"OH THAT I MIGHT KNOW HIM"

(Psalms 86:6-9) Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me. Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name. (NKJV)

(Psalms 86:10-12) For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore. (NKJV)

I. One Holy Passion

A passion is a strong feeling, an emotion that is packed with intensity. At times it carries a sense of urgency.

Not all passions are holy. As fallen human beings we are often trapped in unholy passions. Our feelings are mixed. Then the Holy Spirit quickens us to a new life with new passions. But at times we still struggle with our old passions, with our feelings. Our affection for the things of God is locked in mortal conflict with earthly concerns.

If we are to progress in godliness we need to fan the flames of a holy passion. We need a single-minded desire to know God. This is what these 21 days of fasting and prayer helps us do. Now, I’ve enjoyed my times of prayer, seeking God and reading His Word prior to this time of fasting but His fellowship now seems sweeter and His Word seems more alive. It does make a difference when you accompany fasting with intensive prayer and seeking of God.

We must follow Jesus who went before us. He was moved by a single passion--to do the will of His Father. His meat and drink were to do His Father's will. Zeal for His Father's house consumed Him. He was a man of holy destiny with a face set as a flint.

Jesus knew the Father. His knowledge of God was so deep, so profound that His entire earthly life reflected a single holy passion. As we know the Father in more depth we find that His will and desires become ours and we are passionate about doing His will. Jesus revealed the Father to us and called us to imitate His own pursuit. His priority is set before us - to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

We are to press into the Kingdom of God, to storm it if we must, to seize the opportunity to know God. This quest is not casual. The pursuit is not careless. We are to be driven by a holy passion, "Oh that I might know Him."

II. WHO ARE YOU, GOD?

· Moses’ Encounter with God

A man lived thousands of years ago who was puzzled by the same kind of questions that you and I have. He was born shortly after a brutal king ordered that all male children be put to death. His mother hid the child for three months but when she could not longer protect him, in desperation she placed him in a small boat and hid him along the bank of a river. The baby was discovered by none other than the cruel king's daughter. She had compassion on the infant and took him home to the royal palace. There she reared the child as her own, most likely, carefully concealing his identity from her bloodthirsty father.

The lad grew strong. He was educated by the most advanced tutors of the world and was trained in the ways of royalty. His lifestyle was plush. He lived as a privileged prince, and his destiny for greatness seemed secure.

A rash act changed everything. One day the prince saw one of the royal guards beating a peasant slave. The prince, boiling with rage at the sight of this obvious injustice, struck the guard violently. The rage turned to fear when the guard slumped dead. Overcome with dread, the prince looked to see if anyone had witnessed the murder. Seeing no one, he quickly buried the guard in the sand.

But someone had seen it after all and the prince had to flee the country. No more palace, no more riches. He became a fugitive, doomed to wander as a nomad in the barren desert.

Four decades the prince wandered, tending sheep. His skin wrinkled and toughened like leather. With the passing of years the prince's sense of destiny faded with the memories of his privileged youth. It seemed the education and training had been wasted on this anonymous desert dweller.

But then in an instant the former prince's life dramatically changed again. One day while walking the desert floor, he detected a burst of color in a plant such as he had never witnessed before. He turned aside and saw a bush that was on fire yet not being consumed. He went to investigate this strange occurrence. Then from deep within the fire a voice spoke: "Moses, Moses" (Ex. 3:4). Later in the conversation Moses asked a question- the same question we all ask, "Who are you, God?"

Paul’s Heavenly Vision of Jesus: Another man asked the same question centuries later. This man was also a highly educated Jew. Some say he was the most educated Jew in Palestine, one of the most educated men of his day. He was not a fugitive. He was not the hunted. He was the hunter. He had been appointed to seek out those who were fugitives, to find them and cast them into prison.

This man also went into the desert. He too, saw a light and heard his name spoken: " Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9:4b NKJV). Saul, blinded by the brightness of the glory of God, asked, "Who are You, Lord" (Acts 9:5a NKJV).

I, like Moses and Paul, like you have wondered about God. Who is He? What is He like? O yes, I studied theology and theology is a worthy pursuit because its goal is simply for the individual to know God. But concepts, theories, and abstractions do not excite or ultimately satisfy me. I must know the God who is alive, who is real, who relates to me in my life.

We know that life changes. We decay. We hurt. We die. Nothing in this life (apart from God and His Word) is for sure. That's why you and I need a God who is bigger than life, certainly One who is bigger than death. We need a God who cannot be slain, a God who cannot die. Magic won't do. Myths won't work either. This God must be real.

God must be personal, too. We must be able to talk to Him as well as about Him. We need to know His character. We want to listen to the Word as we seek to hear God tell us something about Himself. How did He answer Moses and Paul? How does he answer us?

When Moses stood quaking in terror before the spectacular bush of fire, not only did he passionately want to know who was speaking to him, but he had another question of paramount importance: Moses asked "Who am I?" (Ex. 3:11)

The two questions do go together. We live in a culture where there is much concern about self-identity. Young people declare that they are searching for themselves, trying to discover who they are. Men read about the dangers of a mid-life crisis. Women struggle to define their role. We seem to be constantly searching for who we are.

