The Emotional Return: Moses' Struggle and Divine Assurance - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

Well, as the girls and boys go out and look at their activities

for this morning, we're turning to Exodus chapter 5 and looking

Exodus 5 · chapter mention

at this chapter that we read a few minutes ago.

Now, I'm sure, like me, over the years, you've seen the clips

that are shown on TV as part of the Festival of Remembrance on

that Saturday evening before Remembrance Day from the Royal Albert

Hall.

Or even the coverage, if you were like my father and you had to

record it because obviously there was no iplayer and you'd rewind

it and watch it back after you got home from church.

The coverage of the Cenotaph.

And you've seen the clips of veterans returning to the battlefields

and Commonwealth war graves in France and North Africa.

This is actually the war grave from Tripoli in North Africa.

And maybe more so when I was younger, we saw former soldiers returning

for the first time, maybe the first opportunity they had to get

back because of their age or circumstances.

But there's always a more poignant moment whenever you learned

of those who were making the journey for the last time, some of

whom who had been going every year since the 1950s to remember

those who had fallen alongside them.

And they would normally go with a group of their comrades and

they would lay a wreath in memory of those who didn't make it

home.

And you would see the emotion as the story of the battle would

be retold and what each man did for the other.

There were often places that people didn't want to go to because

of the memories, but out of duty and respect for the fallen,

they made the journey to honor their memory.

As we get into Exodus 5, we see that Moses now has returned to

Egypt at the command of the Lord.

But it is a journey for him that will now take him to Pharaoh.

And it is one full of emotion for him, because remember, this is

a man who didn't want to return home because of the fear of

rejection by the people and having to stand up to the Pharaoh,

the most powerful man in the world.

But he's gone with the assurance that the Lord will be with

him.

And the Lord has given him, Aaron, to speak for him.

And so a journey has to be made, a difficult one, a hard one,

a one of memory.

But what's different from Moses is it's one of great hope in

what the Lord will do.

And so as we begin this chapter, we see these two brothers

in the throne room of Pharaoh's palace, because verse one

tells us afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, this

is what the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go so that

they may hold a festival to me.

And in the desert, it's really quite a simple request for them,

for him, isn't it?

Let the people go into the desert to worship God.

Here in verse one, it's called a festival, or better way of understanding,

it's a communal feast.

And with it being in the wilderness, it was therefore outside

of Egypt.

Now this might have got Pharaoh's senses picked up because

it signals to him that the end goal is much more.

It is a permanent departure from Egypt, as the people would go

beyond the borders of Egypt.

And so by giving Pharaoh a command, let my people go, the Lord

makes it clear that he is the king, not Pharaoh.

And by calling Israel his people, he makes clear that they

belong to him and not to Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh's response should be no surprise to us in verse two,

because Pharaoh said, who is the Lord?

That I should obey him and let Israel go.

I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.

Now this is a reply full of sarcasm from the most powerful man

in the world.

Of course, Pharaoh knows the God of the children of Israel, the

God that they worship.

But in this culture, to know someone means that you accept their

authority.

And Pharaoh will not accept the authority of the one true God

because he sees himself as divine.

He himself is seen and worshipped as a God.

But Moses and Aaron try again.

And in verse three we're told that they asked Pharaoh to let them

go for the three day journey.

But if Pharaoh fails to give their request, then he and Egypt

may suffer.

So we're already getting a foreshadowing of what is to come

because of remember that hardened heart that that the Lord

has given to Pharaoh.

Well, this has now bearing on Pharaoh more, and he refuses even

more.

He is truly the world's superpower and believes that he can

withstand anything that comes his way.

And in verse five, it sets the scene, the next scene for us, of

what's going to happen.

Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are now numerous and

you're stopping them from working.

Now, whether Pharaoh was genuine in his reasoning about the

work of the people, or simply to reply with his own threat, well,

it's irrelevant of why he did it, because he forces the people

to work harder.

The state of Egypt is no longer going to provide straw for

making the bricks.

That straw was needed as these great massive buildings were constructed

right across the land.

And you see, the catch is that the same quota of bricks are to be

made.

Straw worked as an adhesive and helped the bricks maintain their

shape.

And so it is an essential part of the process.

And now they would have to find it themselves.

And the slave drivers were not to listen to the complaints of the

people.

