And we'll begin reading in verse
10. We'll read through verse 17,
Exodus chapter 4. And Moses said unto the Lord,
O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since. Now I have spoken unto thy servant,
but 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, and I will
be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And
he said, oh 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 seeth
thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto
him, and put 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. And we'll stop there for tonight.
Contrast in the scripture is important.
And it's instructive because it gives us a true perspective
on anything or anyone. Contrast. We see it in almost
every lesson. in the Word of God. If you only
knew what the New Testament said about Moses, we didn't have the
book of Exodus. You'd think that Moses was some
kind of superhuman being that God created, different from others
for this task of delivering the Hebrews. But we do have the book
of Exodus, but listen to what the New Testament, how it talks
about Moses. Listen, Hebrews three and verse
five, and Moses verily was faithful in all his house. Faithful, full of faith. This one who is saying to God,
I can't speak. God's already said, I'm going
with you. God, he said, they're not gonna listen to me. God already
said, they will hearken unto thy voice. Full of faith. He was faithful in all his house
as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to
be spoken after. And we remember what's said concerning
Moses in Hebrews chapter 11 from our study there. By faith Moses
when he was born was hid three months of his parents because
they saw he was a proper child And they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. And by faith, Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Through faith, he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. By faith, they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do,
were drowned. By faith, by faith, by faith. We don't see much faith in our
passage tonight, though, in Exodus, do we? But here in Hebrews there's
nary a mention of God getting angry with Moses or the reason
why God was angry with Moses. For Moses directly contradicting
what God had said about the Hebrew elders hearkening unto his voice. And for Moses raising objection
after objection to God's clear command unto him. Moses go. There was nothing unclear about
what Moses was supposed to do, but he keeps raising objection
after objection. We read in Exodus all that happened
there, and we get true perspective. You see the contrast. The contrast
gives us perspective. We get true perspective on our
nature, on what you and I are made out of. And what God does also when he
gives faith to a sinner in this contract. We see that too, don't
we? We see what a mighty work God
does when he gives faith to a sinner
because what's written in Hebrews is just as true as what's written
in Exodus. By faith, he did choose the reproach
of Christ. He did see all the treasures
of Egypt. the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He would have had servants
at his every beck and call. Riches beyond imagination. The favor of everybody who was
anybody. Everything a man could wish in
this world who doesn't know the Lord. But the Lord had already
ruined him. And he said, I'd rather have
Christ. He chose Christ. That's true. He did do that.
by faith, by God-given faith. But also Moses, in and of himself, was a faithless
fool, just like you and I are, in and of ourselves. That's why Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. No mention in Hebrews of his foolishness here and how
that God was angered at Moses. I'll tell you what else we see
here. Again, we've seen this. We go in our Hebrew study. We
went back to the Old Testament so much, and you see these contrasts. We see again in this how God
sees us in Christ. God sees us in Christ's trophies
of His grace. When you read the account of
Moses in Hebrews about how, by faith, by faith, by faith, he
did this and he did that, you can't help but think of Job and
how the Lord spoke to Satan about Job. In Job 2.3, the Lord said
unto Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There's none
like him in the earth. A perfect and an upright man. You go out in this wicked world
and show me somebody like my servant Job. Perfect and upright,
one that feareth God and escheweth evil. He hates what I hate. He
hates evil. And still he holdeth fast his
integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him
without a cause. You know why he's holding fast
his integrity? Because he got it from God. faith
that God gave him. That's how Job was able to say,
though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. As God's killing me,
I'll be trusted in his name. That's the faith that God gives.
And bragging, can you imagine God speaking of you like that? I can't. I tried. I tried. I can't imagine it.
I'm flat honest with you. There's none like him in the
earth, in this world, in this wicked, sinful world. There's
nobody like my people, my servants, trophies of his grace. That's how he sees us in Christ.
In Exodus, we have an accurate account of Moses's life and actions. It's perfectly accurate. No punches
are pulled, no rose-colored glasses, and we see King David that way
in the scriptures, don't we, and Abraham their foolishness,
their faithlessness. But in Hebrews, we also have
an accurate account, don't we? Of how God sees us in Christ.
Faithful. Why doesn't it mention Moses'
unbelief in Hebrews? Because in Christ, it never happened. God sees us in Christ. It never happened in Christ.
