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Tonight we're going to be looking at God's call of Moses as we continue to look through scripture and see God's working out of his eternal plan and purpose in Christ, based on a covenant of redemption made among the Godhead before the foundation of the world. The Son agreed to come into this created world, the world He created, and to offer Himself for the sins of those given Him by His Father in eternity past. So we began with God's creation of the universe, creation of Adam. He gave him life, gave him a garden paradise, and Adam rebelled against God. And Adam stood as our federal head, as our representative. Adam's sin was his failure to submit to the authority of God, and he and all of us were cast out of paradise. He lost fellowship with God, not only for himself, but for all his descendants. He was separated from God and all his descendants with him. And apart from a sovereign act of God's grace, There was nothing that Adam or any of his descendants could ever do to atone for our sins or to be restored to fellowship with God. It would require a sovereign act of God's grace in order to be restored to fellowship with Him. And God, in the garden after Adam's sin, declared that He would make a way. Genesis 3-14, the Lord said to the serpent who had led Adam and Eve to sin, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. The whole world after that turned to wickedness. By Genesis 6, we see that every inclination of the hearts of men was only evil continually. And God destroyed the world, saving only the family of Noah in an ark that Noah took a hundred years to build. And that ark was a foreshadowing of salvation in Christ. And so that Adam had sinned against God and all of the world, except Noah, had been destroyed, God's plan remained. And then God called Abram. And He promised him that he and his wife, who were a barren couple, would give birth to not just a few descendants, not just to one child, but to more descendants than they could count. as many as the stars in the sky, and that from them would come nations, and kings would descend from them. He promised Adam that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. So now we see that the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent would be a descendant of Abram. Genesis 12, 3, In you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so, as God continued to progressively reveal His eternal plan in Scripture, God brought Abraham to this land of Canaan that He had promised him. And He said to your descendants, I'll give this land. So, He's promised him many descendants. He's promised him kings will descend from them. He's promised to give him this land to him and to his descendants. And it, of course, is the land of Canaan. Genesis 15, God took Abram outside and said, look to the heavens and count the stars if you can, so shall your descendants be. What's significant here is the next verse, Genesis 15, 6. He believed in the Lord and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. And from the very beginning, this has been the one and only way of salvation. The only one and only way of restoration to God is belief in God, is faith in Him. So, the rest of chapter 15, God entered into His covenant with Abram. And He told him, your descendants, these many descendants, are going to be strangers in a strange land. They're going to be enslaved for 400 years. And after four generations, they're going to return here. And He's going to bring them into this land of Canaan. And so, Abram was a man of faith and yet he and Sarah did not fully trust God here. And so he had this son by Hagar, Sarah's maid. And at the same time God's plan goes on. So God then said to Abram in chapter 17, he says, I'm going to establish this covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you. Now why did this matter? Because the Egyptians had their own gods. They had imaginary gods. As we'll see, cultures throughout the world had invented their own gods. When we look to Assyria or to Babylon, they invent their own gods. Here the true God is going to be God to one nation, to one people, and it's going to be to those descendants of Abraham born through Sarai. He says, I'm going to give to you and your descendants this land, all the land of Canaan. And He made this same promise to both Isaac and Jacob. So the covenant comes to be the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And He placed a condition on this. What was it? What was the condition of this covenant? It was also the sign of this covenant. circumcision. So you would know you're part of this covenant by the circumcision. And folks, this was a, we call it a sign, but it was a reminder to them of what? All the promises that God had made to Abraham. That's the point here. So, Abraham and Sarah finally have the son Isaac. He marries Rebekah. She's barren. Again, the Lord intervenes. Isaac prays to the Lord. The Lord answers. She conceives. She has twin sons. Esau's the older. Jacob's the younger. God says to Rebekah, the older shall serve the younger. Now, what's God doing intervening in this? Why is he doing this? Because he's doing what? He's carrying out his plan and his plan is going to lead to what? Or to who? It's going to lead to Christ, the Savior. This is what he's doing here. This isn't just, you know, a history of George and Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson and all the things we learn about in American history. This is God working out his plan. So, he tells Rebecca that the younger son, Jacob, is going to be the one who inherits the blessing. And Esau, the older, is going to serve him. Now, with the help of his mother, as we've seen, Jacob stole the birthright. That's how he came to be the one who was served by his brother. Esau ends up serving him because Jacob stole the birthright. Here we have sin after sin after sin in this line of people who will ultimately give rise and give birth to Christ. So Jacob has 12 sons. Now these guys, were they all righteous men? What did they do? What did they do? I mean, they were murderers. They took this revenge on men who had assaulted their sister, and they were going to murder their brother Joseph, who was their father's favorite. Well, they throw him in a pit, and he ends up being picked up by some Midianites or Ishmaelites, ends up being sold into Egypt. He ends up in a very high position in Egypt because he can interpret dreams. He interprets the dreams of Pharaoh and he predicts the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. So when the famine came, Joseph had managed things so that there was food in Egypt. His brothers came down to Egypt. And after a second trip to Egypt, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. Now what are they doing down there? They're fulfilling the prophecy that God had spoken to Abraham. Your descendants are going to be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years. And how long were they there? 430 years. So, here's God working out his plan through the lives of fallen men. Why did he use fallen men to work out his plan? That was all he had. That's all he had. It's still all he has. He's using fallen men right this minute. Because that's all he has. So, the promise is about to be fulfilled now. The 400 years are about up. And now we read that after Pharaoh died, another Pharaoh arose. And after that new Pharaoh arose, what happened? The sons of Jacob were treated harshly. and they fell into slavery. This is after Joseph saved the whole country by his dealing with the famine. So now they're in slavery and that's where we're going to pick up the outworking of God's eternal plan tonight. So let's turn to Exodus chapter 1 And I began with the idea that we would just try to read the verses where God was directly involved. Well, that would have required that we read the entire 14 chapters. So we're going to try and highlight some things here, but I do want to read beginning in Exodus chapter to give us the background of what's happening here. Exodus 1, 5. All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number. So that's who came down ultimately after the second trip, when they brought the whole family and all the property down to Egypt, were given land in the land of Goshen, good land for their herds. Joseph died, all his brothers, all that generation died. But the sons of Israel increased greatly. They were fruitful. They multiplied. So the land was filled with them. Now this upset the king, the Pharaoh. And a king arose, we're told, who didn't know Joseph. I don't know anything about this Joseph. All I know is you people are getting to be too many, and you're going to become mightier than we. So we're going to have to do something about that. So they appointed, verse 11, taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. That was the answer. An authoritarian totalitarianism. And make them slaves. And that's what they did. So they built storage cities for Pharaoh. The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied. How was that happening? Because God is handling this situation without difficulty, let's say. So, the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, the more they spread out, so they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks, and all kinds of labor in the field. All their labors, which they rigorously imposed on them. The king of Egypt then, because they kept multiplying, what's he do? Yes, he instructs, he orders the Hebrew midwives, whenever a boy is born, you kill him. But they didn't. They didn't listen. Look at 116, when you're helping the Hebrew women to give birth, if it's a son, put him to death. If it's a daughter, she can live. But the Hebrew midwives feared God, we're told, and they disobeyed Him. They said to Pharaoh, because they made up this story, the Hebrew women, they're not as the Egyptian women, they're too vigorous, they give birth before we can get there. Now, you'd think the next thing we're going to read is that Pharaoh then brought punishment on the midwives. But that's not what we read here. What we read is God was good to the midwives, the people multiplied and became very mighty. He established households for them. So, Pharaoh's next move was what? Whenever the boys are born, if you're not going to kill them, throw them into the Nile River. Every daughter, keep alive. So, I mean, this is just another way of trying to kill all the male children. And one of these children was Moses. Moses was born of parents who were of the house of Levi. And he later will learn, of course, he had a brother Aaron. Aaron was the head of the line of priests. And, of course, the priests and the Levites both came from his line. So Moses is born, and his