(I want to listen to this sermon)

Reading Ex.5:1-6:13

Surely it will all go smoothly now! After all Moses, accompanied now by Aaron, is finally doing what the LORD told him. Success is certain now isn't it? Well, the Israelites have recognised that Moses has been sent by the LORD and they've started rejoicing already. Isn't it just a matter of one quick visit to Pharaoh and all will be sorted out?

How many of us have thought like that at some time in our Christian walk I wonder? How easily we simplify and oversimplify matters and we come up with simplistic scenarios – if only we do a + b then c will inevitably follow quickly on behind.

But is life always like that? It most certainly wasn't for Moses at this particular juncture. He was at last doing his best to do what was required of him but it all, very quickly, went horribly wrong.

As we look at the events of these chapters there are plenty of lessons for us to learn.

 If we only look at the words of 5:1 we might be tempted to think that this really was a good start by Moses and Aaron:

Ex.5:1 "Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”"

But when we compare this with what Moses and Aaron were actually told to do we quickly discover that their obedience was partial at best. We find the original instructions that were given to Moses in chapter 3:

Ex.3:18 "and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’"

Two things should strike us:

1.       Moses and Aaron appear to have gone to see Pharaoh on their own as there is no mention now of the elders. Jewish tradition has it that the elders started out to accompany Moses and Aaron but that fear got the better of them as they neared Pharaoh's courts and that they gradually slipped away one by one until Moses and Aaron are left to go on alone. While we don't condone such hesitancy we do understand it!

2.       Moses and Aaron's words are not what they were told to say. The words they do come out with, while being fundamentally true, are much harsher and more confrontational than those they should have used! In fact they only say what they should have done in v.3 after Pharaoh has been already seriously antagonised.

It seems clear that Moses and Aaron have approached Pharaoh with an excess of confidence and with unrealistic expectations. Rather than follow the pattern laid down for them they come making demands in a way that can only annoy a despotic dictator like Pharaoh. What's more they don't appear to have considered Pharaoh's outright refusal even to be a possibility although the LORD had told them clearly all about it beforehand.

What lessons are there here for us?

a)       If the Lord gives clear and careful instructions then it is important that we take care to follow them precisely.

b)       Human failure and weakness touches all that God's people do – but such failings do not stop God accomplishing His purposes. This should not lead us to be sloppy about our service but it should free us from crippled by imagining everything depended upon us getting things just so.

c)       The dangers of selective hearing or selective reading. We are always in danger of listening only to those things that fit in with what we like or what we want to hear. Moses and Aaron were glad to listen to promises of deliverance but were less attracted by warnings that Pharaoh would not be sympathetic!

If Moses and Aaron did make some significant mistakes they did nevertheless get some things significantly right!

They realised that the LORD was God, the Only Supreme Sovereign to whom their homage was due. When they spoke to Pharaoh they employed a formula that was very familiar to those in Egypt at that time. The formula used was commonly used to introduce the words of a deity, the words of that formula were "Thus says the Lord".

And with these words the gauntlet really was thrown down and Pharaoh knew it.

The whole matter was becoming clearer. Have you seen it? The question is "Who is the real God?" "Which God must be listened to and obeyed?"

It is a question that has not ceased being put through the running centuries. When Peter and John were brought before the Jewish Council having healed a lame man in the name of Jesus the Council told them not to speak any more in that name.

Acts 4:19 "But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,"

Today the same question poses itself – will we believe what the Living and True God says and do what the Living and True God says or will we follow other voices as though their claims and arguments carried more weight?

Pharaoh responded with the contempt that characterises the unbelieving world. He didn't like to hear the words that he heard. Why? Because he liked to consider himself as the Supreme authority, the divine authority over all things Egyptian. Challenged as to his authority Pharaoh responded hotly – Who is the LORD that I should obey Him?

When Pharaoh says he doesn't know the LORD we're not meant to understand simply that Pharaoh had not heard of the LORD but rather that he was rejecting the LORD's claims to having any authority over him. Why should Pharaoh heed the God of a slave people? Pharaoh knows nothing personally of this God and doesn't plan to change.

How like so many today who have heard of God and have heard the name of Jesus but these names mean nothing whatsoever to them. Men and women in our day have had no personal encounter with God, with Jesus Christ, and they see know reason why they either should submit to Him!

No, Pharaoh won't submit to the LORD for he sees himself as the god who rules in Egypt – the Hebrews owe him allegiance not to the LORD. You can see that in the way Pharaoh himself speaks. In v.10 he prefaces his own words with that divine formula "Thus says Pharaoh…"

This is was is really at stake: Who is the true God? This is First Commandment stuff:

Ex.20:1-3 "And God spoke all these words, saying, 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.'"

Once we realise this then much in the chapter becomes clear.

v.1 The LORD says "Let my people go" the LORD orders freedom that the people might serve Him with sacrifices etc.

v.2 Pharaoh says "No" and then says instead v.7 "Let them go gather straw…" v.9 "Let heavier work be laid on (them)". No freedom under Pharaoh but only increased burdens. Pharaoh will only let the people go to work, that is to serve him and his interests!

The subsequent chapters in the Book of Exodus record the playing out of this conflict. Through the unfolding of that conflict the Pharaoh who has loudly and contemptuously declared that he does not know the LORD will be brought to know Him but it will prove no pleasant experience for Pharaoh.

The Israelites too are caught up in the unfolding events. Who will they serve? They must choose as indeed we all must choose whether we will serve the Living and True God or not. The learning curve will prove steep and difficult at times.

