far in the book of Exodus we
have seen the Lord God performing both judgment and mercy judgment
against his enemies and mercy upon his people judgment upon
Egypt and mercy upon Israel judgment upon Amalek and mercy upon Israel
we have seen picture after picture of God's salvation in Christ
and the grace of God that is ours in Christ. The Lord God
demonstrates our Lord's great sacrifice for us in the Passover
lamb. He demonstrates his saving operations
of grace and bringing Israel across the Red Sea and drowning
Pharaoh and all the armies of Egypt in the sea. We saw the
cross of Christ and its sweetening effect upon the bitter things
that are the result of Adam's sin and the ruin of our race
in the tree cast into the bitter waters of Marah. The Lord God
rained manna from heaven and gave us a picture of Christ,
the bread of life, sent down from heaven for the saving of
our souls. The rock that followed the children
of Israel through the wilderness is smitten by the rod of Moses
and water gushes out of the rock for the salvation of God's people.
And there again is a picture of our Savior smitten for us,
out of whom flows the water of life by God the Holy Spirit,
given to us as the blessing of Abraham, the blessing of the
covenant through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight
we're going to pick up in chapter 18. Moses and the children of
Israel are encamped in Riphidim at the Mount of God. The title
of my message tonight is Moses' Great Mistake. Brother Lindsey
asked me whenever he comes in, Sunday morning, Sunday evening,
Tuesday night, what the subject is, and I told him tonight, Moses'
Great Mistake. And he said, mistakes? I said,
no, singular, Moses' Great Mistake. He made many, as we all do. This
one is singular and it stands out from the others in many ways. Hold your Bibles open here at
Exodus 18. I want to show you six or seven
things here in this chapter that I pray God the Holy Spirit will
give us understanding of and I pray he will lay to our hearts
as only he can. Number one, let it be clearly
understood that Moses was a remarkable, truly faithful man. He was a
man of faith and he was a faithful man. He was a man who honored
God as he walked before him by faith in this world. Let that
be understood clearly. Exodus 18 begins with Jethro,
Moses' father-in-law, bringing his wife Zipporah and their two
sons, Gershom and Eleazar, back to Moses at the Mount of God. Let's read the first verses.
When Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of
all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, and
that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, then Jethro, Moses'
father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent
her back, and her two sons, of which the name of the one was
Gershom, For he said, I have been an alien in a strange land. And the name of the other was
Eleazar. For the God of my father, said
he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife
unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount
of God. And he said unto Moses, I, thy
father-in-law Jethro, and come unto thee and thy wife and her
two sons with her. Now it had been a long, long
time since Moses had laid eyes on his wife Zipporah. It had
been a long, long time since he had seen either of his two
sons. His wife and his sons whom he
loved and loved dearly just as you love your wife and love your
children. It had been over a year since
he saw them. More than a year since he last
spoke to them. More than a year since he had
any correspondence with them of any kind. And their parting
had not been exactly pleasant. Turn back to Exodus chapter 4.
You'll remember the incident. God met Moses in the inn on his
way to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. There was an issue that
had to be dealt with. Moses, because of Zipporah, had
not circumcised his sons. And God said, you're either going
to circumcise them here and now, or I'm going to kill you. And Zipporah had to do the deed.
