Sermon #24 Exodus Series

Title: God’s Prophet

A Man Sent to Deliver

Text: Exodus 3:10-12

Subject: God Sends Moses

Date: Tuesday Evening — September 26, 2006

Tape # Exodus #24

Readings: Lindsay Campbell and Dave Burge

Introduction:

The title of my message tonight is God’s Prophet — A Man Sent to Deliver. Our text will be Exodus 3:10-12.

Proposition: Like the prophets of old, Gospel preachers are men chosen, called, gifted and sent of God to deliver his people. — I want to show you something about this great work and the men God uses. Let’s read our text together.

(Exodus 3:10-12) “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. (11) And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (12) And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”

God the Holy Spirit gives us the best commentary on this passage in Acts 7:35-36.

(Acts 7:35-36) “This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. (36) He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.”

Context

We must begin by looking at the context in which our text is found. That man who is called of God is one who has learned and experienced the things God taught Moses in this chapter.

· He is a man to whom the Lord Jesus Christ has been revealed (vv. 1-5).

(Exodus 3:1-5) “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. (2) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (3) And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (4) And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. (5) And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

No man is called and sent of God to preach the Gospel except that man to whom and in whom Christ has been revealed as God our Savior, glorious in holiness, determined to save and mighty to save. When Moses saw Christ in his glory, he understood “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.”

· In verses 6-8, we see that God reminded Moses of his covenant-relationship with his elect. — That man who is called and sent of God, that man who speaks for God is one who knows God’s purpose of grace, his determination to save his people.

(Exodus 3:6) “Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”

· He knows something of the Savior’s love and care, his compassion for his own.

(Exodus 3:7) “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.”

· And he knows that the Lord Jesus will assuredly save his people.

(Exodus 3:8) “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

That man who is sent of God to preach the Gospel, like Moses, knows that he is sent on an errand that is sure to succeed, sent to do a work that cannot fail. The Gospel of Christ cannot be and is not preached with uncertainty. The trumpet of God does not give an uncertain, but a certain sound. God says, “Behold, I will save my people.” The Lord Jesus “shall save his people from their sins.” He says, “I am come down to deliver them.” And deliver them he shall, by the preaching of the Gospel (Isa. 55:11).

(Isaiah 55:11) “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Christ Prophesied

In a word, that man who is called and sent of God to deliver his people is a man who knows who Christ is, why he came into this world and what he accomplished. This was clearly revealed to Moses as he stood before Christ in the burning bush (v. 8).

Who can fail to see that this is a clear, prophetic picture of our blessed Savior? Because he saw the affliction of his people by reason of sin and death, in due time, the Lord Jesus came down here to bring us up to the heavenly Canaan. (Isa. 63:4; John 14:1-3).

(Isaiah 63:4) “For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”

(John 14:1-3) “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (2) In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

He said to Moses, “I am come down.” — Fifteen hundred years later, Jehovah-Jesus left his Father’s House on high and came down to this world of sin and sorrow (2 Cor. 8:9). John Gill wrote, “Christ in our nature came down from heaven to earth, to save his spiritual Israel out of the hands of all their enemies.”

The purpose for which he came was “to deliver” his people and “bring them up out of that land.” He came to seek and to save that which was lost, to seek and to save his sheep, to bring all that the Father gave him in eternal love with him into eternal Glory. Our blessed Savior came down here to “bring” us “into a good land and large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey” — to bring us by resurrection into a land of boundless grace, where we everything to satisfy and rejoice the heart.

· Spiritual Resurrection in the New Birth

· Bodily Resurrection in the Last Day

Moses Sent

In verse the Lord Jesus Christ sends Moses to deliver his people. That man who is used of God for the deliverance of his people is one who has been sent by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

(Exodus 3:10) “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

(Romans 10:13-17) “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? (17) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Moses was here commissioned by God to be his prophet, a man sent for the salvation of Israel, God’s typical covenant people in the Old Testament, to deliver them from their physical bondage in Egypt. In precisely the same way, the Lord Jesus Christ commissions Gospel preachers to be his messengers for the salvation of his Israel, his elect, to deliver them from their spiritual bondage (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:8).

(Matthew 28:18-20) “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

(Mark 16:15-18) “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

(John 20:19-23) “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (20) And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. (21) Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (22) And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: (23) Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

(Acts 1:8) “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Christ sent Moses specifically to deliver Israel, only Israel (v.10) — “I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel.” There were other slaves in bondage in Egypt; but Moses was sent only to deliver Israel.

