2026_02_15_Exodus

[0:00] What is it that makes Moses unique in this period of history?!

[0:30] Now, why wasn't he destroyed? This part is preliminary, so we've got to hurry. How did she find him?

[0:46] Was he under a mushroom? Okay, so his parents had faith.

[0:56] When he was three months old, they made a little ark, hit him in the bulrushes or the reeds that grew along the river.

[1:11] Now, here, I'd say she hit him in the cattails, but whatever. They hit him in the reeds, and Pharaoh's daughter found him.

[1:26] So what? Did she toss him? She wanted him for herself or as her own son and adopted him.

[1:40] But Pharaoh's daughter, at least at this time, apparently is not married. Now we have a problem. How's she going to feed this kid?

[1:55] So what does she do? She hires Moses' mother because Moses' sister, presumably Miriam, but Moses' sister acted fast when Pharaoh's daughter found the baby.

[2:16] And she comes up and, hey, would you like me to call one of the Hebrew women that's nursing and she'll feed this baby for you?

[2:28] And Pharaoh's daughter said, sure, sure, and I'll pay you for it. Well, now there's a deal. You all who have children were paid to raise them, right?

[2:41] So, Moses was raised up. Well, initially, he's raised as a Hebrew, and then Moses' mother takes him to Pharaoh's daughter and delivers him.

[3:06] And now he is raised, and we're quiet for about, I don't know, 30 years or so, but we're quiet about what happens when he's raised in Pharaoh's court, but he is raised by Pharaoh's daughter.

[3:23] Now, according to Hebrews, we understand that when he came of age, when he came of age, and according to Stephen, he was about 40 years old.

[3:45] So, when he's somewhere around 40 years old, he says, Hebrews says, that he did not want to live as an Egyptian.

[4:00] He wanted to partake of whatever was going on with God's people. Hebrews chapter 11, I think it's, what, 22, 23, something like that.

[4:16] So, he decides he's going to become, he's going back to be in Hebrew. And it's, while he's going around amongst his people, that an Egyptian is beating a Hebrew man.

[4:38] And Moses looks around, he doesn't see anybody, and he kills the guy and buries him in the sand. Now, by the way, is God rewarding him for murder?

[4:58] No. It doesn't say that he's rewarding Moses for murder, but he has set Moses apart for a real reason, hasn't he?

[5:09] Because he's going to use him. We're going to see that in a bit. So, Moses then goes out the next day, and he sees a couple of Hebrew guys fighting.

[5:24] And what's he do? Hey, why are you doing this? And the one guy said, who made you king over us?

[5:35] Well, prince. Who made you to judge us? Now, we never hear that, do we? Who made you judge? My favorite verse, I always file it away for when you see something wrong in my life and call me up on it.

[6:02] And I say, judge not that ye be not judged. Is that out of context? So, that's not what Jesus was saying in that verse.

[6:15] He's not saying, don't call out sin. So, the guy calls Moses, and he says, hey, are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian guy yesterday?

[6:29] Now, Moses says, uh-oh, I thought nobody saw. Don't I always think no one saw? I thought no one saw, but, it, apparently they did, and this is nose to bra.

[6:47] And by the way, you know, if you don't have anything good to say about somebody, sit beside me.

[6:57] But, so, there are certain people, maybe this guy's one of them. If this guy knows it, everybody knows it.

[7:13] So, and it came to Pharaoh's house, didn't it? So, Pharaoh finds out about it, and he seeks to kill Moses.

[7:25] Eh, you may have been my son, but you've decided not to be, you've decided to be a Hebrew, I'm going to kill him. Because he doesn't want, well, for whatever reason.

[7:40] So, we go on. So, Moses runs. Where does he go? We're in chapter 2 now. And, we'll start at verse 15.

[7:52] We've already begun there. He, Moses fled. Where did he go? Midian. He went into the land of Midian.

[8:06] So, he's out of Goshen now. He's moved east. And, he's in the land of Midian.