The Bible tells us that we are made in the image of God. Remember my recent sermon how that every one of us is worth more than this whole world. But can we accurately understand the image until we know the One whose image we bear? The reflection is dim; it is obscure and vague until we discover the source of that reflection.

John Calvin once said, "Man never attains a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God and comes down after such contemplation to look into himself."

Moses understood that. The two questions he asked were the proper questions: Who are You God? And who am I?

III. God Answers Moses

Let’s read a portion of this account in the Book of Exodus, chapter 3 verses 9-11.

(Exodus 3:9-11) "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. "Come now, therefore, and I will send 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 that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (NKJV)

Moses was an old man of eighty years, well beyond the appropriate years for a mid-life crisis. He wasn't searching for a new self-image. He discovered, however, that God had not stopped by for a casual conversation and a cup of coffee. An intrusion by God like this always signifies a call to a weighty mission. God got right to the point and told Moses that he was to liberate the entire Jewish populace from the yoke of Egyptian bondage.

Moses' self-identity was shattered. What was God up to? Moses had been forced to spend decades as an exile from Egypt because he had killed a palace guard in a moment of passionate violence. Now God wanted him to take on Pharaoh himself. Moses was no longer a young man, yet, God was calling him to lead the most spectacular liberation movement in the history of the world. For Moses to adjust to this idea meant that he had to re-evaluate his own identity. To do that he had to find out who God was.

Moses' dilemma is encountered by all of us. Before we can respond to the divine summons of discipleship or before we can heed the vocation that God gives us, we must first grasp something of the character of the God who is calling us. Our commitment to our mission is only as solid as our understanding of the One who sends us on that mission.

At this point Moses pressed God to at least tell Him His name. Let's read Exodus 3: verses 13-15:

(Exodus 3:13) Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" (NKJV)

(Exodus 3:14-15) And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.' (NKJV)

This seems to be a strange answer to Moses' simple question. God said His name was, "I AM THAT I AM." Is that even an answer? What does it mean? It almost sounds as if God were saying, "Never mind what My name is. I am who I am and that's all you need to know. Moses, you can see that I am a very powerful force. But I came here to speak to you, not to answer yours!"

But such an interpretation doesn't make sense for God goes on to say that His name is to be His memorial. It is to be the name by which He is to be known by all future generations. No, God is not evading Moses' question. He has revealed His name. It is a strange-sounding name, indeed, but it is His real name.

The specific meaning of a name is very significant to the Jews. Often a name is selected that seeks to capture the essence of the person's character. Peter was the "Rock." Isaac means "laughter." Similarly, God's name reveals something profound about Himself, something we must grasp.

As the name Yahweh was uttered by God, there was an explosion of knowledge about God on the Midianite desert. What is so revealing in the words, I AM THAT I AM.

IV. WHO MADE YOU, GOD?

Aseity is an uncommon word found primarily in theology textbooks and in that word is a vital truth of the Christian faith.

Although children do not say aseity, every child is concerned about the concept the word represents. The following dialogue takes place in countless homes. It reflects the natural curiosity of children and the simple, direct thinking that occurs in their uninhibited minds. You may recognize it.

"Mommy, who made me?" "God made you darling." "Well, Mommy, who made the sky and the trees?" "God made the sky and the trees. God made everything." "Mommy, who made God?"

Now, what do you say? Who made God, is a natural question for a child. If we teach our children that everything in the world is made from something else, where do we stop this line of reasoning? If everything has a maker, then who makes the maker? If everything has a cause, then who causes the cause? We find clues to the answer in God's curious name for Himself, "I AM THAT I AM."

The "simple" answer is that God does not require a cause. He causes all creatures to be, but He Himself is caused by no one. He makes all things move, but He Himself is moved by nothing.

God exists by His own power. He alone is self-existent. Aseity, meaning "self-existent," is the characteristic that separates Him from all other things. God is the only one who can say, "I AM THAT I AM."

So to answer the child's question, God did not make Himself for there never has been a time when He was not. He has always been. To say that God is self-existent simply means that there was no time when God started to exist. He has always been. He is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. Nothing caused God to come into existence. God did not make Himself, He made us.

In a word, God is not a creature. He is not dependent. He is not derived. He is not fragile. Rather, God is the Creator. He is independent, self-sufficient, and secure. God, and God alone, has the power of being within Himself. He is who He is. "I AM THAT I AM" he tells Moses. That God is self-existent means that He is unique. He alone has always been; He is; and He will always be; He is eternal. He alone is supreme. But how does all of this relate to the biblical portrait of God?

V. SO WHAT?

Ezekiel’s Vision of Dry Bones; Ezekiel 37:1-14

Any time that we explore concepts in theology we are brought sooner or later to the obvious question, “So what?” What difference does it make to my life that God is self-existent?

