GIVE ME A SIGN
Exodus 4:1-5
I. WHEN WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH.
A. It got their attention.
On July 1, 2003, a visiting evangelist at the First Baptist
Church of Forest, Ohio, was conducting an evening revival.
Rev. Don Hardman had just finished his sermon on repentance and
was closing with prayer.
Apparently he felt that he had not accomplished what he was
there for.
A storm was raging outside, and as he prayed he just kept
asking God what else he needed to say.
After one loud clap he said that in the Bible, God's voice was
often compared to thunder.
He looked heavenward and said, "That's right, God! We hear
you!"
At that moment a bolt of lightning hit the church steeple and
surged through the electrical wiring.
It blew out the sound system and traveled through the microphone
to envelope the preacher in a ball of blue flame.
That really got the congregation's attention.
Church member Ronnie Cheney said, "It was awesome, just
awesome!"
The evangelist wasn't hurt and the meeting continued.
But 20 minutes later they smelled smoke and realized the church
was on fire so they all got out of there.
Do you wish God would respond like that every time you needed
him?
If you harbor doubts about God, do you think an event like this
would be sufficient proof for you?
Turning around the Bible verse, you could walk by sight and
not by faith!
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B. Moses felt he needed some backup.
1) God gave him a clear mission, but Moses dithered.
a) He plays the "what-if" game with God.
b) The real issue seems to be Moses doesn't believe God.
2) God gives him more than he'll need.
C. What does it take for us to believe God?
1) Faith cannot be forced.
2) But God will help us believe, if we let him.
II. A GRACIOUS GOD GIVES MOSES SOME SIGNS.
A. Signs have a clear purpose in the Bible.
1) They give credibility to God's messenger so the people will
accept the message.
2) They were not to entertain or impress people, but to
convince them, to produce faith.
B. The first sign is mentioned in chapter 3.
1) In Exodus 3:12, the sign is that Moses will worship with
all the people on Mount Sinai.
a) This is what you might call a confirmation sign.
b) After everything is accomplished, Moses will know that
God is the one who did it.
2) Most people don't want confirmation, they want proof.
a) For confirmation signs, you have to have faith first.
The results come later.
b) Proof signs, on the other hand, produce faith.
3) For the sake of the Israelites, God establishes proof.
a) Note 4:5 - "so that they may believe...the LORD..."
C. The three signs given to Moses.
1) His staff becomes a snake.
a) Unusual that he would be told to pick it up by the tail.
2) His hand becomes leprous.
a) A number of diseases were covered by this word.
b) None of them were desirable and most of them cut you
off from society.
c) The on/off nature of the leprosy would have been a
powerful sign to the people.
3) Water from the Nile becomes blood.
a) Recalls the blood of Abel that was poured on the ground.
b) It will also remind them of all the suffering the Jews
have endured at the hand of the cruel Egyptians.
D. God suggests the signs have a multiplying effect.
1) One sign may not be enough, so the others support it.
2) This is why Jesus rebuked his opponents for seeking signs.
a) One is never enough.
1> If you don't want to believe, you won't.
2> You can always come up with a counter-explanation.
b) Jesus actually gave plenty of signs (=miracles) but
none of them would force people to believe.
III. DO SIGNS WORK?
A. They worked for the Jews. 4:30-31
1) They saw the signs and believed.
2) They heard the message of God's concern, and worshipped.
B. They did not work for Pharaoh.
1) His heart would be hardened.
a) Who hardened it, Pharaoh or God?
1> The text seems to say God did it. 4:21
2> What is more, God will then punish him by
killing his firstborn son.
b) Is this fair?
2) Taken at face value, it would be very unfair.
a) But this verse condenses what would be a long episode.
1> In the first five plagues, Exodus says Pharaoh
hardened his own heart.
2> Only from the sixth plague on does it say God
hardened his heart.
b) As time goes by, our free will seems to harden into
determinism.
1> Everyday experience shows us that repeated actions
become unchangeable character.
C. They did not work for Jesus.
1) He was a sign-giver rather than a sign-receiver.
2) Many of his opponents demanded signs from him.
a) They had already seen his stupendous miracles.
b) Their real intent was to trip him up.
c) Or, for Herod, to be entertained.
3) Only one sign is necessary.
a) Jesus says if they won't be convinced by the
resurrection, they are a lost cause.
b) We can no longer be eyewitnesses of the resurrection,
but we can still believe.
1> Jesus says those who believe without having to
see are the truly blessed.
