Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - Moses the Mediator

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - Moses the Mediator · Voddie Baucham Sermons

0:00
She'll open your bibles to Exodus chapter four, will continue our journey here in
0:09
this great book Exodus chapter four, and an eventful journey it has been.
0:20
We come here to the last section of the call of Moses, and as
0:30
we look at this last section in his call before he returns to Egypt,
0:36
we see God's perfect work with an imperfect servant. We see Moses' imperfections here.
0:47
We see his weakness and frailty here. And it's not just his age
0:52
that we see here. He's not just weak and frail because he's eighty years
0:57
old. He is weak in frail because he is a sinner. He is
1:03
weak and frill because he is fearful. He is weak and frill because he's
1:07
disobedient. And we see this, and it's important to see. I remember
1:14
early on an older, mature minister making this statement to me, son,
1:22
make sure you're not always the hero of your own stories. The man who
1:29
shared it with me said, if a preacher only tells stories that make him
1:33
seem larger than life, his hearers will eventually believe that he is, and
1:38
that there is no way they can live the kind of Christian life that he
1:42
lived, since they are not that was important advice. That was helpful advice,
1:52
because when you start to stand before people and proclaim God's word, your
1:57
automatic assumption is that you need to make people will like you and respect you
2:01
and think highly of you. Your automatic response is you need to make sure
2:07
that people feel like you're worthy to be standing up before them, and so
2:12
you say things and do things in order to bring that about. It takes
2:16
a while to figure out that your job is not to make people like you.
2:23
Your job is to actually make the gospel clear. That your job is
2:27
not to make people think much of you, but your job is actually to
2:31
make people think much of God. And that your effectiveness is not seen in
2:38
people saying, after you're done, what a great preacher, but it's actually
2:44
seen in people saying, after you're done, what a great God. And
2:47
I believe that that is what Moses does here. We have to remember that
2:52
Moses is the author of the Pentituch, so as we read what we read
2:58
here in chapter four, know that this is Moses telling on himself, and
3:01
he is not the hero of the first part of chapter four, not by
3:06
a long shot. We'll see that as we examine this. The first thing
3:13
we see that is of importance. Here is the message. God's perfect work
3:20
with an imperfect servant. First and foremost involves a message, and we can
3:24
confuse that message. Look with me in verses one and five. Then Moses
3:32
answered, but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice,
3:38
for they will say the Lord did not appear to you. Now go
3:42
down to verse five. Verse five says that they may believe that the Lord,
3:47
the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
3:51
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. The first
3:54
thing that's interesting here. Oftentimes, when we look at this part of Moses's
3:58
call, this last part of Moses' call, especially because of the miracles that
4:01
we're going to look at, in a moment, we think that this is
4:04
about Egypt. We think that God is preparing Moses to go stand before Egypt.
4:11
But if you look at verse one and verse five, these miracles that
4:14
God is about to give him are not for Egypt. They're for Israel.
4:18
So Moses' fear here is not that Pharaoh won't listen to him. By the
4:23
way, that is one of his fears. He's though he said that his
4:26
fear here in this particular section is that Israel won't listen to him. This
4:31
message is for Israel. This is important for a number of reasons, and
4:36
I believe we need to look at these in order to orient ourselves rightly.
4:42
First of all, God is not just calling for Egypt to let Israel go.
4:46
Exodus is not a story primarily about deliverance from oppression. We talked about
4:51
that a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot of people who have
4:55
reduced it to that this is about deliverance from oppression. If that's the case,
5:00
God can justslaughter the Egyptians and allow the Israelites to take over Egypt.
5:04
But he doesn't. He doesn't. God is not just calling his people out
5:10
of Egyptian bondage. God is calling them to go to the land that he
5:14
promised. This is about his covenant. There is a place that they're supposed
5:17
to be, and that place is not in Egypt. He has to get
5:20
them from Egypt to the place where he has promised. And God is calling
5:27
his people out to worship him and to make his name known. This is
5:31
key. This is what the Exodus is about. God is not just saying
5:35
they're oppressed. I don't want them to be oppressed, so I'll get them
5:39
out of oppression. God is saying, I will get them out and bring
5:43
them to a place where they will worship me. I will put my name
5:47
on them. They will be a nation, a holy nation, a nation
5:51
set apart for God. That's the idea here, and we have to keep
5:55
it in mind. The deliverance will show God's power, their law will show
6:02
God's righteousness, and their tabernacle will show God's presence. That's what the Exodus
6:10
is about. God is calling out a people. Therefore, Moses's mission is
6:16
of the utmost importance. They have to follow Moses. Moses can't just get
6:24
Egypt to let them go. Moses actually has to lead them out of Egypt
6:29
and into the land of Promise. He's not the deliverer from he's the deliverer
6:33
to the problem is that they're in the wrong place, and the problem is
6:39
that they are not free to worship God. The problem is they are not
6:42
existing as their own sovereign nation. The problem is that God is not at
6:46
this point fulfilling the promise that he made to Abraham and to Isaac and to
6:51
Jacob. And he reminds them of that they need to follow Moses so that
6:59
God God can fulfill the promise. They need to follow Moses so that God
7:03
can make them a distinct people. They need to follow Moses so that God
7:08
can take them to a distinct land. They need to follow Moses so that
7:12
God can give them a distinct law. They need to follow Moses so that
7:16
God can teach them distinct worship. This is all about Israel and their distinction.
