God Hears His People
The Gospel Project • Sermon • Submitted
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· 20 viewsGod is fully aware of suffering and opression and responds because He is good and just.
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Introduction
Video: Sanctity of Life
So this past week probably marks one of the most significant “Sanctity of Human Life” weeks in it’s 45 year history. Love him or hate him, President Trump was the first President ever to address the March for Life in Washington. And he chose to say some profoundly Life affirming things. Then we have a New York governor passing the most Pro-Abortion bill ever, allowing abortions right up to the due date. And on the other side, Iowa passed one of most Pro-Life laws ever, the “Heartbeat Law” which asserts if there is a heartbeat there is a life. So no abortions after 6 weeks. Most of us, to one degree or another, have come face to face with the ideas behind the “Sanctity of Life” this week.
Here at Friendship Church we firmly believe in the “Sanctity of Human Life” and we corporately champion this cause through the APPLE Pregnancy Care Center in Eau Claire. Along with being a long time financial supporter of the center, this past year their director, Melinda Gardner, was here to speak, several of our families join in their “Walk For Life” this past Sept and a group of us drove up for a Serve Team night to clean the shelves of rewards for their earn to learn program. We have a great working relationship with this ministry that is championing the sanctity of human life.
Along with being a long time financial supporter of APPLE, this past year, we had the director, Melinda Gardner here explaining extensively what it is that they do at the Center, several of our families were able to make it to their “Walk For Life” this past Sept, and a group of us drove up for a Serve Team night to clean their shelves for their earn to learn program. Actually, they even mentioned that in their end of the year newsletter. We have a great working relationship with this ministry that is championing the sanctity of human life.
This past year their director, Melinda Gardner, was here to speak,
We had several of our families join in their “Walk For Life” this past Sept,
and a group of us drove up for a Serve Team night to clean their shelves for their earn to learn program. Actually, they even mentioned that in their end of the year newsletter. We have a great working relationship with this ministry that is championing the sanctity of human life.
APPLE stands for “Aiding Problem Pregnancies with Love and Encouragement” and it exists specifically in response to the 1973 Roe vs Wade Ruling in our country that legalized abortion. So for 46 years this great country of ours has been horribly stained by the legalization of the killing of unborn babies. As a nation, we have accepted the idea that a mother can choose to end the life of the person that God has created inside of her. This law has allowed more than a half million people to be murdered here in Wisconsin alone.
We are not ok with that.
That is why we continue to partner with APPLE as a Church and encourage each other to participate in any community, political or legal action ministries that work to fight this horrible epidemic. As a Church we will be partnering with APPLE in a new way over the next several weeks. If you are interested in helping to reverse the devastation of abortion in our community then let me encourage you to participate in this “Baby Bottle Boomerang” campain.
Pregnancy Care Centers like APPLE care about this tragedy and they connect with it from the perspective of offering help and counseling to unexpected mothers and fathers. They come alongside these men and women to tell them that the life that is in them is a gift that God has ordained to be. Then they walk with them into and through the pregnancy all the way in the beauty and challenge of being a parent. The offer many free resources like
Pregnancy Tests
Options Counseling
Referrals to Organizations
Practical Assistance
Post-abortion Counseling “We’ve known about you and supported you – but now we need you”
“We’ve known about you and supported you – but now we need you”
but now we need you”
Just like a boomerang is something that you throw out and see come back, APPLE has provided us with a basket full of battle bottles in hopes that we will take them home, put them in a prominent place in our house to remind us to pray for the Center and then place any loose change, bills or donations checks we would like in the bottles. We will collect the bottles then in three weeks and get them off to APPLE. There is also information on other opportunities to support the center in your program so be sure to check that out as well.