If it happened, then Moses must go to hell. Do we understand
that? If it happened at all, Moses
must go to hell, along with the rest of us. Now we might be wading out a
little deeper here, so please listen closely. The only way
I know how to understand this, and I understand it about as
much as I understand anything by God's grace, not enough to
impress anybody, but enough to have great comfort in Christ
by God's grace and to have some clear direction from God. But
as I was saying, I can only understand this as I consider things with
two sets of two-fold perspective. There are two sets of two-fold
perspective that help me understand. First of all, you've got to consider
the sinner in himself and the sinner in Christ. That's one
twofold perspective, me and me in Christ. You've got to understand
that. You've got to be able to see
in the word of God, just flat us, just our flesh. Paul said
in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. But then there's
the me that's holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight
of God. That's me in Christ. You've got to see this that way.
You've got to see Moses with that two-fold perspective. And
then there's another two-fold perspective that I think is important.
Secondly, we must be aware of the two realms of time and eternity. God deals with us in temporal things a certain
way, and in eternal perspective a different way. What does that have to do with
anything, Chris? Well, explain to me, without those perspectives,
without those twofold perspectives, how God can be displeased with
what Moses did and also it never happened. Explain that to me. Explain to me how God here in
Exodus chapter four can be angry with Moses, somebody who he's
seen in Christ, his son without blemish and without spot for
all eternity. Never seen his people any other
way except in Christ. How can he be angry? There's
me and there's me in Christ. There's God's temporal dealings
with us in which he chastises us and does get angry. And then there's our eternal
standing in Christ in which God has never been. You think God
was ever angry with Christ? Then he hadn't been angry with
you either in that sense, in an eternal sense. I hope that's
clear. You're not going to understand
it any other way. And I'm not making this up. These are scriptural
things. We see ourselves in ourselves
in the scriptures, don't we? And we see ourselves in Christ
in the scriptures. And we have to remember the difference.
We also have to remember there's time and there's eternity. It's
important. God cannot accept less than perfection. And he's not angry with perfection.
You see what I'm saying? If God's gonna accept you, it's
not up to you to accept him, but it is up to him to accept
you. And if he's going to accept you, you're going to have to
be perfect. And he doesn't get angry with
perfection, but we understand there's me and there's me in
Christ. There's time. There's God dealing with us in
this walk in this life, the walk of faith in which he chastises
us. And there is anger. There's displeasure
in some things. We're going to look at that in
second Samuel 11, 27. Let me quote it to you instead
of turning there. But in order to understand this,
we've got to see and realize and remember that God cannot
accept less than perfection. But that God, who is of purer
eyes than to behold evil, He can't have anything to do with
us except condemnation and wrath, if there's any sin in us, if
there's any sin laid to our charge. But that God, that God, is also
well pleased and delighted with Moses at the same time that he's
angry with him. On that day, right there, when
Moses was standing there at that burning bush, God was both perfectly
pleased with Moses and angry with him. There's me and there's
me in Christ. And you're not going to, it's
not going to make sense any other way. God is displeased with our
sin, our unbelief. Second Samuel 11, 27. And when
the morning was passed, the M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, the morning, David wept over
his sin and repented before God because of his horrible sin.
And when the morning was passed, David sinned and fetched her,
Bathsheba, to his house. And she became his wife and Barry,
my son. But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord. Displeased him. Did our Lord
say to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan? And yet also in Christ,
Peter's without spot, without blemish. You look at that verse
in Matthew 16, 23, where the Lord spoke there, get thee behind
me, Satan. It doesn't say there, Christ
didn't say, to Satan, who was influencing Peter, get thee behind
me, Satan. It says, the Lord said to Peter,
get thee behind me, Satan. With regard to us in ourselves,
from a temporal perspective, God is well aware of our infirmity. He still calls us like he did
the disciples of old, oh ye of little faith. He has no illusions
about our faithfulness, and in Christ, because Christ was faithful,
because my representative is without blemish and without spot,
because he was never angry with him. He never been angry with
me either in that sense. From an eternal perspective,
in Christ, God's never been displeased with me and never will be. I
hope that's clear. Again, I understand it about
as much as I understand anything of the gospel. The things of
God are unfathomable, aren't they? And yet glorious. Now let's
recognize something here in all of Moses' unbelief and all of
his objections to God's command. Everything Moses says to God,
everything he brings up, points out his own inability. And everything
