to Sundays, there will not be
a service here next Sunday evening or next Wednesday. So keep that
in mind. Brother Lance Heller will be
preaching this Sunday morning, the Lord willing. I know you'll
all give him a good hearing. Let's turn, if you will, to Exodus
chapter 18. Exodus chapter 18. 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 one was Gershom, For he said, I have been an alien
in a strange land. And the name of the other was
Eliezer. 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, am come unto thee, and thy wife, and
her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his
father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him. 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. 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. I'm going to stop my reading
there. One of the books that I have
on the book of Exodus has this title for this chapter, Moses'
Great Mistake. That's the title that this author
gave for his comments on Exodus chapter 18, Moses' Great Mistake. In one of my earlier messages
from Exodus, I pointed out to us the faith of Moses, the great
faith that he exhibited in leading the nation of Israel out into
the wilderness. Now Moses knew something about
the wilderness. He had lived on the backside
of the desert, tending his father-in-law's sheep for 40 years. He knew something
about the wilderness. But the people that he was leading,
they knew nothing about the wilderness. They had been slaves in the land
of Egypt. And it took great faith, I believe,
on his part to lead this great company of people. The scripture
says 600,000 footmen, and that doesn't include, of course, the
women and children and the older people. So there was several
million people that he was leading. The responsibility that he must
have felt and the weight of that responsibility, I believe, showed
the faith, his great faith that he had. But when everything is
said and done, he was still a man. He was still a man like all of
us here this evening. And there's only been one perfect
man who's ever walked on the face of God's earth. And that
man is the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator
between God and men. Now, the first thing that we
see in this chapter is that it's not chronologically placed I
mean, we've been reading they're coming through the Red Sea, they
came to Mara, then they came to the wilderness where there
was no bread, and God gave them bread. They came where there
was no water, God gave them water out of the rock, and all of those
lovely types and pictures we've looked at. But this chapter here,
it doesn't follow after what immediately after what we studied
last week about the war that Moses had with Amalek. Now, Arthur Pink in his commentary
said that he considered this chapter like a parentheses. And
I'll show you why in this chapter. If you look in verse 16 and how
we know that this chapter is not chronologically placed as
we might think. Notice in verse 16, he's explaining
to his father-in-law what he had done. And he said, when they
have a matter, this is Moses speaking, when they have a matter,
they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and
I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Well now, wait a minute. In the book of Exodus, did God
give his statues and his laws? Well, we know it wasn't until
they came to the Mount of God, to Mount Sinai. And that's recorded
in chapter 19 and chapter 20 of the book of Exodus. So that's
one reason I know that this didn't just follow immediately after
the war with the Amalekites. And then also notice in this
chapter, verse 27, the last verse we read, and Moses let his father-in-law
depart, and he went his way into his own land. Now, keep your
places here, but turn over to Numbers chapter 11, chapter 10,
I'm sorry, Numbers chapter 10. In verses 11 and 12, I want us
to notice the date. And it came to pass on the 20th
day of the second month in the second year. Now what we've seen
so far in Exodus took place in the first year, the second month. But now here we read, it came
to pass on the 20th day of the second month in the second year
that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony
and the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness
of Sinai and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. And then look down in that same
chapter to verse 29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the
son of Raguel, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law. See, he
had two names. He's called Jethro, he's named
Jethro in Exodus chapter 18 that we read just a few minutes ago. But you notice here, he's called
Hobath. Some believe that Jethro was
a title of respect or prominence that was given unto him. But
the point I want to make is, it was at this time, the second
year, the second month, that Moses' father-in-law, when Moses
spoke to his father-in-law and said, we are journeying unto
the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou
with us and we will do thee good. For the Lord has spoken good
concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will
not go. This is what Jethro answered,
I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my kindred. And he said, leave us not, I
pray thee, for as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp
in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, and
it shall be If thou go with us, yea, it shall be that what goodness
the Lord shall do unto us, the same will he do unto thee. But it was in the second year,
the second month, very specific, when this man, Moses' father-in-law,
said, I'm not going with you. And he goes back to the land
of Midian. Now, in chapter 18, Exodus chapter
18, I want us to look at three persons. That's my message tonight. I want us to look at what is
recorded here about three persons in this chapter. And the first
person is Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Jethro, the priest
of Midian. And that begs this question,
was he a priest of the true and living God. He's called a priest
of Midian, but Midian was just an area where he lived. The Midianites were descendants
from Abraham, but not from Sarah, of course. They were descendants
from one of the sons of Keturah. that Abraham married after Sarah's
death. And the Midianites, he's a priest
of Midian, but my question is, was he a priest of God? Was he
a priest of the Most High God? Now in this place, I'll point
out these three things about him. First, in verse nine, he
rejoiced. Look there in verse now, he rejoiced
when Moses related unto him what God had done. I'm sure Moses
must have spoken about the Passover, how that God told him and the
Israelites to place that blood on the lentils of their door.
