Studies in Exodus

Studies in Exodus Presentation 06

The Table of Contents Chapter 1v1-22 Introduction Chapter 2v1-25 Preparing a Deliverer Chapter 3v1-22 The Call of Moses [1] Chapter 4v1-17 The Call of Moses [2] Chapter 4v18-5v21 Final Preparations Chapter 5v22-6v27 Discouragement and Comfort Chapter 6v28-7v24 The Exposure of Evil Chapter 8-v1-10v29 Idolatry: A Dangerous Refuge Chapter 11v1-10 Corrective to Final Judgment Chapter 12v1-30 Blood on the Doorposts Chapter 12v31-42 God’s Faithfulness Chap.13v1-16 Consecration of The Redeemed Chap.13v17-14v18 God’s Dead Ends Chap.14v19-31 Power to Deliver Chap.15v1-21 The Exultation of God Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort Chapter 5v22-6v27 Presentation 06

Introduction Do you know what it is to be overwhelmed by failure and discouragement in your service for God? Moses did! He had done everything God had asked of him. He had acted with the approval of the people of God BUT when the result they were looking for - their release from bondage - did not materialise, then the Israelites turned on Moses and made him feel the biggest failure on God's earth. Moses’ experience is relevant for all who are Disturbed by the fact that God has not worked out his plans in the way they had hoped. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader When instead of setting God’s people free, Pharaoh had made their work more demanding, Moses must have thought, “What have I accomplished?” You might think that Moses should not have been discouraged by his initial failure, since God had prepared him for a lengthy campaign cf 4.21. But we do not always pay careful enough attention to what God says to us. Sometimes we pour our meaning into what he has been said and end up with a distorted signal. Ministers often speak to those who have taken away a sense of meaning from their sermons that they wanted to hear and obscure what was actually said! Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Deliver us from evil” Matt 6.13. Deliverance from evil [or the evil one] is not always achieved in an instant. God is not panicked into immediate responses. His deliverances often have a time factor built into them cf. Daniel in the Lion’s den for a whole night. Why? God’s deliverances are invariably strategically planned for maximum instruction of men, angels and devils and are primarily a means of revealing the greatness of his glory. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader However, faced with no instant deliverance, this much must be said in Moses favour, he took his discouragements to the right place. "Moses returned to the Lord“ 5.22.With God he would discover both tender understanding and informative instruction. A well known hymn contains these words: There is no place where earth's sorrows, Are more felt than up in heaven: There is no place where earth's failings, Have such kindly judgement given. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader Moses poured out his heart to God, who listens to his complaints and does not reprimand him for the way in which he states his case. Think too of the honesty of the Psalmist as he shares his feelings with God or even the claim of Jeremiah who accused God of deceiving him Jer. 20.7. God knows our frailty! We need to learn from all these OT saints and take our feelings, discouragements and sense of failure to God. We will find no one more understanding and none more eager to point us in the right direction. Sadly, God is often the very last person we seek out. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader How often do we, like Jonah, go in the huff with God because things did not work out as we had hoped? Jonah 3.10-4.3. In contrast Moses blamed himself for failure v12... When something appears to go wrong with God's plan the believer will often blame himself - this is always safer than blaming others especially if by doing so we are saying, God cannot be wrong. However, the fault often lies in our understanding and not in our performance. A failure to realise this means that Satan, the accuser, will seek to torment us. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Discouraged Leader Satan’s involvement is sometimes more evident. Paul speaks about Satan hindering his mission 1 Thes 2.18. Not that Satan can frustrate God purposes in any final sense. God uses what we see as defeats as tools to advance his purposes and even to make us much more dependant upon him. Paul tells us that through the discouragement of his weakness he learned that God’s grace was sufficient 2Cor 12.9. Of course we all need assurance that ultimate deliverance is in view and this is the comfort which God brings to Moses in Chap 6 Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives What form did this comfort take? God reaffirms his covenant promise made to Abram, Isaac and Jacob. Did Moses think, "Its not words I need but action. What's the use of words?” But God's promises are in fact actions not yet realised. If God promises something it is as good as done. This should encourage the hearts of the downcast. What has God promised us? “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, “I go to prepare a place for you”, “I will perfect that which concerns you” etc. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives In the storms of life we need to do what Moses clearly did and let our faith strike down into the rich soil of God's promises and take root there. One of the clearest N.T examples of this is found as Paul is being transported to Rome to stand trial. A violent storm threatens to shipwreck the vessel and God spoke the promise of safety to Paul who in turn witnessed to all the others on board...... "I have faith God“ Acts 27.25. