The Lord Jesus Christ is our
solid rock, the foundation. We're also thankful tonight.
I think everyone here, I'm sure, saw the pictures that we sent
out Monday after they finished pouring the foundation for the
new building. And it sure looks good. And we're thankful for what the
Lord has done thus far. By God's grace, we'll see a building
raised up there where we may meet and worship the Lord and
all for His glory. If you will, let's open our Bibles
again tonight to Exodus chapter four. Exodus chapter four. We ended last time with the verses
where Moses gave the Lord a fourth objection as to why he should
not be the man to bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt. Remember his last, his fourth
objection was, I am not eloquent. One of the writers pointed out
that the fact, if you notice in verse 14, and the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Moses. The fact that God was
angry with Moses shows that this was not humility on his part. Moses, his objections as to being
the person that should bring the people out of Israel, this
was not humility on his part because humility is a good characteristic. All of God's children, are made
to be humble, like our Savior, who was poor and lowly. But this
was obviously fear on Moses' part. But the point that I wanted
to make is where it says here in verse 14, the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Moses. We ought to always remember that
though the Lord was angry with Moses, God's love didn't vary
in the least degree, not the shadow of turning. Same as it
speaks about David, you know, the thing which David did displeased
the Lord. And yes, his conduct displeased
God, but God's love is eternal for his children, for his people.
And God's love for Moses didn't vary in the least degree, And
God's purpose didn't change. His purpose was that Moses was
the man that he was going to use to bring the children of
Israel out of Egypt. Now, God met that last objection
when Moses said, I'm not eloquent, I'm slow of speech. God met that
objection by telling Moses that his brother Aaron would come. And God said, I know he can speak
well. I know Aaron can speak well.
And so God gave Moses Aaron to be his spokesman. And he commanded
him to take the rod that was in his hand and do the signs
that he had given him. Now we're looking tonight, beginning
with verse 18, at the verses which record the return of Moses
to the land of Egypt. Remember, he had left 40 years
before, left in a hurry, left fearing for his life, but he
was a believer then as well. Because the scripture in Hebrews
11 makes it very clear that what he did, he did by faith. And yet he fled from Egypt when
he realized that the thing that he had done was known to Pharaoh
and Pharaoh would seek his life. Well, let's read these verses
beginning with verse 18. And Moses went and returned to
Jethro his father-in-law and said unto him, Let me go, I pray
thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether
they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go
in peace. And the Lord said unto Moses
in Midian, go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which
sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his
sons and set them upon an ass, And he returned to the land of
Egypt, and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord
said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that
thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in
thine hand. But I will harden his heart,
that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh,
Thou saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son
go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him
go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. 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 his feet and
said, surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him
go. Then she said, a bloody husband
thou art because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Avon, go
into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the
mount of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the
words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he
had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and
gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And
Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses,
and did the signs in the sight of the people, and the people
believed. And when they heard that the
Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked
upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads in worship. I have four points, or four things
I want to mentioned to us tonight from these verses which I've
just read. First of all, in the first verses,
excuse me, verses 18 through 20, the rod of God, the rod of
God. We read that Moses, he took leave
of his father-in-law, Jethro, And if you can just picture in
your mind, there's Moses, there's his wife, his two sons upon that
ass or donkey that he set them upon. But notice he said, and
Moses took the rod of God in his hand. Verse 20, and Moses
took his wife and his sons, set them upon an ass, and he returned
to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God
in his hand. Before I go on, let me remind
us, Moses is the one who wrote this. Everything that we read
here is what Moses wrote. Things that he wrote about himself.
his objections, his fear, and everything else that took place.
This is Moses' account, and it was, of course, inspired of God.
It's a true account. But let's not forget that Moses
is the author of these words, a human author, I should say.
We know God is the author of the Word of God. But this is
the first time, this is the point I want to make, first of all,
about the rod of God. This is the first time that this
rod is called the rod of God. In verse two, when God asked
Moses, what's that in your hand? Moses, he didn't say it's a rod
of God. He said, it's a rod. It's a rod. That's all it was. It was just
a rod. It was a shepherd's rod like
many other shepherds used. in that area at that time. Now, we see as he starts to Egypt
with his wife, his two sons, and he has the rod of God, the
rod of God. As we continue through this book
of Exodus, the Lord willing, we're going to see the many signs
and the miracles that were wrought by Moses holding up this rod
of God, lifting up in his hand the rod of God. It was this rod
of God that he lifted up when they came out there to the Red
Sea, remember? And there was the sea before
him, and the armies of Pharaoh behind him, and the mountains
on either side, and he holds up the rod of God. And what happened? The seas parted, so that the
nation of Israel walked through on dry land, just a rod. That's
all it was. In the beginning, just a rod,
but now it's the rod of God. And there's many other things
that we will see the Lord willing that happened as he held up the
rod of God. The Amalekites came out to do
battle with the nation of Israel. You remember? And Moses went
up on the mountain. Joshua took some men to do battle
with the Amalekites. And as all the time that Moses
would hold up that rod, Israel would prevail in the battle.