And God passed over Egypt that night, and every house where
the blood was not applied, there was death of the firstborn in
that house. And I'm sure Moses related that
to him, and told him maybe when they came out to the Red Sea,
and there was no way, they were trapped, and God just happened
to open up the sea. And then, of course, it came
to the water that was bitter, and God showed him a tree, and
he put that tree in the water, and the water was turned to sweet
water that they could drink, and so on and so forth. I'm sure
he told him all that had happened unto them, and this man rejoiced. He rejoiced when he heard what
God had done for the nation of Israel. But does that mean He
was a child of God. Does that mean he was a believer,
that he was a priest of the true God just because we read that
he rejoiced when he heard what God had done for Israel? Notice
in verse 11, he even confessed. In verse 11, he said, now I know
that the Lord is greater than all gods. It's one thing to know
that God is the greatest, but it's something else to know that
he's the only true and living God. Many pagans today, many
religions, they confess, yeah, we believe that Jesus was a good
man, he was a prophet. That's one thing. But that's
not believing that he is God. That's not confessing that he
is the eternal son of God who came into this world on behalf
of his covenant people. No, he rejoiced when he heard
what God had done. He said, I know now, I know now
that Jehovah, he's greater than all those other gods that Egypt
worshipped, and no doubt maybe they worshipped. But in the end, here's my point,
in the end, and we read this in the book of Numbers just a
few minutes ago, in the end when he was invited to go with Israel
to identify with the people of God, to cast his lot in with
God's people to sink or swim, to stay with God's people. He said, no. No. I'm not going. I'm going back
to my land. I'm going back to Midian. I'm
going back to my kinfolk. I could not help, as I was preparing
this and thinking along this line, I could not help but think
of Ruth when her mother-in-law, Naomi, encouraged her to stay
in the land of Moab, to remain in Moab, and told her, really,
if you go with me, there's no hope. There's no hope you'll
ever have a husband, you'll ever have any children. But Ruth would
not turn back. This man turned back. Ruth, we
all love her. Her testimony when she said,
whither thou goest, speaking to her mother-in-law, whither
thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people will be my people,
and thy God, my God. This man didn't say that. When
he was confronted with going with the people of God, he said,
no. I'm going back to my country. I'm going back to my family. I want you to keep your places
here, but look with me in the gospel of Luke. In Luke chapter
14. Luke chapter 14, these words
of our Lord in verse 25, to the multitude. You know, he, we read
just a few minutes ago, his words to the Pharisees and to the lawyers. Now the lawyers, of course, they
were men who studied the law. They studied the word of the
Old Testament scripture and interpreted it. But now, this passage we're
reading now, he's speaking to the multitudes who would follow
him. And there went great multitudes
with him, and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to
me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his
cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. For which of
you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth
the cost, whether ye have sufficient to finish it? Lest, happily,
after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him. saying, This man began to
build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war
against another king, sitteth not down first, consulted whether
he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against
him with twenty thousand. or else while the other is yet
a great way off, he sendeth and ambassage and desireth conditions
of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
disciple. And our Lord spoke those words. People have a problem sometimes. If any man come to me and hate
not his father, we know he's not telling us to hate our father
or hate our mother or our children. But he does, as he goes on speaking
there, show that tribulation's going to come, just like it did
to Jethro. There's going to come a place,
a time, where you're going to have to make a decision. You're
either going to follow the Lord, take up your cross and follow
him, or because of your love for your family and your land
and whatever it might be, you're gonna turn back. And you cannot
be my disciple. You know, being a believer, being
a child of God, is much more serious than most people understand
today. following Christ, taking up our
cross and following him. This man, Jethro, when he had
the choice, he turned back. And he chose Midian, and I would
just remind us that in a few years after this, I don't know
if he was still alive or not, but God told Moses to vex Midian. In other words, to go to war.
