Sermon Outline

1. Stuff Happens — The Israelites in Process
2. Sin Happens — Moses in Process
3. A Betrothal Happens — The Covenant in Process

Introduction

What is the most important thing about your life?

We are studying the book of Exodus which is the story of a people who were enslaved in Egypt 3500 years ago. And so you might ask “What can we learn from this book about a rag tag group of slaves” who served the Egyptians under really oppressive conditions. Well first of all they are part of the people of God as are we who are in Christ Jesus. There is a beauty and a strength that comes from being connected to the historical church even back to the Old Testament saints. And we are not only to identify with God’s people in the past but we are called to learn from them. Now I know most or all of us if we look back at our own family tree, might say, I’m not sure there is much to learn from certain family members other than what not to do. Unfortunately this is true with many of those that came out of Egypt.

1 Corinthians 10:1–5 (ESV) — For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

We are told in Scripture that the things that happened to them took place as examples for us and that they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. So yes we want to learn from their example both good and bad. So what can we learn in our text this morning from the Israelites who were our spiritual forefathers? Well this comes back to my first question “What is the most important thing in your life?”. Now if you are a Christian you may have answered that question a number of ways. It may have been something like “I am a Christian” . I will echo that answer only with a slightly different twist. The way I am answering that is for the Christian belonging to God is the most important thing about your life. In the New Testament belonging to Christ is an actual description of a Christian:

1 Corinthians 15:23 (ESV) — But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

So, if belonging to Christ is the most important thing about our lives, then how ought we to live and what does our text tell us about that?

I. Stuff Happens — The Israelites In Process

So our first point is that for God’s people, for those who belong to him stuff happens. We live in a fallen world and things don’t always go as planned. And we see that in chapter five - actually let’s look at the very end of chapter four.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

So things seemed to be going great for Moses and for the people of Israel. After 400 plus years of slavery they have hope that there will be a deliverance. Until Moses and Aaron go to see Pharaoh in chapter five.

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go. Most of us can relate at some level to having a dream or a desire that seems to be coming to fruition and then blows up.

And for the Israelites it then gets worse. Starting from verse five through verse eight Pharaoh tells his taskmasters of the people that no longer would the Egyptians provide the straw for the bricks the Israelites were making. They would have to go and gather it themselves. Pharaoh knew how to deal with outside agitators!

Put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites - they were ticked! They were already living and working under oppressive conditions. And they let Moses and Aaron know about it in verse 21: and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

So for both Moses and the people stuff happened. We live in a fallen world among fallen people and though the Lord rules over all he doesn’t always protect us from things happening. Or the things that he calls us to are often littered with obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable (or at least very challenging). Yet God rules over all. This ruling over all things is rooted in his sovereignty and providence.

God, the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence
— TFC Confession 6:1

The providence of God is the working of God’s sovereignty to continually uphold, guide, and care for his creation.
— Paul Helm

The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.
— Charles Spurgeon

At the end of the day (literally) we must trust in the God who is and that he rules over all (and that he can be trustedl. Now there is mystery in God’s providence. We don’t always understand his providence. Why did he tell Abraham in Genesis 15?

Genesis 15:13–14 (ESV) — Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

Surely Yahweh could have ordained the deliverance of his people sooner or that it never needed to happen. Think again of the plight of the Israelites in Egypt. They had this glorious prophecy given to their forefather Abraham in regards to inheriting the land of Canaan but now they were slaves in a foreign country. And had been for hundreds of years. Then when it seemed as if the promise of deliverance had come their hopes (seemingly) were dashed.

So how should we who belong to God live under the good providence of God even during hard and very difficult times? One way is to spend time in the Psalms. It’s not the only book of the Bible you should be reading but in this hymn book of the saints we see David and others engaging Yahweh the God the God to whom they belong. The Psalms tell us much about who Yahweh is, but also in the Psalms we see the saints interacting with him in joyful times, and in times of defeat and failure, discouragement and perplexity.

