A Sign from God

Please open your Bibles to Exodus 4:1-17

Read Exodus 4:1-17.

Have you ever asked God for a sign?

It’s not something that I recommend, but I’m sure you’ve been there.

You had a difficult decision to make.

There was something that you didn’t want to do.

So you asked God for a sign.

In some way you want God to make His will known to you.

You want Him to make the decision for you.

To write His will in the sky or send you a text message, so there’s no confusion.

Maybe you knew what you were supposed to do, you just wanted God to give you that nudge.

The push of the ledge to get you moving.

So you ask for a sign.

In a sense, Moses is asking for a sign.

If you remember where we’ve been, God told Moses to go to Israel, the Elders of Israel, and then Pharaoh, and deliver a message from God.

But who is Moses?

He’s a nobody.

He has no influence on the Israelites.

They see him as a hypocrite.

He was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He never experienced the rough life, or the hardships of life that the Israelites put up with.

He has no influence on the Egyptians.

They see him as a traitorous murderer.

He was a Hebrew adopted by a previous Pharaoh’s family.

He should have been killed, but they spared him.

Raised with all the benefits of Egyptian culture.

And turned on them.

Murdering one of their own.

So why should anyone listen to Moses?

He has no influence on anybody.

If you remember last week, God gave His name to Moses, Yahweh.

So when He went to Israel, and Egypt, he could say that the I AM has sent him.

Yahweh sent him.

But what if they are skeptical that God really spoke to Moses?

It’s not that reputable of a person.

It’s been 400 years of silence.

God hasn’t sent any prophets in this time.

There’ve been no major developments.

How do we know this is true?

How will Israel know that Moses isn’t making these things up?

That’s why Moses asks for a sign.

These signs are so that Moses can prove that He actually has a message from the Lord.

In this section, God delivers 3 signs, or 3 examples of His sovereignty, so that Moses can be confident in His service to God.

The first example of God’s sovereignty is that He is Sovereign over Nature

We are fairly familiar with the first half of our text.

Moses asks for a sign, and God delivers 3 supernatural signs that show His sovereignty over nature.

Moses’ staff turns into a snake.

His hand becomes leprous.

And he is told to turn water from the Nile into blood.

These 3 signs are not magic tricks.

They are not cheap showmanship or gimmicks.

They are not illusions.

These are miraculous signs.

This serves as an example of what a miracle is.

In the Bible, miracles are instantaneous.

And they cannot be explained in any other way than saying they are something that God did.

These 3 signs are powerful in what they accomplished.

For the first sign, look how it begins in verse 2.

The Lord asks, “What is that in your hand?”

Moses says, “A staff.”

It’s just an ordinary shepherd’s staff.

Nothing fancy.

Nothing elaborate.

Remember, Moses is a shepherd in the Midianite wilderness at this time, to the Northeast of Egypt.

This is the tool for the trade.

God tells Moses to throw it on the ground.

Moses didn’t know why at this time.

He had no idea what was coming.

This was Moses asking for a sign, and God is giving him a sign.

So he throws it on the ground.

Suddenly and instantly, the staff became a snake.

The staff didn’t transition into a snake.

It didn’t transform or morph into a snake.

There wasn’t a moment it was a wooden snake, with bark on it.

The moment that staff hit the ground, it became a serpent.

I love Moses’ reaction to it.

He didn’t know what was coming, so he throws his staff on the ground.

Boom, it turns into a snake.

Look at the end of verse 3, “… and Moses ran from it.”

“I’m done.”

Burning bushes that arent’ consumed, with God speaking from them.

That’s cool.

He stays for that.

But the moment staffs start turning into snakes, that’s where Moses draws the line.

Snakes weren’t something that Moses was fond of.

He knew about about snakes.

In Egypt, they were worshipped.

They were worshipped because they were thought to be wise.

They were feared, because of their venom.

I know, not all snakes are poisonous.

I have a pet snake at home.

His name is Bo, Bo the Boa Constrictor.

He’s not poisonous.

This most likely was some kind of venomous snake, the kind that an Egyptian shepherd is familiar with, and would take seriously.

