A Renewed Commission, Promise, and Continued Doubt (Part 2)

[0:00] That takes us to where we left off last week in our study in the book of Exodus, and that is in chapter 6.

[0:19] ! And remember what led us to chapter 6, of course, was the end of chapter 5. And it's the end of chapter 5, of course, where Moses has been accused of bringing the harder bondage to Israel because of his speaking to Pharaoh.

[0:41] And so remember that Moses takes this complaint to the Lord and simply asks God, why have you treated your people so bad?

[0:53] Why have you brought this evil upon them that makes their bondage harder by you instructing me to go talk to Pharaoh? And then why is it you have called me to do this?

[1:08] Remember, the expectation was that Israel would be just all of a sudden taken out of Egypt. That's what they gleaned from the idea of God saying to Moses that I'm going to deliver my people Israel out of Egypt.

[1:26] But again, remember, that was not going to be the case. It wasn't going to be an immediate departure. And so we took a look at that. But then after Moses' complaint and his question of God, why have you done this?

[1:42] Why have you done it to Israel? Why have you called me to this task? Without receiving a response or answer to that question, God simply says in verse 1 of chapter 6, remember, Now, similar to the same thing that he has said before.

[2:13] You're going to speak to Pharaoh? Tell him to let my people go? You know, the first idea was to go out and worship God outside of Egypt, and then we'll be back.

[2:25] That type of thing. But that didn't happen. Pharaoh wouldn't let him go. He made things more difficult. Now God once again says, and I like the way he says this, Now, now Moses, you complained to me, but now you're going to see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh, because it's with a strong hand that he's going to let them go and drive them out of the land.

[2:52] So, no real true answer to his question. But it's something he's going to have to learn by experience, remember, we mentioned last week. Now, verse number 2 and 3.

[3:06] Let's just run there real quick. There's something I thought about today in this. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord, or literally, I am Jehovah.

[3:22] And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. Remember, that's El Shaddai. We looked at this a bit last week. But by my name, Jehovah, was I not known to them?

[3:38] Back up just a moment here. Or take a pause in that just a second. God said to Moses, very emphatically, I am Jehovah.

[3:50] And then explain some things about that. It brought to my mind this morning when I looked at this again, about what we saw back in, how many of you remember back in our study in Malachi in 2019?

[4:04] No. Don't remember. I was hoping you didn't. Go there with me if you will. Go to the book of Malachi. Malachi. And remember something here that God says to the people of Israel.

[4:19] Remember in Malachi, he's dealing with their contention here. They're cantankerous. They have not completely rejected God, but it's as if they did because of the way they've treated him and disrespected him.

[4:38] He begins chapter 1, remember, by saying, or in verse 2, I have loved you, says the Lord. Says Jehovah, I've loved you.

[4:50] And then their response is, how have you loved us? What have you done to show us how you love us? And then he goes on and mentions that. Now, over in chapter 3, remember what happens here.

[5:02] In chapter number 3, in verse number 6, again, the context of this is God dealing with Israel in its sin of rejection of what God has done for them and with them.

[5:17] He simply makes the statement, for I am the Lord, or I am, remember capital case letter, Lord, I am Jehovah.

[5:29] I change not. Therefore, you are not consumed. So emphatically, the idea that I am Jehovah.

[5:40] Now, to this point in Malachi, Israel's already come to understand what that means, that he is Jehovah, though they seem to have forgotten that.

[5:51] But God here begins to show Israel, reminds them of what their focus, what the focus of their heart ought to be. And that is the fact that God, the God of Israel, is Jehovah.

[6:06] Jehovah. Now, and it, you know, holds true for us today, not just to be their heart, the focus of their heart, but ours as well. Now, I am Jehovah.

[6:19] Remember, it's not, I may be, or I could be, or I should be Jehovah, but literally, I am Jehovah.

[6:31] That settles the question, right? Who are you? I'm Jehovah. That settles it. No room for speculation. No place for doubt. No questions allowed here.

[6:44] The matter is settled. God will not change. And that's what he says. I am Jehovah. I change not. Now, notice the, the, the, the connotation here.

[6:55] In I change not. Of course, he doesn't change. And the idea here is, he doesn't change who he is. He will remain all that he is, all of the time.

