After 40 years on the backside
of the desert, the Lord God appeared to Moses at Oreb. He appeared
in the burning bush and declared that he would make him to be
the deliverer of Israel, that he had chosen this one man to
be his ambassador in his day to his people. He said in verse
10 of chapter 3 of Exodus, Come now therefore, and I will send
thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses responded to
God's revelation with astonishment and with humility, such as we
might expect from any man to whom the Lord Jesus has been
revealed. He says in verse 11, Who am I? that I should go unto
Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt. Oh my God, who am I that you
should use me for such a great thing? And then the Lord assured
him in verse 12 of his presence, saying, Certainly I will be with
thee. And Moses ask another thing from
God. He asked him to tell him his
name. And the Lord said, I am that
I am. Thus shalt thou say to the children
of Israel, I am has sent me unto thee. And then the Lord promised
Moses in the latter part of chapter three, that he would deliver
his people from their affliction and their bondage in Egypt. that
he would indeed bring them into the land of Canaan. He commanded
his servant to appear before Pharaoh and beseech him to allow
him to lead the children of Israel for three days into the wilderness,
that they might feast unto the Lord, that they might worship
God as he commanded. And at the same time he said,
Pharaoh will not hear you. He will not answer you favorably. He will not let you go, not with
a mighty hand. But he assured him still that
he would perform his wonders in the land of Ham and that he
would at last bring Israel out. Pharaoh would let them go. Not
only would the Egyptians let them go, but when they went out,
they would be greatly enriched. by the Egyptians themselves,
spoiling the Egyptians. Now, let's pick up the story
in chapter 4, verse 1. Moses' mind is still occupied
with difficulties and obstacles that appeared too great to be
overcome. You think, perhaps, that that
ought not to have been the case, and you're right, ought not to
have been the case. But if I had been there, or you
had been there, and we were being sent of God to go to Pharaoh,
I suspect we would be dead sure certain that God had sent us
to Pharaoh. Chapter 4, verse 1, Moses answered
and said, but behold, they, these Israelites, you remember when
he appeared to them 40 years earlier, he knew that he was
the one who was sent to deliver Israel, and he mistakenly assumed
that the time for deliverance had come. And the Israelites
said, who may you judge over us? And Moses now is bidden to
go back to Israel and tell them, God sent me to deliver you. And
he said, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my
voice, for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. Now the Lord had told Moses plainly
in verse 18 of chapter 3, they will hear you. They will obey
you. And Moses said, but they won't
hear me. Surely he had seen and heard everything that could possibly
be necessary to dispel his fears in this regard. Wouldn't you
think? He had seen the burning bush. He had heard the goodwill of
him that dwelt in the bush. He had seen Jesus Christ in one
of his marvelous pre-incarnate revelations of himself as the
angel of the Lord. The Lord God had revealed himself
to Moses by the most assuring and endearing names and titles
imaginable. He assured his servant of his
unfailing favor, grace, and his constant presence. And he assured
him of the success of that mission upon which he had sent him. He
assured Moses that he would cause his people to hear him and that
Pharaoh would at last let them go. And after all that, Moses
answered and said, but behold, they will not believe me. how hard it is to overcome the
unbelief of our hearts. What evils we engender to ourselves
by unbelief. God plainly told Moses that the
people would hearken to his voice, but Moses did not hearken to
God's voice. But before we join the multitudes
who castigate Moses, let's castigate ourselves. what horrible unbelief
rages in your heart and mine. I make that confession with sober
shame before you and before God. There is nothing, no evil of
my evil nature with which I more consciously struggle all the
time than unbelief. Refusing to believe God, whom
I have every reason to believe. Quickly, how quickly I will lean
on the most slender reed that I can see, rather than lean on
the rock of ages that is unseen. How quickly I flee to any creature,
fountain, any broken cistern of my own making, rather than
to him who is the fountain of living waters that I can't see. We will lean on the flesh easily,
readily, quickly, and refuse to lean on God, the flesh that's
nothing, and Christ who's everything. Almost everything I've read,
almost every commentary, every sermon, or even the most brief
comment on this verse of scripture severely criticizes Moses for
his unbelief. And rightly so, I suppose. Yet,
I can't help noticing that God didn't. Isn't that amazing? It is true, when you get down