Partners & Parents Welcome
Earn While You Learn: Long-term mentoring, education and rewards
Long-term mentoring, education and
So we want to be helping this ministry in any way that we can. One of the new ways that we will be supporting this ministry is to have a “Baby Bottle Boomerang” campain. Just like a boomerang is something that you throw out and see come back, APPLE has provided us with a basket full of battle bottles in hopes that we will take them home, put them in a prominant place in our house, remember to pray for the Center and place any loose change, bills or checks in the bottles in trust that God will use our donation to further champion the Sanctity of Life in our Country. Then in three weeks, on Feb 17th, we will collect them all and return them. I will do my best to make sure that his basket gets put back in the lobby for you to grab one or two of however many your family would like to be responsible for, and then return them in 3 weeks.
rewards
Abortion is an evil that takes a life, but it’s destruction does not end there. It destroys the lives of the mothers who made that horrible choice too. It affects them emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. This is probably where APPLE’S message is most opposed. The last thing that a pro-choice person would want an expectant mother to know is that their are life altering consequences on both side of this choice. Melinda Gardner sent me this quote:
Others ways that Apple is looking for support is to
While the killing of these many unborn babies is front and center to this horrible reality, there is another affect of this that is often overlooked. The rights of the child have certainly been robbed from him or her, but too often we forget how the effectragedy in so many ways, but one of the ways that is way too often overlooked is the emotional, and phsycological affects
Join the “Walk for Life” (Sept 2019)
Volunteer at APPLE offices (more information in the bulletin on this)
Serve on the Board
Be A Prayer Warrior For Us - If you remember from Melinda’s presentation, this is not just a throw er in at the end kind of request. They are often under direct attack from groups who oppose their message and mission. Those who would desire the evil of abortion to continue to plague our country. They are in great need of our prayers.
And what do they see as a win? What is their goal? I think the quote here from one of their clients says it well:
“If it had not been for the post-abortion counseling available through APPLE Pregnancy Care Center, I’d still be the same emotionally and spiritually broken person who initially walked through those doors – or maybe worse. Thanks. I don’t know what “worse” could have been like, but I do know what “forgiven and free” feels like.” – APPLE Client
Abortion is an evil that takes a life, but it’s destruction does not end there. It destroys the lives of the mothers who made that horrible choice too. It affects them emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. This is probably where their message is most opposed. The last thing that a pro-choice person would want an expectant mother to known that their are life altering consequences on both side of this choice. So this is one area that APPLE really focuses. Listen to the challenge that these people face every day:
– APPLE Client
Abortion is an evil that takes a life, but it’s destruction does not end there. It destroys the lives of the mothers who made that horrible choice too. It affects them emotionally, phsycologically and spiritually. This is probably the message that is most opposed, and it is the place where a Christian Care Center focuses. Listen to the challenge that these people face every day:
The central challenge which pregnancy center staff and volunteers face every time they walk into the client room is this “How can we uphold the humanity of the unborn, affirm the woman in crisis, and eventually find a life-affirming solution for both?”
“How can we uphold the humanity of the unborn, affirm the woman in crisis, and eventually find a life-affirming solution for both?” ‘
Did you hear that? They are after a “life affirming solution”! Why are they looking for that? Because they believe in the “Sanctity of Human Life”.
Tension
Every Christian must affirm the “Sanctity of Life”. Notice I did not say that every Christian is “Pro-Life” because that is more of a political label and people can be “Pro-Life” for a lot of different reasons, but the “Sanctity of Human Life” is something that every Christian must affirm.
Every true Christian believes in the “Sanctity of Life”. Notice I did not say that every Christian is “Pro-Life” because that is more of a political label and people can be “Pro-Life” for a lot of different reasons. But the Sanctity of Life is something that every true Christian must affirms.
A week where people gather together in different settings and conversations to support and promote the idea that there is a “sanctity” to life, but what does “sanctity” even mean.
You have probably heard on the news this week how this is “Sanctity of Life” week. There have been marches in Madison and in Washington DC. A week where people gather together in different settings and conversations to support and promote the idea that there is a “sanctity” to life, but what does “sanctity” even mean.
Why is that? It is found in the word “Sanctity”. Sanctity is “the state or quality of being holy or, sacred”.
So what do we mean by the word “Sanctity?”
If you were to look it up in the dictionary then you would read that Sanctity is “the state or quality of being holy or, sacred”.
We just finished studying the book of Genesis, and in the creation story we saw every creative act concluded with the statement that “God saw that it was good” until he made human life. There was something different about human life, something so significant that it changed everything else that He had made. For after God placed the human life that he created into his good world, Genesis says
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:that he saw that it was “Very Good”.
What made the difference? Why is the life of a human more significant than the life of trees, alligators, mosquitoes or dolphins?