All of us are familiar with death and funerals. And when the person in the casket is a close love one such as a spouse, mother or father or a child the grief is so much the greater. We know that no more hugs will we receive from this individual; no more conversations; no more would our ears hear the words, “I love you.” Our love one may be gone but if they know the Lord and we know the Lord the separation that comes at death is but for a while.

The prophet Ezekiel also attended a funeral. In his mind he was attending not the funeral of a person but the funeral of a nation. He was an eyewitness, a participant of the Babylonian captivity of Judah. He lived out the exile of God's people. His was an exodus in reverse; he marched backward out of the Promised Land in a terrible defeat. This time no pillar of fire or cloud led the nation of Judah. Instead, a cloud of doom hung over their heads.

The glory of Judah was finished. Once more they were in bondage, their spiritual heritage dead. Their groans rose toward heaven.

God spoke to Ezekiel. He carried him off in the palm of His hand and put him down in a mass graveyard, a valley of dry bones. In this place of death were no rotting corpses. The vultures had already plucked the bones clean. The bones had been bleached white by the sun. Bones were everywhere in the valley.

The place was deserted - even the vultures had departed. Here was total death, an absolute void of being. On this site God questioned Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live again?" "Lord God, you know," Ezekiel replied. Was the prophet hedging his answer with a clever evasion? Did he mean, "I don't have any idea. You are the only one who can answer the question." Or was Ezekiel's answer a response of mighty faith? Was he saying, "You know it! I'm sure that if You give the word, even these dry bones can come to life."

God then answered His own question, commanding Ezekiel to preach to this "congregation." A preacher would feel rather self-conscious practicing his oratory in a bone yard. But Ezekiel understood his mission. He was not responsible for the response: his task was to preach. God told him to call upon the four winds to blow upon this lifeless mass, so Ezekiel spoke to the bones. Let’s read from Ezekiel 37:7-8:

(Ezekiel 37:7-8) So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. (NKJV)

A skeletal dance erupted before the prophet's eyes. Bones came together, knitting to each other in perfect form. Flesh, muscle, and tissue covered the bones, but still there was no life. Then Ezekiel called the wind, voicing the command of God. Lets read verses 9 and 10:

(Ezekiel 37:9-10) Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."'" So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (NKJV)

In an instant there stood an army of living persons in the valley. The bones were no longer dry; The God of being brought life out of death. This was the vision of Ezekiel. The vision of God bringing life out of death must be the vision of the people of God in every age. It is the vision that we have at the graves of our love ones. That is the meaningful response to our ‘So what’ question.

Our self-existent God also appeared in another vision, a vision given to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos:

(Revelation 1:8) "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." (NKJV)

The Lord God revealed Himself in this passage as the Alpha and the Omega. That is, He encompasses the beginning of the alphabet and the end of it. He is the "A to Z." He is the eternal One who has the power of being in Himself. This self-description of the Lord God is also used to describe the exalted Christ. Look at Revelation 1:12-18:

(Revelation 1:12-15) Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; (NKJV)

(Revelation 1:16-18) He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. (NKJV)

Here the title reserved for God is also given to Christ who is now called the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus said to John, "Do not be afraid." Fear is no longer relevant because John is with the One who has the power of being.

Our deepest fears flow out of our frailty. No one desires to experience cancer, or a heart attack, or a stroke, or any sickness for that manner. Even though we may not fear death itself, sometimes the process of death can bring uncertainty and fear. But even these fears are relieved when I realize that Jesus holds they keys to death and to Hades. When He victoriously came forth out of the grave He carried with Him the keys of death and hell. Christ emerged from the grave with the keys in His hand.

Jesus is a Savior with power, ultimate power, and He holds the power of being in His hand. His words, "Do not be afraid," are not empty words. I have nothing to fear from death. My Savior holds the keys. This is a concrete, meaningful answer to our ‘So What’ question.

We are awed by the grand difference between human beings and the Supreme Being: No human being can bring life out of death; no human being can make something out of nothing. So what? What difference does it make?

All the difference in the world - the difference between life and death, between being and non-being, between something and nothing, between a futile faith and a vital faith.

Remember Paul statement in Acts, "for in Him we live and move and have our being…" (Acts 17:28).

In Him we live. The power supply for life is God. He is the author and source of all life. His power to call forth life is what qualifies Him alone to be the Creator. We understand the cry of the Psalmist,

(Psalms 100:3) Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (NKJV)

In Him we move. Motion finds its ultimate impetus in God. Without Him everything would be stagnant, immobile, static, inert - lifeless. That which moves, that which is dynamic finds its power in God. We move because He moves.

In Him we have our being. It is because of His self-existence that we can exist at all. You and I exist in His power and by His power. We are because He is.

That’s who we are seeking in this intensive time of fasting and prayer. He is the One we worship and desire to have more intimate fellowship and understanding of Who He is. Our Lord God is the one who has issued this command to seek Him with Prayer and Fasting.

We are doing well that we are responding. Let’s continue seeking Him!!!