Exodus chapter 4. Read with me
verses 10 through 17. Exodus 4, 10 through 17. Come on in. Good morning. I started a couple of minutes
early. Exodus 4, 10 through 17, Moses
said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore
nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant. I am slow of speech
and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who
hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore,
go. I will be with thy mouth, and
teach thee what thou shalt say. Moses said, O my Lord, send,
I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is
not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well.
And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeeth
thee, he will be glad in his heart. Thou shalt speak unto
him with words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth
and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall
be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou
shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod
in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs." God spoke to
Moses over in Numbers 12. It says He spoke to him mouth
to mouth. He said that to Aaron and Miriam. He said, I didn't speak to you.
I spoke to Moses. He spoke mouth to mouth. He even
says that Moses saw me, not a similitude. Moses saw the Lord. There aren't many men that can
say that. Moses is one of them. Now, this book is the Word of
God. The first five books of Moses
are not the books of Moses. We call them that, but they're
God's books. All Scripture is about giving
my inspiration of God. No Scripture is of any private
interpretation. Holy men spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of God. Right? God in sundry times in
diverse manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke. It was His Word. He told them,
you say this. And Isaiah said, if they speak
not according to my words, there's no light in them. They're not
sent. So, the Lord spoke to men, prophets
and apostles. You know He, later on, He puts
pastors and teachers in the same line as apostles and prophets
and evangelists. God has not left himself without
a spokesman. That's what this message is about. God's spokesman. Now he's got one spokesman. But He gives them words, so they
are His spokesmen. We're going to see that. We're
going to see Moses as the man God chose, and Moses as Christ. Moses said to the Lord, O Lord,
I am not eloquent neither heretofore, not before or since you have
spoken unto me. I was eloquent before, and I
am not eloquent now. I am slow of speech and slow
of the tongue. Now, you know that, let me read
it to you. Over in Acts chapter 7, when
Stephen was preaching, he brought up Moses. And here is what he
said about Moses. He says, Moses was learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deed. So there was a time when Moses
was eloquent, right? That's what it said. Moses was
schooled in all the schools of Egypt. He had degrees, yes he
did. Men aren't different. They like
titles and degrees and like to let you know that they have them.
He had degrees in Egyptology. He had degrees in geology, all
the artifacts and so forth. He had degrees in political science. He had two. He's going to be
the next Pharaoh. He was fluent in hieroglyphics. I'm not making
this up. He did, he was, but he was very
eloquent and probably very proud until he met the Lord at the burning
bush and then he became a I can't speak. I can't think. I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody from
nowhere. No, don't send me. I'm a nobody. Isn't that the way all God's
people think? That's how you know he's a true preacher. I've known lots of wannabe preachers
and they've all failed. Every one of them. I notebooked
it. We had 15 men in the preacher's
class, and three or four of them, they wanted to be pastors and
preachers so bad, and they never were. Well, one was a failure. He failed. Moses said, I can't speak. I'm
a nobody. Solomon, the wisest man that
ever lived. Okay? He was David's son. He was a king's son. He's somebody,
isn't he? And the Lord appeared to him.
Here's what Solomon said, I'm a little child. I don't know
whether I'm coming or going. I don't know where to go, what
to do, what to think. I'm a nobody. I don't know anything. You're going to have to give
me everything, he said. And that's what the Lord said,
to this man will I look, to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and tremble at that my word. That's who he saves. That's who he looks to. And that's
who he sends. That's who his preachers and
teachers are. It was true of Moses and Solomon.
It's true of all of God's spokesmen and all of his people, you. There's
not a believer in here that doesn't say, I can't speak. I want to. I try to speak to people. I can't. I can't. Saul of Tarsus, he was
a brilliant man. He knew the letter of the law
better than anybody. That's what he said concerning
zeal. He said, I was more zealous than
anybody, more knowledgeable than anybody. Saul, when he met Jesus
Christ, You know what he said after that? I'm not fit to be
called a disciple. I'm less than the least. He said if any man thinks he
knows anything, he knows nothing. Didn't he? That's what will happen
to a man when he meets God, when he meets Christ. Every person,
fear, fear and unworthiness. You see, salvation is by revelation,
not education. And it's the same. People talk
about, I came to a knowledge of the doctrines of grace. Salvation
is not coming to a knowledge of doctrine. You show me a person in this
Bible that was saved because they came to a knowledge of doctrine.