So Moses ran from it.

Then the Lord told Moses to grab it by the tail.

Why the tail?

Because it was a real snake.

He handled it like a real snake.

The head is the business end.

And as soon as he grabbed the tail, the snake, became the staff again.

This first sign, shows God’s sovereignty over His creation.

The animals that were worshipped in Egypt, and feared for their venom, are toys in the hands of God.

He manipulates them as He chooses.

The second sign was about leprosy.

God told Moses to put his hand inside his cloak.

Then when he pulled it out, it was white and leprous.

Leprosy was a very serious disease.

Within the Old Testament, leprosy was often connected with judgment.

It was the result of disobeying God and becoming unclean.

This sign connects God to His sovereignty over physical health, and using it for judgment.

Then there was a third sign.

We don’t see Moses doing it here, and eventually it would be accomplished in an even grander scale during the plagues.

The final sign, he was told to take some water out of the Nile, then pour it on the ground.

The moment that water hit the dry ground, it would turn to blood.

This shows us the omniscience of God.

It harkens back to the beginning of Genesis and the murder of Abel.

Remember when Cain killed Abel, and God confronted Cain.

He asked Cain where Abel was.

Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God knew exactly where Abel was.

He said that Abel’s blood cried out to him from the ground.

The Egyptians had been murdering baby Hebrew boys.

Their blood cried out from the ground from where it was spilt.

And now blood is appearing on the very ground where they were murdered.

God’s sovereignty over nature, means He knows, and judges.

Moses asks for a sign, and God gives him 3 signs.

A staff into a snake.

A hand that became leprous.

And water that turned into blood.

These 3 signs teach us that God is sovereign over his creation.

There are certain laws of nature that we abide by.

Rules of creation that cannot be broken.

There are laws of physics.

Sticks don’t turn into snakes.

Hands don’t become diseased and then clean in seconds.

Water doesn’t turn to blood.

And yet, none of these laws are pressing on God.

God is sovereign over nature.

When the world talks about nature, they call her Mother Nature.

This is not how we speak.

We speak of a God who is sovereign over His creation.

He created all that there is.

And He can uncreate what there is.

Creation exists to serve Him, and He can make it do things that defy logic, and defy the laws of nature.

In Genesis 6, He used His creation to bring a flood.

Radically, altering the face of the earth.

Joshua 10, He caused the sun to stop.

Do you ever think about what that mean for the sun to stop?

That’s more than just a stopping the sun in the sky.

That means stopping the rotation of the earth.

If the earth stops spinning, that changes our gravity.

If the earth stops spinning, that affects our revolutions around the sun and our placement in the solar system.

If the earth stops spinning that affects the climate of the earth.

It shouldn’t be possible to stop the sun.

But God can defy the laws of nature and allow His creation to continue.

God is sovereign over His creation.

In this first message, or proof that God gives to Moses, it’s a demonstration of God’s sovereignty over His creation.

If you are looking for proof of God, or the reality of the sovereignty of God, turn to His Word.

You will find the sovereignty of God over His creation, where He supernaturally violated the order of the laws of nature.

There is no part of creation that God does not exhibit control over.

From Genesis, where we learn of God’s creative power.

To Job, where we learn of His governing power over the goats in the mountains.

To Jesus, we learn learn of a God who death holds no power over, bringing even the dead to life.

God has control over His creation.

Therefore He can be trusted in.

He can be prayed to.

He can be worshiped.

This truth should affect you.

God gives Moses these 3 signs, but they do not satisfy Moses’ fears.

Then God responds and shows that He is Sovereign over the individual

He’s just had his staff turned into a snake, and seen his hand go from healthy to leprous and back to healthy again, but that is not enough.

Look at verse 10, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

We don’t know if Moses stuttered, had some speech impediment, or was just a bad public speaker.

Either way, Moses’ objection was that he wasn’t the man for the job.

Moses objects because he has been told to go and speak, but he says he can’t speak, because of his slow speech.

What is he saying?

He’s implying either that God is just wrong in picking him.

Or God is picking him to do something that he is physically incapable of doing and so wrong again.

Such boldness from Moses.