You caused me to experience many troubles and misfortunes, but You will revive me again. You will bring me up again, even from the depths of the earth. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. Therefore, I will praise You with a harp for Your faithfulness, my God. Psalm 71: 20 (ESV)

In the Psalms we can often identify with what the Psalmist is going through. Maybe not the specifics (we may not have enemies trying to kill us) but the dynamics are the same. We see them expressing their questions/complaints, their fears and desires underneath God’s providence. We observe their confession of sin, their fears and their lack of strength or power and their ultimate trust in God.. And we can imitate them by drawing near to God because through Christ we belong to God. He is our God and we are his people. And throughout our lives whether in good times or in challenging times we can draw near to him AND we can pray. (not just engaging God but petitioning him).

Yes our God rules overall things; nothing happens without his allowing it. And that should give us great confidence to pray I love.

Matthew 6:6 (ESV) — But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

When difficult times come don’t just throw up your hands and give up. Don’t live a life of apathy and passivity and unbelief. We are all tempted to do that. Draw near to the God who you belong to and pray. Pray for wisdom, pray for grace, pray to glorify God in all things and pray according to your faith that God would give you whatever you are asking him for. (promises). You belong to the Lord and therefore you can call upon him, draw near to him, cling to him when everything else seems to be falling away.

The Israelites would need to learn this lesson time and time again. When trouble comes don’t be bitter and complain against God. Go to him. Most of the history of Israel shows them failing this test. May we learn from them and not follow their example.

II. Sin Happens — Moses In Process

Well the second thing we learn from this passage about being the people of God, a people who belong to the Lord is that sin happens. Now sin happens among the people of Israel not only in this passage and this book but throughout the Old Testament. But in this section I want to focus on the sin in Moses’ life. In some ways it should actually encourage us to see Moses struggling with sin (we find out that like Elijah, Moses was a man just like us). This is the Moses who in Numbers 12 we read this:

Numbers 12:3 (ESV) — Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

But here in the beginning of Exodus we see that Moses, just like us, is in process! He is in process of what we read Leviticus 11:

Leviticus 11:44 (ESV) — For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.

And this process of becoming more like Christ begins with exposing sin in our lives. And we see that in Moses’ life in verse 22 of chapter five:

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Talk about throwing the Lord under the bus, Moses doesn’t seem to be very meek at this point. There is a difference between a godly lament and charging the Lord with wrong doing. And it appears that Moses may have crossed that line. We also see at the end of chapter six after the Lord gives Moses and Aaron much encouragement Moses replies in verse 10-11. “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” (He sinks back into the pity party and unbelief that he had previously struggled with.)

So Moses like us was in process. But unlike most of the people of Israel, Moses learned the lessons God was working on in his life. He became a humble, meek and yet decisive and strong leader. The ESV translation of Numbers 12 uses the word meek where many other translations use the word humble. Either way it is describing one who has a disposition that is yielded to God. This was the work of God in Moses' life. One commentary states that in regards to Moses’ leadership it had a “spiritual authority (that) flows from submission to God rather than self-assertion, a standard later personified perfectly by Jesus Christ.“ (Humbled himself to the point of death)

Though Moses may have sinned when he was charging God in chapter six the encouraging thing was that he went to the Lord with his complaint. He did not allow anger or bitterness or inability to see what the Lord was doing to keep him from drawing near to God. The Lord heard his complaints and graciously, mercifully encouraged him and Aaron. Though Moses initially would have preferred someone else to fight these battles, through God’s grace he continued in the fray. And though he didn’t do it perfectly, he grew in grace as he learned to rely upon the Lord and fully submit and trust him.

If you’re a Christian, If you belong to the Lord then his plan of helping you grow to be more like Christ has begun and that process will continue until you go to be with him. This process which is often called sanctification is always going on in our lives. It never stops until glory! John mentioned this summer that sometimes we end up struggling with sin the most when we go on vacation. Why? Because we think we can hit the pause button on sanctification and we can’t. (I’m just going to chill) There’s no cruise control in the Christian life.

The Christian life is one of walking in the Spirit and putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Putting off the old person and putting on Christ. And one of the vital avenues of joy and fruitfulness in the Christian life is to not only be aware of this ongoing process but to cooperate with it. Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us like Moses follow the way of Christ and live a life submitted to God. In every encounter of life we should be aware of these questions:

• “Am I submitted to God right now?
• Am I yielding to him?”
• “What is his will right now?”