[7:08] Everything he has been, everything he is to the present, he will be in the future. So, he doesn't change.

[7:18] And that's good. He says, and because I do not change, then you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

[7:30] Now, remember what the scripture says. The testimony of the scripture bears to the truth that God is God. Psalm 86, verses 8 through 10 says, among the gods, there is an unlike unto thee, O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works.

[7:50] All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee. O Jehovah, and shall glorify thy name for thou art great and doest wondrous thing.

[8:03] Thou art God alone. Then in Psalm 90, verses one and two, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

[8:24] So, who is he? I am Jehovah. Remember, the eternal, self-existent one that reveals himself to man.

[8:34] He's always been that, always will be. And therefore, he said, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now, the idea is this.

[8:47] Jehovah, as being Jehovah, the one who reveals himself to man. And what he does, in everything he does as Jehovah, he reveals that to man.

[9:01] The idea here is, the reason then that they will not be consumed consumed, is because he's revealing himself to them as the loving, compassionate, redeeming father of his people.

[9:16] The idea here is, he's saying, I love you. I always have loved you, but I must deal with your sin. And that's because I am holy and righteous.

[9:30] That's who I am. But yet, when I deal with your sins, I do that in the fact that I love you.

[9:41] I do that through my love. Now, the reason I do it in love is with the motive of drawing your heart to me.

[9:55] Alright? Drawing your heart to me in order that you not only see my love, but that you experience my love towards you in its fullness.

[10:10] God said, that's what I'm trying to do and endeavoring to do here. Draw your heart to me, not just so you can know my love and see it, but that you might experience it.

[10:23] You know, we've made the statements a lot of times, a lot of people have. And doing things, whether it be the church doing it or individual believers doing it, that we do those things so that the people can see the love of God.

[10:38] And that's okay. That's good. That's necessary. They need to not just see God in us. They need to be able to experience Him.

[10:53] Amen? Amen? To experience Him and experience the love of God in its fullness or completeness. How do they do that?

[11:05] How do people that see our lives experience the love of God? They see Him through us. If we are living our life for the Lord the way we should be, it will, everybody around us will see that.

[11:20] We have the love for each other that He had for us. Okay. That's what I'm trying to get. I was hoping you'd get there. And you did. Took a long way around the barn, but you got there. Yeah, that's fine.

[11:33] You're good. I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. It's not just that they see it in us. But to experience the love of God by how we express ourselves to them by what we say, by what we do, Yeah.

[11:55] That's God expressing His love to them so they can experience that to whatever degree. All right? That's why it's necessary for we as believers to love one another with the agape love.

[12:10] So we can experience the love of God. That's how we experience it for a large part is us loving one another. Even Yolanda.

[12:21] Even you, Bless your heart. You are my, what is it? You're my thorn in the side. No, no, no, no, no. She's your sister in Christ.

[12:33] Now, what is it that Pastor Mike said we're supposed to have? I don't know, you'll somebody here that was, I think it was me. Not a challenge, but whatever it is, anyway. Yeah. We'll think of it here. Sacred trust.

[12:43] Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, hon. My sacred trust, that thorn in the flesh. Even in my dealings with her, as she's so nasty to me, being so gracious to her, she's experiencing the love of God through me.

[13:02] Amen. She'll never admit that, but she does. Now, so, that's what God is doing in the day of Malachi with Israel, but also, we've got to believe that's what's happening here in the day of Moses, in the book of Exodus.

[13:19] When God is, as Jehovah, expressing himself as Jehovah, yes, the strong, self-existent, eternal one, but more so, the one that reveals himself in everything that he's doing now.

[13:39] Everything he does. He reveals himself as Jehovah to the nation of Israel to draw them to himself so that they can experience to its fullness the love that he has for them.

[13:55] All right. I am Jehovah. Now, he says, my forefathers, the forefathers, we looked at this a little bit last week, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew me as El Shaddai, as the almighty God.

[14:09] That's how I manifested myself to them through the things that I did. But now, the idea is, I'm going to manifest myself to you on a higher plane, if you will, to a greater degree, something more glorious, in a more glorious manner than I did to them.

[14:30] So he said, by my name, Jehovah, was I not known to them? That is, by the means of my manifesting myself to them. All right?

