Exodus 5:1-23 | The Most Important Question Ever Asked | Rich Jones

good morning go ahead and have a seat everyone please take your Bibles and open the Exodus chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 the title of our message this morning is the most important question ever asked very very key for us that's pray Lord we do thank you so much for your word we pray that you would send forth your Holy Spirit and use the word in our lives God stir us up and draws to yourself we look to your word this morning in Jesus name Amen alright here we are in Exodus looking at the life of Moses God had an encounter with Moses on the mountain of God there was a fire in this bush that did not consume it and God spoke to Moses out of this fire telling him he would be the deliverer of Israel and gave him these these miracles his power of God demonstrated to convince the the leaders of Israel that God had sent him and so Moses went to the leaders of Israel and demonstrated the power of God his staff he threw it down it became a serpent he took hold of it again became a staff he put his hand into his cloak pulled it out it was fluid leprosy put it back in pulled it out and it was healed immediately the leaders of Israel believed and when they heard that God was concerned for their cry it touched them they it says they bowed down low and they they worshiped so Moses and his brother Aaron remember that God gave Aaron his brother to be with him because Aaron was was fluent in speech and articulate to Moses that he was slow in speech so Moses and Aaron they go before Pharaoh with the message that God had given to them and so they come and says that Jehovah the God of Israel has called us to go into the desert to have a celebration you know and let the people go for this time in the desert now at first as some suggests well wait a minute it was God's intent to bring them out of Egypt entirety entirely that's true but God instructed Moses to begin with this small request and thus the hardness of heart of Pharaoh would be revealed and that he would not let them go for even such a small thing as going three days in the wilderness to celebrate a feast and worship God so Pharaoh responds to this when Moses said Jehovah Yahweh God of Israel has said this to us Pharaoh responds and said I don't know Jehovah I don't know this God and why should I listen to his voice who is this God that I should listen to his voice and so he says and besides that I won't let you go now that question who is God that I should listen to his voice that question is is ringing through the centuries down to our ears today is it that question the answer to that question will determine the outcome of your life hey if God created the heavens on earth that we most certainly should know him and desire to listen to his voice let's read the account of this story it's very fascinating Exodus chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 afterward Moses and Aaron came and they said to Pharaoh thus says the Lord now by the way in your Bibles when you have Lord all in caps l-rd all in caps that is the name of God Jehovah Yahweh so that is the distinguishment for us to recognize that and it says thus says Jehovah Yahweh God of Israel let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness Pharaoh said who is Jehovah that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I don't know Jehovah and besides that I won't that the Israel go then they said the God of the Hebrews has meant with us please let every respectful please let us go and three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword but the king of Egypt said to them Moses and Aaron why do you draw the people away from your war there work get back to your Labor's and then again Pharaoh said look the people of the land are now many and you would have them cease from their labors some of the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their Foreman and he said you are no longer to give to people straw to make bricks as previously let them go and gather straw for themselves but the quota of bricks which they were making previously you shall impose upon them you are not to reduce any of it because they are lazy therefore they cry out let us go and sacrifice to our God they're saying that because you're lazy let the laborer be heavier on the man let them work at it that they may pay no attention to these false words so the task masters of the people and the foreman of these would be like Hebrew foremen they went out and they said to the people and they said thus says furrow I'm not going to give you any straw you go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it but none of your labor will be reduced so the people scattered through all the land of Egypt together stubble for straw and the taskmaster suppressed them and they said complete your work quota your daily amount just as when you had struck moreover the foreman of the sons of Israel whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them were beaten and they were asked why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today and making bricks as previously so the foreman of the sons of Israel they came and they cried out to Pharaoh and they said why do you deal this way with your servants there is no straw given to your servants yet you keep saying to us make grips and be all your servants are being beaten it is the fault of your own people but Pharaoh said to him you are lazy very lazy and