The Burning Bush – The Bush is Man

[00:00:00] I want, in the little time that we have this morning, to finish what I was saying last Sunday morning. If you will turn to deuteronomy 33 and verse 16, deuteronomy 30 316. [00:00:21] And the second part of the the second sentence in this verse, the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. Remember, I want to underline this phrase. Him that dwelt in the bush. And then in Exodus, chapter three, verse two. [00:00:54] Exodus, chapter three, verse two. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Now, the three phrases that I underlined last week was the first one in deuteronomy 33, him that dwelt in the bush. And the two phrases that occur in verse two of exodus three, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Three phrases, him that dwelt in the bush, the bush burned with fire. [00:02:20] The bush was not consumed. I think when we bring these three together, we have something very significant. [00:02:31] It speaks to us of the church universal. It speaks to us of the local church, the company of saints locally. And it speaks to us, I'm sure, of each individual Christian. [00:02:50] For I believe here in this, in a symbolic way, we have represented to us what the Lord really wants in us together. And in us each one. We have two things. We have fire, and we have a bush. Now, last Sunday morning we spoke about the fire, and very, very swiftly and briefly touched upon the bush. And the last important point, the two factors together, the factor of the fire, the factor of the bush, and the two factors, the fire and the bush united. [00:03:33] Now, you will remember last week what we said about the fire. Fire has always in scripture been a symbol of God, the Spirit. And we spoke about the indwelling of Christ by the spirit. We spoke of the empowering of Christ by the spirit, and we spoke of the fullness of God, of Christ by the spirit. That's what the fire represents. Him that dwelt in the bush. He didn't visit the bush. He didn't just use the bush. He dwelt in the bush. And God's plan for us is that we should know his indwelling by the spirit. Not that we should just know him visiting us. Not that we should just know him using us, but that we should be permanently, day to day, hour to hour, indwelt by God through the spirit. [00:04:45] And then, you know, we spoke about the empowering of Christ by the spirit, the great need to be clothed with power from on high, that we may be able to come before the Lord. We may be able to serve the Lord. We may be enabled to serve one another. We may be enabled to serve a dying world. All this is needed. The fire in this bush represented power. It represented energy, it represented a dynamic. It represented something that attracted people. It was so manifested, it was so clear, it was so obvious to the eye that it immediately stopped a person. They turned to look, not because there was fire, only for a moment, but because the fire went on and on and on. That's the point. And then we spoke about the fullness of God, didn't we? And the need that you and I should know what it is to be filled. [00:05:58] In him, that is, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form, and in him ye are made full. And we pointed out how in the word of God there is a command be filled with the spirit, and also how everyone who was qualified for office was qualified by being filled with the spirit. We should be full of Christ. [00:06:27] We're meant to be full of Christ. We're meant to be overflowing with Christ. This is the very meaning of the christian life. Not that we should just be Christians. We should just be people who go to church, who believe in the Bible, who witness to others about the saving work of the Lord Jesus. But we should be overflowing with Christ. We should be filled. Our capacity should be full. Well, so much for what we have already said this morning. I want to speak about the bush. What does the bush signify? Now in the Bible? I think most of us know that trees and bushes are continuous, continually taken as a symbol to represent man, taken to represent us. [00:07:22] And even wood is taken for humanity. It represents humanity. Remember the wood in the tabernacle, the wood in the temple? It spoke always of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, his perfect, sinless humanity. So it is right to say that a tree or a bush is generally symbolic of humanity or of men, mankind. [00:07:52] So when we come to this second factor, the factor of the bush. Well, now we've got something as important as the fire. [00:08:01] As important as the fire. Now, the first thing is this. We have a bush that is dry, barren, empty and dead. [00:08:13] That was the point about this poor little thorn bush. It had lived its life and died. Now, my dear friend, God cannot ever let the fire really burn in us in a full and permanent way. Until we've lived our life and have died. [00:08:33] In other words, we've come to the end of our own resources. We've come to the end of our own fullness. We've been emptied of our own fullness. We've been dried of our own life. We've finished. As far as our fruit is concerned. Our roots can no longer draw up anything from our resources. We're finished. We are a dried out thorn bush. [00:08:57] I said last week that even the camels won't eat