But Exodus 6 and verse 10, and
the Lord spake unto Moses saying, go in, speak unto Pharaoh, king
of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before the Lord
saying, behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened
unto me. How then shall Pharaoh hear me who am of uncircumcised
lips? And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of
Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Now this is an interesting
passage. We've already seen how that Moses
going with Aaron and speaking God's word unto the children
of Israel, And then to Pharaoh, the word that eventually will
result in the deliverance of God's people is a picture of
the gospel ministry now. We see the Lord reminds us many
times in the word of God, what it is that our business is in
this world. And this passage here is one
of those places. This message that he gives Moses
to deliver is a message of deliverance of the Israelites from the tyranny
of Pharaoh. And in this brief passage here
we see several instructive aspects of the gospel ministry that we
have. This is a message that pertains
to us tonight and the gospel always does. These ancient scriptures
have meaning for every one of us right here, right now. And the first thing is this,
the message was the same to everybody. We've talked about that before,
and we are reminded here again, in chapter four, verses 29 and
30, they told the people of Israel, the elders of Israel, all the
things that God had said unto them. Aaron spoke unto them all
of the words that the Lord had said unto him and Moses. And
here they tell Pharaoh. God sends them to tell Pharaoh
all that God had said to them. Let my people go. I am the Lord
God of the fathers of Israel. And
Pharaoh's sitting on a throne, but now the king is speaking. He's come with a message for
his people, and he imposes his will upon the king. But it was the same message.
It was good news to the Jews, wasn't it? They worshipped when
they heard that God had heard their cry and come to deliver
them. They worshipped him. But it was
an insult to the Egyptians, particularly Pharaoh. It was offensive to them, but
the same message to all. And God, likewise, has a people
in this world that he will ultimately deliver from this present evil
world. And he sent us with that message
of deliverance. And he also has enemies, the
reprobates, servants of Satan in this world who were offended
by the gospel. But what is our charge? Go ye
and preach the gospel to every creature, the children and the
reprobates. It's the same message to both
kings and pawns, rich and poor, young and old, The message is
to everybody. We don't know who God will save.
God could have saved Pharaoh if he had wanted to, couldn't
he? He saved other kings just as vile and depraved as Pharaoh. Not many mighty are called, but
some are. And so we preach to every creature,
high and low. And then secondly, the message
It's a bold message, isn't it? He said, go right in Pharaoh's
throne room and say, let my people go. Offensive and bold. A bold message of deliverance.
It concerns the salvation of a specific people. And it's bold
to declare that, isn't it? It's the gospel, the promise
is unto you and your children if you believe. It concerns the
salvation of God's elect. This gospel we preach. I can't
tell you who God's people are in this world, but I can tell
you this. The message is for their deliverance and theirs
only. It's for the sheep. Preach it
to everybody. But he said, my sheep will hear
me and they'll follow me and they will. Thirdly, Like Moses,
we're not worthy. You notice I didn't say I'm not
worthy, and that's true, I'm not. But this is the ministry
of the Lord here for all of us. And we're not worthy. Verse 12,
he said, I'm a man of uncircumcised lips. The children of Israel,
my friends wouldn't even listen to me. How are my enemies gonna
listen to me? Paul said we have this treasure,
this unspeakable priceless treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. Why in the world would God put
his treasure in an earthen vessel? I don't know, but I know that
he did. I know that he did. And we are those vessels now. And notice particularly the comment
that Moses made in verse 12 there, uncircumcised lips. We've seen
how the circumcision has to do with the cutting away of the
flesh. And spiritually, spiritual circumcision is described by
Paul in Colossians 2.11 as the putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. It's putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh. So when Moses says, I have uncircumcised
limbs, what's he saying there? Oh, I'm sinful flesh, and everything
I say is full of sinful flesh. How can I speak for God? Have
you ever thought about that? And that's the spokesman, but
also, as I said, that's all of it. We're not worthy to be partakers
of this ministry. We're just not. Our lips are defiled. by the
sins of our flesh. There's just flat too much flesh
in us for us to preach right and for us to do anything right
for God's glory. It's going to take grace, isn't
it? It's going to take the Lord going with us and using us, speaking
through us, strengthening us, upholding us, Our lips are defiled. How can we deliver God's message
