Back to Exodus chapter 2. I'm going to enjoy this study
in Exodus as much as I did in Genesis. Now the title of this message is The Birth and Making of the
Deliverer. We have here in this chapter
the birth of Moses. We have his life before us here
in Exodus like no other in the Old Testament. We have his life
from his birth to his death. I think the only other person
in the Scriptures that we have such a detailed description of
their life like that is the Lord Jesus Christ. We have his birth,
and like Moses, there's a gap there. You know, it says he's
learned in all the ways of Egypt. We don't know those 40 years,
but we know the others, the rest of them, just as we know our
Lord's. But in many ways, he pictures
the Lord Jesus Christ as the prophet of God. He's the one
who said that God would raise up a prophet like unto me, him
you shall hear from among your brethren. Moses was a mediator
between God and Israel. When God had anything to say
to Israel, He said it to Israel through Moses. You remember I
read to you last week when God called Aaron and Miriam to Moses. He said, you three come here,
because Aaron and Miriam was upset with Moses. And He told
them, He said, now when I speak to a prophet, I speak to him
through dreams or vision, but now with Moses, I speak to him
mouth to mouth. He doesn't say that about anybody
else there in the Old Testament. And then Moses is the deliverer
of God's people out of bondage, even as our Lord is the deliverer
of God's Israel, God's true Israel, His spiritual Israel, out of
the bondage of sin. Now God's going to deliver His
people out of Egypt, but not by Moses, who was learned in
all the ways of Egypt. See, Moses kind of put on a display
before his Hebrew brethren, thinking that by this they would understand
that God's going to use him to be the deliverer. I'll read you
this here in a little bit in the book of Acts. But God's not
going to deliver Israel by the Moses trained up in all the ways
of Egypt. He's going to deliver Israel
by the Moses who is trained up in the backside of a desert and
who learns to walk by faith and not by sight. That's the Moses. That's the Moses God's going
to use. He's going to use that Moses that he sends in the backside
of that desert and breaks him down. And in doing so, he's going
to make a leader out of him. And there's something else here
that probably might have been on Moses' mind. I don't know.
I wasn't Moses. But it's probably on his mind.
You know he was in line for the throne? I never really thought
about that. Pharaoh's daughter never had
any children. Moses was it. Pharaoh did not
have any heir. Moses was it. Moses was going
to be heir to the throne of Egypt. Now, he could have thought, and
whether he did or not, I don't know, but he could have thought,
when I take the throne, then I can let Israel go. But that's
not the way it's going to happen. That's not the way God purposed
it. He's going to have to go through some suffering. He's
going to have to go to the back side of the desert. He's going
to have to learn and learn to walk by faith. He's going to
believe God. Then God's going to make a leader
out of him. God's going to make a deliverer out of him. That's
what's going to happen. You see, God's way is not our way. God's
thoughts are not our thoughts. He does things totally opposite
of what we would naturally think. He does it totally opposite.
But let me give you just a few comparisons here before we get
into this of Moses and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, his birth,
the birth of Moses, was one of humble beginnings. He wasn't
born in the palace. He was born in the house of a
slave. He was born a Hebrew. He was born in bondage. He was
born in poverty. Our Lord was born a Hebrew. He
was born in bondage under the law. And it was under the Roman
government at that time. He was born in bondage. And He
was born in poverty. The Scripture says He had no
place. And this is unimaginable, that the God of creation came
into this world that he made and had no place to lay his head. Many times he slept out under
the stars. Many a times. He just slept out
in the open under the stars that he made. You imagine laying there
looking up at the moon you made and the stars and all that. He
made them. Then Moses was born under the
sentence of death. All the male children were to
be drowned. Oh, the cruelty of human nature.
They were to be drowned. When our Lord was born into this
world, He too was born under a sentence of death. Herod had
all the children two years old and under killed. He had them
all killed. Besides that, Christ was born
under the sentence of death by the law when He became our substitute. When He came into this world,
the sentence of death that was against His people fell on Him. He was under a sentence of death.
And then Moses was hid for three months by his parents in Egypt. And where did God the Father
send his son, when Herod was trying to kill him, to Egypt. He sent him down to Egypt. He
said, out of Egypt have I called my son. Okay, let's now look at this.
Now, the first thing I want to look at, I don't want to pass
this up. I want us to notice the faith
in this chapter of his parents. This was very striking to me. His parents hid him for three
months, not fearing the wrath of the king. I read that to you
over in Hebrews. It says, by faith, they hid him
for three months, seeing he was a proper child. I kind of believe
that God revealed something to them about this child, or something
special about this child. And so they hid him for three
months, not fearing the wrath of the king. They believed God.
