The Answer for Trouble

Introduction: The need for advice. Do you have someone in your life that you go to in times of trouble, looking for answers for a tough situation? And did you ever get an answer you didn’t expect, or just a reminder of something you already knew?

Moses in the time of trouble, finds answers to the questions of his heart. It may not be the answers he was looking for, but it is the answer that he needed. When the going got tough, he did the right thing, but came with doubting questions of God. How did He answer them? By reminding him of who he is, what he has done, and what he is going to do.

Central Truth of the Sermon: God constantly renews our troubled, struggling, and rebellious souls with His gospel promises.

Troubled Moses (5:22-23)

The struggle of Moses is real. What seemed like such an encouraging start to his ministry then comes to a full stop with great discouragement. He is now public enemy #1. Not only is he the enemy of Pharaoh, who has told him very clearly that he refuses to let God’s people go, but he is also public enemy #1 of Israel! They had forgotten, had selective hearing over the reality that this was supposed to happen.

So Moses goes to the Lord with his troubles. We must give Moses some credit here. He didn’t go and complain to Aaron, he didn’t give up on God and talk about how evil and uncaring he was to others. He went to God first. And that is a principle that we should all take to heart. God is not afraid of the questions. He can take them, and often does, even with great grace to us that don’t understand and are hurting. Moses is hurting. He doesn’t understand. So he goes to the Lord. There are scriptural examples of this:

Abram as he questions the Lord about offspring

Genesis 15:2 ESV

2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Job

Job 17:11 ESV

11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.

Job 13:24 ESV

24 Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?

David in the Psalms writes...

Psalm 10:1 ESV

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

John the Baptist!

Matthew 11:2–3 ESV

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Jesus in the Garden even brought his sufferings to the Lord with a question

Matthew 27:46 ESV

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

So what is the answer? What is the cure for our troubled, anxious, struggling selves in this dark, broken, and rebellious world? What is the answer when we do the right thing, and it gets worse rather than gets better?

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Chapter 13: When Trouble Comes

A woman refuses a man who is not a Christian; now she is still waiting for the right man, but no one ever calls. An employee refuses to work on Sundays and gets fired three months later. A mother does everything she can to raise her children right and then watches them squander her love by turning away from God. A pastor starts to teach the Bible, but rather than growing, his congregation starts to shrink. It happens often: A Christian does what God calls him to do, and it makes things worse! Such developments make us start to wonder if we did the right thing, and maybe even to wonder if God cares what happens to us.

God renews us by reminding us, qualifying us, and sending us.

God Reminds Us (6:1-9)

Reminds us of his sovereignty (1)

Lets talk about the first word that God tells Moses in his answer. The fact that God doesn’t just strike down Moses for his doubts is an encouraging one. It reminds us that God is patient with His people, patient with His servants, and we will see this over and over again throughout Exodus and throughout the Scriptures. And the first word is NOW.

Now implies something. It implies to Moses that regardless of how you feel and how the Israelites feel at this moment, this has all gone according to plan. This is what we call sovereignty. That means that God himself is in control of all things, when things happen, and how things happen. Its a comforting doctrine, the sovereignty of God, for I know that regardless of what happens to me or what happens in this world, God is in control and has never lost it. We may not understand it, but it nevertheless is true.

Job 42:2 ESV

2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Acts 4:27–28 ESV

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

The sovereignty of God is that golden sceptre in his hand by which he will make all bow, either by his word or by his works, by his mercies or by his judgements.

Thomas Brooks

And this sovereignty is seen to be merciful to his people, yet he will also bring judgment against the Serpent, Pharaoh, and the oppressive people of Egypt. The timing is now set, the strong hand of God is going to get God’s people out of Egypt, for that had already been promised before.

God reminds us of his identity (2-5)

It’s interesting to note how often God has to reminds his people of himself. His identity is the root of our confidence, and God goes to great lengths to show himself and reveal himself to us. He does so here to Moses, because in the midst of his complaining and his struggle, he still knew who to go to. And God rightly reminds Moses of his nature and who He is. One of the ways God renews us to remind us of his identity.

(2) He is Yahweh - the covenant keeping God, name revealed as the great I Am. He will be who He is. He is the self-existent, self-sustaining, eternal, and all-powerful God. He is sovereign and perfect. Above us, set apart from us.

(3) He is the God of the patriarchs- yet he is also the same God of the men of Genesis. He is the God who personally revealed himself. He is El Shaddai, God Almighty, which in the Hebrew has connotations of strength of mountains. God showed his strength through creation, through making barren women bear children, by overthrowing cities, and by keeping his promises in the midst of great famine.

(4-5) Yet, they had not seen God in his fullness of what it means to be Yahweh, that they had not seen yet the fulfillment of the covenant promise that a great nation would come out of their offspring, and that they would receive a promised land. Abram was even told that the very thing that is happening in Exodus was to come to pass!