7:26
What Moses is communicating to them is hard to believe. And oftentimes we
7:30
look at chapter four, verse one, and we assume that Moses sinned there
7:35
in verse one. There's no sin there that God's going to get angry,
7:41
but that's later on. Do you notice that it doesn't say that God became
7:46
angry with him here in verse one. Look at it again. Moses answered,
7:49
but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice,
7:55
for they will say, the Lord did not appear to you. The Lord
7:58
said to him, what is that in your The Lord didn't say to him,
8:01
how dare you, oh ye of little faith? Actually Moses is right.
8:09
Moses has a point. Why should they believe him? Or let me
8:16
put it this way. Guy walks off walks up to you and says,
8:20
hey, I was a funny thing. I was with my sheep, and
8:24
you know, I was on the side of the mountain and I saw this
8:26
bush and it was burning. It wasn't burning. There was fire, and
8:31
there was the bush and there was the fire, but the bush wasn't like
8:35
the bush wasn't on fire. Listen, it was God. And so God
8:39
spoke to me through that and he sent me here, and so you need
8:43
to follow me. I don't know about you, but I'm not going a
8:48
man, I'm not going. That's not enough. Just because someone says God,
9:01
that doesn't mean God told him. You have to remember also, there's
9:05
been four hundred years and they haven't had direct revelation from God. And it's
9:13
been forty years. Moses has been gone. There's a generation that doesn't even
9:20
know him anymore. And he's supposed to just walk in and say, hey,
9:24
I met with God on the mountain. Follow me, We're going to
9:26
get out of here. Absolutely not. And that's why God doesn't rebuke him,
9:33
but instead gives him the signs. The Israelites were right to be suspect.
9:41
In fact, elsewhere we see this, for example, in the prophets
9:46
Jeremiah twenty nine to eight. For thus says the Lord of Host, that
9:50
God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among
9:54
you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream.
9:58
Not everyone who who claims to speak for God is speaking for God. Nor
10:03
is it wrong to question people who say they're speaking for God. Listen to
10:09
this in the New Testament for Stissalonians five nineteen to twenty two. Let's just
10:16
look at part of that. Do not quench the spirit, do not desire
10:20
prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast to what is good, abstain from
10:26
evil one John four to one. But loved, do not believe every spirit,
10:33
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many
10:37
false prophets have gone out into the world. Israel would not have been wrong
10:46
for questioning Moses, and Moses was not wrong to bring up this objection.
10:52
Moses was absolutely correct in bringing up this objection. This is important for us
11:00
us in our day, because, as I've alluded to earlier in this series,
11:05
there is this sense in our culture, and there is this ease with
11:07
which we use the phrase God told me and God said to me. And
11:13
when somebody says to you, God told me ABC and XYZ, that's a
11:16
signal for you to not question what they're about to say. Because if somebody
11:20
says God told them something and you question them, now all of a sudden,
11:24
you're questioning God, because that's who they said it came from. Right,
11:28
This is problematic. In fact, there are those who think that it's
11:35
inappropriate at any time to question anyone who is speaking for God, or at
11:43
least who says they're speaking for God. And in fact, if someone claims
11:46
to be speaking for God and you investigate their claim, you're said to be
11:50
judgmental, because, after all, who are you? Who are you?
12:00
The fact of the matter is, we're told to test the spirits. We're
12:03
told not to believe everything that everyone says. But here's the question for the
12:11
Israelites to do that. They looked at the miracles that were performed, and
12:16
they looked at the consistency of the message that Moses brings, this message from
12:20
the God of their fathers, from Abraham and from Isaac and from Jacob,
12:24
and with these miracles that he performs, what do we look for. We're
12:31
not in the age of Moses. We're not in the age of the prophets.
12:37
We're not even in the age of the apostles, although there are those
12:39
individuals today who call themselves apostle. And when they do, run Amen.
