Man of God

[AI translation] In this congregation, as we are together here, there are many who have come to a living faith, who have come to know the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ, who know from personal experience what it means to be forgiven for the blood of Christ, and who have given themselves to the Lord in thanksgiving. Some of us here have already openly witnessed to this great joy, others have secretly, in the depths of their souls, said a joyful yes to the grace offered. It is to these, above all, that the Word now asks: what has become of the light which the fire of the Holy Spirit has kindled in them? Has it been put in its place, in the candlestick, to shine for those who are still in darkness - or has it been hidden away? The situation in our Hungarian Reformed Church and in our congregation is that under the influence of evangelism, conferences, Bible studies, light is dawning in more and more souls, but at the same time a new danger is beginning to spread among us: what someone once called 'Christian individualism'. It means that one retreats with one's found Saviour into a quiet, secluded, individual piety, where the light received is slowly drowned out because there is no air!It is an unspeakable great thing, a great grace, when one is blessed by God. But this blessing is never only for oneself, but always for the other person. A verse in the Bible puts it this way: "I will bless you, and you will be a blessing" (cf. Genesis 12:2) You are blessed so that you yourself can be a blessing to others! If your soul has been warmed by God, it is so that other cold souls may be warmed by you. God never calls us to Himself only to receive blessings from Him - for that, of course, above all else - but also to receive blessings from Him! Every new encounter of the believer with the Lord ends with this decisive command: "Go now therefore, I send you." (cf. Exodus 3:10)
The suffering of the people in the Egyptian captivity is not only a story but a symbol. It symbolizes the misery, the suffering, the anguish of the unredeemed man. It looks, it looks, so miserable, so hopeless, as if God had forgotten His people. Apparently no measures are taken to alleviate the miserable lot of the people. In reality, however, deliverance is already being prepared. Behold, we read, "And the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people, ... and I have heard their cry because of their affliction, and I know their sufferings. And I will come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and will bring them up from that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:7-8) Behold, the Lord is already making arrangements, choosing and commissioning a man to carry out His redemptive plan and purpose through Him. There are a lot of people in bondage waiting to be delivered, but that person doesn't want to go, makes excuses, is afraid, wants to hide and not be an instrument in the Lord's hands. Of course, it would be more comfortable to rejoice unmolested that he has been delivered from Egypt than to go back there again now and be of help to those who are still in torment in the house of bondage.
When you came to know the Lord, and accepted his saving grace, God prepared in this your coming to faith deliverance for others. He also thought of others when He had mercy on you. Those whom he will lead out of the house of bondage, out of the slavery of Satan, through you, to the blessed liberty of grace in Christ. He has chosen you to be an instrument in carrying out His plan and purpose of deliverance. Human souls in sin, not yet knowing deliverance, but unconsciously longing for it, are waiting for you to bring them the message from the Lord. The Lord has had compassion on you to make you His co-worker, so that He can use you in His work of saving human souls. If there are believers here, let them come out of their spiritual inertia, out of the obscurity of ignorance in which they are hiding! Now the command is addressed to them personally: now therefore go, I send you to bring my people out of Egypt.
Moses had very serious objections to this commission. "Who am I," he says, "to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11) Forty years ago he would not have said this. Earlier in his life, he was very intent on delivering his people from bondage! He set about it in his own mind, but it went badly wrong, and he also lost heart and had to flee the country.
There are three distinct periods in Moses' life. All three lasted forty years. In the first forty years he learned that he was somebody. Raised in the court of the Egyptian king, he grew into a man of great learning and influence, swelling with great self-esteem. He thought others saw him as a great man. We know the story, "When Moses grew up, he went out to his brothers and saw their hard work, and he saw a man from Egypt beating a Hebrew man from among his brothers. When he looked back and forth, and saw that there was no one, he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out, and behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the one who was guilty, 'Why are you beating your brother?'"(Exodus 2:11-13) He thought he had a right to do this because he was above the others. Then he had to learn very bitterly that he was not above them: "Pharaoh also heard of it, and sought Moses to put him to death; but Moses fled from Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian." (Exodus 2:15) Then came the second period of forty years in Moses' life, when he learned that he was nothing. He had to learn this for forty years until he became so nothing that now the power of God could be done in his powerlessness. At the end of the second forty years God came to him. When a man has truly come to know how nothing he is, it is at this point, in this state of mind and situation, that he can come closest to the Lord and learn to be a servant now to all. It was at this low point that Moses became and could become truly "a man of God".