[14:41] Is the idea. Genesis 17, 1, remember? He said, when Abraham was 90 years old and nine, the Lord, that's Jehovah, appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the almighty God.

[14:55] I am El Shaddai. Walk before me and be thou perfect or complete. Now, that takes place with the establishment of the covenant in Genesis chapter 15, that he is El Shaddai to them.

[15:14] So from that time forward, the beginning of that covenant with Abraham, then he's manifested himself to Abraham and his wife as the almighty. Did so as well at the birth of Isaac?

[15:27] And that, how did God, how did God reveal himself to Abraham and Sarah or Sarai as the almighty in the birth of Isaac?

[15:39] How did, how did that happen? Think about the birth of Isaac. How did all that take place? You put it all together and you come up with the answer.

[15:50] How old was Sarai when she bore Isaac? Right. It was beyond the natural means, if you will, or thought or method or whatever you want to use there of bearing children.

[16:12] So, she even laughed when God said that, remember? Abraham kind of snickered, but it was not in a doubting way, it was something else. Kind of, oh boy, you know, here I am over 90 years old, I'm going to have a kid, you know.

[16:29] Now, so, so, being outside of the natural realm of, out of the realm of the natural, let's put it that way, it was shown that this was by the sovereign power and work of God as El Shaddai, as the Almighty.

[16:49] All right, so he's done that with the establishment of the covenant with Abram and through the birth of Isaac. Now, look in verse 4, verses 4 and 5.

[17:04] And I have also established my covenant with them. Now, again, here he's talking to Moses about delivering Israel out of Egypt with a strong hand.

[17:17] And he said, also, I have established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

[17:31] And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Now, notice the two, the two ideas of the two ways in which he speaks of the covenant here.

[17:47] In the middle of that, he talks about he's heard their groaning and bondage, but again, he remembers the covenant. Now, the promise in verse 2 concludes in verse 8 with the expressed, emphatic statement, I, Jehovah.

[18:11] And that is done to express the idea here that the work of Israel's redemption all lies in the power of the name Jehovah.

[18:25] Now, it started in the covenant promises. Go over to Genesis 17 just a moment. Genesis 17 in verse 1 if you will.

[18:40] The promise he makes begins in verse 2 concludes in verse 8. We'll see that in a minute with that expression I am Jehovah. Now, in the covenant promises of Genesis 17 chapter 26 and chapter 35, those are all brought together and all those promises brought together in that idea of Jehovah.

[19:12] Verse 1 of chapter 17 of Genesis, when Abram was 90 years old and 9, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, there again, El Shaddai, walk before me and be thou perfect or be thou upright and sincere.

[19:30] and I will make my covenant between me and thee will multiply thy seed exceedingly and Abram fell on his face and talked with God and God talked with him saying, as for me, literally the idea there is, so far as I'm concerned or for my part, God says, behold, my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

[19:58] All right? So God says, as far as my part is, I'm making a covenant with you and you will become a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee.

[20:21] So, denotes the idea of a new and permanent position between Abram, Sarai, and God.

[20:35] Now, there was to be a pledge of a fulfillment here. There's to be a pledge here of the promises to be fulfilled here.

[20:51] Now, look in verse 6. I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make many nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee.

[21:03] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generation for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee to thy seed after thee.

[21:19] In other words, to show himself as God. I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God.

[21:35] Then following that he establishes the covenant sign of circumcision. Now, in Genesis 26 that same idea is passed on to Isaac and then in chapter 35 it's passed on to Jacob.

[21:51] So, it's the completion or the fulfillment here of everything God had said he would do in that covenant relationship. So, when he speaks to Moses here and to the people of Israel through him the idea that I have entered into a covenant I've established a covenant with them and I have remembered that covenant it puts all three of those to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob all together here and the picture of the fulfillment of all that that is to come will be completed here.

[22:32] Now, look again in verses now 6 and 8 or 6 through 8 how emphatically the word I is repeated here. I counted him and it's 11 times.

