"Three Truths Concerning Delayed Deliverance"- Exodus 5:1-23 (9.8.21) - Dr. Jordan Rogers

so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] no thank you julia oh yeah that works very very well thank you very much good evening everyone it's good to have you here and of course tonight uh also begins our own ministry they kick up again for the fall so they're starting tonight right now in the gymnasium so they'll have a great time with those boys and girls over there learning god's word together now here's a test question it's that morning we had a memory verse that we were trying to memorize correct someone tell me where that scripture verse is found where is the address found psalm 119 11. psalm 119 11 and we can probably the guy's making they make you put that up there hey there it is i have what i have stored up your word in my heart that i might not sin against you which is god who we sin again so that was our verse for the week and so we may try to do that quite often and just a little reminder for everyone but thank you for helping us with that the last thing i want to share is this many of you may remember wayne and marilyn mclemore they were members of our church here for a good long time they're now in a church in an area in louisiana and the church that they attend in louisiana was affected by that storm that went through the other day and so um we were just trying to provide some assistance it's by understanding that this church that they attend now is sort of the hub it's sort of the hub in the community that's everybody's kind of looking to to give some advice and some assistance so our church is is helping some with some financial needs that they have but we also want to give you that opportunity as well and so uh it's the church and mary jane wayne and mary jane marilyn sorry mary lynn and michael moore attend in louisiana so if you would like to make a donation tonight if you're able to do that this evening is you'll just put you see the little offering boxes around our church that we have if you can drop something in there tonight or a check if you make a check make it out to hillcrest baptist church and we'll make sure everything that that's put in there tonight goes to that cause and uh we'll probably be doing this announcement on sunday as well i know it's kind of late notice uh this evening but uh just trying to provide some assistance to their church and again that church is providing many other needs in that area too so but please keep that in mind all right thank you so much pastors seth thank you julia good evening if you would stand with us is it good to be the house of the lord are you excited to get back into exodus this evening yes i'm pretty excited i've missed going through it hearing brother jordan pastor jordan's sermons on it looking forward to tonight [Music] i [Music] my [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i would believe [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] without my strength and righteousness [Music] oh is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ so sure steady anger in the fury of the storm when the winds off double through me and myself [Music] i will [Music] it shall never be [Music] is [Music] it shall never leave [Music] through the floods lift your eyes [Music] [Music] it shall never be [Music] [Music] as we face the ways of death when these trials give way to glory as we draw our final will be [Music] salvation [Music] [Music] we have someone reading scripture for us if you have your scriptures turned to exodus chapter five we're going to be in the entirety of the chapter tonight but i'm only going to read the first nine verses exodus chapter 5 it says afterwards moses and aaron went and said to pharaoh thus says the lord the god of israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness but pharaoh said who is the lord that i should obey his voice and let israel go i do not know the lord and moreover i will not let israel go then they said the god of the hebrews has met with us please let us go three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the lord our god lest we he fall upon us with pestilence or with a sword but the king of egypt said to them moses and aaron why do you take the people away from their work get back to your burdens and pharaoh said behold the people of the land are now many and you may and you make them rest from their burdens the same day pharaoh commanded the task masters of the people and their foremans you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as in the past let them go and gather straw for themselves but the number of bricks that they have made in the past you shall oppose on them you shall not by no means reduce it for they are idle therefore they cry let us go and offer sacrifices to our god let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to these lying words shall we pray father we are so grateful for your word and how it speaks to our heart father i pray for brother jordan as he stands before us tonight to bring the word to us that father our ears would be quick to hear and we would be ready to respond and be obedient to the call that you put on our life because your word speaks to our heart in jesus name we pray amen okay we're going to take a moment here uh thomas lee called me just before we were starting and let me know that his uh his best friend has a son who's about three weeks old and he's been in the hospital um and they're actually life flighting him to austin right now um because he's needing to have emergency surgery and so his father is trying to drive to austin and you can imagine the kind of turmoil he's in in every way and so we want to pray right now the the boy's name is nathanael reese and so we're going to