that's why you say let us go and sacrifice of the Lord go and work for you shall be given no straw yet you must deliver the quota of bricks and the foreman of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble because they were told you must not reduce your daily amount of bricks so when they left Pharaoh's presence they met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them and they were hot and they they confronted Moses in there and they said to them made the Lord God look upon you and judge you you have made us odious in Pharaoh sight and in the sight of his servants to put a sword in their hand to kill us so Moses returned to the Lord he said Oh Lord why why have you brought a harm to these people why did you ever send me ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done harm to these people and you have not delivered your people at all now there's more to this story but we're gonna look at that the rest of these verses around it on Wednesday at our verse-by-verse service but I want us to look at these verses because there's so much here for us to understand particularly this question that Pharaoh's asked who is Java wait why should I listen to his voice and here's the thing that we got to start with to recognize it's this one day hey everyone will know him scripture says that there will come a day when every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father he will make himself known to all now Pharaoh had never heard of Jehovah though he had heard of the names of more than 100 Egyptian gods there were so many Egyptian gods you could hardly count them and they will often had the body of human and the head of either a human or some kind of creature each of the gods had their own appearance and most of them imitated some aspect of creation there was like the head of a lion on the body of a man or a jackal or a hawk or a crocodile head on the body of a man that's an interesting one or a cat or even flies there was Osiris Isis interesting set Horus raw thoughts and nubes a Thor on and on and on and interestingly the Egyptians believed that they themselves were the descendants of gods and there or they believe that the Egyptian race was superior to all races on the earth so from the perspective of Pharaoh the God of Israel could not have been very powerful if the people of Israel were slaves to the superior Egyptians so actually when you step back and see it objectively Pharaoh's response is actually reasonable I don't know Java I don't know this Yahweh and so why should I obey his voice I don't notice God Jehovah you say his name besides that no I will not let Israel go so what you have to recognize when you read the story is well God is gonna make himself known you don't know Yahweh the God of Israel well you will because God is going to make himself no in fact one of the things we got to recognize is that creation itself reveals the glory of God right the heavens and the earth that God created the clear the glory look at Isaiah 44 verse 24 thus says the Lord notice all caps thus says Yahweh Jehovah your Redeemer and the one who formed you from the womb I Jehovah and the maker of all things stretching out the heavens by myself spreading out the earth all alone God and God alone one God over all the earth see our response is to be amazed but how much better to be amazed at the God who created all things you know have you ever been like to the beach and you stand out there and the sunset is absolutely like glorious I remember one time I was driving down the road and I just couldn't believe my eyes the sunset was like this brilliant red and it was like a third of the way up the sky right so I had to pull the car over take all these pictures call my friends are you seeing what I'm saying because this is absolutely amazing but how much better to say Oh hate the God who created such things he is amazing because he created all of this to declare his glory some even taken farther and they adopt a new rage philosophy and this this rock oh no that is a gut this tree that is a God all things that is a God how ridiculous to honor anything as God which has no life or power on its own in Romans chapter 1 professing to be wise they became fools and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and a birds and a four-footed animals and crawling creatures because here's the thing that we got to see out of this God will make himself known God makes himself known to all of us he's going to make himself known to Pharaoh and he makes himself known at this point when he says I don't know Jehovah this is a Gries double thing but God certainly gonna make himself known to the point that Pharaoh will have no excuse and in fact interestingly in Exodus chapter 7 verse 5 it says the Egyptians God speaks the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah when I stretch out my hand in Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst and here's an interesting factoid that many don't recognize when Israel comes out of Egypt many Egyptians come with them because in fact God makes himself known as the great God over all the earth and many Egyptians say that's my god and it says when they leave they are mixed company of peoples very very interesting now at first it may have seemed that that God of Hebrews was not very powerful after all they're still slaves Pharaoh is the power of the world but their gods did seem to have a spiritual reality there is a spiritual reality behind the