[22:45] Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am the Lord I am Jehovah and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am Jehovah your God your Elohim which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an heritage I am Jehovah wow that's a lot of eyes there amen what's God saying there with so many uses of the word I what's

[23:45] God trying to do there what's God saying here that's that's one way of saying I'm the one that's going to do it amen I'm going to do this it's not going to be Moses it's not going to be Aaron though I'm going to use them I am the one that's going to accomplish this and I think the numerous times he uses it is give strength to the idea that he is going to do it all right and that they need to remember that wouldn't it have been nice if the people of Israel at that point in time had the same things or the same type of things to fall back on that the day the Israel in Malachi day had all the experiences of the history of seeing what God has done for the people they didn't have that it's brand new here all right though you know as Lee so adequately pointed out in his study in the life of

[24:48] Joseph it's apparent that God is at work here but look how many years have transpired here since all that happened new generations have come and gone and now they're in bondage how do they know for certain God's going to do this he promised it what happened it backfired they're still in Egypt supposedly backfired seemingly now so God says I'm going to accomplish this I'm going to see to it that this is going to transpire now so again manifesting himself as Jehovah and the assurance of what he just said now is manifested through the nature expressed in the name Jehovah and it has three different elements that it contains first of all the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage and that was of course done so differently from all outward appearances that he describes it in three different clauses first of all he's bringing them out from under the burdens of

[26:01] Egypt number two he's saving them from their bondage and three he's redeeming them with a stretched out arm or mighty arm and that is the idea of great judgment and then the second element is the adoption of Israel as the nation of God now he's going covenant relationship with them because of the covenant he gave to Abraham reestablished with Abraham and then passed on to Isaac and then Jacob but he's going to take that further and establish them as his particular nation and then the third element of that is guiding Israel into the land that God has promised their fathers to be the inheritance of the seed of Abraham now with that stretched out arm with great judgments here he's going to smite rebellion from

[27:02] Pharaoh all right now verse 7 he said I will take you to me for a people he adopts Israel as the nation of God and that will take place later on in Exodus 19 go ahead and jump there just a moment to Exodus 19 Israel makes it through the wilderness makes it to Sinai now verse 1 of chapter 19 of Exodus!

[27:41] In the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai for they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and pinched in the wilderness and there Israel camped before the mount and Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him out of the mountains saying the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel you know the more the more I look at how God deals with Moses the more intrigued I am with this you know Moses had such a relationship with God it's it's it has the appearance of a friendship type relationship although God has announced he's Jehovah you know the Almighty he respects that he reveres that Moses does but here God calls him up and they just have a conversation here and they're talking and he says here's what you're going to say to the house of

[28:50] Jacob verse 4 you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagles wings! and brought you unto myself!

[29:02] Now therefore if you obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all the people for all the earth is mine and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel!

[29:23] Moses came and called for the elders of the people laid before their faces all these words which Jehovah commanded him now look at verse 8 and all the people answered together and said all that Jehovah have spoken we will do all right good stuff huh everything God said we're going to do it and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord the Lord said unto Moses lo I come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee forever and Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord so in verse 10 he says to Moses go sanctify the people today and tomorrow wash their let them wash their clothes be ready against the third day in verse 11 for the third day

[30:27] Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai oh God saying all right here's here's what they've said whatever God says we're going to do so he says Moses get him ready he got two days to do it the third day I'm going to appear on the mount to the people and that will be through the smoke the lightning the thunder and all of that that scares them to death but they're going to do what God says right until Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights up on Mount Sinai and they think he's dead so what do they do they take all those gold and earrings and bracelets and necklaces that they got from the people of Egypt and they left

[31:27] Egypt with and they molt it down to make a calf to represent Jehovah to lead them and guide them isn't it curious I wonder what they thought that golden calf was going to do how are they going to know where to do they expect it to just move like a chess piece that is a curious thing amen now so God establishes that covenant relationship on Mount Sinai makes them or not establishes it he makes them his people now that's of course after they leave Egypt now I will take you to me for people that's what happens but again how hard the process was for them to really understand and learn I'm going to throw out a question here why was it so hard for

[32:32] Israel after all that God has done especially just bringing them out of Egypt doing all that work what they complained about to begin with but then they had to see that work of Jehovah in loosening the heart of Pharaoh to enable them to get out of Egypt they had to see that so they could see the work of Jehovah in their midst they've seen that now they're departing Egypt they come to the Red Sea God miraculously delivers them from Pharaoh's army and they sing a song of redemption when they get to the other side but why was it so hard for them to realize by experience what they experienced of God that he is Jehovah and he's going to do exactly as he promised he's going to get him to the promised land why was that so difficult for them to understand when they got to