pray for nathanael we're going to pray for his family as well so if you would join with me in your hearts and pray our father in heaven we do lift nathanael up to you now recognizing that you know all things recognizing that life life is in your hands it is a gift from you and it is sustained by you lord you have been the one who gave nathanael life father you know his body better than any doctor ever could but you fashioned him and you knit him together in his mother's womb so father i pray lord that you would be willing lord we do not doubt your power lord we pray that you would be willing to heal nathanael lord that you would give his parents an extreme amount of grace we know that grace is always extreme we pray that you would give him lord all the grace that he needs to have his wits about him as he travels can only imagine what that's like going through it but father you know better than anyone what it's like to have a son in turmoil and what it's like to have a son facing facing life and death so father i pray that you would give nathaniel's father a great comfort comfort that only you and your holy spirit can give him and father i pray that you would look on nathanael with all the grace that was procured for him by your son jesus we pray that you would oversee as you always do their life and their situation we pray that you would give us understanding and knowledge of you through your word we pray this in the name of jesus and the power of the holy spirit all god's people said amen well i am glad that you are here is it good to be the house of the lord this evening amen i trust that you have your bible with you as brother eric just led us through our worshipful scripture reading uh for this evening as he said we will be in the entirety of exodus chapter 5 so that's exodus 5 verse 1 through 23. this evening what i want to talk to you about is i want to walk you through three truths concerning delayed deliverance three truths concerning delayed deliverance the passage begins here at the beginning in chapter 5 verse 1 it says afterward we need a bit of recap a bit of contextualization to understand what came before so that we understand the context of what then is coming after prior to this the people of israel they came into egypt you remember as we walk through the book of genesis how they wound up in egypt the lord led them by famine he led them into a land there where they could be provided for and some 400 years has expired since jacob first came into egypt he and his family had grown from 70 persons to now many many thousands of citizens of the people of israel these children of israel were no longer welcome in egypt as citizens they were seen rather as an enemy as someone to me be mistrusted as someone to be suspicious of and so pharaoh enacted a plan you remember of genocide he tried to call on the midwives of israel to perform abortions this is how governments control populations pharaoh tried to control the population of israel through abortion yet the midwives feared god and not the government and so the midwives refused to abort these israeli children and then you you see after that plan of pharaohs failed pharaoh then called upon his own people to commit genocide and to to kill the baby boys that were born to kill all of them throw them in the nile river and you remember there was one child that was thrown into the nile river not haphazardly and not by an egyptian but he was placed there not no so much in a wrath but in a little ark a little boat made by his mother and that little boat floated over to nonetheless than pharaoh's daughter pharaoh's daughter had great compassion on this hebrew baby and she drew him up out of the river that is what moshe or moses means i drew him out this is what moses's name refers to and so he is drawn out of the river little did pharaoh know that this great punishment this great genocide that he had called to enact would in fact be used by the lord to orchestrate the deliverance of israel and so the deliverer of israel god's man for the moment is drawn out of the river nile and he is raised in the home of pharaoh himself he lives in pharaoh's home he grows up there surely learning all the things of egypt but knowing also because he is raised by his mother by the providence of god for the first number of years of his life he understands that he is an israelite he is a son of jacob a child of jacob as time passes he feels compassion for his own people and he stands in to defend uh some of his brethren one brethren who is being literally beaten to death by an egyptian slave driver moses steps in and he kills the slave driver he delivers an israelite that israelite seemingly turns on him and word spreads around that moses is killing egyptians so moses has to flee for his life he goes to the wilderness of midian he marries a woman there the daughter of a man named jethro and for 40 years moses wanders around the wilderness chasing sheep as a shepherd for his father-in-law jethro during that time moses sees a sight he sees a sight at the foot of a mountain called mount horeb you may know it as mount sinai the book of exodus refers to it as the mountain of god and there on the mountain of god there is a bush that is burning yet it is not consumed it's the middle of the night moses sees this great sight and he turns aside to see it and as the lord sees him turn aside to see this fire that is not consuming the bush the lord calls and says moses moses and there in exodus chapter 3 all the way through chapter 4 verse 17 you read the longest divine disclosure up to that point in all of scripture what i mean by that is you read the voice of yahweh himself the voice of jehovah god revealing his person and his plan for israel he calls moses to be his