But his hands would grow weary and he'd let the rod down and
the Amalekites would begin to get the victory. And so Aaron
and Hur, you know, they put those rocks under Moses' arms, yes,
to hold up that rod. And it was this rod also when
they were in the wilderness and there was no water. Now water's
not a luxury. It is, in many ways, it is a
luxury that we have running water in our houses and we can just
turn on the faucet and let it run, let the water get hot. There's
a lot of places in the world you can't do that. A lot of people,
that would be a luxury for them. But all in all, water is a necessity. You've got to have water, don't
you, to live. I mean, you can go a longer time
without food than you can without water. But it was with this rod. God told Moses, strike the rock.
There's that rock, Bill. Strike the rock. And that rock
was Christ, the apostle Paul tells us. And what came out of
that rock? Water, water. He is the water
of life, isn't he? Out of Christ comes our salvation. He told that woman at the well,
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall
be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting
life. Yes, it was just a rod, but it's
now the rod of God. And the point I'm making, I want
to impress us with tonight is, little is much when God is in
it. Little is much when God is in
it. It's just a rod, just a common
rod like all the shepherds used at that time. But it's now the
rod of God. I think of what Andrew, one of
the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, told our Lord when there
was a great multitude of people, over 5,000 men, and our Lord
would feed them, and he told his disciples to, you give them
food. And 200 penny worth. If we had 200 pennies, we couldn't
buy enough food to feed all these people. But then Andrew told
his brother Phillip, he said, there's a lad here. There's a
lad here. And he's got a little lunch with
him. He's little. Five barley loaves. Now we're talking about loaves
like this, aren't we? Five barley loaves and two small
fish. But what are they among so many? What is a rod? A shepherd's rod. In itself, it's nothing. But
when it is a rod of God, then God uses it. And the point I'm
making is, sometimes we get the idea that we've got to do something
big, something great to impress the Lord, to really serve the
Lord. No, no. To be faithful. And that which is least means
that we would be faithful and more. Faithfulness is the main
thing, isn't it? Faithfulness. Faithfulness, the
scripture said, it is required of a steward. Paul is speaking
there of a preacher, of course, a steward in God's house, that
he be faithful. He doesn't have to be successful
like the world calls success necessarily, but he must be faithful. Faithful to God, faithful to
the souls of the men and women to whom he preaches. Faithful. That word was, but what are they
among so many? These two small fish. And then I think about that maid. that little girl who was captured
and taken into the land of Syria. And remember, her mistress was
the wife of Naaman, who was a great man. He was a five-star general
in the army of Syria, but he was a leper. He was a leper. And that's true of every person,
isn't it? No matter how great and how much
good a person may see in themselves, and they may do, but he was a
leper. He had a problem. But thank God
this little maid there told her mistress, would God my Lord were
with the prophet that is in Samaria. for he would recover him of his
leprosy." When you think about that, what she told her mistress,
no one, when the Lord used that example in the synagogue in the
first time he preached in Nazareth after he had been baptized, he
used this as an example, the healing of a leper who was a
Gentile, but that was something that That didn't happen every
day. That was very unusual. And yet
this maid, she had faith to believe that the God of Israel was able. Would to God that my master was
in Samaria where there's a prophet, he'd recover him of this leprosy.
