The Name Says It All - Exodus 6:1-30

[0:00] Good morning. Praise the Lord. You may turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 6. We are journeying with Moses as he is being equipped on the job training for our friend Moses.

[0:14] Every time he wants to quit, turns in his notice, the Lord says, good job, get back to it, here's your next task. And that's going to be kind of Moses's journey all the way into the wandering through the wilderness over and over. He comes back to this point where he's like, I just don't have what it takes, God. And God brings him to a place where he again shows him his sufficiency and carries him on. I'm so thankful for that. I come back to that place over and over as well. Lord, I don't have what it takes. And he says, you're right. Here you go. Here's the next thing to do. But anyway, we talked about last week, if you remember, as we began our study, that the study of the Old Testament, it must be viewed through the revelation, through the lens of the New Testament. When we approach the Old Testament, we can't ignore the New Testament.

[1:03] We can't just say, well, we're going to pretend it doesn't exist. We're just going to view the Old Testament standing alone by itself. We have the revelation of the New Testament, which is the fulfillment. The new covenant fulfills the old covenant. And then we're able to look back at the Old Testament through the lens of the cross. Well, the truth of the New Testament, when we come to the New Testament to study it, the truths that we read there, they're anchored in the Old Testament.

[1:28] Jesus is who he is because of generations of prophecy that have been built into the Old Testament. And then when Jesus shows up, guess what? That puzzle piece matches up perfectly because of the truth that's anchored in the Old Testament. In Romans chapter 4, Paul writes this truth, speaking of Abraham, he says, Abraham, if Abraham were justified by works, he has a reason to glory.

[1:52] He has whereof to glory, but not before God. In other words, you can say you've done all these good deeds, but before God, nobody's going to boast because nobody is standing before God because of their credentials or what they've done. For what says the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That's anchored where? In Genesis 14, I think, where it says, Abraham believed God and it's counted him for righteousness. Paul applies that truth and that principle to build this truth in the New Testament. Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Grace is by definition something that is freely given and freely received. I can't earn it. As soon as I try to pay for it, it invalidates it. It's no longer grace. But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness.

[2:48] Righteousness does not come by works or by the law. It doesn't come by our effort. It comes through our faith, through believing. Belief is just simply the way we receive the gift that's given. But that truth upon which our salvation is founded, upon which we stand righteous before the throne of God, because we receive the gift of grace, the gift of salvation through faith, that truth is anchored in the Old Testament in Abraham. So when we come to the Old Testament, we study in Exodus and we're going through this. It's not just to find the history of Israel, which is really good. It's not just to see what happened years ago. It's to understand who God is today in our lives. It's to see the truth of the New Testament as it's revealed to us in the Old Testament. I love going through the Old Testament.

[3:29] I like stories. I like narrative. And I love how the Word of God just shines the light of the truth of the New Testament through the Old Testament. So there you go. That's your hermeneutics, the study of the Bible, your hermeneutics lesson for today. Remember last week we said that Moses kind of ended chapter five kind of with this complaint to the Lord saying, for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, neither has thou delivered thy people. So he's kind of like turning back to the Lord and saying, God, I've come and I've spoken in your name. And what's happened?

[4:08] Well, it's gotten worse. Pharaoh has laid heavier burdens on your people. You've not delivered him. And Pharaoh hasn't hearkened unto you. Pharaoh has made it even harder. And Moses was looking at circumstances, right? Doubt is based upon circumstances. Faith is based upon God's Word, because faith comes by hearing and circumstances is sight. They're mutually exclusive to one another.

[4:34] But Moses, in the end of chapter five there, verse 23, what is the one thing that kind of his whole phrase hangs on, his whole complaint to God? He says, for since I came to Pharaoh, he's done evil to this people, neither has thou delivered thy people at all. But what is Moses saying he's done?

[4:50] He says, since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name. I'm not here at my own behest. I'm not doing this because I thought this was a good idea. I tried that 40 years ago. I tried being the deliverer.