Did you ever wonder “why do I continually seem to experience the discipline and sanctifying work of God in my life?”. Because you belong to him!

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons… Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Hebrews 12 (ESV)

What areas of life are you not submitting to God? God disciplines us and sanctifies us because we belong to him. We are his beloved children. This is evidence that we belong to him and that he loves us. May we be like Moses who learned to be subject to God and live.

III. Betrothal Happens — The Covenant in Process

Our third point has to do with chapter six especially verses 1-13. And in this chapter after Moses charges and complains to God, the Lord comes to Moses and Aaron. He encourages them and then he confirms his covenant with Moses and the people. The covenant that he had made with Abraham, Issac and Jacob.

And he starts with an interesting statement. 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “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. So apparently in the book of Genesis with the patriarchs the Lord appeared to them as El Shaddai but not as Yahweh. The challenge to this statement is that the name Yahweh is listed often in the book of Genesis.

How can this be? In Scripture we see especially in the Old Testament what is known as progressive revelation. Theologian R. C. Sproul stated that progressive revelation was God’s revelation which unfolds over vast periods of time. It is the gradual unfolding of who God is and what his ways are and which expands over time. But it’s never corrective of previous revelation, it only adds to it and this progressive revelation ended with the completion of the New Testament. So what we see here is a progressive revelation of the understanding of the name of Yahweh and the covenant he made with the patriarchs and their offspring.

Yahweh is the God who will personally, dynamically, and faithfully be present to fulfill the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The patriarchs had only the promises, not the things promised. The fullness of time has come when God will be known in the capacity and character of his name, Yahweh, as he fulfills what he has promised and does what he has decreed.

— Kaiser, W. C., Jr. Exodus. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary.

There is mystery in Providence and in God himself. He is the eternal God. And yet he wonderfully and graciously reveals more and more of himself to his people. (eventually culminating in the person of Jesus Christ) Up until this point Abraham and his offspring may have known the name Yahweh but not in an experiential way. They knew the name Yahweh but their interaction was mostly with the name of God as El Shaddai (God Almighty).

When you look at the many times in the book of Genesis that El Shaddai is used it primarily has to do with God’s promise of blessing Abraham’s offspring, multiplying them, and giving them the land of Canaan. Up until this point God’s dealings towards the patriarchs and their offspring were more in line with a generous benefactor.

But now he is showing himself much more than a benefactor. In verses one to eight we are told of fifteen things that either Yahweh will do or has done or a description of who he is. It is quite breath taking:

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. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people 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 slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’”

The Bible is about God and this includes what he has gloriously, mysteriously, mercifully done for his people. He is the God of Israel’s salvation and deliverance. Now when we go back to verse seven we see the most glorious thing he will do for the Israelites. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians

Here the Lord (Yahweh) is showing himself to be more than a generous benefactor. He is displaying his glory as a covenant God who will take Israel to be his people. And he, to be their God. This pledge is fully culminated in chapter 19. He is not only showering blessings on them, he is making a betrothal pledge to them. In this vow he is committing himself to them and giving himself to them and taking them to be his own people.

We see this glory throughout the Old Testament and the New:

Deuteronomy 7:6 (ESV) — “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Of all the peoples in the earth God’s people should be those who are full of wonder. This includes the wonder of living in the beauty of the world around us. We should not give into being jaded like the rest of the world towards the beauty of the world even in its fallenness. The beauty of the creation, being fearfully and wonderfully made and of living in an ordered universe. But much more we should wonder and glory and revel in the truth that in Christ we are part of the people of God. We were purchased by the blood of Jesus. We are accepted by the Father because of this. We are his beloved children and the bride of Christ. We belong to him.

If you are a Christian and this doesn’t affect you, if it doesn’t cause you to think “ I must pinch myself” or make you want to run around the auditorium in excitement because you can’t stand it or sit in quiet wonder and gratefulness and humility then my beloved brother or sister you must do as our brother James tells us in the first chapter of his epistle and look intently into the law of liberty, into the good news of the gospel.

