The Burning Bush – The Fire, The Bush

[00:00:00] Lord Jesus, we do lift up our hearts to thee, and as we turn to thy word, we do pray that thou wouldst meet us from thy word. Wilt thou we pray, beloved Lord, somehow feed us and instruct us from thy word. Thou knowest how much we need thee. We praise the Lord that thou art utterly faithful and well able to meet us through thy word. Thy word, Lord, is truth. And we pray together that thou hast break this truth to us by the spirit of truth. Illuminate us, enable us, Lord, to receive of thee and grant that thy word shall accomplish that whereunto thou set, we do ask it, Lord, not only for ourselves, but for thy people everywhere. In thy name. Amen. [00:01:01] I want to take up a matter that I touched upon some weeks ago, and I would like to read first of all in deuteronomy, chapter 33 and verse 16. It is one phrase in the center of this verse, the 16th verse of deuteronomy, chapter 33. [00:01:31] And this is the phrase, the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. The goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. The phrase I want to underline is this little phrase, him that dwelt in the bush. And then, if you will, turn to Exodus and chapter three. [00:02:03] Exodus, chapter three and verse one. [00:02:10] Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God unto Horeb. 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. [00:02:45] 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. [00:03:08] Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. [00:03:25] I want to bring three phrases together from these verses in Exodus and also this verse in DeutERonomy, chapter 33. These are the three phrases I want to bring together. The first one, him that dwelt in the bush. [00:03:47] That is in verse 16 of chapter 33 of DeutEronomy. The second phrase is here in exodus three. And it is verse two, the bush burned with fire. [00:04:04] And the third phrase I want to bring together is also from verse two of chapter three here. And the bush was not consumed three things. Him that dwelt in the bush, the bush burned with fire. And lastly, the bush was not consumed three things, because it seems to me here that we have in the picture of this bush, this story in the life of Moses, something that signifies to us the indwelling of God by the spirit in his people, in the church of God in the church locally and in each one of us individually. I was very impressed. I remember one of the things that most deeply impressed me of everything I saw when I was in the states was in New York when I was visiting a particular place called the Riverside church. I wanted to see something there in particular. [00:05:19] And I was. [00:05:23] The biggest jewish theological seminary in the world was pointed out to me across the road. And I was very interested in it. And I went across to have a look. And as I went through those massive great stone gates, great stone archway over the gates, I saw in Hebrew and then under it in English one phrase, and it simply transfixed me. It said, and they were not. [00:05:57] And it was not consumed. [00:06:02] And that was a mystery, remarkable thing. And it was not consumed. Remembering the history of the jewish people down through the years, not only as the covenant people of God in the Old Testament, but right down now to the present day, it seemed me a most remarkable little part of scripture. And it was not consumed. [00:06:27] In other words, somehow or other, this testimony of God in the midst of his own goes on. Now, what can we learn? We haven't very much time, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to be very disjointed this morning indeed. And just underline one or two things. We have, I feel in these three statements three factors. [00:06:53] The first factor is the fire. [00:06:58] The bush burned with fire. [00:07:04] Now what does the fire signify? Well, I hardly think it needs to be said in this company that fire is supremely the symbol of the spirit of God. If you read acts chapter two and verse three, we read this and there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder like as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. Fire is the symbol of the spirit of God. I can't give you any more evidence for that. It is true that we are told in Hebrews chapter twelve of the last verse, our God is a consumer consuming fire. [00:07:51] But generally speaking, fire is a symbol of God, the Holy Spirit at work. [00:08:00] So here we have a picture. [00:08:05] The bush burned with fire. [00:08:09] There were millions of such bushes in the desert. When you take the whole of the arabian desert, when you take the whole of the north african desert, there were millions of these bushes. [00:08:22] But in fact, there was only one bush that burnt with fire. [00:08:28] This