[8:18] And, he sits down by a well. Now, in arid countries, there, wells are pretty popular, aren't they? So, he sits down by this spring of water.

[8:31] And, what, what happens? What's that?

[8:55] Okay. So, the priest of Midian had how many daughters? You said six, but I think it's seven, right? Verse six, 16?

[9:09] Okay. Anyway, he has a bunch of daughters. And, they're shepherdess. They're, they're out with sheep. Now, they, they came to the well to water the sheep.

[9:25] What happened? What happened? Okay. Other shepherds were there. Bullies.

[9:36] The bullies were there. And, they were driving them away. Now, there were troughs there, and they had to draw the water and pour it into the trough for the sheep to be able to drink.

[9:56] Otherwise, the sheep are going to just push each other around. So, they're drawing water and pouring it in, and somebody else is coming along and saying, I think I'll take your water.

[10:08] I'm going to take your lunch money. Okay, I'm going to take your water. Now, by the way, as you read on, you're going to notice this probably has happened before.

[10:20] But, so, what happens? Moses stands up and fights for them. He said, no, no, no.

[10:35] And, then he draws more water and replenishes the trough so that they can water their sheep. Okay. Presumably, he sits back down.

[10:47] And, they go on. Where do they go? I'm sorry. They go home to their father. They go, they go to the tents.

[11:00] And, what does he say? Why are you here this early? See, it probably has happened before, hadn't it? They probably were used to being last in line.

[11:14] Or, getting pushed out of line. Anyway, he said, why are you home so quick? Well, what do they say? All right.

[11:30] This Egyptian guy helped us. Now, what's that? Egyptian, okay, they call Moses an Egyptian.

[11:43] I don't know why. maybe he was dressed like an Egyptian, but, it was the haircut and the shave.

[11:54] I don't know. Because, he's been out of the court, and he's been amongst the Hebrews, so I don't really know how they knew, whether he said, I'm from Egypt, and I'm, I doubt he told them I'm running from the law.

[12:10] maybe, I don't really know. So, in any case, they describe him as an Egyptian, and, what's, what does, oh, what's the father's name?

[12:27] he has two names, or he's known by two names. Which one is it here? Rule.

[12:38] When you think of Moses' father-in-law, what name do you come up with automatically? That's the one I thought of. I said, well, what's his, why, why'd they misspell his name?

[12:53] Apparently, he goes by two different names. I don't know why. Maybe he's running up from the law, too. But, no, he's a priest of Midian.

[13:04] He's a priest of God. He acknowledges the true God, even though he's not of the chosen people. They only use, right, right.

[13:22] So, some people, some commentators say, well, one of, one or the other is probably a, a title name.

[13:34] I don't know. I, I wouldn't know it even if I could read Hebrew. I wouldn't know that. Nevertheless, nevertheless, their father, they tell their father, hey, this Egyptian guy helped us.

[13:54] he stood up for us. What's Jethro's response? Yeah, why'd you just leave him there?

[14:10] Go back, fetch him, let him come here and eat. So, he gets a dinner invitation. What's it say? What was Moses' reaction to this dinner invitation?

[14:26] He was content to dwell. So, not only did he stay for dinner, he stayed for a lot of dinners. And a daughter.

[14:38] So, what's happening? He became part of the family. So, what did Jethro do? He gave him Zipporah.

[14:50] I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but that's as close as I'm going to get. He gave him Zipporah for his wife. Now, they have a son.

[15:03] What's his name? Gershon. Gershom. M or N? M. Okay, Gershom. And, and Moses names him that because I've been a stranger in a strange land.

[15:25] I was going to play a little bit of, a little bit of that, but then I thought the brain sludge would get in the way. So, he's married, he has a son now, and what's he going to do?

[15:42] eventually. Now, what is happening now?

[15:59] Because we go back, we go back to Egypt a little bit, don't we? Look at verse 23. we take him aside from Moses.

[16:19] Right. Right. all right.

[16:31] See, that's what you get for reading way ahead. But, but here we do know that the king, the, the Pharaoh who sought Moses' life died.