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives What was the significance of reminding Moses of his covenant promise to Abraham.... It is given in the context of a fresh revelation of God’s character cfv3"By my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them" The name "Yahweh” which is translated as ‘Lord’ is related to the Hebrew verb "to be". This is significant. In the O.T. we repeatedly come across the phrase "The word of the Lord came to..." Now the Hebrew literally reads, "The word of the Lord was to”. The verb "to be" is not a verb of motion but one of real experience i.e. "The word of the Lord became a living reality to... Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives And so when God focuses attention on this divine name, he is saying, "I am the God of living presence with my people." And therefore a God breaks into history on his peoples behalf. God is saying do not think of me as someone who is transcendently remote and indifferent to what is happening in the world. I am a God who is prepared to step into human history to secure the welfare of my people. Do you see how encouraging this revelation is? Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives More than that, the particular focus of God's activity here is his redemptive work. This is the first time the verb “redeem”v6 appears in the O.T. When words appear for the first time in the Bible the context in which they are used often provides us with a normative understanding of them. Therefore, if we want to understand the significance of redemption then it is to these chapters we must turn. Israel's redemption from Egypt and God’s personal involvement in that provides us with a foreshadowing of the redemptive work of Christ delivering his people from the power and tyranny of sin. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Comfort God gives The focus is on God’s activity. God assures his people "I will act”. Seven times in these verses God describes the scope of that activity : I will bring you out.... I will free you from being slaves... I will redeem you.... I will take you as my own people... I will be your God..... I will bring you to the land... I will give it to you as a possession Moses allowed God's word and his revelation of his character to encourage his heart and excite his faith. The man who dragged himself so despondently into God's presence now races out with a spring in his step with a renewed determination to be God's man and do God's work. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Work Advances Sadly, Israel refused to share in this comfort cf v9.. They refused to listen to Moses because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. And so Moses is unable to share his heart encouragement. There is nothing more frustrating for those engaged in ministry, who have tasted the freshness and vitality of God’s Word, than to see others fail to take God's precious promises and make them their own. All Moses can do in the meantime is labour on by himself. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Work Advances Moses is then sent back to Pharaoh with the same message as before cf v10. Some Christian communicators are tempted to change their message if it does not produce the desired response. They look for a new message that is more attractive and less challenging. Some in their desperation to gain new converts teach, “Come to Jesus and your troubles will be over!” It is not the message that needs to change. God’s Word is a ‘hammer’ Jer 23.29. Sometimes it takes many blows before the resistant rock is shattered. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Work Advances Right in the middle of this narrative we find a genealogy v13-27. A list of names that traces the family background of Moses and Aaron. It seems so out of place. Why does this list appear at this point? Why is the narrative interrupted? Moses and Aaron are both shown to have come from the tribe of Levi. Now the tribe of Levi lived under a cloud. In Gen 49 Jacob, lying on his deathbed, passed on the blessing of God to one son after another. But because of their past wicked behaviour, Simeon and Levi v5-7 received no blessing. Jacob saw no future for them or their families. Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort The Work Advances But grace supersedes nature. What men write off, God often writes into his plans. Moses, one of the greatest figures of the O.T and Aaron who was to be the first High Priest in Israel came from a tribe that had been written off. Grace supersedes nature. Today many are convinced that they can be of little use to God, because of their family, their genetics, their psychological and environmental conditioning. But grace supersedes nature. God can take someone from the worst of backgrounds and use them significantly. Ordinary men and women can live extraordinary for God. That is what we are being told in these verses. Grace Nature Presentation 06

Discouragement and Comfort Conclusion Moses the author of this book is saying, “this is my background, add to that my own personal failure and it is remarkable that God should call me to serve in his redemptive purposes in history”. When we are discouraged and deflated our great God finds a variety of ways to comfort our hearts. When others do not listen, God listens and his grace supersedes our nature! Is this a word of encouragement you need to hear? Presentation 06

Studies in Exodus