Our remarkable God uses unremarkable people

After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake,

but an angel of the Lord came down from heaven

and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became

like dead men.

The angel said to the woman,

Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, he has risen.

Just as he said, come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples,

He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him, now I have told you.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy,

and ran to tell his disciples.

Suddenly Jesus said to them,

Greetings, he said.

They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them,

Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee,

and there you will see me.

I am now going to sing a song.

While the women were on their way,

some of the guards went into the city

and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan,

they gave the soldiers a large sum of money,

telling them,

You are to say his disciples came during the night

and stole him away while we were asleep.

If this report gets to the governor,

we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So the soldiers took the money

and did as they were instructed.

And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews

to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee,

to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

When they saw him,

they worshipped him,

but some doubted.

Then Jesus came to them and said,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go

and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always

to the very end

of the age.

Amen.

May the Lord add his blessing

to this reading from his word.

Now, can you turn with me in your Bible

this time to the book of Exodus?

And we're going to continue

in our study in this wonderful book.

We are going to be reading Exodus chapter 5

Exodus 5 · chapter mention

from verse 22

to the end of chapter 6.

So let's hear God's word once again.

Moses returned to the Lord and said,

Why, Lord?

Why have you brought trouble on this people?

Is this why you sent me?

Ever since I went to Pharaoh

to speak in your name,

he has brought trouble on this people

and you have not rescued your people at all.

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 this country.

God also said to Moses,

I am the Lord.

I appeared to Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to Jacob as God Almighty,

but by my name,

the Lord,

I did not make myself known to them.

I also established my covenant with them

to give them the land of Canaan

where they resided as foreigners.

Moreover,

I have heard the groaning of the Israelites

whom the Egyptians are enslaving,

and I have remembered my covenant.

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.

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.

And I will bring you to the land

I swore with uplifted hands

to give to Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to Jacob.

I will give it to you as a possession.

I am the Lord.

Moses reported this to the Israelites,

but they did not listen to him

because of their discouragement

and harsh labor.

Then the Lord said to Moses,

Go tell Pharaoh,

king of Egypt,

to let the Israelites go out of his country.

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?

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron

about the Israelites

and Pharaoh,

king of Egypt,

and he commanded them

to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

These were the heads of their families.

The son of Reuben,

the firstborn son of Israel,

were Hanok and Palu,

Hezron and Carmi.

These were the clans of Reuben.

The sons of Simeon were

Jemuel,

Jamin,

Ohad,

Jachin,

Zohar,

and Shaul,

the son of a Canaanite woman.

These were the clans of Simeon.

These were the names of the sons of Levi,

according to their records,

Gershon,

Kohath,

and Merari.

Levi lived 137 years.

The sons of Gershon,

by clans,

were Libni and Shimei.

The sons of Kohath were

Amram,

Ishar,

Hebron,

and Uziel.

Kohath lived 133 years.

The sons of Merari were

Machli and Mushi.

These were the clans of Levi,

according to their records.

Amram married his father's sister,

Jochebed,

who bore him Aaron and Moses.

Amram lived 137 years.

The sons of Ishar were

Korah,

Nepheg,

and Zichri.

The sons of Uziel were

Mishael,

Elzavan,

and Sithri.

Aaron married

Elisheba,

the daughter of Amminadab,

and sister of Nashon,

and she bore him

Nadab,

and Abihu,

Eleazar,

and Ithamar.

The sons of Korah

were Aser,

Elkanah,

and Abiasath.

These were the

Korahite clans.

Eliezer,

son of Aaron,

married one of the

daughters of Putiel,

and she bore him

Phinehas.

These were the heads of the

Levite families,

clan by clan.

It was this Aaron and

Moses to whom the Lord

said,

bring the Israelites out of

Egypt by their divisions.

They were the ones who

spoke to Pharaoh,

king of Egypt,

about bringing the

Israelites out of Egypt,

this same Moses and Aaron.

Now when the Lord spoke to

Moses in Egypt,

he said to him,

I am the Lord.

Tell Pharaoh,

king of Egypt,

everything I tell you.

