“God’s Grace and Power" - Exodus 2:11-25 (2.10.21) - Dr. Jordan N. Rogers

you were a possession of the father before you became a possession of the son and you were a precious covenantal gift that god gave to christ why does god show faithfulness to you he made a promise to jesus let the repetitive use dull the weight of the meaning don't grow weary and as jesus would say don't grow dull of hearing see these words these truths behind these words have not lost their power they have not lost their effect but if we are not careful our hearts can become quite callous our ears can become quite dull and words like grace and god's power we can be start to become a little bit deaf to it and i want us to look at these truths afresh tonight god's grace and power let me give you a summary sentence here and we'll talk about it here very quickly for just a moment you can write this down with me there in your notebook god gives his people grace they don't deserve i understand that's kind of redundant god gives his people grace they don't deserve and does throw so through power they don't have god gives his people grace they don't deserve so unmerited favor that's why i say it's redundant god gives his people unmerited favor that they don't deserve just so that we remember that god is showing favor to us despite the fact that we deserve the exact opposite of his favor we are as it says in the book of ephesians children of wrath by nature but god gives his people grace they don't deserve and how does he give that grace that unmerited favor to them when he gives it to them through a power that they don't have we we've said it many times we've used the quote i don't even remember who originally said the quote we contribute nothing to our salvation other than the sin which made it necessary so god gives us grace and in order to give us this grace we do nothing it's the free gift of god this this faith to receive god is the free gift ephesians 2 8-9 and he gives us this grace through power that none of us have none of us has the power to move god i don't care what the prosperity preachers say we don't have the power to move god there is no human being that has ever moved god to enact his work of salvation he just chose to do it and he accomplished it according to his power because saving human beings is impossible without circumventing justice it's impossible but god he does the impossible he fulfills his perfect justice in punishing christ on our behalf the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and he forgives sinners so that he can be as paul says in the book of romans just and the justifier of the ungodly god gives his people grace they don't deserve and does so through a power they don't have give you a bit of background here for exodus chapter 2 verse 1 through 10 and really exodus 1 all the way through verse 10 of chapter 2. i give you that background by using a sermon that stephen the first christian martyr preached as recorded in acts chapter 7. i'm just going to challenge you don't turn there right now but i want you to go and study that sermon later on this week thinking about this sermon acts chapter 7 i'm going to read a few verses here verse 17 through 21 and let the martyr stephen let him tell us what happened to bring us up to this point acts 7 verse 17 but as the time of the promised junior that is the promise of god's deliverance the people of israel out of egypt which god had granted to abraham the people increased and multiplied in egypt until there arose over egypt another king who did not know joseph he dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants that they could not be kept alive at this time moses was born and he was beautiful in god's sight and he was brought up for three months in his father's house and when he was exposed that is when he was put in the nile river and when he was exposed pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son remarkable so this is where moses is now this is where the people of israel are they are hard pressed as slaves with cruel task masters over them in the land of egypt they have multiplied into the hundreds of thousands some 400 years has passed since joseph came into egypt and israel his father and also his brothers came into egypt they are hard-pressed by these egyptian slave drivers these task masters that pharaoh has put over them remember the edict of pharaoh to all of the hebrews kill your baby boys the hebrew midwives don't obey pharaoh because they fear god and so pharaoh turns to his own people and he tells the egyptians if you see a hebrew baby boy kill the baby so moses mother is forced to release her baby there on the river the baby is found by pharaoh's daughter and pharaoh's daughter actually adopts moses as her own son how sovereignly ironic how gloriously ironic god would confound the wisdom of the wise and and prepare a table for moses in the presence of his enemies so moses is there in pharaoh's house i want to remind you god does things almost always in an unconventional manner i want to remind you of how joseph came into power in egypt joseph wasn't delivered out of a nile joseph was delivered out of a prison cell and now moses as a baby delivered out of the river by the one who was destined to kill him and now he's eating at his table so many years past in fact some 40 years pass between verse 10 of exodus 2 and verse 11. i want to read this short bit of commentary about what moses's parents had done just to give them the credit that is due them through the holy spirit hebrews chapter 11 verse 23. listen to this it says by faith moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict you see these these seemingly small and yet hugely consequential acts of faith that prove to be used by god for the deliverance of his people don't ever minimize even what you might think is a small act of faith now let's keep looking here and i want to show you how i'm seeing the division in this text into three sections this is the way the sermon will proceed if you want to take this down verse 11 through 15 you're going to see moses defends moses defends verse 16 through 22 moses delivers so he defends he delivers and then in verse 23 through 25 god remembers moses defends moses delivers and then god remembers god remembers after we've finished walking through the passage what i want to do is make make two observations of a couple of parallels that i see in this passage it'll make more sense here in just a moment but at the end i'm