kind of fire. And that's the thing that made that bush absolutely unique. It was unique and singular in this sense that there was the very flame of fire in it. God was present. Now, what does it signify, this fire? Well, I think it signifies three things. [00:08:54] First, it signifies the indwelling of God by the spirit. [00:09:02] Secondly, it signifies, as I see it, the empowering of God by the spirit. And the third thing it signifies is the fullness of God by the spirit. Now, those are tremendous things. And look, it's 12:25. [00:09:24] Three tremendous things that we could talk for hours upon. [00:09:30] The fire signifies the indwelling of God by the spirit. Or let me put it another way. The indwelling of Christ by the spirit. All right. Take Colossians 127, Christ in you the hope of glory. Take Romans, chapter eight. If the spirit of Christ be in you. This is the whole point of the christian life. It's not good enough just to know things up here. It's not good enough just to have theology. We've got to have an experience of the indwelling Christ by the spirit of God. And if you and I have not entered into an experience of the indwelling of Christ by the Spirit, then of necessity, most part of our christian life must be theoretical. [00:10:22] We believe tremendous things. We profess tremendous things, we confess tremendous things. But we are not in the actual, literal, experimental enjoyment of it. [00:10:37] We need to know the indwelling of God by the Spirit, that he should be in the bush. [00:10:45] Well, listen. Him that dwelt in the bush not just visited the bush, not just used the bush as a channel, not just taking up the bush as a kind of instrument, but him that dwelt in the bush a permanent, eternal experience. Dear child of God, the Holy Spirit has come home to you forever. [00:11:22] He has come home to you forever. [00:11:25] If you are born of the Spirit of God, then the Holy Spirit has come home. [00:11:33] It's a tremendous thing. Why, we talked about the bricks and mortar of this place. It'll all go to dust in the end. Unless the Lord wants to use it in the millennium. Should there be a millennium. It may be that that's what is being prepared. I have no idea. But I know this, that this particular place will one day go to dust and ashes. It will just go to dust and ashes. But, my dear friend, the spirit of God in you will never, never be reduced to dust and ashes. Indeed, so glorious is this truth that because the spirit of God is in you and in me, one day we shall have a resurrection, redemption body. [00:12:12] Because it is the spirit of him that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, who dwells in this body will give us a new body. Tremendous, tremendous, eternal. The Holy Spirit's come home. He's not come to use. You don't think that God is some commercial type who wants merely to use you, uses a kind of channel, a kind of impersonal channel, as if he wants to use you just simply as a kind of salesman. Representative. Representative. As if he wants to merely somehow use you as an instrument. God wants to dwell in you. Dwell in you. He wants to make his home in you. He wants to be at home in you. Not just to visit you, not just to now and again, use you not to now and again display himself through you, but to come home and live in you and me forever. [00:13:09] I can't go into all the ins and outs of this theologically. Of course, we should all know the indwelling of Christ by the Holy Spirit. But the fact of the matter is that the majority of christians know nothing about it. [00:13:27] Nothing about it. It's all up here and not in here. And we've got to enter in. How can we enter in? Don't let's be afraid of this talk of the spirit of God. Some of it's chaff, some of it is, to use a horrible american word, hooey. [00:13:45] But the fact remains that there is the basic, fundamental and essential truth, and you and I must not be afraid of it. How can the Lord Jesus dwell in you by the spirit, by no one else. There is no other way for him to dwell in you. He dwells in you by the spirit. And the indwelling isn't a tremendous thing. Now, my dear, dear child of God, if God is at home in you, we must expect him to manifest himself. Isn't that so? [00:14:19] There are people who say, we must walk by faith, and this is absolutely correct. We must walk by faith, they say, and not by sight. Is that not correct? It is absolutely correct. But just you be careful that you don't throw overboard other scriptures. The spirit of God witnesseth with our spirit that we are children of God. What does that mean, may I ask? How do you have that witness of his spirit with your spirit, if you don't know it? There is a witness within you, something within you, witnesses that you are a child of God. His spirit and your spirit agree and you know it. Oh, it may not be some tremendous experience, but something happens within. It's what the early men, Methodists, used to call full assurance. [00:15:08] Full assurance. They said you must go on to full assurance so that there is a witness in your heart. You know that you are a child of God. You don't just hope so, but you know it. And you know. Dear brother, dear sister, there are many of us who suffer from this awful plague of doubt. We haven't entered into full assurance. The spirit of God has not witnessed with our spirit yet because we're not looking for it. [00:15:34] Yes, he must witness, but there must be also fruit. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace. By their fruits the Lord Jesus said, ye shall know them. The Holy Spirit indwelling us must of necessity manifest himself in fruit. We should be able to see that a person is a Christian when there is backbiting gossip, when there is all this, that evil and dark and so on. Is that the sign of the indwelling of Christ by the spirit twisting truth, passing on stories? Is that a sign where there is jealousy and envy and hatred, is that the sign of the indwelling of Christ? Certainly it's the sign of our old man, of our old flesh, life. But is it the sign of the indwelling of the spirit of God? No, no, the sign of the indwelling of the spirit of God is love, joy, peace, long suffering and so on. Fruit. [00:16:35] My dear friend, surely we should be concerned about ourselves if these things are not in us. Let me put it another way. Surely it is that men and women should see Jesus. [00:16:47] They should see our good works and glorify God who is in heaven. Let your light so shine before men. [00:16:56] Manifestation. [00:16:59] Manifestation. The indwelling of the spirit of God is meant. He is meant to manifest himself. And it says in one corinthians and chapter twelve and verse seven. But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit to profit withal. To each one is given. Now my dear friend, don't just close down as if. Oh dear, dear, dear. What is he talking about now? He's not going to get pentecostal, is he? The fact of the matter is that it's the word of God. [00:17:42] It's the word of God. It's not as if we can run away from it. It is there for us to explore and investigate. What does it mean? Here it is. Listen to it. But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit to profit with all to each one, that is, not to a segment, not to a faction, not to a few, but to every single one of us. The indwelling of Christ is given a manifestation. [00:18:17] Manifestation. Now, I'm not going to tell you how that manifestation should take place. It can take place in any of these ways that's mentioned here and in many other ways. But let us be quite clear to this, that the indwelling of Christ by the Holy Spirit is meant to be manifested for the good of the whole church. [00:18:39] That's the point. And we can leave it there for the time. That is the point. The indwelling of Christ is there. What? So that you can show people that you've got something? So that you can say, I am this or I am that, or I have power? Not so at all. It is given for you that you may wash the feet of the saints and serve them, that you may build up the body of Christ, that you may manifest the indwelling of Christ in such a way that others are not made to feel inferior, but made to feel brothers and sisters. [00:19:16] Oh, what a tragedy it is when somehow or other we get something which makes others cringe or fearful, or somehow or other, they don't feel they belong anymore because we give them the impression we've got something they haven't. [00:19:29] My dear friend, if youve got anything of Christ, it belongs to all. It is to be shared. Thats what the house of God means. We have that which we share with each other. [00:19:40] But it also, I believe, signifies this fire, the bush that burned with fire. It signifies the empowering of the Holy Spirit. If you look to Luke chapter 24 and verse 49, the Lord said, here ye shall be clothed with power from on high. Now I love also the other word in Matthew 28 20, where the Lord Jesus said that we were to go into all the world and preach the gospel and so on. And then he said, and lo, I am with you. I am with you even unto the end of the not only in you, but with you. Here's the fire. The fire burnt upon the bush. It was not only in the bush actually using the bush, but it burnt upon the bush. [00:20:38] It was a wonderful sight. And we are to be clothed with power from on high. Fire. Fire is a symbol of energy. Energy, power, power. All power comes from fire. [00:20:53] Why, we wouldn't have electricity if somewhere in the country there weren't huge great power stations. Fire is sending this to us. Our heat, our warmth, our light, it all comes from power. [00:21:05] Now surely this bush that