We were made in God’s image.
What made the difference? Why is the life of a human more significant than the life of trees, alligators, mosquitoes or dolphins? We were made in God’s image.
and as saw mankind in the world that He had made good, he took it up one more notch to declare it to be “very good”.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
We were made in God’s image.
You might say, yeah but then sin entered the world and everything changed. That is true, and yet God continued to affirm the “Santity of Human Life” even after the fall of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
The penalty for taking a life was giving your own. There is nothing else valuable enough to make that right, for says
7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
Of course the argument that we have all heard is that the baby in the womb does not constitute a life yet. Not until it can breathe air on it’s own outside of the womb. Before that, it is just a part of the mother’s body in such a way that it can be removed and done away with like your gall badder or wisdom teeth. Their is no room for a Christian to accept this. God repeatedly in Scripture talks of life in the womb. One of the most prominent places is when God tells Jeremiah:
Speaking of the prophet Jeremiah God said:
Speaking of the prophet Jeremiah God said:
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah
This verse is especially significant to me as it is written on our oldest son’s grave. James was still born, but God knew him. God knew each one of us in our mother’s womb. That makes us a distinct person, not a removable organ from our mother’s body. And God says a similar thing of Isaiah, and Isaiah prophecies something similar to the people of Israel. And of course there is that was highlighted in our opening video, a powerful reminder of God’s intimate relationship with babies in the womb.
For a Christian, God is the one who forms us in the womb, knows us in the womb, has plans for us from the womb and this proves to us the personhood of the millions of children that have been murdered in this country.
For a Christian, it can never be a “Reproductive Choice” or “the removal of unwanted tissue”. It is the taking of an innocent life. That makes it murder. That is the foundation for the Christian perspective on abortion. We might differ on how best to go about ridding our nation of this evil, but every Christian must affirm the “Sanctity of Human Life” and call abortion exactly what it is. It is evil done against God and a person who is known by Him and made in His image. That is where the dividing line stands.
To give you and example of the blindness that we as humans can have toward this I clicked on a link for the National Abortion Federation and they had a very aesthetically appealing homepage so I read through the first paragraph hoping to get a glimpse of where they were come from. I found it clearly in the very first sentence.
I am the kind of guy who wants to believe theOne of the first things that I read on the “National Abortion Federation” website was that:
“Today, abortion is one of the safest medical procedures thanks to the dedicated work of abortion providers across the country.”
God says the same thing of Isaiah
Not for the baby! The baby is being killed. How can they declare a medical procedure to be safe when it has a 100% mortality rate. Because they don’t believe God when He says that this is a sacred life and you are killing one of my babies.
5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
Isaiah
If this doesn’t break your heart, then you must not be listening. Or you just don’t have ears to hear the truth of the Word of God. This is murder. This is evil. This is Sin.
God is the one who forms us in the womb and gives us personhood.
“the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly”. Something holy or sacred is something that is set apart as having intrinsic value
But as we continued on in the Genesis story everything is changed with the fall of man, but God affirms that the “Sanctity of Human Life” remains.
This is not just a “ripped from the headlines” sermon today, but in God’s sovereign providence he has brought us to a passage of Scripture where this very Sin is talked about. And just as it has in our country, this sin leads to great suffering, but God is fully aware of our suffering, and He is a God who responds in His goodness and justice.
We are continuing in the Gospel Project today but we are beginning a new book of the Bible. From Genesis we are simply turning the page and heading right on in to the book of Exodus. We ended Joseph’s story last week with somewhat of a happy ending. Joseph has fully forgiven his brothers and their entire family is now living under the protection of Joseph as Pharaoh’s number one go to guy. They are given a lush area to dwell in, the land of Goshen, and they begin to grow quickly. As they grow generation after generation they start adapting the ways of the Egyptians including the way they worship and serve their gods. While they remained a distinct people in ethnicity, they did not remain loyal to God spiritually and so they were forced into oppressive labor in Egypt. They cry out for help, God hears them and raises up a rescuer for them. A man by the name of Moses. And we are going to begin looking at his story today.