mother did what any mother would do. She tries to hide him. So here's Moses. His mother hides him for three months. And then what does she do? Well, she puts him into this basket. And she covered it over with tar and pitch. And in case any of you are wondering back to the pitch that was part of Noah's Ark, this is actually a different word. This sounds familiar, but it's actually a different word. And it's something akin to asphalt that we're talking about here. So here's Noah in and among the reeds in the Nile River. And his sister is out there watching all this. And she wants to see what's going to happen. So Pharaoh's daughter comes wandering by. And she sees this basket. She draws Moses out. She saw the sister. She told her, go get one of the Hebrew women. She wants to keep Moses. Go get one of the Hebrew women to nurse Moses. Well, who does the sister go get? His mother. So they come into the house of Pharaoh. And I made a note here, I must have said this, they actually paid Moses' mother. So Moses grows up in the house of Pharaoh as like a prince. And as we read in Hebrews, he had a very easy situation in the natural terms, in worldly terms, in that house. So the story happens, what? That Moses grows up and he goes out and he sees the Egyptians mistreating the Hebrew brothers. Now they're called Hebrews now throughout this period. He sees the Egyptian. What's he do to the Egyptian? He kills him. He kills the Egyptian. Next day he goes out, sees two Hebrews fighting. What's he do? What happens? Who left you boss here? So, Moses figures, if they all know about it, who else probably knows about it? Pharaoh. And Pharaoh did hear about this. And he seeks to kill Moses. And Moses flees to Midian. Now was Midian significant? Does anybody have any recollection of where we first heard of Midian? I'm sorry? They were descendants of Keturah. When Abram married Keturah, one of the six children was named Midian. We can't prove this is the same Midian, but I believe it is. And it appears from all indications and all studies that it was in the Sinai wilderness. So he goes from Pharaoh's house to this Sinai wilderness. And where does Moses go when he gets to Midian? Where did Jacob go? Where did Isaac's servant go? To a well. The well seems to be the meeting place. Now that shouldn't be that surprising because they didn't have spigots with water like we do. Water was a valuable commodity to them. And he goes to the well and up come these seven daughters of a priest, a Midianite priest, whose name is Ruel here. He's called Jethro later. And the shepherds come and are trying to drive the women away. So, you know, this water was a valuable and sought-after thing. Moses stands up to the shepherds and the priest, Reuel, hears about this and he gives Moses one of his daughters, Zipporah, as his wife. And they had a son. Gershon was his name. And Moses didn't bother to circumcise him right away. You'll recall Abram was told by God when he made the covenant, shall be circumcised on the eighth day. He didn't do it. So here's Moses, now he's in the Midianite priestly household. He's left the palace and he's in the wilderness. And if you turn to chapter 2, verse 23, we go back and see what's going on in Egypt. Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage. And they cried out, and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, had God forgotten His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? No. It's just a way of, a manner of speech. He saw the sons of Israel and He took notice of them. So, the narrative is now going to jump ahead 35, 40, 50 years. Sons of Israel in bondage, crying out to God. God hears them. What's God going to do about this? Because when we say He hears them, took notice of them, it doesn't just mean that He was aware of it. It meant He was going to do something. He was going to respond. So when we come to Exodus chapter 3, we have the story now. Beginning of the chapter, verse 1, Moses is pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. the priest of Midian, led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. Let me ask you something. Is that possible? Not possible for us, but possible for God. Now if you saw a bush like this, if you saw a bush burning and it was consumed, what might you do? Put it out? If you couldn't put it out, you'd walk on by. But now you're looking at this bush that is on fire but nothing's happening to it. So it's going to get your attention, which is what the Lord was doing. Moses says, I've got to see what's going on here. I've got to look at this marvelous sight, why this bush isn't being burned up. And when the Lord saw that Moses turned to look, He called him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. Now this is always significant when God repeats the name twice. How many places can we think of God doing this in Scripture? Well, let's think about a trip to Damascus. Saul, Saul. Martha, Martha. This happens throughout the scriptures, probably 10, 12 times. And this, of course, is a way of God to draw one into discourse with Him. And He says to him, don't come near here. Take off your sandals and your feet. The place where you're standing is holy ground. Now, He's at Mount Horeb. And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Why is he saying, why is he identifying himself in that way? God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. Why