going to make two observations of a couple of parallels that are in this text and from those parallels i'm going to point you to two truths one truth from each of those parallels and they're quite shocking they're quite powerful truths so look with me moses defends verse 11 through 15. we'll walk through the text together it says one day so some 40 years later that's what stephen tells us in acts 7 when moses had grown up that word for grown up the semantic range of that word does not only mean that he had matured into a man it actually means that he had become mighty he had become very strong he had an imposing nature about him though the bible says there's never been a man more humble than moses there was an imposing leadership kind of nature about this man moses had grown up he went out to his people and looked and looked on their burdens and he saw an egyptian naka beating a hebrew one of his people ah one of his brothers so moses has been raised in pharaoh's house and yet faith moses does not does not unite himself he does not identify himself with the egyptians in fact it seems like it's begun to bother him that he is in pharaoh's house and he goes out to observe his brethren his brothers and sisters and observe them as they're going through this hardship this slavery under these egyptian taskmasters and lo and behold the day that moses goes out to observe his brethren identifying with them sympathetically look at what moses sees he sees an egyptian verse 11 beating striking a hebrew one of his brothers and this bothers moses striking that verb in the hebrew nikah means striking with the intent to kill so this is not just your ordinary though it would not be condoned either this is not just an ordinary beating this is a an egyptian taskmaster treating this hebrew slave as an animal to kill and he is striking this hebrew slave moses sees this and look at what moses does in reaction verse 12 moses it says he looked this way and that and seeing no one no one is watching this take note no one is watching it says he naka he struck same verb same verb to describe what the egyptian taskmaster was doing to the hebrew is what moses now does to the egyptian task master the egyptian task master is striking this slave so as to kill him so moses looks around and nobody's seeing he is going to step in and defend this slave he's going to defend his brethren and so moses does to the egyptian task master as the taskmaster was doing to the slave and moses strikes so as to kill moses is a powerful man he had grown up when moses strikes this egyptian he kills him he struck down the egyptian and hid him in the sand and why would moses look here and look there make sure no one is looking strike and kill this egyptian task master and then bury him in the sand i thought i thought moses was in the household of pharaoh if moses takes the life of an egyptian taskmaster well moses is far above this man he's royalty but why does moses make sure no one's watching why does he hide the man's body in the sand well moses has done something righteous here and i'll argue that from a passage of scripture later on moses has done something righteous here yet he hides the body you know why pharaoh had given the edict to set egyptian task masters over these hebrews and to hard press them press them down keep them from multiplying and now moses would defy the edict of the king even moses even a prince of the land would not get away with this that moses would favor an hebrew slave over an egyptian that that merits the death penalty so he hides his body so it says verse 13 when he went out the next day behold this is surprising that's what you're supposed to see when he went out the next day behold two hebrews were struggling they're fighting with one another and he said to the man in the wrong literally he said to the evil doer moses has a great sense of right and wrong the the lawgiver he gives a has a great sense of right and wrong even before the law of god is given to him on sinai he sees this wicked man and he says to the man in the wrong why do you naka why do you strike your companion the hebrew or the egyptian task master is striking so as to kill the hebrew slave i step in and i defend your brother and i strike the egyptian task master and then i come out the next day and it's not the the egyptians pressing down on the hebrews it's the hebrews fighting with one another behold how shocking well friends it's one thing it's one thing for the people of the world for for the lost world to strike at believers people in the household of faith behold it is another thing entirely when members of the household of faith strike one another it should not happen friends we are brothers and sisters moses is astonished at this he says behold you're not going to believe you would think that these people would be united in their suffering and yet they're just they're struggling with each other i pray that that would never be true about us in the lord's household he says why do you strike your companion verse 14 this man says who made you a prince and a judge over us who appointed you to be our leader moses do you mean to kill me as you killed the egyptian then moses was afraid he's terrified and he thought surely the thing is known when pharaoh heard of it he sought to kill moses but moses fled he ran for his life from pharaoh and stayed in the land of midian and he sat down by a well so moses has now left egypt he's left egypt he's fled from pharaoh's wrath and he's fled to midian we don't have such a great sense of middle eastern geography because we don't live in that area but in order to get to midian moses would have had to cross the wilderness of sin he would have had to travel through the wilderness of sin in his own exodus out of egypt you can draw the conclusions you ought to out of that he's being trained he has to go through the wilderness of sin all the way across it all the way past mount sinai he has to cross the gulf of aqaba into the northern northwestern corner there of arabia now he is truly among foreigners for what for murder i have heard people misuse this text i have heard people call moses a murderer you realize the bible does not call moses a murderer and it's wrong for us to call moses a murderer the bible doesn't say he's murder in fact in acts chapter 7 we're told that moses was defending his brethren moses was doing the right thing moses was stepping in to defend the helpless and the weak he's not sinning against god he may