So if you will open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 1 (p. 45) I’ll pray and then we will dive in.
the story of Genesis, the “Very Good” is forever changed. Our first parents Adam and Eve chose to rebel in sin and so they were removed from the garden. Removed from the garden that contained the tree of life. No longer would life be “very good” as it once was. And we see the evil take hold in the very next generation as Cain murdered his brother Abel in jealousy. He did not treat his brothers life as if it was sacred. As if it was holy. He did not consider the sanctity of his brother’s life, only the jealousy that lead to rage in his own.
Through out the book of Genesis we find that to not treat something as holy that God treats as holy is Sin and Sin always leads to suffering, eventually.
Sin always leads to suffering,
It may be your sin that brings the suffering. It may be the sin of someone else that is bringing both you and them suffering. But Sin always leads to suffering.
Sin always leads to suffering. It may be
It may be the sin of someone else that is bringing both you and them suffering,
Somehow we really don’t get that. We don’t really believe that, at least we don’t act like we do. Somehow in our lives we in effect stand there with our first parents Adam and Eve, staring at the forbidden, and thinking that God might be holding out on us. That He might not have given us “the good”, but that we have to secure the good apart from what God has told us is good - that is a perfect definition of sin - and then that sin, that separation from the good that God intended for us to have, always leads to suffering.
but Sin always leads to suffering. Somehow we really don’t get that. Somehow in our lives we in effect stand there with our first parents Adam and Eve, staring at the forbidden, and give in to the lie that God must be holding out on us. That He must not have given us “the good”, but that we have to secure the good apart from God - that is a perfect definition of sin - and then that sin, that separation from the good that God intended for us to have, always leads to suffering.
Somehow we really don’t get that. We don’t really believe that, at least we don’t act like we do. Somehow in our lives we in effect stand there with our first parents Adam and Eve, staring at the forbidden, and thinking that God might be holding out on us. That He might not have “good” in mind for us. Maybe we will just have to secure the good apart from what God has told us is good. That is a very vivid and accurate definition of sin. Sin is seperation from God and his good and it always leads to suffering.
Make no mistake, the Sin of abortion is causing great suffering. These unborn babies who cannot defend themselves are suffering at the hands of supposed doctors. The mothers who make this horrible choice are suffering as they are often plagued with thoughts and dreams of the life that was meant to be. It is my belief that we as a nation are suffering because we have allowed this evil thing to be a part of our nation.
And where is God in all of this? He created good, holy and sacred things and gave them to us and we ruined them with our sin.
What would you do if you gave someone this great gift that was perfectly suited to meet all their needs, and instead of using it to meet those needs they reject it and just destroyed it - and now they are crying out to you because their needs aren’t being met.
Thankfully, I am not God. (can I get AMEN) Maybe you are like me but I would be incline to respond, “Hey, You made your bed now lie in it.” But over and over throughout these Old Testament stories we keep seeing how God is faithful, even though we are not. So even when we suffer because of Sin that we have done, and we cry out to God, He hears and unlike us, He is inclined to act.
We are continuing in the Gospel Project today but we are beginning a new book of the Bible. From Genesis we are simply turning the page and heading right on in to the book of Exodus. We ended Joseph’s story last week with somewhat of a happy ending. Joseph has fully forgiven his brothers and their entire family is not living under the protection of Joseph as Pharaoh’s number one. They are given a lush area to dwell in, the land of Goshen, and they begin to grow quickly. As they grow generation after generation in the land of Egypt they start adapting the ways of the Egyptians including their gods. While they remained a distinct people in ethnicity, they did not remain loyal to God spiritually and so just as God told Isaac they were forced into oppresive labor in Egypt. So they cry out to God, and God raises up and sends them a rescuer. This rescuer’s name is Moses. And we are going to begin looking at his story today.
So if you will open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 1 (p. 45) I’ll pray and then we will dive in.
Truth
One of the places that we
God hears the prayers of his people...
Tension
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Historical Context - New Power
Exodus 1:1-
Truth
God hears the cry of the people , despite political adversities and can act
The family of Israel came in only 70 strong and grew into the people of Israel. Do you see what we have here? We start to see God’s promise to Abraham being fulfilled. He would have a People. He would have a Place. He would have the blessing of God’s Presence that would become a blessing to everyone on earth. So the 70 grew into a whole people, and they grew strong so much so that they were seen as a threat for the new leadership in Egypt.
