Exodus chapter 18. Exodus 18. Let's read this. Verses 13 following Exodus 18. It came to pass on the morrow
that Moses sat to judge his people. The people stood by Moses from
the morning until the evening and lined up. And when Moses'
father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What
is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou
thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee for mourning unto
evil? Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto
me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they
come unto me. And I judge between one and another.
And I do make them know the statutes of God and His laws. Moses' father-in-law said unto
him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely
wear away both thou and this people that is with thee. But
this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform
it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice. I
will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for
the people to God, that thou mayest bring the causes unto
God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt
show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that
they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide
out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth,
hating covetousness, and place such over them, to be rulers
of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers
of tens. Let them judge the people at all seasons. It shall be that
every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small
matter they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself,
and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this
thing, God command thee so, and thou shalt be able to endure,
and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So
Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did
all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all
Israel and made them heads over the people. Rulers of thousands,
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens. They
judged the people at all seasons. The hard causes they brought
unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses
let his father-in-law depart. his way and his own land. Do
you remember the study from Ephesians 4 where our Lord ascended on
high and he gave gifts unto men? He gave some prophets, apostles,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Do you remember that? I was looking
at that and this at the exact same time. They came up at the
exact same time. Things hindered us from looking
at this at the time. But it's the same story here
as in Ephesians 4. The Old and New Testament go
together, don't they? They tell the same story. It's
God's Word. They bear witness of each other.
And they both bear witness of Christ. The title, the subject
here is the God-Man. Moses was a man of God. He was
God's man. We're going to see. He was the
only man. that spoke to God and God spoke
to the people, only men. And then he had men that he chose,
men of God. So Moses, our Lord said, Moses
wrote of me. So this is speaking of Christ. Moses, he's a type of Christ. Every godly man in scriptures
is a type of Christ, especially the prominent ones. All right,
the God-man. Look at verse 13. It came to
pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people. The
people stood by Moses. They lined up to see him, to
hear him. Moses was the man of God who
represents Christ, the God-man. All right, Moses was the deliverer.
We've seen that. This was the man that God raised
up to deliver His people from Egypt. And Christ is the deliverer
of His people, the only one. Moses became the ruler, didn't
he? He was, as it were, a king over Israel. Not in name, but
in office. He was the judge, wasn't he?
He was the judge, Moses. A man chosen by God, called by
God, sent by God to be the deliverer, the mediator, the ruler, the
judge. Now who can he be? Who can he
represent? But Christ. Christ. only mediator. Moses was the
only man that God spoke to. He didn't speak to Aaron. He
spoke to Moses, who spoke to Aaron, right? He didn't speak
to the people. People said, don't let God speak
to us. You go to God. There's one mediator
between God and men. Not all mankind, men. The man. It's not a woman. It's
a man. Jesus Christ. And no other man. Not Paul, not Peter, not Saint
Christopher, not anyone but Jesus Christ. The one mediator between
God and man. Where is that? You need to learn
where that is so you can tell your Catholic neighbors. 1 Timothy
2.5. Remember that well. Memorize
that. Alright? Christ is the only mediator,
the only Ruler. He rules. Christ reigns and rules. And he's the judge. He's the
judge overall. Modern religion says this. Jesus
judged no man when he was here. That's what they say. You've
heard them say that. He didn't judge anybody. Hold on now. He said, the Father judges no
man, but committed all judgment to the Son. Judge? He is the judge. He's the judge
of all men. In fact, Acts 17 says, God hath
ordained a day which he will judge all flesh by that man. He's the judge. The judge. And we're glad. God's people are glad. We've
got a just and righteous judge sitting on the throne. He judges
his people in righteousness. He deals with his people in righteousness. The judge of the earth, we know,
we believe, and it gives us great peace. It shall do right. When Abraham was worried about
his nephew Lot being in Sodom and some other people he had
a burden for, And he prayed to the judge, to God the judge.
And he finally, for his own comfort, and his confession was, shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Talking to someone recently,
and they were worried about their lost son. And I said, the judge
of the earth shall do right. You just leave it to him. He's
going to do what's right by you, by your son. And that will give
you peace. And all of God's people come
to Him. Verses 13-16 says they came to
Him. Verse 15, the people come unto
Me to inquire of God. That's what we should do. That's
what His people did. God's people, Israel, they all
came to Moses. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall do what? Come unto me. Come unto Christ. For what? Everything. He's like
Joseph. He's in charge of the storehouses.