messenger in fact he calls moses to be the deliverer that he would send to egypt to let the people go to set the people of israel free and so moses is equipped with signs he's equipped with wonders to go into egypt and to do these signs and wonders before pharaoh but you remember what the lord had told moses he said but i will harden pharaoh's heart i know that pharaoh will not let the people of israel go unless he is compelled by a mighty and an outstretched hand he's going to perform these signs in front of pharaoh pharaoh will harden his heart the lord will sovereignly harden his heart bind him in that rebellion where he will not let the people of israel go until he is compelled he is absolutely forced to and the lord tells moses that he will then he will then show his great signs on egypt and he'll deliver the people of israel so moses then goes the lord sends him there in in chapter 4 verse 18 through the remainder of the chapter verse 31 the lord has sent moses into egypt he goes into egypt and you remember his first task his first task is to meet with the elders of israel to meet with the israelites moses meets with the israelites and he tells them god's plan then he said when they say who is it that sent you what is his name and moses tells them i am that i am jehovah yahweh has sent me the god of your fathers the god of abraham isaac and jacob he has sent me to deliver you and you remember the response the response of israel at the testimony of god worship when they hear of this this divine providential salvation that god was bringing about they humbled themselves before the lord and they worshiped now when you read chapter 5 you see a stark contrast between the worshipful reception of the testimony of god by god's people and in chapter 5 you see a rebellious defiant not reception but rejection of the testimony of god the same exact testimony and yet in chapter 5 you see pharaoh you see the degenerate the reprobate pharaoh respond in utter rebellion against the testimony against the command of jehovah you would think at least moses did and this will be very apparent you would have thought that this deliverance was going to come quickly god sends moses in go deliver my people and the human response is okay that means that i'm going to go in there and the people are going to be immediately delivered they've been in bondage for 400 years they have been enslaved in egypt for 400 years you talk about delayed deliverance you talk about a delayed answer to prayer 400 years prayers that span generations we need to learn something just like the israelites had to learn a thing or two about delayed deliverance because we would like to think that god sees our problems god loves us and indeed he does both of those he sees our problems he is the god who sees he delivers us he is the god who saves but does that mean that god saves immediately that's not what that means so so what does it mean when god doesn't save immediately what does it mean when god doesn't answer our prayers in the timing that we think he should we have we have temptations abounding when we find ourselves in circumstances like that we're tempted to doubt the character of god we're tempted to assume things about the person of god we are tempted even to blaspheme god let me tell you one summarizing truth to draw it all together for you this evening if you want to write this down let me just reassure your heart that god's plan to deliver his people is perfectly wise and precisely timed god's plan to deliver his people is perfectly wise and precisely timed if you look even at your own life many in here if not most or maybe even all would testify that they are born again that they have been saved by the grace of god they have been made brand new was anybody in this room as a baby in the womb born again in the womb none of us every one of us lived at least a minimum of a number of years in rebellion against the commands of god why didn't god deliver you from your sins sooner why didn't god save you sooner was god foolish for waiting why did god allow you in fact why did god ordain your life to turn out the way that it did and you go through the suffering that you have and you go through the the bad mistakes the bad decisions the bad experiences that you have why did god make a mistake was god foolish in that was god's timing just off maybe maybe if god had gotten a hold of you before your teenage years maybe that would have fixed god's plan because we we have a keen eye to fix god's plan don't we at least we think we do in our own arrogance but as we read scripture and as we come more and more to know the lord brother bruce don't we understand that god's plan to deliver is perfectly wise and precisely timed you went through the things you went through because god wanted you to go through them and i remember these words of wisdom from my own daddy he told me god never wastes anything even those years that you may think those are wasted no they're not they were perfectly part of god's plan is what they were now when we look at this passage of scripture this chapter i want us to really see it in four parts now i know the paragraphs don't exactly divide like this i'm tracing out ideas and those are not always demarcated by paragraphs and indentations in the text what i want to look at first is verse 1. in verse 1 you see yahweh's demand yahweh's demand in verse 2 through 14 you see pharaoh's defiance yahweh's demand pharaoh's defiance that's 2-14 in verse 15 through 21 you see the foreman's reaction the foremen the ones who were charged with overseeing the slaves the foreman's reaction and then at the end of verse 22 through 23 you see moses's confusion and i'm trying to be gracious with that heading there because there there's probably a