does God identify himself that way? Those are the three men he made the promise to, the covenant with. And we have to remember, and I have to remind us of this, and I have to remind myself of this, Moses was not recording this as in a journal as he went, as far as we can tell. It very much appears at the very end of the journey he sat down and wrote all of this. So he's telling this story to the people who are across the Jordan. as they're about ready to enter into the promised land. Now, of course, he didn't get to go. So he is, for the purposes of them, he's recalling all of this as it happened. And he's saying to them, look, here's what happened. The Lord called to me and said, I'm the God who made this covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what was, for the people of Israel, what were the two main parts of that promise? Land and land was the big deal. I'm gonna give you this land Now here we are and so he's telling he's recalling this whole plan of God as it's unfolding So the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt I've given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters. I'm aware of their sufferings I've come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Furthermore, I've seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, Come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. And what do you suppose Moses said to God? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? Certainly, God said, I'll be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that it's I who have sent you. And this will be the sign, so that when you've brought the people out, you shall worship God at this mountain. Now Moses, where is he now? He's not in Egypt, he's some distance away, a safe distance from Pharaoh away in Midian. So God's talking to him not just outside of Egypt, not just outside of Cairo, he's a long way. And he now wants him to go back and lead all of these two million people out of bondage. And he doesn't think he's got any chance of doing this. Dropping down to verse 16. He wants to know, you know, tell me who it is. Tell me your name. And he says, I am that I am. I am who I am. So, verse 16. He says, when you get there, go and gather the elders of Israel. Say to them, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I'm indeed concerned about you, what's been done to you in Egypt. I'll bring you up out of the affliction and into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite, and so on. And they're going to pay heed to what you say, and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Now, does God know that Pharaoh is going to tell them to get lost? Get out of my sight. Okay. Well, God then says to him, no, the king of Egypt is not going to permit you to go except under compulsion. So I'm going to stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it. And after that, he'll let you go. Did Moses believe God here? What would be the evidence that he believed God? He packs up and goes to Egypt. Now, there's two million people. They're in bondage. They've had their straw taken away, and they're having their quota of bricks that they're making, which is just this monotonous, painful subjection that they're involved in. But God says, I'm going to give you great power. to perform miraculous signs before Pharaoh. And he gives him his brother Aaron, because Moses says, I'm not a good speaker. Aaron can be your spokesman. So, now we come to Exodus chapter 4. Moses goes to his father-in-law and gets permission to return. And he gets permission. And in chapter 4, verse 21, The Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. I can't help but marvel at the involvement of God in all of this. But He is working out His plan. Verses 22 and 23, he tells Moses, Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. Now we're going to see someone else is the true son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So I said to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me. But you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, the firstborn. And meanwhile, God speaks to Aaron, who's apparently still in Egypt. And he tells him, go and meet Moses in the wilderness. So he meets Moses, and they come to the elders of the sons of Jacob, and they perform wonders for them, to kind of convince them that God was at work through them. Now, Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron now come to Pharaoh. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness. Verse 2, Pharaoh says, who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I don't know the Lord. And this is Yahweh when we see caps with the word Lord in all your versions. So this is Yahweh. I am that I am. I am who I am. He said, I won't let Israel go. And they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and please let us go three days into the wilderness. We're going to sacrifice to the Lord. And the king says, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors. Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labor. So Pharaoh's not interested in any of this. Jump down to verse 18. So he increases their burden. And he says, So go now and work, for you will be given no straw to the workers. Yet you must deliver the quota of bricks. The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble because they were told, you must not reduce your daily amount of bricks. When they left Pharaoh's presence, they met Moses and Aaron as they were waiting for them, and they said to them, May the Lord look upon you and judge you, for you have made us odious in Pharaoh's sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us. Now, if you're Moses, what are you thinking? I'm sorry? You're feeling pretty degraded, despondent, and you're wondering, wait a minute, did I misunderstand the Lord? Well, Moses returns to the Lord now, verse 22, and he says, oh Lord, why have you brought harm to this people? You ever do this, like, you pray and God doesn't immediately rectify whatever it is, immediately, and you say, well, Lord, why not? I prayed, can we straighten this out? Why have you brought harm to this people? Why did you ever send me? You see, all of us had to be changed, transformed. There's just nobody here who didn't need this transformation of grace. Moses says, ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he's done harm to this people. So I did what you told me, and you've made things worse for all the people that you told me you're going to deliver out of here. What do we learn from this? Let's pause for a moment here. What's the lesson here? Perseverance. What else? Trust. Who determines the time when God extends His blessing to us? Does He leave that up to us? We have to trust and persevere When God tells us He's going to do something, but doesn't say, I'm going to do it at six o'clock on Friday, what is it that we must do? Persevere. And wait. Because we know He's going to do what He said. And so here's Moses, the great Moses. And he's saying, Lord, I don't get this. You said you're going to do it. And Moses His sin was what here? He's trying to put the time on when God's supposed to act. God says I'm going to act, okay. Here's your time frame for you to act, God. We all do this. Now we come to chapter 6, verse 1. So here's Moses all questioning and the Lord responds, you know, you're going to see what I'll do to Pharaoh. For under compulsion he will let them go. Well he's already told him this. And under compulsion he'll drive them out of his land. God spoke further to Moses, I am the Lord and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. But my name, Lord, I did not make known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. You suppose God is saying to Moses, don't you remember these promises and don't you believe in these promises? Don't you trust in these promises? Furthermore, he said, I've heard the groaning of the Israelites, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I've remembered my covenant. Here's God having to defend himself almost with Moses, it seems. Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments, and then I'll take you for my people, and I will be your God. Why is he saying that? Where does that language come from? The covenant he made with Abraham, I will be your God. He is reassuring Moses of all aspects of this covenant. You shall know that I'm the Lord your God who brought you out from the burdens of the Egyptians. So he's not going to just have them born in Canaan, have them multiply, have them live in the land of Canaan. He's going to do something else. He's going to have them go down and go through all of this. And then he's going to bring them out. So that, as he said, then you will remember that I'm the one who brought you out. So he will, as he does to his people in Christ, this gives him an opportunity to extend mercy to these people. I'll bring you out to the land that I swore." He's reminding them, I gave you my word and I'm keeping my word. And I'll give it to you for a possession. I'm the Lord. And Moses told this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen on account of their despondency and cruel bondage. What strikes you about these words of our Lord? When you read them, what do you see of God here? Let's back up. I'm the Lord. I'm the one who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How long had it been since he had appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? At least 400 years. I'm that same God. And what's significant, of course, is what Doug just said, that he had made that covenant with them. I'm the same God. I remember my covenant, he says. I'm the Lord. You tell these Israelites, and I'm going to bring you out of there. What did he say to Abraham? Your descendants are going into bondage for 400 years, and then I'm going to bring them out. Now he says, you've been in bondage for 400 years, and I'm going to bring you out. He reaffirms that promise. Turn to chapter 7 now. Who's believing in and trusting in the Lord, by the way, to this point? Who is fully trusting in the Lord at this point? Not in the room back there in Egypt. Let me ask this, does Moses have any doubts at this point? He sure does. What about the sons of Israel? They told him to get lost. You just made everything worse on us. So this is not a people trusting in the Lord. They cried out to him when things got bad. And he promised them then, look, I'm going to take you out just like I promised your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They don't believe any of it. Even when he lets them out, we know what's going to happen after he brings them out. So chapter 7, the Lord said to Moses, see, I make you as God to