either because Moses was too weak or because that's what God
required. But Zipporah had to take a sharp
stone and circumcise her two sons, and she didn't like it
a bit. After she had circumcised her
son, she threw the foreskin at Moses' feet and cussed him. She just cussed him. Look at
what she says in verse 24. And it came to pass by the way
in the end that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone
and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet
and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. Better, it would
be translated, a husband of blood art thou to me. So he let her
go. Then she said, a husband of blood
thou art, because of the circumcision. Now that tells me several things,
and I'll just give you two or three things in passing. Number
one, don't let anyone tell you that obedience to God is not
important. Obedience to God is important. Folks say, well, you folks believe
in predestination. You don't recognize any matter
of responsibility. Oh, not so. Not so. God was about to kill Moses and
would have had he not been obedient. Now, the Lord God Almighty graciously
arranged the obedience. But let no one imagine that obedience
is not important. Marriage, I just told you about
Eric and Amy getting engaged. I've known both of them all their
lives, literally all their lives. And I can't tell you how delighted
I am for them. But marriage to one who will
not worship God with you is to marry trouble. You heard that, didn't you? Don't
marry someone who won't worship God with you. You will marry
trouble. Trouble for the rest of your
life. Zipporah then took her boys and went home to daddy. Actually, Moses' center home. He said, I've got things to do,
you're in the way, and I can't do what I've got to do with you
tagging along. You go back home. You go back
home. Zipporah would have been a hindrance
to Moses in the work to which God had called him. He went on
to Egypt to do what God had appointed him to do. And now a full year
later, after Jethro heard what the Lord had done with Moses,
he brought Zipporah and the boys back to him. Now there is an
obvious picture here, typical picture that's instructive and
great. Zipporah being reconciled to Moses may be taken to represent
the reconciliation of God's elect of Christ's church to himself. Zipporah was a black woman. a
Midianite. We know that because Miriam and
Aaron mocked her for being an Ethiopian for which the Lord
God struck them with leprosy and would have killed them had
Moses not intervened. This woman, Zipporah then, was
a sinful woman from a cursed race of people. And the Lord
God Almighty takes His church from a sinful, cursed race of
men and women. Zipporah came to Moses with two
sons. Gershom, who was named Gershom
because Moses said, I've been a stranger in a strange land. Gershom, I am a stranger, a stranger
and an alien from the commonwealth of Israel by nature. a stranger
and an alien from the covenants of promise by sin. I am alienated
from God and a stranger to him, a stranger. And she brings another
son by the name of Eliezer, whose name means God is my help. God
is my salvation. I'm nothing, but in Christ Jesus,
I have everything. She and Moses are now brought
together after this long period of separation. A long period
of separation because of her anger at Moses. Because of her
alienation from Moses. But now they're brought together,
and they're brought together where God and his people always
meet. At the Mount of God. At the foot
of Mount Sinai, where justice demands satisfaction. At the
foot of Mount Calvary, where justice finds satisfaction. Moses was a husband of blood
to Zipporah. They were reconciled by blood.
Blood of a covenant God Almighty had ordained. Blood by which
a covenant was sealed to these boys. They were reconciled on
the basis of this blood covenant being fulfilled. And that's exactly
how God's people Enemies in themselves against God are reconciled to
Him. It is by a blood covenant, a
blood covenant sealed to our hearts in the new birth, a covenant
of blood, the blood of the everlasting covenant of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer, and by that blood alone we stand accepted to God and
we are reconciled to God. Now on the day that Jethro, Zipporah,
and their two sons, Gershom and Eleazar, came back to Moses,
Moses faithfully reported to them everything that God had
done. Look at verses 7 and 8. Moses
went out to meet his father-in-law and did obeisance and kissed
him. That is, he gave him the kind
of reverence a father-in-law rightfully deserves. And they
asked each other of their welfare. And they came into the tent,
and Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto
Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the
travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord
delivered them. He told Jethro how God worked
wonders in the land of Ham. He told Jethro about the Passover
blood and God passing over his people and the screeching, the
screeching of the damned households in Egypt that night. He told
Jethro how Pharaoh and his armies pursued them as they left Egypt
and they carried out all the spoils of the Egyptians and told
him how that God dumped Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea,
and they gathered up the spoils from them on the seashore as
they lay dead before them. How the Lord saved Israel and
all that they had gone through since they came out of Egypt.
