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. . . . Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 224. Song 224 in your song books. We'll sing There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. And if you would stand, we'll sing song 224. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. And if you would stand, we'll sing song 224. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. But for the showers we plead. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. Precious reviving again. Over the hills and the valleys. Sound of abundance of rain. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. But for the showers we plead. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. Send them upon us, O Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing come and now honor thy word. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. But for the showers we plead. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. They they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing. Now as on Jesus we call. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. But for the showers we plead. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for another night that we can gather and hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, that you would just be honored and glorified out of everything that's said and done for us. In Jesus' name we ask all of it. Amen. All right, you may be seated and turn in your songbooks to song number 89. Song number 89, we'll sing, Does Jesus Care? Song number 89. Does Jesus care when my heart is pained to deeply former and long. As the burdens press and the cares distress and the way grows weary and long. Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long night's dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when my way is dark with an aimless dread and fear. As the daylight fades into deep night shades, does he care enough to be near. Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long night's dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed to resist some temptation strong. When my demand I find no relief though my Yep, I get it. Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long night's dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I've said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me. And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks. Is it on to him? Does he see? Oh, yes, he cares. I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long night's dreary, I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. 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I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares I know my Savior cares. I know my Savior cares. Look, there is flowing a crimson tide, wider than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe. You that are longing to see his face, will you this moment his grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Take your Bibles and turn to Exodus 4. Exodus 4, we'll have brother Joseph read that for us. Exodus 4. And if you found your place there, you'll say Amen. And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground, and he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said further, furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. It shall come to pass, if they will not believe also thee, these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river, shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hitherto for, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. The Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well, and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and shall be even he shall be to thee, instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. And Jesus and Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the Lord said unto Moses and Midian, Go return unto Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return unto Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go. Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will obey thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass, by the way, in the end, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. The Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed, and when they they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads in worship. Let's pray. Lord Father, thank you for this time. We're able to gather here mid-week. Lord, thank you for this study through Exodus, and your pure, holy word you've given to us. We're to ask you with past problems and edifies this evening, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 4, and we are continuing our study through the book of Exodus. And if you remember chapter 3, we get into the burning bush, or basically the story where Moses comes to the burning bush, and God speaks to him out of the bush. Actually in chapter 4 here, we are continuing that whole discourse, so we haven't left that. And then at the end of the chapter here is where he actually ends up going into Egypt. So if I was going to title this, I'd say back to Egypt, but we're kind of starting off still at the burning bush here. And the first thing that we see here is that God is going to give Moses three different signs to show to the children of Israel so that they would believe that basically God has sent him to save them out of the land of Egypt. And let's look at the three that we see here, and I'm just going to state what these three are. It's the serpent, the rod being turned into a serpent, it's going to be the hand being turned into, like being leprous as snow, and then being healed, and then it's going to be water into blood. So we know that the first plague that's put on Egypt is the water into blood, but that's actually something that he's going to show to the elders of Israel to basically prove to them, hey, you know, God has sent me. And it's kind of one of these things that if they don't believe the serpent sign, then they'll believe the leprous sign, and all else fails. They don't believe that. They're going to believe when you turn the water into blood. So let's read that. First of all, in verse one here, it says, And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. That's exactly what I would do. Just so you know. I hate snakes. So yeah, I mean, if that thing turned into a serpent, I'd be getting out of dodge there. So, but he fled from before it, and the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. Now that takes some faith right there. I know we talk about faith to go back into Egypt, but the faith to take that tail, that serpent. Now some of you may play with snakes. I don't know. Like some of you like have like, people will like post pictures of their kids just holding snakes up by the tail. You know, I shot them in the face. That's what I did as a kid. I'd go down to the creek with a BB gun or a pellet gun, and I'd shoot them in the face. And so any time that