Truth
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Exodus 1:8-
So the Egyptians oppressed the people of Israel in hopes that they would dwindle in number and resolve and they could control them. Not only that, butthe King of Egypt commanded those who deliver the Hebrew babies to abort them. I just couldn’t believe how fitting this text is for us today. Listen to how this rolled out.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
Exodus 1:17
They didn’t have the technology we do today to kill the baby in the womb, so Pharaoh tells these women to kill the baby as it is being born. This is in line with what New York just signed into law and then celebrated their evil victory with lighting up the Empire State Building. But listen to the response of these women...
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Did you hear that? They feared God. Without that you have no “Sanctity of Human Life”. You can sign bills into law that allow the murdering of innocent people. Terrorist nations are doing this all the time. They have determined certain kinds of people to “not fully poeple” so they have them executed with no fear of God. What does that say about us as a country?
Exodus 1:
These women feared God more than they feared the political power that they were oppressively commanded to obey. This was a bold and courageous decision that these women made. To stand in the gap and not do what they were told they must. They could not have known the outcome of their decision, but God honored their faithfulness.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Exodus 1:
So the most powerful main in the land has been undone by a couple of shrewd midwives. He isn’t finished though, and goes from secret meetings to public proclaimations. From abortion to straight out male infanticide. Killing all the boys so they don’t grow up to join a military force that oppose Him. The oppression of God’s people at this time was very great. If we skip down to the end of chapter 2 we can get a sense of the position that the people of Israel were in
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
What I find interesting here is that it doesn’t say that they cried out to YHWY. It doesn’t say that they cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but only that they cried out for help... and God heard. He didn’t answer because the people were faithfully calling out to Him, but He answered because of his promise to Abraham. One part of the promise had been filled, they had become a people, but the rest of the promise had not. And God always keeps his promises. So here we see our first theme for this week, that...
Genesis 2: and There was great suffering and they cried out to God
Into this setting was born a little boy named Moses.
God hears the cries of His people ()
God hears the cries of His people ()
So into this period of suffering and crying out for help was born a little boy who will be called Moses. His coming of age story is told in the first part of Chapter 2, it is a great story and I encourage you to read it this week. In summary, his mother understandably did not want to drown her new born son in the Nile. So she found a way to obey the command of her earthly “lord” without rebelling against her heavenly “LORD”. She made a floating basket and put her son in it and sent her daughter to watch out for it. It ended up floated down the Nile and made it’s way to the feet of Pharaoh’s daughter. And just as the lowly midwifes had defied the “Great Pharaoh” to preserve life, Pharaoh’s daughter also defies her father’s edict and she takes this little Hebrew boy in as her son. Moses grows up in Egyptian luxury but he is never really Egyptian. At the same time he wrestles over the oppression of the Hebrews, but his luxury and position doesn’t allow him to be truly Hebrew either.
Then one day, he see’s an Egyptian soldier beating a Hebrew slave to death and something takes over him and he steps in and rescues the Hebrew by killing the soldier. He buries the soldier in the sand, thinking no one saw. But the next day he sees two Hebrew slaves attacking each other and he steps in again, and the response from one of the Hebrews tells him that everyone in Egypt knows that he killed that Egyptian.
So now he truly is a man without a country, as both Pharaoh and every Hebrew hates him. So he runs away to a distant land and becomes a Shepherd. - There is something familiar feeling about that isn’t there - but God doesn’t leave him there in the contented life of a Shepherd. He has much bigger plans for Moses.
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
So he runs away to become the one thing that his pothinking his act of kindness would win him favor with the Hebrews. Instea
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God hears the cries of his people and He is moved to action and has chosen Moses to go to Pharaoh and let him know that the people of Israel, his working force that has built him many storehouses, are just going to be going now… So of course Moses is immediately on board, “Sure no problem, when do we leave…” Not exactly.
He has a few…um…questions and objections to the idea. First he questions his own identity and then He questions Gods.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
God reveals His identity ()
God reveals His identity ()
It is important to understand that the people of Israel have been living in Egypt for a long time at this point. We don’t exactly know how long, but we know that generations have passed. In that time, we learn from Ezekiel and other historical books that the people of God had really taken to the idea of many gods. They may have remained a people ethnically, but spiritually they were all over the map. So when they cried out for help, it was really to whoever or whatever god might be listening. So Moses knows that if he says that some god had sent him, the people of Israel are going to ask him which of the many gods is He talking about.