12:50
If a man introduces himself to you as an apostle, run because the apostles
12:56
have the authority of scripture, and any man who calls himself an apos is
13:00
claiming to have the authority of scripture, and the canon is closed. Hebrews
13:07
two, verses one to four turn to that police. We need to look
13:11
at this because this is a very important issue that we face. Therefore,
13:20
verse one of Hebrews chapter two, we must pay much closer attention to what
13:26
we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message
13:31
declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a
13:39
just retribution, how should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation.
13:45
It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us
13:52
by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and
13:56
various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will
14:03
of course, this follows Hebrews chapter one, where we see that God,
14:07
after he spoke to the fathers through in many portions, in many ways,
14:11
through the prophets, and these last days, has spoken to us completed action
14:18
done, has spoken to us through whom, through Christ. Now we see
14:22
again that this final ultimate revelation of God is in the person, in the
14:28
work of Christ, and that the apostles had authority because the apostles brought the
14:33
direct revelation from Christ. We don't have apostles anymore. So nobody's bringing us
14:39
direct revelation from Christ. So no one today has the authority to speak as
14:45
an apostle. No one today has the authority to speak as though they speak
14:50
the word of God. No one does. We have a closed canon.
14:54
It's a done deal. We have the Bible. So in order to understand
15:01
whether or not Moses was authoritative, they looked at two things. One does
15:07
everything that he says come to pass? That's the Old Testament test of a
15:13
prophet, does everything that he says come to pass? If it doesn't,
15:16
you've stown him to death because he lied. And not only did he lie,
15:22
he lied on God. Amen, how many of you are glad that
15:28
we don't have the Old Testament test of to thank you amen. The second
15:33
test was signs and miracles and wonders. So does what they say come to
15:43
pass? Is it consistent with what's being revealed before? And does it come
15:48
to pass? And secondly, is God a testing his word through signs and
15:54
miracles and wonders all the way up through the apostles? That was the answer.
16:02
Is this an apostle? Is what he's saying consistent with what we've heard?
16:06
Is it consistent with the other apostles? Has God affirmed and confirmed this
16:11
apostolic ministry? Yes he has. We have his word. Now we have
16:18
a closed canon. We are not still in the process of receiving the word
16:25
of God. There is a closed canon, by the way. That's why
16:33
there are those who would argue, for example, they want it, they
16:34
want church to look like Church in Corinth. And there are many who argue
16:38
that the act of standing up and preaching, that's something that you know,
16:42
this new fangled later on modern stuff, and the church is not supposed to
16:47
look like that at all. You're supposed to get down, you know,
16:49
you know, there's just supposed to be a few prophets who speak and these
16:52
people speak, and these people will test it, and these people will have
16:55
a tongue, and these people will test it, and so on and so
16:56
forth. Interesting thing about that number one was during the Apostolic age. Number
17:02
two Corinthians is not a pastoral epistle. If you want to know how the
17:07
church is supposed to be organized in shape, you look at the pastoral epistles
17:11
first two, Timothy and Titus. We're in the post Apostolic age, so
17:22
preaching from a closed canon looks like exposition, not bringing something new. When
17:30
the canon is closed, we we're aligned to it, we're accountable to it.
17:37
When the canon is closed, we preach the Bible. We don't go
17:41
beyond the Bible. Because the canon is closed. God has communicated to us
17:47
what he intends to communicate to us, and we have a closed canon.
17:51
So preaching today, the prophet today is the one who opens the word of
17:56
God and makes it clear as God has revealed, both in the old ways
18:03
through the prophets and in the new ways through the apostles. I don't have
18:08
their authority, so I preach the scriptures as closely and tightly as I can.
18:15
That's what I'm obligated to do because we have a closed cannon, we
18:19
don't get new revelation. We're done. And I say this to you because
18:26
it's something that's not only not understood among Christians today, but what I just
18:30
said to you is highly offensive to Christians today. Holding to the position that
18:37
I just laid out for you is highly offensive to Christians today. And people
18:42
say things like, oh, you're putting God in a box. No,
18:45
I'm not putting God in a box. God put his revelation in a book.
18:48
Amen. Oh well you don't think God can Oh, stop right there,
19:00
stop right there, because even our children understand the answer to that question.
19:03
Children, Can God do all things? Yes, God can do all
19:11
his holy will. Amen. Amen. And the God who can do all
19:17
his holy will has communicated to us that he has chosen to close the cannon.
19:22
I believe he can do that, and I believe he has done that.
19:26
Amen. This is not about the power or the authority of God.
19:30
This is about the power and the authority of man, which is limited because
19:34
of the power and the authority of God. And people use this to exercise
19:41
unbiblical authority over other people, as though you're just some little Christian you know,
19:48
who has you know who has this little faith. You're some little Christian
19:52
who has this nominal relationship with God. But me, I'm super Christian and
19:59
I still get revelation just like Moses did. You poor pitiful thing, bow
20:03
at my feet and gravel. This is what it does, and it's grossly
20:10
unbiblical. Folks, listen, you will spend the rest of your life trying
20:15
to master what God has already revealed. You don't need some more amen.