They trusted God. They believed that God would
take care of this child, that he would tend to him. And after
three months, well, they couldn't hide him any longer. You know,
he's restless, and he's noisy, and they couldn't hide him any
longer. So his mother makes this ark out of bulrush, and she pitches
it, and she puts that three-month-old baby in that ark. She takes that baby and just
lays it in that ark, and they take it down to the river, and
the river there was crawling with crocodiles. In that part
of the world, it's crawling with crocodiles. So she takes this
baby, takes it down to the river, and she trusts the Lord. She
trusts God to take care of this baby. Both her and her husband. They trust God. I thought faith,
when I read that the last few days, I thought faith is going
to be tried. It's going to be tried. God will
try the faith that he gives to his people. There is no such
thing as untried faith. God tried their faith, my soul,
and that was a trial. That was a trial. But they believed
God. They believed God would take
care of them. of that child. And notice God's
providence here. Moses' mother sent his sister. She said, you go watch and you
see what happens to this baby. You see what happens. So I'm
sure at a distance, she walked at a distance and just watched.
And the daughter of Pharaoh just happens, she just happens to
go to the river to wash. She just feels like washing.
So she goes to the river to wash. And she sees this ark floating.
And it catches her attention. So she takes one of her maids,
she tells one of her maids, go over and get that ark. And she goes over and gets it.
And she brings it back to her. And they open it up. And when
they open it up, the baby starts to cry. And when that baby starts
to cry, her heart immediately, immediately attaches to that
baby. I mean, her heart just attaches. You see, this is one of the Hebrews'
babies. And she knew what those Hebrew women were going through.
She was childless. And she looked at this baby and
she goes, I'm going to take this one. The heart of the King, you
know, the Scripture says, is in the hand of the Lord. He gave
that woman compassion. and a heart for that child at
that time. And it caused Moses to cry and
get a hold of her heart at that very time. And he did. And then
here's what happens. You can't write this. No one
can write this. Moses' sister, Miriam, she comes
over to Pharaoh's daughter. And she says, do you want me
to go find a nurse? You want me to go find a nurse
from among the Hebrew women? Because she couldn't nurse it.
She's never had a child. She said, yes, go ahead. You
do that. And she goes and gets Moses'
mother. You couldn't like this stuff.
She goes and she gets Moses' mother, the one who by faith
put that child in this ark, made this ark, this bulrush, And they
took it down and put it among the flags. And she left it there. And she walked away. And you
know how tough it had to be. But she believed God. She believed
God. There's something about this
child. I think there's something revealed to her and her husband about
this child. And she believed him like Abraham. She believed
God. And so she took that child down there. And Moses' sister
watched it. And then she goes... She ends
up getting paid to raise her child. She ends up getting paid. She's the first paid babysitter
in the scripture. She ends up getting paid for
it. So Pharaoh's daughter pays her. She says, I'll give her
her wages. Of course, Moses' mother's not going to say anything.
She says, OK. She's paid to raise her son that
she gave up by faith into the hands of God. Oh, that we would
learn to trust the Lord's Wise providence. It has a good end. It may be
tough getting there, but it has a good end. And I thought, here's
another lesson we need to learn. We need to learn to turn everything
over to Him now. Just give it all over to the
Lord now. His hands are the best hands
for it to be in. Now Moses, it says there in verse
10. Moses grew up. He was learned
in all the ways of the Egyptians. Now I want you to turn over to
Acts chapter 7. This is where Stephen talks about Moses. In Acts chapter 7, look in verse
17. When the time of the promise
drew nigh, which God has sworn to Abraham, The people grew and
multiplied in Egypt till another king arose which knew not Joseph.
The same dealt subtly with our kindred and treated our fathers
so that they cast out their young children to the end they might
not live, in which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair."
Do you have a margin there in the middle of your Bible? What
does it say? Fair to God. He was exceeding
fair to God. This was God's Moses. This was
God's son. This was God's servant. And nourished
up in his father's house three months, and when he was cast
out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for
her own son. Raised him in the house of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh had no idea that growing up in his house would be the
very One that would end up destroying him. That God would use. Right there in his own house.
My, the wisdom of God. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty. Remember this. He was mighty in words and in
deeds. He was a powerful man. Like Joseph. Like Joseph, he was a powerful
man in Egypt. He was probably second to none
in Egypt. Powerful man. Mighty in words
and in deeds. But God wasn't ready to use him
yet. Moses wasn't ready to be the deliverer yet. He had some
things to learn. You see, he'd been raised up
with a silver spoon in his mouth. Now he's going to have to learn
what suffering is all about. God has no sons without suffering. He's going to have to learn. The scriptures tell us in Hebrews
2.10, we looked at this the other day, that the captain of our
salvation was what? Made perfect through suffering.
The Lord Jesus Christ, it says, was made perfect through suffering.
