Who’s the best person to tell us what God is like? God is! In this message, Lead Pastor Jamie Nunnally shares straight from God’s own words about Himself.
We don’t get to define God, God gets to defines Himself.
So, here is God’s self-description to Moses that we’ll be studying in this sermon series:
Exodus 34:6-7 CSB The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”
Today we’re going to focus on the first part, “The Lord, the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God”
GOD’S NAME IS YHWH.
This is God’s personal name. It occurs nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament.
When Moses first encountered God at the burning bush, he asked a logical question: what’s your name?
Exodus 3:13-14 ESV Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.'”
The name I AM is Yahweh.
Why would God give Moses His name? Because God wants to be known for who He is, not just acknowledged for what He does.
YHWH IS COMPASSIONATE.
The first word out of God’s mouth when describing Himself is compassionate. Some translations say “merciful.”
9:15 ESV Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
YHWH IS GRACIOUS.
Grace is favor that isn’t earned. It’s the difference between a paycheck and a gift. You don’t earn grace.
OUR REASONABLE RESPONSE TO YHWH IS WORSHIP.
Exodus 34:8 NLT Moses immediately threw himself to the ground and worshiped.
Romans 12:1 NRSV I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship.
God doesn’t have to be unknown anymore. You don’t have to build your picture of God from your past, your pain, your culture, your family, or even the church you grew up in. God has told us who He is: YHWH. Compassionate. Gracious.
The unknown God has made Himself known.