But Moses said to the

Lord,

since I speak with

faltering lips,

why would Pharaoh

listen to me?

Amen.

So today,

what we're going to think

about,

what we're going to see

from our text,

is that our

remarkable God,

the one who declares

himself to be,

I am the Lord,

uses unremarkable people

for his purposes.

We've said it before,

and I'm sure we will

say it again,

that the Bible is

history's most honest

book.

That cover to cover,

we are invited to

recognize that God's

people are not

very impressive.

So often,

rather than trust,

we see doubt.

So often,

rather than love,

we see hate.

Rather than obedience,

we see sinful

disobedience.

And we are being

reminded in so many

ways that God

saves

by grace.

And that's something

we celebrate in the

gospel.

This comes to us as

good news,

that Jesus,

the God-man,

entered into

human history.

And that it's through

his sinless obedience,

and through his

sacrificial death,

and through his

resurrection life,

that we can be

saved and enter into

relationship with God.

That's good news

for unremarkable,

unimpressive,

sinful people like

us.

The question for

today is this,

do we believe that

this same remarkable

God who saves by

grace can use those

unremarkable people

on his mission,

in building his

kingdom for his

glory?

The text that we

just read

shows God,

by his spirit,

leading Moses

to highlight

this point,

to highlight

Moses' own

weakness,

to highlight the

glory of God

as the next part

of the drama

in Egypt

is about to

take place.

What's interesting

about this text

is that there are

different frames

that we can find

here?

How do we

think about

frames?

Think about

an art gallery,

think about the

walls of our

houses and

family photos,

or framed

portraits that

hang in a

gallery.

What's the point

of a frame?

It's to draw

attention to

what is inside.

Well,

there are two

frames in

this section,

and one,

inside that frame,

is a reminder

of just how

unremarkable

and how weak

the people of

God often are,

and one frame

that shows this

wonderful portrait

of who our

God really,

truly is.

One frame,

we're going to

see Moses,

the discouraged

believer.

One frame is

going to show

us Moses,

the unimpressive

believer,

but inside we're

going to see

a wonderful

portrait of

God.

I am the

Lord,

and it's this

Lord who is

able for his

glory and to

build his

kingdom,

he is able to

use people

like Moses,

with doubts

and fears,

people like us,

with our doubts

and fears too.

Remember,

this is Moses

telling his

story.

This is Moses

telling his

story to a

generation of

Israelites in

the wilderness,

and if we use

our imagination,

perhaps we can

see Moses,

in effect,

telling the

people,

I am just

like you,

I experienced

doubts,

I am someone

who lacked

patience in

God's timing,

hard times

made me

question God,

I often felt

too weak for

the task that

God had given

me to do.

And as we've

already noticed,

God doesn't

correct Moses,

God doesn't

massage Moses'

ego and says,

no of course

Moses,

you're wonderful,

rather,

what Moses is

going to tell

the Israelites

is that God

revealed himself

time and time

again,

in patience and

a mercy,

here revealing

more of what

it means that

God is the

I am Lord.

And bear in

mind that Moses

tells this story

once they've been

released from

slavery.

It's this Lord

who has kept

his promise to

save us.

It's this Lord

who's kept his

promise to be

with us.

It's this Lord

who's keeping

his promise to

bring us home.

So Moses could

stand before

the nation of

Israel and say,

our success is

not about me,

it's not my

wonderful leadership,

it's all about

the Lord and

his faithfulness

and his saving

grace.

And by God's

design that's

how this text

is supposed to

fall on our

ears.

So let's think

about this first

frame.

So boys and

girls on your

sheet, this is

the first point

that we're

thinking about.

There is a

frame that we

can see that

shows us Moses

as the

discouraged

believer.

So you'll

see one side

of the frame,

chapter 5,

verse 22 and

23, and the

other side of

it in chapter 6,

verse 9 to

12.

So chapter 5,

verse 22,

we read,

Moses returned

to the Lord

and said,

why Lord,

why have you

brought trouble

on this people?

So he returned

to the Lord.

