Last time I had you turn to both
Acts chapter 7 and Exodus chapter 2. I'd like to ask you to do
that again tonight, if you would. After you've marked Acts chapter
7, turn with me to Exodus chapter 2. In Exodus chapter 2, verse 11, We read, and it came to pass
in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out into
his brethren and he looked on their burdens. He looked upon
their bondage. Their burdens was their bondage.
The Hebrew word for looked here has several definitions. It means
much, much more than just seeing their trouble. It means considered. Moses considered their bondage. It means discerned. Moses discerned
their situation. It means experienced. Moses experienced
their burdens and their bondage. He had respect and regard to
their hardships as slaves. In other words, God gave Moses
a heart for these people. Though he had been raised in
Pharaoh's house, Moses himself was a Hebrew. And God had enabled
him to feel the burdens of his people in his own heart. Moses
perceived, that's another definition for that word in the Hebrew language. He perceived what they were going
through. And I suppose the strongest definition for the word looked
here is provided. Moses provided for their bondage. How true that is of Christ. He was an eternal resident and
a ruler of a heavenly kingdom. And he came to earth to provide
for his people, to provide for them what they could not provide
for themselves. He didn't come to provide it
for the world. but for those that the father gave him and
all that the father gave him will come to him, shall come
to him and he'll know why it's cast them out. And again, verse
11, and it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, he
went out into his brethren and he looked on their burdens and
he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that
and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian
and hit him in the sand. Now Moses here sees a Hebrew
man and verse 11 calls him one of his brethren. And he's being
beaten by an Egyptian, a taskmaster. And Moses killed him and hit
him in the sand. So what I want you to see is
that in a very real sense, Moses saw that, that word you spied,
that word spied here, is the same Hebrew word as look. He spied this man, he considered
him, he discerned his situation. He perceived the need that this
slave had. He regarded him, he respected
and protected him and provided deliverance for that man who
was one of his own kind. And again, what a picture of
Christ. That's exactly what our Lord did for his people. Now,
again, let's review. I want you to get this. When
Moses was come to age, he went out to his brethren and he looked
But much more than that, he looked in a caring, regarding, respectful,
providing way upon the burdens and the bondage of his brothers
and sisters according to the flesh. And I love the way that
Stephen describes this verse. If you'll go to Acts 7 now, I'll
hold you in place in Exodus. I love the way that Stephen describes
this verse in Acts chapter 7, and it gives us much more insight
on what I'm trying to convey to you Verse 23, Acts chapter
7. Stephen says this, and when he,
that being Moses, was a full 40 years old, now look at this,
it came unto his heart to visit his brethren, the children of
Israel. It came into his heart. That word visit here in the Greek
means much more than just go to sea, just like Luke does in
Exodus chapter 2. The Greek word visit here means
to relieve. At the appointed time, when Moses
was 40 years old, God put it into his heart to visit, to relieve
his brethren, the children of Israel, from their sin, their
bondage, and their burden. Nothing short of a divine revelation
from God here. God is the one who puts things
into his people's heart. And he's the one that enables
them to see and understand what he purposes by putting them there. By divine revelation, it came
into Moses' heart to visit, to relieve, to provide, to deliver
his people out of their burdens, bondage, and slavery. And it's
revealed to Moses that God intends for him to help those who cannot
help themselves. And again, what a picture of
Christ this is. That's what Christ came to do.
He came to save his people from their bondage and their burden,
burdens of their sin and their guilt. And we saw last study
how Moses was a prince and a ruler and a judge for God. He was a
deliverer to the people of Israel. And that's what Christ became
for the elect of God. Now, back in Exodus chapter two,
verse 13, we read, and he went out the second day and behold,
two men of the Hebrews strove together. Now there's two Hebrew
slaves arguing, fighting, whatever. And he said to him that did the
wrong, wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, who
made thee a prince and a judge over us? "'Intendest thou to
kill me as thou killed the Egyptian?' And Moses feared and said, "'Surely
this thing is known.' And now when Pharaoh heard this thing,
he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by
a well." Now this begins that second 40-year period that Moses'
life was divided into. He lived to be 120, and his life
was divided into three 40-year periods. As you know, the first
40 years was spent in the palace of Pharaoh. The second 40 years
is what we're looking at now. He spent as a shepherd in the
wilderness. And of course, the last 40 years
of Moses's life was spent in leading Israel to the land of
promise, even though he himself did not enter. But what I want
you to see immediately here is again, the sovereign providence
of God in all things. This book so far has just been
full of that. How God and his providence and
his power and his purpose, he directs and orders all things. Ordered, sure, it's for certain,
when God orders these things. And everything happens according
to his will and his purpose beautifully. God sends Moses into the wilderness
here, providentially, and he teaches him how to be a shepherd. You think about that statement.