I'll show you every single person there came to a knowledge of
Jesus Christ. They met a person. It's like
Saul, you know. All his doctrine was clear when
he met Christ. Man's will, as soon as he met
Christ, said, what will you have me to do? Pride? Gone. So, salvation is
not by revelation. You see it through people's stammering
lips, I suspect. Stumbling, mumbling. You think you make mistakes on
the piano? I grieve over my preaching. At times when I misquote God's
Word, later on I think, I'd like to go back and clear it up. So, but it's not me, it's not
man, it's not my ability, it's not how I bring, it's not in
the power of man, it's not by wisdom, not by mind, not by power.
How is it? By my spirit, saith the Lord.
Brother Gabe and I were talking a few weeks ago, and he, like
me, and like everybody, you know, you never feel like you're quite
prepared. The times you feel like you are, probably you feel
a failure. But the times you don't, you
worry. I don't know what I'm going to
do. And I reminded him of the Scripture
that says, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph
in Christ. It always makes savour by us,
makes knowledge of Christ. See, I can't quote that. Can you? It's not our ability to quote
scriptures. It's not our ability to woo and
lead people. I can't lead anybody. I can't
take care of myself. Now listen to Moses' sufficiency. Look at who is sufficient with
his time. Paul said, our sufficiency is
up to the Lord. Now look at it in Exodus 4 verse
11. Who made man's mouth? Huh? Or listen to this. Who maketh the dumb? Who shuts
his mouth? The deaf, who shuts the ear?
Who opens the ear? The eye. Why is anybody seeing? Why is anybody blind? Have not
I the Lord? Boy, there's not a scripture
in all the Bibles that declares God's sovereignty more than that
is. That's as plain as the nose on your face, isn't it? It sure is. Who made man's mouth?
I can't speak." And he went on to say, it's not you, it's me
that's going to speak. And listen to these scriptures. You know these scriptures, maybe
everybody doesn't. Listen, that was clear, wasn't
it? Who makes somebody blind? God said, I do. Who makes somebody
deaf? They can't hear. I do. Who makes
somebody see? I do, God said. Who opens the
mouth? Who shuts the mouth? Who makes
somebody unable to walk? God does. Listen to Deuteronomy
32, verse 39. See now, that I, even I, am He. There is no God with me. No little
g. Little g-o-d. No ruler over anything. You know how many times it says
that in the Bible? Especially Isaiah. You know how many times?
I am God, there is none else. Why does he keep saying that?
Because man's an ignoramus. I kill. I make life. Well, cancer killed
him. God said it. And God killed him. Cancer's second cause is God's
first. If that's not so, if God's not
God, why do we need Him? Why are we thanking Him? Why
are we praying to Him? If He's a bystander in the affairs
of men, why do we need Him? He's no more powerful than us.
It's up to us. And that's what religion is saying.
But our God says, It is I. It is I. My brother was killed in Vietnam.
Don't you hate those Vietcong? Don't you hate the northern Vietnamese?
No? They're just like us. They're just like us. God killed
him. What about God's Son? Who killed
Him? Hmm? You with wicked hands and
taken, Peter said, and crucified the Lord with glory, but you
did what God determined before to be done. This is all our peace
in this history. It's all our comfort. We can
go to bed at night. We're not dependent on Smith
and Weston. We're dependent on Jesus Christ. Right? That makes you go to sleep. That
gives you comfort. You won't worry about who's elected
president. I know who's going to be elected. Ask me who's going
to be elected president. I know. I'll tell you. Whoever
God puts in there. You don't put them in there.
God does. Right? He said of Pharaoh, I raised
you up. He said, for this purpose I raised
you up. To throw you in the river. Make His power be known. But
the world doesn't see it. We do, don't we? We do. We do. See, all of this that's
spoken here is to God's peoples, to Israel. You read that, Deuteronomy
32, 39. You love that, don't you, Sister
Irene? Back when I was taking requests for scriptures to preach
from, she requested that, Deuteronomy 32. And I did. You know, most
people would like to take it out of the Bible. Irene wants me to preach it once
a week. Why? Romans 9. Anything clearer? Children be not yet born, neither
having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Whom he will, he hardneth. That's
God's Word. A lot of people like to take
that out of the Bible. Would you? John's smiling. You love that? You love the truth? You must
be born of God. Amazing. Sovereign over all. I was going
to read Isaiah 45 and on and on it goes. Proverbs 16. Go there. We've looked at it many times. Proverbs 16. The Proverbs, one proverb is
amazing. Just one verse is amazing. All
of them together just, just, what's the word, what's
the adjective? But Proverbs 16, my, my, this
is something. Look at it, Proverbs 16, verse
1. This is what the Lord's saying
to Moses. The preparation of the heart
in man, The disposings of the heart of man. Heart. The king's
heart is in the hands of the Lord. Now, if God has control
of men's hearts, what about their hands? What about their feet?