The ruler, God has put Him in charge of everything. Like Pharaoh
said to all the people, he said, if you need anything, go to Joseph.
He has it all. And so does our Lord Jesus Christ.
You go to Him. You go to Him. We go to Him for
answers, for judgment, for understanding, don't we? And He is made unto
us what? Wisdom. Christ, the wisdom of God, and
the power of God. We go to Him. Come unto Me, He
said. All you that labor and are heavy laden, come unto Me.
All you that thirst, any man thirst, come unto Me. Come. Come. And John 3, turn there
real quickly, John 3. I'm trying my best. I'm going
to try my best. You know what? Every man at his
best state is. But I'm going to try my best
to shorten these lessons out. I won't give you time to get
weary. Our Lord said, All the Father giveth me shall come to
me. Look at John 3 verse 19. This is condemnation. Light is
coming to the world. That's Christ. Men love darkness
rather than light. They don't love God. They don't
love Christ. They don't love truth. They don't come to cry.
Most people aren't coming to church today to worship Jesus
Christ. They're coming for all the festivities,
to see people. Verse 20, everyone that doeth
evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth, believeth
Christ, trusteth Christ, doeth his will, cometh to the light. So Moses, though he was just
a man, was the man, the only man that God spoke to, the ruler,
the only man that people were to come to, to hear the word
of God. And this is what John the Baptist,
John, the scripture says, was a man sent by God. That's what
it says here. There was a man sent by God. He's God's man. He's not the
God-man, but he's a man sent by God. He's God's man. You're
going to hear from God if you haven't heard it through John.
But here's what God's man said of the God-man. Look at John
3, verse 19. I'm sorry, verse 30. John said,
He must increase, but I must decrease. This is how you know
God's man. And we're going to see more of
that in a moment. But he's not interested in people
knowing him and people honoring him, his name. His name is not
important. He knows he's a nothing and a
nobody from nowhere. Men don't need to know who he
is. They don't need to remember his name. There's one name. Given
among men, where am I? We must be saved. One name under
heaven. That's what John the Baptist
said, and that's what John the Apostle said. They came to him.
What's your name? A voice. Where are you from? Nowhere. Now He, it is. He comes from above. Look at
verse 30. 3. He that hath received his testimony
hath set to his seal that God is true. 4. For he whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God. 5. God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him, speaking of Christ. 6. The Father loveth
the Son, hath given all things into his hand. So, go back to
our text now. So Moses was just a man, but he represents
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And many turned against Moses,
and when doing so, they turned against Christ. That's what the
Scripture said, didn't it? They turned against Christ. Many
didn't hear Moses, and so they didn't hear from God. But Moses
represents the God-man. If anybody hears from God, they
want to hear through Christ. Now Moses was a man in this story. He was like the people. Just
like the people. He was from Egypt. A Jew, but
he lived in Egypt. He didn't know he was a Jew for
a while. He was a Jew all along. Are you reading between the lines?
He was a Jew all along. He didn't know it. He thought
he was an Egyptian. And he was making his way in
the world. But God revealed unto him, you're not an Egyptian,
Moses. You're a Jew. You're a Jew. You're not of this world, Moses.
You belong to me. Some of us find that out later
in life, like Moses, 40 years old. 40 years old. Making his way in the world.
He had it made. World by the tail of a downhill pool, he'd
say. But God grabbed hold of him and said, no, this is not
your place, brother. These are not your people. You're
mine. These are your people now. You're going to leave all the
finery, the pleasures of sin for a season. You're going to
leave all that and count the reproach of Christ, greater treasures,
and everything. You're going to follow my people
through a wilderness on a journey. What a blessing. What a blessing.
Moses was a man. And I'm so thankful. Aren't you
thankful there's a man in glory? That Jesus Christ became a man. God became a man. Touched with
the feeling of our infirmity. Tempted in all points like as
we are. Bone of our bones and flesh of
our flesh. You know, we are flesh. The Lord knows that. He knows
we're flesh. He knows our prime, we're flesh.
