July 13, 2003 Exodus 5-6
1 Timothy 2:4 sums up God’s plan for our world. He wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Notice how in this verse God connects being saved with knowing the truth. This truth is not something that man was born with. It was revealed in God’s Word through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The truth that the salvation of the world is based upon is on the fact that Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him. The ONLY way people can be saved, then, is if this truth of salvation is REVEALED to them. (Romans 10:14) So God’s plan is to now REVEAL this truth through US so we can be saved.
This has been God’s plan of salvation for the world since before the creation of the world. (1 Peter 1:20) The only way this would be accomplished would be for God’s Son to take on human flesh. So he chose the offspring of Abraham - the Jews - to accomplish this task. God’s purpose was for the Israelites to go to the Promised Land and have a Savior be born for them. That was the plan. There was only one problem - they were in slavery down in Egypt. So God chose Moses to lead his people out of slavery. Moses finally had the call to do what he had dreamed of since his childhood. But this was only the start. Today we’re going to see how there were still many obstacles to accomplishing this task. Yet God’s Word for Moses today was to -
Stick to the Plan
I. Even when it hurts
After 40 years apart, Moses and Aaron had been reunited at Mt. Horeb. Now it was time to get to work. This was not going to be an underground railroad, where the Israelites would secretly leave by the dark of thenight. No, God called them to go straight to the top of the Egyptians - to the Pharaoh himself. Professor Wendland said that, Pharaoh considered himself to be the only true intermediary between the high-gods and the people of the world. To him the great superpowers were those of nature, like the sun and the moon, and he was the great high priest who could approach these high-gods in the beautiful temples along the Nile built in their honor. (Exodus People’s Bible - page 36) So here these two old men - at 80 and 83 years old now, go up to Pharaoh - the mighty king who thought he had a direct connection with nature. And yet what do Moses and Aaron do when they get to the palace? They went to him and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’” (Exodus 5:1) Notice that they don’t try to work out a compromise. They didn’t say, “we were just kind of wondering if it would be ok if we took the people for a three day worship conference in the desert?” In a respectful and yet straight forward way they simply said, “the LORD, the God of Israel says, “Let my people go.”
Now even though the LORD put Pharaoh in his position, Pharaoh in his mind thought, “why should I respect this LORD of these slaves? I don’t owe him anything!” Yet notice that Moses and Aaron didn’t back down. Instead, they upped the ante by saying, Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword. They actually went so far as to threaten a punishment to the Pharaoh if he didn’t cooperate - and immediately. It would seem like a bold thing for them to do, but all they were doing was conveying the words that the LORD wanted them to speak. The fact was that the LORD wasn’t intimidated by this Pharaoh. He would not negotiate. His plan would not be hindered.
I’ve been reading a book about a German boy who was stuck in Germany when the Russians took it over after World War II. During that time he had to flee to a small city - so here he was, the big city kid in a rough neighborhood of broken down Germany. As a result, all of the neighborhood kids would gang up on him and beat him up. At first, he ran from them. But that wasn’t working. So he decided that the only thing he could do would be to launch a counter attack. One by one he snuck up on the boys and individually attacked them and beat them up. From that point on, they left him alone. It takes courage, but that’s how God wants you to deal with this world in a spiritual way. If you just try to run away from it and fear it, it will run after you and try to eat you up. The more we let it go and say nothing - the worse it gets. If your children are hanging out with some kids that you know full well are evil, you might think, “oh, maybe we can influence him or her for the better.” But then, before you know it, he is drinking alcohol and acting like a heathen. Or if your son starts dating a gal that seems to dress with her body parts hanging out on all sides, you can’t assume he’ll behave himself. Before you know it, she will be pregnant. You can’t just assume these things will go away. You’ve got to put your foot down at some point and address the evil behavior or even the APPEARANCE of it. It takes courage and judgment, but evil has to be exposed and hung out to dry - confronted straight up - because that’s the only thing that it will listen to - the law. But for some reason we’ve been contaminated with this modern day idea that evil can be gradually steered into good with a lot of nice talk and “counseling”. We’re turned into spiritual cowards - afraid to make people angry. Instead of calling sin “sin” we would rather diagnose it as a disease and throw drugs at it. It’s less messy and more excusable. Pharaoh wasn’t about to listen to sweet talk, and God didn’t give him any. He said, “do it or else!”