I was done with them, maybe at that point I'd pick it up by the tail after it was dead. Okay, so I don't know how I got off on that rabbit trail, besides the fact that obviously you can imagine, we can read past that he fled from the serpent, but I'd imagine that this serpent is probably a pretty fearsome serpent. I don't think it's probably like a gardener snake looking serpent. I don't think it's probably you know, even maybe a black snake serpent. I mean he's probably seen a snake before in his time, but this is probably a pretty fearsome looking serpent that that he sees here. But he puts forth his hand and took it by the tail, and it says, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. So basically, he lays the rod down, it becomes the serpent, he takes it by the tail, and then it turns into a rod again. And it says in verse 5, it says, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, had appeared under these. So basically, there's this sign. Now he's going to do this before Pharaoh. So, two of these three signs is at least recorded where he does this in front of Pharaoh. The serpent sign he does in front of Pharaoh, but the water and the blood, that's a plague. That's literally a plague on all of Egypt. But these are signs, and something just to remember here is that these were specifically for the children of Israel to believe that God had sent Moses. So it's something that you don't normally think about maybe is that he went to them first, and showed them the serpent, you know, the rod going into the serpent and all this. Verse 6 here it says, it says, and the Lord said, Furthermore unto him, put now thine hand into thy bosom, and he put his hand into his bosom, and when he had took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. Now if this was Abraham, his hand went to paradise. Because, you know, apparently Abraham's bosom is paradise, but Moses' bosom is apparently just his chest. So, but he puts his hand into his bosom, I'm guessing he probably put it underneath of his garment, because the idea is that when it comes out, like obviously you're not seeing it, then it comes out, so I'm guessing he kind of put it like threw his shirt into his bosom, took it out, and it says that it was leprous as snow. And he said, put thine hand into thy bosom again, and he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. Okay, now notice what it says here in verse nine, so we see those two signs, and it's kind of like if they don't believe the first one, they'll believe the second one, and then in verse nine here it says, And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs. It's kind of like if all else fails, you know, like they'll probably believe this second one, but if that all fails, you know, third time's a charm, if you will, that's not what God says, that's what I'm saying here, is that you know, basically third time, or third different sign here, they'll believe it. Verse nine, it says, And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. Okay, so you see the three signs that he's given here, the one is the rod into a serpent, the other is the hand becoming leprous and being healed, and then it talks about the water into blood. Now, I believe all three of these signs have a spiritual application, obviously there's just the miraculous physical aspect of it, right, I mean if you saw that, if there wasn't a spiritual aspect to the rod being turned into a serpent, you know what, that's pretty miraculous that an inanimate object just turned into an animal, okay, and so that miraculous in itself, but this is probably a whole other sermon for another day to really go into these as far as what they would represent, but you can probably imagine what the rod and the serpent would represent when you think about the story of the brazen serpent, right, the serpent made out of brass, and you don't have to turn there, but I just want you to think about this when you think about I don't believe it was just like, well God's like, I got some signs to give, what am I going to do, alright, you got a rod right there, I'm going to turn that into a snake, like I don't think that it was just that, just like alright, I'll do this, I'll do this, I'll do this, I think there's a purpose, I believe there's a reason why he did what he did to picture what he's going to picture, okay, and obviously the number three has a lot of significance in the Bible when it comes to the Trinity, when it comes to Jesus was dead for three days and three nights, so you can kind of see the significance as far as why there's three signs, okay, but also what do these signs represent, well, what would a serpent and a rod represent, well, how about in Numbers 21 verse 9 it says Moses made a serpent a brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent a brass, he lived. Now this is that the passage you think in John chapter 3 where it says as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man also be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, and it's obviously talking about Jesus being nailed to the cross and being made sin for us, and so obviously the serpents would represent, you know, being bit by a serpent and the fact that you're a sinner, you're going to die, the wages of sin is death, but if you look upon the brazen serpent and you think about how Jesus was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, so he basically took all the sin upon him, and he even talked about how Jesus' feet are as polished brass in Revelation chapter 1 and the fact as if it burned in a furnace of fire, see where I'm going with this, as far as how he died for our sins, his body was put into a tomb, his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh received corruption, and that's how he paid for our sins. I believe each one of these represents salvation to a certain aspect here. How about the leprosy? Well, leprosy, obviously, and not to get too in detail with it, but it's a huge example of sin in the Bible and how it spreads, how it's contagious, how it'll just destroy you, right? And so leprosy and leaven are kind of those two things, like Old Testament a lot of times will talk about leprosy and how that will basically spread and all that, but then in the New Testament a lot of times we'll talk about leaven, right? So the leaven and how, you know, a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump, all that type of stuff, and you can see how leprosy would be perceived as sin. But the fact is that it's leprous, but then it's healed, but also the leprosy is like another being white as snow, and you think about the fact that though your sins be as scarlet, it says in Isaiah chapter 1, they shall be white as snow. And also the Bible says that the saved are going to wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the lamb. And so you can definitely see how these things apply when it comes to salvation, obviously the water and the blood and how