[5:00] It failed. I came because I put my trust in your name. And the title to today's study is, The Name Says It All. Because Moses here is complaining to God, or maybe rightly so, looking at his circumstances and going, this is not turning out how I expected. And God is going to come back and say, I've got an answer for that. And it's my name. To be nameless is to be without identification. A name identifies who we are, doesn't it? If you're nameless, I don't know who you are. Hey, you. Now I might do that to you because I forgot your name. But our name identifies who we are. That, you know, Jared, that's who I am. And then Bromka, that's my last name. Oh, that identifies who I am. I guess there could be someone out there with your name. You know, if your name's John Smith, there's probably a few of you out there. But a name identifies who we are, and we also identify that name. Who we are brings identity to that name, doesn't it?

[5:59] Who you were as a child is going to be someone very different than who you are as an adult. What is attached to that name? So a name is very integral to our identity. And then who we are will build that name and will also bring identity to that name. Someone says to you, George Washington. Well, you have an identity that instantly goes with that, right? Someone says to you, Adolf Hitler. You have an identity that goes with that name. Not many people today are named Adolf, Jezebel, Ahab, and Benedict. The name gave them an identity, but then the way they lived gave identity to that name. So Moses says, for since I came to speak to Pharaoh in your name, you've done evil to this people. Neither have you delivered your people at all. In verse 1 of chapter 6, then the Lord said unto Moses, now thou shalt see what I will do. He's like, all right, Moses. All right. Wait till you see what I'm going to do. Now thou shalt see what I will do. It is in the moments of our greatest weakness that we see God as his greatest strength. The weaker we are is the greater God is in our eyes.

[7:15] Remember when Jesus was in the Pharisees' home having dinner with them and the woman who was a notorious sinner comes in and begins to wash his feet. And the Pharisee thinks within themselves, man, if he knew who that was, he wouldn't let her touch him. She's unclean. And Jesus turns to him and then begins to converse with this Pharisee. And he says, he who is forgiven much loves much.

[7:38] She has been forgiven so much. She has a great capacity for love. Listen, if I think I'm way down here and God is way up here, man, there's so much capacity for love. There's so much capacity for gratitude when God reaches way down there and rescues me. But if I think I'm way up here, just a little lower than God, you know, God, if you could just help me work on a few things, then my capacity of gratitude and love is so much less. It is in the moments of our greatest weakness.

[8:06] So where it looks like to Moses or to us, like Moses, you're such a failure. Why didn't you just say, yeah, God, I know you're going to take care of this? Because in that moment, God is going to step in. God is able to do so much more with Moses than anything Moses could ever do for God.

[8:23] In Hebrews 10 36, there's this little verse tucked away. And it says, for you have need of patience that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. There's a time gap in there. We do God's will. We want to receive the blessing from it. We want the promise now. God, I know you can redeem. I know you can deliver. I know you can heal. Do it now.

[8:45] But we have need of patience that we might receive the promise in God's time. Deliverance was always a reality. And it's always a reality for us. It was always a reality for Moses and for Israel.

[8:57] Moses simply had to endure the process. And God says, I shall drive them out. Not only will you be delivered, not only will Pharaoh let you go. I'm sorry, but Pharaoh shall drive you out of his land. When you leave, it won't be begrudgingly. Pharaoh won't be like, well, all right, get out of here. God's deliverance is not half measure. When God delivers, it's all the way. By the time they leave, Pharaoh is going to be like, please leave. If you don't get out of here, I'm going to chase you out of here. And God spoke unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. Remember in Exodus 3, 14, Moses said, who am I going to say sent me? And he says, I am that I am, the existing one.

[9:42] Well, here now he says, I am the Lord. Lord, there is Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham and unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But my name Jehovah was I not known to them. God Almighty is El Shaddai, the Almighty God. Jehovah means the existing one, the one who is. I am the one who is.

[10:03] I am that I am. Wherever you see the word Lord in the Old Testament, where he says the Lord, I am the Lord, that's the word Jehovah. You think, now wait a minute. If we go back into Genesis, the word Lord is there. If we look in the Hebrew, it's Jehovah. It's used all throughout Genesis and all the way up into Exodus till here. Well, remember, Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

[10:25] So as he's writing down the history later, he's going to fill in and use the name that he now knows is God. He's going to use Jehovah. Whenever he writes in the Lord, he's using Jehovah, post-dating that in a sense. But this, he's giving the account of the first time God has revealed that name. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they did not know Jehovah, that name. They knew him as Almighty, but they did not know him as the I am that I am, the existing one, the one who is.

