Serving Through God's Power

Exodus 4 KJV 1900

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. 18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. 20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. 22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. 24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. 27 And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. 29 And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: 30 And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Walk By Faith

Introduction:

Illustration: In 1999 John F. Kennedy Jr. flew his small airplane from New York City to his family home in Massachusetts for a wedding. On board were his wife Carolyn and her sister. Though Kennedy was a licensed pilot, he had not yet been approved for instrument flight (using only instruments to navigate). When their takeoff was delayed until after dark, Kennedy should have waited for daylight or sought a more experienced pilot to help. Yet, Kennedy took off into the darkness. The plane never reached its destination, and all three passengers were killed in the crash.

Investigators determined that the crash was likely caused by disorientation from flying over open water at night without any landmarks or visible horizon. Kennedy’s lack of experience may well have led him to trust what he thought he was seeing more than what his instrument panel was telling him.

All of us face the temptation to walk according to sight instead of faith. Faith in God will keep us from crashing. Human reason will fail us at times, but God never fails. His Word keeps us on the right course as long as we obey it.

1) Moses’ Objections (vv1-9)

A. The source of disobedience (Unbelief)

Moses begins by not taking God’s word about the Israelites believing Moses message.

The greatest tool of defeat is UNBELIEF. Moses reveals his unbelief in verse 1.

Notice the assumption of Moses; “The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.”

There is never a time when “unbelief” is warranted in the heart of a believer!

Sadly, the pattern of “unbelief” is seen throughout the Bible:

Gen. 17:17 - Abraham doubted the promised child due to his old age.

Matt. 17:19-20 - Disciples could not heal the demoniac.

Luke 1:20 - Zacharias doubted God’s promise of a son.

Luke 24:11 - Disciples doubted Christ’s resurrection.

Did God give Moses any reason why they would not believe without miraculous signs? NO!

Let us be honest with ourselves, does God ever give us a reason to not have FULL CONFIDENCE in His promises? NO!

Where does our doubt come from? There are a few reason why we doubt:

We choose to believe with our eyes and not our heart. (it must make it to your heart!)

We fail to grown in our knowledge of the person of God.

Illustration: Why do you buy the car you buy? Why do you go to your doctor?

B. The tools of God’s direction

God chose to be patient with Moses and not only give him signs (tools) to show the Israelites but also to redirect his heart back to unwavering faith.

Illustration: GPS / rerouting (programed to still get you to the right destination)

Instruments in GOD’S HAND

God first brings Moses to understand the insignificance of the instrument alone; “A rod” “hand” “water”

All three items were created.

Step 1 - Take what you have and do with it what I tell you.

Step 2 - Trust God’s transformation power.

Step 3 - Show Pharaoh these things.

2) Moses’ Pride (vv10-17)

A. A selfcentered perspective

Some would say, “Moses was just being humble.”

Quote: “humility isn’t thinking poorly of ourselves; it’s simply not thinking or ourselves at all but making God everything” (Warren Wiersbe)

Moses completely missed the message.

Illustration: Have you ever given clear directions to someone and they ended up lost anyway?

Illustration: Have you ever given clear instructions to someone on how to do something correctly, but they completely messed it up?

Wow! how many times do you think God says that about you?

God takes time and really spells it out. (vv11-12)

God creates everything for His own glory.

Do we actually think that God would create something or allow something to happen outside of His control to use when He chose too?

Illustration: wealth, new job, raise, sickness, injury, new neighbor, etc.

B. A requested spokesman (vv13-17)

Moses makes a HUGE MISTAKE.

Moses calls Him Lord, but refuses to obey His orders.

He does what a lot of modern day Christians do; they shift the job on to someone else besides themselves.

Sometimes we think, “God just got it wrong this time leading my heart to do this.”

God would tell you the same thing He just told Moses in verse 11-12.

Remember this, “If God sin’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.” (WRITE THAT DOWN)

Why would this be a huge mistake? Didn’t God allow Aaron to assist him? YES.

God does often give you the desires of your heart just so later you will see just how dumb you were!

Aaron was not always a help to Moses.

He cooperated with the people to make the golden calf.

He and his sister caused trouble in the camp being critical over Moses and his wife.

Moses thought he new a better place for Aaron to serve than just as the priest.

You are never called to build bridges!

Illustration: A young girl, unaccustomed to traveling, was taking a train ride through the country, and it happened that in the course of the day her train was obliged to cross two branches of a river and several wide streams. The water seen in advance always awakened doubts and fears in the child. She did not understand how it could safely be crossed. As they drew near the river, however, a bridge appeared, and furnished a way over. Two or three times the experience was repeated, and finally the child leaned back with a long breath of relief and confidence. “Somebody has put bridges for us all the way!” she said in trusting content.

That is life. We fear so many evils, so many troubles look dark ahead, so many difficulties seen insurmountable as they loom before us; but as we advance we find that there is a way through them. God has built bridges for us all the way.

Conclusion: Here is the overarching lesson for us all; God knows us better than we know ourselves, so we must trust Him and obey what He tells us to do.

God knows your weakness far before you figure them out yourself.

The will of God will never lead you where the power of God can’t enable you!