Flesh has to feel flesh. Don't we? We have to see. We have to feel. We have to hear
a voice. We have to be touched and touch,
grab hold of. We need someone, something to
lay hold of. God became a man. Touch me and
see. Touch me. But hold my hand. I remember looking at my dad's
hand. It just gave me peace. Look at his hands. I thought
he could whip anybody on earth. It wasn't true. But it is true,
my father, of our Lord. It is true. He made Barry's holy
arm. John, you brought that up in
your message. Made Barry's holy arm. Our Lord is our strength,
is our savior. Anyway, God was manifest in the
flesh. God was a man. Morning, Nancy. I'm sorry. Yes, you are. My mom was still laying in bed when
I left. But Moses was a man. He knows
our weakness. He knows our frame. Even at old
age, he said, I'm going to carry you. My dad was strong. He was not
a stronger man on earth, as far as I was concerned. Not a smarter
man, not a wiser man. He became a little child that
I had to tend to. And that's what we're all going
to get. That's our strength, isn't it? Our father became a son. Isn't that wonderful? Moses was a man and he was weak
and he was weary. Look at verses 17 and 18. This
is what Moses' father-in-law said unto him. What you're doing
is not good. You're going to, verse 18, you're
going to wear away. You're going to wear away if
you continue to do this. The word wear comes from the
word weary. You wear, keep wearing and wearing
and working and wearing and you'll get weary. You'll wear away. And that's what we all do. Flesh
is weak. It goes on and on and we get
weak. Well, our Lord became a man and scripture says he was weary.
He sat on a whale one day being wearied with his journey. Our Lord journeyed through this
world like us. Our Lord went through this wilderness
of sin like us. Because the children were partakers
of flesh and blood. He himself took part likewise
of the same. He became flesh and he became
weary. A weary journey. Our Lord as a man grew weary
in the flesh like us. He hungered. Imagine that. He who feeds everything was hungry. He who feeds the birds Fish feed him. He was weary. He was thirsty. He was tired. He was troubled. I love in John 11 where it says
he was troubled and the margin says he troubled himself. He
put himself through trouble. You wouldn't do that. If you
didn't have to go through trouble, you wouldn't do it. But if it
was for someone you love, you would. You go through any amount
of trouble, wouldn't you? No trouble too great for you
to go through for the one you love. That's our Lord. He troubled
Himself. He sovereignly put Himself through
trouble. We become weary with sin, don't
we? Sin wearies us. It weighs us
down, doesn't it? He had no sin, but he had to
live in it, around it. He had to deal with it. He had
to put up with it. And it vexed this righteous man,
John, much more than a lot, was vexed. He vexed his righteous
soul with all that he saw and he heard around him for 30, 33
years for him on this earth was like us spending a hundred or
more. Can't take, you know, after a while we thought, I can't take
this anymore. He wearied himself, wearied with
sin. We're weary with trials, aren't we? Trials wear us away. Troubles. How long, Lord? David said, how long, Lord? How
much longer have I got to go through this troubles, pain,
and suffering, and sorrow? But our Lord was a man of sorrow,
acquainted with grief. What about responsibilities?
You've got people pulling at you. You've got your children
dependent on you. And you feel responsible for
it. That's a heavy burden in it. Our Lord had the weight of the
world on His shoulders. Every day, every person, every
place, everything depended on Him. How would you like that? And weary, weary. Weary with sorrow, a man of sorrows,
well acquainted with grief. Verse 18, Jethro said to Moses,
you need help. This thing's too heavy for you.
You're not able to perform it. You're alone. Do you know our
Lord as a man needed help? Listen to me. Listen carefully.
Our Lord as a man needed help, but He never got that help from
man. Do you hear me? He needed help as
a man, but He never got His help from man. He did not ask that
woman at the well for water. He did not ask her for water.
He did not ask her. That's his well. That's his bucket.
That's his water. That's his woman. He didn't come
for water. He came for her. He told her,
give me the drink. He didn't come for that water.