Genesis 15:13–16 ESV

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

God is saying in essence, You are about to experience the fullness of my covenant promises. This is it. And my identity is bound up in this covenant. This is who I am. I am the God who keeps my promises, by covenant, and its unconditional.

Application: When we are in the midst of great trouble, which we were reminded last week that this is to be expected because the Bible makes it clear, that its in those times of trouble that God will often remind us of his identity, his nature. So, when the struggle comes, when it seems like doing the right thing only made things worse, we go to God and we let Him remind us of who He is. We let his self revelation strengthen us. Who is God? He is Yahweh! And He is the same today as He was in Exodus.

Colossians 1:16–17 ESV

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

1 John 1:5 ESV

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

2 Samuel 22:32–34 ESV

32 “For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? 33 This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless. 34 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.

1 Timothy 1:17 ESV

17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

There are so many more we could go through, but as you can see, all over the Bible, God reminds us of who He is, and that should strengthen us in times of trouble. Jesus himself identifies himself with seven I am statements in John that are rooted in his statement “Before Abraham was, I am,” identifying himself as Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who delivers His people from slavery.

I am the bread of life - he is life, bread of sustenance, fulfills our eternal hunger

I am the light of the world - He is light in the darkness by which men find their way and out of dark sin

I am the door - He is the door to the pasture, his eternal life

I am the good shepherd - He guides his sheep, our shepherd and we shall not have any need as His own

I am the resurrection and the life - He is the means of eternal life and crushes death, the consequence of our sin

I am the way, the truth, and the life- He is the only way of salvation, the only truth, and the only way to eternal life

I am the true vine - He is the provider and sustainer of us, his branches. Without him, we can do nothing.

God reminds us of what He does

God not only reminds Moses of who He is, but also, to remind God’s people who are suffering and in trouble of what He is going to do. There are seven I will statements here that should strengthen Moses and His people.

I will bring you out from the burdens of Egypt - the burden of sin and trying to rid it will be gone.

I will deliver you from slavery - slaves to sin and death with no hope, God delivers

I will redeem you with my power through acts of judgment against Egypt (kinsman redeemer, a buying back of God’s people)

I will take you to be my people - we will be the possession of God

I will be your God - The people of God will have a relationship with God.

I will bring you to the land I promised - a place of rest prepared, land flowing with God’s abundant provision.

I will give it to you as your possession - that place will be ours, as the inheritance of God will become inheritance.

Each one of these will be seen in full, the promise made long ago, and God will show forth with his mighty arm. This “mighty arm” language is used throughout the OT, culminating in the salvation of His people through the Servant of Isaiah.

Isaiah 52:10 ESV

10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 59:16 ESV

16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.

So that God’s people will know who is Yahweh. These mighty acts will confirm the identity of Yahweh. He is the powerful God who delivers when all seems lost. To know Him, and to have a relationship with Him, inheriting Him and being inherited by Him, and enjoying His provisions and sustenance forevermore.

Application: We have the benefit today of seeing the fullness of the promises realized, even more than the Israelites in Exodus. Why? Because we have seen the promises made in Genesis about the seed, the promise that prophet like Moses would come, that a king would sit on David’s throne forever, that a new covenant would come to transform the hearts of men, and all of this is fulfilled in the Servant, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. But we also steadily await His second coming, to deliver us fully from sin and death, give us the inheritance of the Promised Land of the new heavens and the new earth.

So, what God does is often remind us. We are to be reminded of what He has done and what He is going to do. We remind ourselves of the full Gospel. We preach it to the lost (which you need to hear right now ,this message). We also preach it it ourselves daily. How? From the Word we read of His mighty acts. We open the Scriptures and see how it all points to Christ and the grace, love, and mercy poured out upon us through Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. We are reminded of everything He has done, and we worship and live accordingly.

So we make it a point to gather with God’s people to hear the Gospel every Sunday. We gather to open the Word together in Sunday School and in discipleship classes. We gather to serve our kids and our students through their respective ministries. We gather to serve our community by loving the unlovable (like we once were), white, black, Asian, Hispanic, “good people” and “criminals,” Democrats and Republicans, gay and straight, male, female, and those that are rebelling with gender identity. It doesn’t matter, we share the Gospel.

We open the Word in our homes and reflect on the Gospel. We open the Word in our workplaces and share Jesus. This is how God reminds us of what He has done, we we are faithfully making disciples and sharing this Good News with everyone.

Transition: TROUBLE AGAIN. God’s people reject Moses, again. And Moses, understandably frustrated, is told by God to go and tell Pharaoh to let His people go. And now Moses, as discouraged as before (he just heard about what God has done and what He has going to do), reverts back to his first encounter with God and says, “if God’s people won’t listen to me (who should be more apt to believe), why do you think Pharaoh, who hates us and thinks nothing of You, is going to listen to me?

But God doesn’t take that for an answer: We are reminded that what God wants is what God is going to get. The charge remains the same, no matter how much we rebel or complain.

God Qualifies Us (6:14-30)

Explanation of the genealogy: And all of the sudden, right in the middle of this narrative, we get this genealogy dropped right in the middle of it. READ IT.