What credibility this gives to the fact that Moses is a very
good representative of all true gospel preachers. Gospel preachers
must be prepared for the ministry by God himself. Just as all God's
children are taught of God, the things of Christ, his messengers
are no exception and they're taught how to lead. A true gospel
preacher has to spend some time in the wilderness. I can't tell
you how many times when folks find out that I'm a pastor, first
thing they ask me is where I went to seminary. They want to know
my qualifications. Well, what are your qualifications?
Well, I suppose my qualifications are as I've been to the wilderness. I've been to the wilderness.
God's taught me in the wilderness some important lessons on how
to be a shepherd. I sat under a faithful man for
almost 20 years that preached the gospel, learned the gospel
under him. That's the only qualifications
I've got, other than being a sinner. And God came into the world to
save sinners and use sinners for the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. It'd be impossible for Moses
to stand and talk to his brethren in Egypt about their bondage,
about their captivity, about their darkness and deliverance
when he's been raised in the palace of the king and never
needed deliverance or anything from anyone. Moses hadn't suffered
anything. He'd live a charmed life. Moses
didn't have a need for anything. while he was a prince in the
palace of Pharaoh. How could Moses have compassion
on the people of Israel and lead them through the wilderness unless
he himself goes through the wilderness first? God allowed Moses to kill
a man. God made him a wanted man. God had him flee from Pharaoh. And God delivered him on the
backside of the desert. And this was all God's doing.
And it was all for Moses' good and the good of his people and
the glory of God. God sends Moses out among the
Gentiles. And God humbled Moses. You see,
he had to come down from a prince to a shepherd. He came way down. And if you're going to minister
to men and women and lead them through this wilderness of a
world in which we live, as a preacher, you've got to come down. You've got to come down. God's
going to show a true preacher, a true under-shepherd, that they're
nothing. Just lost sinners saved by the
mercy and grace of God in Christ, like every other sinner. And
God's going to convince every called sinner of their sin, especially
those who preach His word. He's not going to let a true
preacher get puffed up and full of himself. He's just not. And
I'll make this statement, I'm not reluctant to, but you show
me a preacher, a pastor that's full of himself, one who's proud
and brags of all that he's done and is doing for the cause of
Christ, and I'll show you a man that God hasn't called. And either
God hasn't called him or God has yet to deal with him and
teach him in the wilderness on how to be a true shepherd. I
remember the story about a young man that went proudly to the
pulpit. Probably not going to tell it
right, but it's my version. Or we can just say it's a new
story. That way you can't say that it's
wrong. But he went proudly into the pulpit. He was educated in
the scriptures. He had a degree in theology. He was a charismatic young man.
He was a gifted communicator. But when he preached, though
he said nothing wrong, it seemed that no one effectively heard
him. It was very obvious to him as
he preached, by looking upon the faces of those to whom he
preached, that he'd not gotten a single word across to those
who heard him. He didn't preach with any humility.
He preached at folks, not to them. Big difference. He came
across as being judgmental and not compassionate. And that young
man, as he stepped down, was so embarrassed, humiliated, and
broken that he sat down wishing that he could hide himself from
the whole congregation. And after the services were dismissed,
one of the older men, an elder in the church, said, son, the
next time you stand up to preach, go into the pulpit the way that
you came down, humble, with humility, and everything will be alright. These are things that God has
to teach a preacher, a shepherd, an under-shepherd, and God teaches
them in the wilderness. I had a man who used to attend
this church, who's now in his 80s, I had him tell me one time,
I was probably a little zealous in a Sunday school lesson, probably
came across a little arrogant and judgmental, and he said,
David, he said, you can shear a sheep many times, but you can
only slay them once. And that's so true. That's so
true. Paul Mahan wrote a good article
on true preaching that I had in the bulletin a couple of weeks
ago. And here's three of the points
that he made. He said, there's a big difference in preaching
to someone and preaching at someone. He said, there's a big difference
in preaching to condemn someone for being wrong and preaching
to convict someone that God is right. Big difference. There's a big difference in loving
to preach and preaching in love to those whom you love. Lord, teach me how to preach
with compassion. Show me how to deal with others
in humility. That's a constant prayer of mine. Cause me to be patient with those
who have yet to see and hear the gospel of Christ. These are