in the latter part of the chapter, you'll see that the Lord was
ultimately provoked to anger by Moses' continued unbelief,
that is, provoked to an outward display of anger. But here we
see nothing but patience, forbearance, and grace. When I read Moses'
words of unbelief, and hear almost as if shouted from heaven, God's
silence concerning them. There is a psalm that comes to
my mind and rings in my heart. Turn to the 103rd Psalm. Let
me remind you of God's goodness to us as it is reflected in his
goodness to Moses in the face of his unbelief. Psalm 103, verse 7. He made known
his ways unto Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. The
Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous
in mercy. Is that good? He will not always
chide, neither will he keep his anger forever, Now watch this. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Never. There is no man living outside
hell with whom God has dealt after his sins and according
to his iniquities. And that is particularly, especially,
distinctly true of Larry Brown and Don Fortner. He's never dealt with me as I deserve. And blessed be his name, he never
will. Read on. For as the heaven is
high above the earth, So great is his mercy toward them that
fear him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Now
watch this. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. How often do we, in our pride
and self-righteousness and arrogance, look at the things men and women
put up with in their children, and you think, how on earth do
they put up with that? That's what fathers do. That's what fathers do. They
pity their children. They pity their children. And they understand that their
children are like they are because the father is like he is. They pity their children. But
our God and our father, altogether holy, wise, just,
and true, pities us as though he himself We're just
as we are. Read on. For he knoweth our brain. He remembereth that we are dust. Now just exactly what is it you
expect from dust? Just exactly what is it that
you expect to find in dust? Do you build anything with dust?
Do you make any use of dust? You want to do everything you
can to get rid of dust because it is useless and irksome and
indication of filth. He remembers we are dust. Let us never forget it. Bobby
Estes, my dear friend, faithful in all things. I commend you
for your faithfulness, but you're just dust. And whatever faithfulness
there is, it's God's doing, not yours. Just dust. And so the Lord looks at Moses,
and He looks at us, and when He hears Moses express his unbelief, hear the sweet melody of God's
shout from heaven in silence. They say nothing about that.
They say nothing about that. And he continues to deal with
them in mercy. Now, in response to this difficulty,
this thing that Moses looked at as a difficulty, he said,
they won't believe me. They won't believe me. God graciously
takes Moses' unbelief and uses his unbelief as an opportunity
by which he will teach him much good. And he gives his reluctant
servant power to perform three signs such as had never been
seen in the earth before and would never be seen in the earth
again performed by a man. Three great wonders which he
was commanded to perform before his people. These wonders, these
three wonders, were only performed once so far as any record in
scripture is concerned, and that's at the end of this chapter when
Moses spoke to Aaron and commanded him to do these things. These
wonders were performed before the children of Israel that they
might believe God's messenger. First there was a wonder, a miracle,
a sign which indicated power. and authority, and then a sign
that indicated cleansing and purity, and then a sign that
indicated wrath and judgment and death. Let's look at them
together. Beginning in verse 2. The first
sign was this. Moses is commanded to take his
rod and cast it on the ground. And when he did, the rod became
a serpent, and he's commanded to take the rod, the serpent,
by the tail. And when he took it by the tail,
the serpent disappeared, and it became a rod in his hand again.
Okay. The Lord said unto him, What
is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said,
Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground,
and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. I would too. Fled before it. Serpent. Who doesn't run from
a serpent? And the Lord said unto Moses,
Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. Now here's this
man who has been all along expressing unbelief at the command of God. He reaches out and takes that
serpent by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and
he caught it, and it became a rod in his hand, that they may believe
that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee. Just three
verses are devoted to the description of this miracle, a wonder that
they're full of spiritual instruction and spiritual riches. We're not
left to guess what this rod was. In verse 20, look at it. It's
called the rod of God. This rod that was in Moses' hand.