I think one of the things that our text helps us in regards to this is to realize the greatness and glory of our God. Yahweh, the God who is, the self-existent one. The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Remember the gospel message begins with God who is. He is more glorious than we will ever know or be able to comprehend. He is beautiful and majestic and powerful, and loving and just. And this great God has made a way for fallen sinners to not only have their sins forgiven but to enter into the New Covenant where Christ comes to dwell in our lives.

And one of the wonders of the gospel is that not only do we belong to God but he belongs to us. He is our God. Remember in the Old Testament the tribe of Levi. They were the tribe from which came the priesthood. And they were not to inherit any land. Why? Because God was their inheritance. In the New Covenant we are all priests and the Lord is to each one of us our inheritance, our most precious and in some ways our only possession. He is all we need. May we be like the Hebrew Christians

Hebrews 10:34 (ESV) — For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

As Christians we should be the most joyful people because we have a better and abiding possession, an abiding inheritance, God himself. One application might be to purpose to live joyfully even if in the Providence of God most of what we have is taken away. But I think a better application is to live that way right now. To live in the joy that we belong to God and he belongs to us and with that alone we are happy and at peace.

Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also,
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is foreverJ

— Martin Luther

Conclusion

In closing let me address two groups of people. The first is described in chapter six verse nine. Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. I want to speak to the Christian who has been beaten down by the winds and the waves of life. Maybe it’s the providential circumstances that have come upon you and you are discouraged, provoked or overwhelmed by what has happened or is happening in your life. Or maybe it has to do with the area of sanctification - a certain sin or sins have overtaken you and you have given up the battle of putting them to death.

My encouragement to you would be, “draw near to God”! Don’t throw away your inheritance. Don’t be like Esau who despised his birthright. It’s okay to say I’ve had some hard things in my life, some of which I don’t understand. Or it’s okay to say I’ve done some sinful things in my life and I’ve suffered some of the consequences for those sins. Or maybe for you it’s ”things haven’t turned out in my life like I thought they would.” It’s okay to say those things whether it’s to others or to the Lord. But don’t allow any of those things to keep you from drawing near to God. Hebrews tells us “don’t throw away your confidence”. Your confidence is Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead.

Developing one’s prayer life is a lifelong pursuit for the Christian. But one of the most essential aspects I think that a Christian should cultivate in their prayer life should be this - having a daily time when the primary purpose is to draw near to God through Christ because you belong to him and he belongs to you. Don’t believe the lies of Satan that you’re somehow different than all other believers. .

I do not stop being a child of God because I am a problem child. (Bryan Chapell)

We can all tend to think of ourselves like that. There’s everyone else and then there’s me. We are all “problem children”, sinners in need of a Savior. Don’t throw away your confidence. If you're a Christian, you belong to God and you are precious to him and he belongs to you. And your joy and security should flow from that truth.

Secondly I want to speak to those who are not yet a Christian. At this point you do not belong to the Lord in fact some of you would say “I don’t want to belong to the Lord”. I know that very well for that was my response when I first heard the gospel message. Though I knew the gospel to be true I did not want to submit to God, believe upon him and follow him. Jesus said in Matthew seven that on that day there will be some to whom he declares “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” The judgment of God will be that for those who do not belong to him he will cast them off in eternal darkness. You want to be counted as belonging to the Lord on the day of judgment. And to do that you must begin to live that way now. No one can change your heart other than the Lord. Call out to him ask him to change you, to give you a new heart, a new orientation. Keep listening to the word of God both by reading it and hearing it. And God will work in your life and save you.

Or maybe you’re here today and you want to belong to the Lord. You know that you’re not a Christian but today your desire is to be part of the people of God. If that is you here is a concise expression of the gospel message:

• Know that the Lord God is a loving and just God. He created the human race for his glory and pleasure and for the good of man but all have sinned and fallen short of his glory. This has brought the judgement of God on all.
• Because of his great love the Father sent his Son, Jesus who came and lived a sinless life and then died for all who would come to him in faith. He was raised from the dead for our justification.
• Turn from your sin in repentance and turn to God. Put your faith and trust in the work of Christ on the cross as the only way to be made right with the Lord.