Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus 18. Exodus 18 begins on Page #113 of the Red Pew Bible in front of you.

If you are able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word, out of reverence for Him.

Exodus 18, beginning in verse 1:

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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Jethro sounds a little Beverly Hillbilly-ish, doesn’t it?

Jethro Bodine.

We don’t know this Jethro’s last name (I doubt it was Bodine, but you never know).

In Exodus chapters 2-4, Jethro shows up.

He’s introduced to us as Moses’ father-in-law and also referred to as a priest of Midian.

In other words, Jethro is Moses’ family and Jethro belongs to another religion.

He’s a priest—the priest of Midian.

In Exodus 2, it says he is a priest of Midian.

Here in Exodus 18, it says he is the priest of Midian.

It’s possible this means nothing, but it could mean he’s been promoted to the high priest of the Midianite religion.

Now, the chances any of us are in the same situation as Moses are slim-to-none, probably none.

I know for a fact none of your in-laws are priests of Midian; but I also know that we likely have family members who belong to another religion (or to no religion at all).

Jethro does not believe in Yahweh; he does not believe in the God of Israel.

But he’s come to hear from Moses about all the things the God of Moses has done for Moses and his people.

This is that opportunity many of us dream about: to be able to speak to our non-believing loved ones about our Lord and Savior at their request; to have a chance to speak with them and share with them everything the Lord has done for us.

Don’t you pray for that chance, that opportunity?

If you don’t, you should.

Pray the Lord opens that door, pray the Holy Spirit makes them curious about everything God is doing in your life.

Jethro heard about everything God had done for Moses and the people of Israel, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

A Holy Spirit-induced curiosity.

A God-given opportunity for Moses to share His faith in the One, True, and Only God.

>You remember, after 40 years on the family farm, Moses goes to his father-in-law and says,

At this, Moses takes his wife and children and heads to Egypt:

In our text for today—Exodus 18—we see that Moses sent his wife and children back to Jethro.

When this happened and why this happened, we don’t know.

Many people assume that Moses sent his family away before the exodus took place, possibly for safekeeping.

The other possibility is that Moses sent Zipporah to see her father after the Israelites came near the mountain of God which wouldn’t have been far at all from where Jethro lived.

Some think that when verse 2 says Moses sent away his wife, it’s speaking about divorce.

That verb (sent away, shalach) can be used as a technical term for divorce.

So, was Moses afraid of what would happen to Zipporah and his two sons in the whole plague-exodus drama?

I don’t think so.

Did Moses divorce his wife and send her away?

I don’t think so.

Those who think he did divorce her are merely speculating.

Verses 5 and 6 of Exodus 18 refer to Zipporah as Moses’ wife, still.

The most likely scenario is this:

Moses and his wife and kids went through the whole ordeal in Egypt and beyond, into the desert together (plagues, passover, exodus, searching for food and water) and then, when they were back in the neighborhood, Moses sent his wife and kids to visit their family.

“Honey, take the kids to see their grandpa.

Tell your family “Hello!” from me.

I’ll stay here and hold down the tent.”

>After their visit, Zipporah and the kids, along with Jethro came to Moses (vv.

5-6).

Apparently word of Israel’s triumph had started to spread.

Certainly when Zipporah and Gershom and Eliezer showed up at Jethro’s house, they told the story of their miraculous rescue.

So when Jethro heard

all this, knowing that Moses was in the neighborhood, he wanted to hear the whole story, and decided to accompany Zipporah and kids on their way back to Moses.

Here is Moses’ opportunity to share the gospel with his father-in-law.

Gospel is not an OT word; it’s a NT word that means “Good News”.

It’s the word euangelion, where we get the word evangelism.

Evangelism is sharing the Good News.

If you’re an evangelical, it means that you believe and are committed to the Good News.

Moses is going to share the Gospel, the Good News about the Lord’s salvation.

He’s going to do some one-to-one evangelism with Jethro.

Moses knew Jethro very well.

Jethro is his father-in-law.

Moses worked for Jethro, tending the flock of Jethro for some 40 years.

They were well-acquainted; they were friends, family.

But Jethro had never come to faith in the God of Israel.

Moses was still the priest of Midian, the servant of a pagan god.

Jethro’s unbelief is confirmed in verse 11 when he says, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods...”

Jethro assumed, up until this point in Exodus 18, that Yahweh was Israel’s God, but was merely their tribal deity, the personal God of the Israelites, like the rest of the gods that Jethro and his people worshipped.

Jethro had not yet come to believe in the one and only true God who provides the one and only true way of salvation.

He was like many people today who think that all religions are more or less equal.

Those who encourage others to “worship any way you like, as long as you mean it.

God won’t mind.”

The trouble and the truth is that God does mind.

There is salvation found in no one else.

To worship another is to worship falsely.

God sent Jesus into the world as the one and only savior.

This is why Christians carry such a heavy burden for the salvation of their family members.

We believe that Jesus is the only way to God.

We believe that unless we trust in Him—and Him alone—we will be separated from God forever.

The decision people make about Jesus Christ marks the difference between life and death.

More than anything else in the whole world, we want our spouses, our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our friends and relatives to know Jesus Christ, finding salvation in Him.

Jethro had not yet come to believe in the one and only true God who provides the one and only true way of salvation.

Jethro didn’t believe in Yahweh, the God of Israel, the One True God.

And Moses was not okay with that.

Moses was not content to let Jethro go on serving a false god.

Moses was not okay with Jethro worshipping another.

It’s clear that Moses loves Jethro.

(Verse 7): Moses goes out to Jethro, bows down out of respect for him, and kisses him out of love for him.

The two men greet one another: “Hey, how are you?

Long time!

So good to see you!”

Moses loves Jethro.

This is clear.

He respects Jethro, obviously.

Motivated by love and respect for Jethro, knowing that the Lord has brought Jethro to him at this moment, Moses seizes the opportunity.

They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

Moses loves Jethro enough to speak the truth.

To speak the truth in love is hard to do.

But, if we truly love people, we will speak the truth.

It is not loving to allow someone to continue down the wrong path.

It’s the opposite of love to condone behavior and belief which will lead to one’s eternal separation from God.

Moses has to share the truth with Jethro because Moses loves him.

And so Moses does:

We don’t have Moses’ speech or testimony recorded here in Exodus 18, but we can pretty well guess that Moses preached to Jethro the same message that he later wrote down as Scripture (the book of Exodus).