And when Jethro heard Moses' report of God's wondrous works,
he was ecstatic. Look at verse 9. And Jethro rejoiced
for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom
he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians, And Jethro
said, Blessed be the Lord who hath delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath
delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now
I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, for in the thing
wherein they dealt proudly, he was above them. And Jethro Moses'
father-in-law took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God and Aaron
came and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law
before God. As we'll see in just a little
bit, Jethro's heart was unchanged. But he is so excited by what
he saw and heard that he rejoiced in God's goodness to his son-in-law
Moses. His son-in-law is now established
as a great leader on the national scene of Israel, but more than
that, he's established as a great leader in all that part of the
world. He stands out now as one with
whom God is, and the report of this man's power and his God's
power has spread through all the nations of the earth. Jethro
comes down and hears about it. He says, that's my boy. My daughter
married him. That's my son-in-law. He's tickled
to death. He extolled the Lord God, not
only as the Lord Jehovah, but as the greatest of all gods,
and even made sacrifices to God. Sacrifices according to God's
holy law. Sacrifices according to the law
before ever the law was given. Now here's another remarkable
thing about Moses. Look at verse 13. And it came to pass on the morrow,
Jethro shows up the night before, late in the afternoon, about
supper time, and he's got his daughter-in-law, Zipporah,
or his daughter Zipporah and his grandchildren, Gershom and
Eleazar. Next morning, next morning, Moses
hadn't seen that woman in a year. Next morning. He hadn't seen
his sons in a year. Next morning. And not only hadn't
seen them, they didn't have email or cell phones or even wired
phones. He hadn't talked to them or heard
from them in a year. Next morning. Moses sat to judge
the people. And the people stood by Moses
from morning until the evening. How did Moses spend the next
day? All day long, from sunup to sundown, Moses was found doing
exactly what God sent him to do, and his family didn't interfere. Well, what's your family going
to think? You go out to the congregation
of God, spend the day, and leave them at home. Well, frankly,
it doesn't much matter what my family thinks. Doesn't much matter
what they think. I'll be real happy if they join
me in worshiping God, but they're not going to keep me from worshiping
God. I'll be real happy if they delight with me in the worship
of God, but they're not going to infill me worshiping God.
But Moses, you haven't seen them in a year. I've come here to
worship God and to serve God, and my family can't stand in
my way. John Gill accurately observed. Though his father-in-law came
to visit him, he did not neglect the care of God's people and
the business that lay upon his hands as God's prophet." Oh, my God. Teach me that lesson. Teach me that lesson. And teach you that lesson. If you want to do your family
good, don't allow your family to keep you from worshiping God
ever. What would they think if I leave
them? What would they think of your God if you leave him to
stay with them? What? Don't do anything that
would keep your family from the worship and service of God. Just
don't do it. All right, second. This man Moses,
this man of great faith and faithfulness, was a man highly honored of God. Moses honored God and God honored
Moses. And Bobby, that's the way it
always is. First Samuel 2 verse 30, them
that honor me I will honor. saith the Lord. Them that honor me I will honor. The Lord God had taken this man's
servant, or this man Moses, and made him his servant. He made
him the judge and pastor, the leader and teacher of a congregation
of well over four million That's a responsibility, Darwin.
There were 600,000 footmen, not counting women, children, and
old folks. Well over 4 million people. Moses
is a man who's given a great work to do. He is God's spokesman
to God's people in the day in which he lived. The Apostle Paul
said, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, Is this
grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ? Oh, what a great work. What a
great work. And what a demanding work. All day long, every day, six
days a week, from sunup to sundown, from the time he got up and shaved
and ate his breakfast and got to the office, to the time he
was wore out at the end of the day. All day long, he spent his
days laboring for God's people. That's called giving yourself
to the work. Moses all the time was God's
servant. And being God's servant all the
time, he was Israel's servant. Not servant in subjection to
Israel. but servant for Israel's sake
in subjection to God Almighty. And the work involved great honor. Look at verse 15, Exodus 18.