forces of darkness what is that power that is Satan the demonic world is a spiritual reality and some are drawn to its power I remember when I was a youth leader many years ago and I was working with high schoolers particularly I was actually amazed there many of the high schoolers were fascinated by Satanism not kids in my youth group but their friends and I was very interested very intrigued like I would ask why what is so interesting to you about Satanism and their answer was intriguing their answer was because there's power there there's real power there to which I said but if there's power there do not recognize that there is a power that is greater than that that is a spiritual blindness see there is this is not a contest between Moses and Pharaoh this is a spiritual battle and in fact we are in a spiritual battle today do you see what's happening in the world right now you look on the news you see what's happening in the various places in the world is there not something inside of you that can sense but there is a spiritual force of darkness behind what is happening in the world today we are in a spiritual battle today Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers against powers against the world Force's of this darkness against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places right now today there is a spiritual war going on in this world interestingly in Egypt there was an Egyptian god Thoth who was the god of magical powers in Egyptian magic which was called Hakka all the gods and even the people were thought to have this magical power in varying degrees and priests were the main practitioners of magic the most respected users of magic were the Elector priests they were supposed to have power that can make wax figures come to life and interestingly they were supposedly able to roll back the waters of a lake do you see that God is going to demonstrate a power over these Egyptian gods to make him self known and so in fact what Moses in there and stood before Pharaoh Aaron threw down his staff it became a serpent but the magician's did you say that but you options I made that word up it's a spiritual word it's gonna it's gonna take a life of its own I'm telling you these magicians they threw down their rods and Pharaoh was unimpressed my magicians can do that too and then Aaron's serpent swallowed theirs up an indication of things to come when Moses struck the Nile and the waters became blood the magician's were able to do the same thing Pharaoh was unimpressed God brought a plague of frogs out of the waters of the land was filled with frogs magicians could do that Pharaoh was unimpressed when God brought forth gnats out of the dust of the earth however the magician said this is the finger of God this is far beyond us but still Pharaoh would not recognize the God of Israel finally finally when God sent hail upon the land of Egypt and all their crops and their livestock in the fields were destroyed then Pharaoh relented x2 this chapter 9 verses 27 to 28 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron he wants them to come now and he said to them I have sinned this time Jehovah is the righteous one I and my people are the wicked ones make supplication to Jehovah for me there has been enough of God's thunder and hail what's the interesting is that all of these plagues that we seared done by God in Egypt are actually prophetic they are prophetic of the plagues that God will do at the end of the age during the time of tribulation for the time of tribulation is God's wrath poured out on the world and he makes his power known through these various plagues and you see an interesting parallel for in the latter days there will be a spiritual battle dimensions of which this Eartha has never seen for the Antichrist that will arise in the latter days is in fact empowered by Satan himself so these plagues that we see in Egypt are prophetic God is making himself known so therefore yes yes we should listen to his voice is God proving himself to you then yes listen to his voice who is Jehovah I don't know this God Jehovah he's gonna make himself known and the thing is he has been making himself known since the beginning of creation look at Romans chapter 1 verse 20 since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse there is no one who can stand before the great throne of the Living God and say well you didn't show me I didn't know there was a god I didn't know this guy says I demonstrated to you I made myself known to you no one's going to have an excuse by the way everyone is going to stand before the throne of God and here's the thing that's very interesting if you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior one of the aspects of receiving that son whom God sent with his heart and with this message is with an invitation to have relationship through adoption you are adopted now when you receive Jesus Christ you have a relationship to God by which he adopts you as a son and as a daughter and gives you eternal life so that when you stand before the great throne of the Living God you can stand there with confidence you know why you can stand there with confidence because you can stand there before that great throne and you can say hi dad he is your father you've been adopted you have a relationship God has proven himself to you God has made himself known to you so if you know him then you listen to his voice and you draw near to him there's an obvious trend