[10:57] God answers Moses' doubt by revealing more of himself. Moses, he's doubting, he thinks he's failed, and God says, my solution is not, well, Moses, here's a 10-step program. Moses, if you would just spend more time in the word every morning, Moses, if you would do more of this in your life, no.

[11:18] God's answer to Moses was, let me show you more of myself, Moses. Let me show you what more I can do. In Exodus 33, 11, we'll get there eventually, it says this, the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face as a man speaks unto his friend. You see, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they knew God as the one who made the covenant, as the Almighty God. Moses is going to have a new experience with God. He's going to know God face to face as a friend, and he's going to know him as the one who keeps the covenant. For I have established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And this is referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, where he says, listen, Moses, I revealed myself to them as God Almighty, but not as Jehovah. And I have established my covenant with them. Established means to arise or to stand up.

[12:15] Remember when Jacob stood up the pillar of the stones that he would stand up? When he made that covenant with Laban, he stood up a standing stone. It's kind of a witness, a witness stone. So to establish is to arise or to cause to stand up. He says, I have established or I have arisen my covenant upon them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

[12:38] God's covenant is for God's people. God didn't do this for himself. He's not going to all this trouble for himself. Jesus didn't hang on the cross for himself. He established his covenant for his people. And it's a covenant, as we read there in Romans in the beginning, we can't earn it.

[12:55] It's a covenant that has to be given. It's a promised covenant where he says, I will give them the land of Canaan. And it's not anything they earned, is it? They had no right to it. They were strangers. And yet God is going to give this to them. God's covenant will arise freely by grace upon his people. We today are under a covenant that has arisen freely upon us.

[13:21] And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, who the Egyptians keep in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant. Again, we looked at that before, the remembered. It doesn't mean God forgot it. It just means he's turned his mind to it. That's where his mind is. God's mind is always upon his covenant. He's a covenant keeping God. He keeps his promise. Covenant is just another name for promise. And I have also heard the groaning. I've listened with a response. I didn't just hear it and think, oh, that's too bad. But I acted upon it. I've heard the groaning. You know, when you groan, when you groan in pain or sorrow, it means you're no longer able to contain. It's something maybe you've been able to hide inside, something you could keep hidden, but now it's coming out. It can no longer be contained. It's overflowing out of the abundance of their sorrow. I've heard their groaning, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, who they cause to labor, to serve. You know, in Exodus 5, 18, that's the same word. Go therefore now and work, you Israelites, for there will no straw be given you, yet you shall deliver the tale of bricks. Go work, go labor, go serve at the command of the Egyptians. You know, it's interesting. The world puts pressure on us to do, to act, to work, to have a certain image, to have a certain name and identity that needs to go along with us. You know, Scripture says to humble ourselves, therefore into the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt us in due season. The world says, no, no, no, never humble yourself. Exalt yourself. And the best way to do that, because I can't actually exalt myself, is to crush other people. If I can put them down, I can feel higher. Well, the Scripture says the opposite. It says to humble ourselves. You know, the world takes to themselves. It says here that they keep in bondage. They keep contained.

[15:12] They take and they own. You are all our servants. But the Lord receives, doesn't he? He receives to himself. He receives all who would come unto him. John 14, 3 says, Jesus says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. He receives. He doesn't force. Nobody has to go with Jesus. Nobody has to go to heaven. Nobody has to spend eternity in light and love and life, as many as he would receive. Now, that's the doorway into salvation, that Jesus freely died upon the cross, gave his life for us, took a sacrifice upon himself we couldn't take upon us. We couldn't take that upon ourselves. Now, we die. The wages of sin is death. So, I can die for my own sin. That's the penalty for my sin. But that's then the end, because I have to pay that penalty. Jesus took upon himself a debt he didn't know.

[16:12] He went down into death, but death couldn't hold him because he did not have sin that could judge him. He took our sin down into death with him, left it there, and then rose again three days later, overcoming sin and death. We receive that freely. We don't earn it. We receive it freely. But then, once we're in Christ, we have this amazing opportunity to continue to receive from the Lord. We can receive the call to be disciples. Now, we don't have to. We can say, hey, you know what? I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm gonna live like heck and live like the world, and we're gonna be miserable and frustrated, and we're gonna be under corruption because he who sows the flesh shall reap corruption. And it says that we will be chastened as a father corrects his children whom he loves, so will he correct us. If you want to live your life under correction and corruption, go ahead. But we have this amazing opportunity to respond to the work God has done in our hearts, and that's called discipleship. Jesus has called us to go and make disciples. He said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. There's not a have to. There's not a forcing. You don't have to do that.