Pharaoh. and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments. Egyptians shall know that I'm the Lord. Now Moses, for all his doubts, is still following through here. And now God begins to work these wonders. Pharaoh, what's he do? How does he respond when God begins? And we're not going to go through all the judgment flags. How does Pharaoh respond? Continues to harden his heart. At some point he begins to say, okay, I'll let him go. And then he doesn't. But he begins to harden his heart against God. And ultimately, of course, God will harden Pharaoh's heart. All right, chapter 9. And again, we're going to pass through the plagues because we kind of know what happens. The Egyptian magicians can do some of these tricks as they see it, but they can't do it all. Chapter 9, verse 11. After they were able to repeat some of, at least appear to repeat some of the works Moses had done by the power of God, now we find that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. And the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians. So Moses was able to put boils on all the Egyptians, including the magicians. Now they can't match this one. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. So let's pause here. Has the Lord said anything so far that wasn't true? That's a very easy question, but you know, we've got Moses doubting. We've got Pharaoh saying, well, who's the Lord that I ought to listen to Him? No, everything he's saying is true. So now, still in chapter 9, verse 13, the Lord tells Moses to rise up early in the morning, go to Pharaoh, and again say, let my people go. And then the Lord says, For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know, you Pharaoh may know, there's no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would have been cut off from the earth. Now look what God's doing here. Why has God allowed Pharaoh, why didn't He just kill him ten plagues earlier? Verse 16, that's right. He wants to show His power. Indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, Pharaoh, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth. Do you see what God's doing all through this? He is revealing Himself. He's revealing some of His attributes. He's revealing His character even as He goes through these things. Now, Romans 9.15, God said to Moses, and here's Paul quoting these words. I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. That was dealing with Jacob and Esau. And then in verse 17, for the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth. Ten judgment plagues until Pharaoh finally relented. And now, before he delivers them out of Egypt, he gives them a ceremonial meal they are to partake of when they get out. And they're going to have it even that night, the first one. The sons of Jacob were instructed to kill a lamb and take the blood and put it on the lintel of their doorposts. And the angel of death was going to come through the land and strike down the firstborn throughout the land of Egypt, both men and animals. But when the angel saw this blood on the lintel, the angel would pass over them. That's where we get the name Passover. Chapter 11, verse 7, "...against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, so that you may understand the Lord makes a distinction between Israel and Egypt." Is that fair? What do you think about that? I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Here are the words of Romans 9, 15. I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. And what did Paul say when the question was raised, is there any injustice with God? May it never be. Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? God's working out His eternal plan here. And this is part of it. This is a people through whom he's going to send a Savior, one who will save some Egyptians. But the Savior has to come. And these people have to be free. They have to be brought into the place where the Savior will be born. 11.9, the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and He did not let the sons of Israel go out of His land. Now, in the middle of this, God establishes the calendar, the annual calendar for the sons of Jacob. This month, 12-2, shall be the beginning of months for you. It's the first month of the year for you. Speak to the congregation of Israel. On the 10th of this month, they're each one to take a lamb for themselves, a lamb for each household. Verse 6, you keep it until the 14th day of the month. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood, put it on the two doorposts, and on the lintel in the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 4, verse 12, I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Against the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. So each of these plagues, and we're not going to go through them in this study, but each of them represented a god of Egypt, one of their imaginary gods, the cow and the frogs and all of it. And so he calls this judgment on the gods of Egypt. And he says in verse 14, this day is going to be a memorial. You're going to celebrate it every year, a permanent ordinance. And on the first day you take the lamb and you have the Passover, seven more days you eat unleavened bread because they're going to not have time for the bread to rise when they leave Egypt that night. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses. Why does he do all these things? What's the point of taking all the leaven out of your house for seven days? Leaven is symbolic of sin, but in this case What's going to happen if you're taking out all the leaven now that you're getting in the house? You're going to make this bread. Let's just turn it into a cracker That this is the way God Made for them to remember all of this and he's going to tell him when your son asked you why we eating all this stuff You tell him this whole story Now God has to preserve this people for 1,500 years before the Savior is born. And they're going to spend most of that 1,500 years doing what? disobeying him, rebelling against him. But this is his plan. So he is going, it's not like they're going to be any more righteous than anybody else. But this is his plan. He's going to send the Savior. He told the serpent, the seed of the woman is going to crush you. He told Abraham he's going to be one of your descendants. And he's going to be through the line of Isaac. So at midnight, verse 29, the Lord struck all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, and all through the night, a great cry in Egypt. And then he called for Moses and Aaron, verse 31, at night and said, Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go worship the Lord, as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go and bless me also. And what's amazing, the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste. We'll all be dead if you don't go. They made them leave. They took their dough before it was leavened. The kneading bowls was bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. And the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses. And they requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so they let them have their request, and thus they plundered the Egyptians. They've got silver and gold. What are they going to do with it? They're going to make the golden calf. So they journey about 600,000 men at this point. Seventy went down to Egypt, and now roughly two to three million are coming out of Egypt. And they're going to go into this land that God promised 500 years earlier. Mixed multitude, flocks and herds, large number of livestock. They baked this dough which they brought out into cakes of unleavened bread. This is the feast of unleavened bread. Has not become leavened since they were driven out and could not delay. They made them leave. They wouldn't let them leave. That night they made them leave. And then 1240, the time the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. And at the end of 430 years to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It's a night to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them out from the land of Egypt, for this is for the Lord. To be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. In 13.5, it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, etc., which He swore to your fathers, you shall observe this rite. And, of course, what happens is Pharaoh is forcing them out, and then he has a change of heart. He and his cadre of assistants and soldiers, they change their mind and they chase after them. And they get to the Red Sea, and the people are saying, Moses, look what you've done to us again. You did it to us again. Moses says, now don't be concerned, and God tells him, stretch your staff out over the sea. God parts the Red Sea. Now I ask you again, could God really part the Red Sea? Well, what evidence do you have of that? Leaving aside Scripture and the Word of God, do you have any evidence out there of this? If He could make all of this, He can certainly take some water and separate it for a few minutes or a few hours. It's the same thing as Jesus walking across. Folks, these laws of biology and chemistry and physics, God created all that. He set that in motion. It didn't just happen. God did all this. And so, Pharaoh's people, soldiers, 600 chariots. I'll read it. The Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through a pillar of fire and cloud, and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. This is 1424. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty. The Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen. And so Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Several hundred years earlier, God had said to Abraham that he would have descendants, too many to number, that they would be in bondage in a foreign land for 400 years, that after that time he would bring them out and bring them into the land that he had promised them, the land of Canaan. And now the day of deliverance was at hand. God was working out His plan, and this was a picture of a greater part of His plan that was still to come. Well, Father, thank you so much. Thank you so much for revealing yourself to us, for all that you have done, for this evidence again of you as a promise keeper, as one who graciously makes covenant with fallen men, with people in rebellion against you, and who keeps every word, because that's who you are. And so, Lord, we thank you, and I pray that We take this word deeply into our hearts and that it has a transforming effect on us. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.
God's Call of Moses
Series God's Eternal Purpose
Sermon ID | 71025111981800 |
Duration | 52:11 |
Date | |
Category | Bible Study |
Bible Text | Exodus 1-14 |
Language | English |
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