So he's coming

to God in

prayer and he's

bringing lament.

Why, Lord?

You made

promises.

Within the

covenant we have

expectations that

life will work

itself out in a

certain way.

Things are not

getting better.

Why do we not

see what we are

hoping for and

what you have

promised?

Instead, what are

they seeing?

They're seeing more

trouble.

trouble.

Pharaoh has

brought more

trouble.

And Moses says,

Pharaoh has

brought trouble

because of the

Lord's words.

In response to

the Lord's plan,

Pharaoh has

only made things

more difficult

for the people.

And so Moses

and Israel,

they're discouraged.

Why have things

got harder?

Moses is

discouraged.

You have not

rescued your

people at all,

he says.

So that's one

side of the

frame.

And we're

going to come

back to verses

1 to 8 and

we're going to

see the Lord

revealing more

of himself and

his character and

more of his

glorious plans.

But let's leave

that to one side

and let's move

to the other

side of the

frame to verse

9 to 12.

So Moses came

and reports to

the Israelites

what God has

said about

himself, but the

people don't

listen because of

their discouragement,

because of their

circumstances, their

hard labor.

And in verse

12 we see

Moses'

discouragement

coming out.

If the

Israelites won't

listen, why in

the world would

Pharaoh listen?

So he feels

discouraged about

the task that

God has given

him to do.

No one's going

to listen.

There is no

use in my

being there.

So the

circumstances

facing Moses

are ones where

all he sees is

apparent failure.

failure.

And so he has

these questions

about his own

ability.

This is the

frame through

which Moses is

viewing his life

and his mission.

And again, it would

be very easy for us

to point the

finger of blame

at Moses and

say, well, you

should know better.

You should have

more faith.

God has been

speaking to you,

but doesn't he

remind us of

ourselves when we're

being honest?

We hear God say

to us in his

word, do not

fear, for I am

with you.

But there are

circumstances and

there are people

and there are

times where we

are fearful,

where we are

anxious and

where we are

paralyzed and we

fail to respond

in faith.

You know, we

believe that

Jesus says to

us, as he did

in Matthew 28,

go and make

disciples and

surely I am

with you to the

end of the age.

But when we

get no response

or we face

rejection, we

become discouraged.

Perhaps we

decide to even

stop bothering

because we

don't see any

point.

How could we

make any

difference?

God leads

Moses to

write down

his story,

to make sure

that God's

people would

always understand

that when it

comes to our

salvation and

when it comes

to our

mission, we

would recognize

that all glory

belongs to

God and

that we

would place

our hope in

God and

not in

ourselves.

We would

place our

hope in

the one who

says, I

am the

Lord.

So we've

said that

there's this

frame and

we've seen

Moses as a

discouraged

believer, but

in the middle

we have a

beautiful

portrait where

God reveals,

I am the

Lord.

So boys and

girls, this is

the second thing

on your sheet,

chapter 6

verses 1

to 8.

Look at how

chapter 6

begins,

Then the

Lord said to

Moses,

Now you'll

see what I

will do to

Pharaoh, because

of my mighty

hand he will

let them go.

Moses in his

discouragement

stands in need

of reassurance,

and the Lord

again is very

patient and

merciful and

makes a fresh

promise to

Moses.

Now you'll

see what I

will do.

Pharaoh has

brought trouble,

he has brought

difficulty, but

my power, my

mighty hand will

bring freedom.

In fact, so

great is God's

strength that he

will turn the

mind of Pharaoh

so that Pharaoh

himself will

drive the

people of God

out of his

country.

Moses needs to

be reassured.

It's not on

you, Moses.

It's all about

the I am

God.

And Moses

too is given

a gracious

reminder, a

reminder of the

God who never

changes.

Verse 4, I

also established

my covenant

with them, with

Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob, to

give them the

land of Canaan.

Moreover, I

have heard the

groaning of the

Israelites whom

the Egyptians

are enslaving, and

I have remembered

my covenant.

When God

remembers something,

it's not like it

was previously

forgotten, it

means he's

about to act.