with lips like ours? Every gospel preacher has said
this many times and thought it and felt it and owned it. I guarantee you that. Not every
preacher has, but every gospel preacher has. I guarantee you
that. And as I said, this is all of
us. We're not worthy of this ministry. Let's turn together
to 1 Chronicles 29. Let's look at that together. 1 Chronicles 29, verse 10. There's not any of us worthy
to be part of this. Look what God is doing in this
world. Have you ever thought of just the marvelous thing that
God is doing? By raising up his church in these
little places around the world and causing the gospel to go
forth and calling his people out of darkness into his marvelous
light and comforting those who have heard the call and who have
believed on Christ. What a gracious privilege it
is to be part of it. First Chronicles 29.10, wherefore
David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. Now this
is, they're all given in order to build the tabernacle, the
temple, not the little tabernacle, but the grand, glorious, beautiful
temple. And David blessed the Lord before,
that's where God gonna be worshiped. That's where the worship of God. And all the various things, the
business that God gave them to do with the offering of the sacrifices
and all the business of the priests was done in that temple. That's
where God's worshipped. And that's his church now. That's
his church. Among his people. It's not a
building, it's his people. It's the worship of the Lord.
He blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David said,
blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and
ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. If there's any victory, it's
his, it's attributed to him. If there's any glory, it goes
to him, the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth.
is thine everything thine is the kingdom oh lord just his
ministry we talked sunday morning about folks coming into the kingdom
and others being cast out It's his kingdom. He calls. He said,
if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to myself. This is his
business. It's his kingdom, his ministry.
Oh Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches
and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all. And in thy
hand is power and might. Riches and honor power and might,
and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto
all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I? He starts with himself. Who in
the world am I? And who are these people, what
is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort For all things come of thee, and of thine own
have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee,
and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth
are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord, our God,
all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thine
holy name cometh of thine hand. and is all thine own. If it's
all his anyway, then why in the world does he even use us? Why
does he cause it to be the way that it is, where we give, and
not just financially, but time and effort and commitment to
the work, everything that happens here, keeping the nursery, cleaning
the bathrooms, vacuuming the floor, all of it. If all the power and the strength
and the might and the honor and the glory and the riches and
everything is his anyway, then why are we even in on it? To
bless us. He doesn't need us, does he?
He doesn't need us. That's so clear here. Everything
that we have and shall ever have, both physical and spiritual,
that pertains to the building of God's house, cometh of God's hand. And like David said, and like
Moses also, we have to ask the same thing, don't we? Who am
I? Who are we? That God would just even let
us in on this. Number four, notwithstanding
their unworthiness, they're given a charge. Verse 13, look at it
again. God gave them a charge, didn't
he? How solemn is that? The Lord spake unto Moses and
unto Aaron. And notice, Moses just got through
saying that in verse 12, who am I? I'm the children of Israel. They're not listening to what
I say. How is Pharaoh gonna listen to me who am of uncircumcised
limbs? I'm not worthy to be your spokesman.
And you notice that the Lord didn't even respond to that.
He had in the past. He didn't even acknowledge that
this time. What he did say is, it says that
he spake unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge
unto the children of Israel and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt to
bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. notwithstanding their
unworthiness, they're given a charge. And so are we. So are we. We have our orders from King
Jesus. They're clear, aren't they? Go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,
but they won't listen to it. I'm giving you a charge. Egypt in our text is the world
Egypt all through the scripture is the world, this sinful, evil,
present world, the fashion of this world. And the gospel is
all that the Lord has spoken unto us. Like he said, you go
and tell the children of Israel and Pharaoh all the things that
I've spoken unto you. That's the gospel. We're in this
world with this same gospel message of deliverance for God's people.