Speaking of his office as a high priest, His office as a mediator
of God's people, He was made perfect through suffering. He's
able, He's able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
able. You see, as God Almighty, as He was God and is God, He
couldn't be touched with the feeling of my infirmities, but
as the man As a man in this life, walking in this life, he was
hungry. He was thirsty. He was tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin, without giving in
to sin. And he can be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. That's what it says in the Word
of God. It's also written about the Lord Jesus Christ this. He
grew in stature and wisdom. Here's the mystery. As God, He
knew all. He knew all things. He learned
nothing. And yet as a man, He had to learn
all. He had to learn everything. What
a person. What a person. As God, He knew
it all. As a man, He learned it all. He grew in wisdom, in
stature, and in wisdom. It says in Hebrews 5.8, Yet learned
he obedience, speaking of the Son of God, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered. Now, if Moses is going to be
a type, Moses is going to have to suffer. We're going to have
to learn what that's all about. When God had David, when He had
Samuel, to anoint David as king. David was out there keeping his
sheep, wasn't he? Quiet. I mean, life was good. He's out there just, you know,
the sheep are feeding, and he's sitting there watching. And then
Samuel comes along. And he says, Jesse, line up all
your sons. You know, the first one he saw,
Samuel thought, sure, he's tall, dark, and handsome. He's the
king. Well, he said, no, that's not the king. Then he went to
the next one, and he lined up all the sons of Jesse. You know
the story. And he said, Do you have another one? And he said,
Yeah, he's out there keeping the sheep. He said, Bring him
in here. He brings him in. He anoints
him as the king. And from that time forward, he
was running for his life. When he was out there keeping
the sheep, it was all so peaceful. But God's going to make a leader
out of him. God's going to be a type of Christ. And there's
no way anyone, Moses or David or any of the Old Testament types
are going to be a type of Christ without suffering. Even Joseph
goes to prison. He lied on him. Charged with
sin he didn't commit. I tell you what, when God's going
to make a leader, it's going to be some hardships. It's going
to be some hardships. When the Deliverer, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He came into the world, He was born in poverty. You see, He's the Son of God,
but He was not exempt. Not exempt from it. He was born
in poverty. He was born in trouble. People
hated Him, despised Him, tried to kill Him several times. Satan
was after Him. They was always seeking His life.
No place to lay His head. That's our deliverer. That's
our deliverer. Well, Moses grows up, as I said
back over in the book of Acts, he was 40 years old. He was 40
years old. And it came into his heart, it
came into his heart to identify, not just to visit with his people,
but to identify with his people. To identify with his Hebrew brethren.
God's working on his heart. Now he thinks, he thinks that
by defending his brethren, they're going to understand that he's
the one who's going to deliver them. Look back over there in
Acts chapter 7. Here in Acts chapter 7 in verse You
see, the Lord had evidently been working on his heart and had
revealed to him that he was going to be the deliverer. Verse 24, And seeing one of them
suffer wrong, one of his brothers, he defended him, and avenged
him that was oppressed, and spoke the Egyptian. For he supposed
his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would
deliver them, but they didn't understand it. They didn't understand
it at all. Moses has some learning to do. God's going to have to train
him up to be a leader. Always remember this. There's
a time and a purpose for everything under heaven. Moses was not ready. He still had a lot to learn.
I think he still had a lot to unlearn. He had a lot of things
to learn and a lot of things to unlearn. The children of Israel
were not ready. They still had 40 more years
to be in Egypt because Moses, after he leaves here, he's 40
years in the backside of that desert. God said to Abraham,
your people are going to be in a strange land. They're going
to be under bondage for 400 years and 400 years to the day it will
be. It'll be 400 years. God's doing
the preparing, but the time is not yet. You remember how many
times did our Lord say this? My time is not yet. My hour has
not yet come. That can be said every day. There
is an hour and a time for every purpose under heaven. And Moses'
hour and the hour for the children of Israel to be delivered had
not yet come. Moses got his Egyptian training. Now he's going to go to the back
side of the desert and he's going to be trained in humility. He's
going to be trained in faith. He's going to be trained in obedience.
God's going to train him. He's going to be trained in hardship
because you know what's ahead of him? Forty years in the wilderness. Forty years in the wilderness. Here's one of the things that
came out of this. You remember I read to you there
in Acts chapter 7 verse 22. He said that he was mighty, he
was mighty in word and in deeds. Look over in chapter 3. Let's
see if that's the chapter. Well, I don't know the verse
there. But anyway, I didn't write it
down. Moses said, I can't speak. Moses said, don't send me. You
see, before he was mighty in word and in deed. Then when God
said, I'm going to send you to the children of Israel, you're
going to deliver them, Who am I? Who am I? That's what he said. I can't find that verse. Huh? Verse 11? Yeah, here it is. I knew I saw it there somewhere.