the dried out thorn bush. They will deign to eat it when it's green, when the thorns are a little softer. But once it's dried out, even a camel turns its nose up at the thorn bush. There's just nothing in the thorn bush at all. Lived its life and has died. [00:09:20] Now, you know, it is a fact with all of us. That we are so tenacious of our self life. We so hold on to our self life. That is, not until the Lord lets us live it to a certain extent. That we are prepared to see that we have got to go to the cross again and again. We have these deep down subconscious hopes within us. That somehow, in the end, our self life will prove to be all right. That it'll come out on top. That there are, after all, redeeming features and factors about it. But, you know, God waits and he waits and he waits. Until we are exhausted with our own self life. Until we loathe our own self life. Until we become so tired with our self life. That in the end we come to the point where we wonder whether the christian life's worth living anyway. [00:10:17] We've got to the place where somehow or other, we can't understand this christian life. On the one side, we're told joy, peace, hope, abundant life, all these things. But in our experience, we're loathing ourselves. We're sick of ourselves, we're tired of ourselves. We just feel as if we're living a lie. Now, don't be so discouraged. [00:10:41] Because God is bringing you to the place. Where the thorn bush is being prepared for the fire. [00:10:48] Moses had 40 years, 40 years in the desert. [00:10:58] And for 40 years God dried him out, emptied him, made him barren, let him live his life, and he died. Now, normally, you would think when a person had got to 80, they were not at the beginning, but the end. Somehow you would feel that they were at the end of their ministry. Especially, you would think that if God had waited 40 years, I don't know of any missionary or any servant of the Lord who's waited 40 years. [00:11:28] Most of us think that a year or two in a Bible college is quite enough. [00:11:33] And out we are in the service of God to do his work and to do his will. But God was very careful with this man, Moses. When Moses stood before that burning bush, he saw before him, symbolically represented his own life. There was an ugly, barren, dead thorn bush. [00:12:00] It was only a thorn bush 40 years. Now, I want to say something else. At the beginning of those 40 years, Moses had another kind of fire in him. And it wasn't the fire of God. [00:12:14] It was dressed up to seem, to the superficial look and the superficial understanding, that it was the fire of God. Here was this magnificent specimen of man, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He had somehow grown up in Pharaoh's house, and everyone acknowledged that this man was head and shoulders above everyone else. If we believed that Talmud, then he was a tremendous warrior, a hero of the egyptian people. [00:12:47] He was a mighty man, but he never lost his sense of being a Hebrew. Deep down, inherently within him was this sense that he did not belong to Egypt. He was a child of God. [00:13:04] The fire that burned in his heart and burned in his eyes and in his mind and through his body was another kind of fire. It taught the language of God. It was trying to do the work of God. It seemed as if it was absolutely the real thing. People were prepared to follow that kind of Moses, but not God. [00:13:27] God was not prepared to commit himself to that. Even with the word of God in the man's mouth, even with the knowledge of God, to a certain extent in the man's brain, God was not prepared to commit himself. Now, why? [00:13:43] Because God knew it was the wrong kind of fire. And when Moses slew that Egyptian and defended one of his own, one of the children of God, it was the fire. It was fire, but it was the wrong kind of fire. [00:13:56] 40 years it took God to dry that fire out, get rid of it all together, somehow or other, let the SAP run right out of that light so that there were no more resources left. There was nothing left anymore in the man. Moses, I am quite sure that if you and I were permitted to see the end of those 40 years, we would have found a different man. There was Moses out there at the desert with his sheep. [00:14:27] That old fire to lead the people of God had gone. [00:14:32] He knew the word of God. I believe he had a deep, deep inward knowledge of God that he'd never had before. [00:14:42] He had a knowledge of walking with God, of the ways of God, of the want of God that he never had before. But all ideas about leading the people of God in a mighty crusade, in a mighty Exodus, had gone from him. Maybe he thought he should pray for the people of God, that someone else would do the job at the right time. But certainly that old fire of the flesh life had gone. Now, Moses stood in front of a dried out, dead thorn bush, and it was on fire. [00:15:17] And it was to be one of the greatest moments in his life, when God said to him, Moses, you are to go back to that people and you're to lead them out. Now, why did God appear to him in the bush? Why was it a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush? Because it was as if God was saying, Moses, this is what you're going to be. This is exactly what you're going to be. You're just like that dried