[16:45] All right. now, what else do we know? It's a short paragraph. The sons of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage.

[17:05] they cried out to God, and God heard them. He remembered the covenant, and one, and two more.

[17:25] God looked on them, and he, yeah, he had respect to them, or he acknowledged them. All right, now, couple of questions come up, don't they?

[17:38] This is, by the way, verses 23 through 25 are a relationship kind of paragraph there. So, I have a couple of questions.

[17:51] What was, the first one was, Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God, and he heard them.

[18:03] Did God hear them because they cried? Did he know about their bondage because they sighed? So, did God already know they were in bondage?

[18:23] Well, what did he say to Abraham a long time before? They're going to be in bondage. That was part of his promise. Well, that's some promise.

[18:37] So, God said they're going to be in bondage about 400 years. Then I'm going to bring them out. I'm going to bring them out big. They're going to go in few.

[18:49] They're going to come out many. That's what God said to the patriarchs. So, when it says that God, that they sighed, and God heard, remembered, and he remembered.

[19:09] Now, we'll get to that one in a moment. Have you ever heard or have you ever heard anyone take that verse from James out of context to say, like, if you're sick, the reason you're not well is you have not because you ask not?

[19:34] Have you ever heard that one? Or, my car's broken. Why don't I have a new Mercedes?

[19:46] Well, you have not because you ask not. Ask big. You'll get big. You've never heard that? There are people who made millions on that message.

[20:00] that's not what the scripture is teaching here. This is that human-like expression about God that doesn't really, it's not doctrine, this is not theological.

[20:19] Oh, they sighed and therefore God heard. God didn't know they were in bondage until they told him so. What?

[20:30] Well, we'll get to that in a moment.

[20:44] We're almost there. And we have time to get there. Look at Psalm 139, verse 2. Now, I'm taking, well, verses 2, 3, and 4.

[20:55] Psalm 139, this is David speaking through God, or this is God speaking through David, pardon me.

[21:13] Wait a minute, I haven't told him. And that's just sitting down and standing up. keep going, please.

[21:27] Wait a minute, I haven't told him. He doesn't know what I'm thinking until I think it. Oh, yeah? Go on.

[21:38] what? God knows everything about you?

[21:49] And that's an individual. You know everything about me.

[22:03] I don't have to think it. He already knows. I'm thankful for that. It makes me very comfortable in the hands of the God who says in Romans 8, I will work everything for good to them that love me.

[22:22] I'll work it out. And when he says about my salvation, God justifies. Therefore, who is it that brings a charge against God's elect?

[22:35] He's talking about the church. Who is it that can condemn me of sin? Only God, and he has justified me.

[22:46] Therefore, there is no condemnation. Why? Because God has said it, and he knows everything. He knows everything.

[22:58] In fact, Jesus is going to tell them, look, a sparrow doesn't fall, but what God knows and sees.

[23:11] There are, now, whether or not you agree with everything he says, but R.C. Sproul said, there are no maverick molecules in God's universe.

[23:25] There's nobody that can get away with it. So, the Lord God knew. It says this for some understanding, but just because this shows me how to understand something relationally, it does not prove theologically that God didn't know.

[23:53] There are those who will say that. So, had God forgotten his promise. It says God remembered.

[24:04] Oh, oh, by the way, now I know, I relate to this one. Why did I come here? Okay, I came into this room for something.

[24:16] What was I thinking? Well, just this morning when I turned, Sherry and I are talking, and we're going down the street, and normally I would go Milton Carlisle straight out, and I turned north.

[24:35] I said, you know, about a half block down up the street, I said, why did I do that? So, I came to New Carlisle Pike. But, now, is that what God does?

[24:49] Oh, man, they've been there 400 years, I forgot all about them. I some of those names are Okay.

[25:28] Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 31. And someone bring up Malachi chapter 3.

[25:41] Raise your hand if you'll get Malachi. Deuteronomy chapter 4, or chapter, yes, chapter 4, verse 31.