that God says to Moses shows and points out and emphasizes
God's own power. Look at, think of it with me
here. In chapter three, verse 11, Moses said, who am I? That
I should, that you should send me. Now think about this. Moses
is asking a question, who am I? God's answer is this. Here's who you are, Moses. I
will go with you. He didn't say anything about
Moses at all. Moses was just thinking about me, looking at
the flesh. Who am I? How am I going to get
this thing up? God's answer had nothing to do with Moses, did
it? Except in this, I'm going to be with you. You see the two
perspectives? In the beginning of chapter four,
Moses says, they're not going to believe me. And God answers,
you show them these signs that I'll give you the power to do
and perform. show them my power show them
my salvation and they will believe not because of your credentials
moses they're not going to be impressed with you but they're
going to believe because of my power and here in our text moses
says i can't talk good you see how objection after objection
what was god's answer who made your mouth you see how what perspective
moses is speaking from me, me, me. And God is saying, I, I,
I'll be with you. I'll give you power to perform
these signs. I'll be with your mouth. I made
your mouth. I'll go with you. And that's just like us, isn't
it? When we start looking in here, we'll despair. will object, will
be faithless. Confidence and comfort and peace
and faith doesn't come from looking in here and taking account, assessing
our own abilities. In the believer's case, inabilities
is all we have. That's all we have. But the one
here, Moses, and us, who is telling you to go and what to do when
you get there, major mouth to begin with. And you're going
to talk about how you're unable to speak. You reckon he can give
that mouth that he created something to say if he's pleased to do
so? It's not about you, Moses. That's the lesson here. Moses
is like, well, me, they won't hear me. I can't talk good. Who am I? And God is like, speaking
of his power, his grace, his signs. which was the gospel Christ
set forth. His presence. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. If he gives you some little something
to do, it ain't because he's dependent on you. It ain't because
he needs your help. It's because he gets glory using
a pathetic thing like you to accomplish his mighty purposes.
That's how he gets glory. And because he's gracious to
you and me to let us in on it. Because it's a blessing to us,
isn't it? To be in on it. Just to be in
on it. Moses said, I'm unqualified.
Really? You think God doesn't know that?
I'm unqualified. Then God might just use you. He might. He might. Well, I've studied a lot. I'm
a pretty good speaker. You know, if you ever need some
help, I've heard that a few times. God can't use you. He won't use
you. I'm telling you flat out. You're
not getting any glory. I'm not getting any glory. None. Is that all right with you? None. It's all going to be his. Moses
said I can't even talk right God said go Look at what God
said in verse 11 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 Most people especially religious people
Read like John chapter 9 for example the man that was blind
from his birth. And I've talked to some people
about things like that. I know you've heard this before
on the job or wherever. People think, well, Satan caused
that man to be born blind. God doesn't make bad things like
that happen. And the Lord Jesus, he counteracted
what Satan did. Chalk up a W for the Lord. He
beat Satan. No, the Lord's the one that made
him blind to begin with. I don't see how you could read
that any other way. Can you? Who made the blind and the deaf
and the dumb? Who made your mouth? Who gives
it power to speak? Who gives a man something to
say or shuts him up? God can shut a man up if he's
pleased to do so. The Lord's the one that made
him blind. Oh no, they would say God doesn't create anything
that isn't perfect. He doesn't have anything to do
with bad things that happen. Why would God make a man blind
and then later, much later, in this case, in John 9, give him
his sight back? Well, the Lord answers that question
in John 9, 3, doesn't he? He told his disciples, that man
was born blind, that the works of God might be made manifest
in him. That's why God does everything
that he does, to display his mighty power and grace, to set
forth his glory. Isaiah 45, 7, I form the light.
I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
He said to Pharaoh, I raised you up. That old reprobate Pharaoh,
who gave him authority? Who made him a king in Egypt? God said, I raised you up. Why
would God do that? Why wouldn't he put one of his
people, you know, over that name? He said, I did it to make my
power known in you. That's why I did it. He did it for the same reason
he does everything he does, to put on display his power and
his glory. He said there in our text, who
hath made the dumb, the deaf, the blind? This is true spiritually
speaking also. Do you have ears to hear? Let him that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Do you? Thank God. Thank God
for that. Who makes the dumb spiritually?
Proverbs 20 verse 12, the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the Lord
hath made even both of them. If you have ears to hear it's
because he gave them to you, spiritually speaking. Turn to
John chapter 12. Look at John 12, 37. Though He had done so many miracles
before them, yet they believed not on Him. Why not? Why don't people believe on Him?