And he's given us a charge. Turn to Matthew 28. And look
at this with me. This is so familiar, but I want
us to see the language of it in the context of our passage
in Exodus 6 tonight. Matthew 28, 18. And Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,
go ye. Not all power is given to you,
go ye. All power is given to me, go
ye. Therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them To observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. There it is again, all things.
All things that I've spoken to you, you tell them. And lo, I
like this part. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world, amen. That's a good time to remind
us of that, isn't it? He just sent us on a solemn mission. Gave us a charge. An overwhelming, at times, charge. And then he said, I'm gonna be
with you. You remember what God said to Moses when Moses said
unto God, who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, that I should
bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And God said, certainly
I will be with thee. That's who you are. I will be
with thee. And he tells us the same thing
in Matthew 28, 18, gives us the same charge. Go speak the message
of deliverance, salvation. And I'll go with you. 2nd timothy 4 1 paul said to
timothy i charge thee therefore before god and the lord jesus
christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing
in his kingdom preach the word i charge you preach the word
be instant that's ready instant in season and out of season.
And all of this is part of the charge. Now it's preach the word,
but this is how. Be instant in it. Reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. Not my opinions,
but the doctrine, the truth of Christ. For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine. That's why he's giving
you, he's giving them a charge. Well, they won't endure a sound
doctor, so I'll just quit. No, I charge you now, be instant. When nobody seems to care, nobody
wants to hear, and we think sometime, you know, well, let's just throw
up our hands. You know, all of us probably
think that. I'll be instant. I charge you
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave us this commission.
They're not gonna hear it, they're not gonna endure it, but after
their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears. Are we living in those times?
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables.
But watch thou in all things, stay on the watchtower. That's
us now, that's all of us, that's God's people. Endure afflictions. It's part
of the charge, isn't it? Endure afflictions. Do the work
of an evangelist, preacher, gospel preacher. Make full proof of
thy ministry. So you see, we're charged like
Moses and Aaron were. And I'll tell you this, number
five, they are utterly incapable of doing what they are charged
to do. You think about what God told
Moses and Aaron to do. He charged these two men with
bringing his people out of Egypt. Not only are we unworthy for
the work, we're unworthy and we just flat
can't do it. We can't do it. We're not going to be able to
get it done. We're charged with bringing God's
people out. With what weapons? With what
army? Do you realize what it would
take in the flesh to make that happen? Just one weapon. A message. a word from God. That's all you're
going to need. That's all you're going to need.
Like Ezekiel of old, we're set down in the midst of a valley
full of bones. And behold, they're very dry. And the Lord asks us, Son of
man, can these bones live? And we say, O Lord God, thou
knowest. And notice there, and I'm quoting
from Ezekiel chapter 37. Notice the Lord said, son of
man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel said, O Lord God,
you know. Notice how he addresses us. Son
of man, you pile of flesh. Pathetic creature, weak. Breath is in our nostrils. Can these bones live? And notice
how we address him, oh Lord God, you know. And he charges us In Ezekiel
37.4, he says this, prophesy upon these bones, these very
dry bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. An impossible charge. Thank God for verse five, Ezekiel
37.5. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will
cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. That's our
message. That's our message. Live. Live. God's church in this world, we're the light, we're the salt
of the earth. What a charge we have. And this is why Paul said, we're
not sufficient of ourselves, our sufficiency is of God. 2
Corinthians 3, 5. Our sufficiency is of God. And I wouldn't have it any other
way, would you? Our sufficiency is of God. Why
don't we act like that? We act like everything depends
on us, don't we? much of the time. Now God gave
Moses and Aaron this charge, but he had already said to them
in verse one of the same chapter there, now shalt thou see what
I will do to Pharaoh. He sends us into the battle. Let no man that warreth entangleth
himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier." And Paul said, we fought a good
fight. We're fighting this battle, and
we're given the charge to go and fight. But we know and are
comforted in the knowledge that the battle's not ours, it's the
Lord's. We don't fight in our own strength,
we fight in His strength. Now, it doesn't make the charge
any less sobering, that we're charged with stewards of God's
grace, sobering, any less serious and consequential. I don't even
know how to say it. Nothing more important in the
world than the business that God has given us to do in the
gospel ministry. But it does, Comfort us in the
battle to know that we don't fight in our own strength. It's
the Lord's. Number six, let's kind of talk
about the rest of the chapter, Exodus chapter six. From verse
14 through verse 27, we're given a genealogy here. And it's important
to see the entire chapter in this genealogy in its context. The beginning of the chapter,
God charges Moses and Aaron with the deliverance of his people.