20:22
You'll spend the rest of your life trying to master this. There's books that
20:27
we've preached through that we could start preaching through again and not repeat what we
20:32
preached the last time, because there is just that much depth and breadth to
20:38
the revelation of God. So, yes, Moses had a legitimate claim here.
20:48
They got no reason to believe me, and they didn't have a reason
20:49
to believe him. He was telling the truth, but his authority needed to
20:55
be validated, just like everyone who brings the message of God, their authority
21:00
needs to be validated. Now, how is people's authority validated? You open
21:06
your Bible and you follow them like a Borean. You open your Bible and
21:10
you follow me like a Borean. And if I start making things up that
21:14
aren't in the book. Then we need to sit down and talk, and
21:17
you can say faster, I don't know. I just you said that,
21:19
and I don't know. I didn't help me. Please please help me because
21:26
I didn't see that. The proper response when you do that with somebody who's
21:33
a preachers for them to explain where they got it from, not for them
21:40
to look at you and say, how dare you do not touch God's anointed.
21:47
I get things from the Word that you can't get from the Word because
21:49
I am super Christian and you are not. That's the wrong answer. But
21:56
again, that's the answer of the Cares movement, that's the answer of the
22:02
Prosperity Gospel. That's the answer, and it's the wrong answer, and it's
22:07
an unbiblical answer. Even Moses himself, who heard God speak from a burning
22:12
bush, knew that he needed to validate himself be validated by God better.
22:18
Yet as he went before the Israelites, how much more do we need that
22:26
today? Here's what's ironic. Moses needed validation, and instead of us thinking
22:32
we need validation, we think we need burning bushes. Wrong answer. Beyond
22:38
the message, we get to the miracles. The miracles are very interesting.
22:42
They're actually intriguing. Look at the first miracle the Rod, verses two through
22:51
four. The Lord said to him, beginning verse two, what is that
22:57
in your hand? Alone? That question? He said, a staff,
23:03
And he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on
23:06
the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it.
23:11
Amen, Hallelujah, praised the Lord. That's how men are supposed to respond
23:18
to serpents. The serpent's crawling around, and the man's going to get it.
23:22
Somethings wrong with him. Okay, But the Lord said to Moses,
23:30
that's it. Isn't that interesting. A bush was burning, and he walked
23:34
toward it. The serpent's on the ground, and he runs. Lord said
23:42
to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So
23:48
he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in
23:52
his hand. That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their
23:59
fathers, out of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
24:02
Jacob, has appeared to you. So this first miracle, first of all,
24:08
we need to understand the Egyptian context. This is not something that God
24:14
just did normally. This is not something that was done regularly throughout scripture,
24:21
but this is something with which the Egyptians would be familiar. Listen to this
24:25
in an article in the Zonof and Background Commentary. Tales even from the modern
24:29
era have been told of an Egyptian magical act in which a snake becomes as
24:33
stiff as a staff. One account refers to both a snake and a crocodile
24:40
thrown by hypnosis into the condition of rigidity, in which they could be held
24:45
up as rods by the tip of the tail. The sign given to Moses
24:52
is the opposite, which raises the possibility that the sign is an obvious reversal
24:56
of Egyptian magic. The Egyptians did a trick. God did a miracle.
25:07
The Egyptian hypnotized the snake. It became rigid and they held it. It
25:11
was like a staff. God took an actual staff and turned it into an
25:15
actual snake. And there are those who argue you all you know, no,
25:19
no, no, God just sort of made it appear to be an
25:22
actual snake. And he didn't really turn it. No, it became a
25:26
snake. Why is that so hard to believe? He made a man out
25:30
of dust, he can make a snake out of a stick. Amen.
25:37
There are implications here. First, remember the Israelites are in Egypt. They
25:44
would have been familiar with the concept that God used, and they would have
25:48
understood it. They would have understood that the magicians in Egypt did something very
25:55
similar, but it's not the same. The superiority of God's power over the
26:00
Egyptians is also made clear in this miracle. Here's the other thing, the
26:06
great irony. Do you remember when Joseph was bringing his family in, he
26:11
said, you're going to go to the land of Goshen. When you go
26:15
before him, tell them that you're a shepherd. Because the Egyptians despise shepherds.
26:19
Do you remember that, Tell them you're a shepherd. They hate shepherds.