few other words that i could have used trying to be gracious with it moses's confusion you could maybe even say brother dale moses is accusation moses's assumption we know how safe those are look at verse 1 yahweh's demand very clear here says afterward after moses went and talked to the israelite elders revealed god's plan it says afterward moses and aaron aaron being moses's brother his spokesman moses and aaron went and said to pharaoh king of egypt thus says the lord the god of israel let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness i love it thus says the lord moses does not show up in pharaoh's court and say i just got something that's on my heart i got something i've been thinking about moses doesn't show up and say i've had a dream moses doesn't show up and and talk to pharaoh about his devotional moses shows up in the court of the king of egypt and he says thus says the lord that phrase that prophetic preface is used multiple times by moses himself when addressing pharaoh in his court he goes in and he speaks on the lord's behalf and he says thus says the lord so it's used multiple times in these these encounters these confrontations with pharaoh moses uses it one other time outside the book of exodus and it's in the book of leviticus he uses it one time those are the only times that thus says the lord is used in the first five books of the bible after those first five books of the bible after moses is off the scene and you see the prophets begin to emerge you know that prophetic preface formula is used well over 2500 times 2500 times thus says the lord the bible makes no equivocation about who is its author thus says the lord not the clever inventions of men not their dreams and not their devotees thus says the lord what does he say let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness pharaoh let my people go that they can worship me they can go out into the wilderness they can go out to mid-bar they can go out into this wilderness and they can hold a festival they can make sacrifices and they can worship me through that this is yahweh's demand very clear-cut notice that moses does not demand ultimate freedom for the israelites at this point moses begins like it would most often in these ancient cultures whenever whenever something like a negotiation which this is not a negotiation this is a demand but moses being polite moses moses coming to pharaoh in a polite manner he begins with the least amount of demand let my people go and you've seen the formula throughout the old testament if the person responds says sure i'll let i'll let that person go oh and then the next response is oh well will you let us do this then and it's a reverse way of negotiating the way we negotiate in the west is we always start out at the the highest price because we always think the price is going to come down we don't we don't believe in charity coming from anybody so we start at the higher price that we don't believe we'll ever get and we negotiate our way down moses is mannered moses says polite and he says let the people go this is what the lord says let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness simple demand look at verses 2 through 14 this is pharaoh's defiance pharaoh's defiance is characterized by both blasphemy and brutality in verse 2 through 5 you see pharaoh's blasphemy look at how he does it though but pharaoh said who is jehovah who is the lord that i should obey his voice and let israel go i do not know jehovah i do not know the lord and moreover i will not let israel go this is blasphemy this is blasphemy why is it blasphemy blasphemy is maligning the character of god maligning the person of god do you hear in mo in pharaoh's voice here he says who is jehovah that i should obey shema that i should listen and respond in conformity who is jehovah that i should conform to his will who is he and how do you think i'm supposed to respect his authority to demand anything of me he has no authority over me he will not be lord over me who is he i don't even know him that's what he says next who is the lord that i should obey his voice and let israel go i do not know jehovah well at least he's honest about it he says i do not know the lord there are many in our day though that claim to know the lord and then yet say who is he to tell me what to do who has the greater blasphemy pharaoh or the false professor we can ponder that he says i do not know the lord neither in cognition nor in acquaintance that word for no is the word yadah it can mean a number of things two main things it can mean is cognition or acquaintance in other words pharaoh is saying this i don't know anything about jehovah i have no knowledge i have no cognition of this person this deity that you are referring to moreover he is also saying not only do i have no cognition no understanding of who he is but i also have no acquaintance with him i do not know him personally i don't serve him i don't respect him i know nothing about him and i don't know him personally pharaoh is the most honest lost person i have ever heard of he is the most honest lost person i have ever heard of he doesn't try to hide it at all he has no clue he says no i do not have a personal relationship with jesus christ no i do not know the lord i in fact i know nothing about him and no i will not obey him this is blasphemy who is the lord what what gives what gives this deity as you call him what gives him the right to exercise authority over me well if pharaoh knew the lord he would know what gives god the right to exercise authority over him pharaoh would know that god is the creator of the heavens and the earth pharaoh would know that god holds his own heartbeat in his hand pharaoh would know that god himself is the one that