be the only one in egypt doing the righteous thing look at what stephen says in his commentary in that sermon in acts chapter 7 now in verse 22 through 24 and moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the egyptians and he was mighty in his words and deeds when he was 40 years old it came into his heart to visit his brothers the children of israel and seeing one of them being wronged he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the egyptian it would be can god use people who have sinned greatly yes he can can god use a repentant murder and do mighty things with him yes he can this is not the passage to use to teach that has a tremendous sense of righteousness he steps in to do the right thing so he struck down the egyptian but moses you remember what he did he looks this way he looks that way he sees no one there no one is watching and moses strikes down the egyptian taskmaster how many people are in that scene there are three people in that scene moses the task master and the hebrew slave no one else is watching moses strikes down the egyptian task master and yet he comes out the next day and when he sees his brethren struggling he corrects the man he says you're going to kill me like you did the egyptian what how does he know how does he know who told him how did this news spread there were three people in that first scene and one of them was dead the only person who could have gone and told was the hebrew slave this is something that this is something that the hebrews would do even as they went into the wilderness god would deliver them out of egypt with a mighty and an outstretched arm and then they turn on him and say why'd you deliver us how dare you do this to us moses comes to his own people and his own people do not receive him shocking isn't it surely that hebrew slave that had been beaten should have been grateful surely he would have known if he goes and tells people this it's death for moses i don't care doesn't care moses thought that he would have a better reception because don't you think moses he looks this way he looks that he hides the body in the sand because he knows that if he is identified with the hebrews it's a death sentence but moses takes the risk anyway you know why he takes the risk he takes the risk because it's always the right time to do the right thing always acts chapter 7 same text stephen's sermon acts 7 25 he supposed that his brothers would understand that god was giving them salvation by his hand but they did not understand and on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying men you are brothers why do you wrong each other but the man who was wrongdoing his neighbor thrust him aside saying who made you a ruler and judge over us do you want to kill me as you killed the egyptian yesterday at this retort moses fled and became an exile in the land of midian where he became the father of two sons why moses would you put yourself at so great a risk of being hated by everyone in the world for doing the right thing you know what moses was seeking he was seeking only the approval of god that's what the new testament tells us that this act of defense of the weak and the oppressed was a tremendous act of faith listen to what god himself says about moses in hebrews 11 24-26 by faith moses by faith moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of god than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin he considered the reproach of christ which the reproach of christ is being treated badly for obeying god he considered the reproach of christ greater than the treasures of egypt for he was looking to the reward what is the reward it's the approval of god so he's looking for moses has delivered here in these verses and now he finds himself in midian look with me at verse 16-22 moses delivers he goes from a defender to a deliverer it says now the priest of midian had seven daughters doesn't mean he was a priest of jehovah he's just a priest now the priest of midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock the shepherds came and drove them away that word that verb for drove them away is actually the same verb that's used in genesis 3 24 to talk about how god drove adam and eve out of the garden this is quite a violent move here these shepherds come along these men and they come and abuse these women it says they they drove them away but moses a man's man doing what a man ought to do says but moses stood up would that god would make more men like moses in our midst amen but moses stood up and saved them yesha it's where we get the the word yeshua savior moses you saw them he saved them and he watered their flock what a beautiful picture here's moses defending the weak defending the helpless saving them and not only saving them but he takes care of the sheep and moses is like the good shepherd he's a preview isn't he he has a preview of the good shepherd who who lays his life down for the sheep and then he leads them out and he brings them in and leads them out and brings them in by still waters and green pastures they watered their flock verse 18. when they came home to their father rouel he said how is it that you have come home so soon today the abuse that his daughters were receiving was a daily thing that's why he's surprised at how early they come back how is it you've come home so soon today why didn't he ever go stand up why didn't he ever go defend his daughters verse 19 they said an egyptian delivered us he rescued us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock he helped us he stepped in and he he defended us i wasn't going to point this out but how about that for a parallel moses defends the hebrew and he goes and tattles on him moses defends the pagan women and they go and celebrate him he goes to people who are not his own and they receive them amazing the parallels with moses and christ they said an egyptian delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds and even drew water for us and water the flock look at verse 20. he said to his daughters where is he why have you left the man call him that he may eat bread and moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave moses his daughter a home he gets a wife he gave him his daughter zipporah she gave birth to a son and he called his name gershom for he said i have been a sojourner in a foreign land he names his child alien sojourner that's what ger means i'm an alien i'm in a foreign land interestingly enough in a foreign land not in the