Rev. David Holwick S Exodus series, #1
First Baptist Church Father's Day
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 21, 2009
Exodus 2:1-10
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I. A book that has made its mark on the world.
A. Exodus is one of the better-known books of the Bible.
1) Immortalized by Hollywood, especially Cecil B. DeMille and
Charlton Heston.
2) For Jews, it is perhaps the center of their faith.
B. God's power is the focus of the action.
1) Plagues and parting water.
2) Manna from heaven and pillars of fire.
3) The climax is the giving of God's Law to humans.
C. One personality stands out in the book of Exodus.
1) Moses, the man of the outstretched arms and the stone
tablets.
2) Moses, the man who hovered between opposite worlds:
a) Egyptians and Jews.
b) Humans and God.
3) Everyone who seeks to know God's Word should understand
the message of this book, and the lessons of this man.
a) Especially you fathers on this Father's Day.
II. Moses had an inauspicious beginning.
A. He was born to a despised minority.
1) Jews were outsiders in Egypt.
a) By some estimates, in this period up to one out of four
people in Egypt were aliens like the Jews.
b) And just like Americans get concerned about the tide
of immigrants, so did the native Egyptians.
2) Egyptian temples usually portray Semites as emaciated people
with big noses and kinky hairdos.
3) Egyptians had a long history of racial pride and bigotry
toward outsiders.
B. He never really "belonged."
1) Egyptians would have mistrusted him, and Jews mistrusted
him.
2) He was caught in-between worlds.
III. Moses had personal limitations, and he knew it.
A. He was a coward at public speaking.
1) Moses even notes that being in God's presence didn't
help him any in this area. 4:10
2) God allowed a compromise - Aaron would do most of the
talking for him.
3) (Ironically, Moses seems to do most of the talking in the
book.)
B. He was insecure.
1) He got very uptight when his leadership was challenged.
a) It repeatedly was, especially by his own family.
2) He tried to do it all.
a) With hundreds of thousands of people following him
(maybe even millions), Moses heard every lawsuit.
b) His father-in-law had to force him to delegate.
3) He had spiritual power, but it was fleeting.
a) In Exodus 34, we are told that Moses would meet regularly
meet God in the Tabernacle tent, then communicate
with the Jews.
b) When he came out, he would have a supernatural glow.
c) But the glow faded over time, so he began to cover his
head with a veil.
1> 2 Corinthians 3:13 says he did this so they wouldn't
see his glow fade.
2> Like any politician, he was insecure about how he
was perceived.
C. He was impatient.
1) The classic example is when God told him to speak to
the rock to bring forth water. Numbers 20:8-12
a) Instead, Moses struck it. Twice!
2) Philip Yancey comments:
"Success, not failure, is the greatest danger facing
any follower of God, as Moses knew well.
He had traipsed around a desert for forty years as a
penalty for the Hebrews' inability to handle the
success of the Exodus.
Every significant downfall in his own life came when he
seized power for himself -
killing an Egyptian, smashing a rock in the desert
- rather than relying on God."
#5126
D. He was old.
1) We don't often consider the fact that he came back to
confront Pharaoh when he was 80!
(My dad turned 81 this week)
2) Moses was no spring chicken, but he still obeyed God.
3) Joel C. Gregory writes:
How many times have we had to reach the end of our own
resources before we remembered to trust in God, the one
steadfast resource of our lives?
We're all in need of a spiritual exodus day by day.
When our faith causes difficulties, our first response is
to fall back on our familiar resources - people, things,
self.
Only when these do not help can we truly lean only upon God
for our needs.
I like what Dwight L. Moody said about Moses in this
connection.
Moody, not a very scholarly man to say the least, had an
unusual insight into Scripture.
He said that Moses spent forty years in the king's palace
thinking that he was somebody;
Then he lived forty years in the wilderness finding out
that without God he was a nobody;
Finally he spent forty more years discovering how a nobody
with God can be a somebody.
And he was right.
When Moses and the people found out they were nobodies
without the resource of God, that's when the exodus began.
#21694
IV. Moses was guided by his ideals.
A. He was loyal to God to the bitter end.
1) He went where God told him to go.
2) He gave all the glory to God.
a) All Moses' power came from God.
b) After the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses composing a
song that gave the glory to God alone. 15:1
3) He knew his place with God.
a) Many spiritual leaders get rather full of themselves.
b) Moses is described as the meekest man on earth.
1> Perhaps this is the positive side of insecurity.
B. He was loyal to God's people, Israel.
1) As a prince, when he saw a Jew being oppressed, he
intervened, even at great personal cost. 2:12
2) Even though Jews at that time turned against him, he came
back to lead them to the Promised Land.
3) When God got fed up with the Jews and threatened to wipe
them out, Moses offered to exchange his salvation for
theirs. 32:32
C. Moses was strengthened by overcoming great opposition.
1) Pharaoh and his magicians.
2) Jewish renegade leaders, including his own brother.
3) Jewish people themselves, with all their complaining.
4) Often, it was him against the world.
V. Moses has left us an awesome heritage.
A. Moses is one of the great heroes of the faith.
1) His name became synonymous with God's Law, even the Bible.
("Moses and the Prophets")
2) Hebrews 11, the Faith Chapter, gives an interesting
summary of Moses. Heb 11:25-27
It says he chose to be mistreated along with the people
of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short
time.
(How long was that "short time"? A lifetime!)
There was something Moses valued more than the treasures
of Egypt.
Even today, the treasures of Egypt cause awe.
The King Tut exhibit travels the world, commanding big
bucks.
But Moses gave greater value to something else - disgrace
for the sake of Christ.
That's pretty remarkable when you think that Jesus wouldn't
be born for another millennium-and-a-half.
Yet even Moses prophesied that God would one day raise up
a great leader for Israel.
He would be just like Moses, but better.
B. Moses experienced great things, but anticipated even greater.
1) He chose suffering for a time because God's reward would
be better than anything Egypt could offer.
2) Throughout his life, he was motivated to honor his God.
C. What motivates you?
1) You probably have your own set of limitations.
a) You have personal weaknesses.
b) You have circumstances that constrain what you would
like to do. We live in tough times!
2) But God offers you the same awesome promises.
a) You can do anything if God gives you the strength.
b) God can do great things through your life - if you are
faithful and obedient to him.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 5126 "Success Is the Greatest Danger," by Philip Yancey, adapted from
his book "The Bible Jesus Read", p.89; from an email submitted
by Missionary Rev. Steve Crane, January 5, 2000.
#21694 "How a Nobody With God Can Be a Somebody," by Joel C. Gregory,
Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator Supplements, Gerald Rodgers
Collection.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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