[17:32] You can live your life for yourself. You can live your life trying to seek your life, trying to gain your life. And Jesus said you will ultimately lose it. Has anybody in this world ever sought their own life and found it? Has anybody ever reached that place where they're content, where they have peace apart from Christ? They don't. They don't. And once in Christ, we now have something the world doesn't have.

[17:58] We have an opportunity to respond to God and receive from him this call to discipleship. Is it easy? No. Moses is a testament to that. But God's covenant and God's people are always upon his mind. He sees their sorrow and he sees their burdens and he comes down to respond. Wherefore, Moses, he says in verse 6, he's saying, okay, Moses, because of this, because I've revealed my name to you, because I am Jehovah, the existing one, the one who is, who was, and is to come, as we'll see in Revelation, because of that, Moses, wherefore, say now this unto the children of Israel. Moses, because of who I am, you have to speak.

[18:37] You have to go and you have to speak. The way God's revelation is passed on from person to person is through speaking. That's how God's made it. I can't give you a drink of God's revelation.

[18:51] I can't give you God's revelation shirt and you put that on and it's like, oh, I now understand who God is. We can't put our Bibles under our pillows and go to sleep and wake up the next morning like, man, now I know who God is. We have to read his word. We have to hear his word. Wherefore, say, speak forth the revelation of God, Moses. Paul would say the same thing. A truth in the New Testament anchored in the Old Testament. The revelation of who God is. Paul would say, this is what I pray for you, church, in Ephesians 1.17. He says, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that you would know him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

[19:42] And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places? Paul would say, this is what I pray you might know as he writes that, as he speaks that. And it's the same thing God is telling Moses, to go and tell my people, wherefore, say, go and speak. God's promise will be fulfilled through who God is. Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah. I am the Lord. I am the existing one. I am the sufficiency.

[20:19] 2 Corinthians 1.20, speaking of Jesus, says that all of the promises of God in him, in Christ, are yes and in him, amen. Every promise of God is fulfilled through Christ. As we go through verses 6, 7, and 8, there are seven things we're going to look at that God's going to reveal himself, who he is. He said, I am Jehovah. And Moses is like, great, well, what is all of that? What does that mean? And God's going to explain what that means. In verse 6, he says, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. I will bring you out, I will rescue you from bondage, and I will redeem you. God's redemption removes burdens, delivers from bondage, and satisfies judgment. He says, I will redeem you with a stretched out arm.

[21:18] I will take you from under their burdens. I will rid you from their bondage, and with great judgment will I redeem you. What does it mean to redeem? If you redeem something, which means to buy, it's just a purchase. It means almost to pay a ransom, like that there's a debt, there's a void, a vacancy that needs to be filled before that thing can be transferred, ownership can be transferred. It's just, it's purchasing something. Jesus has redeemed us, but it's more than just like, here's ten dollars. There's a ransom. There's something that's going to cost that must be paid, that has to meet perfectly with the thing being redeemed, and that was Jesus as he perfectly met the redemption price for sin. But God's redemption removes burdens, delivers from bondage, and satisfies judgment. Verse 7, I will take you to me for a people.

[22:08] And I'll be to you a God. God will take his people as his own. He will be their God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

[22:21] You know, all people are desiring two things. We all desire, all of God's people, not God's people, all of God's creation, sorry, all creation, all people, they desire a God who desires them.

[22:35] God's put that within us. They desire that. They want a God that desires them. They want to know God is for them. God, do you want me? Not, can I live up to your expectations? What about when I can't live up to your expectations? God, do you want me? God, do you desire me? The religions of the world say, live up to this expectation, and our God will receive you. Oh, but if you don't, then he won't.

[22:58] Who's ever lived up to that? Even the ones that say they've lived up to that. It's just, it's like the Pharisees. Outwardly, they look great, but inwardly, they're full of corruption.