Well, because of our sin, no question about that. Because we by nature hate the
Lord, we don't believe Him or want to have anything to do with
Him by nature. And these people were left to themselves. What's
the first cause? What's the reason behind all
the reasons? That the saying of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe
because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes.
nor understand what their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his glory. If we ever see his glory, we'll
be talking like that too. We'll be talking about the sovereign
God who does as he pleases, who gives mercy to whom he will.
We'll see him high and lifted up like Isaiah did. and will
rejoice in his glory and his power to save, his prerogative
to save. When he saw his glory and spake
of him, I can't understand that, you say.
Well, here's what you need to understand and act upon. You
can debate God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. People
have been doing that since the beginning of time, I suppose.
Book upon book upon book has been written about it. You can
read them, you can argue. You find somebody to argue with
you about it. But here's what we need to do.
Bow to the sovereign Christ and say, thy will be done. He can save you or damn you. He has the right, the authority,
and the power, and He will do one or the other on the basis
of His own will alone. He puts you in hell just because
He wants to, or He'll save you just because He wants to, after
the counsel of His own will. I bow. I bow. That's what I do. That's what
by his grace I have done. I pray. I want to bow ever lower
before him in the dust. And don't come before him presumptuously. The one who does as he pleases,
like religious people do. They talk about, you know, when
they get good and ready, you know, they'll decide something
before God. Really? God's already decided it all. He don't need
you to decide anything. He's already decided everything.
What you need to do is come begging for mercy. Come begging for mercy. Don't come bragging. Come begging.
That's our business. You want to try to figure it
out, God? Go ahead. But what you gotta do is come
begging. Come begging. That's my solemn recommendation to all. who hear. God has revealed his son for
the forgiveness of sin. He has set forth his gospel from
the beginning. In the signs that we saw, in
the coats of skins that he covered our parents with in the garden,
in Abel's sacrifice, he has set forth Christ. He has declared
his righteousness for the remission of sins, Paul said in Romans.
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. He set forth Christ to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. Our business is to bow and believe
and to own him as our righteousness. It's one thing to agree that
Christ is the only right, it's another thing to say He's my
righteousness. Own Him as your righteousness
before God, your only righteousness. It's one thing to believe He
died on a cross and was buried and rose again and that He was
a substitute for sinners, to know some truth. It's another
thing to own Him and trust Him and embrace Him as my substitute,
my sin offering. I know that I have to have an
offering before God for my sin. Christ is that offering. He is
the only offering that God will accept for sin. That's our business to bow, believe,
and own the Lord Jesus Christ as ours, not to question God's
sovereignty. I know enough by God's grace
to be glad that salvation is in his hands and not mine. I know enough by God's grace
to know and I'm to be glad that the salvation of my children
is in his hands and not theirs. I'm glad, aren't you? I'm glad. Back to the text. God said, I'll
be with your mouth. That's where our confidence comes
from. If you ever say anything for God as a witness, as a preacher,
as a teacher, as a Sunday school teacher, as a parent, as a friend,
This is our only confidence. I will be with your mouth. I
will teach it what to say. Paul said, who is sufficient
for these things? God answered that question for
Moses, didn't he? Moses was saying, I'm not sufficient. I'm not qualified. Who am I?
I'll go with you. Somebody is sufficient and it's
not you. It's not about you. If we don't
learn anything else tonight, let's learn that. It's not about
you. It's not about me. I think Paul
learned this. He said in 2 Corinthians 3, 5,
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as
of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the spirit, for the letter killeth. but the spirit giveth
life. God made us ministers. He made
us able to declare the new covenant, the covenant of grace in his
blood. And our sufficiency is of him. That's our confidence
to say anything for God. In any of those roles, parent,
teacher, friend, pastor. What made God angry with Moses?
Well, look at verse 13. After God said, now, God has
already answered his objection. Well, I can't talk. I can't talk
good. God answered that objection and
Moses still comes back and he said, oh my Lord, send I pray
thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And what he's saying there, that
word will, It's should. Send your message by the hand
of somebody you should send. He's still saying here one more
time, send somebody else, anybody else. That's what Moses is saying. And God's angry with him. Unbelief. We don't have any idea the horror
of the sin of unbelief. Surely unbelief is the quintessential
sin. It's the father of all sins.