Well, the taskmasters and the foreman relay Pharaoh's command of

the people.

And the people face an impossible task.

Not only do they have to spend time traveling to get straw, but

the only straw they can find is scraps of stubble from harvested

fields which is painstakingly slow to gather.

But their Egyptian taskmasters are undeterred because urgently they're

demanding that the same quota of bricks be made each day, telling

them in verse 13, complete the work required of you for each day,

just as when you had straw.

Failure to comply.

Well, that led to the beating of the Israelite foreman when the

impossible task was not achieved, and ridiculously asking

why the Israelites have slowed down on the job.

This was true authoritarian rule over God's people.

People.

And they've had enough.

Quite literally as it comes to them, they've had enough because

they take matters into their own hands to appeal to Pharaoh.

But Pharaoh doesn't listen.

Their plea to Pharaoh in verse 16 is a humble plea.

Calling themselves his servants, they're honest and they

make the injustice very clear before him.

But Pharaoh continues in his well, there's only one word for him,

he's obstinate.

Its obstinate cruelty towards them, calling them here again lazy

and doubling down on his unjust demand for them.

Verse 19 tells us of the realization that falls on the Israelite

foreman.

They realize that they're in deep trouble.

Pharaoh isn't relenting, and they know just how hard the work

is.

And so as they leave the presence of Pharaoh, they find Moses

and Aaron waiting for them, most likely to hear how the meeting

had gone.

But the response is not what the brothers perhaps expect.

And you know, it plays into the hands of a very shrewd Pharaoh,

because verse 21 tells us, May the Lord look upon you, they say

to Moses and Aaron, and judge you.

You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have

put a sword in their hand to kill us.

What a charge against Moses and Aaron.

It's not what they were expecting, certainly Moses, he's

here to rescue them.

And as we come to his prayer before God, in a few moments we'll

see it's not what he expected because the people here are blaming

Moses and Aaron for the impossible situation here they are

asking the Lord himself to bring his justice to bear against

them for putting the Israelites in Such a dire situation,

there's really, at this point, very little hope for anyone.

There's no hope for the people because of the taskmasters that are

making them work harder.

And there's no hope for Moses because these are the people who

are supposed to be behind him.

Because if he's going to lead them out, well, he needs people to

follow.

And so what does Moses do?

Well, Moses has to make another journey.

This journey, it's not back to Midian, and it's certainly a lot

shorter than it was from Midian to Egypt.

He has fewer miles to travel, because this journey is about returning

to the Lord.

But it's a journey that is just as emotional for Moses as the

first verse 22 tells us.

Moses returned to the Lord and said, o Lord, why have you brought

trouble upon this people?

Is this why you sent me?

So even now, Moses is starting to question, lord, why have you sent

me?

I thought it was for a rescue, but the people are only being punished

more.

Is this the reason why you sent me?

Moses questioning of the Lord tells us just how frustrated he is

with the whole situation.

He thought he was the rescuer of the people, and instead it was

just as he had thought that they would reject him.

And more than rejection, they blame him for what is happening.

And as an aside, this is where we see the seed of the people being

a grumbling people through their years in the wilderness starting

to form.

They're even grumbling now.

And that grumbling will continue for another 40 years until

that generation of grumblers dies out and they can enter the Promised

Land.

Moses questions why the Lord has harmed the Israelites.

He's asking, why did you send me in the first place?

And Moses presses the Lord as to why he has harmed them by sending

him to them.

And what's more, the Lord has not delivered his people one inch

from the land.

And telling all this to God, he's asking for the Lord's help to

resolve all of these problems.

And it'll be in chapter six that we get the Lord's reply to Moses.

And we look at that in a few weeks time.

But it would be human to think that Moses would throw in the towel

at this point and simply go back to Midian, go back to where

he knew to be that farmer or that shepherd on the land.

But the Lord assures him in the first verse of chapter six, as

we look ahead, 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.

The Lord's gracious, and the Lord is good.

The Lord asks Moses to continue to trust in him.

He assures Moses of the rescue of the children of Israel.

But it will be by the Lord's doing and in his time.

But notice now what he says.

The Lord will use Pharaoh as the one who will let them go, so

that Moses can lead them to beyond the Red Sea, into the wilderness.

And this is the confidence that we are called to have from this

account.

In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron faced the scorn of Pharaoh, and then

they faced the anger of the leaders of the children of Israel.