[33:39] Sinai they heard from him unlike they ever did yeah yeah but it didn't take long for them to complain that they're thirsty and they're hungry God provides for them and they get sick of manna somebody called it angels food I think the whole reason being is they're people amen remember here remember the difference of the day of the law and the day of grace alright Moses no doubt had the spirit of God upon him but the people did not have the spirit of God within them they had that old carnal sin nature and all of this goes along to show not only the depravity of the natural man within us but the inability of that natural man to follow

[34:53] God yeah even in the giving of the law showing what they're to do and what they're not to do that was even a more revelation of the sinfulness of man and his inability within himself to follow God that's why Paul in the book of Romans said the natural man is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be can he be why because he's carnal he's controlled by the natural man and that's sin it cannot is not it does not subject itself to the law of God and it won't it just won't do it it's got to be the work of the spirit of God amen yeah and that's the picture we get here so just thank your lucky stars if you've got lucky stars thank

[36:03] God that you're born in this day of grace amen so that you can experience grace the way God wants man to experience it in the freedom that the redemption that he provided gives all right now verses 9 through 12 Moses spake unto the children of Israel told them what God said once again remember what happened the first time they heard what God said all right in essence they said all right yeah let's go we're leaving this place but what happens now Moses and Arian went to Pharaoh Pharaoh rejected what they said made the bondage harder more severe they complained to

[37:07] Moses they complained to God God told Moses we're just going to turn you over to God let him deal with you all right Moses complains now God said now you're going to see what I'm going to do to Pharaoh now you're going to see here and what happens they share that it's not just what he's going to do the Pharaoh but God remembers the covenant he's going to bring the people to Canaan the land of their inheritance Moses spake unto the children of Israel but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage the Lord spake unto Moses saying go in speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt that he let the children of Israel go out of his land Moses spake before the Lord saying behold the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me how then shall

[38:10] Pharaoh hear me who am who am of uncircumcised lips how is this going to happen spoke to them again what you said they didn't hear me they wouldn't listen and that's because of the anguish of their heart all right that in the idea there is the inward pressure that prevents a man from breathing has anybody here ever had an anxiety attack or known somebody that has just for whatever reason they just get so irritated or so upset and out of control that they just and it's hard for them to breathe like a panic attack you know so what do they say here breathe into a paper bag right yeah it's kind of the same thing here their bondage is so heavy so great and it had been increased because of Moses and Aaron before

[39:11] Pharaoh and he said they won't listen to me because they're like people that can't breathe yeah because of their anguish now so if they won't hear me how can I go to Pharaoh and expect him to hear what I have to say!

[39:34] how's that going to happen because I'm like a man that is uncircumcised of lips and the analogy there it's like the lips are covered with foreskin you can't get out words you remember he said that somewhat before that I just don't have I have a heavy mouth chapter four it was yeah yeah I can't do that can't do that so it's the idea here Moses again really rejecting what God's called him to do in verse 13 Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel and Pharaoh king of Egypt unto Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt commission them again to do that doesn't want to do it

[40:37] God says go do it now we're stopped there because it takes a break here and goes to the genealogy you just can't do away with the genealogies amen so and so begat so and so used to call them the begats or begats yeah yeah and he sets the history aside for a while to deal with that to show what Aaron and Moses position with Israel is or in Israel is and so we'll kind of pick up there next week Lord willing that'll be in verse 14 because that verse 13 really is a concluding summary and makes way for the genealogies then the rest of it's picked up later on after the genealogies in verse 28 let's pray together father again thank you for your loving kindness today and again your grace to enable us to come and be a part of studying together your precious word father again thank you for the golden nuggets you give us in your word provide for us as a strengthening as an encouragement as a direction as a guide for what you anticipate and what you expect for our lives to be designed after so father we thank you for that and again

[41:56] I thank you for all of these that come week after week to hear your word together and ask your blessings upon them and just continue to speak to our hearts through your word and showing us your direction for our lives through the grace you've provided for us thank you for your grace and your love for us that's provided your son and his death for us that has enabled us to enjoy a relationship with you and be involved in what you're doing so thank you for that we praise you for it now in Jesus name amen you Thank you.