Now, until Moses is taken up to glory, this rod is called
the rod of God. The rod of God was upon Israel
to deliver and defend them. It was by the rod of God that
the Red Sea was parted in Exodus 14. And by the stretching forth
of that same rod, the sea gathered again to destroy Pharaoh and
the Egyptian armies. It was by the rod of God that
Israel prevailed over Amalek. The rod of God, we're told, was
upon Israel. But if you want to look at it
later in Job 21, as the wicked are described, the wicked who
seem to have no trouble. The wicked who flourish, the
wicked who increase with riches, the wicked who are constantly
at peace, nothing disturbing them. It is said, neither is
the rod of God upon them. The rod of God is on His own. not upon the reprobate. The rod
in Moses' hand was the shepherd's staff upon which he leaned. As
such, it was that he trusted, that which upheld him, comforted
him, and defended him. Turn to Psalm 23. I know you
can quote this, but I want you to turn to it. Psalm 23, verse
4. Here's that rod. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff." You see, the shepherd's
staff was both his rod and his staff. His rod by which He protected
and cared for the sheep, His staff upon which He leaned, thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me." The rod of God upon which
we lean is His almighty grace that's ours in Jesus Christ.
The word of His grace that we hold right here in our hands,
right here, the rod of God. cast away his grace from us,
cast it down to the ground, and we are utterly helpless before
the old serpent, the devil. The only way we can stand before
him, the only way we can withstand his wiles, The only way we can
escape his snares is by simple dependence upon what Ruth just
said about God's all-sufficient grace. My grace is sufficient
for thee. He says to Moses, take your rod,
cast it to the ground, see the serpent pick it up. and learn,
my grace is all you need. You need nothing but me. The
rod being cast to the ground became a serpent, and Moses fled
from before it. That shows us our helplessness
to cope with Satan. Sinners without Christ, without
grace, without mercy, are completely under Satan's power. This is
how the book describes them. taken captive by Him at His will. We have all been astonished because
someone that we knew suddenly did some horrible thing. Some
horrible thing that can't be explained. Something that just,
you can't imagine it happening. I've told you before, I had a
first cousin When I was a young man, this teenager walked in
one day, killed his wife. Just no explanation. Just shot
her, shot her. Totally out of character, except
for one thing. All men and women, all children,
all human beings, outside the hand of God's grace are taken
captive by Satan, not at their will, at His will. That was Israel's condition in
Egypt. They were subject to bondage, they were subject to affliction,
they were subject to every kind of abuse imaginable, and there
was no freeing themselves. Nothing would do for them, nothing
could help them except the divine intervention of God's omnipotent
power and His omnipotent grace. But notice this too. This power
was placed in the hands of a mediator, Moses, the man who stood between
Israel and God. God says to Moses, you go to
my people and you take the rod that's in your hand and you test
it on the ground and take out the serpent again before my people. Moses, he and he alone was given
power to deliver Israel. His power over the serpent was
manifest by taking the tail and reducing the serpent to nothing.
