?\u00a0\u00a0 You know God, this has been going on in my life for ages, when are You ever going to respond to me Lord?\u00a0 Now imagine that same attitude and it\u2019s been 400 years\u2026 400 years!\u00a0 And what did God say?\u00a0 God didn\u2019t say well, I woke up this morning and\u00a0 you know, I finally heard those folks crying out.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what He says, He says, \u201cI have given heed to their cry,\u201d He heard it the whole time, \u201cSO I HAVE COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM from the power of the Egyptians.\u201d\n\nCome down to the bottom part there, then He tells Moses, I love this, He says, God says I\u2019ve heard them and I\u2019m going to do something about it.\u00a0 And then he comes down here, I just love this, He says, now I\u2019m going to send you.\u00a0 [10, \u201cTHEREFORE, COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU to Pharaoh, SO THAT YOU may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.\u201d]\n\nHave you ever been in a position where you wanted God to do something, and God, this just needs to be changed, we need to fix this.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u00a0 know, the church has this problem and Lord, You just need to fix it.\u00a0 And God says well, let\u2019s go back to Exodus and learn a lesson here; I hear your cry, right, and I\u2019ve come down to deliver you, so what are\u00a0 you going to do about it?\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that fascinating.\u00a0 Some said come on, yeah, all right, huh?\n\nMore often than not here\u2019s what we do.\u00a0 Find an elder, find a deacon, where is Pastor Morris, where is Pastor Woods, right. Or better yet, where are their wives.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what happens?\u00a0 That\u2019s not it says, he didn\u2019t say here I\u2019m going to deliver you, go get your wife, Zipporah, that\u2019s not what He said.\u00a0 Okay, I\u2019m starting to touch\u2026 people are pulling their toes back in their shoes, I know I need to stop.\u00a0 Let me just point this out before I go past this slide here.\u00a0 If you\u2019ll look at verses 7 and 9 you\u2019ll notice an interesting pattern here; 7 and 9 and 8 and 10.\u00a0 In 7 and 9 the Lord speaks of His awareness of their problem.\u00a0 And in verses 8 and 10 He speaks about what He\u2019s going to do about it.\n\n[Exodus 3:7-10, \u201cThe LORD said, \"I have surely seen the affliction of\u00a0 My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.\u00a0 [8] \u00a0SO I HAVE COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land,\u00a0 to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. [9] Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. [10] \u00a0THEREFORE, COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU to Pharaoh, SO THAT YOU may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.\u201d]\n\nWe know the rest of the story, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 We know that eventually that God\u2019s going to send Moses and Aaron and they\u2019re going to appear before their own people and then they\u2019re ultimately going to appear before Pharaoh\u2019s court.\u00a0 That\u2019s down the road, that\u2019s what\u2019s coming; right?\u00a0 So there they are, and we also know from the rest of the story that God is going to use some interesting methodologies to bring about His deliverance of the children of Israel, including ten strikes, remember Jewish baseball?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to use ten strikes and here they are, blood and frogs and lice and flies and diseased cattle, and boils and hail and locusts and darkness and finally the death of the firstborn.\n\nNow why in the world is God doing this?\u00a0 You know, couldn\u2019t God just have waved His hand and all this would have been resolved, we wouldn\u2019t have to have had all this mess and frogs and flies and stuff, you know.\u00a0 I mean yuck, why couldn\u2019t He just, you know, snap His fingers and it would have all been fixed?\u00a0 Well, because God has a reason for everything He does and it was very important that He make a point, and the point that He wanted to make was that the foreign gods that the Egyptians served\u2026 and oh, by the way, just in case you didn\u2019t know this they served some 700 gods\u2026 700!\u00a0 My goodness, I can\u2019t remember what I had for breakfast two days ago, how do you remember the names of 700 gods.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Well, God wanted to make a point that He was THE ONE AND ONLY GOD, He is the I AM and so what did He do?\u00a0 He directly attacked those things that particular Egyptian gods were associated with controlling.\n\nAnd here you see a list of this.\u00a0 What did the water and the blood have to do?\u00a0 Well, Osiris was in charge of the water.\u00a0 What about frog infestations?\u00a0 Well, the god Hapi of the frogs.\u00a0 Lice, well that was Seb, etc. you can read those, right.\u00a0 And then finally the death of the firstborn, that was God\u2019s final act to let the Egyptians know that there is one true God, period!\u00a0 Here\u2019s the same thing in a little different format, I\u2019m not sure you can read that but if you get the power point presentation or the notes you\u2019ll be able to see that a little bit better.\u00a0 But the same idea.\n\nAnd so when we got to the ten plagues what happened?\u00a0 \u00a0Well, we know the story, God told the Israelites to put the blood over the doorposts, and they were to prepare their meal in such a meal as to be ready to go when the word came.