26:22
They despise shepherds. They're not gonna want you close to them because you're
26:25
a shepherd, and they'll give you fine land. What does Moses become after
26:30
he leaves Egypt? A shepherd, which is what they despise. The first
26:34
miracle that he shows them is what Take your shepherd's staff and throw your shepherd's
26:41
staff down on the ground, and do with your shepherd's staff something superior that
26:48
the trick that these highly regarded magicians in Egypt do. There's an irony here
26:56
that is not to be missed. Finally, I love the question, what
27:03
is that in your hand? That's what God uses. Here's the staff that
27:11
Moses is familiar with. It feels comfortable in his hand. It just belongs
27:18
there. I imagine he'd been carrying it so long that there was probably a
27:22
place where his hand just settled right in, and he knew he was in
27:26
the right place. It wasn't too high, it wasn't too low. It
27:29
was well worn, no chance of splinters or anything like it. This was
27:33
his. The weight on it was perfect, the balance on it was perfect.
27:37
He knew he was comfortable with it. And God says, I'm going
27:40
to use that. This is the mercy of God. When God calls us
27:47
to serve him, he doesn't ask us to become something that we're not.
27:51
He uses what we have in our hands. And this is what God is
27:55
doing. Even through this first miracle, the second miracle, the hand looked
28:03
beginning at verse six, again, the Lord said to him, put your
28:07
hand inside your cloak. And he put his hand inside his cloak. And
28:14
when he took it out. Behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
28:18
Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put
28:22
his hand back inside his cloak. And when he took it out, behold,
28:26
it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not
28:30
believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign, they may
28:33
believe the latter sign, the second sign leprosy. There's an Egyptian context,
28:45
an ancient Near Eastern context. Here there are writings from the ancient Near East
28:51
about people with leprosy. There are various different versions of leprosy. There were
28:56
leper colonies. There have been leper colonies all the way up to the modern
29:00
age. It's very contagious and debilitating disease. It's a disease that would spread
29:07
and eat away at a person's flesh and was very contagious, which is why
29:12
they were put away in colonies. People were terrified of leprosy, as terrified
29:21
of leprosy as they were of serpents. And this is exactly what God uses
29:26
here. He demonstrates not his ability over inanimate objects, but he demonstrates his
29:33
authority over even the body of man and his health and his well being,
29:41
his ability even to heal what man could not heal, his ability to overcome
29:47
what man could not overcome. He demonstrated his authority over everything in this world
29:53
through this second miracle. I'm God. First, he says, I'm God,
29:59
look at me. I'm going God. I can do not only what
30:00
the Egyptians do, I can actually do it and not make it a trick.
30:04
Then he says, I'm God, look at me. I'm God.
30:07
I can heal what you're terrified of and don't know how to heal. And
30:14
besides, I can also afflict you with that thing as well. I am
30:18
God. And there's a third miracle verse nine. If they will not believe
30:27
even these two signs or listen to your voice, he shall take some water
30:33
from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. And the water that
30:37
you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground. The
30:42
third one has a definite Egyptian context. Egypt was dependent on the Nile for
30:48
its sustenance, for its wealth, and for its protection. The Egyptians worshiped
30:55
the God of the Nile. The Nile was there everything. They got food
31:00
from the Nile, they got water from the Nile. They had a border
31:06
because of the Nile. The Egyptians had trade because of the Nile. The
31:11
Nile was there everything, and the Nile represented life. And what does God
31:15
do here in this miracle? He takes the water that represents life to the
31:19
Egyptians, and when it's poured out on the ground it's blood, which represents
31:23
death. Here God strikes at the heart of Egypt, and eventually this will
31:38
be the sign that he shows before the Egyptians, although here it's designed for
31:47
Israel. In all of these signs, God is demonstrating who he is.
31:53
He's demonstrating his authority. And remember where we started, He's demonstrating to his
31:57
covenant people that this is one to whom you should listen, Which gets this
32:07
to the last issue, and that is the mediator. God always uses mediators,
32:15
and here Moses is the mediator. Think about this this idea of mediation.
32:22
First, Moses is Pharaoh's mediator. I was turning this over in my
32:29
mind this week, and all of a sudden it dawned on me. God
32:35
showed up a burning bush before Moses, but he didn't show up before Pharaoh.
32:39
Before Pharaoh, he shows up in the mouth of Moses before Pharaoh.