The Israelites had experienced an initial enthusiasm when they thought that their sufferings were at an end but now following on from Moses and Aaron's first appearance at court their situation rather than improving had become significantly worse.

The people are now seriously unhappy. How easy it is to allow our appreciation of our own personal happiness to move us more than considerations of right and wrong!

The foremen of the people seeing their working conditions seriously deteriorating cried out – but to whom have they turned? They do not turn to the LORD – the last time they had done that Moses had arrived on the scene and matters had just gone from bad to worse. Now they will by-pass Moses, rejecting him as their mediator, they will a make direct appeal to Pharaoh.

What a painful experience for Moses as he struggles to respond to God's call to lead the people. His efforts have been a palpable failure and now the people not only sideline him but invoke curses upon him!

It can be like that for you too when you want to follow the LORD obediently and do what is right. Not only can things seem to go badly wrong they actually can go badly wrong.

How will you handle it? Will you give up and walk away? Believe me it can be painful to be vigorously opposed by an unbelieving world but it is far more painful to be harshly criticised by fellow believers.

In their troubles the foremen cried out to Moses. In his troubles Moses cried out to the LORD.

Have you ever wondered about some of the blunt language that is used in some of the prayers of the Bible? Well Moses is very blunt here! The condition of the people has gone from bad to worse and Moses holds the LORD responsible. (Interestingly he also holds Pharaoh responsible – no clash for in between primary and secondary causes!)

Basically Moses is impatient. He wants to see immediate action and immediate results. Sadly he has failed to integrate all that the LORD had told him into his thinking and so has convinced himself of a particular timescale that the LORD never promised to meet. When the LORD's behaviour doesn't match Moses' expectation then Moses is ready to blame the LORD for not keeping His word.

While we should be careful not to copy Moses' form here his heart is most definitely implicated and he is evidences a real desire to see God act according to His word. Moses cannot be accused of being indifferent!

In any case the LORD is remarkably gracious and not only listens but responds without rebuke or chiding.

What is it that can meet the needs of the day? What can satisfy the deepest longings of Moses' heart? The answer is quite simple. The LORD can! God Himself and God alone is sufficient to meet Moses in His despair.

As the LORD responds to Moses He doesn't only deal with Moses objections but He also re-commissions him. Moses is to carry on but real encouragements are there which should have made the re-commissioning to this difficult work more acceptable to Moses.

1.       The LORD effectively tells Moses that all he has heard so far is Pharaoh's first response – it will not be the last word!

Yes, things look bleak – indeed the LORD had always intended this to be the case because against the blackest backdrop His glory would shine even more brightly! All is in place for His power to be demonstrated in the deliverance of His people. This will proclaim loud and clear just who is God and it will not be Pharaoh!

Yes, the circumstances have gone from bad to worse but that must not be understood to mean that God had somehow changed His mind – His purposes remain exactly the same. He will deliver His people.

How we need to hear this word. We are surrounded by negative reactions – the world remains hostile to the church and seems to be becoming increasingly hostile. Even some within the Christian community are disillusioned and disheartened- but Jesus Christ is not surprised by what is going on! Jesus continues to keep Hs promises of building the church. Jesus continues to uphold His own and to accompany them through thick and thin. The last word is in the hands of our God not in the hands of the gods and idols that men may set up.

2.       Moses has grown so quickly impatient. Well Moses must be reminded that the LORD is the same God who made promises to the patriarchs hundreds of years earlier about life in the promised land. The patriarchs had known God as a powerful God but they hadn't experienced Him as the covenant/promise keeping LORD. Well it is now that He is fulfilling those promises.

Let us be careful that we don't try to force the LORD into our little timeframes. We are so short-lived – the recent funerals have reminded us of the brevity of human life – but the LORD is Eternal. Man likes to see and hear things happening – like all the hammering and sawing that takes place in a furniture-maker's workshop – God's workshop is more like the forest of giant oaks that grow so slowly, so quietly but yet to such purpose and with such strength!

God will work when the time is right!

3.       So Moses must be reminded that God's plans have neither failed nor changed. And Moses still has his same role to perform.

So the people are desperately unhappy are they? Moses must still go to them with the same message of hope – deliverance is at hand because the LORD has remembered their plight.

So the people won't listen? What does that change – the LORD is still moving His plans forward.

But even here Moses is given further words of encouragement both for himself and to share with the people – the LORD describes His purposes now as being a sevenfold or complete blessings package. We read of this in 6:6-8 where He instructs Moses what he is to pass on to the Israelites:

"I am the LORD,

·       and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

·       I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

·       I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession.

I am the LORD."

Three blessings concern deliverance from current slavery and bondage.

Two blessings speak of belonging to the LORD and enjoying personal relationship with Him.

Two more blessings speak of future blessings in the land of promise, that land flowing with milk and honey.

Because the LORD doesn't change and His purposes remain the same Moses is simply told to keep on doing what he had been previously told to do.

He must continue to speak to a depressed people even if they are so broken in spirit that they will not listen to him.

He must continue to speak to Pharaoh issuing exactly the same call to set God's people free.

Our task here in Sunnyhill is to do the same. We must go on believing in the LORD, in His power and in His desire to keep His word.

Moses thought he was not skilled enough for the task in hand. He thought he wasn't worthy enough for the task in hand. He thought his track record of success told against him. But the LORD simply tells him that his task is the impossible one of bring a reluctant, depressed and unhappy people out from the clutches of a determinedly stubborn Pharaoh who doesn't want to let them go. Did I say an impossible task? Well yes it would have been if Moses had been left on his own, but he wasn't, and with God nothing is impossible!

Amen.