I greet you in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our text for tonight's message is taken from Exodus chapter 6, verse 28, to chapter 7, verse 7. The title of our message is "What God Wants Is Our Faithfulness and Obedience."
God had commanded Moses and Aaron to go and tell Pharaoh to let His people go. So far, the Bible has spoken much about Moses, and we are familiar with the circumstances in which he was born: his family, how the baby Moses was placed into a basket and left by the riverside, and later on, how he was adopted into the family of Pharaoh. But we do not know much about Aaron. It is important for us to understand who Aaron was because from chapter 7 onwards, he was going to play a prominent role in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. Therefore, in order to establish Aaron's credentials, the Bible took some time to introduce his family history, from Levi to Phinehas. This was what we had learned in our previous message.
After Aaron's genealogy was established, God repeated His command to Moses again in verses 28 and 29 of chapter 6. "And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I am the Lord: speak thou unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say unto thee." Previously, Moses had already given excuses that he was the wrong man for the job, that Pharaoh would not listen to him because he was not a gifted speaker. You can read about that in Exodus 4:10 and chapter 6, verse 12. Here again, Moses raised the same objection in verse 30: "And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips; and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?"
Oftentimes, people will come up with excuses for failing to do what God has commanded them to do. Why are you not serving, not worshipping, not praying, not giving, not evangelizing, not attending spiritual activities or Bible studies? Like Moses, they would give excuses and then repeat those same old excuses again and again. It may take many years for them to overcome the temptation of giving the same old excuses, but sadly, some may not be able to overcome the temptation, so much so that even on their deathbeds, they are still giving the same old excuses.
How sad when God has called us or commanded us to do something, and we give excuses. There are a few things we have to take note of. Firstly, God's call or command will always be accompanied with His provision. God will never call us to do something without providing us with the means to do it. Secondly, when we give excuses, we are directly or indirectly blaming God or complaining against God. Remember, Moses was already told by God that God was the one who gave man his mouth; God was the one who gave men the ability to speak. So by giving excuses, Moses was complaining. He was blaming God that He did not give him the ability to speak. God forbids that we make the same mistakes as Moses.
Thirdly, God's call is not open for negotiation but to be obeyed. Moses simply needed to do as he was told without giving any excuses. However, God was very gracious; He not only listened to Moses, but He also answered his question. Tonight, we will draw our outlines from the answers God gave to Moses.
Our first point is God's Representative. Let us look at Exodus chapter 7, verse 1. "And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." Verse 2: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land." This does not mean that Moses was divine. There is only one God, and Moses was simply His prophet. In other words, Moses was God's representative, His chosen prophet. So when he stood before Pharaoh, he would speak with divine authority because God was speaking in and through him.
It is important for us to understand that Pharaoh considered himself to be divine. In ancient Egypt, the people believed that the Pharaohs were incarnations of gods. So in a way, God was putting Pharaoh in his place. Pharaoh would recognize Moses' divine authority because he could see that Moses had his own prophet, his own messenger, Aaron. All the Pharaohs had their own spokesmen to represent them as they declared their commands. So here, Pharaoh would see Moses coming to him with his own prophet, his own messenger. When Moses told Pharaoh to let the people go, Aaron would do the talking. Essentially, a prophet is a messenger; he is someone who speaks on behalf of someone else. Aaron would speak on behalf of Moses, and Moses would speak on behalf of God.
Let us take a moment and consider the way God communicates. When God has something to say, He does not shout from heaven. He could have done that, but He chose not to do so. He speaks through His word, and His word comes to us through one of His servants on Earth. In the Old Testament, God spoke through His servants, the prophets. When the time was right, He sent the greatest prophet of all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. Luke 24:19 tells us that when our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He passed the apostolic ministry, the prophetic ministry, to the apostles. They were commissioned to proclaim His gospel to all the nations. We are very familiar with Matthew 28:18-20. When the prophets and apostles passed on, and the church was established, God's message was being communicated through the church, as Ephesians 4:11 tells us. Some are called to be evangelists, some are called to be pastors and teachers. This is the way God communicates with the people, and this is what the preacher would do. When the preacher teaches God's word faithfully, his message is the message of God; his voice is the voice of God, so to speak. He is God's representative.