out thorn bush. But I'm going to. [00:15:45] I'm going to set you on fire now. [00:15:49] And by my spirit, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, you're going to lead this people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. [00:16:02] He had lived his life and was dead. [00:16:10] I wondered if we spoke to Moses, if we could, and we said to Moses, Moses, what about the great library back home? [00:16:22] It was finished. Never go back there again. What about those great campaigns? Oh, don't speak to. Those were great days, but they're gone. I've lived my life. I'm just a shepherd now. I'm just a simple shepherd. I've lived my life and I'm dead now. That's the first lesson of the thorn bush. The second lesson of the thorn bush, I think, is limitation. [00:16:49] It's a limited thing, you know, a thorn bush, you don't get apples off a thorn bush, you don't get oranges off a thorn bush. You can't do much with a thorn bush. The Bedouins gather them and use them for fuel, and they crackle very quickly and burn very quickly. It's gone in an instant. [00:17:08] You know, a thorn bush has its limitations, and so have you. [00:17:15] And so have I. [00:17:17] Do you know your limitations? [00:17:21] Do you know your limitations? [00:17:25] Do you know the limitations of your self life? When it comes to the things of God. [00:17:34] Or do you think you can run into the things of God and take them up with unholy hands? Do you think you can just take the word of God upon your lips easily? [00:17:45] God knows we all do it, and we learn as we go along. [00:17:50] It is limited. What is it limited to? Well, I'll tell you. It is limited to the life of a thorn bush, to the character of a thorn bush. That's all. Yes. To the resources of a thornbush. [00:18:07] Limited. You see? Don't get it wrong. Your self life has got very definite capability. [00:18:14] Your self life has got very definite abilities. But you are limited, limited to the life of your self. [00:18:23] You are limited to the character of your self life. You are limited to the resources of your self life. You see? And when it comes to the things of God, it's no good. Good. [00:18:40] You can live a normal life. You can do an ordinary job. You can do two or three things with that self life. A lot of people get a. Get a long way with their self life. [00:18:50] But when it comes to divine things, when it comes to eternal things, when it comes to the things of the spirit, that self life has limitation. And you'll soon discover it. It's limited. Very, very definitely limited, even if it ignites. And sometimes, as I have mentioned two or three times, these thorn bushes do ignite for some reason or another. As the sun shines on them. They get so dry, they're like tinder. Suddenly, in a flash, they've gone up as just a flash of fire for a minute or two, and it dies down and it's gone. Now, that's the interesting thing about Moses, you see, he was used to that. He was used to seeing now and again a flash of fire in the desert as one of these thorn bushes went up. The thing that struck him about this bush was the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. So he said, I will turn aside to see this great sight. This was something extraordinary. Do you know the self life has got a capacity for suddenly going up in fire? [00:19:54] Yes. And I mean that there is a possibility now and again in spiritual things to have a tremendous, tremendous experience. And it just goes like a great blaze, and it's gone. As quickly as it came, it's ignited and gone. [00:20:12] That's not the fire that's spoken of here. [00:20:16] This is him that dwelt in the bush. The bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. [00:20:25] The bush provided eternal fuel for eternal fire. [00:20:34] Isn't that amazing? [00:20:36] That is amazing. Now you know, that means there is a limitation to this bush. It can, in fact, go up in a blaze of fire, but it's a short lived blaze of fire. What does this limitation mean? I believe it means this. It speaks of self revelation, of self knowledge. There is a right kind of self revelation, and then there is a right kind of self knowledge. God took Moses 40 years to teach him about himself. I don't mean about God, about Moses. He certainly taught him about himself. That is God. [00:21:17] But he taught Moses Moses limitations. You know, 40 years before, Moses thought, I can lead the people of God, and I'll start with this man. And he slew him. And he defended the Hebrew, the child of God. But 40 years later, he knew his limitations. [00:21:37] He knew his limitations. He knew himself. [00:21:40] He'd got a knowledge of himself. That's what the bush stands for. That bush, if it could speak, would say to you, I'm only a thorn bush. [00:21:48] I've lived my life and I've died. I, in my self, can do nothing. Limitation. I think that's tremendous. I believe that this limitation must speak to us of the need to be broken, of self sufficiency. The greatest trial in christian work is self sufficiency. [00:22:12] It is this insidious thing in us all that has come by way of the fall that is in within our self life that we can really do it. Even. You know, and I. And I know some people think in their hearts they hear me. Well, that's not me. I know I can't do it, but just wait. The reason you are