So God goes right to the character found in his name, He says “I AM WHO I AM” and then introduces himself as the “I am”. There are so many significant things that radiate out from God’s name here, but the point I believe that God was getting at for Moses is that He is not in any way a part of the system of gods that His people had been rebelliously following after. Those gods don’t even exist. They are just idols made of brick of stone. God Is. He is the one who will cause these things to happen. He is the one who has caused all things to happen. He is Creator God, the one that is, has always been, and always will be. He will do these things. This is how Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saw him and it is how He is.
We talked about God’s name in more detail in Sunday School today, if you missed it we would love to see you next week....but God follows up this character declaration with His personal name. The name that we know as YHWY. Throughout the Old Testament then we will see this name written as LORD with all capitals as well as we will continue to see God refereed to as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. This is the way that God constantly identifies himself.
So God answers Moses’ first two objections by revealing his identity in the character and understanding of his name. Well, this should be enough to get Moses going right? Wrong. So...
Well, this should be enough to get Moses going right? Wrong next...
God shows (Moses) His power ()
God shows (Moses) His power ()
Exodus 4:1-10
1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
This is quite a show that God is putting on for Moses here, but it more than just three random miraculous feats that God is equipping Moses with. As we will see next week with the plagues, God is demonstrating his power over the very things that the Egyptians have made into gods.
The Egyptians saw the serpent as a sacred animal - so YHWY is proving his power over their sacred systems by bringing one into existence at his command.
The Egyptians worshipped many god to bring good health and vitality - so YHWY is proving his power over their false gods by bringing deadly disease and removing it with only a movement of an arm.
The Egyptians worshiped the Nile River as it provided life and sustenance for their families, flocks and herds - God is proving his power to take it all away.
As a former prince of Egypt having grown up in the house of Pharaoh’s daughter Moses would have recognized the connections to these things. But remember, God is giving these signs to Moses to prove to the people of Israel who He is. This means that the people of Israel have been so engrossed in Egyptian paganism that they need their alliances to this pagan system of gods broken before they will even believe again in the YHWY the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deadly Wild Animals
Obviously, this is just the beginning of the story of Moses, and there is so much to come but for today it would be good for us to remember that so far...
Deadly Disease
1. God hears the cries of His people
2. God reveals His Identity
Deadly Water Supply
3. God shows His Power to act
I am sure that you can connect these three fears with the Next week when we walk through the plagues that God sends
As the author of life, God is also free to take it away
Gospel Application
And of course anytime we find a rescuer in a story in the Bible we should quickly be drawn to the greatest rescue story in the Bible. While Moses eventually does go, however reluctantly, Jesus was completely willing to obey the Father when he sent His Son to rescue us.
The sending of God’s son was a response to the cry of God’s people, they had been waiting for the promise Messiah, the promised rescuer for hundreds of years. They had been under the oppression of Empire after Empire and they kept looking and crying out for a rescuer.
Jesus also spent much of ministry years here on earth revealing His divine Identity. At one point the religious leaders were questioning Jesus in the Temple and they got so frustrated with Jesus that they just flat out asked him, “Who do you think you are, it sounds like you think you are even greater than Abraham”.
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
It was not just who Jesus thought He was, He is the “I AM”
Finally, Jesus showed his Power to Act. Over and over Jesus showed his power to bring everything in this world back into alignment with the way God created it to be. In the storm, Jesus calmed it. In disease, Jesus healed it. In hunger, Jesus fed it. In death, Jesus conqured it - raising any of us who put our trust in Him to new life. Because God has declared to us the “Sanctity of Human Life”
Landing
Landing
I can’t tell you each how to respond to the “Sanctity of Human Life” but what I can do is point you to the one who can. Cry out to God with me. Cry out to God on behalf of these people who are being murdered right here in our country. God Hears The Cry Of His People and He will Act. It may be that he has something specific that He wants to do in an through you. If so, do it. Certainly grabbing a baby bottle today would be a good start.