He didn't need help. The Lord didn't need help from
man. And we need to learn that. He
did not seek his help from man. He did not get his help from
man. Who did he get his help from? God. And so should we. Over and over
and over again, the scripture says vain is the help of man. We try to help each other. Don't
we? And we should. We try to help. We try to bear
one another's burdens. We try. We can't. Try as we may, we can be of no
real lasting effectual help. How can we help them? One way. We tell them what he said. We
bring his word to them. Our only help for them is his
help for us. If he helps us tell them about
him who is our help, then they're helped. And that's our Lord. I will lift up my eyes to the
hills. From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. How about you? Listen to me carefully. If you haven't heard a thing
I've said so far, hear that. Vain is the help of man. You
need help. I need help. You're not going
to get it from one another. You're going to get it from one
place. The Lord Jesus Christ. This, you know, every type, my
pastor used to say, no type walks on four legs. You can't make
this say perfectly. You can't make it fit Christ
completely. Here's what Jethro said in verse
18. He said, verse 18, you wear weights
too heavy for you. You're not able to do this alone. That's not so of Christ, is it? One man did what? By himself
purged our sin. He's able all right. If he's
not able, we're gone. Nobody helped him but God. He's able. He did. He performed it. He didn't wear
away. He's like getting rocked in the
water. Keeps falling off. He didn't wear him away. He finished
it by himself. Notice verse 16. He said, when the people have
a matter, they come to me and I judge. Verse 20. And Jethro
said, you teach them ordinances, laws, and show them the way wherein
they must walk and the work that they must do. That's why Moses
came. To show them, the people, the
way. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
to make us know God. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal it." You cannot know God apart
from Jesus Christ. That's what he said. The Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding. God sent Moses to show the way
to God, didn't He? The way to God. Christ came and
said, that's right, I am the way. They said, you're just a
man. That's right. I had a God before I became a
man. And a man can only come to God
through a man. The second Adam. You understand
that, don't you? You really do. Show us the way. Christ is the way. It's said
in verse 20, you'll show them the way they must walk. That's
exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ came in. What'd He say? Follow
me. How much we walk? Follow me. Follow me. Now, you don't walk
out in front of Him. You walk behind Him. Why? He's
the way. You're not going to get in the
glory set by Him. Okay? He's going to bring you
to God. Follow Him. Don't try to come to God on your
own. Here I am. Follow Him. Walk by faith. Follow Christ. And yes, the way
to walk in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And to work
Show us the work. You'll show us the work that
we must do. They came to Christ over in John 6, didn't they?
And they said, what must we do to work the works of God? What
did He say? What did He say? This is the
work of God. This is what God requires of
you. This is what you must do in order
to get to God and be in heaven with God. Believe on the Son
of God, on Him whom thou hast sent. That's the work of God.
It's what God accepts, and it's God's work for you to do that.
Not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Nothing for
me to do to get to God? Nothing. But believe. And even
you didn't do that. It's God that worketh in us.
Note the will. All right, let's look at these
men of God. I've got two minutes. Look at
verse 21 and 22. Thou shalt provide out of the
people able men that fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,
place over them Place these men over the people, rulers of thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens. Judges. Judges. Judges. That's what he said. These were
men of God. Like Ephesians 4. Some prophets,
apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Thank God for the
men that God has raised up. Men of like passion, like we
are. Like Moses. Men to rule. Yes, rule. We need
somebody to rule us. We do. Man can't rule himself.
Democracy doesn't work. It doesn't work. Look at it. We need a ruler, a just judge,
don't we? A ruler. A man to teach us his
people. Men like Moses, Joshua, Samuel. Can you imagine having a president
like David? Can you imagine? Oh, Isaiah. Henry, Scott, David, Evans, Gabe. Would you like for Gabe to be
President of the United States? He'd get my vote. Able men. Their abilities of
God, their sufficiency of God, they get their wisdom from God!
Not from man. They fear God. You fear God,
you won't fear men. You fear God, you won't fear
to tell men the truth. It would have cost you votes. Fear God. It says, men of truth. Tell the truth, the men of Christ.
Preach Christ. This is how you know. This is
how you know the men that God sent and raised up to rule his
church. They fear God and they tell you
the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. That's all they do. They're not
liars. They're not evil men and seducers.
They're made of truth. They preach Christ. They preach
the truth of God's word. Verse 21, it says they hate covetousness. Oh man, hate it. That's pretty
much the description of modern preachers,
covetous men. And God places over them, as
He sees fit, in various places, large city, small city, thousands,
hundreds, tens, fifties. I know one of the greatest preachers
that ever lived. He preached to seven people for
a hundred years. His name was Noah. And everybody said, you all think
you're right and everybody's wrong. No. Noah said, we know God is right
and everybody's wrong. And this ark is it. And that's
all we're about. If you're in this ark, you're
going to be saved. Message over.