And look with me at this passage in Luke chapter 21. Little is much when God is in
it. There's a little course that
goes like that. I don't know all the words, but
I've heard it before. Little is much when God is in
it. And we see that here in Luke
chapter 21, verse 1. And he, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts
into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor
widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, of a truth
I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than
they all. Can you imagine that? Those wealthy men, Pharisees,
and they put their, they loved to give their alms. Our Lord
spoke about that in the Sermon on the Mount, didn't he? They
would love to have the trumpet sound and everybody would see
what they were doing. And they were casting their gifts
into the treasury. But our Lord said, this woman,
she came, she cast two mites, which must not have even been
worth what we would call a penny in our money today. And yet the
Lord said, she's cast more in than all the others. Why? Because she cast in all she had. For all these have of their abundance
cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her penury hath
cast in all the living that she had. Little is much when God
is in it. Just the rod, oh no, it's the
rod of God. It's the rod of God that he's
taking with him now. The second thing I'll point out
to us from these verses here in Exodus 4, God tells Moses
what to expect. He tells him beforehand what
to expect. Let's read verse 21 through 23. And the Lord said unto Moses,
when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those
wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But
I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is
my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son
go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him
go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. God told
Moses what to expect when he came before Pharaoh, when he
came into Egypt. Three things I see here. First
of all, God told Moses, Pharaoh seen all the wonders, all the
wonders that you're going to do, all the signs that you're
going to work before him. Pharaoh will not let Israel go. And this reminds us that, once
again, faith cometh by hearing and not by seeing. Pharaoh's
going to see all these things. I mean, I've just named down
a few things that he's going to see. He's going to see water
turned into blood. He's going to see his house filled
up with frogs. Yeah. He's going to see the hail
destroyed, the crops rather, destroyed by hail in the fields. He's going to see there be light
in the houses of the Israelites and darkness that you could feel
where the Egyptians were. Yes, he's going to see all these
things. But what would be the result?
Will this haughty, Proud, wicked man, seeing the hand of God,
would this cause him to let God's people go? No. His heart would
be hardened time after time after time. I looked in the concordance
19 times in the next few chapters, this chapter and the next few
chapters, we're going to see that Pharaoh's heart was hardened. This hardening is called by the
writers judicial hardening. And that is that which comes
upon the ungodly because of their actions. It's a judicial hardening,
that means it's justice. And God's justice is always a
matter of justice. It's always a matter of justice. Adam, when Adam disobeyed God,
his heart, and thus we come into this world with a heart that
is like stone. It's hardened in sin. And the same now with Pharaoh,
his heart is going to be hardened because of his unbelief. He's
going to see these signs. No one can question that this
is the finger of God. Even his magicians eventually
tell him, this is the finger of God here. This is above our
pay grade. We can't do these things. But
still, he hardened his heart. He would not let Israel go. And this is important to see,
I believe, for these two reasons. Number one, God is not the author
of sin. No matter how you understand
this or any other thing that may be difficult to understand
about God's ways, we do know this, that God is not the author
of sin. God did not cause Pharaoh to
disobey Him. Pharaoh disobeyed God because
of the evil of his own heart. And a second reason this is important
is, not only is God not the author of sin, but God continues, we
realize even until today, God continues to harden people's
heart who sit under the sound of the gospel and refuse to bow,
refuse to believe. And many, many people, no doubt,
at one time heard the gospel, and their heart was touched,
and they knew in their soul that they needed to seek the Lord,
but they refused. And refusal after refusal after
refusal, there comes a day when they can sit under the preaching
of the gospel, when before their heart would be touched, they
don't feel anything. They don't feel anything. No
concern for their soul at all. That's sad, isn't it? I mean,
that is sad. When you see people and deal
with people that you interact with and you realize these people,
they're on their way to eternity just like you are. Just like
I am. And yet they have no concern.