land where he grew up not in the promised land where he's going but in a foreign land he finds reception but not among his own people moses has become a deliverer not just a defender now let's look at what god does verse 23-25 god remembers during those many days those many days summarizes about 40 years stephen tells us that moses was around 80 years old at this time that god calls him through the burning bush but that'll be next time we look it says during those many days the king of egypt died and the people of israel groaned underline that in your scripture journal and the people of israel groaned because of their slavery and underline this cried out for help that's also one word it says there underline this cry for rescue it's another word the cry for rescue from slavery came up to god and god heard their underlyingness they're groaning and god remembered elohim zakar he remembered his covenant with abraham with isaac and with jacob so god heard god remembered and then it says in 25 god saw the people of israel and god knew he heard he saw he remembered he knew you get a bit of a hebrew vocabulary lesson here actually and when you when you study this in that language in verse 23 through 25 you see four different terms to describe the kind of suffering that the israelites were going through groaned that first word means to vocally indicate pain almost inarticulately almost every time it's used it is used to speak of an inarticulate utterance to just but you can't understand there's no words being said they can't be formed because this person is suffering such grown cried for help means to intensely utter a request turning red in the face they're pleading with god in their prayers cry means literally to scream to call out for in a desperate situation they're making sounds that are inarticulate they are their their faces are turning red their hearts are pounding in their prayers they're screaming at the top of their lungs as though they're drowning it says and god saw their groaning he heard their groaning to express their pain with an utterance to give a word to this pain god hears all of this is god moved with compassion surely he hears he remembers he sees he knows surely god is moved with compassion but that's not why god does anything that's not why he does anything for the people of israel it's not because he is moved with compassion though these people are are suffering tremendously look at what the text said verse 24 god heard their groaning and god remembered zakar elohim god remembered double triple quadruple star that term remembered he remembered what his covenant his promise his promise to abraham with isaac and with jacob when you look in the book of genesis and when you look in the book of exodus and when you look further on in scripture whenever the old testament says zakar elohim god remembered it's not talking about god having forgotten something that he said in the past and going oh it's not god remembering in that way it's god knowing the fact that he made a promise and now he's going to act to fulfill it god never forgot his promise he was waiting to act on it god has not forgotten his promise to you he may be waiting to act on it when does he wait for perfect time the perfect wise sovereign timing genesis chapter 8 verse 1 it's the first time you see zika elohim god remembered noah he put him in the boat he sealed him in there god remembered noah and that's why the waters subsided and abated in genesis chapter 9 god remembered his promise to noah and he said this is what i'll do i'll put my bow in the sky and whenever i see that bow in the sky i will remember my promise and i will never again flood the earth genesis chapter 19 you remember when god saved lot out of sodom and gomorrah remember why he saved lot it says in genesis 19 and god remembered abraham and so he brought lot out he brought lot out psalm 106 43-45 this details it perfectly this idea of the fact that god remembers his promise despite the faithlessness of his people because the the israelites are not walking in faithfulness right now are they they're fighting with one another psalm 106 43-45 then the lord said or many times he delivered them but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity nevertheless he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry for their sake he remembered his covenant and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love so god remembers his covenant his covenant to abraham i want to remind you of the explicit word that god spoke to abraham in genesis 15 genesis 15 13-14 and read this in your presence then the lord said to abram this is many years before they ever even come into egypt then the lord said to abram know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners ger they will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400 years that was not happenstance as the plan of god and they will be afflicted for 400 years but i will bring judgment god remembered but i will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possession here we are 400 something years later and god remembers what he said meaning god's going to make good on that promise god hears their cry god remembers his promise god sees what they're going through and god took it all into account he knew let me point you to two observations of a couple of parallels that i see in this passage here the first parallel i want you to notice and remember in your mind the abusiveness of the the egyptian taskmaster in verse 11. the abusiveness of the egyptian taskmaster in verse 11. you you would be tempted to think all these egyptians they're just so unrighteous that's why god is going to smite them because they're just so unrighteous on the other hand israel israel's bowing their knee in prayer and they're crying out to god and they're miserable in their suffering they must be righteous but what does the bible say we know better than that the bible says there is none righteous no not one not the egyptians not the hebrews not the americans there's none righteous compare the abusiveness of the egyptian to a foreigner and look at the abusiveness of the hebrew to his own brother which one is more wrong it's one thing for someone to be abusive to a foreigner to harm someone they don't even know but to raise your hand against your own blood both horrible both terrible neither are righteous deuteronomy 9 5-6 it says not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going up into the land to possess