So how did Pharaoh - deal with this threat? He became angry and said, “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” (Ex 5:7-9) Instead of backing down, Pharaoh became more aggressive and tried to make the Israelites lazy and the LORD be the bad guy. As a result, the Israelite foremen came to Moses and said, “May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (Ex 5:21) Unfortunately, when Christian parents and leaders fight evil, the very people they are trying to protect sometimes become angry with them. Kids will say to parents, “don’t you love me! How could you do this to me! Nobody will want to be my friend if I don’t get to go to this party!” Pastors will be told, “who are you to tell me what’s right and wrong! Do you think you’re God! It’s none of your business! I can do what I want.”
How did Moses respond to this? Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” Moses in turn became frustrated and angry - and even accused the LORD of sending him to bring trouble on his people. How often don’t we do the same thing? What a terrible thing - to accuse our faithful God of having evil intentions! But the LORD knew that Moses was responding out of the pain he felt for his people. So how did the LORD respond? “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country. . . I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. . . . ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’” (Exodus 6) With great love and patience God was saying, “calm down, Moses - it’s ok. All of the promises I made to Abraham are now going to come true. I’m not just going to be a God of the fathers - I will be their God - they’ll know that I AM and I still exist! So stick to the plan, even though it hurts right now.”
Stick to the plan, even when it hurts. It’s not easy, when we know our children or friends may become angry with us. It isn’t easy when unbelievers call us unloving, judgmental, and hypocritical. But God never said it would be easy. Instead He says to us in Isaiah, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; (Is 43:1-3). God tells us to remember who He is - a God of compassion and mercy. He tells us to remember who we are - redeemed children of God - bought by the precious blood of Christ. When we were baptized, God called us by name. Keep on looking at the cross and remember that God used His own blood to pay for your sins. Remember that God will never disown you, even if your friends and family do. So stick to the plan - even when it hurts - because God will stick with you when nobody else will.
II. Even when it doesn’t make sense
After this wonderful explanation of who He was and what He would do, how did Moses and Aaron respond? Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. (Exodus 6:9) The Israelites couldn’t believe that the LORD would deliver them. All they had experienced was suffering and bondage. It’s all they knew. So when God said to them, “I’m going to deliver you into a wonderful land and give you freedom”, they couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t believe because their faith was based on their feelings. What they failed to realize was that faith isn’t based on what you feel or what your past experiences have been. It’s based on the promise of a faithful God. When Abraham sacrificed Isaac, every feeling that he had went against what he was about to do. He loved this child - it was the child of promise. God had given him that child at 100 years old! He was the child that would carry the line of the Savior. God said, “you shall not murder!” Every bit of logic told him - “don’t do it.” But he had God’s clear command which told him - “kill Isaac and sacrifice him to me!” And so, against everything that he felt, he raised his hand to kill. That was faith. It’s believing that God is forgiving even when your aches and pains tell you He’s punishing you. It’s believing that God wants the best for you even when you’re going through the worst. It’s believing that you are holy and going to heaven through the blood of Christ, even when you’re conscience and God’s law tells you that you are a filthy sinner on the way to hell. That’s what God was calling on the Israelites to have here - faith that He was the LORD -that he would fulfill His promises to the Israelites that He made long ago. But they wouldn’t believe it.
After this rejection, then the LORD said to Moses, “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.” But Moses said to the LORD, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” (Ex 6:10-12) It was a logical conclusion, wasn’t it. If my own people won’t listen to me, how in the world will this hard hearted Pharaoh listen to what I’m saying? He’s not going to listen to me no matter what I say! Moses committed the same sin as the Israelites. He based his actions on what his logic told him, instead of what His God told him. But how did God respond? Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Isn’t that interesting? He says to Moses, “I know he won’t listen to you. But tell him anyway! Stick to the plan!”