So the

Lord graciously

and patiently

makes himself

known to

Moses, reminding

him of his

power, reminding

him of his

promises, saying

to Moses, at

every point, you

can trust me.

And then we

get that

fascinating

statement in

verses 2 and

3.

Perhaps you

noticed it as

we read.

God also

said to

Moses, I

am the

Lord.

I

appeared to

Abraham, to

Isaac, and to

Jacob as God

Almighty, but

by my name, the

Lord, I did

not make myself

known to

them.

So here's

another gift

from God to

Moses.

Moses is

given a new

revelation, an

ongoing revelation

of who God

is and what

God is going

to do, of

what it means

for God to

be the Lord,

the personal

covenant-making

God.

So God

says to

Moses that

the story of

Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob was

one of them

knowingly as

God Almighty.

And that's a

wonderful thing.

In Genesis

17, we

discover that

this Almighty

God can come

to Abraham at

the age of

99 and can

call him the

father of

nations and

can promise

him that he

will bring his

family into

the land.

In Genesis

28, we

hear this

wonderful word

that God

Almighty can

make Jacob

into a

community and

bring them to

the land of

Canaan.

But now

what's going to

happen with

Moses and

this generation

is that they

are going to

see those

covenant promises

come to

life.

Promise is

about to

become reality.

They're going

to see I

am the

Lord in a

whole new

way as

he begins

to work

out these

promises.

And we

see that

and we're

going to

focus on

verses 6

to 8.

And notice

as well,

so we're

thinking about

frames,

notice that

verses 6

to 8 when

God speaks,

he begins

with,

I am the

Lord,

and he

closes with,

I am the

Lord,

and everything

in between

is intended

to help us

to know more

about who

is the

Lord,

what is

his character

like.

And there

are three

truths in

these verses.

First

truth,

I am the

Lord,

and I

will redeem

you.

Verse 6,

I will free

you from

being slaves

to them,

and I

will redeem

you with

an outstretched

arm and

with mighty

acts of

judgment.

Who is

the Lord?

The Lord

is the

Redeemer.

the present

reality of

the people

of Israel,

they are

under the

yoke of

slavery.

That is

their experience,

the misery

of being

slaves.

But God

is going

to act.

He says,

I will

bring you

out,

I will

free you,

I will

redeem

you.

Here is

God saying,

I will

act as

your

kinsman

Redeemer.

That

close

family

relative who

would pay

the price

to relieve

a debt,

to buy

a person

out of

slavery.

God says,

I will

do that

for you.

God is

in covenant

relationship

with his

people.

He is

going to

pay the

price.

He is

going to

bear the

debt to

secure the

freedom for

his own.

That's the

promise that

they receive

as slaves.

And it's

the promise

of the

gospel that

we receive.

as

Fergus was

praying.

Jesus

says,

anyone who

sins is

a slave

to sin.

Well,

what's the

good news

of the

gospel?

That God

has sent

his son

Jesus to

free us

from that

greater

slavery than

political

slavery.

That Jesus

comes as

the one

declaring,

I am

the Lord.

And he

comes because

he loves

his bride.

And he's

going to

bear the

debt and

pay the

price to

remove the

chains from

his bride,

to make

his bride

righteous and

holy so

that we,

the people

of God,

by faith in

him,

would know

freedom in

Christ.

So the

Lord is

the great

redeemer of

his people.

A discouraged

believer like

Moses needs to

be reminded of

that.

Discouraged

believers in

21st century

Edinburgh need

to be reminded

of that.

The second

truth in this

portrait of

what it means

that God

is the

Lord,

I am the

Lord and

I will

take you

as my

own.

Verse 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.

I am

the Lord,

I am

the Lord

your God,

I will

be your

God.

What is

this?

This is an

invitation for

the people of

God to say

this is my

God, I

belong to

him, I

know him

personally, I

am the Lord

might seem

distant, I

am your

Lord and

your God

reminds us

of just how

personal God's

love becomes.