[23:11] All people desire a God who desires them. And I will take you to me for a people. I will take you to me. I will own you. I will hold you as my own. I will be to you a God. And then all people also desire, the second thing, they desire a God that can be known. They want a God they can know. God, you desire me, but God, can I know you? Can I know not just that you desire me, but that you want to have a relationship with me? And you shall know that I am the Lord, your God. And what is this God that desires them, that can be known? What will he do? And he delivers. We want to know a God who knows us, but we also want to know that that God can deliver. God, you desire me. God, you want to know me.

[23:57] Oh, but God, you've delivered me. You don't leave me as I am. And I will bring you, says the Lord, verse 8, in unto the land concerning which I swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for an heritage. I am the Lord. And look how he bookends. Verse 6, he says, say unto the children, I am the Lord. And then here he says in verse 8, I am the Lord.

[24:27] This is who he is. This is who he is. Jehovah, the God, the existing one, the one who reveals himself to us, reveals himself as one, brings us out, rescues us from bondage, redeems us, takes us as his own, he will be our God, he'll bring us into a new promised land, and he will give us a heritage.

[24:50] Titus chapter 2, verse 11 says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, because all people need a God who freely gives what he promises, and that's our God. He desires us, he knows us, and then he freely gives what he promises. He doesn't ask us to do anything except receive it. For the grace of God that brings salvation, the free gift has appeared to all men. Just receive it.

[25:21] And Moses, he spake unto the children of Israel. Moses obeys. I think Moses is like, at this point, like, Lord, thank you. This is what I needed. Surely this is going to do it. Surely everyone who hears this good news, who wouldn't want to go to heaven? Who wouldn't want their sins forgiven?

[25:40] Who wouldn't want to be made new and in a right relationship with God? Right? If you went out there and took a poll with people, hey there, would you rather God love you or God hate you? Oh, I would like God to love me. Okay. God does love you. Fantastic. Okay. You must come to him as a sinner. And he will say, oh, whoa, wait, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't know about that. Receiving him because I'm a sinner? Accepting who I am? Oh, I don't know about that.

[26:06] I don't know if I can bend my pride that far. Oh, and also, you have to accept that he's the only way. And that salvation through him means you have no part in this. And that it's by his grace. You know how many people refuse the gospel because they want a part in their life and what they do? Because they're seeking to save their life. They're seeking to bring identity to themselves instead of losing that. It's not easy to walk in this world. There's times I've had many times at work where there's two options I could respond. I could either respond by elevating myself, by pushing back and being assertive and kind of being a jerk. I'm like, I'm going to stand up for myself. Or I could, in humility, be looked at as a pushover. Be looked at like, oh, well, which do I choose?

[26:59] And only one of them is like Jesus. That's not easy. But God has a way when we humble ourselves, therefore, into the mighty hand of God, that he exalts us in due time. Does that mean he brings us back in front of those people and goes, you, you were wrong. This guy was right. No, not at all.

[27:13] But what it means is he will, on his own, he has a way of validating and verifying us, our position before him on his own. You know, I've never had a time where somebody's come back and said, you know, I was a really big jerk there. I'm sorry. You handled that so well.

[27:33] But I have had the Lord many times just impress upon my spirit, hey, that was the right response. I saw that. I saw that. For Moses now, as he goes to speak to God's people, I think he's really excited because he thinks, I've got good news. I've got good news about what God's going to do. Surely they're going to respond to this. This is a greater revelation of who God is.

[27:54] We have a greater revelation of who God is. People accept there's a God, but they think he's a God that's like, oh, if I do good things, God will receive me. If I do bad things, he won't. We have a much greater revelation of a God of grace. And so we go to tell people that. As Moses does in verse nine, and he spake to the children of Israel, but they hearkened not. That means they did not.

[28:13] That's that word to hear with a response, to hear, to obey, to act upon what you hear. They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. Where it says there, Moses spake unto them, excuse me, that means to declare, but to declare with a promise. Like Moses isn't just talking. Moses is like, there is substance to this. There is a promise. You can bank upon this. But they would not hearken. They would not respond. Why? For anguish of spirit. That means short of breath. It's like they've been worn out. They had nothing left. They were out of breath spiritually and for cruel, intense, severe bondage. But Hebrews chapter four tells us something about the condition of Israel. This is speaking of them as they were about to enter the promised land, but it still applies in this chapter, and we'll see why in a minute. But Hebrews chapter four, verse two, it tells us that for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. The writer of Hebrews is saying unto us believers was the truth preached as well as unto them in the wilderness. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith and them that heard it. Not being mixed with faith.