And Moses said unto God, Who am I? It took 40 years to bring
him to that place. You see, he slew an Egyptian,
and he thought by doing that, they would understand I'm the
deliverer. But if he's going to be a type of Christ, he's
going to have to be meek and lowly deliverer. And I read that
to you, I believe, last week. Well, it was when he was talking
to Aaron and Miriam. He said, Moses is the meekest
man of all the people on earth. Moses is the meekest. I don't
think he was that way in Egypt. When he was raised up in Pharaoh's
house, and he was learning all the ways of the Egyptians, Everything
at his beck and call. I mean, he didn't leave there
till he was 40 years old. But at the end of 40 years on the
back side of that desert, he said, who am I? That I should
go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? Another place he said, I can't
speak. I'm slow on speech. Send somebody else. It took 40
years to bring him to that. Who am I? Well, you're God's man now. Now
he's God's man. No leader of God's people will
have anything to strut about. Our Lord, it says, was meek and
lonely. This is God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God manifest in the flesh. He can say, go, and you go. He
can say, come, and you come. He said, I can call twelve legions
of angels. And yet, this man was meek and lonely. This man
who is the God-man was meek and lonely. I thought this as I was writing
these notes down. This house ought to be filled
up with people who want to hear the gospel. These seats ought
to be full with people who want to hear the gospel. But I ought
to be overwhelmed If five people show up to hear me tell it, I'll
be overwhelmed. If five people show up just to
hear me tell the gospel. In God's house, we cannot lead,
and I believe this, we cannot lead until we learn that we cannot
lead. That we truly fall back on Him. I told someone, a preacher I
was talking to some time ago. I said, one of the things that
I had to learn over the years was this, I can't preach. I said, I had to learn that I
can't preach. And I don't think a man can preach until God teaches
him he can't preach. It's not until you learn you
can't preach that God might use you to preach. And that's what he taught Moses. That's what he taught Moses.
And Moses finally said, who am I? Who am I? At one time he just said, let
me in the pulpit. You know, let me up there. I'll tell you something.
Forty years later he said, man, don't call on me. Call on me. Something else I want to point
out here. Back here in Exodus 2. Verse 21, Moses was content to dwell with
the man. He was content. He was content
to tend sheep the rest of his life. He was content to do that. That's when God used him. That's when God used him. When
he was content doing where God had put him, where God had placed
him. God does not use a man because
he is discontent doing anything else. We'll see, it was Elijah. Elijah,
I believe it was. You know what he was doing when
Elijah came along and called him? He was plowing. He was just
plowing. Doing his everyday task. Going
about his business. It allowed you to come along
and say, come with me. Now let's look at the providence
of God here and I'll close. Here in verse 15, let's back
up to verse 15. We'll finish the rest of the chapter, Lord
willing, next week. In verse 15, now Moses has, he's
taken off, he's fled. into the back side of that desert.
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses, and
Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and he dwelt in the land of Midian,
and he sat down by a well. There was a well. He was tired,
thirsty. I think of our Lord when he sat
down by a well. He met the woman at the well. Moses meets his
wife here at the well. And now the priest of Midian
had seven daughters. And they came and drew water
and filled the trough to water their flocks. And the shepherds
came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and helped
them and watered their flocks. He sits down by this well, and
here comes these seven women. Instead of men, these seven women
come, because he didn't have any sons. Jethro didn't have
any sons, because his name here ruled, but his name's Jethro.
So these seven daughters come, and Moses meets his wife. I mean,
here's his well, and he's sitting there. And I couldn't help but
think of the woman at the well meeting the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he defends them. And this stood out to me. Whatever
God purposes a man to be, it usually keeps leaking out. It
usually keeps leaking out. People notice it. It keeps leaking
out at times. The qualities will show themselves
over time. Just as our Lord, He came into
this world. He healed the sick. He raised
the dead. He kept demonstrating by His
power. Everything about Him screamed,
I'm the Messiah. I am the deliverer. And it seems
like Moses, on every turn here, it kept coming out that this
is the Deliverer. This is the Deliverer, just as
our Lord. He healed the sick, the blind,
the deaf, the dumb, the lame, raised the dead. It was just
screaming, I'm the Deliverer. I'm the One. God has sent His Son to be the
Savior of the world. He is that Prophet. that Moses
spoke of. Moses said, a prophet like unto
me, and among your brethren God raised up, him shall ye hear. He's that prophet that Moses
said would come. And Moses said, hear ye him. What did the father say when
he spoke from heaven? This is my beloved son whom I
am well pleased. Hear ye him. Hear him. Listen to Him. Give attention to Him. Well, we see something here of the birth and the making of the Deliverer,
Moses at that time and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true
Deliverer of God's people. He is the true Messiah. He's
the true Savior of God's Israel. All right, next time we'll finish
that chapter.