“God you picked the wrong guy.”

“God you made me wrong.”

“You are asking me to do something I cannot do.”

Maybe you’ve said that before.

You are to be in fellowship with other believers.

Around other believers.

Serving other believers.

Being cared for by other believers.

And you say, “God you made me an introvert. I’m just not a people person.”

You are called to forgive someone.

“God, I hold on to grudges. It’s how you made me. I look out for me.”

You are called to obey.

“God I can’t obey, I’m in a difficult situation.”

Sometimes we are more like Adam than we realize.

Remember when Adam ate of the fruit.

Genesis 3 says that God confronted him and asked why he ate from the forbidden tree.

What was Adam’s excuse?

“God, it’s this woman you gave me.”

“She made me do it.”

We blame everyone but ourselves.

It’s my parents fault.

It’s the systems fault.

It’s the economies fault.

Moses’ objections become a direct assault upon God.

They are an attack upon God, because He is the one who made you.

Moses says, “I can’t speak, because of this mouth that I have.”

Verse 11, God asks 3 rhetorical questions.

Who made the mouth?

Who makes a man mute, deaf or blind?

Is it not I, the Lord?

God takes these objections personally, because they are an attack upon Him.

God knows exactly what you are made of.

God knows your ability.

Verse 11 says, “Who has made man’s mouth?”

The Hebrew reads “Who has placed [or set] man’s mouth?”

The mouth that God made for Moses was no accident.

It was uniquely chosen and purposely set into Moses’ face.

It’s as if God has a warehouse full of mouths.

And He knew the exact one that He wanted to give Moses.

“Here it is, that’s just the one I’ve been looking for.” - Plop

God never creates a person, and then is surprised by how he turns out.

“Oops, that’s not what I was expecting.”

Who you are is no accident.

The region of the earth where you were born, the color of your skin, the family that you have, these were not accidents.

They were uniquely chosen by God for you.

And you.

Your genetic make up.

Your muscular composition.

The allergies you have.

The diseases you have.

The eye sight that you have.

The ears that you have.

They are all part of your unique composition that God created for you.

Placed or set into you.

Good or bad.

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

That nose that you have … He made it.

That mole that you are embarrassed of … He placed it there.

He creates you, and He creates you how He chooses.

This is an important passage for understanding disabilities and birth defects.

They are not lapses in God’s sovereignty.

They are a demonstration of His sovereignty.

Look at verse 11, “Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth?”

Moses thinks somethings wrong with his mouth and how he speaks.

“Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”

God doesn’t mess up when He creates.

If someone has a speech problem, hearing problem, is born blind, or some other birth defect … it’s happened purposely, and under the will of God.

And God receives glory in how He creates.

Fast forward to John 9.

In John 9, Jesus walks by a man who was born blind.

His disciples asked why he was born blind.

Jesus said that he was born blind so that “the works of God might be displayed in him.”

God wasn’t making lemonade out of lemons.

God wasn’t making the best of a bad situation.

God made Him blind on purpose so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

There’s purpose here.

There’s intention here.

God was glorified in that man born blind.

The blindness was not an accident.

He was chosen, gifted to be blind.

So that, when He was healed, people would know Who Christ was.

So that He would display the works of God.

Luke 19, we meet Zacchaeus who was a wee little man.

He was born exceptionally short.

His short stature became an opportunity to display the lengths one goes in turning to Christ.

His short stature glorified the Lord and became an opportunity to give praise to God.

God is glorified when He causes His people to do what they couldn’t do before.

So Moses was slow in speech.

Look at the promise in verse 12, “… I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

When Moses spoke, it would become a testimony to the power of God.

What Moses considered to be a disqualification would become an example of how God chooses the least likely for His work.

“How’s Moses speaking like that? He’s never been able to string a coherent sentence together.”

This is the sovereignty of God over the individual.

Not just in how he’s made.

But also in what he accomplishes.

This becomes the motif of God’s work in history.

God would use:

The old man Caleb to conquer the corners of Canaan.

The left-handed Ehud to free Israel from the Moabites.

The woman Debrah to lead Israel into battle.