The serpent disappeared and it became a rod again. And so our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one mediated between God
and man, that one of whom Moses stood as an imminent type, is
our only hope. He alone has power in His hands
because He came down here to this earth, and I'll say more
about that in a minute, and now He has all power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. When Adam
cast away the rod of God in the garden, God said, don't eat of
that tree. And Adam cast God's Word to the
ground, and the serpent began to slither through the earth
and through the ages. But he who is greater than Moses,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, has conquered Satan. and he shall destroy all his
influence in this world. The Lord God said to him, look
at this psalm, Psalm 2. It's spoken of in Revelation
2 again where it speaks of him dashing the vessels of this earth
with a rod of iron. In Psalm 2 verse 8, The Lord
God speaks to his son and says, Ask of me and I will give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Turn to Psalm 110. In a word,
the rod that Moses held in his hand represents Christ himself,
who is here called the rod of God's strength. Look at it. Psalm
110. The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth. When
our Savior came into this world, when the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, The rod of God's strength came here, cast
down as it were to the earth to be made a serpent. How could you use such an analogy
to talk about the Son of God? I didn't. He did. He did. He said, As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. Throughout the Scripture, the
serpent is connected with God's curse upon the earth. And He
who knew no sin was made sin for us, and when He was made
sin for us, He was made the curse for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. And now, he says, is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying what
death he should die. Blessed be his name. He being
made a curse for us, now listen, he has crushed the serpent's
head forever, so that the serpent of hell will never do harm to
one of his own. Not only that, he's made us more
than conquerors in him. People, and I don't pretend to
have full understanding of these words from God, but people foolishly
take references in scripture speaking of God's people playing
with serpents and handling snakes and take them to be something
literal and you know the consequences. But listen to this. Thou shalt
tread upon the lion and the adder. The young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. There's a passage in Mark 16.
It is so Difficult for folks to understand because they try
to understand things without any light from God's Spirit and
without light from the rest of Scripture. That many versions
of Scripture leave it out altogether. Many translations. They shall
take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them, but they shall lay hands on the
sick and they shall recover. What on earth is he talking about?
Essentially this. The God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet. He bruised Satan under my feet
when Christ crushed his head at Calvary. He bruised Satan
under my feet when he came into the house of that strong man,
bound him and cast him out, and set up his throne right here.
He is bruising Satan under my feet. every day, sometimes consciously,
all the time, and more frequently, unconsciously. And soon he shall
bruise Satan under my feet. The Prince of Darkness has no
more power in us or over us than he has over Christ our Redeemer. Now pick up the serpent by its
tail and follow me. That's my power. That's my authority
over all things. Now, looking back at our text
again, verse six. The second sign God gave Moses
was just as significant and just as important as the first. The
first was a sign of power. The second is a sign of cleansing.
And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand
into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his
bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was as leprous
as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into
thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his
bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it
was turned again as the other. God commanded Moses to slip his
hand up under his garment, right over his heart. And then he said, take it out.
And Moses took it out. Can you imagine the shock? The hand of that strong man was
leprous. Leprous as snow, covered over
with leprosy. God said, now put that hand back
in here again. He took it out and made a hole just like the other
one. It was not Moses' hand that defiled
his heart. Darwin, it was his heart that
defiled his hand. Is that not what our Lord teaches
us? Out of the heart? Proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
murders, fornication, blasphemy, all evil in this world comes
out of the heart. Religion spins its energies,
lobbing off outward branches. But the problem with man is not
the outward that he does, but the inward that he is. The problem
with man is not the deed of his hand, but rather the nature of
his heart. It is our polluted heart that
makes everything done by our hands to be an abomination before
God, so that the Scripture declares the very plowing of the wicked
is an abomination to God. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Stick your hand in your heart!