things that the Lord's still teaching me. And I can assure
you that, and I'm suspect that when I have preached my last
message, whenever that might be, I'll still have need of learning
many things. Okay, verse 16. Now the priest
of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water
and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the
shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and
helped them and watered their flock." And again, here we see
that in the instilled makeup of Moses, there's a need for
him to help the helpless. There's a picture here also of
a true shepherd, And in contrast, we also see a picture of those
who have no heart at all to be a shepherd. Those who call themselves
shepherds that are nothing more than harlings. The Lord warned
us about those who have no heart at all to be a shepherd. They're
just in it for hire. They're in it for the money. There are some who call themselves
shepherds that have no concern at all for the sheep or God's
true shepherds. There are many today who call
them shepherds who just simply drive folks away. They give men
and women no hope of redemption. They tell them that they must
do something to be saved. There's nothing more discouraging
to me than for you to tell me that I have to do something to
be saved. That's so discouraging to me. All my hope is found in the message,
not in the message of do, but in the message of done. The gospel
message of what Christ has done, already done, for sinners. You know, it was the message
of do that many years ago drove me away from church. The preacher kept telling me
that I had to be good, that I had to do good, and I couldn't. I tried, I tried. I always fell
way short. But one day, one day a true shepherd
of God stood up like Moses did here, and he, like Moses, he
helped me because he told me the truth. told me the truth
about God, told me the truth about myself. And he gave me
the water of life to drink freely. He was a true shepherd that watered
the flock. And he told me that I couldn't
do anything to save myself. He told me that Christ had done
everything for the flock of God. That's what a true pastor and
preacher does. He points sinners to the good
shepherd. Christ said, I am the good shepherd
and the good shepherd. How do we know that he's the
good shepherd? Because he giveth his life for the sheep. A pastor
is an under shepherd that points God's sheep to the good shepherd.
And that's actually what the word pastor means. It means shepherd. A shepherd is one who ushers. He's one who ushers the sheep
into the green pastures of God's grace. He's one who leads the
sheep along by the still waters of God's mercy and peace and
grace in Christ. And I tell you without any reservation
that it's my honor to be your pastor. I don't believe there
to be any higher calling. I really don't. There's no greater
responsibility either. And there's nothing that I would
rather do or be. But sometimes I get overwhelmed. I need God to continue to teach
me, and I ask you to continue to pray for me as God enables
you. Now, verse 18. And when they
came to rule, their father, this is the daughters of the priest
of Minion, which some believe that word priest to mean prince.
He was a well-to-do man. He said, how is it that you are
come so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered
us out of the hand of the shepherds and also drew water enough for
us and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters,
and where is he? Why is it that you've left the
man? Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell
with the man. And he gave Moses Zipporah his
daughter, and she bare him a son. And he called his name Gershom. And he said, I have been a stranger
in a strange land. Now there's one word in those
five verses there that really stuck out to me when I read these
verses. And that's the word content in
verse 21. As we know, and as we've already
said tonight, Moses was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. He
was educated in the best schools of Egypt. He had everything,
worldly speaking, that a man would or could want. And it's
an amazing thought that he, who was a ruler in Egypt, is now
a shepherd in the desert of Midian. That's just an amazing thought.
But even more amazing than that, to me, is the fact that he's
content in being so. He's content. He goes from an honored man in
Pharaoh's court to a disgusting and despised shepherd in the
wilderness. Remember what the Egyptians thought
of shepherds? They thought they were an abomination.
We saw that in our study of Genesis. And I'm sure that the Pharisees
in our Lord's day thought the same thing about common shepherds. Contentment. That's an easy word to say, but
not an easy word to be. Content, contentment. And you
might ask me today if I'm happy. and might ask me again tomorrow,
and you may get a different answer on both days. I might be happy
today, but not tomorrow, and I may be happy tomorrow and not
today. Happiness is overrated. Anytime that word comes up, I
think about Walter Groover, who moved his wife and his family
to Mexico all those years ago. Had it tough. Had it tough. And
Brother Mahan asked him one time if he was happy. And he said,
Brother Mahan, it doesn't have anything to do with being happy.