that's happening in the world today you can see it anyone with spiritual discernment can see it the world is moving farther and farther from belief in God and will not listen to his word these are the days we are living in days to become stronger in faith and not be concerned about what other people think many people want the approval of the world like why would you want the approval of the world that's drawing farther away from God but many people do there they want to fit in they want to be approved of they want to be considered as you're one of them they want to be considered cool which reminds me of a funny story so I was talking to my granddaughter you know that we've adopted and and saying good night or something and at some point I said oh that's cool and she said oh don't be one of those dads that tries to be cool by using cool words of course I'm gonna let that one go so I said ok that's groovy I'm hip with that that's solid I can dig it okay I may not know modern slang but sixties I got it's like it's like hey wait you're people saying cool things to fit in well wait a minute we weren't called to fit in we were called to stand out the gospel is what this broken world needs this is a lost world this broken is a lot of hurt this is a time when to stand up and let the gospel made known you know the problem is that when someone says who is God who is God which is a very common thing today who is God that I should obey Him or listen to his voice when they people say that they're opening their lives to the consequence of not listening there are inevitable consequences when people turn away from God refuse to listen it says the way of the transgressor is hard but the one who listens to the Word of God will find his life is blessed God gave His Word to protect from the dangers from the devastations from the plagues that come from going our own way and rejecting his word see God did not give his word to be a heavy burden God didn't give us his word to keep us from a happy blessed and wonderful life it's exactly the opposite the Word of God was given that we might be blessed but the rich abundant and joy filled life look at Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30 come to me jesus said all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy my burden is light that's God's heart right there posture Matthew is speaking on that tonight come hear it it's a great understanding of God's heart for us then in Psalm chapter 1 verses 2 to 3 I love this perspective he says listen the one who delights in the law of the Lord and in his law meditates day night he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and it's leaf does not wither and in whatever he does he will prosper the blessing of the Lord the favor of God has he not proven himself if he has proven himself they listen to his word how much better to discover who God is and be blessed in obeying his voice than to be like Pharaoh and discover who God is by the disaster that comes when you disregard this word and then we see this going to Exodus chapter 5 notice this that transpires towards the end of this chapter when when they the trebles get worse it's going to get worse it's going to get worse but here's one of the keys that we've got to recognize that faith will sustain you in times of trouble faith is the key Pharaoh's response is to make the burden even greater on these Hebrews forcing them to make bricks for not providing the straw in other words things are going to get worse before they're going to get better but one of the things is this the lessons of the story is to keep troubles the right perspective faith is the key faith is the key for the Hebrews this must have seen like the greatest problem they'd ever faced and it seems that they could only see the troubles immediately in front of them God was doing something far greater but they couldn't believe it their faith needed to grow faith is the key if they could only see and believe that God was doing something far greater see the trouble is that many people want to know what God is doing right now but faith trusts faith trust God you're doing something far greater I don't know what it is but I believe you even Moses was told in advance and he also needs to grow in his face we need to we need faith to trust that God knows what he's doing that he's able to do what he says he will do and that he has in fact the best for our mind it best in mind for us Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the famous verses that speak to that I know the plans that I have for you declares the lord jehovah plans for welfare good and not for calamity my plans are to give you a future and a hope but they're frustrated this is the key for us to grasp don't let frustration defeat your faith it's instructive to see the frustration that builds in the story the foreman they they turn to Pharaoh for help and they get a reprimand instead and the growing and the frustration because it's getting worse and so then they turn on Moses and Aaron and they speak angry strong words and accuse them to their face like God judge you what have you done to us you've made us odious to Pharaoh and his people to put a sword in their hand to kill us may God judge you for that frustration many people it's the situation and they get all frustrated but don't let frustrations defeat your faith they can make you do and say things I hurt that hurt you hurt relationships frustrations divide relationship financial