God will

save his

people for

relationship

as Moses

and Israel

will soon

enough discover

God's people

are redeemed,

not so they

can enjoy

political freedom

but they can

have freedom

for relationship

with the

God who

made them

and who

acts in

grace to

save them.

And that's

why the

journey doesn't

go from

Egypt straight

to the

promised land,

rather it

goes from

Egypt to

Mount Sinai

because there

God will

meet with

his people

as he

promised,

there he

will renew

a covenant

with them

and they

will enjoy

the Lord's

presence there

at Mount

Sinai.

They will

become the

Lord's own

people.

Remember the

promise of

Jesus at the

end of Matthew

28, that he

would always be

with his people

to the very

end of the

age.

It's a

wonderful gospel

reality.

What's the joy

of the new

heaven and the

new earth?

for the

believer in

the Lord

Jesus, that

Christ and

his bride,

the church,

will be

together

forever,

having been

made righteous

and washed,

and there'll

be a wedding

feast, and

there will be

joy when

Jesus and

his church

are together

forever.

There is

wonderful hope

for discouraged

believers when

we remember

that the

Lord loves

his own

and seeks

relationship

and fellowship

and sent

his son

Jesus to

pay the

price that

we might

enjoy that.

Truth number

three in

this portrait

of what it

means that

God says,

I am a

Lord, I

am a

Lord,

verse 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.

Now think

about the

people of

God's

experience in

Egypt.

They had

no land of

their own

by this

stage,

no rights,

no freedom,

no freedom

to worship.

If that's

your reality,

imagine how

amazing this

promise sounds.

It's the

promise of

home.

It's a

promise of

freedom and

security.

It's a

promise of

being with

God in

God's place

as God's

people and

enjoying his

blessing.

poor,

discouraged

Israelites.

It sounds

too good to

be true for

them, but

they will

discover it

is good

and it

is true.

And the

Lord offers

certainty.

Notice in

verse 8,

I swore with

uplifted

hand.

I swear to

tell the

truth, the

whole truth,

and nothing

but the

truth.

God is

offering

certainty

to his

people.

I will

save you

and I

will bring

you home.

It's the

certainty of

Jesus'

promise to

the thief

on the

cross.

As that

thief turned

in faith

to Jesus,

today you

will be

with me

in paradise.

And it's

the same

promise that

leads us to

have hope,

that our

ultimate

hope,

home for

the people

of God.

Revelation 21

Revelation 21:3

verse 3,

God's dwelling

place is now

among the

people.

He will

dwell with

them.

God's

love for

him.

The Lord

saves us

for relationship

and he

saves us

so that we

might enjoy

an eternal

home with

him.

It's good

news for

discouraged

believers.

We need

this

portrait.

When people

go to see a

famous painting,

you go to

see the

Mona

Lisa,

and you

go to

see any

famous

painting,

you're not

about the

frame,

are you?

You want

to see the

beautiful

picture inside.

Moses and

Israel,

in their

discouragement,

they need to

learn to

look away

from themselves

and to

fix their

eyes on

the great

I am and

to trust

his covenant

promise.

That they

will come to

recognize that

every step of

the journey

out of

Egypt to

Mount Sinai

to the

promised land,

it is the

Lord who

will be with

them.

He is with

them and

he is for

them.

And the

same is

true for

us.

Jesus is

our Lord.

He is

the great

I am.

The new

covenant

promise is

kept in

him,

that in

him we

have

redemption,

in him we

have relationship

with the

living God,

in him we

have the

promise of

an eternal

home.

Robert

Murray

McShane,

the famous

preacher from

Dundee,

reminded his

congregation more

than once,

for every one

look itself,

take ten

looks to

Christ.

Moses and

Israel needed

to stop

looking at

themselves and

their inability

to look to

the God of

all ability.

And the

same is true

for us,

we need to

learn to

look to

Christ.

That's not

the only

frame in

our story,

there is a

second one we

need to see,

boys and

girls,

this is the

third point

in your

worksheet.

Frame

two draws

attention to

Moses the

unimpressive

believer.

Let's read

again verse

28 to

30.