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, is that perhaps the first instance of a fast food\u2026 maybe, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 And then ultimately, because God brought his wrath on the nation of Egypt and God just devastated them, and you understand what the killing of the firstborn was; the killing of the firstborn of the Egyptians, the firstborn are the individuals that the Egyptian people had put all their hope in.\u00a0 The firstborn in the Semitic culture, if you will, is always the one who gets the double blessing, is the one who is considered the right hand and right arm of his father, the most important person in the family next to the parents.\u00a0 And God got rid of them.\u00a0 Imagine that.\n\nAnd so then we pass forward a little more and now here we are, we\u2019re getting ready to be delivered and go through the water there, and what a fascinating thing that is.\u00a0 Notice, keep in mind that the final plague that the Egyptians experienced moved the common people to come against their own Pharaoh; they came back to Pharaoh and said are you going to continue to be so stubborn and hardhearted until we all perish?\u00a0 And he finally relented at that point in time.\u00a0 Of course he picked up where he left off a short time later, didn\u2019t he?\u00a0 And he perished with his men in the Red Sea. \u00a0All right, so here we are again, God says to Moses, either do not come near or draw near?\u00a0 What are you going to do.\u00a0 Moses was told to come near but he was told to keep his distance.\u00a0 When we look at the book of Hebrews here the Hebrews were repeatedly urged to draw near to God.\n\nAnd so the question we have to kind of ask ourselves here is, well, did Moses just get all this wrong back there? Is God just an uptight God as He was then back there in the Old Testament?\u00a0 You know, for the longest time there were individuals who actually taught this, that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are not the same, because they clearly saw these distinctions and they just said there\u2019s no way this can be the same person.\u00a0 But they are!\n\nWell, obviously the response to this is no, there is a difference and what is it?\u00a0 It\u2019s the difference is grace.\u00a0 Grace changes everything.\u00a0 Grace changes everything!\u00a0 So even though Moses kept his distance, know this, even though he kept his distance he was clearly afraid of God.\u00a0 The boundaries were set and established, he was still afraid of God.\n\nBut what\u2019s the message of the New Testament? When we come under grace the message of the New Testament is to do what?\u00a0 Approach God boldly and confidently\u2026 boldly and confidently!\u00a0 And so we approach God humbly, yes, but we do so boldly and with confidence, understanding that this bold and confident access is not based on anything we\u2019ve done, right?\u00a0 It\u2019s because we\u2019re, by God\u2019s grace, \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice, when you see that expression \u201cin Christ\u201d those of you that were here for the earlier service, what should that immediately tell you?\u00a0 \u201cIn Christ\u201d is what?\u00a0 That\u2019s identification.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 \u201cIn Christ!\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re \u201cin Christ\u201d therefore because we\u2019re \u201cin Christ\u201d we have this wonderful and bold access to the Father.\n\nIn Exodus 3:6 we read that \u201cMoses hid his face, for he was afraid [to look at God.\u201d] and the comment here, before this grace, think about this, before grace looking at the Lord was fearful and possibly even dangerous.\u00a0 But in the New Testament what do we see? Again this appeal to be always beholding and looking to the Lord because beholding Him has both present and eternal benefits and it\u2019s His will.\n\nSo, what should I take away from this?\u00a0 If you\u2019re a believer obviously God wants you to begin to understand that there are clear distinctions between the rule of Law and the rule of grace, so that we will fully realize and enjoy the divine riches in glory that we have, that are ours, and they\u2019re available to us right now \u201cin Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 This is what God wants you to understand.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want you to be under a yoke of bondage; He doesn\u2019t want you to be under the Law.\u00a0 But what if you\u2019re a non-believer?\u00a0 What if you\u2019re in here and you\u2019re thinking gee, you know, this doesn\u2019t make sense to me, why did I come today.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019re here for one reason, a divine appointment.\u00a0 God has you hear divinely appointed because He wants you to know and understand that He\u2019s telling you that today is the day of salvation. Today is your day.\u00a0 God loves you so much that He had you come here this morning, He purposely sought you out because He knows your name and He\u2019s calling to you because He has some wonderful things He wants to do for you.\u00a0 What He wants you to do is He wants you to place your faith in Christ, right now, this very instant, and you can do that.\n\nThe greatest question that the unbeliever can ever ask is what must I do to be saved?\u00a0 And I don\u2019t know what you may have heard, I don\u2019t know what you may have been told about what it means to be a Christian, but let me just tell you, it\u2019s so simple; it\u2019s almost absurd it\u2019s so simple.\u00a0 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!\u00a0 The world likes to put all kinds of conditions on it you.