God’s mission is to have the whole world be saved. Yet we know that the world is born in sin and hostile to God. We know that many of the people we tell will not listen and don’t even want to listen. The last thing they want to be is “preached at”. So we reason to ourselves, “I won’t bother saying anything to them. I won’t preach at them, because they won’t listen anyway.” We figure we’re fighting a losing battle, so why try. Remember what faith is, however. It is not based on how we feel or what we think will happen. It’s based on the Word and promise of God. If the LORD wants us to say something, who are we to say, “nobody will listen!” Even if the law turns people off, does that mean we shouldn’t say anything? A command from the Lord is a command from the Lord. I can think of a hundred reasons not to preach the Word to someone. But when it comes down to it, God commands me to - even if I know they WON’T listen. It takes faith to do something like that even though we KNOW it won’t work. Yet God says, STICK TO THE PLAN, even when it doesn’t make sense!
III. Because God knows what He’s doing
God didn’t have to give Moses a reason to speak to Pharaoh. But he did. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” (Ex 7:1-5) God knew the future, and he revealed it to Moses. The LORD wasn’t going to release the Israelites through Moses’ words, but through His POWER. But Moses’ words would harden Pharaoh so He COULD show His power and release the Israelites. Knowing this gave Moses the courage to go forward. So Moses writes that, Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded them. (Ex 7:6-7)
I had a friend back in the Seminary who always seemed to have a romance going on of some sort. He would date gals for four or five months, and everything seemed to be going great. But just when he thought about tying the knot, the gal he was dating inevitably would dump him and end up marrying someone else a short while thereafter. He later on referred to himself as the springboard to marriage for the gals he dated. It wasn’t a very glorious role, but he relished in it nonetheless - knowing that he was helping other people get married.
It wouldn’t be very glorious for Moses to get ridiculed and rejected by Pharaoh every time he went to him. It isn’t very glorious for us to get doors slammed in our faces and accusations made when we have to stop their evil behavior. How can we enjoy doing that or glory in such a humiliating thing? Authur Tonne once wrote,
Some years ago a man by the name of Reinhold Faust was sent to prison for fourteen months. In a safety deposit box of a Chicago bank he had hidden four bombs, to be used in future robberies. In order to remove all evidence, he threw away the key when he was sent to prison. But he still had a problem. He had to pay the rent on the safe deposit box regularly, or the bank would open the box and discover the bombs. For twenty-one years he paid that rent. His secret was revealed when the company decided to move, opened the box, and discovered the bombs.
In the same way, when we are rejected and humiliated, it will provide evidence on Judgment Day that God’s judgment was correct. This evidence will give God good reason to say to those who rejected us, “depart from me into the eternal fire.” (Psalm 51:4) It will prove that our God actually is a just and loving God - and nobody will be able to deny it on that Day. But in sticking with the plan, the Word of God that we deliver will also work to convert some to faith - and bring them to heaven - just as Moses’ words to Pharaoh served to ultimately set the Israelites free.
In our Bible camp yesterday we used the theme, “God’s Kind of Games.” No matter what kind of a game you’re playing - baseball, basketball, football - there are basically three things that are important. Getting off to a good start, persevering, and then receiving the prize. Our race in this life is a lot like that. After we are baptized and get off to a good start. But sometimes it seems we don’t know where we’re going. All we do is work from day to day and try to get by as best we can. But all God says is, “keep plugging along. Persevere and STICK WITH THE PLAN. Sooner or later this track will lead to the finish line.” What is the plan? The same as it was with Moses - to save the world. So God says, “keep in the Word and keep preaching my Word - and I’ll lead you home.” Stick with the plan. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But rest assured, God knows what he’s doing. Amen.