placed him on that throne and there would be no question about who he owed his allegiance and obedience to but pharaoh is a reprobate pharaoh is lost i want you to listen to how the apostle paul in the new testament describes an unregenerate reprobate lost person and tell me if this is not a description of pharaoh himself even ephesians chapter 4 verse 17-19 now this i say and testify in the lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do in the futility of their minds they are darkened in their understanding alienated from the life of god because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality greedy to practice every kind of impurity that's pharaoh that is every lost person that is you and i apart from the gracious work of god in salvation psalm 36 verse 1 describes pharaoh appropriately transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart there is no fear of god before his eyes pharaoh has zero fear of god before his eyes who is the lord verse 2 then i should obey his voice and let israel go i do not know the lord and moreover i will not let israel go then they moses and aaron that is said the god of the hebrews has met with us and said the god of the hebrews has met with us let me find my spot here and messed it up the god of hebrews has messed with us or met with us please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to our lord god that is almost an exact quote of the lord's command to them in exodus chapter 3 verse 18. this second part is not recorded in exodus chapter 3 but you can just go ahead and assume that's exactly what the lord said moses just didn't record it at that point lest he fall upon us with pestilence that is with a plague or with the sword that the lord make war against us using some nation to kill us but the king of egypt said to them moses and aaron why do you take the people away from their work get back to your burdens and pharaoh said behold the people of the land are now many and you make them rest from their burdens you make them rest from their burdens there are many what is this thinking of pharaoh because this sounds like strange thinking what is what does their burdens and the people of israel being many have to do with each other make them get back to their burdens you quit calling them away they're lazy and they're many so you better keep them busy you remember that pharaoh pharaoh i don't know that i don't know that pharaoh necessarily thinks he is more powerful than the israelites in fact the genocidal plan that pharaoh has in that plan he even indicated his great fear of the people of god let me read for you exodus chapter 1 verse 10 through 14. this is why they oppress them with slavery come let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply and then if war breaks out they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land therefore they set task masters that is slave drivers over them to afflict them with heavy burdens they built for pharaohs store cities pithem and ramses but the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad and the egyptians were in dread of the people of israel so they ruthlessly made the people of israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in all kinds of work in the field in all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves now do you understand pharaoh's mentality the people are many don't take them away from their burdens pharaoh somehow thought that oppressing the people of israel with hard labor would somehow suppress them from growing as a people i think that pharaoh had things backward indeed he doesn't know the lord he thinks that the israelites are multiplying because of their own will because of their energy because of their free time because of their eagerness to procreate no that's not the reason that israel multiplies israel doesn't multiply because of their energy or because of their will they multiply because god blesses them that's why they multiply and so pharaoh can press them he can push down hard on them and the more he presses the more they multiply right there not just in the midst of persecution but even through persecution they are a growing people his plan is backfiring on him why he doesn't know the lord if pharaoh knew the lord he would know the command that god gave to abraham when god promised abraham he said those who bless you i will bless and those who curse you i will curse the safest and best thing that that pharaoh could have done for his own people is bless the people of god but instead he oppresses the people of god so it is with every nation that oppresses the people of god they spit in the face of the very opportunity opportunity they have to be blessed by blessing god's people and pharaoh said verse 5 behold the people of land are now many and you make them rest from their burdens so this is his response verse 6 verse 6 through 14 shows pharaoh's brutality the same day pharaoh commanded the task masters of the people and the foremen you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as in the past let them go and gather straw for themselves but the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them you shall by no means reduce it for they are idle they are lazy therefore or that is why they cry let us go and offer sacrifice to our god verse 9 let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words what are the words that pharaoh is referring to he's referring to the testimony of god he is calling god a liar he is calling moses and aaron the prophets of the lord he is calling them liars and he says i am going to be brutal to these people i am going to oppress these people so hard that they don't see it as valuable to listen to god to listen to moses to listen to aaron and this is the manner