[25:53] If you'll get Malachi chapter 3, somebody, thank you. All right. Let's go to Deuteronomy 4, verse 31. No one said anything about that one, so I'm just waiting for you all to read in unison.

[26:21] Someone read that, please. Now, hang on. Hang on.

[26:32] He just said, and this is in Deuteronomy, he has already said, do this law. And don't do, you know, do this.

[26:46] Obey this. But he says, now, he's a merciful God. He will not, what will he not do? He will not forsake you.

[26:56] Okay. Nor. Did God forget his covenant and he was reminded of it.

[27:10] Okay. That's pretty important for me to remember, isn't it? Now, Malachi chapter 3. Verses 1.

[27:20] Well. We'll go one through six, but we'll abbreviate it. So, if you don't mind an interruption.

[27:31] I should have told you that in the beginning, shouldn't I? You're still willing? Okay. Okay.

[27:47] Who's God talking about? Well, John the Baptist is a messenger before you. And who's the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple?

[28:01] Messiah, the Christ. But that's not going to happen when he's saying it. This is a promise to them for the future. Go ahead, please, with verse 2.

[28:16] Who's coming? Christ. Christ. Who can endure it? The day of the Lord is only happy for the Christian. When God says, who can endure the day?

[28:30] Well, and go on, please. Describe the day of his coming. Okay. Okay. When we sing those songs that talk about God's consuming fire and I want that.

[28:52] Be careful what I sing. Because that's not what the scripture paints. He says when the Lord returns into his temple, it's going to be a big deal.

[29:03] It's going to be a big deal. Because Jesus is not coming back as the lamb. He's coming back as the judge and the lion.

[29:14] Amen. Now, God, we, well, let's go on. Let's go on. Would you pick up, please, with verse 5?

[29:30] Oh. Okay. Verse 6. Okay.

[29:42] So, this is what God says about him. About himself. And I did the whole context so we would understand this is the second coming of Christ when he's going to reign in Jerusalem.

[29:57] And the description of that. But Israel has been rebellious. And God has punished them.

[30:09] Now he's saying, I will not forget it. I will be merciful. I will bring you back. But who can abide the day of his coming?

[30:21] That is, who can stand when he appears? Because he's like a refiner's fire. He's like fuller's soap. He's going to purge you.

[30:34] But then, he says, even though you've been rebellious and you can't really stand, and I'll quote that with, or parenthesize, on your own.

[30:45] You can't really stand on your own before God. Because neither can we in this dispensation. We do not come before God because he looks on me and he says, man, I'm glad you're my friend.

[31:02] I come before God because of what Christ did. The apostle Paul says, you are accepted in the beloved. By the way, outside the beloved, not so.

[31:19] My only hope is Christ, isn't it? That's my only hope of salvation. But he ends it with saying this.

[31:32] I am the Lord. And that's all caps, so I am Jehovah. I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

[31:44] You're not totally destroyed. Not because you're good, but because I'm God and I said you wouldn't be. He said, has God forgotten his covenant?

[31:56] So when we read here in, they moaned, God heard, God remembered his covenant. It's illustrative.

[32:07] It is not, it's a turn of speech, if you will. Well, it's not a theological doctrine.

[32:19] He didn't forget. He didn't need to be reminded. He says elsewhere, this is what I'm like. Okay, now, what about verse 25?

[32:34] And God had respect unto them. Now, we're going to read elsewhere that God is no? Okay. Now, what does he mean?

[32:52] Yes. He knew them. And that's why Paul will say, now that you have known God, or rather being known of God, or by God.

[33:04] That's the idea. That God has acknowledged an individual in this day of grace who has trusted Christ.

[33:14] He acknowledges that person. By the way, that's very comforting to know that not only does he know the church as a whole, he knows every individual member in that body of Christ.

[33:31] But back to this, we read that first in Deuteronomy chapter 10. So, if you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 14 through 17, we get a perspective on that.

[33:47] And I'll read it this time. Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, and all that therein is.