Moses said to his father-in-law, his father-in-law said, Moses,
why do you do it? Verse 14, he said, because the
people come to me to inquire of God. They come to me to know the Word
of God and the will of God and understanding in that which God
has caused to be revealed. And when they have a matter,
they come to me and I judge between one and another. And I do make
them know the statutes of God and His laws. I make them to
know the statutes of God and His laws. That is, I make them
to know the Word of God. He's not talking here just about
the commandments given in the law. The law wasn't given again,
wasn't given until we get to chapter 20. He's talking here
about the whole revelation of God's Word. It's my responsibility
as God's spokesman to His people to make known to His people the
Word of God and the will of God, to explain to them what God means
by what He says. That's my business. It's a work
for which God Almighty alone could equip him and did equip
him. I had someone just last week
come up to me and said, Brother Don, I need you to help me. I
need you to teach me how to preach. And he's a dear friend. I've
known him a long time, much older than I am. And I said, Brother
Don, I can't teach you how to preach or anybody else. I can teach you how to outline
a passage of Scripture. I can teach you how to present
Bible studies. I can teach you how to write
out things. I can't teach you how to preach. I can't give you
understanding in Scripture. I can't cause you to know the
Word of God. And I can't teach you how to preach. If God has
you marked for this work, God will equip you, and only He can. He will equip you Himself, and
He will equip you constantly. Constantly. And if God equips
you for the work, He's called you to it. And if God doesn't
equip you for it, He hasn't called you to it. It's just that simple.
Well, who's sufficient for these things, Paul said. And then he
said, Our sufficiency is of God. How dares a man stand up here
to speak to Larry Brown and his wife in the name of God? How dares a man expect men to
hear the Word of God from his limbs? How dares a man do so? Only if God sends Him. Everything else is utter presumption. Utter presumption. But when Jethro saw what Moses
was doing, he said, let me just give you a summary of verses
17 through 22, 23. He said, Moses, the thing that
you're doing is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away Both
thou and this people, that is with thee, for this thing is
too heavy for thee. Moses knew that. He was fully
aware of that. Thou art not able to perform
it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, and
I will give you counsel. I have met many Jethro's in my
time. I meet them every day. Every
day. If I should, it's called David
Smiley, if I, you should introduce me to a fellow who's in your
business painting and tell him I'm your pastor. If we spend
enough time to sip a cup of coffee together, he will tell me how
to take care of preaching. I'll guarantee it. I don't care
if the man was born yesterday. Every mother's son is an authority
about the things of God. An authority about how to serve
God. An authority about how the church
ought to be conducted. An authority about how preaching
ought to be done. Jethro had been here almost 12
hours. Maybe 20 hours, maybe. But part
of that time he was asleep. And he'd been sitting and watching.
And he said, I've got a better way to do this. I can tell you
a better way to do this, Moses. I don't have a clue who God is,
but I'll tell you how to do it. I don't have a clue how God works,
but I can tell you how this ought to be done. He said, appoint
some men to help you, appoint judges to help you, and God will
be with you. God had been with him all the
while. He'd been with him. He met God
in the bush back there when he was still at Jethro's house.
so shall it be easier for thyself. You, my dear friends, and other
friends, this dear lady here, my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law,
keep saying that you got to back off and you just got to take
it easy. You got to learn to to let go
of some things. God helping me, I can't and I
won't. Not for me and not for her. It won't happen. It won't happen. Easy street is always wrong way
boulevard. Now, that's true in every aspect
of life, but it's more true with regard to this business of serving
our God than anything else. Easy doesn't matter. Doesn't
matter. Jethro said, you appoint these
judges to help you, and they will bear the burden with you,
and thou shalt be able to endure. Now, here's the third thing. Moses made a horrible, horrible
mistake. No doubt what Jethro said, he
said out of a genuine concern for his son-in-law. No doubt
what Jethro said made perfectly good sense. It was exactly what
any reasonable man would do. No doubt what Jethro said is
what anybody who had studied the issue and the pressures and
the difficulties would say, that's the way to do things. That's
the way it ought to be done. But you remember what the Apostle
Paul said when God called him? He said immediately, I conferred
not with flesh and blood. You don't dare. And I'll tell
you why. because flesh and blood will
always tell you wrong. Not might will always tell you
wrong, always. Verse 24, so Moses hearkened
to the voice of his father-in-law. He chose 70 men and shared the
work with them and they sat with Moses in the seat of judgment,
sat with Moses in the seat of the prophet, sat with Moses in
the seat of God's messenger from then on. Now remember, Jethro
was an unbeliever. Jethro was a heathen idolater.