\u00a0 Christ puts no conditions on you but one, just believe.\u00a0 There are no magical incantations, you know, well if I just say this little formula I\u2019ll be magically saved.\u00a0 No!\u00a0 There\u2019s no secret handshakes.\u00a0 There\u2019s some groups, you know, where you\u2019ve got to do that.\u00a0 No!\n\nHere\u2019s a good one for you, guess what?\u00a0 There\u2019s no promise to do good deeds.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t come to you and say now give\u00a0 Me\u00a0 your promise, I want it right here, notarized, I want you to promise Me\u2026. No, He doesn\u2019t do that.\u00a0 This one just blows a lot of people\u2019s minds, He doesn\u2019t even ask you to become a member of the church here.\u00a0 Can you believe that.\u00a0 I mean, I don\u2019t even have to join the church?\u00a0 Whew, man, I was afraid I was going to have to join to get my name on the roll and start getting e-mails.\u00a0 No, you don\u2019t even have to do that.\u00a0 Right!\n\nI hope that you\u2019re recognizing that there\u2019s no emotional pressure, we\u2019re not using car salesmen up here pushing Jesus, you know.\u00a0 It\u2019s a work of the Spirit. We\u2019re not even going to ask you to raise your hand, we\u2019re not going to ask you to walk down the aisle, that\u2019s okay, I mean if you want to do that you could but you don\u2019t have to do that.\u00a0 Frankly there\u2019s one condition for salvation, it\u2019s just simple faith.\u00a0\u00a0 And what do we mean by that?\u00a0 You know, sometimes people load all kinds of stuff on the backend of the word faith.\n\nWell, faith is trust in, or confidence in or reliance upon Christ\u2019s promise to give you new life if you\u2019ll come to Him for salvation.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that simple.\u00a0 So if, in fact, that\u2019s something that you may be doing right now then\u2026 one of the wonderful things about being a teacher if God\u2019s Word or just being a believer in general is that when you share this information God gives you the authority then to say well guess what, if you\u2019ve done that you\u2019re a child of God, you know!\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that amazing, you know, you just share the Word and simple truth and\u00a0 you go from being an unbeliever to a believer and it just happens instantaneously.\n\nIsn\u2019t that fascinating?\u00a0 And then the great thing about that is that once that happens you now are given access, remember we talked about bold and confident access?\u00a0 You know, before you became a believer you didn\u2019t have that.\u00a0 Now you do.\u00a0 You have bold and confident access to come to the Father and you can call Him Father because He\u2019s going to call you son, or He\u2019s going to call you daughter. You have a new relationship; you now have access to all of Christ\u2019s divine riches in glory.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re now set on a path where you get to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and\u00a0 you get to experience what it means to have fellowship with other believers.\n\nAnd listen, fellowship with other believers is better than any fellowship anywhere else.\u00a0 Frankly, the bottom line is it\u2019s just that simple, you can just do that right there, you say Lord, I believe what that fella says, I believe it!\u00a0 And the moment you do that\u00a0 you\u2019re saved.\u00a0 Well, if you need more information, of course it\u2019s our privilege to be available to you, we have wonderful elders and deacons here that can talk with you about those things, about being a Christian, and not only that but we\u2019re a Bible church.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 A Bible church!\u00a0 So that means that the people that are attending here regularly are also knowledgeable and they\u2019re able to sit down and talk to you about the Lord also.\u00a0 So take advantage of that and with that I\u2019m going to close.\u00a0 And guess what, you\u2019re going to get out real early today.\u00a0 You say well, we\u2019ll bring him back.\u00a0 See, there\u2019s a method to my madness here.\n\nLet\u2019s close in prayer.\u00a0 Father, I just thank You so much that really Your Word is so clear and Your truth is so free, Father God, when we allow it into our hearts and we allow the Spirit of God to manifest it to us and my prayer Father is that this morning could have just been a foretaste of what\u00a0 You\u2019re going to do in the hearts and life of Your people as they meditate on these things, as they take them with them, as they mull over them, as they ponder them, Lord, as they reflect on them during the course of the week and days ahead.\u00a0 And I thank\u00a0 you, Father God, that You always accomplish\u00a0 Your purposes, that no matter how frail the speaker is or how inarticulate, Father God, the Holy Spirit is always able to take the truth and apply it to the hearts of men and women, boys and girls.\u00a0 Lord, I thank you for our congregation this morning, I thank you for their indulgence and the fact that, Father God, they love you so much that they\u2019re here.\u00a0 I pray Your blessing upon them, I pray that You would just encourage them and minister to them today and I just thank\u00a0 You, Father, that You\u2019re working out Your plan,\u00a0 Your purposes in our hearts and lives and that You\u2019re growing and maturing us in the word.\u00a0 Thank you for bringing Pastor Andy and Anne back to us safely and we look forward to what You\u2019re going to do in the days ahead at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 In Jesus name, Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t