the land but because of the wickedness of these nations the lord your god is driving them out from before you and that he may confirm the word that the lord swore to your fathers to abraham to isaac and to jacob know therefore that the lord your god is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness for you are a stubborn people and i can't help but see the parallels between the children of israel in my own heart god has not brought you to this place because of your righteousness for you are stubborn jordan you are thick-headed and hard-hearted i didn't bring you here because of your righteousness brought you here because i remembered my promise truth number one i want you to write this down god gives grace to his people not because of their righteousness but because of his promises god gives grace to his people not because of their righteousness but because of his promises well where in scripture does it say that god god made a promise to save me you know that there is scripture recorded where god tells us that he has made a promise to save us listen to this i don't know if you've ever seen it in this light before john 6. john 6 37-40 jesus is praying to the father and he says this all that the father gives me will come to me so god the father has evidently made a promise to jesus that he has given him a people when did he make this promise before the incarnation for sure he promised jesus a people you go to the earth you suffer and i will give you a people that's you you're part of that number all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me i will never cast out in john chapter 17 verse 6 jesus says i have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word you were a possession of the father before you became a possession of the son and you were a precious covenantal gift that god gave to christ why does god show faithfulness to you he made a promise to jesus you're part of that promise glory right how wonderful is that god god chose before he ever made me to make me part of his promise for by grace you have been saved through faith this is not your own doing it wasn't your idea you're not your own i gave you to my son this is not your own doing it is the gift of god not a result of works so that no one may boast you are the eternal possession of the father granted to the son for his suffering his obedience precious gift but don't ever think that you're the gift given to christ because of your righteousness for we are a stubborn people god gives grace to his people not because of their righteousness but because of his promises let me point you to the parallel that i see secondarily here moses it says in verse 11 it says he went out to his people and he looked on his brothers and what is the result of moses looking on his brothers he steps in to defend to rightly defend his brother and he kills one egyptian and what does it cost him he gets run out of his home he gets run out of egypt now he's fleeing for his life across the desert moses in all of his strength can only deliver one hebrew and that hebrew turned his back on him moses looks on but he looks on with the power of a man but then when you drop down in verse 23 through 25 god god hears god remembers god sees god knows when you read the rest of the book of exodus you see that god delivers and who does god use to deliver he uses moses but he doesn't use moses in his own power moses has already tried that and that didn't work god provides deliverance he provides salvation for the israelites not through the power of any man it's god with the mighty hand an outstretched arm truth number two god accomplishes salvation for his people not by their effort but by his sovereign power god accomplishes salvation for his people not by their effort but by his sovereign power look at what god did let me ask you could you or i do this listen to this ii corinthians 5 21 for our sake he that is god made him jesus to be sin can you make somebody be sin for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin could you find somebody without sin and then make them sin he can't do this made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of god even if you could do the first two things find somebody without sin and then give them your sin could you take that person's righteousness and impute it on people you can't do that none of us is the judge this is something god has done solely based on his own power moses operates in the strength of his own hand and he's a mighty man but he cannot provide deliverance god on the other hand does not act in the strength of man he acts in his sovereign omnipotence his all-powerfulness and he does things that no mind could ever even imagine romans 5 6-8 what a sweet set of verses for while we were still weak at the right time christ died for the ungodly for scarcely will one die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even die but god does the impossible he does the unthinkable but god shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners christ died for us why did jesus die for you that was the deal that was the deal the father says i will give them to you to get them you must go do this you must die for their sins and because of god's great love the love of the father the love of the son the love of the holy spirit for the people of god christ endures the cross he endures the reproach of man despising the shame and he purchases us for himself he gives us grace we don't deserve he gives us salvation not by our own works nothing we did gives it to us through his own power god gives his people grace they don't deserve and does so through power they don't have what a what a miraculous thing that god has done for us god's grace and his power would y'all pray with me you

Channel: Dr. Jordan Neal Rogers

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Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Preaching, preach, teach, teaching, preacher, teacher, pastor, Old Testament, Christ, Jesus, Savior, Gospel, salvation, Lord, Messiah, Messianic, Israel, nation, faith, help, me, understand, Christian, Hillcrest, Baptist, Church, Nederland, Texas, Dr. Rogers, Jordan, Neal, Rogers, Jordan Rogers, expository, expository preaching, exposition, exposit, exegesis, Scripture, Bible study, biblical, scriptural, Exodus, Moses, Egypt, slavery, genocide, murder, abortion, Pharaoh, deliverance, deliver

Id: RC0Ao2iI0t0

Length: 44min 47sec (2687 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021