And really, it doesn't. He was content. And if you ask
me if I'm content, my answer would have to be yes. I'm content. Maybe for the first time in my
life, I'm really content. Have been for a while now. There's
nothing that I want. I have everything I need. And
as I thought about contentment, I asked myself, what could a
believer, a true child of God, want that he or she doesn't have
in Christ? Isn't that so true? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. at the beginning back in the back before we started service
that I spent the whole day studying the last verses in this chapter
and I'm not going to get to it tonight. Not even going to try
because I don't want to hurriedly go through it. So turn with me
here and I'll finish up. Talking, thinking for a few minutes
about being content. Ephesians chapter 1, look at
verse 3. Paul wrote Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at this. Who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. In Christ. You and I have all
spiritual blessings. All of them. Not one is withheld
from us in Christ. I'm content with that. I really
am. In verse four, Paul said, according
as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Child
of God, you are holy and without blame before God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm certainly content to know
that. I'm certainly content to be holy and without blame in
the sight of God. In verses 5 and 6, Paul said,
having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. I'm accepted in Jesus Christ. being predestinated, predetermined
beforehand by God, I'm adopted. You're adopted, child of God,
into the family of God, made a child of the King. We are accepted
by God in Christ the Beloved. Shouldn't we be definitely content
with that? I was thinking today as Amanda
sent me some more pictures of that little grandbaby. Little Iris. She doesn't have
a clue right now. But one day she'll realize how
wonderful the day was when Amanda and Derek adopted her into their
family. She'll be content. I know she'll
be content with that. I certainly was content to be
adopted into the family I was. And I'm certainly content to
be adopted into his family. contentment. What else could
we want? Made holy and without blame before
Him in love. Verse 7, Ephesians 1, in whom
Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. I have no sin. It's been forgiven,
it's been put away, and it's according to the riches of His
grace. And I tell you, I'm content with that. Wherein He has abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He's
purposed in Himself. God's people have the mystery
of God's will made known unto them. What more could we ask
for? How can we not be content? Verse 11, in Christ I have obtained
an inheritance from the one who works all things after the counsel
of his own will. And therefore he works all things
for my good and for his glory. How could I not be content with
that? How could we not be? Yet, because
of that old man, that old fallen nature that's still within, I'm
not always happy. Just not. Ought to be. Ought
to be. But I'm not. And I know you're
not either. But I am content. Paul said,
not that I speak in respect of want in Philippians. What Paul
was saying is, is that that I'm not telling you this because
of your slowness and somewhat unwillingness to support me.
They were. Paul was a tent maker to supplement
his income while he preached the gospel. He said, not that
I speak in respect of want. That's not why I'm telling you
this. But he said, I've learned. I've learned. He was taught in
the wilderness how to be a shepherd. He said, I've learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. Why? Because he's got everything
if he has Christ, and so do you. Paul told Timothy in having food
and raiment, let us therefore be content. God never promises
a big house and a fancy car. He often gives us those things.
But if we have food and raiment and know Christ, what more could
we want? We should be content with that.
Every child of God should be content. I think about Moses. I think about his life in the
palace. I think about all that he wanted, he got. Nothing withheld
from him, I'm sure. But now he's on the backside
of the desert. He's a shepherd in the wilderness. And he's content. Why? Because he knows God has directed
his path. And in power and providence,
he's led him right there to where he is. And he's content with
that. And I love what the writer of
Hebrews wrote in chapter 13, verse 5. It says, let your conversation
be without covetousness, and be content with such things as
you have. For he said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Isn't that amazing? That's something
to be content with. I wouldn't trade my position in
Christ for all the riches in this world. Because in Christ,
I have all blessings, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Well, it'd be to trade down, wouldn't it? It'd be to trade
down. And Christ will never leave me
nor forsake me, so I'll always have what I have in Christ. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
You see, child of God, godliness with contentment is great gain. In Christ, I'm godly. I was once
ungodly. Yet, when I was yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. And He gave me His perfect righteousness
and His holiness. And now I'm godly. I don't feel
godly, I'll be honest with you. I bet you don't either. But that's
the promise of God. And the faith and the hope and
the love that God has given us in Christ along with our contentment
of those things are great gain. Our sins have been paid. Sin
debt's gone. I have the perfect righteousness
of God in Christ. I've been reconciled to God.
God's no longer angry with this sinner. I have an inheritance
incorruptible, that's undefiled, that fadeth not away. You can't
write me out of this wheel. Reserved in heaven for me, for
you who believe and trust in Christ. And the only thing that
adds to this gain and now goes along with it is just contentment.
Just content. Oh, I'm content. This contentment's
not a condition of my holy standing before God, it's the effect of
Christ's imputed righteousness to me. And again, God and His
Son get all the glory. I was just a recipient of His
grace, freely given to me, made righteous in Christ. May God
add His blessings to the preaching of His Word. Next time, the Lord
willing, we're gonna talk about how sinners cry unto God by the
reason of their bondage. You think about that between
now and next time. You'll never cry unto God for
deliverance until and unless you see the bondage that sins
put you in.