[29:31] Without faith, it's impossible to please God. The Egyptians oppression, it was intense and it was heavy, but it was more than physical. It was spiritual. It weighed down their spirit. There's nothing worse than a discouraged spirit. There's nothing harder than to walk with the Lord, to walk by faith when you're discouraged, when you're doubting. There's also something else going on here, unfortunately.

[29:55] In Ezekiel chapter 20, Ezekiel is being told by the Lord how he's to respond to the elders of Israel at the time, that they want to hear the word from the Lord, but they don't want to live according to that word. And the Lord at this time compares them to what's happening in Egypt.

[30:12] Then said I unto them, this is what the Lord is saying to Ezekiel, how he was responding to Israel in Egypt at this time. God is saying, then said I to the Israelites in Egypt, cast you away every man, the abomination of his eyes, and defile not yourself with the idols of Egypt. I'm the Lord, your God. But they rebelled against me and would not hearken unto me. They did not every man cast away the abomination of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. It's very hard, very hard to respond to the good news of God's word when we're still holding on to the idols of this world. And this is the Israelites at this time, all the way through the promised land, I mean the wilderness wandering, they're about to go into the promised land, and they still would not cast away their idols. They were still holding to them. All that God had done in their lives, they were still holding to these things. So yes, were they oppressed?

[31:05] Were they in anguish of spirit? They were. But they weren't helping themselves by holding on to the idols of this world. Very hard to walk by faith when we're trying to hold on to something we can see. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, go in and speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. God didn't even address this. Like, wait, wait, wait, let's back up here, Lord. Remember what I just said? I spoke to them and they wouldn't hearken unto me.

[31:32] Can we address what's happening here? That Israel, my own people, aren't listening to me? God's call is not verified by its success. God's call is verified by its source. God had told Moses, you go and speak. He did not tell him how successful he would be. In fact, he warned him ahead of time that the Egyptians, that Pharaoh wouldn't believe him. And so as Moses goes in to speak to Israel, they don't believe him. And now God just says, hey, just continue on, Moses. That's all right.

[32:03] You be faithful to do what I've called you to do. The people's response to that, that's not your responsibility. You have to continue forward in what I've called you to do. You know, Scripture tells us that Jesus said there will be those of our own household, father, mother, brother, sister. You know, in the Psalms it says, you know, I could have borne it. I could have taken the abuse if it was a stranger.

[32:27] But it was those in my own household, those right near me that did this. And Jesus said, listen, this is going to happen for my name's sake. And he doesn't tell us what to do specifically at that time, except to continue on in what he's called us to do. Does that mean we give up on that? Well, God's never going to rectify that. That'll never be fixed. No, it just means it's his to take care of.

[32:48] It's his and his timing to deliver. God's word and purpose are always moving forward, and they're never impeded by man's response to them. Do you know that? God's word and purpose will continue to progress. And our response to that will not impede God's ability to move forward, but it will impede my ability to move forward. And so I can choose whether I move forward with what God is doing or I can stop and stay stuck because I'm not seeing the response I would like to.

[33:16] And so the Lord just tells Moses, continue on, Moses. You've spoken to the people. Good job. Didn't turn out how you thought it would. Don't worry about that, Moses. Just continue on. Go in and speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

[33:32] God's people were not meant for Egypt. We have a much greater destiny than Egypt, don't we? In 1 Peter 1, verses 3 through 5, Peter tells us of our destiny. He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

[33:53] To what purpose? Did you just live a good life now? This world's not our home. He has done that. He's redeemed us. He's delivered us to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In that section of scripture, what's our part? How big a part do we have? Do we redeem ourselves? Do we have to keep our inheritance incorruptible and undefiled? Do we have to reserve it? Our part is what? Faith. Faith. We just trust God to do this.