burned with fire signifies to all of us that we are meant to be endued with fire power from on high. We are meant to know Christ empowering us by the spirit. Now don't be afraid of that. Just because some people get their flesh empowered and seem to have a wonderful time of it, doesn't mean to say that the whole thing is wrong. If you can't pray publicly, if you can't witness, if you can't contribute, there's something wrong. [00:21:42] You need power, the right kind of power. You need to be clothed upon with power. You see, if you're naked, you feel self conscious. Why if you had no clothes on or very few clothes on here, you'd feel very self conscious this morning. You would cry to creep out as quietly as you possibly could. You would feel everyone was looking at you. Why look at so and so clothed with power? In other words, to be so clothed with the Lord that we are rightly unselfconscious. [00:22:15] There is just no sense of ourselves or others. We're just conscious of him and we can freely, spontaneously worship him and serve him because we're rightly clothed. It says a one man whom the Lord wonderfully touched and delivered, he was clothed and in his right mind clothed and in his right mind. Now my dear child of God, are you clothed and in your right mind spiritually are you clothed? Or do you all the time feel there's something missing and that others are looking at you and you can't take part because of that? Because somehow or others there's some lack, there's something that's not there that ought to be there. There's something wrong, you should be closed and God can do it. Here is the bush that burned with fire. Don't look upon it as something excessive or extreme. It is absolutely essential and fundamental. [00:23:12] And then of course what can I say about the fullness of Christ or of God by the spirit? [00:23:20] Why we could spend an hour just on this one subject. Now listen, dear child of God, you were never saved to be an empty vessel. [00:23:32] You were never saved to go round somehow conscious that you got nothing, you are nothing. All the time. You were saved to be filled, God never saved you. Just to be negative, he saved you to be positive. He wants to fill you with himself, so fill you with himself. You may not be conscious of it, you may only be conscious of the death of the Quran, but you're so filled with himself that others are conscious of Christ in you. Phil, now is that right? All people say oh dear, but just wait. There's a tremendous amount in the word of God. About the fullness of God. Tremendous. Why, if you turn to Ephesians and chapter three and verse 18 and 19, why, listen, verse 16, that ye may be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inward man. There it is empowered. Empowered by Christ. [00:24:39] Listen. That Christ may dwell in your heart, the indwelling of Christ by the spirit. But listen to verse 19. To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. He may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Oh, wouldn't you like to be lost in the fullness of God? Wouldn't you like to feel that there are at your fingertips infinite resources, an unexplored ocean, something so infinite, so great, so boundless, that it just goes on and on and on and on and on? [00:25:12] Wouldn't you like to know that instead of having just a little Christ that you somehow feel is not getting you through the situations he ought to be getting you through, that somehow or other. You've got to do an awful lot of the work when you know these. Here it is in the word of God, filled unto all the fullness of God. Oh, my dear, when? Isn't it tremendous? Don't you think so? Now, if you turn to Colossians chapter two and verse nine, it says, for in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form. Think of God almighty. Think of him. Think without beginning, without end. Think of his infinite fullnesses, infinite resources, and it all dwells in Christ. [00:25:56] And then, listen, ye are made full in him. Are you made full in him? Are you full this morning? Do you know that in the book of acts, no one was ever appointed to any service, however menial, who was not full of the spirit? [00:26:13] Oh, you say, now, I can understand that. Yes, of course. Peter, John and James, because they were on the day of Pentecost, weren't they, when it first happened? And of course they were filled. Yes, but there was a squabble about money, an awful squabble about money that nearly divided the church in two between the hellenist Jews and the Hebrew Jews, and it nearly tore the church into two. And finally they all got together and all said some rather hot things about on another evident, Claire. And finally it was decided. We must appoint men who look after this. And they appointed seven hellenist Jews to look after that hellenist jewish Christians. That's