32:45
He shows up through a mediator. Moses is his mediator. So Moses gets
32:50
this direct communication. But beyond that, Moses is the mediator. He first
32:53
and foremost the mediator for Pharaoh. And God doesn't say to Pharaoh, I'm
32:58
going to come to you personal. He says, I'm going to speak to
33:00
you through my mediator. Why is this important Because God is the God of
33:09
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. God is the God of these people. He
33:15
has chosen these people. He is revealing himself through these people. He is
33:20
revealing himself to these people. So God doesn't just want Pharaoh to know that
33:24
God exists, but God wants him to know that he's the God of the
33:28
Hebrews. So Moses is a mediator for Pharaoh. Moses is also the mediator
33:37
for Israel. God does not reveal himself to every individual Israelite. He doesn't
33:45
have every individual Israelite getting the message individually, but they get the message through
33:52
a mediator. And this is important. It's crucial in understanding the blessing of
33:59
the New Covenant because one of the great blessings of the New Covenant is that
34:04
everyone has access. Thirdly, Moses is Erins mediator. Isn't this interesting Erin's
34:16
going to become the first Leevite priest, and yet this first Levite priest has
34:27
the message mediated to him through Moses. Israel would always have mediators. They
34:36
would have the priests as their mediators. They wouldn't just go out in their
34:39
backyard and offer a sacrifice. They would come to the temple and the priest
34:44
would offer the sacrifice on their behalf. As a mediator. They would have
34:46
the prophets as their mediators. They wouldn't just get the word directly from God,
34:52
but they would get the word from the prophets. They would test these
34:55
prophets to see that they were actual prophets, but the message would be mediated
35:00
through the prophets. The kings were their mediators as well, representing Israel before
35:08
God, Israel being blessed because of obedient kings, and curse because of disobedient
35:14
kings who were their mediators. And then there is one who comes who is
35:20
prophet, priest and king and the one and only mediator between God and man,
35:25
who is actually the God Man, so that the mediator is God himself,
35:31
which means we no longer have a mediator between us and God, because
35:36
Christ is God. This is the gospel significance of this passage. When we
35:46
look here at the mediator, we've got to look at Moses as a mediator
35:51
as compared to Christ. First, Moses is a reluctant mediator, whereas Christ
35:58
is joyfully obedient to his fad father. Look at verses ten through thirteen.
36:05
But Moses said to the Lord, Oh, my Lord, I am not
36:09
eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant.
36:15
But I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to
36:20
him who has made man's mouth, who makes him mute or death, or
36:24
seeing or blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now therefore go,
36:31
This is the fourth time, He says, go, and I will be
36:35
with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. But he said,
36:39
oh, my Lord, please send someone else. Now he's in sin.
36:52
He didn't sin the first time. God, They've got no reason to believe
36:57
me. He was absolutely right. Why the response to that three miracles?
37:05
Now he says, Lord, Lord, Lord, I'm just I just don't
37:10
talk so good. You can sense God's patience running out. Who made your
37:21
mouth? Who makes men speak or not speak? I'll be with your mouth.
37:30
Just go, And it's the fourth time he says go and he doesn't
37:35
go. Most this is not the only one who's had this difficulty, but
37:40
he crosses the line when he says send someone else. Isaiah had this difficulty
37:45
Isaiah chapter six, verse five. And I said, woe is me,
37:49
for I am lost. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
37:52
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the
37:55
King, the Lord of Host. And yet he went and he spoke Jeremiah
38:00
one to six. Then I said, ah, Lord, God, behold,
38:04
I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.
38:07
And yet he went and he spoke. Nor is that necessarily a hindrance
38:16
Paul For example, First Corinthians, chapter two, verses one through four.
38:21
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming
38:23
to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided
38:29
to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was
38:31
with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and
38:37
my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
38:40
spirit and of power. It was in his speech Sego Corinthians eleven six.
38:47
Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge.
38:52
Indeed, in every way we have made this play to you. In all
38:55
things, he was not skilled in speech, but he was skilled in knowledge.
39:00
He knew God. This is the proper response. Not send someone else.
39:08
Listen to John Calvin. He might, if he had chosen to use
39:12
Moses as his ambassador, have made him eloquent from the wound, or at
39:17
least, when he sends him to his work, have corrected his stammering tongue.
39:22
It seems a mockery, then, to give a commission of speaking to
39:28
a stammering to a stammerer. But in this way, as I have said,
39:32
he causes his glory to shine forth more brightly, proving that he can
39:37
do all things without extrinsic aid. God wanted Moses's weakness, and Moses didn't
39:51
trust him. We also have an imperfect mediator versus a perfect one Verses fourteen
40:07
to sixteen. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and
40:13
he said, is there not aaron, your brother? The Levite I know
40:17
that he can speak. Well. Behold, he is coming out to meet
40:22
you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
40:27
You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and
40:30
I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you
40:35
both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and
40:39
he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.