[34:30] He's the one who brings the deliverance. And so Moses spake before the Lord, responding to the Lord now, saying, Lord, behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me. How then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? God, Israel wouldn't listen to me. How can I just continue forward when I have this brokenness behind me? How can I continue forward to tell someone else when I know these people wouldn't receive it? The more Moses understands of all that he is not, the more he's able to understand of who God is. Moses realizes, I can't do this. Remember the first time he said that to the Lord? He said, oh, I'm slow of speech. I'm slow of tongue. Now look at what he's progressed to.

[35:14] Oh, now I'm not just incapable. Now I'm unclean. I'm a man of uncircumcised lips. This isn't just saying, I'm not good at speaking. I don't think I'd be very good at this job. This is recognizing, I can't do this because I'm unclean. I don't have the ability to do this. The more that Moses is able to understand what he's not, the more capacity he has to accept who God and what God is. Remember, we talked about that, that great void. The lower I am and the higher God is, the more capacity there is for God to be great in my life. He must increase, says John the Baptist, but I must decrease. The lower I decrease, the greater capacity there is to understand who God is. And now we will blow through this section pretty quick. The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel and unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. So he gives them a command. He gives them an order and a command. God gave Moses and Aaron a charge that could only be fulfilled by faith. It's not going to be fulfilled by their effort.

[36:17] And now Moses, in writing Exodus, he's going to give this short genealogy. He's going to include Reuben and Simeon and Levi. And what he's doing is he's giving the background of the family of Moses and Aaron, kind of giving the validation that, yes, this is their lineage. They are valid members of the tribe of Levi. But he also includes Reuben and Simeon. And it's like, well, why does he do that?

[36:41] Well, I think he's doing it for two reasons, because he's not going to include any of the other tribes. I think he's doing it because he wants to show, one, Levi was not chosen. That tribe with Moses and Aaron, because of their status. They're not the oldest. So he includes Reuben. Reuben is the oldest. He's the firstborn. But God didn't pick him. God's going to bring his deliverer through Levi. And then he includes Simeon. Well, why Simeon? Well, I remember what Simeon and Levi did back in the day.

[37:08] They went and killed all the men of Shechem. And so I think he's showing it's also not by Levi's righteousness. It's not because of his status or his righteousness, but because God has chosen to do a work by his grace. And these are the names of the, I'm sorry, and these be the heads of their father's houses, the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. So Jacob's son, Reuben's firstborn was Hanak, and Palul, and Hezron, and Carmi. These be the families of Reuben and the sons of Simeon.

[37:40] They were Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zoar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman. And these are the families of Simeon. So he just gives just a brief genealogy leading up to the same generation that we're going to see Moses coming from. And these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their generations. Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. So that's his sons. Gershon, Kohath, and Merari are the sons of Levi. And the years of the life of Levi were 137 years.

[38:17] The sons of Gershon, Libni, and Shimei, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath, Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were 133 years. And the sons of Merari, following that birth line, Mahali, and Mushi, these are the families of Levi according to their generations. And so it's Levi, Kohath. Kohath then has Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uziel. Amram then has Aaron and Moses. Verse 20 tells us, Amram took him, Jochebed, his father's sister, to wife. So Kohath had a sister, much younger, obviously. And Amram and his aunt got married. Weird to us, not weird to them. And Amram took him, Jochebed, his father's sister, to wife. And she bare him, Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were 137 years. And so we get the parents of Moses and Aaron. Amram means exalted people, and Jochebed means Jehovah is glory. Isn't that awesome, what God built into this family that he put these boys in? And the sons of Izhar, Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. Now Korah, if you look, he is the son of Izhar. That would be Moses's cousin,

[39:42] Korah. Remember what's going to happen with Korah in Numbers. Korah and some of the sons of Judah, not Judah, Reuben, are going to come and say, hey, Moses, Mo, we're pretty hot dudes too. We think we should be running the show. They weren't there in the beginning when Moses was alone going into Pharaoh.

[40:00] But once the church got really big, they're like, you know what, I think we have a better way to do this. And we want to be in charge as well. And then the ground opens up and eats them. And we'll get to that a couple years from now in Numbers. But that's that Korah in verse 21. And Nepheg, and Zichri, and the sons of Uziel, Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri. And Aaron took him, Elishab, Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nashon, to wife. And she bare him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Well, why are we getting all Aaron's sons? Because these are the men who are going to become priests eventually. And the sons of Korah, Aser, and Elkanah, and Abisaph, these are the families of the Korites. And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife, and she bare him Phineas. Now, why do we need to know the name of Phineas?

