Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Prayer

I.

The Reading

[ Scripture Reading ~ 8 min ]

Say Amen

If you receive this word by faith, as the word of God and not the word of man, would you Say Amen?

Amen!

II.

The Exhortation

The LORD chooses a man named Moses, and the LORD uses this man named Moses, to communicate God’s word to the people of Israel so that the people believe and worship God.

The last verse of this chapter, Chapter 4:31 says —

The people believed; and when they heard — they bowed their heads and worshiped.

This calls to mind the wonderful verses of Romans 10 —

Moses is God’s chosen preacher, sent by God to preach good news to the people of Israel.

And when the people hear, the people believe!

And when the people believe, the people worship.

Church, as we read this Old Testament passage from the Book of the Law, we are reminded that the Bible is one book, beginning to end, with one story — one gospel — about only one God who never changes.

The God of Moses is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit dwelling in all who believe, is our God and Father too - the same God.

God still saves His people and makes His salvation known through the preaching of His Word.

God desires that when His messengers are sent out, and His Word is preached, that His Word be believed so that we are led as hearers into faith, believing and worshiping God.

May what we hear today, from the proclaimed Word of God, lead us as a people to faith in Christ — to believe God and worship God, not because of a fallible human spokesperson, but rather because of what this Word is that is proclaimed to us — the infallible, living Word of God!

III.

The Teaching

Our faith as hearers, does not come from the messenger, but from the sender of the message and the message itself.

If we back up to the beginning of Exodus, Chapter 4, we find God’s sent preacher, Moses, still in conversation with God, still questioning God, still debating God and doubting that the people will believe.

Moses is concerned with his own credibility.

Moses thinks the people’s faith rests upon him as a preacher — upon him as a messenger — upon his credibility or persuasiveness — rather than upon God as the author and sender of that message through him.

He says to the Lord —

“But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice....”

And yet God is not concerned with Moses’ credibility or believability or persuadability or Moses’ voice.

Moses is just the human messenger.

What matters is that God chose Him and God is sending Him.

Preachers wrongly take upon themselves unnecessary burdens and responsibilities.

The preacher is not responsible for the results of preaching or how the people will respond to the message.

The preacher is responsible for delivering the message, faithfully and obediently.

If the Word belongs to God, then the results belong to God too.

The power in preaching never resides in the preacher but always in the Word that is preached.

The word of God is powerful and effective.

The messenger is just the messenger.

So —

Moses has to learn that God is not sending Moses to convince the people to believe because of Moses’ credibility.

God is sending Moses to deliver God’s Word — God’s credibility.

The convincing work belongs to God.

God will convince God’s people to believe.

The Word of God is never separated from the God of the Word.

God is going with Moses because God sent Moses.

The results belong to God.

And to show Moses this, and to show the people this, God graciously gives Moses signs to confirm His Word so that the people will believe.

Victor Hamilton says it this way:

In the first sign, something supportive (a staff) becomes something serpentine (a snake) and then back again.

[Hamilton, E:EC]

God tells Moses to take the staff in his hand, throw it down on the ground and it becomes a serpent.

Then God says for Moses to put out his hand and catch it by the tail so

Hamilton says —

In the second sign, something healthy (an unblemished hand) becomes something harmful (a diseased hand), and then back again.

[Hamilton, E:EC]

The LORD tells Moses to put his hand inside his cloak and when Moses pulls it out his hand is leprous like snow.

God tells Moses to put his hand back in and when he takes it out again, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

Hamilton says of this third and last sign, of which there is no reversal here —

Something pure (the waters of the Nile) is to become something putrid (blood).

[Hamilton, E:EC]

The Nile was a source of life in Egypt, and should the people not believe the source of life — God’s Word, God’s salvation — then the end is death: blood on the dry ground (see NET note).

God does not give Moses a reversal for this sign at this time, and the imagery is clear —

The blood will be upon their own heads if they reject the message at its source — which is God.

Moses thinks the people’s faith rests upon him as a preacher — upon him as a messenger — upon his credibility or persuasiveness — rather than upon the power of God as the author and sender of that message through him.

God is not concerned with Moses’ credibility or Moses’ believability or Moses’s persuasiveness or Moses’ voice.

Moses is just the human messenger.

What matters is that God chose Him and God is sending Him with God’s Word to God’s people.

Moses’ concerns then shift from his credibility to his capability.

Look with me at verse 10:

Literally, Moses is saying I am “heavy of mouth” and “heavy of tongue.”

Moses can’t speak well.

Does the ability of the people to believe God’s Word rest in Moses’ own capability to deliver that message to them?

Do the results depend upon presentation, charisma, charm, eloquence?

Paul said to the Corinthians:

Moses still fundamentally misunderstands his assignment.

God is not sending Moses to deliver a TED Talk, to showcase his speaking ability or his great presentation.

God is sending Moses, faults and all, to speak for God.

To get out of the way so that God’s Word would be heard for what it is — the word of God and not the word of man.

Moses wrongly thinks that if God calls him to speak, God will fix his speaking problem.

God doesn’t fix Moses’ speaking problems!

Look again at verse 10:

Sometimes we say that God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called.

What we mean by that, is that God doesn’t look for the best and brightest and then selects His servants from the cream of the crop, the Ivy League, as if God is assembling his administration’s cabinet.

(We don’t have to read the Gospels very long to see that this is not true - just look at the twelve Jesus chose to follow Him!)

Instead —

God chooses whom God wills to choose and equips them with what they need to do what God has called them to do!

Church —

God can and will use each one of you who are called by Him no matter what your capabilities are.

No matter your experience, no matter your education, no matter what you think you have earned in life.

God doesn’t need or require any of that.

God’s call does not require you to meet the prerequisites of a job description.

God’s reward is not commensurate with your education or experience.

God’s equipping is not like what we think.

God doesn’t call a poor speaker to speak for God and then make Him a great speaker.

God doesn’t call a wealthy man and make Him a giver.

God doesn’t call a tall and handsome man and make him a king.

That’s not to say God’ can’t — but God normally doesn’t.

Instead, —