So what could they do?

The only thing they could was to look to the Lord God who had promised

salvation for his people.

And I hope you've observed that this chapter begins with a question,

and at the end of it, we get the answer to that question.

Verse two told us what that question was.

As Pharaoh asks, who is the Lord?

Now, would any of us be bold enough to ask that question?

We may not ask it in those exact words, but perhaps at times

in our hearts we have questioned, well, who is the Lord?

Who is the Lord to tell me to do that?

Who is the Lord to put on me his standard so that in business

I will do things his way, in family life, I will lead as he leads,

or in my friendship circle, and in church life, I will actually

live by the way he calls me to live.

You see, before we judge Pharaoh too quickly in asking this

question, who is the Lord?

Is this not a question that we've asked ourselves?

See, Pharaoh dares to ask who is the Lord?

Pharaoh questions the authority of the Lord in this question.

The Lord who demands the release of his people.

And Pharaoh is so arrogant, yet so lost in his understanding

of.

Of who he's dealing with by this time in the Pharaoh's life.

There are many statues of him around Egypt, including at sites

that the children of Israel were building.

And as I told you, I'm a very romantic person.

And I took Pamela for our wedding anniversary to the British

Museum.

It's a great day out.

And I said, we have to go to the Egypt, Drummond.

And we did.

And there in the British Museum, you have some of the huge

carvings of Ramesses ii, the Pharaoh we believe to be in charge

at this time.

Now, these are not models, these are not reproductions.

These were taken in that great exploration of Egypt in the early

1900s.

These are the original statues that Ramesses would have walked out

and looked at.

And as he did with them all around, he said to himself, how good

am I?

He believed himself to be the top dog.

He believed that there was no one above him.

And so he had all the authority, and no one was going to

have authority over him.

So whenever I challenge you that.

Have we not all asked the question, who is the Lord?

Whenever we understand its deeper meaning, I think we all have

to admit we have, who is the Lord that he would have his authority

over me?

Well, that's the question that's asked.

Although Pharaoh doesn't get a direct answer to this question, we

see the response of Moses in verse 22 as the only answer to who

God is.

What does Moses do?

At the end of this chapter, he returned to the Lord.

And so the answer to who is the Lord is demonstrated in what

Moses does.

He returns to the Lord.

And this tells us three things, tells us three things about

God, that this is the God whom Moses trusts, in whom, unlike the

Pharaoh, Moses submits to and to his authority.

First of all, he is the God who is a God.

Who cares.

I wonder, do we know that about God?

He does care.

He cares enough to give us food for our tables.

Please don't think that you're the one who provides for all you

need.

You physically cannot make a tree grow.

You can create the conditions for it, but you cannot make it grow.

Or a plant in the ground.

And how quickly does a storm come and wipe out a harvest?

So if we think we provide for ourselves, then we are misled, because

God is the one who cares for us.

And we see it every day.

We see it in all of life.

He gives us relationships in which we can love and be loved.

He gives us companionship.

He gives us good things to eat and enjoy.

And in the land in which we live, particularly on this day, we

recognize the freedoms we have to worship Him.

Where the children of Israel didn't have those freedoms to go

and worship him, we do.

And here we are, week by week, doing it.

See, God is a God who cares.

And that's what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:28 in that great Sermon

Matthew 6:28

on the Mount.

Look at the birds of the air, says Jesus.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns.

And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than they see when you think about

it?

And that's what Jesus is pointing at.

How do the birds survive?

How do they survive in the storms?

How do their nests not blow out of the trees more often?

How do they fly in the wind to get much needed food that they need.

They don't sow, nor do they reap, nor do they store in barns.

Yet God provides for them.

And Jesus comes with the question, are you not more valuable

as humanity?

After all, what did God say about us in creation?

That when he saw humanity, he said it was not just good, but very

good.

So never doubt the Lord's care for you, because he does.

He gives you everything that you need because you are valuable

to Him.

And that value doesn't change as the wind does.

That value is placed on you because you are made in his image

and you are his creation.

So to return to the Lord, to know his authority, means that you

know that God is a God who cares for you.

But the second thing that we learn about returning to the Lord

is that God is a God who is with us.

Why else would Moses go?

He's seen the Lord at the burning bush.

He's known the presence of God right before him.