awful, isn't it? But christians who have been hellenist Jews. All right, now, this is what the apostle said. Search you out from among yourselves, men full of the spirit and full of wisdom. [00:27:10] Don't always go together. Full of spirit and full of wisdom. [00:27:15] Well, you know, we all think, oh, you must have people full of wisdom. But I know there seems to be a reaction amongst many christians to anyone full of the spirit. [00:27:25] Well, you must be careful, you know, must be careful. But, my dear friend, it's in the word. You go right through the book of acts and you'll find that they're full. They're full. That's the only thing. No one else was ever chosen to do anything who wasn't full. Why? Because it was the normal thing. I don't mean all that's just simply ecstatic and all that. Merely and only. I mean people who are full. [00:27:49] Because God never meant us to be negative. He meant us to be positive. So overflowing. My cup's full and running over. [00:27:57] Of course, there's a dark side to it. Anyway, never mind. Here, we've got it. And in ephesians five, and of course, verse 18, be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the spirit. Here is the command. Now, listen, dear child of God. You know the Lord Jesus commanded you to be baptized. You've been baptized. You know the Lord has commanded you to remember this table, and you're remembering it. Are you remembering the command of the Lord Jesus to be filled with his spirit? [00:28:29] It's not a once and for all. It is something from day to day that we drink in and drink in and drink in and evermore. We need day by day, we by faith, appropriate what we need at the fullness. Don't just expect to have feelings, just say, Lord, I take the fullness of thy spirit for this day and go out in faith, and you'll find the Lord is with you. And when you've drained out, as you will do, the Lord will tip you out and serve others. Then say, Lord, more, and the Lord will fill you again. And sometimes you'll have some feelings as well, with the filling. But don't worry about that. Whether you've got the feelings or you haven't got the feelings, don't worry about it. Go on. By faith. Don't bother about the output thing. By faith, take the fullness. [00:29:19] But look, my time has nearly gone. In fact, it has gone. And I haven't really even talked about the other side. I've only talked about the one factor, which will please so many. But there's another factor. [00:29:32] And the other factor is the bush. [00:29:36] The bush. [00:29:39] There is another factor. You know, there's not only the fire, there's a bush. Now I can only give you just my headings on this. That's another day. We'll talk about them. The bush. Yeah. [00:29:55] Do you know that bush was dry, barren and dead? [00:30:05] It had lived its life and died. [00:30:10] Now, it's a very interesting thing that in scripture, trees nearly always symbolize men. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Jeremiah speaks of the man, the righteous man, being like a great cedar of Lebanon, and the unrighteous man, like a little dwarf juniper tree prostrate juniper on the ground. Again and again we find that trees or bushes are symbolic of men. [00:30:34] Now, what is this bush? [00:30:38] It has lived its life and died. It's as simple as that. Lived its life and died. [00:30:46] Now, I want to ask you a question. Have you lived your life and died? [00:30:51] Have you found out how hopeless is your own life? How empty, how dry, how barren, how impossible, even when you whip it into the service of God? Have you lived your life and died? [00:31:09] Have you come to the place where you've done everything possible to live the christian life, and you're on the point of dying? Dear, dear child of God, you're at the threshold of a tremendous discovery. A tremendous discovery. One of the things that used to help me more than anything else when I was first saved was what Alan Redpath used to say. He used to say, are you conscious of failure? If you are, look up. You're on the threshold of a tremendous discovery. [00:31:39] Well, are you conscious of failure? Are you conscious of the dryness and barrenness and deadness of the bush? [00:31:48] Now, listen, you're on the threshold of a tremendous discovery. [00:31:53] That bush could not burn with fire till it was dead. [00:32:00] Dead. [00:32:01] But when it got to the place where it had lived its life and died, God used it. God came in. There's something else about that bush, too, I could talk about. I could speak about two corinthians, chapter four, always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus death, in us life in them. Oh, we could say so much about the earthen vessel, the earthenware jar, or pot, as I think Philip calls it. Just an old earthenware pot. That's what you and I are. Have you