with Midian. And God did so because Balaam
had counseled Balak and he had counseled him to have the Midianitish
women to entice the men of Israel and to entice them to whoredoms
and to idolatry. And you remember how many people
of Israel died in that plague because because the man did that. And that one man who was a prince,
he brought one of those Midianite women right into the camp, right
in front of Moses and the leaders of Israel and took her into his
camp. And Phinehas, you remember, he
took his spear and he went in there and he nailed both of them
to the ground. God said, vex them. because of
that sin that they had tempted Israel with, and Israel fell
into that sin. I don't know, maybe Jethro died
at that time. I think of Balaam himself, you
remember, he said, let me die the death of the righteous. But
he didn't live the life of the righteous, did he? And the scriptures
tell us that he died in battle. and Israel defeated one of the
countries and he was caught in the battle and ended his life. So let's move on. That's one
person here in this chapter, Jethro. The second person is
Zipporah. Zipporah, the wife of Moses. And this is the third time that
she's mentioned in this book. The first time she is mentioned
when her dad gave her to be the wife of Moses. She was given
in marriage to Moses. You remember Moses fled from
Pharaoh out there in the desert and this man's daughters came
and they were tending sheep and Moses drew the water, brought
the water out for him and they went home and told their dad
and he said, well, where is he? You didn't invite him to come
home. And so they brought Moses into his tent, didn't they? And
he gave Moses this woman, Zipporah, to be his wife. So that's the first time she's
mentioned. The second time she's mentioned is after God called
Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt. The picture is we see
him and his wife, Zipporah, and their two sons on their way to
Egypt. And they stopped in an inn, and
God struck Moses. He was near to being killed by
God. And it was because of his disobedience. He had two sons. The first son
had been circumcised as the law had said, but the second son
not. And this woman, Zipporah, she
had to circumcise her second son to save Moses' life. And when she did, she took that
foreskin, threw it down at his feet and said, you're a bloody
man to me. Which makes most men, most commentators
believe that that's the reason, she probably was the reason that
son had not been circumcised on the eighth day like they were
taught to do. Now here's the third time that
she is mentioned. After that, after that episode
at that end, obviously Moses sent her and her two sons back
to her dad. And so they've been separated
now for at least a year. probably a little over a year,
but at least a year they've been separated. Many believe that Zipporah was
probably not a good helpmate to Moses. And let me say this,
if any prophet ever needed a good wife, a good helpmate, Moses
did, because he had plenty of opposition from the people. Thank the Lord when God calls
a man to preach and his wife is a good helpmate and a good
preacher's wife. This woman, we don't know, but
it just doesn't seem like she was. Now, the third man in this
chapter, of course, is Moses, the servant of God. In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse
2, the writer said, Moses was faithful in all his house. He
being faithful, let me just interject this, he being faithful doesn't
mean that he was perfect in all things. And we know concerning
that rock that when God told him the second time to speak
to the rock, he struck the rock and because of that, He was not
allowed to go into the land of promise. He was allowed to go
up on the mountain and look over, but not to go in. So we know
he was faithful, absolutely, in all his house, and all things
that God had showed him about the tabernacle, how everything
was to be built, and the priesthood, and all of that, the sacrifices. He was faithful, but he wasn't
perfect. As I said at the beginning, there's
only been one perfect man. There's only been one perfect
man. Look at this example of his faithfulness here in chapter
18, verse 13. And it came to pass on the morrow
that Moses set to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses
from the morning unto the evening. Now think about this, his father-in-law,
The day before, along with his wife and his two sons, had come,
and he hadn't seen them in over a year. And they invite Aaron
and the elders of the nation to come and have supper with
them that evening. Notice that in verse 12. 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. And the next day, where
is Moses? Did he take a day off? Did he
take a personal day? A vacation day? No, he's at his post. He's at
his post. And the scripture tells us from
morning to evening, he's there. doing what God had called him
and placed him there to do. That was to be a judge, the judge,
I should say, of the nation of Israel. When they had difficulties
and differences, they came to him and he sought wisdom from