He said, I'm giving you a charge to bring them out. And then in
this genealogy, we're told who Moses and Aaron are. And then
at the end of chapter six and the beginning of chapter seven,
we have a continuation of the narrative from before that ended
in verse 13. It's the Lord still speaking
unto them. But we have this sort of parenthetical passage that
gives this genealogy in between there. And there's a reason for
it. This emphasis on Moses and Aaron and who they are in the
nation of Israel, that they are of the children of Israel is
important because they're typical of our Lord Jesus Christ here.
We are, as we've said and seen through this whole passage, we're
given the gospel charge. We are stewards of God's grace.
We're ambassadors of Christ, the King, and we're sent. But
this is the Lord Jesus Christ, God who at sundry times and in
different manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his son. And
it's us speaking for Him as though God did beseech you by us, be
you reconciled to God, but it's His ministry, primarily His ministry. And Moses, so Moses and Aaron,
they not only picture our business, our work in this world in the
preaching of the gospel, but they also both picture Christ.
And it's important who they are because of that. Now, how does
all this pertain to what we've been saying? All night, the charge
given to Moses and Aaron, not only teaches us concerning our
charge, but it's important that we see them as a picture of Christ,
whose ministry we are the stewards of. The gospel is the gospel
concerning God's son. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's his gospel that we preach.
He is the gospel. And we preach what Moses the
prophet preached, but we preach what the prophet preached as
Moses pictures him here. And that's important too. And
Aaron also is a picture also of Christ, isn't he? He's the
high priest. Aaron's the high priest. He hasn't
fulfilled that office yet, but he's God's anointed high priest.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is eternally our high priest. Priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. No beginning of days or end of
days. Always been our priest. And so
Aaron pictures him here also. Moses is God's prophet. And Aaron
is God's anointed high priest. And our message as Paul's was. is in Hebrews 8.1 this is what
Paul said now of the things which we have spoken this is the psalm
we have such a high priest that is the gospel man we have a high
priest we have somebody too that comes into the presence of God
for us a substitute a representative that has somewhat to offer not
the blood of bulls and goats but his own precious blood that's
the gospel ministry As the prophet Moses and Aaron, Christ is both
prophet and priest. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. King. You see that there? He's the prophet, he's the priest,
and he's sitting on the throne of the majesty of the heavens.
He's the king too. prophet, priest, and king. And we see all three offices
of our Lord in our text. And that's why we have this genealogy
here, because let me read you some scripture from the New Testament,
and I think you'll see why the genealogy is important. Acts
3.22. For Moses truly said unto the
fathers, this is Moses speaking to the people of Israel, the
fathers of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise
up unto you of your brethren. He's gonna raise up a prophet
unto you of your brethren. That's why the genealogy. Moses,
if he's gonna be God's prophet, he gotta be one of the people
because he's picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. who is of your
brethren, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, one of us. A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren
like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say to you. You see how Moses pictures that
here? Everything that God said to Moses, Moses delivered to
the people. And he said, you're gonna hear
this prophet likened to me that's of your brethren that God's gonna
raise up and you're gonna hear everything whatsoever he shall
say unto you." And what did the Lord say when he came? He said,
I speak not of myself, but what the Father gave me to preach. That's what I preach. And so
you see how Moses pictures him as the prophet. Christ is the
prophet. He's the one with the message.