having such a terrible time is because you're waiting for some good page, as it were, to be turned over in your self life. You're waiting, somehow or other, for some last minute deliverance in your self life. [00:22:52] I know. I know from experience to this point. I waited for years when I was first saved, just for six years, I waited and waited and waited and waited, waiting for my self life somehow to turn up in a wonderful way. [00:23:11] That's why we had such a bad time. Once we're really clear that the self life is absolutely hopeless and that God has vetoed it and crucified it with Christ, then that moment we are released, truly released. We are really free from the first moment, because suddenly we know that that old self life, God, is finished with it. No, it is Christ and Christ only. And what Christ can be in us that is really to be released. You know, the Lord Jesus said in John 15 and verse four, he said, for apart from me, ye can do nothing. Apart from me, ye can do nothing. Here is the thorn bush again, limitation apart. Just wait. You can do a lot. [00:24:06] You can preach, you can pray, you can study the Bible. Now, don't say to me that people, that this is impossible. It is possible. [00:24:20] Why, we've got theological faculties filled with people studying the Bible. [00:24:26] Apart from Christ. [00:24:29] There are such things as prayer meetings apart from Christ. [00:24:35] There is such a thing as work done for God apart from Christ. All these things. It's possible to do an awful lot apart from Christ. We can work for God. We can pray, we can study the Bible, we can do all kinds of things apart from Christ. [00:24:54] But the Lord Jesus said, apart from me, ye can do nothing. What he meant was, there is nothing of eternal value and nothing that goes through into the kingdom apart from him. Now there's the bush again and again, and I only touch on it briefly. Therefore, this bush, it speaks to us of worthlessness. [00:25:23] Worthlessness, simple as that. No real beauty, no real significance. [00:25:30] No real value. What is the value of a thorn bush? What would you give for a dried out, dead thorn bush? Tuppence. [00:25:38] Tuppence. Sixpence just to light a fire with? It's all you'd give for it. No more. What is its significance? Well, can you find any significance in a thorn bush on itself? Can you? [00:25:51] Is there any significance in it when it goes up in a moment in fire? [00:25:57] No real significance. Is there a thorn bush? [00:26:02] There's no real beauty. Can you see any beauty in a thorn bush? Real beauty? Of course, all beauty is relative, but is there any real beauty in a thorn bush? [00:26:17] Now, that's what this bush speaks about. And when we turn to the New Testament, we come to two corinthians and chapter four. We read these wonderful words of the apostle Paul when he's been speaking about the knowledge, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse seven. We have this treasure in heaven, vessels. There you are. You've got the fire and the bush put in a different way and under different figures. [00:26:47] We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side, yet not straightened, perplexed, yet not under despair, pursued, yet not forsaken, smitten down, yet not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus. That the life of Jesus may be manifest also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. So then life, death worketh in us, but life in you. Verse twelve. Now there you've got an experience. Here is the bush. Listen. This is the bush. The earthen vessel, pressed on every side, perplexed, pursued, smitten down, always bearing about in the body the death or the dying of Jesus. That's the bush. That's what the bush signifies. Now, if you turn back to two corinthians, chapter one and verse nine, verse eight and nine, we would not have you, ignorant brethren, concerning your affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were way down, exceedingly beyond our power. Limitation. Beyond our power. The limitation of the thorn bush. [00:28:14] Insomuch that we despaired of life. Yea, we ourselves had the sentence of death within ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead. There you are. It has lived its life. The bush has lived its life and died. [00:28:34] The sentence of death within ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves. It doesn't trust in itself any longer. It knows its limitation. [00:28:42] But in God, who raiseth the dead, there's the fire. God, who raiseth the dead. If you turn over to two corinthians and chapter twelve, listen to this. [00:28:57] Verse seven. By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there's the fire. That I should not be exalted overmuch there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. There's the bush, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted over much concerning this thing, I besought the Lord Christ that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect in weakness. There's the bush. Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses. There's the bush. That the power of Christ, there's the fire may rest upon me. [00:29:38] There, you've got it. If you turn to John, chapter twelve and verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone. But if it die, it beareth much fruit. [00:30:01] There, you've got it. You've got it again. The bush. Well, my dear friend, I want to ask you, do you know that you are just a thorn bush? [00:30:14] Have you come by the gracious ways of the spirit of God to the place where you are dying? You've lived your life and you're dead. [00:30:25] You're dry, barren, empty. You're just tinder. Nothing, nothing, nothing can help you. You know your limitations. You know your worthlessness. You know your insignificance. It's all clear to you. Well, now then, bring the two factors together. Don't let end with the bush, but bring the two factors together. Listen, the bush burned with fire. [00:30:53] It was not the bush on its own, God forbid. And it wasn't the fire on its own, but it was the bush and the fire together. But listen, the fire did not just flitter around the bush. [00:31:12] It didn't just sort of glow round the bush. So the bush wasn't touched. [00:31:19] It says in Exodus, chapter two, chapter three, verse two, a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. The bush burned with fire. Now that doesn't mean that you've got the bush and the fire and you put them together just like that. Here's the bush, there's the fire. [00:31:38] No, here's the bush. And the fire goes into it. [00:31:43] And it actually, it uses it as fuel, but it doesn't consume it. Do you know that experience, people forget that the scripture speaks of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. [00:32:00] You see, the fire is consuming, consuming, consuming. But the bush isn't consumed. There's the miracle. It consumes and consumes, but it. Paul says, I besought the Lord three times that he take away this thing. [00:32:14] He said, my grace is sufficient. He was being consumed, but he wasn't. The bush was being consumed, but the bush wasn't consumed. At the end of Paul's life, he probably still had his thorn right to the moment before he went out to be executed. The thorn was there. [00:32:30] The fire was there too. [00:32:33] The old thorn bush and the fire. Bring the two factors together. Oh, it's glorious. Bring those two factors together. Not the fire alone. Not the bush alone. Not the fire beside the bush or on top of the bush, but the fire. The bush burning with fire. Now tell me, are you burning with fire? [00:32:58] Are you burning with fire? Has the fire of God got into you yet? Has it got into me? [00:33:05] Are we aflame? [00:33:07] Oh, listen to what it could mean. The bush indwelt by Christ. [00:33:15] The bush manifesting Christ. [00:33:19] The bush empowered by Christ. [00:33:24] The bush filled with Christ. [00:33:29] Thus, the bush has beauty. [00:33:34] The bush has value. [00:33:38] The bush has significance. [00:33:42] The bush has got eternity. Think of it. Think of it. A dried out thorn bush, and it's beautiful. [00:33:52] A dried out thorn bush. [00:33:57] And it's got something of eternal value. It'll never, never die. That old thorn bush will be seen in glory. [00:34:05] It will be there for all eternity. It is a symbol of the church. [00:34:11] And in all eternity, Christ will be marvelled at in them that believe. The fire then, is the significance. Well, God speaks there. [00:34:24] Does God speak in you? Tell me. Does God speak you? [00:34:32] For in this bush, God says, moses, Moses, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob. Does God speak in you? Does he speak through you? That's the significance of the bush burning with fire. I tell you something else. Moses had never been told to take off his shoes in front of a thorn bush before and told, the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground. The ground around upon which the thorn bush lives is holy ground. Yes, because of the fire. [00:35:14] The fire in the bush makes it holy ground. Your life's holy ground. Touch not mine. Anointed, says the Lord, do my prophets no harm. Or again, let me put it another way. He that toucheth thee toucheth the apple of mine eye, says the Lord. [00:35:31] You're precious. If you give a cup of water to a saint, you shall not lose your reward. Holy ground. [00:35:41] Because the Lord is there. His power, his purpose, his life himself is revealed in the book. Him that dwelt in the book. Well, I don't think I could end really. Better this. These two messages on the bush that burned with fire than by reading Margaret Barber's poem that meant so much to brother me in the wilderness. For God, just a common bush aflame thus may I be blessed, Lord, for the glory of thy name. Just a common bush to be something in which God can dwell. Something through which God can speak, something through which God can tell all his yearning over men, all his purposes of love. Flaming with no light of earth, but with glory from above. God himself within the bush, nothing seen but just the flame. [00:37:02] Make me that just that, o God, for the glory of thy name we pray. [00:37:18] And dear Lord Jesus, thou knowest how we all together are but a dried out thorn bush. We need thee, Lord. O, we need thee. And each one of us, I, we all, each one individually, we need thee, Lord. O, that the bush burnt with fire, that people were turned aside to see that great sight and to hear thy voice and to see thyself. [00:37:49] O God, hear us. We do pray in thy name and visit us for thy namesake. [00:37:57] Amen.