God and the word of God and would judge the matter between the
people. I heard a preacher this last
week on a recording. I don't know the preacher. You
don't know him. He's since passed into heaven. But I heard him
make this statement. I thought it was so good. He
said, people tell me that I must be successful. And the way the
world judges success is by being the biggest, being the biggest,
having the most. And he goes on and said, I don't
read that in my Bible. What I do read is that I am to
be faithful. And that's what Moses was. He was faithful, as the writer
of Hebrews says, in all his house. But let's look at what is seen
as his greatest mistake. There are two things I'd point
out to us. Let's read verses 14 through
18. And when Moses' father-in-law
saw all that he did to the people, he said, what is this thing that
thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone,
and all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening? And
Moses said unto his father-in-law, because the people come unto
me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they
come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make
them know the statutes of God and His laws. And Moses' father-in-law
said unto him, Now get this, the thing that thou doest is
not good. Who is this man? Who is this
man to say that what God had Moses doing was not good? What gave him that right? What
made him so bold, so presumptuous to tell Moses what you're doing? And God had told him to do what
he was doing. God had placed him there to do
what he was doing. It's not good. And Moses listened. Moses listened to him. Now I
have no doubt in my mind that Jethro counseled him because
he cared for Moses. He cared for Moses and he cared
for the people. It's gonna tire all of you out.
And I know to me, I'm sure to you, it seems like his advice
was very reasonable. But God was the one who put him
there. He was doing what God had told
him to do. And this man says, what you're
doing is not good. Thou will surely wear away both
thou and this people. You will wear away Moses. Who
gave Moses his strength? Who sustained Moses? Moses wasn't doing this in his
own strength, in his own power. He would have
quit a long time before this. God was his strength. The second thing, he hearkened. Not only did he listen, but he
hearkened to the voice of Jethro in verses 24 and 25. So Moses hearkened to the voice
of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. And Moses
chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the
people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of
fifties, and rulers of tens. Now, when you compare this and
also that place in Numbers that we looked at, the next chapter,
I think we read in Numbers 10, but in Numbers 11, Moses tells
God, I'm not able. I'm not able to bear all this
people alone because it's too heavy for me. Well, who had told
him that? Who had put that in his mind? And had God ever told Moses that
he was going to bear all those people alone? Had not God given
him a promise? I like to think of this promise
here. I will come down and talk with
thee there, and I will take, well, this is right after this,
Moses, as it says here, he chose out 70 men. And the thing to see here is
that of the, it says the spirit, let me read that, and it's in
Numbers 11. Moses chose out 70 men. 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, and they shall bear the burden of
the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." Well,
the Spirit there is not God the Holy Spirit. He's a person. You can't divide Him up. But
what God is saying here, the wisdom, the power, the knowledge
to judge the people, it was all upon Moses. But now God said,
I'm going to divide that up. He didn't give any more power,
no more wisdom. He just took what he had given
to Moses alone and divided that up among Moses and the 770 men. This lesson was especially for
me. It was especially for me as I
read and studied this. And I pray that it'll be a blessing
to all of us. We're all in God's work. And
there's always a temptation to give up, to sit down. And what
I came to see is that I'm going to stay in this place where God
has put me as long as he lets me. And I'm going to trust. I mean, if I'm here in my own
strength, I should have quit 40 years ago. No. And that's true of you, too,
if you're a Sunday school teacher, deacon, or whatever, treasurer.
We don't serve God in our strength. We look to Him. Christ is our
strength. And we do have this wonderful
promise. I'll close with it. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. That ought to relieve all fear,
shouldn't it? It should. When God, don't you
be afraid, I'm with you. Well, what do we have to fear
if God is with us? Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And that's a promise that God
gives each and every one of us. And we should continue to look
to him not trusting ourselves and our ability, our strength,
because we don't have it. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. I pray the Lord bless his word
to all of us here tonight.