John 20:29 --
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me,
you have believed; blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed."
IV. WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND? 4:2
A. The resources we need for faith are not far off.
1) God used the stick in Moses's own hand.
2) He can use the events and circumstances of your own life
to reach you.
B. Faith does not have to be hard.
1) Forty years later Moses would tell the Israelites:
"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult
for you or beyond your reach.
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will
ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we
may obey it?'
Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who
will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so
we may obey it?'
No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in
your heart so you may obey it."
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
V. WOULD YOU HAVE BELIEVED?
A. Enough people did.
1) The bulk of the Jews were convinced.
a) At least, as long as the miracles were going in their
favor.
b) Sometimes we are convinced at that moment, but it wears
off with new circumstances.
1> Our experience of the present often trumps the
(fading) memories of the past.
2) Jesus says true believers persevere and are not sidetracked
by pressures and pleasures.
B. Some are still like Pharaoh.
1) They choose not to believe.
I came across an interesting example on the internet this
week.
Jennifer Fulwiler used to be an atheist.
She saw no good reason to believe in God.
But God worked on her anyway, and in time she softened.
While she was on a vacation in beautiful Ruidoso, New Mexico,
the subject of God was very much on her mind.
For the first time in her life she was open to the idea that
God might exist.
Or, at least, she was trying to be open to the idea.
But she felt lost and confused and didn't know where to turn.
Jennifer was becoming increasingly dejected that she didn't
seem to be getting anywhere spiritually.
She didn't feel God's presence, she wasn't basking in the
warm feelings of Jesus' love for her.
She didn't feel...anything.
And it didn't seem like she ever would.
One night on the vacation she felt particularly low and
couldn't sleep.
She felt like she was hitting a spiritual rock bottom, so
she begged God for a sign to let her know he existed.
She got out of bed and sat on the balcony.
When she stepped outside she was stunned to see a storm
raging silently over the nearby mountains.
The only sound was the rustling of a mild breeze as the
lightning flashed brilliantly to illuminate the great
cloud, probably a hundred miles away.
The raging storm was neatly framed between two large
mountain peaks.
An artist wouldn't have painted it as such because it would
seem too contrived.
The rest of the sky was completely clear and carpeted with
stars.
She looked up to try to pick out some constellations and a
large meteor sparkled across the sky.
Then another.
She saw probably eight in total that night, many of them
large with long, dazzling trails.
It took her breath away.
She was probably the only person at the hotel watching this
display.
"Well," she smirked to herself, "be careful what you wish
for."
Jennifer had asked for a sign, and this was about as
"sign-ish" as it gets.
What more did she want?
Yet she wasn't convinced.
Even as her heart raced upon witnessing the grandeur before
her she wrote it off as just a storm and an unexpected
meteor shower.
At that moment, Jennifer realized then that there was no
sign that God could give her.
If this wasn't enough then nothing would be.
Her problem was that she wasn't open to God.
Had she walked out on the balcony to see "HI JENNIFER, IT'S
ME, GOD!" written across the sky she would have written
it off as a practical joke.
Because, in her mind, there was a natural explanation for
everything, so therefore anything supernatural was
impossible.
Jennifer arrogantly assumed that because she knew how
something worked that God couldn't be involved.
She watched the storm and thought, "That's not God, that's
just condensation!"
And the tightness in her chest and tears welling up in her
eyes?
"That's not my 'soul' yearning for anything, that's just
chemical reactions in my brain!"
She realized that night that she wasn't going to see God if
she was determined not to.
Not long after that, she committed herself to faith in Jesus.
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2) Over time, hearts harden to the point where they can never
be soft again.
3) What is the condition of your heart right now?
a) Have you seen enough of God's power to believe?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#29386 "Give Us a Sign -- Kaboom!" Wit And Wisdom by Richard G. Wimer,
http://www.witandwisdom.org, May 4, 2005. His sources were
the Findlay Ohio Courier, http://www.thecourier.com/, and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3044178.stm;
secondary source: Sermon Fodder, http://www.sermonfodder.com.
See also http://www.snopes.com/religion/bolt.asp.
[Illustration #25078 probably describes the same incident]
#35908 "Asking God For A Sign," by Jennifer Fulwiler; Blog: Conversion
Diary, http://www.conversiondiary.com/2006/08/~
asking-god-for-sign.html, August 11, 2006.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Rev. David Holwick U Exodus series, #3
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 5, 2009