Moses was sent for the salvation of God’s chosen people. He calls them “My people, the children of Israel.” They became his people in a national and temporal sense when God entered into a covenant with their father Abraham in Genesis 15, the covenant he confirmed to them at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1-8). — So today, the Son of God sends Gospel preachers specifically to deliver and save his elect. No, preachers are not saviors. We can save no one. But they are, by the Gospel we preach, the instruments by which God saves his elect. God saves his elect through the instrumentality of Gospel preaching (Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 1:23; Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:23-25; Isa. 6:1-7).

(Romans 10:17) “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

(1 Corinthians 1:18-23) “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (19) For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (22) For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: (23) But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;”

(Hebrews 4:12) “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

(1 Peter 1:23-25) “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (24) For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (25) But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

(Isaiah 6:1-7) “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (2) Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. (3) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (6) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: (7) And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

Our Savior sent Moses to the place where his people were, to the place of their bondage. He said, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh,” in whose land they were enslaved. — So the Lord Jesus sends his preachers with his message to the place where his people are found in bondage. Though chosen by grace and redeemed by his blood, God’s elect are by nature in bondage, just like all other people (Isa. 61:1-3).

(Isaiah 61:1-3) “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (2) To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (3) To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Since this bondage is universal, God sends his servants “into all the world” (Mark 16:15), even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Yet, by his Spirit, in the orderly disposition of his providence, in due time, at the appointed time of love, he sends them to each of his elect. — “He sent his Word and healed them.” — “Fetch him!”

· Lydia

· The Jailer

· Onesimus

The Lord Jesus sent Moses to deliver his people from oppression and to overthrow their oppressors. “I will send thee…that thou mayest bring forth my people…out of Egypt.” The oppressed cannot be saved unless their oppressors are defeated. So the Lord assured Moses that he would overthrow the Egyptians (vv. 16-20).

(Exodus 3:16-20) “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: (17) And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (18) And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. (19) And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. (20) And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.”

So it is that our blessed Savior sends his servants out to preach the gospel of God’s boundless, free grace, assuring each that he will foil our foes before us (1 Tim. 4:11-16; 1 Cor. 15:58).

(1 Timothy 4:11-16) “These things command and teach. (12) Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (13) Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (14) Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. (15) Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. (16) Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

(1 Corinthians 15:58) “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

There is a day coming when “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Rom. 2:16). The Son of God will judge all according to their response to the Gospel, the Gospel he has sent me to preach to you. All who trust Christ, all who believe the Gospel, shall be forever saved. All who refuse to believe the Gospel, all who refuse to trust the Son of God, shall be forever damned. There is no middle ground! May God the Holy Spirit graciously cause you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!

(Romans 10:1-13) “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. (2) For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. (3) For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. (4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (5) For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. (6) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (12) For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. (13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Now

Be sure you do not fail to observe that little word, “now.” — “Come now…and I will send thee.” — God always sends his servants to his chosen at the time appointed for their deliverance.

Forty years earlier, Moses became impatient. He decided to take matters into his own hands. What a horrible mistake! But “now” the four hundred years of servitude and affliction God had appointed had run their ordained course. “Now” the time for divine intervention had come. “Now” the hour of grace had arrived. “Now” God would prepare his people to receive his Word. The pleasant pastures of Goshen were made bitter to them. That is always the way God works (Ps. 107:10-16).

· HE abases before he exalts.

· He strips before he clothes.

· He wounds before he heals.

· He kills before he makes alive.

(Psalms 107:10-16) “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; (11) Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: (12) Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. (13) Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. (14) He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. (15) Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (16) For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.”

God will not be rushed. His grace is always exactly on time.

Moses’ Response

Before I send you home, let me show you Moses’ response to God’s call. Can you imagine how excited he must have been? Can’t you just picture him, chomping at the bit? Let’s read his response in verse 11.

(Exodus 3:11) “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

At eighty he was not so eager as he was at forty. Experience had sobered him. Keeping sheep had tamed him. He saw himself now as one completely inadequate, totally insufficient for such a great work. That is always the response of men who are called of God to preach the Gospel.

(2 Samuel 7:18) “Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?”

(2 Chronicles 2:6) “But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”

(Isaiah 6:5) “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

(2 Corinthians 2:14-16) “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (15) For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (16) To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”

(2 Corinthians 3:4-6) “And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (6) Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

When a man acts in self-appointed service as a preacher, by his own will, he completely confident in himself; but the man who is called of God has seen Christ in his glory and knows the awesome task to which he is called, and knows that he has no ability whatsoever in himself to perform the work.

Moses’ Assurance

Yet, that man who is sent of God is sent forth with the confident assurance that the work is God’s and that God will bless his labor with success (v. 12).

(Exodus 3:12) “And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”

The Lord said to Moses, as he did to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee!” What blessed comfort this is! God did not send Moses to go alone. The Almighty promised accompany him. So it is now. The Lord Jesus says to his servants, “Lo, I am with you always!”

(Isaiah 52:7-8) “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (8) Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.”

Amen.