40:44
There's the mediator. What's wrong with this? What's wrong with this? Here's
40:55
where we see the sin. God, I don't speak, will send someone
41:01
else, And God says, fine, I'll send Aaron, and you just
41:07
speak to Aaron, and then Aaron will speak. You'll be as God to
41:10
him. You'll be the mediator for Aaron. You know what the answer should
41:15
have been, if Moses was being honest, the answer should have been,
41:17
wait a minute, God, you see, I can't speak clearly. Therefore
41:22
I can't even speak to Aaron clearly. Right if clarity is the problem,
41:30
saying okay, don't speak there, speak here, That doesn't solve the clarity
41:34
problem. But he says, fine, you don't want to speak before Israel,
41:39
and you don't want to speak before Aaron, before Egypt, before Pharaoh,
41:45
just speak to Aaron, and then Aaron will go and be your mouth
41:49
peace. And Moses is fine with that, which means he believes he can
41:55
communicate clearly enough for Aaron, which means he could communicate clearly enough for Pharaoh.
42:05
This is not a speech issue, it's a heart issue. He's afraid,
42:12
he's a coward, and he's disobedient to God because he's more afraid of
42:17
man than he is of God. There's the problem. There's the problem.
42:29
Compare this to Jesus as a mediator Hebrews three to three, For Jesus has
42:36
been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the
42:40
builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Last thing I
42:50
want to say about this particular issue is that it's a foreshadowing, foreshadowing of
42:57
what. Why does Moses not get to go into the Promised Land because he
43:02
disobeyed God's command? And here here we see the root of the sin that
43:09
eventually left him out of the Promised land. Israel's mediator is Israel's mediator.
43:22
Christ is the mediator for the nations. You see, this covenant with Israel
43:29
is just a national covenant with Israel. But the covenant that Christ mediates is
43:35
not a national covenant with Israel. The covenant that Christ mediates is a multinational,
43:40
international, universal, global covenant with the people of God from every tribe
43:46
and kindred and tongue and nation. Here God is just trying to call out
43:52
his people so that God can show who he is through this one nation.
43:57
But through that one nation, ultimately we will get at Christ, who is
44:00
the true Israel. And through the true Israel of Jesus Christ, all of
44:05
the nations in the earth will be blessed and be part of the new Covenant,
44:07
which is greater than the Covenant of Moses. Moses is a human mediator.
44:19
Christ is a divine one made flesh, and Moses is the mediator of
44:27
an inferior covenant. Listen to Hebrews eight six through seven. But as it
44:34
is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the
44:38
old as the covenant he mediated is better since it is enacted on better promises.
44:46
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no
44:52
occasion to look for a second. Amen. Moses is a mediator, but
44:59
he imperfect. He's mediating a covenant, but it's insufficient. There is a
45:06
better mediator to come who is greater than Moses, who mediates a covenant greater
45:12
than the mosaic covenant, and that is Christ. The covenant that he mediates
45:17
is this new covenant in his own blood. He dies on the cross and
45:22
inaugurates this covenant into which we enter with him and all those who place their
45:30
faith in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Greek, or male or female,
45:35
whether young or old, we are all made one in Christ through this new
45:42
covenant. So what do we take away from this? Several things. First,
45:49
the doctrine of election is on display. God is not throwing out his
45:54
message in Egypt and hopes that somebody will respond and opening his arms wide to
46:01
anyone who will come. He is sending his mediator to go get his people,
46:08
and that's exactly what his mediator does. He goes and gets his people.
46:15
We see this same doctrine in that Christ came for his people. Husbands,
46:22
love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her.
46:29
Specifically, Christ gave himself for her. Christ gave himself for his bride.
46:37
Christ didn't just come shopping hoping that anyone would come. He came to specifically
46:42
lay down his life to redeem people, particular people, and he did redeem
46:47
those people. He didn't just come and hopes that someone might be redeemed.
46:52
He came, and as a result, people actually are redeemed, a particular
46:59
people deemed by Christ. Secondly, God's sovereignty is not the same as fatalism.
47:06
This is important. God is God sovereign. Yes, He's absolutely sovereign.
47:10
Well, there's nothing I do matters, Yes, it does matter.
47:14
There is obviously a relational issue going on between God and Moses. Amen,
47:19
there's something relational happening between God and Moses, and Moses's actions have consequence consequences.
47:25
How does that fit within the sovereignty of God. Well, God is
47:29
sovereign. God knows Moses. God is not surprised. He knows who Moses
47:32
is, and he chose Moses in spite of who Moses was. Whomever God
47:37
chose was going to be sinful. This was Moses' particular area of sin.
47:42
But at the same time, there is this interaction between God and Moses that
47:45
is meaningful, And there is an interaction between you and God that is meaningful,
47:50
and one of the things that people sometimes lose sight of was when they
47:53
come to grasp the doctrines of grace and come to believe and hold hi the
47:58
sovereignty of God is somehow we believe that this idea of an actual meaningful relationship
48:05
with the Most High God is gone. That the only way you can have
48:07
a meaningful relationship with God is if he's not sovereign. May it never be.