Now when

the Lord

spoke to

Moses in

Egypt,

he said to

him,

I am a

lord,

tell Pharaoh

king of

Egypt everything

I tell you.

But Moses

said to the

Lord,

since I

speak with

faltering

lips,

why would

Pharaoh

listen to

me?

I don't

know how

many of

you enjoy

superhero

movies,

TV,

comic books,

I quite

like them.

We just

started watching

recently Superman

and Lois on

TV.

Superman's an

interesting

character,

Clark Kent's

an interesting

character,

mild-mannered,

regular guy,

they're always

selling it,

he's just this

normal,

slightly clumsy

sort of a

guy,

until he's

really not.

He's a

regular guy,

until he's

using his

super strength,

or his

laser eyes,

or his

super hearing,

and then we

are reminded

actually he's

totally a

superhero.

When we

read the

Bible,

and remember

how honest

the Bible

is,

we recognize

that the

Bible is not

presenting us

with biblical

superheroes.

Moses is no

biblical

superhero.

He seems

an awful lot

like us,

with his

doubts,

with his

fears.

In chapter

6,

verses 10

to 12,

and then

those verses

in 28

to 30,

we have

the same

event

recorded

twice.

For

emphasis,

they frame

what comes

in the

middle.

The Lord

says,

go,

I've told

you to

go,

I've told

you what's

going to

happen,

and Moses

says,

I have a

speech

problem,

I'm not

a public

speaker,

the plan

just won't

work.

Again,

at no

point does

God

correct him

instead.

And this

is really

interesting,

so God

who directs

the writing

of Scripture

directs

Moses at

this stage

to write

down his

family tree.

Seems

quite an

unusual

thing to

place at

this stage

of the

story,

but it's

here,

and we

need to

ask ourselves,

why here

and why

now?

And as

we start

to think

about some

of these

characters,

we don't

have time

to think

about a

lot of

them,

but what

we discover

we are

getting here

in this

family tree,

in a sense,

is one of

those,

they talk

about warts

and all

portraits,

don't they?

It's not

like the

airbrushed,

everything looks

all glossy

and wonderful,

it's a

warts and all

picture of

Moses and

his family,

and it's

there by

God's

design.

Again,

he's not

sort of looking

to puff up

Moses'

pride,

this

emphasizes

how

unimpressive,

unremarkable

Moses and

his family

are to

highlight that

other portrait

of God's

glory and

God's

grace.

Where does

Moses,

led by the

Spirit,

begin in

this

selected

family

history?

It begins

with Reuben,

and Reuben

brought open

shame on his

family through

sexual sin,

Genesis 35.

We have a

mention of

verse 15,

Shaul,

the son of

a Canaanite

woman,

an outsider.

We have in

verse 21,

we have

Korah.

Korah leads

an open

rebellion against

Moses,

God's appointed

leader.

And of course

we have

Moses'

brother Aaron,

who by this

stage,

in the

retelling of

the story,

has helped

Israel to

make the

golden cat.

And there's

Moses himself.

And we saw

a couple of

weeks ago,

Moses who

killed an

Egyptian and

had to

flee for

his life.

Perhaps it's

no surprise

that it says

to us in

verse 26,

it was this

Aaron and

Moses.

Verse 27,

it was this

same Moses

and Aaron

from this

family background,

with this

list of

sin in

their past,

with all

their doubts

and all

their failures.

What becomes

absolutely clear

to the people

of Israel is

Moses,

although he

grew up in

the palace,

he's absolutely

one of them,

one of them

in terms of

his genealogy,

but also one

of them in

terms of his

own sin and

disobedience.

The attention

is not on

Moses,

and it

shouldn't be.

He's a

regular,

unremarkable

believer.

He's living

by faith,

but the

attention

goes to

the other

portrait,

the wonderful

portrait of

God.

But here's

the remarkable

thing,

despite Moses'

failures,

despite Moses'

doubts and

fears and

questions about

his own

ability,

God has

used him,

will use

him to

deliver Israel

and to

redeem them

from slavery.

The God

who says,

I am the

Lord,

who is

all-glorious

and all-powerful,

is able to