The shepherd boy David to slay the giant.

The bipolar Elijah to confront the priests of Baal.

The impulsive Peter to become the lead disciple.

God knows what He is doing when He chooses people.

When the least likely is used, it glorifies God, because they are doing something they could not do before.

What is keeping you from stepping out?

Do your past sins haunt you?

Do you feel unworthy?

Let me remind you, that this is all to glorify the Son.

The Son is glorified in that He died for sinners.

He didn’t die for good people.

He died for sinners.

Are you unworthy?

Yea you are.

But God is using the foolish things of the world, people like you and I, to show what He does.

God has called you to serve Him.

You serve Him by serving the church.

Using the gifts that God has given you.

Don’t worry about doing it wrong.

Moses worried about doing it wrong.

Instead, trust that the Lord will be with you.

He will be with your mouth.

He will be with your limbs.

He will be with you.

God didn’t pick the best speaker of Israel to be His spokesman.

He picked the man with slow speech.

Ephesians 3:8 Paul says that He was the least of all the saints.

God used him to preach to the Gentiles.

God’s not holding auditions, and saying, “I’ll pick the fastest and the strongest.”

He’s saving the weakest and the lowliest and being glorified in them.

This means acknowledging your weakness.

Know what you are.

Know where you are weak.

Then boast in God who saves the weak and uses them.

There is a final message of God’s sovereignty, and this is that God is Sovereign over the message.

In this text, God has proven His sovereignty over creation and over the individual.

God has been patient with Moses each step of the way.

He’s answered Moses’ objections and provided miracles and answers.

Finally Moses’ opposition is made clear, look at verse 13, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

After every question is exhausted, Moses’ real intentions come out.

Moses doesn’t have a reason for not obeying.

He just doesn’t want to do it.

And for the first time in this passage we see the anger of God.

Because Moses is just being disobedient.

He’s been told to go.

And he is refusing.

He has no reason.

Just no.

It’s interesting, because Moses has been concerned about Israel, the Elders, and Pharaoh receiving the message.

As if they are the biggest obstacle to hearing what God has to say.

But with Moses refusing to go, he’s now becoming the biggest obstacle to God’s message going out.

I can’t help but see a correlation to evangelism and discipleship here.

You’ve been told to go and make disciples.

The Great Commission tells us to be evangelistic.

To proclaim the Gospel.

To teach people what the Lord has commanded us to do.

This is our mission.

We tell strangers the Gospel.

We tell our neighbors the Gospel.

We tell our family the Gospel.

We are told to teach and disciple others.

To approach other people, even those in the church, and teach them.

To open up the word of God, and say, look what Christ has commanded us to do.

Living on every word of God, as if its nutrience for our soul.

Teaching, not empty wisdom, but the Word of God, because all Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for teaching, correction, reproof and rebuking.

Yet, by and large, most people don’t do this.

Why not?

At first we give excuses like Moses.

I can’t share the gospel, because they won’t listen to me.

I can’t evangelize, because I don’t know enough.

I can’t evangelize, because they’ll say no.

I can’t teach other people, it’ll offend them.

All these excuses.

It’s scary.

It’s hard.

Even Paul struggled with this at times.

He asked for people to pray for Him to be bold.

He prayed for opportunities to share the Gospel.

Timothy struggled with it.

Paul reminded Timothy in II Timothy 1:7, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Yea it’s scary, no has ever said it’s not.

But really, it comes down to faithfulness.

It comes down to what you believe about God.

Is He Lord, and does He have a right to tell you what to do?

Or are you lord.

Back to Exodus, we learn that God is sovereign over the message.

His message will go out.

His will has already been made known.

HIs plan is for these people to hear the message.

This will happen.

In the last chapter, Exodus 3:17, God had already said that the people would listen to Moses.

His will is not dependent upon Moses cooperating or not.

Suddenly, in verse 14, Aaron, Moses’ older brother appeared out of nowhere.

We don’t know where he came from.

No other info is given.

But what’s amazing is that while Moses and God are having this conversation, God had somehow already caused Aaron to go up the mountain that Moses is upon.

