MOSES – Part 4 – God Knows the End from the Beginning

Exodus 6:1-8 – “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” 2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’” (NIV)

 

GOD ENCOURAGED MOSES

 

Moses complained that there had been nothing but trouble ever since God called him.  “What were you thinking, Lord?” God’s answer is simple: Moses, you did not fail. Your job is to obey me. Do what I say and let me take care of the results.” The time has come for God to display the arm of divine power. Pharaoh is no match for God. That’s a promise from Almighty God. Moses could never deliver the Jews. Only God can do that. But here’s the best part. God told Moses, “You will see it.” Remember that Moses doesn’t know how the events will unfold. He clearly has no knowledge about the crisis at the Red Sea. But God wants Moses to see it so he will never forget it.

Man’s limit is God’s opportunity. Four times God says, “I am the Lord.” Then he makes seven “I will” statements: I will bring you out of Egypt (v.6) I will free you from being slaves (v.6) I will redeem you (v.6) I will take you as my own people (v.7) I will be your God (v.7) I will bring you to the Promised land (v.8) and I will give it to you as a possession (v.8) These statements lead me to this thought: Because the Lord is God, when He makes a promise, He will keep it. When He makes a promise, it will happen. When He makes a promise, it’s a guarantee.

What does this mean for you and me? Remember this: Pharaohs come and go but the Word of the Lord stands forever. Friends can fail us. Loved ones will disappoint us. Our dreams will vanish. People we trust turn can against us. But the word of the Lord stands forever. We need a big God. When you stand before Pharaoh, a small God won’t do. When tragedy strikes, you need the big God of the Bible. We need the God whose name is The Lord. That’s why, we’ve got to know God! It’s the only way to make it through life. 

 

GOD REASSURED MOSES

 

Exodus 6:9-12 – “9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor. 10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” (NIV)

We might think Moses’ self-doubt is in his past. But that would be wrong. After all that God has done to reassure him, Moses still battles with negative thoughts. Why didn’t the people believe Moses when he reported what God had said? Why were these glorious promises not enough for God’s people? Verse 9 tells us, they did not listen “because of their discouragement and their harsh labor”. And who would blame them? They had endured year after year of backbreaking labor and forced slavery. That will wear down even the strongest man in the long run.

When you are tired, when you are discouraged, when you’ve been struggling for a long time, it’s easy to lose your perspective or outlook in life. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. No one can fight forever. But notice God’s response to their unbelief. It’s as if it doesn’t matter at all. “Go tell Pharaoh to let my people go.” God’s plans don’t depend on our faith. If they did, no miracles would ever happen. So God says, “Don’t worry about the people. Just do what I tell you to do.” For Moses, the issue comes down to one central question: Will he believe what God has said?

 

GOD AFFIRMED MOSES

 

Exodus 7:1-5 – “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”” (NIV)

God says three specific things to Moses: I have made you like God to Pharaoh (v. 1). I will harden his heart (v. 3). I will bring my people out of Egypt (v. 5). Basically, God is saying: Be faithful and let God take care of the results. Don’t pass over what God says in verse 5: “The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” God will glorify Himself by keeping His promises to Israel and by pouring out His wrath on Egypt. Everyone involved will know what the Lord has done. Here’s the final statement about Moses and Aaron: Exodus 7:6-7 – “6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh (NIV).” Moses had plenty of objections, and so do we, but what matters is not his objections or ours, but that he and we obeyed in the end.

There are two great principles we can learn from the journey of Moses:

 

1. When God wants to prepare a man to do a job for Him, He is never in a hurry.

 

80 years is a long time to discover God’s will. 80 years is a lifetime for most of us. It took God 80 years to get Moses ready. Looking back, he could see that nothing had been wasted, not his education in Egypt or his long stay in the desert. Both prepared him for the greatest challenge of his life. His education prepared him to face Pharoah. His desert years prepared him to shepherd God’s people through the wilderness. His past struggles and hardships laid the foundation for his future victories.

Don’t rush through slow seasons of life because God uses them for character growth and preparation for your future. Put all your efforts into serving God right where you are. Do that, and tomorrow will take care of itself.  If you want to raise bean sprouts, you can do it in a week. If you want mango trees, it will take a lifetime. Bean sprouts are easy. Mango trees take time. No one likes to wait. But the Bible repeatedly encourages us to “wait on the Lord.” We don’t like that because we think “waiting” means giving up.

Give God time to work in your life. Don’t try to grab the steering wheel from the back seat. You’ll just end up driving into the gutter. Let God lead. Be patient. Don’t get ahead of the Lord. God knows what He’s doing in your life and He won’t stop until He’s finished. 

 

2. When God wants to prepare a man for leadership, His best tool is trials and tribulation.

 

A.W. Tozer said it this way: “It is doubtful that God can use any man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” Although we enjoy the good times, we learn little from those happy times. In God’s economy, we learn more in dark times than we do in happy times. When the sun is shining, we relax and take it easy. But when the sky darkens and the clouds of difficulty roll in, that’s when we look to heaven and beg for God’s mercy. We see it in Moses’ life. No less do we see it in your life and in mine.

Hard times and spiritual growth go together. It was true for Moses. It is true for us as well. We see in Moses’ life what we see in our own lives: God is at work, and He is in no hurry. It may take a while, and the road may be bumpy, but when all is said and done, we will leave Egypt far behind, and by God’s grace, we will be on our way to the Promised Land.

 

CONCLUSION

 

If you are going through a season of doubt, anxiety, and hopelessness, let me say it again and again: Nothing that has happened in your life to this point has caught God off-guard.

When God declared to Abraham that he would have a son, nothing could stop it.  His age couldn’t stop it.  Sarah’s age couldn’t stop it.  Ishmael couldn’t stop it.  Nothing could stop what God had declared for the end for Abraham. And what about Joseph?  God declared his end to him in dreams.  His brothers tried to stop it.  Potiphar couldn’t stop it.  Nothing could stop what God had declared the end for Joseph, why?  Because God declared the end before the beginning even took place. It doesn’t stop there. God declared the end from the beginning for David, for Moses, for the children of Israel, and for you and me.

I don’t know where you find yourself today. Perhaps you feel the promises God made to you will never come to pass.  If God has made a promise for you, remember this, He declared YOUR end from the beginning. What, then, do you do in the midst of the journey?  What do you do when you feel you are not going to make it to the other side?  You do what God does.  You do what Jesus does. You agree with His word and declare the end from the beginning.  In doing so, you will make it to the other side and whatever God has promised you…you will surely see it (Isaiah 46:10-11).

 

LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION:

1) What is your takeaway lesson from the sermon?

2) How might your actions and attitudes change when you know and believe God is in control and aware of how your story ends?

3) How can you encourage others who believe their story is over because of the mistakes they’ve made?