of oppression that he laid upon them he took away straw with their their role their obligation to slaves was to make bricks the israelites are the ones who built the magnificence of egypt it was not the egyptians the israelites built the magnificence of egypt they made the bricks they put them together they built the great structures of egypt and in order to make these bricks they would take the clay they would take the mud they would take the straw they would combine them they would bake them but now pharaoh has said no i will not give you straw anymore i won't give you anything to put structure inside of those bricks and to make them more sturdy but you better make them right and you better make as many as i told you to make beforehand and you know the punishment if they don't keep their quota they'll be beaten within an inch of their life if not some made an example and put to death and pharaoh says i'll not give you any more straw sounds like something small but when that is an essential element to what you have to do every single day now it becomes an insurmountable task now it becomes an impossible quota to fill because not only do they have to spend all their time making breaks now they have to go and gather the straw this was evidently supplied to them beforehand the straw the chaff that would have been gathered would have been out in the grain fields after the heads of grain have been beaten off of the stalks into the into the the giant containers they would take what was left over they would take the chaff it's all bound up together already they would take that and that would go to the israelites and so they had a steady supply of needed materials to fill their quotas now i suppose the egyptians would just take that chaff and would burn it pharaoh tells moses pharaoh tells the foreman that is they'll not be given any more straw after we harvest the fields we won't give them what we have they can go and find straw on their own what are they supposed to go to the field there's no more straw left there it's all been harvested where are they to go they to go to the furnaces the straw is burned where do they find this well find a stick here find a straw there on the side of the road go go comb through this dry field and gather grass together to make your bricks so you see these israelites crawling all over the land of egypt picking up worthless pieces of grass to go and build somebody else's buildings the lord foretold that he had ordained the hardening of pharaoh's heart did he not i want to remind you of what the lord told moses very clearly in exodus chapter 3 verse 18 through 20. speaking of the israelites he says and they will listen to your voice and you and the elders of israel shall go to the king of egypt and say to him the lord the god of the hebrews has met with us and now please let us go three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the lord but i know that the king of egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand so i will stretch out my hand and strike egypt with all the wonders that i will do in it after that he will let you go shouldn't they understand that there's going to be a little bit of delay here they're going to encounter opposition the lord has already told them they're going to encounter opposition exodus chapter 4 verse 21 and the lord said to moses when you go back to egypt see that you do before pharaoh all the miracles that i have put in your power but i will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go this is the lord's purpose this is not a mistake this is not foolishness this is the plan of god god does not have a wonderful plan for everyone's life this is the reality of the truth of scripture let me read for you proverbs chapter 16 verse 4 the lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble this is why paul has no problem at all in romans chapter 9 speaking of pharaoh quoting the lord when the lord says for this reason i have raised you up pharaoh to display my wrath the lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble the lord has a purpose for sending moses and aaron to the most obstinate rebellious lost person on the planet it's not a mistake that's exactly what god planned opposition difficulty pharaoh responds with brutality look at his task masters carry it out verse 10 so the task masters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people thus says pharaoh i will not give you straw go and get your straw for yourselves wherever you can find it but your work will not be reduced in the least so the people were scattered throughout all the land of egypt to gather stubble for straw the task masters were urgent saying complete your work your daily task each day as when there was straw and the foreman of the people of israel whom pharaoh's taskmasters set over them were beaten the word for beaten is nikah means to strike someone with a severe blow it's the same word that's used of when the israelite was being beat by the slave master and moses thought that that man was about to be killed these four men were beat within an inch of their lives these foremen are no doubt israelites they are leaders over the israelites and they are accountable to the task masters the task masters are accountable to pharaoh and so they were beaten and were asked why have you not done verse 14 all your task of making bricks today and yesterday as in the past this is brutal so how are the foremen going to react the leaders of the slaves of israel how are they going to react look at verse 15 verse 15-21 they react just as you would think then the foreman of the people of israel came and cried to pharaoh why do you treat your servants like this no straw is given to your servants yet they say to us make bricks and