[40:54] Because Phineas is going to become another hero in Israel at the time when, remember Balaam and his talking donkey? He went in Sunday school and you had Balaam and the talking donkey. It was always a fun flannel graph to do, right? So Balaam was hired by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites. And he ends up blessing them. But then he tells the king, hey, I know how you can get them under God's curse, in a sense. Not that God would curse them, but the wages of sin is death. And if you convince all the Moabitish women to go in and, you know, do their thing among all the men of Israel, then that'll be a way they could corrupt themselves. And a pair, an Israelite man and a Moabite woman, go right before Moses in front of the tent of meeting. And Phineas chases them into the tent and takes a javelin and stabs them both through at once. So he's a, because of his deeds, God looked upon that and he stopped the plague. So that's why we need to know the name of Phineas. Phineas means mouth of brass. It's a fantastic name. These are that Aaron and Moses, it tells us in verse 26.

[42:03] To whom the Lord said, bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, according to their armies. These are they which spake to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron. And so Moses is rehearsing this. He's writing this down. This is just his history. These are that Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spake unto Moses saying, I am the Lord, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say unto you. Or in the day that Jehovah spake unto Moses saying, I am Jehovah.

[42:37] I am the I am, the existing one. Speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say unto you. And this is how we know Moses was such a man of humility because then he writes in there, and Moses said before the Lord, behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. And how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? As Moses closes out this section. Moses was responsible to speak forth God's truth truth because of who God was, because of the truth of who God was. The Lord spake unto Moses saying, I am the Lord, therefore go and speak, Moses. Out of the abundance and revelation of who I am, go and speak. We have the same task. Moses did not doubt God's revelation of deliverance. He believed God that God could deliver his people. He just doubted the means by which God would send that message to be delivered to his people. Moses doubted himself as God's messenger. What Moses would learn progressively through his life and through his walk with the Lord is that God's revelation of himself is revealed through difficulties. It's in the moments of our greatest weakness that we see God at his greatest strength. Listen, unless we need a deliverer, we'll never be delivered. Unless we need to be saved, we'll never need a savior. It's only when we're weak that we see God is strong. It's only when we're hurting that we experience God's healing. In the moments of our greatest weakness, we see God at his greatest strengths. Psalm 50 verse 15 says, and call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. In the day of our troubles when we call upon the Lord and he brings deliverance.

[44:17] Proverbs 18 10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and is safe. Why would you run into a strong tower to be safe? Because you're being chased. Because something out there is going to get you. God's answer to Moses's doubt was to reveal more of himself.

[44:39] You know, the name of God, as we said, a name is identification, that we are identified by our name, and yet who we are brings identification to that name. The name says it all, doesn't it? The name of God is the revelation of who God is. The name of God will release from burdens, rid us from bondage, redeem us with judgment, take to himself a people, will be known through deliverance, will bring us to a land of promise, and will give a promised inheritance. The name of our God. And what is that name? Man, it's the name of Jesus, isn't it? Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, you know what Jesus means? Yeshua, Jehovah, is salvation. At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You see, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they knew God as the maker of the covenant. Moses would know God as the keeper of the covenant, but we know that God himself is the fulfillment of the covenant. He doesn't just keep his promise. He is the promise. I have a quote by Oswald Chambers. I really like his stuff. I read a lot of his books, and he was alive during World War, early part of the 1900s, maybe World War I. Eventually stationed in Africa, but he had a mission school for a while, and he says this. He says,

[46:17] Jesus Christ reveals not an embarrassed God, not a confused God, not a God who stands apart from the problems, but one who stands in the thick of the whole thing with man. Man, I like that. Moses is in the thick of it, and every single time God's right there with him, like, man, Moses, I'm there too.

[46:35] Let's just keep going, Moses. I don't know where you're at today, but I know that God does, and I know his word and his Holy Spirit have spoken to your heart. Man, if you need prayer, I'd love to pray with you. Find someone to pray with. If I haven't met you, come up and meet me. I'd love to talk with you, but know that God is for you, and he loves you, and our part is so small. It's meant to be that way, so that we can see God is so big. All we need to do is put our trust in him.

[46:58] Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. God bless you.