But why? The genealogy does what any genealogy does, it has a purpose behind it. It often would be a history to remind God’s people of their heritage. It also often served as a means to prove a point or a person’s legitimacy in a particular position.

That’s what God is doing here. Moses as he was writing the Pentateuch, rightly showed his own sin and doubt, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then shows how God qualifies sinful people like himself and Aaron. If you read that, you are probably thinking, Moses just keeps refusing and keeps bucking against God’s purposes. He can’t be the right man.

But what this genealogy does is root Moses and Aaron as true Israelites, and most importantly, shows how they are true Levites. WE will find out later that Levites are the priests of Israel, and only that tribe could fulfill that role. This was pointed out earlier. Throughout this line we see some interesting things. A Canaanite woman is involved. Sons of Korah which would rebel against Moses and Aaron. And then Phinehas, the final person, rightfully serves God and stands in contrast to the sinful Israel by standing for the holiness of God.

The implications of the genealogy, QUALIFICATION: But more than anything else, we realize that Moses and Aaron are qualified, not of their own doing, but by God’s qualifying. They are who they are because God ordained it us such. They are the means of God’s redemptive purposes to save God’s people. Moses and Aaron didn’t earn their position. It was God who did it. And framed around this genealogy is this repeated phrase in essence “I can’t do it.”

The genealogy of Jesus qualifies Him and us: The genealogy of Jesus is seen in two places in the NT, Matthew and Luke. Each serve to show that from both Joseph’s line and Mary’s line, they are rooted into David’s line. Not only that, both show how he is the seed of Adam, the seed of Abraham. What this does is qualify Jesus’ humanity. He is the second Adam. But because Jesus is God, he doesn’t need to be qualified divinely, because that is who He is. Rather, he is the qualified God-man who dies in our place and qualifies us as His people, those that put their faith and trust in Christ. Now, we are in Him, and we are made righteous, and we are then called to be leaders of discipleship in our world. He qualifies us with gifts of the Spirit to do the work He has called us to.

In other words, Jesus qualifies you to be His people, to proclaim His gospel, and there is nothing else that can. You don’t got to look a certain way, have great speech, good looks, or do enough good things. It is God who uses us, transforms us, sanctifies us, and uses us to make Him known. We are qualified because Jesus is the perfect High Priest who redeemed us from our sins and made us His own possession. IN CHRIST, YOU CAN LIVE FOR HIS GLORY.

God Recommissions Us (7:1-7)

Made like God: Moses is qualified and made like God. He isn’t God himself, but He will be like God to Pharaoh. He will be the means of how God is going to show His glory to Egypt. The whole point of Pharaoh saying “Who is God” will be shown through the words and signs and wonders of Moses, God showing his mighty arm and showing how impotent and useless the gods of Israel are, including Pharaoh himself.

Reminder: I will harden Pharaoh’s heart. One bible scholar says it like this. God is confirming the heart of Pharaoh. He is still responsible for his decision to reject God. God is only confirming it, setting the heart as it has already in place. Strengthening his heart against God. This would be because God has to show these plagues, these signs and wonders, to show his full identity and glory to Israel and to Egypt. These will be judgments, and I will show my salvation and my identity and my glory to everyone. Pharaoh and Egypt will know who I am.

So the recommission has happened. Moses and Aaron did what God said. Verse 6 is a great reminder of what success in the eyes of God looks like. Doing what He says. Obeying God is the measure. Obeying His will and purposes.

Concluding Application: Our recommissioning, when we fail like Moses, doubt, and even say “I can’t” is important. God has to remind us often of His covenant, His Gospel, and His clear work of qualifying us. Its in Jesus. Can you see how patient He has been with Moses and with Israel? He didn’t give up. He didn’t say, well, nevermind. And that is how patient He is with us. When we make the excuses, when we say we can’t, when things don’t go our way, when we wonder if anything we are doing is worth it, and when everything goes wrong for doing what right, and saying “why God?,” he is patient and reminds us of His goodness, His mercy, His grace, and His plan.

We have run away from him. Some of us…have run very far indeed. Does God cast us off? Does he disown us? No! He disciplines us, it is true. But, having done that and having brought us to the place of repentance, he returns the second time to recommission us to service. Moreover, he comes a third, a fourth, a hundredth, a thousandth time, if necessary, as it often is. None of us would be where we are now in our Christian lives if God had not dealt thus with us. Oh, the greatness of the unmerited grace of God! We deserve nothing. Yet we receive everything, even when we foolishly turn from it.

James Montgomery Boice

Be renewed by God’s gospel promises: Remember what He has done. Remember who He made you, His own. Remember what He is going to do when He comes again. And remember what He has called you to do and is equipped you to do. To make disciples. He didn’t promise it would be easy, but He did promise it would be done. Trust the Lord. Trust His plan. Thank Him for His grace. Get back out there and share the Good News that He is our saving God!