Jethro was a priest in Midian. He probably was a very well-educated
man. He probably was a man of great
repute. but he didn't have a clue about
spiritual things. He had no spiritual discernment. The servant of God must never
allow himself to be guided by natural principles. Let me see
if I can illustrate it for you. God said to Abraham, Abraham take your son Isaac,
your only son Isaac, whom you dearly love. and go three days
out to a place where I'll show you and take him up on a mountain
and offer him as a sacrifice to me." Well, okay, Lord, but let me
go home and talk to Sarah about this. If Bob had talked to Sarah
about that, he'd have never taken Isaac. Sarah would have killed
him first. He'd have never got Isaac to
that mountain. It wouldn't have happened. But what do you do?
What do you do? You take Isaac to the mountain.
It's that simple. The man who is engaged in the
service of God must never heed the counsel of carnal wisdom,
no matter who it comes from. We are to take our orders only
from our master. Whatsoever He saith to you, do
it. If we would obey our God, if
we would serve Him in any area of life, our actions simply must
be determined only by His Word, His Spirit, His will, His glory,
nothing else. But what's best for you, that
doesn't matter. What's best for your sons and
daughters? That doesn't matter. And I'm not just talking off
the cuff. I'm telling you what I've practiced for nearly 40
years. That doesn't matter. What's best
for your wife? That doesn't matter. What would
family and friends have you to do? That doesn't matter. That
doesn't matter. Number four, after hearkening to his father-in-law,
after Moses was persuaded to start thinking about himself, his high honor and great privilege
began to be a burden to him. Oh, how sad, how sad. God gives a son or a daughter
to a family. Oh, what a delight that newborn
baby is to mama. Cries in the middle of the night,
keeping her up. Might annoy daddy, but not mama.
The dirty diapers, I never change one, they're repulsive to me.
Not mama, not mama. The aching breast, they don't
make her resentful. But let that mother begin to
think of herself and what that child's costing her and that
child interfering with her life and her plans and her relationship
with her husband for the time being. And that newborn baby
that was such a delight when the doctor later on her breast may very well become in great
danger at the hands of its own mother, because Mama started
thinking about herself. And that which was her delight
and honor becomes a burden to her. So it was with Moses. Turn to Numbers chapter 11. Numbers
chapter 11. When he began to consider himself,
Moses began to look upon his service to God as a great burden
and began to resent it. I've seen this happen so many
times with preachers. I've seen it happen with missionaries.
I've seen it happen time and time again. Numbers 11, verse
11, Moses said to the Lord, wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?
And wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou
layest the burden of all this people upon me? Verse 14, I'm
not able to bear all this people alone. Moses said, Lord, if you don't
do something, just kill me. I'm tired of this. He was willing
to relinquish the work and leave the post of high honor to which
God has called him. True, his responsibility was
immense. But until Jethro started messing
with his mind, Moses' thoughts were God's grace is sufficient.
Now, he says, I'm not able to bear all this people alone because
it's too heavy for me. As though God had called him
to bear them. as though God had left him alone.
Moses wasn't alone at all. He wasn't bearing the people
at all. He was just the instrument. God was carrying the load. God
was doing the work. Moses relinquishing his burden
may have had the appearance of humility. Well, I'm just not
able to do this. But it wasn't humility at all.