48:15
That's the beauty of our relationship with God, that the sovereign God of
48:20
the universe has an intimate personal relationship with us, and it's real. Finally,
48:34
you don't outgrow your sin. You don't outgrow your sin. Moses is
48:43
eighty years old. We saw him at forty and there were particular sins that
48:47
he was dealing with at forty. Remember he was just so just so impulsive
48:53
at forty, and that was hugely problematic that he was so impulsive at forty.
48:59
He made bad decisions at forty. Now at eighty, he's fearful and
49:04
disobedient. He's eighty years old and he's still dealing with sin. There's some
49:07
of you who believe that all you need is just to get older. News
49:10
flash, you don't age out of sin, Amen, somebody, you don't
49:16
age out of sin. In fact, for many people, as they get
49:22
older, their sins just change because there's some things they're too old to do.
49:27
Now, Amen, you will deal with sin until they put you in
49:31
the ground. Moses at one hundred and twenty years old is sinfully disobedient again,
49:38
and he doesn't get to go into the Promised Land. Why because you
49:43
don't get too old to sin. You See, we think that. See,
49:49
we don't believe in sin. Actually, we believe that we do things
49:52
because we're young and uninformed, so that as we get older, we'll get
49:57
more informed and then we'll do better. That's a problem. That's why sin
50:02
grabs you and drags you down at an old age, because you believe that
50:07
all you need is gray hair, and that gray hair will make you stop
50:09
sinning. No. Gray hair just makes you more complex in your sin because
50:15
now you don't have the energy to sin the way you used to, so
50:19
you sin in other ways. You just get more sophisticated in your sin as
50:22
you get older. But it's still sinful. It's still sinful. We battle
50:31
sin every day. We battle sin all our lives. Sanctification is a fight
50:37
that we fight until glorification comes. Amen, and we must. And this
50:43
reminds us you don't just age out. But what is it? What can
50:50
wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make
50:53
me ho again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's the only answer.
51:00
Here's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge
51:04
beneath that flood, lose all their guiltiestings. It's Christ. It's Christ.
51:10
You need Christ when you're ten, and you need Christ when you're a hundred.
51:15
It's Christ. You don't just need to become more mature. You need
51:21
to be born again. You need to be saved. You need to be
51:24
delivered. That's what you need. Young or old, you need Christ.
51:34
You realize that there are people who are sixty, seventy eighty years old and
51:37
have been in church for a long time and are still not saved. What
51:42
do they need? They don't need to learn more stuff. They need to
51:45
flee to Christ. He is our hope, He is our answer. Cling
51:53
to Him with everything that you have. Cling to him and then pray that
51:59
He might give you great to cling to him all the more because Christ is
52:01
your hope. He is the mediator of a greater covenant. He is the
52:09
perfect mediator, the willing mediator who laid down his life for his sheep,
52:15
the great shepherd. Trust in him, trust in him alone. Let's pray,
52:29
Oh God, our great Father, author and finisher of our faith,
52:38
our redeemer and savior, our sustainer. God. We bow before you,
52:51
acknowledging the fact that we are helpless and hopeless apart from Christ. Bow and
53:00
adoration and gratitude. Thankful for the new and greater covenant inaugurated in His blood,
53:16
confirmed and sealed by it. Thankful to you that it is through Christ
53:29
that we are made righteous and through Him alone. Father, thank you for
53:36
reminding us of the frailty of your servant Moses, as it reminds us of
53:42
our own frailty and our great need for Christ as our mediator, as our
53:47
prophet, our priest, and our King. We recognize that we are weak.
54:00
We recognize that we are sinful, and we recognize that we are helpless.
54:06
We recognize that we are ignorant, and for that we are all the
54:14
more grateful that through Christ you have made away that though we are ignorant,
54:24
though we are sinful, and though we are weak, we can be made
54:30
right. We can be made righteous, we can be made whole, We
54:35
can be made yours. Grant by your grace that we might rejoice in our
54:42
Mediator, that we might rejoice that through Christ we have direct access to You,
54:47
that we might know you, God, that we might know you through
54:53
your Son, and in the power of your spirit, might open your word,
55:00
and that we might read it, and that we might find you there.
55:09
Grant that this truth would make us more diligent to seek for you.
55:16
I pray for those under the sound of my voice who have not come to
55:22
know You in the pardon of their sin. Grant by your grace that their
55:28
eyes might be opened, that the scales might be removed, that they might
55:31
see and flee and cling to Christ, that he might be their hope.
55:38
And they're all in all and for all of us. As we come before
55:45
the Lord's table, may we be reminded of that greater covenant and that greater
55:52
mediator, who is Christ, our Lord, and whose name we pray. Amen.