What about their mouth? The answer of the tongue is from
the Lord. You know, all the time I wish
the Lord would stop Some man's mouth, somebody stopped their
mouth. Why are they speaking? Because God's letting them. They wouldn't be. Look at verse,
Proverbs 16, verse 4. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked. You know, one of the most puzzling
things in all of God's Word is that Satan fell. How? How could he? If he's upright like all the
rest of the angels, how could he fall? How could Adam fall? You want to answer that for me?
Can you? Huh? He's holy. He's upright. How could he fall? Anybody answer
that? No. The only way you can answer
that is, it's the Lord. I will say this, Adam's the only
human being that ever had free will. What happened? What happened? This is why, and Adam had his
own righteousness. He had his own righteousness,
the angels. The righteousness we have can
never fail. You see, it's the Lord's righteousness. But there's no explanation except
it's the Lord. It's the only way you can explain
it. Sin's here in it. Satan's reeled
in it. Man fell, didn't he? And it wouldn't
have happened if God didn't direct it, if God didn't say, let him
fall. Well, there's no God. It's the
only way you can explain that. Okay? Let me ask you a question. Scripture says Pharaoh hardened
his heart. Doesn't it? Doesn't it? But then
it says the Lord hardened his heart. Which is it? Which is
it? Did Pharaoh harden his heart
or did the Lord harden his heart? Yes. Yes, the Lord hardened his
heart. How? Leave him alone. Just leave
him alone. He'll harden his heart. And the
Lord hardened his heart by leaving him alone. So the Lord's not
him. You don't blame him. Pharaoh's
to blame. Christ said, you will not come
unto me, speak. Why didn't they come? They would
not. Didn't want to. Didn't believe. Why wouldn't they? God didn't
make them will to come. God didn't make them willing
to come. That's not fair. No, it's God that's who it is. That's what Romans 9 says. Who
are you to reply against God? Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make one vessel? Here it is. One to make one vessel
unto honor and one unto dishonor? Hath he not? Yes, he does, and
that's exactly what he does. And when God's people meet him
and find out and they understand who he is, they'll bow at his
feet for making them, for choosing them to be a vessel of honor. Because if he left them to themselves,
they'd be like a Thessalonians. Fit for nothing
but destruction. Right? That's right. So who gets
all the glory? All of it, 100%. It's the Lord. You know these things. Oh, blessed
are you. Blessed are you. Paul said that
to Thessalonians. Seeing you know these things,
I'm going to tell you again. Why? Because we rejoice. We love the truth. We're so thankful. We can't explain anything, but
we bow and we believe and we're thankful. I'm so thankful that
God reigns. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful
He made me to know He reigns. I'm so thankful He didn't leave
me to myself. I don't need to be standing right
here. I'd be just as happy to sit there, but it's the Lord.
I'm just glad to be here. Somebody's got to preach and
teach and all that. It's laid on me. I wish it wasn't.
Send somebody else. But, he said, who made man's
matter? I'm sending you. Could have chosen
anybody. Who's Moses? Now listen, he's a fearful man. Back in our text, verse 13, he's
fearful. Oh Lord, he said, I pray thee,
send somebody else. Let's send somebody else. Where
is this Moses that Hebrews 11 talks about that didn't fear
the wrath of the king? He ran. When he found out that
Pharaoh knew that he killed one of those gypsies, he ran. Well, where is this fearless
man? Well, wait a while and you'll see. And he'll come into the
face of Pharaoh very shortly. But Moses has got to know what
he is. Moses has got to know where he
came from. Not the throne, a basket in the river, wandering in the
wilderness, following sheep, like David. God said to David,
where did I find you? Where did I take you? Following
sheep. No prophet ever applied for the
job. You know that? Not one. It's
not something you pursue, it's a calling. It's a sending. It's necessity laid upon you.
And that doesn't mean you can't do anything else. I know men
that way who failed at business and failed at this and failed
at that so they thought they'd become a preacher. No, God doesn't
send failures. The disciples weren't failures
at the fishing business. They had boats and nets and servants.
