I AM…I HAVE…I WILL

Good morning…Bibles Out

Exodus 5-6.

Recap:

Last week…Moses called to GO…Go back to Egypt and bring my people out

Moses’s response to this calling was feeling uncertain and unequipped for the task…

But the Lord showed Moses and us that this entire situation is under His control…

He gives Moses these miraculous signs to show the Israelites…as proof of Gods presence with Moses and His will and faithfulness for the people of Israel…

He clears the way for Moses to get back to Egypt…

God’s only request is for Moses to be obedient His commands…

Do as God says and in the end…Glory will come to the Lord…

We ended out last week with this truth…

WHEN THE LORD CALLS YOU TO GO…PLACE ALL YOUR TRUST IN HIM…AND GO!!!

Thats where we pick up today…

The Lord has called us all to be obedient to Him…

BUT…

What do we do when obedience to the call leads to despair from the world???

The Lord is going to show us exactly how we are to respond when obediance brings despair…

READ V 1-5

OBEDIENCE (5:1-5)

Moses is being obedient…

Doing exactly as God commanded him

Not only is he being obedient here…but has been obedient… Look up to the end of chapter 4 (READ 4:29-31)

But now, as Moses is continuing in his obedience to God’s commands…

Pharaoh's response…

V2 “Who is the Lord?”

Application:

We are often called by the Lord…to GO and proclaim Him…

And when we get there…and are obedient…this is often the response…

Why?

The first response you will often get in a barren mission field is “Who is God…and Why should I obey Him?”

What we must understand is this is the heart of why we are here…

To show people who don’t know God…who He is!!!

And how mighty He is!!!

This is where you have to trust the Lord…

Concentrate on obeying Him and trust Him for the success of the mission…

Moses and Aaron are living out this call and doing it obediently…

They are hit with some resistance as they do as God called them…

Pharoah says NO

But he doesn't just say NO…

Things get way more difficult after that

READ V6-21

DESPAIR (5:6-21)

Not only did Pharoah say NO

He removes a vital component they need for making bricks…

straw was something that was provided for the Israelites in their brick making labor…

This slave labor was already hard enough…Now it just got harder…

The straw makes the bricks stronger…

It is a necessity….

Now, not only do they have to make bricks…they have to labor to get the vital component to make the bricks…

AND…by the way…we know this will take time…to harvest or find straw for yourselves…

More work but still the same daily quota…

And the Israelites are getting hammered by this…

They are pleading with Pharoah “why do you treat us like this?”

But he is unmoved…

Church…Moses and Aaron have been obedient to the calling…

The Israelites have heard the words of God through Moses…They have seen the signs…they believe…

But somehow…OBEDIENCE HAS LED TO DESPAIR…

Application:

If your being obedient to Gods call to GO…

THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU…

Jesus warns us of this in…

John 15:18–19 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

SO…how should we respond???

READ V22-23

Moses responds by going directly to the Lord in prayer…

He begins to…

LAMENT (5:22-23)

Takes it to God!!!!

He seeks answers in 3 categories here...

-Why is this going badly?

-Why did you send me?

-Why isn't it going like I thought?

Moses is seeking the Lord for answers to these questions…

These are three emotions we can relate to right?

“Lord you called me…Why isnt this going right???”

“Why did you even send me here Lord…nothing is getting accomplished”

“When you said to GO Lord…I had in my head how this would play out…but its not going that way”

Illustration:

I met with a pastor in Indianapolis a few years ago…a guy From Florida…the Lord called him and His wife to plant a church on the northeast side of downtown…

So he packed up moved his wife and his kids up here…

Planted the church and in the first 2 years of the church…

He was robbed and stabbed while on a morning run…

shot at while sitting in his car at a stop light…

And his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer…

For him…OBEDIENCE LED TO DESPAIR…

I asked him how has he continued on…And he told me...

When everything felt like it was crumbling outside of his control…

He went to the only person He knew had control…

He sought the answers to his why questions from the great I AM

Church…when Obedience leads to despair…

Our first move has to be seeking the Lord in prayer…

Just like Moses does…

When we don’t understand WHY…SEEK THE LORD!

This is what reliance on God looks like…

The Lord has already proven that when his people cry out to Him…He responds!

Remember in chapter 2???

The Lord said I have heard the cries of my people!!!

Now I have come down to deliver!!!!

When God hears our cry He responds!!!

Now Moses crying out to Him…

Lets see how God responds to this cry out in this situation…

READ V1-8

God responds with faithful…

PROMISE (6:1-8)

The Lord makes a series of statements to Moses...

He begins with reminding Him of Who He is…His name…Remember…

I AM (v2) (The LORD…I AM)

THEN…He takes Moses’s attention back to Who he has been and what He has done…

REMEMBER…

I HAVE (v3-5) (I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/ I established my covenant/ I heard the groanings/ I REMEMBER my covenant)

Showing Moses that He is a faithful God!!!

NEXT, the Lord makes a series of promises…He says…

I WILL (v6-8a)

-I will DELIVER you from slavery/ I will REDEEM you

Our Lord RESCUES and RESTORES us!

-I will TAKE you to be my people/ I will BE your God

The Lord is God of adoption…I will take you as my own and I will be yours!

-I will BRING you into the promised land/ I will GIVE it to you

The Lord gives an inheritance!

I AM (v8b) (THE LORD) The period on the promise!!!

This is GOSPEL PROMISE CHURCH!!!

The Lord is getting our eyes on the the Good News promise He has given us!!!

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT JESUS DOES IN HIS GOSPEL!!!!

He tells His followers…

I AM (John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””

I AM the Lord!!!

I HAVE (John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””

Church the Lord has been faithful…

Jesus has overcome sin and death…

He has defeated our greatest enemy!!!

IT WAS FINISHED ON THE CROSS!!!

He has delivered us…into freedom from sin!

He has adopted us…made us His!

I WILL (John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

I will bring you to your inheritance that I have kept for you and you will dwell with me forever...

In 1 Peter…Peter is writing to a bunch of churches in the region of Asia Minor who are being persecuted for the spreading of the Gospel…Being persecuted for being obedient to the call to GO…

As he opens this letter to encourage the people what does he do??

What does he say to a people who are experiencing despair in obedience????

1 Peter 1:3–7 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

He gets their eyes on the gospel!!!!

Thats what is happening in Exodus today…

God is showing Moses the Gospel promise and His faithfulness to it!!!

CHURCH…

BIG IDEA: WHEN OBEDIENCE BRINGS DESPAIR…GET YOUR EYES ON THE GOSPEL PROMISE.

If you are in this season church where obedience to Gods command is bringing Despair from the world…

GET YOUR EYES ON THE GOSPEL PROMISE!!!

REMEMBER Gods faithfulness and love and promise in the Gospel!!!

I AM…I HAVE…I WILL

No matter how persecuted you are!

No matter how bad it gets Remember the gospel….

(PAUSE)

I want to bring one last thing to our attention as we round out our time this morning…

Look with me at verses 9-13 READ

The Lord continues to encourage Moses…

ENCOURAGEMENT (6:9-13)

Understand…The people are broken…

Moses is broken…

doubting…questioning…

God says KEEP GOING

Gave them a charge!!

DO NOT STOP…

Again church...