God is the one who has said, I will go with you.

And God has said, I will lead you out of Egypt.

God is the God who is with us.

He will never leave us.

Of course we can believe this, because what has God done for us?

He's gone to the greatest extent to demonstrate that he is

with us.

That's what we learn in John 1:14, that we look at as we get closer

John 1:14

to Christmas.

But it's too good a verse just to leave until December.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came

from the Father, full of grace, truth.

If you want any greater demonstration that God is with us,

then all we have to do is look at the sending of His Son, Jesus

Christ, who, John tells us in that opening, in these opening verses,

that he came to be amongst us.

Not to be far away, but to be amongst us.

And that's how we know him, continuing to be with us as the Holy

Spirit has been sent on the day of Pentecost, so that we will

know the presence of God day in, day out.

That he is a God who not only cares for us, but he is a God who

is with us.

And finally, as we return to the Lord, we know that God is a God

who wants us to draw near to him.

God wants us to trust in Him.

At the end of the day, that's what's going on with the people.

They need to know that they can only trust in God to deliver

them.

And so as the work gets harder, it's not punishment, it's

it's a greater understanding of the truth that it is only God

who can rescue because the Lord wants us to draw near to Him.

He wants us to draw closer to him because that's what James says

in James 4:8.

James 4:8

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,

you double minded James is hitting both people here.

Those who don't know Christ, you need to know Christ.

You need to know him as your Savior because He is the One who

wants you to draw near to Himself.

But also if you're double minded, as we look Tonight in Revelation

3 in the church of Laodicea, being look warm, neither hot, neither

cold.

Double minded is lukewarmness.

We're not sure, we're not in, we're not out.

We are to draw near to the Lord because He is the only One who

can gently, graciously lead us safely home.

You see, God wants us to come near to him, to return to him through

His Son, Jesus.

So I want to challenge you this morning to return to the Lord.

For those of you who feel the weight of the world, that that weight

is too much.

Where family matters, work issues, fractured relationships,

business concerns and marriage feelings feel too much to bear, return

to the Lord.

Come near to Him, God says through Jesus.

For those who need to know that they need that forgiveness of

sins, come to Jesus and know him as your Savior.

For those who need hope in a future that is secure in eternity,

look to Jesus as the only one who can give you that assurance.

And for each and every one of us, purify our hearts.

Come with clean hands so that just like Moses, we will make that

journey as we return to the Lord.

But this journey is not one that is too far to travel along.

It's not crossing the world.

It's simply coming on your knees before the Lord Jesus and saying,

father, may I know you more.

Revive in me a spirit that looks to you.

You see, Christ came to us so that we could know him, that we could

be filled by his spirit and know his wonderful grace of salvation.

And so each of us today need to return to him and know his goodness

and his blessing.

And we know that we can do this.

What did we sing in our opening praise?

Oh God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.

You see, biblically, he is the God who has seen us people through

mighty waters.

He has shed his own blood for us that we might know salvation.

And indeed, the hope that is to come is a day when he is coming

again to make us or to take his own people home.

So today, will you return to the Lord?

Will you know him as the one who sees you as valuable?

Will you know that he is the God who cares for you because he

sent His Son to dwell among us?

And will you draw near to him so that you will know his closeness

in the days that are ahead?

Return to him today, not tomorrow, not next week, not when

you think is the right time, because the right time is today.

Return to him so you can know a Savior who is indeed mighty to

keep you until the end.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, we thank you that this is a story of a people

who received for your glory.

And Father, your glory is displayed to us today in Jesus Christ.

And so as we think about what it means to return to him, we know

that we have lives that are filled with cares for our young people.

They're concerned about school.

They're concerned about the influences around them.

For those who are starting out in new workplaces or maybe starting

out in married life, there's concerns about what the future looks

like.

For those who are older and wiser.

Father, we know the concerns are still there because we have to

rely on you daily to see us through.

And Father, the question that comes about your authority, who is

this God?

Father, the answer is that we must return to you so that we may

know you in all your fullness.

So is the God who has brought your people through mighty waters,

the God who gave your son so that his blood would be shed, so

that we would know the forgiveness of sins and the penalty

of that sin removed from us, and the God who is sending his son

to return again.

Lord, may we look to you as the only one who will keep us until

the end.

So may we respond well this day in Jesus name, amen.