In fact, Acts 2:18, on the day of Pentecost, the Bible says this, "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." This does not mean that every Christian is called to be a preacher or a woman should be ordained as pastors. No, it doesn't mean that. What it means is that every believer is a messenger of God. He or she is called to share the gospel and to speak the truth of the Holy Scriptures. This is the command given to every one of us who name the name of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Dear friends, isn't that an awesome responsibility to be God's representative on this earth, to be Christ's representatives? Think about this: we may be the only Christians amongst our unbelieving family members, relatives, friends, and colleagues—not by chance, not by coincidence. God has a sovereign purpose in putting us there. The only opportunity for them to hear the gospel and understand about Christianity depends on our testimony, on our faithfulness as God's representatives. How then can we just keep quiet? How then can we not share the gospel with our unbelieving loved ones and friends? God forbid! Just as Moses was God's representative to Pharaoh, you and I are Christ's representatives in this world.
Our second point is God's Sovereignty. Let us move on to verse 3: "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt." Remember, Moses was very worried about his uncircumcised lips, his unclean lips, his faltering lips, and he repeatedly said that Pharaoh would not listen to him. When Moses said that “Pharaoh will not listen to me,” it implied that he had expected a positive response from Pharaoh toward his message, right? You see, Moses had certain expectations as a prophet. He assumed that if the people listened to him, then he was doing his job as a prophet. But if they did not listen to him, then he was not suitable for the job. That was a worldly way to view our ministry—a worldly, performance-based approach, very similar to how people today view our church, our ministry, our services. They would ask us: How big is your church? How many members do you have? How much resources does your church have? If our church is big, and our membership massive, and our resources huge, then they will consider our church as successful. That is a very worldly standard of success.
Here, God was reminding Moses that no matter how much he stammered or faltered with his lips, or even how authoritatively he spoke through Aaron, Pharaoh would not listen to him anyway. Why? Because God says, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." So no matter what Moses said or how many miracles he performed, Pharaoh would not listen. Firstly, Moses had to understand that the spiritual result was beyond his human control. No matter how eloquent he was or how persuasive he was, he could not make anyone believe in God nor His word. No man is capable of doing that. It takes faith for someone to believe, and faith is a gift of God's grace. So unless there is a divine intervention, no man will believe in God and His word. Secondly, Moses had to understand that the Pharaoh's stubborn resistance or rejection was part of God's sovereign plan. In a sense, Moses was saying, "God, it will never work; the Pharaoh will never listen to me." And God's response was, "You are right. That is exactly what will happen. I will harden his heart so he will not listen to you. And I'm going to use his rebellion to prove that I alone have the power to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, and through his rebellion, I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt."
Some of us may be wondering: Isn't it sad and disappointing to preach and preach and preach, yet the people do not listen? As far as the souls of the people are concerned, we are sad and disappointed when they do not believe and are not saved. But as far as we are concerned, as far as our ministries are concerned, we should not be sad and disappointed because we do not measure the success of our ministry by the number of people who respond to our message. Consider Noah, who preached for 120 years. How many people responded apart from his family? Not a single convert. And in our recent DHW class, we learned about the prophet Hosea, who preached for almost 50 to 60 years in the northern kingdom, and yet the people did not repent. Most importantly, our Lord Jesus Christ, throughout His entire ministry, had only a handful of people who believed His message. The vast majority who heard Him preach rejected Him. Was He a failure in His preaching ministry? Most certainly not. Our Lord Jesus is the greatest preacher, the greatest prophet. God's servants are not called to be successful but to be faithful, to be obedient. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover it is required in stewards”—tha requirement to be servants and stewards is—”that a man be found faithful." This is God's requirement for you and me. We call ourselves servants of the Almighty God; we must be faithful. It is required of us.