And everything you touch is polluted and unclean. The Lord commanded
Moses to put his hand back in his heart and he takes it out
restored. And there again is a picture,
a tremendous picture of our Redeemer in his great substitutionary
work. Our Lord Jesus Christ is portrayed this way in the scripture. Ineffably holy in himself, he
had no sin, did no sin, and knew no sin. But in infinite grace,
he took our place upon the cursed tree and was made sin for us. He bare our sins in his own body
on the tree. And being made sin for us, The Lamb of God was leprous as
snow before God made sin. Where did God command that lepers
be placed? Leviticus 13, outside the camp. A place away from the tabernacle. A place away from God. A place of separation. And for
three hours on that one dark, dark day, when hell filled his
soul, when the Son of God was made sin, he cried, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? And when the three hours were
over, when atonement was done, when the work was finished, he
who was holy, who was made sin, made holy again, and in complete
reconciliation with his father, he says, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And his body was taken down from
the tree and buried in the tomb, and it's described this way,
thou wilt not suffer, thine holy one, to see corruption. Sin was
put away when he cried, it is finished, and his body buried
in the earth as that holy thing by which God Almighty had satisfied
his justice. The first sign intimated that
our great deliverer would destroy the works of the devil. The second
signifies that he would take away our sins by the sacrifice
of himself. But there's also a picture here
of our experience of this grace. It is a picture of our great
Savior sending His Spirit in regeneration by the power of
His almighty grace, effectually applying His blood atonement
to the hearts of His redeemed. When the Spirit of God comes,
He cleanses the unclean. He takes unclean things such as we are,
and makes us clean before God. The law entering our hearts is
described by Paul this way, I was alive without the law once, but
when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. When the
law represented by Moses sticks its hand in our hearts, when
God the Holy Spirit puts His law in a man's heart, The law
does just one thing. It stirs up sin. It stirs up rebellion. It stirs up hatred against God. That's all the law can do. And
stirring those things up condemns us. That same law, fulfilled
and satisfied by Christ, entering into our hearts, pronounces the
guilty sinner guiltless, the filthy sinner clean before God
Almighty. Listen to this. Our Savior said,
you are clean. You are clean through the word
that I've spoken unto you. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Titus
chapter 3. This is how God describes it.
Ye are washed. Ye are sanctified. Ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
That's not talking about what happened at Calvary. That's talking
about what happens in regeneration when the Spirit of God comes
by the Word effectually applied to the hearts of sinners causing
us to believe. We are washed clean in our consciences
before God, justified in our consciences before God, made
holy in our consciences before God. Look at it in Titus 3, verse
3. For we ourselves were also sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That's
a pretty good description of you and me too. But after that
the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, how? By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace
we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Being made clean by Christ. Listen to this. If you miss everything
else, be sure to get this. Being made clean by Christ. The
very works of our hands are clean before God. Paul describes them this way.
An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing
to God. Turn to Ecclesiastes 9. God said the plowing of the wheat
is an abomination to him. Now listen to what it says about
his own. Verse 7. Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Go about life with gladness. Get up and go to work tomorrow
morning, David, with joy and gladness. Eat your bread when
you get up for breakfast. Eat it with joy and gladness.
When you come home and start to go to bed tomorrow night and
have your glass of wine, have it with joy and gladness. How come? Why not? For God now accepteth
thy works. How on earth can God of glory
accept any gift you bring Him? How can the God of glory hear
any prayer I offer to Him? How can the God of glory be praised
by any song we lift to Him? Only because of Jesus Christ. Because in Christ and by Christ
we stand before God all together clean. Now, look at the third
sign, verse 8, Exodus 4. And it shall come to pass, if
they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign,
and it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these
two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take
the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and the
water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood
upon the dry land. This was a preliminary wonder, symbolizing, foreshadowing the
first plague that God would bring upon the Egyptians in Exodus
chapter 7. Moses was to take a little water
out of the Nile River when it got down to Egypt and pour it
on the ground. And that water would be turned
into blood. The Nile River was the lifeline
of all Egypt. The Nile River was the source
of the bountiful fruitfulness of the land of Egypt. The Nile
River was the life of Egypt. They worshipped the Nile River,
literally so. And Moses says, now, if you will
not bow, If you will not believe the word of God's grace, if you
will not trust God's darling Son, if you will not believe
on the Son of God, if you will not receive God's word of grace,
everything that should have been profitable and fruitful and a
blessing to you, everything that should have been life to you,
will be turned into a curse and death forever. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
name, be you reconciled to God. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. We then, as workers together
with Him, beseech you that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. Oh, God help you. Don't let His
Word fall on deaf ears, but hear. For He saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation I have succored
thee. Behold now, is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Hear the word of His grace. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved, if you refuse to believe. from your first breath to your last will be turned into
everlasting death to your soul in the lake of fire. God help
you to believe on His Son. Amen.