I know that pride was present in the garden. I know that Satan
said you'll be as God's. And we like the sound of that
because of our sin. But pride and unbelief are inseparable
compound evil. God said one thing, and Satan
said another thing, and they listened to Satan and acted on
what Satan said. not what God said. That's unbelief. We don't have any idea the horror
of it. Moses here, in spite of clear
revelation from God, still doubts what God said, still questions
what God said, still objects to what God said. If I told you
that I murdered someone recently, killed him in cold blood, Now,
they deserved it, of course. I wouldn't have done it if they
hadn't deserved it. And I got away with it, so everything's okay.
You'd have to get another pastor, wouldn't you? And rightly so,
if that was true. But if I told you, in shame,
I don't half believe what God said, I'm guilty of unbelief,
of doubting God, what would your reaction to that be? You'd probably
think, Okay, you know. Didn't everybody? We have no idea what it is, do
we? No idea. It's no big deal to us to question
God, to murmur. That God was angry with him,
displeased. And I pray that God would give
us some idea terrible nature of unbelief.
We don't have much idea about it. But God is merciful to Moses
also here. He's condescending, isn't he?
He's gracious. He accommodates Moses' infirmity
in spite of his unbelief. It doesn't make the unbelief
okay. It doesn't condone it. It doesn't excuse it. It doesn't
cover it over. Christ's blood alone can do that. But I'm glad that God is long-suffering
with us, aren't you? I'm so full of unbelief. Thank God for his kindness and
long-suffering. And so God accommodates here
Moses' infirmity, and he says, I'll send Aaron with you. Aaron's
a good speaker. And I'm sure that Moses was more
comfortable with that. Don't you imagine? I'm sure he
felt a lot better about going. He finally shut up about it anyway,
about with his objections. And I'm sure he was a lot more
comfortable with Aaron going along. Aaron apparently was a
pretty good speaker, but that wasn't what made Moses successful.
Look at verse 17. It doesn't matter who Moses takes
with him. Did you notice also that God said, I'll be with Aaron's
mouth and your mouth. Moses, Aaron is a better speaker,
but he's unqualified too. It's going to have to be me.
It's going to have to be God, isn't it? It doesn't matter what
your credentials are. God's going to have to be with my mouth.
He's going to have to be with your mouth. He's going to have to
be with anybody's mouth that's going to say anything that's
worth saying. Or it won't happen. It doesn't matter who they are.
But then look at verse 17, and thou shalt take this rod in your
hand. Take Aaron with you. But here's your success. Here's
your power. Here's my presence and favor.
Take this rod in your hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. And as we
read through this, these next several chapters, and we see
the wonders that Moses was, able to do by God's power and grace
and purpose and sending. We're going to hear a lot about
that rod. Every time anything happens, it says that Moses took the rod
in his hand and smoked the water or did this or that and the other
thing, threw it down, the things that God said he would be able
to. He took the rod in his hand. He took the rod in his hand.
He held up that rod at the Red Sea. When he was saying, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, he was holding that
rod up in the air. When they fought with the Amalekites,
I believe it was, where we read the other night, he was holding
that rod up in the air. Take Aaron with you if it makes
you feel better, but I'll be with his mouth, I'll be with
your mouth, and take the rod with you. That's God's power,
God's presence, God's favor. God's ability. I'll tell you
who that is. That's Christ. That's who that
is. That's Christ. Moses says, I can't talk and
they won't listen. Yeah, but let me ask you, are
dead sinners going to come to life because I'm a good speaker?
We're out of our depth, aren't we? You're going to have to take
the rod with you. You're going to have to have
the presence and power of God with you. It doesn't matter who
you are. Well, they won't hear me. Are they going to come to
life because of their willingness to hear? Why will they then? Why will they come to life if
they do? He said, I give life to whom I will. If he's with
us and he gives us the word, he'll tell us what to say. He'll
give us the message. He gives us the commit, he's
the one that sent us in the New Testament. He sent his disciples
just like he did Moses from this book. And what did he say? Do you remember what he said
to his disciples? He said, go and preach. Those
that hear you, I'll save them. Those that won't, I'll damn them.
And I'll be with you. The same thing he said to Moses. And if he's not, I don't want
to go to you. Dead sinners aren't going to
live because I prepared well and I'm able to elaborate. He said, I'll go with you. I'll
give you the message. I'll be with your mouth. I made
your mouth. It's my message. It's his mission. It's his power. If otherwise, I wouldn't. I wouldn't
be up here right now, you wouldn't be hearing me. But we have boldness,
don't we? Because we come with his message.
We're ambassadors of the king, and so we speak clearly, without
compromise. And trust him, the one who said,
my people shall hearken unto your voice. We trust him, and
our confidence and sufficiency is of him.