Thirdly, what God said to Moses also gives us a whole new perspective on evangelism. What do we mean by this? Allow me to briefly explain. We all understand that in evangelism, we preach the message of salvation so that people would repent and believe. Right? Well, that is true, but the conversion of unbelievers to faith in Jesus Christ is only one primary purpose of evangelism. There is another one. One of the mysteries of God's sovereignty is that the gospel is also preached so that sinners will be confirmed in their unbelief. For example, when the prophet Isaiah was called to announce the coming Messiah, God said to him in Isaiah 6:10, "Make the heart of these people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." In other words, God's word has a double effect. Some hearts will be softened by it, convicted by it, while others will be hardened. Some people will believe the good news and be saved, while others who reject it will be lost forever. Salvation belongs to God alone, and it is by His sovereign choice. That is why God repeatedly said, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion."
Dear friends, what can we learn from here? Are you discouraged when people reject the gospel you try to preach to them? Are you disappointed when your ministry and fellowship group are very small, and the participants keep rejecting the word of God? As far as the souls of men are concerned, we are sad and disappointed. But as far as our ministry is concerned, we should not be sad and disappointed, in that our ministry's success is not measured by how these people respond to us.
We must bear in mind, firstly, that the spiritual result is beyond our human control. Salvation is truly by faith alone; we believe that, and that faith is a gift of God. You and I can never make anyone believe in God or know His word.
Secondly, we must bear in mind that people may stubbornly resist and reject our message. Nothing happens by chance or coincidence. Even the rejection of men is part of God's sovereign plan. Our God is in control.
Thirdly, we must bear in mind that God's word has a double effect. When we preach the word of God, either one of two things can happen: hearts may be convicted to believe, or hearts may be hardened to confirm sinners in their unbelief. If you and I truly understand the sovereignty of God in our lives, in our preaching, in our ministries, in our services, then we must never adopt a worldly performance-based approach. The only thing that matters to us is God. The only thing that matters to God is whether we are faithful or not.
So we are not responsible for the way people respond to our message; that is God's sovereignty. Our human responsibility is to get our message accurate and right. That is why Moses must never add nor subtract anything from God's message.
Look at verse 2: God said, “Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; no more, no less. Everything that I have commanded you, you must speak.” As long as you and I communicate God's message accurately, we are faithful to our calling. Whatever be the outcomes, that’s the saying: The good preacher is a faithful preacher; the good teacher is a faithful teacher. So if you want to be a good Sunday school teacher, then you must be faithful—faithful to God's word, getting the lessons and the message right and accurate. That is all that matters.
Verse 4: “But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies and my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.”
Verse 5: “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
Notice God says, “I may lay my hand upon Egypt,” and by implication, with the same hand, “I will bring forth mine armies.” The word “armies” tells us that the Israelites will come out of Egypt like an army ready for battle. God's mighty hand of salvation is also a mighty hand of judgment. At the same time He saves the Israelites, He would punish the Egyptians. Our God is a holy and just God; He will not compromise sin and wickedness. Remember how the Egyptians had placed the Israelites under bondage, how they were wicked taskmasters, how they had murdered all the baby boys, etc. God remembers, and His judgment will come.
One theologian explained it in a very wonderful way: In the Exodus, God used both sides of His hand. With His palm, He gently led the Israelites out of bondage, while at the same time giving the back of the hand to the Egyptians. That is how powerful and amazing our God is. With the same hand, He will lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and with the same hand, He would bring great judgment upon the Egyptians.
Our third and final point is God's strengthening. Verse 6: “And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them; so did they.” Up until now, Moses had his doubts about God's saving plan and about his part to play in God's saving plan too. But from this moment onwards, all the way until the last Israelite stepped foot on the other side of the Red Sea, Moses was faithful to his calling. He went and told the Pharaoh everything God had commanded him, whatever the consequences. Remember, God will not call a person without providing the means for him to do so. So God was very gracious; He provided Moses with Aaron, the messenger, the prophet. He provided a message, and most importantly, He provided the strength for both of them to obey His commandment.