come to realize it? Have you realized how empty the old earthenware jar is, how ugly it is, how of little value it is? Have you realized it? Well, that brings me to this. Another thing about this bush is its limitation. What can it do? [00:32:55] What can it do? Very little. [00:32:58] Do you know that those bushes, when they're dead, are useless altogether except to burn. And then when they're burnt, they're gone like that. The bedouins of the desert go and collect them up and they use them to cook the food with, and they're gone in a flash, just like that. It's not an uncommon thing to see one ignited by the sun. Just goes up in a flash and it's gone. That's all. That's how valuable it is. What a limitation. [00:33:27] Do you know that once it's died, even the camel won't eat it? [00:33:32] And the camel, actually, sometimes I understand, eats it when it's green. But when it's dead, even a camel turns up its nose at it. Do you feel like that? [00:33:44] But somehow or other you're that dead, that barren, that fruitless, that dry, that a camel would turn up his nose at you. [00:33:52] You're no good. You just feel, oh, I'm so conscious of fellow. I'm such a dry old stick. I've lived this life for so long, but I haven't got anywhere. Well, then, I want to say that bush is very insignificant. There are millions of them. Millions of them. No one. But I wouldn't plant one in the garden. I certainly wouldn't go to Kew Gardens to look at the thing. It's worthless and insignificant, a bush book. [00:34:20] It has lived its life and died. And that brings me to the third thing, which I can only mention, and that is that it was the two things together. [00:34:37] It was the two things together, the fire and the bush, that meant anything. [00:34:47] The bush on its own, what was it worth? Nothing. Now, listen, dear child of God, whoever you are, on your own, you don't mean anything. Get it quite clear. You're just a worthless, insignificant piece of fallen humanity. I am too, that's all. [00:35:07] And on your own, you have to learn the lesson that the Lord Jesus said, apart from me, ye can do nothing. [00:35:16] We're just like that. [00:35:18] Get that lesson. [00:35:21] And I want to tell you something else. [00:35:23] That the fire on its own, doesn't do anything. [00:35:28] It is a remarkable thing that in the grace of God, he's never done anything apart from us. [00:35:36] It's when the fire and the bush are united that something happened. [00:35:44] The fire and the bush together, that's the thing. The bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. [00:35:58] The old thorns were still there. [00:36:01] The dryness and deadness of the bush were still there. Why, Moses might have thought, isn't this remarkable? Surely it should have gone up by now. That's the thing that arrested him. That bush should have been finished. It should have gone. But when he got near there were the dry, old brown trees. There were the thorns, as clear as ever. There it all was. And yet it was being consumed. You know, it wasn't being consumed. It was on fire, but not consumed. [00:36:27] And do you know, this is the wonderful thing about this nature of the indwelling of God in the church or in us here as a company, or in each one of us individually, that we remain in many ways what we are. We're just still a common bush. But the earth and vessel's there. But the treasure's inside. [00:36:49] The fire is there. That's the thing that arrests. That's the thing that means so much. Now, dear child of God, are you making everything of the bush? [00:37:05] You feel that the way a real value will, preciousness, reality lies in the pursuit of the history of that book. [00:37:18] It's being emptied. It's being frustrated. It's suffering. [00:37:23] It's deadness. It's dryness. It's barrenness. It's self revelation. Oh, you say, if we go that way, shall we not be gold in the city? Yes. [00:37:34] Will we not be precious stone in the city? Yeah. [00:37:38] Will we not be the pearls of the gates? [00:37:42] Yeah. [00:37:43] You're pursuing that path. There are others that would pursue the flame and say, what we need is the power. [00:37:52] What we need is the baptism of the spirit. What we need is the fullness of the spirit. What we need are all. Is the manifestation of the spirit. [00:38:05] Forgetting that the bush is essential and that power and that glory will touch us only temporarily and in a transitory way. [00:38:24] Unless the bush has lived its life and died. [00:38:31] Unless on that side, there is something more. [00:38:37] Well, we're all right. [00:38:41] The bush and the flame must come together. [00:38:46] And when they're together, you've got the whole picture of what God wants for each one of them. [00:38:56] We apologize to the listener, but the end of side two is missing from the master tape.