behold your servants are beaten but the fault is in your own people but he that is pharaoh said you are idle you are lazy you are lazy that is why you say let us go and sacrifice to the lord go now and work no straw will be given to you but you must still deliver the same number of bricks the foreman of the people of israel saw that they were in trouble when they asked when they said you shall by no means reduce your number of bricks your daily task each day then they met moses and aaron who were waiting for them so moses and aaron in the vicinity they know the four men are reporting to pharaoh the foremen go in there and they argue for the people indeed they're taking their lives into their own hands probably still soaked with blood in their garments from when they were beat by the slave drivers and they go in there and they contend for the israelites and they say it's not our fault in fact it's your people's fault you won't give us what we need we can't we can't do our labor and go gather all the straw this is your fault pharaoh doesn't budge an inch not an ounce of compassion for the people of god listen to the the foreman they met moses and aaron who were waiting for them as they came out from pharaoh verse 21 and they said to them the lord look upon you and judge because you have made us stink in the sight of pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to kill us whose fault is it according to the foreman it's moses's fault he said it's not the lord's fault moses it's your fault the lord look on you and judge in other words you have committed a grievous condemnable offense against us and the lord needs to pass judgment on you these four men want nothing it seems to do with moses anymore they want god to deal with him judicially can you blame them for how they react could we say that we would react differently look at verse 22 through 23 here's moses confusion as i said i could have given a different heading there maybe more appropriately but i'm trying to be gracious verse 22 and remind you who recorded this moses you know what moses is doing in verse 22 and 23 moses in great humility before the lord records his own fault for it to be read for eternity listen to this then moses turned to the lord and said o lord why have you ra why have you done evil why have you brought about bad upon us is is he accusing god of sin depends on how you interpret it is he accusing god of doing something bad or making bad come upon them at the minimum he's accusing him of that why have you done evil to this people why did you ever send me for since i came to pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to this people and you have not delivered your people at all the foreman blamed moses moses blames god this is your fault as gracious as possible we would have to say at a minimum moses is confused moses is confused to blame god with evil and say god you messed up friends we ought to be careful when god doesn't provide deliverance in the means or in the timing that we think he should and we say god you screwed this up is that not blasphemy is this not the same thing that pharaoh is guilty of and yet pharaoh doesn't know the lord moses does but maybe moses doesn't know as much about the lord as we would think at this point you see moses is learning about the lord moses is learning who yahweh is moses is learning about the person and the character and how god typically carries out his plans what moses has to learn in this whole account is that god carries out his plans in perfect wisdom and in precise timing moses does not yet understand that you sent me here and this is the reaction surely god you're not expecting that you sent me here and you haven't delivered the people at all in fact less than delivering them it's only gotten worse god what's the problem god you ever found yourself praying like that what do you what do you say later brother richard you say oh god forgive me forever thinking that of you let's talk about this let me point you very quickly three truths concerning delayed deliverance here moses has a very near-sighted view of suffering he's very forgetful of god's promises we already talked about it a little while ago god told moses i'm going to send you there and i'm going to harden pharaoh's heart he's not going to respond positively why am i doing this i'm doing this because i'm going to pour out wrath on egypt this is important truth number one could he send his son to die for us could he send him to suffer for us would you ever do anything cruel for those you love and yet brother jim we we are but humans and god's love is perfect god's not being cruel when you suffer that suffering is perfectly wise and precisely timed here's what you can know about suffering with god it's always purposeful it's always glorious in the end it's never wasted it's always perfectly wise and it's always precisely timed delayed deliverance is not evidence of god's cruelty first peter 1 6-7 in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ it's not cruel to sharpen and refine our faith and then reward it with eternal reward that's not cruel in fact that is extremely generous and kind so god's delayed deliverance is not evidence of abandonment or cruelty here's what it is truth number three delayed deliverance is the plan of god it was for egypt and it is for us it was for israel as they're in bondage and it is for us in the world delayed deliverance is the plan of god to demonstrate his glory in both salvation and judgment remind you of what we studied just a few weeks ago second thessalonians 1 4-8 this is how paul comforts the thessalonians god has delayed his deliverance of you why because he is pleased to allow you to prove your kingdom worthiness and he's also pleased to respond with