Christ is the one that sent Moses down there with that message. He's the one that sent us. If
he didn't, we ought not go. And then secondly, Christ is
the priest, the priest, not a priest. He's the priest. All other priests
are just pictures of him. Just, just, and he's represented
here by Aaron, the high priest of God that God chose as the
high priest. The prophet comes with the word.
The priest comes with an offering. And remember, there's preaching
in our text, but in the context of this, the people are not gonna
be delivered until blood is shed. So there's got to be prophecy,
there's got to be the word of the prophet, but there's also
got to be the work of the priest for God's people to be delivered.
Got to be something offered unto God for their sins. The bondage
that we're delivered from is bondage that we deserve. It's
legal bondage that we deserve and that we can only be released
from by payment of a ransom. And so the high priest comes
with an offering. Also the high priest too, he
had to be taken from among the people. And so again, we see
why the genealogy that includes Moses and Aaron here, It's this
Moses and Aaron. Do you see what he said there
at the end? These are they. Look at verse 26. These are that
Aaron and Moses, the ones that are mentioned here in the verses
in between. That's who they are. And the
priest, the high priest had to also be taken from among the
people. Why? Because he pictures the Lord
Jesus Christ. And listen to this in Hebrews
2.17. This ties it all together as
it did in the case of him as the prophet there. Of your brethren. The prophet's gonna be of your
brethren. In Hebrews 2.17, Paul said, wherefore in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren. Why? That he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest. The priest got to be one of us
too. He got to be like the brethren, like his brethren. It behooved
him to be made like us in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. He can't do that unless he's
one of us. Man sinned. Man got to pay for
sin. And only the God man is able
to do that. But he does it as our high priest,
and then Christ reveals himself also as the king in our text. Well, how does he do that? Moses
is not a king. Aaron's not a king. No, the Lord Jesus Christ himself
speaks as the king. He speaks with all authority.
He comes right into Pharaoh's throne room with his message,
you let my people go. He is the king of his people.
Do you remember when the people of Israel, they begged God, give
us a king, give us an earthly king. You remember what God said? He said, you've rejected me as
your king. That's what you've done. That's
why you want a man to be your king. You've rejected me as your
king. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
reigned over his people, Israel. And he's the one who tells even
the kings of the earth what to do. He's the one with all authority
that we saw Sunday morning. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. And this is what we do here.
And this chapter six reminds us again that of our business
in this world. We're given a charge by God.
It has to do with the deliverance of his people, but that's a daunting
charge, isn't it? But bless God, he doesn't send
us out to do it in the flesh, to preach the message of deliverance
in the flesh. No, it's the gospel, the power
of the gospel. We've got that rod, we've got
that authority of Christ. The power. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. Paul's in on it. Paul's involved
in it. He was the messenger. He's given
a charge. But it's God's message and it's
God's power. And that's where we are. But
here's what we're here to do. We come with a charge. We've
been given a charge. And so we've come. We go into
this world. And We go with authority from
Christ the King. He said, I've sent you and I'm
going with you. And we come with a word, don't
we? How in the world is Moses and Aaron gonna bring the people
out? Surely they're gonna have to have cannons and bows and
arrows and everything that they can, they didn't have cannons
then, did they? Every weapon that they could
come up with. No, just a word. Just a message. And the power
of God is in that message. That gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. The word of the prophet. That's
what we come with. And the word concerns Christ
the high priest who offered the offering that takes away sin. He is the priest and he is the
lamb that takes away sin. And it's a message from the king.
So the one who is prophet, priest, and king has sent us with this
chart. And by his grace, we preach him. It's overwhelming what he
sent us to do. We're absolutely unable to do
it. Who is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is of
God.