They did well. Hardworking men. No, no, no. Moses kept his father-in-law's
flock and so on and so forth. David kept sheep. He did a good
job of it. But it's not something you apply
for. You're sent. You're called. Paul
said, necessities laid upon me. But when you feel this burden
laid upon you, when you hear, I'm sending you. Lord, not me,
not me. I can't do this. I can't do this. Elijah ran and
hid in the cave. Elijah said, let me go home to
my dad. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. Jeremiah said, I'm just a child,
I can't speak. Good. Because if anything good
comes out of your mouth, you'll know who did it. If anybody is
saved, you'll know who did it. Right? That's the excellency
of the powers of God, not of me. Verse 14, the Lord got angry. Anger of the Lord's Kingdom against
Moses. Surely the Lord is angered by
our fears and unbelief and cowardice. Everyone in here is a coward
by nature. Aren't you? You fear men's faces. You say, I can't say a thing.
What's the use? Right? I can't speak. I just fumble
and mumble trying to come up with a verse of scripture to
quote. Don't you? Including me. Including me. I'm thankful the Lord wrote of
the fears of God's men. Aren't you? Aren't you glad?
Abraham, father of the faithful, denied his wife twice. He was
scared to death. I'm glad God wrote that, aren't
you? That's who God chooses. Fearful. Ah, Moses. David. Aren't you thankful? David wouldn't have fallen had
God not allowed him to fall. David wished that never happened.
Aren't you glad it happened? Aren't you? We wouldn't have
Psalm 51. We would have Psalm 38. David
was afraid that David would act like a madman. Remember? Act
like a madman. Crueling. How? Aren't you glad that happened? Times that you act like a fool.
Times you act like a madman. Times you act like the disciples
when Peter denied him. Peter wished that never happened.
Aren't you glad it did? Hmm? Aren't you? I denied Him
many times, more than Peter. Doesn't this redound to the praise
of the glory of His grace? Doesn't this prove to us beyond
a shadow of a doubt salvation is by grace? The wisest man to
ever live is Solomon. Do you know what he did in the
end as an old man? Do you know what he did? How
could he do that? Because he's just a man. And
I'm so glad to know that salvation's up to the Lord. That salvation's
by grace. It's not up to me. It's wholly
up to Him. David was afraid. He said, we
wouldn't have this verse if David here wasn't afraid. He said,
what time I'm afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. Okay, where is Christ in all
of this? Well, Christ is the one speaking, but let's look
at Moses as he represents Christ, okay? And he does. He's a deliverer. He's the prophet. Moses is the prophet. Not Aaron.
Not Miriam. Certainly not Miriam. The Lord
dealt harder with Miriam than He did... He didn't even speak
to Aaron about it, but He made Miriam a leper for rising up
against Moses. Didn't it? What does that tell
you about women preachers? Moses was the prophet of God,
not Aaron, not Miriam. Moses was the prophet of God.
And this is what he said in Deuteronomy 18. He said, God will raise up
a prophet like unto me. Capital P. Prophet, capital P. He said, He's the one you'll
hear. He's the one you'll follow. He's
the one that's going to tell you all things, like the woman
at the well. She met him. When Christ has come, he'll tell
us all things. He's that prophet. And our Lord
said that in John 14. We're going to look at it this
morning. He said, the words I speak are the Father's words. What
I say, Christ said, God said. Do you believe that? He said to his disciples, he
said, if not, don't believe the word, believe me for the works
say, the works I do, the things I say. It's God speaking. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, he said. Moses, God said of Moses, you'll
be to Aaron God. Christ is God to me. You understand? I'm sure you do. You know how
few people believe that? He's a son of God, but he's not
God. Oh yes he is. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. God. The very God of very God. Moses, so Moses represents our
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the spokesman of God. He said, was God ever angry with
Christ? Oh yes. On Calvary's tree. Anger and the wrath of God fell
on Jesus Christ. Not because he was fearful. because
he was us. Moses represents Christ and he
is the spokesman of God. He said in verse 15, I shall
speak to Aaron and put words in his mouth, I will be thy mouth,
God was in Christ, and with his mouth I will teach you what you
shall do. Everything Christ did, God did.