affliction to those who persecute you meaning god is pleased to demonstrate the glory of his deliverance and he's pleased to demonstrate the glory and the righteousness of his wrath first or second thessalonians 1 4-8 therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of god for your steadfastness and faith and all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are doing this is evidence of the righteous judgment of god that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of god for which you are also suffering since indeed god considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the lord jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know god and on those who do not obey the gospel of our lord jesus delayed deliverance it's the plan of god it demonstrates both his glory and and in judgment glory and salvation glory and judgment because as you suffer and as you suffer well and faithfully you know what you prove you prove that you're worthy of the kingdom how could you prove your worthiness of the kingdom if you were never tried if you were never going through a trial to prove it and you know what it also does the suffering that comes upon us in the world it proves that god is justified in damning sinners to hell who have not believed in him it proves that god is justified in destroying this earth let me ask you after after pharaoh has rebelled against the testimony of god after he has blasphemed the name of god after he has brutalized the people of god and this is just the first chapter of that recording there's many other chapters after that is there any doubt left in your mind that pharaoh deserves to be destroyed is there any doubt left in your mind that pharaoh deserves to be drowned in the red sea is there any doubt left in your mind that pharaoh deserves anything less than these massive phenomenal plagues reigning down on egypt there's no doubt left this is what the world deserves you have any shortage of compassion for the israelites these people who are suffering these people who are in bondage these people whom god loves hebrews 10 32-39 let me encourage you with this as you think about trouble and suffering that you endure the temptation to believe that that's god abandoning you or that's god being cruel reinforce that that's that's god's plan it's god's plan to demonstrate his glory it says in hebrews 10 32-39 but recall the former days when after you were enlightened you endured a hard struggle with sufferings sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes being partners with those so treated for you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you know that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one deliverance from god therefore do not throw away your confidence which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god you may receive what is promised for yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay but my righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back my soul has no pleasure in him but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who have faith and preserve their souls what a comforting word what a comforting word as we go through trial and as we go through difficulty we see here god's great plan for israel why did moses why didn't moses record that last those last two verses because you know moses is recording this and maybe i'll just leave those last two verses out where i went and i prayed to god and i accused him of sinning if you were going to erase some verses that you've prayed would you want to erase those i would like to erase those verses if that was what i prayed you know why the bible includes those for us why the holy spirit forced moses to the inspiration of scripture to write that so that we would have that example moses here humbly confessing saying don't respond that way don't accuse god of evil guess what when we look at the next chapter you know who speaks in chapter six it's not the foreman it's not moses and it's not pharaoh the first one who speaks in chapter six is god and god says i will deliver my people what do you think moses had to say to that oh god forgive me forgive me for doubting you maybe when when moses saw these plagues come upon egypt do you think moses was surprised and said god i doubted you i doubted you and yet you did this friend while you suffer when you go through hard times in life just understand that god's plan to deliver his people it is perfectly wise precisely timed it is exactly the best plan that god could ever formulate for your life just trust god in it and don't blaspheme him don't curse him praise him would you pray with me father we thank you that you have demonstrated your great love for us by sending jesus to die for us in that perfectly wise precisely timed plan of god lord we thank you that you brought about deliverance through suffering the suffering of your son lord help us now in the life that we live before you every day to trust and to know that you have not abandoned us and that you are never for one second cruel to your people we know that you are love and you love us lord we know that you have determined to show all the kindness that christ has purchased for us so lord we give you praise lord and we pray that you would give us faith to trust you through trials to trust you even when your deliverance is delayed and to worship you through that we pray these things in the name of jesus and the power of the holy spirit all god's people said amen thank y'all for being here this evening

Channel: Dr. Jordan Neal Rogers

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Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: Ex-Zgmss99M

Length: 69min 55sec (4195 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021