[33:59] By the way, who owns the heaven of heavens wherein God dwells? Who owns it now?

[34:13] Okay. Was this written before the fall or after, by the way? Okay. So, God revealed this after the fall. So, who owns the heaven of heaven wherein God dwells?

[34:26] Who owns the heavens wherein the stars and planets and lower down the birds fly?

[34:40] Who owns the earth? Who owns everything in the earth? Okay. So, do I have that one? He's the creator and he is the sustainer and he owns it.

[34:56] He never, he never said, I'm giving that up. Now, the scripture does say that the prince of this age is Satan.

[35:07] So, Satan has sway in this age, but he doesn't own the world. Well, God never told him that he could have the world. Well, and he only has temporary and restricted movement.

[35:24] God restricts his movement. He restricted it for Job as an individual and he, and he restricts it upon what Satan can do to the church. Now, he allows a lot more than I wish he did, but that's because I don't see everything.

[35:40] Okay. Well, he tries that, but nevertheless, this isn't the only place you read it, but okay.

[35:57] Only the Lord, verse 15 of Deuteronomy 10, he's talking to Israel. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them.

[36:10] He chose to. He chose Israel because he decided to. He had a delight in them to love them. And he chose their seed after them, even you above all people as it is this day.

[36:26] Verse 16. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. That's metaphorical there.

[36:39] Yes, they had to obey the law, but they also, what was the first primary commandment? The Lord your God is one.

[36:52] And what's next? And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And that was given in the Old Testament.

[37:04] That was given at Sinai. So that was part of the law, the love of God. And he says, you shall love the Lord your God. And Jesus is going to say, and on these two commandments hang all 613 laws and all of the prophets.

[37:25] On these two things. Because God's nature is holy. And is to be rendered. He is to be seen as holy.

[37:36] So, anyway, he says he chose them. And circumcised the foreskin of your heart, metaphorically. Give yourself over to me.

[37:50] Verse 17. For the Lord your God is a God of gods and Lord of lords. A great God, a mighty, and a terrible, or wondrous. Which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.

[38:05] Now, if you go into the larger context, what God is teaching them here is, God doesn't take reward. He doesn't take bribes. And he doesn't regard persons.

[38:18] And in the law of Moses, they were not to do that. They were not to give preference to the wealthy over the poor because this guy was wealthy.

[38:31] Or vice versa. They were not to give preference to the poor because he was poor and this guy was wealthy. It is with justice that you'll judge. That's what he's saying.

[38:43] And that's what it says here. When God is not a respecter of persons, it means he's not swayed in judgment because of a person. He's not swayed in judgment because this is, because I'm this way, I want your laws to reflect my character.

[39:05] Because you are called by my name. He says regularly to Israel, you are called by my name. And that's why they were supposed to do that.

[39:18] So, when it says that he had regard for them, he had regard, well, let's look back here in Deuteronomy.

[39:29] He says, the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he's no respecter of persons. But, he chose Israel over all the peoples of the world.

[39:40] When we say he's not a respecter of persons, that has to do with judgment. It doesn't mean that he has ignored his covenant.

[39:53] So, when we read here in Exodus, earlier in Exodus, about Israel sighing, God hearing, God having respect unto them, it doesn't mean he forgot his covenant.

[40:10] And it doesn't mean that, oh, because they're downtrodden, I have respect to them, by the way. Well, he respected himself.

[40:27] He respected his covenant. Therefore, he has respect to the persons who are within that covenant. Because they were chosen.

[40:38] But, it's not that he respects them. I mean, if he murders, irregardless if he's, in fact, because he's an Israelite, if he murders, the law will say, kill him.

[40:56] If he's a son and he slaps his father, the law says, kill him. That was both civil and moral and theological.

[41:10] Because he says, I've declared this holy. And you're a holy people. And you're not going to act that way. So, that was too far aside.

[41:22] Back to chapter 3. Now, we're ready to begin chapter 3. And we will stop right here because of the time. Have a wonderful day.

[41:34] Let's go.