Everything God told him to do, he did. And he shall be thy spokesman. Aaron will be the spokesman unto
the people, and he shall be as thy mouth, but you'll be to him
instead of God. God was in Christ. God spoke
to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son. And he said, now Aaron represents
all of God's preachers, be them prophets or apostles or evangelists
or pastors. Right? Moses didn't speak to
the people. Aaron did. Isn't that what he
said? He'll be your spokesman. He'll
be your mouth. Didn't Christ say that? He that
heareth you, he said, This a type that will hear me." Who? Every
person that the Lord sends. How did you hear the truth? The
Lord is sending Moses and Aaron to speak to who? Israel. Is there one person in Israel
who didn't hear what Aaron had said? Not one. How shall they hear without a
preacher? If you heard the truth, you heard
it through a preacher. Is that not right? Sure it is.
If you didn't, then you're trying to... If you didn't, if somebody
says they didn't, they're trying to defend an experience or something. Trying to hold on to seniority. Why anybody try to hold on to
anything but Christ? If I didn't hear Him yesterday,
I wouldn't need to hear Him today. I need to hear it from Him today.
The Lord chose Aaron, didn't He? Aaron's a man, a sinful man.
You know what Aaron did with the children of Israel? Unbelievably. But that's who the Lord chose.
I'm glad. I'm glad. It's okay. Gives me
hope. Gives me hope. He said, You'll
speak to him. Look at verse, I like this, verse
14. He said, Is not Aaron the Levite
thy brother? I know that he can speak well.
Why? Why can Aaron speak well? Huh? The Lord just said, Who
makes man's mouth? Didn't He? How am I eloquent? The Lord made him so. What is
eloquence? That's a good question. They called Paul a vain babbler.
There's not a more eloquent man that ever spoke to Paul. They
called him, all these philosophers and Pharisees called him a vain babbler.
Why? He spoke simply. Our Lord spoke
in one and two syllable words. He spoke so simply that doctors
and lawyers couldn't understand a thing he was saying. Now, isn't
that the Lord? Only the Lord can do that. So
Aaron, he said, I know he can speak well. And everyone in here
thinks I can't speak well. I can't speak well. Let me ask
you one question, okay? Let me ask you one question,
and you give me one word answer. Okay. What is truth? You gave
me three words. That's the saying. These three
are one. That's right. I'm glad you said that, buddy.
Because we call him by all his name, don't we? The world doesn't.
Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ. What is
truth? In one word, Christ. Christ. You know more than seminary professors? The whole world is asking like
what Pilate did. What is truth? It was standing
right in front of him. Not an it. A person was standing
right in front of Pilate and he says, what is truth? He thought
he was clever, didn't he, Patrick? He thought, I'm going to stump
him. What is, just what is truth? He's revealing the idiot that
he is. He wouldn't know truth if he saw it in the face. You
do? Robin Pendry from Palmerdale,
Alabama? Went to Auburn? No, she didn't
get much education. She went to Auburn. What is truth? One word. Christ! I can ask anybody in here. You're eloquent. You speak well. I can't speak well. Brother John said, I ain't no
preacher, but I can tell you about Jesus Christ. That's eloquence. That's wisdom from above. That is the power of God. Yes, it is. He is. We're going around trying to
tell people about a person. And we babble and we fumble and
we mumble. What are we trying to do? Just
trying to tell people salvations of the Lord. That He is Lord. It's not in our ability to woo
Him or convince Him. It's not in our eloquence. It's
in the Word. It's in His person. It's in His
person. And then, verse 17, in the end,
he said, Take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do
signs. So down in verse 29, Moses and Aaron went, gathered together
all the elders and the children of Israel. You see, every one
of them is going to hear from the Lord. Word of God to the
Son of God through a preacher of God. Verse 30, Aaron spake
all the words, Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had
spoken unto Moses. and did the signs in the sight
of the people. What did they do? Three signs. You remember? The rod turned into a serpent,
the leprous hand, the water turned to blood. It's all Christ crucified
in. That's what they did. When our
Lord sent His disciples out, He said, go into all the world
and do what? Preach the gospel. Next thing
He says, heal the sick. What is it that heals the sick?
The gospel. Raise the dead. What is it that
raises the dead? The gospel. What is it that opens
blind eyes? The gospel. All I've got to do in front of
you today is hold up a serpent on a pole. It's to show you that The right hand of God came from
the bosom of the Father and made sin for us and He went back and
He came back without any sin. And that's us. That's us in Him. And to show you that this whole
water, this whole fountain, this whole river of God is full of
blood. What's our redemption? That's
what it sounded like. Okay. And they bowed their heads,
it said, and they worshipped the Lord. Every one of them.
Every Israelite, when they heard that, God had delivered them
and visited them. They all bowed their heads. Thank
you for what we heard. Thank you that you've given us
the Word of God. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And they worshipped. Okay.