troubles caused couples to fight family stresses cause parents and children to be at odds churches often become divided over the smallest things as for you he says as for you walk in the integrity of your heart walk in the steadfastness of your faith God's doing something it's like Psalm 15 verses 2 & 3 and then we add verse 5 he who walks in integrity works righteousness speaks truth in his heart he does not slander with his tongue he does not do evil to his neighbor he does not take up a reproach against a friend he who does these things which is to say walk in integrity speak truth miss her he who does these things will never be shaken don't let the unbelief of others shipwrecked your faith or your relationship to God faith is the key faith will sustain you God is doing something far greater instead of arguing with the foreman Moses turns to God he brings the concerns of his heart there his faith is going to be strengthened by God's words and by God's actions do you believe that the favor of God is on your life has God proven himself to you do you believe that God has something greater in mind I could I tell you what I could write a book on the on the demonstrations of God's favor I can write a book on it's been amazing how God has proved himself to me over and over and over but just one story a funny story that happened some time ago we were here in the church doing a project here in the sanctuary up very high up in the light so we needed a an extension ladder an extension ladder is essentially two ladders at one right you've got a the base ladder then you have the the upper one that will slide up and lock you know you can go way high and so we were the church has one we were way up there we finished our project and I'm trying to bring this ladder down right the upper one is way up there I'm trying to bring it down but as I'm lowering trying to lure it with the rope my hand loses his grip on the rope and the upper ladder comes smashing down right on to my hand I know and here's the thing that that could have broken every finger in my hand because it can't that's a heavy ladder came smashing down here's the thing it didn't even hurt say well no it smashed my hand but it didn't even hurt say well how is that possible exactly this is what happened I got my hand on the rung of the ladder and when I gripped the rung of the ladder it pushed my ring up like this so when the ladder came down it came down exactly on that ring that ring took the entirety of the brunt of that fault her love saved me [Applause] can you just imagine can you just imagine what would happen would have broken my my fingers this is a hand that plays the piano and the favor of God I tell you God has proven himself to me as he proven himself to you Psalm 62 verses 5 to 8 my soul wait in silence for God alone for my hope is from him he alone is my rock and my salvation my stronghold I shall not be shaken on God my salvation and my glory rest the rock of my strength my refuge is in God trust in him at all times or people put out your heart before him cat is a refuge for us that is a good song right there that is a good song he alone is my rock he's my salvation he's my stronghold that will not be shaken Ungava and my glory rests the rock of my strength my refuge is in God trust in him at all times of people pull out your heart before him God is a refuge has got proven himself to you got proven himself to you then yes listen to his word and trust him frustrations troubles difficulty arise but he's proven himself over and over and over God is doing something far greater trust him he's a rock to stand on let's pray lord thank you so much for your word thank you for proving yourself to us over and over and churches' were before the Lord this morning I ask you this question as we're praying as we continue to pray as he proven himself to you would you say to the Lord this morning God you have made yourself known you have proven yourself to me I'll stand on this rock I'll trust you I listen to your voice God you've made yourself known you've proven yourself I'll stand on this rock I will trust you Church I don't know the frustrations the troubles the trials that you may be facing or going through right now but would you believe that God is doing something far greater trust in him so I can't I can't see no God sees God sees that's enough that's enough for me God you see would you say this morning God you have proven yourself to me and I'll stand on this rock I will trust you I listen but you should say that the Lord would you open your heart to him I'm gonna ask that you just raise your hand and that you by raising your hand you're saying that to God you're saying God you've proven yourself I trust you I'll stand on this rock would you just raise your hand to the Lord father thank you how you move upon us by your spirit how you touch us how you convince us how you have proven yourself God we thank you so much for being that rock on which we can stand we give you things we give you honor in Jesus name and every

Channel: Calvary Chapel Worship Center - Hillsboro, Oregon

Views: 3,564

Rating: 4.7777777 out of 5

Keywords: The Bible, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Holy, Pastor Rich Jones, Pastor Matthew Dodd, Calvary Chapel, Faith, Grace, Revival, Truth, Prayer, Salvation, Calvary Chapel Hillsboro, Genesis, Matthew

Id: XS7KF6RXvlk

Length: 34min 18sec (2058 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 11 2018