With his lips, he was saying, I'm not sufficient. But he was
really saying, God, you're not sufficient. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. We must never thrust ourselves
into any work, but never shrink from any work or any responsibility
God has put upon us. If we do, shrinking from it is
both cowardice unbelief. Paul says, is anything too hard
for the Lord? Paul says, I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. It's never an act of humility
or faith to depart from any divinely appointed post. It just didn't. I have folks frequently ask me,
and what I'm going to be doing here, there, if I'm going to
stay here. God helping me till I die. God
helping me. It's where God put me. Well,
what about this place, that place? Not interested. Not interested,
but you can do so much more. Listen, difficulties are nothing
to God. Wonder if we'll ever learn that.
The Red Sea. He opens it up with a... That's
all. That's all. Needs are nothing
to God. Lord, how am I going to feed
all this people? Stand back and watch it rain! Needs are nothing
to God. Proud men. Oh, how am I going
to deal with these folks? Lord, look who's opposing me.
Look at Pharaoh. He's laying in the sea. Our inabilities,
that's nothing. That's nothing. Someone said
God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. I'm proof. Our inabilities, God can conquer
a nation by one old man. He can speak to the hearts of
sinners by a stuttering, stammering tongue. He can speak just as
easily by a jackass as by you or me. He doesn't need us for
anything. But oh my soul, He condescends
to you such things as we are. Fifth, look back at Exodus, our
number's 11 again. The Lord took away the burden. Verse 17. I will come down and talk with
thee there, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee,
and will put it upon them, these seventy elders. And they shall
bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it
not thyself alone. You don't want to do this, Moses?
Okay, you don't have to. You don't have to. I'll take the burden off your
shoulders. And if God ever leaves us in such a position
that we want to lay down the work he's given us to do, If it ever becomes a burden rather
than a blessing, He'll take it away. He'll take
it away. The Lord God has given us a tremendously
important, needful work in our generation. Why? I don't know. And the work that he gives us
to do, preaching the gospel in this age, what a blessing. And it involves burden. It involves
sacrifice. It involves work. It involves
labor. It involves being misunderstood
by people. But if you're tempted to lay
it down, remember what happened when God granted Moses his request. Nothing was gained. Nothing was gained. No more was
done after these 70 elders were appointed than was before. No
more work was accomplished. But Moses, oh, what he lost. He lost that place of high honor
and supreme dignity that he held as God's prophet to his people. And now he shares it with 70
men. What Moses had done alone before
was now done by 70 men. Because God's purpose isn't going
to be hindered. But I'll tell you what Moses
did. Moses withered. He withered. When you attempt that which is
beyond you, that which you can't do. When you attempt that which
you know is beyond you, you're compelled to seek help from some
source. Moses sought it from God until
he sought it from men. And when he sought it from men,
he ceased to seek it from God. And what trouble followed? Moses
became a man of great unbelief. Jethro went back to Midian, went
back to his gods. Exodus 27, or 1827, Moses let
his father-in-law depart and he went his way into his old
land. But in Numbers 10, if you want
to read it later, Moses said to Hobab, who was Jethro, his
father-in-law. He said, man, don't leave us. Come go with us. We'll do you
good. You shall be as eyes to us. You know what Jethro said? Moses said, Jethro, we can't
do this without you. God needs you. And Jethro said,
if God needs me, I don't need God. Goodbye. and left him in
the mess he had made. The trouble with Korah started
right here. And Moses lost the blessing of
standing as leader and judge and prophet and king in Israel. No longer did Israel look to
and follow Moses. No longer did Israel hear from
and find guidance from Moses, but rather from Moses and 70
other men. No longer did the Spirit of God
reside upon Moses. That man who speaks to God for
us and speaks to us for God. But now God took of the spirit
that was on Moses and disperses it among 70 other men. Not he gave them the same spirit
that he had given Moses, he took the spirit from Moses and gave
it to them. God, make me faithful. Teach me what you would have
me to do day after day and give me grace to do it. God, make
us faithful. Teach us what you would have
us to do day by day and give us grace to do it for Christ's
sake. Amen.