While God is having this conversation with Moses, Aaron arrives upon the scene.

I love moments like this.

It shows the plan of God in motion.

Aaron was not an after thought.

For Aaron to get here at this moment, he had to have left before God and Moses even started talking.

God then says that the plan is for Aaron to be Moses’ mouth.

God will speak to Moses, who will then speak to Aaron.

Aaron will then be Moses’ mouth to Israel and the Egyptians.

God is sovereign over the message.

He is sovereign that the message will go out.

He is sovereign over the content of the message.

Moses and Aaron are not given a platform to speak whatever they want.

They aren’t social justice warriors, trying to right all the wrongs in the world.

They aren’t demanding fair wages from the Egyptians.

They aren’t trying to remove the dictatorship of Pharaoh.

They aren’t advocating for health care reform and better care of the young.

They had one message, and that was to deliver the words that Yahweh had commanded them to deliver.

This sets the pattern for us today as well.

Paul told Timothy to preach the word, and to do so in season and out of season.

Are there things to be concerned with in the world today?

Yes.

Are there evils in the world?

Yes.

But the message that is to go out is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

When Paul ministered in Corinth, they were a city plagued with sin.

Idolatry.

Sexual immorality.

It was a perverse city.

I bet that we can understand what it is like.

I am surprised by the new evils and sins that are created.

You don’t have to go to a slum or a ghetto to learn of these evils either.

All you have read the laws that our governor signs.

The so-called ethical dilemmas that we face are dumbfounding.

Because they aren’t dilemmas.

They are evil.

But what did Paul do when he went to Corinth?

He didn’t stage a protest in front of the nearest temple.

He didn’t call for a boycott.

I Corinthians 2:2 says, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

How are we to engage our culture?

With the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How are we to engage racism?

With the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How are we to engage homosexuality, sexual immorality, and the new thoughts on gender?

With the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We preach Jesus.

Proclaiming Him as King and Lord.

Establishing that He is the creator and lawgiver.

We use the Law to humble the proud.

Help people see their sin.

And after they understand their sin, then we preach Christ crucified.

We bring out the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Explaining that Christ died for sin.

That’s the message.

We preach Christ, and Him crucified.

We don’t need clever arguments to engage our culture.

We need the message that has been delivered to us.

We preach Jesus and Him crucified.

The message will go out.

God has told us what the message is.

I love the word of God, because it tells us so much about God.

Moses had a conversation with God, that many of you would like to have.

You are wondering what you are here for.

Perhaps at night, you go to bed, stressed about the next day and you pray for a sign.

You want to know what you have been put here for.

You want to know what you should do.

You don’t a sign from God.

You don’t need to test Him like that.

We know that God is sovereign.

He’s sovereign over nature.

He is sovereign over the individual.

God has made you how you are for a reason.

He’s gifted you for a reason.

And He is is sovereign over the message.

You know what to proclaim.

Those signs that were given to Moses, were recorded for you.

The reason why this was included in Scripture is so that when you are lying in bed late at night, pondering the deep things of the universe and wondering how you fit into it, you would be encouraged.

Is there a God?

Yes.

How do you know?

Look at creation.

Did God mess up with He made you?

No.

He knows what He made.

And He knows How He made you.

Does God have a message for you to proclaim?

Yes.

You don’t need a new message.

You need the old message.

And its found within this book.

They are recorded so that you have something that you can act on.

They were given to Moses so that He would act.

They are given to you so that you would act.

What has God called you to do?

Obey Him.

Trust Him.

Be used by Him.

Make disciples.

Evangelize.

You wondering if you should do it or not?

He has shown His sovereignty.

The staff was turned to a snake.

The hand became leprosy.

This is your proof.

Why do you watch the news?

So you would know what’s happening in the world.

Why do you have the Word of God?

So you can know what God is doing in the world.

As the passage ends, God tells Moses, “And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

God tells Moses, “Don’t forget your staff.”

Don’t forget this passage.

This passage tells you about God.

Tells you about His sovereignty, and how that is to be acted on.

This text serves as evidence of God’s great power, what needs to happen now?

Don’t forget your staff.

Go and be used by God.