Look at verse 7: “And Moses was fourscore years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spake unto Pharaoh.” I do not think this verse was placed here without any reason. Remember, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, including this verse. How old was Moses and Aaron when they were called and they obeyed God? Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old. Can you imagine that they were about to accomplish great things for God at the age of eighty and eighty-three? This is most encouraging to all older Christians. Sometimes the Bible records a man's age to remind us that it is never too late to serve and glorify the Lord. When we get to eighty years old, it is always tempting for us to think that the best years of our lives are behind us. It is tempting to think that we have accomplished our life's work and that our work is about to finish. However, Moses, when he turned eighty, his work was just beginning. He went on to serve the Lord for another forty years faithfully, till the very end.
Dear Moody made this interesting observation about Moses. Allow me to quote him: “Moses spent forty years in Pharaoh’s court thinking he was somebody, forty years in the desert learning that he was nobody, and forty years showing what God can do with a somebody who found out he was a nobody.”
Dear friends, no matter how young or old we are, we should ask God how He wants us to serve Him. As we grow old, God will open up new opportunities for us to serve and glorify Him. Don't give up. Through our worship, through our prayers, through our testimonies, through the time we share with our family members, through offering spiritual wisdom to younger Christians, the list goes on and on. There is so much we can do for our God, and it is never too late to serve Him.
Dear friends, if you feel that you are too old, if you are afraid that you have nothing to offer God, all you need to do is to ask Him. As Dr. Moody said, “Lord, show me what You can do with a somebody who found out that he is a nobody.” In our own strength, in our own wills, through our own efforts, we are nobodies. But in the hands of the Almighty God, He can use us mightily. The question is, are we willing? Are we faithful and obedient to Him?
So it is not about our strength, our wills, our human efforts, our intelligence, including our youth. What God wants from us is our faithfulness and obedience.
I'll end with this: At the age of eighty and eighty-three, Moses and Aaron took God's call seriously, and they did as the Lord had commanded them. All to the glory of God. Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for enabling us to consider this portion of Scripture. Indeed, it is never too old to serve and glorify Thee. Thou who hast called us, we are Thy representatives on the face of this Earth. Wherever Thou would place us, whether in the midst of unbelieving family members, relatives, friends, and colleagues, Thou hast a sovereign purpose for the opportunity for them to hear the gospel and understand about Christianity, depending on our testimony, our faithfulness as Thy representatives. Help us to be faithful. As we serve Thee, we also believe that Thou art sovereign. Thou art in control of all things, and if Thou art in control of all things, including our ministry, our services, our preaching, whatever we do for Thee, we do not want to adopt a worldly performance-based approach. What really matters to us is Thee alone, and what matters to Thee is whether we are faithful and obedient or not.
So help us always to trust in Thy sovereignty. Even when we are rejected, when men and women reject the gospel we preach, we are sad, for how can we not be sad? We love the souls of men, as our Lord Jesus has taught us. But as far as we are concerned, or our ministries are concerned, we know that the success of our ministry is not dependent on the way people respond; that is Thy sovereignty. Our human responsibility is to be faithful to Thee, to make sure that our message is accurate and right, and to rely on Thy strengthening.
How even Thy servants, Moses and Aaron, at the age of eighty and eighty-three, could still serve Thee so faithfully, it is all because of Thy provision, Thy strength. We want to serve Thee likewise, relying on Thy strength. May Thou give to us Thy strength so that we will be able to serve and glorify Thee, whatever our age. Even in our evening years, we want to serve Thee too. We pray that Thou will do Thy mighty work in each and every one of our lives, so that we will serve Thee as Moses did for yet another forty years. However long, however many years Thou will give to us, we will serve Thee till the very last moment. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.