What a great grace it is when the Lord brings a man who thought he was somebody down from this height and teaches him that he is nobody! This is what the Lord God wants to teach many people today. Who has learned it? Is there anyone among us who now feels very much that he is nobody? Who wants to serve for the glory of the Lord Jesus - but what can the Lord do with a nobody like him? Who considers himself outwardly and inwardly unfit to serve? Let me say with the utmost seriousness that it is precisely such "nobodies" that the Lord is looking for, because He cannot work with "somebodies", only with nobodies! This condition is the best opportunity for the grace of the Lord! To lead even one soul out of "Egypt" is an unspeakable task, and yet, only he who has already learned that he is nobody is fit for it. God says to the nobody what He said to Moses: Zero in itself means nothing, but if a 1 is put in front of nothing, it immediately means ten. The believer alone is such a zero, such a nothing. But if he stands with Christ, stands behind Christ, he becomes at once the greatest power in the world! When the Lord says to someone, "Go, I will send you," He always says, "I will be with you."
Moses is still not going. What the Lord says is still not enough for him. Again he comes up with another excuse: "If the children of Israel ask me, 'Who is it that sent me, what shall I say to them?' There are many believers in this perplexity, who would like to undertake some service for the glory of Christ, what shall he say to the people? "And God said to Moses: I AM WHO I AM... Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:14) What a majestic commission: to speak to the people of the great God! God Himself has so designated Himself. What does it mean?
First of all, it means that God is a reality, a reality, not a fantasy, not a dream, not a desire, not a theory, not a fabrication, that there is a God, but a truth, because He Himself said: 'I am I'. Then it also means that God is a personal God, not a deity, not something, but Someone! So he says: I am! Then it also means that God is an inexhaustible reality and personality: I am. Well, whatever you need. God calls Himself I Am, and the believer can boldly add to this ineffable, precious name whatever he needs. It is almost as if God is here handing man a blank voucher, signed by Him, to fill in as He wills.
Jesus was very fond of this "I am" name. He explained its further meaning when he said things like this: I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Door, I am the Vine, I am the Bread of Life, the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the Resurrection and the Life, I am the Light of the World, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. I am all you need for you! Tell people about this great, eternal Being! Tell them that in Him alone can the other man find all that is lacking in his life, all that is just right for his personal spiritual need.
Pass on to others that the redeeming God is an unchanging reality, for that is what the name "I am" means. It is not the name I Was, once upon a time, in biblical antiquity, but I Am! So I am the same today that you know me from the pages of the Bible. I am, and my name is not I will be, if... and here come the conditions, like if you believe in me, etc., but I Am, even if you don't believe in me! I am, and there is no "if"! You can be the messenger, the messenger, the messenger of this eternal I Am, eternal Saviour and Deliverer God. Just think that the I Am sends, and you will know immediately what to say to people. The Orac says: "Now therefore go, I am sending you."
How wonderful that even after all this Moses does not depart! Still not enough for him what the Lord has said! He still has some excuse: "I pray the Lord, I have not spoken eloquently, neither since yesterday, nor since before yesterday, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant: for I am of a hard tongue and of a hard speech." (Exodus 4:10) If any of us should have the same objection, let the Lord say to him what He said to Moses, "Who gave the man a mouth? Or who hath made me dumb, or deaf, or blind, or seeing? (Exodus 4:11) God can use every mouth as a mouthpiece.
He once used a very inarticulate mouth to speak His message through. Remember? Whoever gives his mouth to the Lord to be used by Him, to be spoken to by Him, has the promise of Jesus to his disciples, "It shall be given you in that hour what you shall say, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." (Mt 10,19b-20) Do you say, you are not eloquent? No matter, it is enough for the Lord to say, "I will be with your mouth." (Exodus 4:12b)
Those who are ready to serve will find that the Lord never sends someone empty-handed. Whoever is willing to open his mouth to testify will find that the Lord fills him with words. They may not be flowery, beautiful words, but they will be words that can save a soul from eternal death! The Lord can use your mouth, your hands, your heart! Can you imagine what will happen if you believe that the Lord will make this promise come true: I will be with your mouth, I will be with your hand, or I will be with your money? Whoever has sensed that the Lord is here now, let him receive from Him this firm command, "Now therefore go, I am sending you... bring out my people... out of Egypt!"
Amen
Date: 29 May 1949.