No concern. Many of them, no doubt it is
because their heart has been hardened. We begin with a hard
heart. That's how we come into this
world, with a heart of stone. In the new birth, God gives us
a heart of flesh, doesn't he? A heart of flesh is one that's
pliable, one upon which God writes his law, his gospel. Yes. But a second thing. Now, first
of all, God told Moses, Pharaoh's not going to believe you. Even
though he's going to see these signs, he's not going to believe
you. Number two, Pharaoh will refuse, though you tell him. Though you tell him that Israel
is my firstborn, is my son. And just as Pharaoh would, because
of his love for his son, he would do something. But God says, you
tell him, Israel is my son. He's my firstborn. And yet, that
made no difference to Pharaoh. Made no difference to him at
all. He's still going to refuse to
let Israel go. And the third thing, God told
Moses, Pharaoh will refuse, and I will slay his firstborn. I
will do that. No question about it. Isn't that
what he said? In verse 22, and thou shalt say
unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even
my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son
go that he may serve me. Don't you realize the love I
have for my son, for Israel, my firstborn? Let him go that
he may serve me, but he won't do it. He won't do it. And if you refuse to let him
go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Here's the
third thing quickly. Moses' disobedience is revealed
here. Now I wouldn't attempt to try
to explain everything here in these three verses, 24 through
26, but we gather from them that Moses, living in the land of
Midian, had two sons. The first son, evidently, he
had obeyed the law of God, or not the law, yes, the law that
God had given to Abraham, the covenant of circumcision. and he circumcised his first
son, but the writer seemed to think because of his wife, the
mother of this second child, she did not want this, it was
a bloody thing, it was a bloody right, that she did not want
this to take place. And Moses gave in to his wife. Now, whether that's so or not,
it makes no difference because God holds the man as the head
of the household, not the wife. And it was Moses, it was his
responsibility to make sure, according to the covenant that
God gave with Abraham, that his son be circumcised. He didn't
do that. And now, when they come to this
end to spend the night or whatever, Moses is struck in such a way,
we're not told how, but he becomes completely incapacitated. The scripture said God would
kill him. He'd been disobedient. He had not obeyed God in this
matter. And his wife evidently realized
it, realized what the problem was, Why this had come upon her
husband, so she does the service. She circumcises this son and
takes the foreskin and throws it down at the feet of Moses
and said, you're a bloody husband to me. Now, what's interesting
here is we don't read of his wife again until the Israel is
brought out of Egypt. He sends, evidently, he sends
her and his two sons back to her father to live. And eventually, we know his father-in-law
will bring his wife and the two sons to Moses and the nation
of Israel after they have come out of Egypt. Now, you know there's a scripture
which says the secret things belong unto God. and the things
which are revealed belong unto us and our children. And I don't
worry myself about these things that are not completely revealed
in the scripture. Do you? I mean, he's revealed
to me that I'm a sinner. He's revealed to me that I need
a savior. And he's revealed that savior
to me. That's what I'm interested in. Now there's some things I
can't explain and neither can anyone else. People are, they
can conjecture all these different thoughts and things that they
think may have taken place here. I don't know. We're just looking
at what the scripture says. I do know this, that what she
did, Moses, his life was not taken. God would kill him, the scripture
here says, until she did what she did, which was to remedy
his disobedience. Here's the last thing in these
last Few verses, Moses, Aaron, and the elders, they meet, beginning with verse 27. And
the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses.
And he went and met him in the mount of God and kissed him.
It's another indication how that God works on both ends. He called
Moses, he called Aaron, and they come to meet together. When God's
in something, He'll work on both ends, you
know. When God calls a man to a work, He'll supply the needs. That's what I see as so disturbing
to me in so much of what is called Christian work today, where people,
men especially, who call themselves preachers, they're beggars. You know, like, God's called
me to this work, but I need you. to send me this money, you know.
Well, when God calls a person to work, he'll supply the need.
He will. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, the scripture says. Rest in the Lord. Wait upon the
Lord. And God told Moses, your brother
Aaron will be your spokesman. And here comes Aaron. Here comes
Aaron out of Egypt to meet his brother. Been probably 40 years
since they'd seen each other. Don't you know that was a good
reunion? Kissed each other. But then Moses
told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all
the signs which he had commanded him and Moses. And Aaron went
and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord, notice Aaron
spake. He spake all the words which
the Lord had spoken unto Moses and did the signs in the sight
of the people and the people believed. The people believed. I asked myself this question.
preparing this message. What is the most important truth
for me, for you, for us to see from these verses that we've
looked at here tonight? And the answer is obvious to
me, the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God. Do you
see where it says there, and the people believed when they
heard? Moses had said, they will not
believe me. God said, they will believe thee. And they did believe the words
that he spoke, the faithfulness of God. God has his people in
this world, doesn't he? A people that he has chosen,
a people that he has loved from old eternity. and a people that
He has redeemed with the blood of His Son, a people that He's
sure to call. He's going to cross the path
of His chosen people with the gospel, and He's going to bring
salvation unto those chosen people. It's going to take place. It
really is. Why? Because the preacher is
such a good preacher? Moses said, I'm not a good speaker. Why is it going to happen? Because
God is faithful. God is faithful to his purpose,
to his promises that he has given. Every preacher I'm sure that
has ever preached has repeated those words of Isaiah in Isaiah
53, at one time or the other, who hath believed our report. And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? But every preacher knows there
are those, there are those who do believe, those who will believe. And our purpose and our responsibility
is just to keep, keep on preaching, keep on preaching the same message,
the gospel. And God's purpose is going to
be accomplished. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to all of us here this evening.