the blood would apply to salvation. But what I was thinking about, and not to get too deep with this, but you probably, if you remember my sermons on, the sermon on the water and the blood, I don't remember if that's the name of the sermon or not, but basically it was talking about how Jesus came not by water, only by water and blood. And I talked about how Jesus, I believe, was Melchizedek before the Old Testament. But he was not he was not born of the Virgin Mary, he wasn't born blood-wise into this world until the Virgin Mary. So before Moses and the law you had Melchizedek and you had him as a high priest, right? And then you had the Levitical priesthood, and then that was changed to be the priesthood of the believers and Jesus Christ himself being the high priest. So I was showing how water represents, like, physical. So obviously Melchizedek was a physical person, but he was without beginning, having not a beginning of days nor end of life, without father without mother, so he didn't have a bloodline. Right? So Jesus would appear before the Old Testament and even in the Old Testament, but it wasn't he wasn't flesh and blood. He hadn't partaken of that. It's interesting because when we get to Moses here, what are we shifting from? From the water to the blood, aren't we? Because if you're thinking about how blood represents, like, the Levitical line, which is just purely bloodline, right? And Jesus was not only physical, basically he was Melchizedek was fully God, right? And then the Levitical priesthood was fully man. When Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, he was fully man and fully God. Flesh and blood. He came not by water only, but by water and blood. And so, not to get I don't want to get too deep with that, but I think it's interesting how it goes from water to blood. And, you know, obviously the aspect of Jesus and how that works out there. So, just some spiritual aspects there and again, that'd probably be a whole sermon for another day getting into what those things represent. But I just want you to see that there's three signs. I believe they all apply to salvation, dealing with paying for our sins and all that. Now, go to Exodus chapter 4 and verse 10, and we're going to see that Moses basically is refusing or does not want to be the man that God picks to go do this job. And notice what his excuse is. In verse 10 here, he says, Now this is a very good lesson for all of us to know here. Is that Moses is stating, you know, I'm not eloquent, I'm not, you know, another way to say it is like an orger. And the Bible talks about someone being an eloquent orger. And basically saying, you know, I can't speak well, you know, it's going to have to be someone else. And, you know, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, first of all. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 26. God could have picked somebody that was like this magnificent orger, but he picked Moses for a reason. And when it comes to those that are saved, what you have to realize is that most people that are saved are not going to be the top of like being speakers or the top of being even the most intelligent as far as like, you know, like Harvard and Yale and like all these people that are like the think tanks of the world, if you will. Like high end economists or whatever. And whatever you may think of those people, you know, that's the wisdom of this world. And you're just not going to most people that are saved are just not in that realm. I'm not saying those people don't exist, but let's just face it, most people that get saved are just everyday people. Everyday people, I'm not saying that we're dumb or anything like that, I'm just saying that we're not you know, the mighty and the wise of this world when it comes to most people that are getting saved here. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 26 it says, But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world, and things which are despised have God chosen yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. So if anything, the fact that Moses is not eloquent or that he's slow in speech, slow in tongue, that's what God wants. Right? The whole point, God wants to show the world that clearly it wasn't by Moses' power that they were brought out of the land of Egypt. I mean this gets into the story of Gideon, I mean Gideon had what 32,000 people with him to begin with, and it came down to 300, because God kept saying there's too many, there's too many because they'll say, you know what, we won this battle by our own hand, and people could boast about it, but when there was 300 against an army that you can't even number, you had to know that God was in that. And so when it comes to this, if you think about yourself, like, well I can't, I'm not a good speaker, you know, I'm not that intelligent, or whatever the case may be, and a lot of the cases I think you're just selling yourself short, you're being a little too down on yourself in most of these cases anyway, but even if that were the case, and you were right about it, and you're just like, yea, you know what, I just can't speak, well I can't do whatever, you know what, God uses that. God uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty, and, you know what, that's how God operates, and obviously God gets more glory from that. But, you know, being a good orator isn't, doesn't equal godliness, okay. Just because you can speak well doesn't mean that you are godly, and there's a lot of good speakers out there that are preachers. But those same preachers are a bunch of false prophets that are going to split hell wide open. Let me give you a couple examples of some good orators in the Bible. Okay, go to Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12 and verse 21. Herod. Okay. Apparently he was a pretty good orator. And what's an orator? It's someone that basically can speak well. Someone that, when I'm talking about speaking, I'm talking about public speaking. Like speaking to a crowd, getting their attention, and being dynamic, you know, and using good vocabulary, basically a good speaker. And notice what it says in Acts chapter 12 and verse 21. And upon a set day, Herod arrayed in royal peril, set upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. Okay, so Herod's on his throne. He's going to make an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout saying, it is the voice of a god and not of a man. Notice what it says in verse 23. It says, and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms and gave of the ghost. Not a good one. Actually, this is Herod, the one that killed Peter. I'm sorry, killed James, not Peter. He wanted to kill Peter. But this is the one, this is the Herod in the same chapter killed James, you know, the brother of John, son of Zebedee, killed him with a sword, and he gives this oration, doesn't give God the glory. They're like, you know, it's like a god speaking to us, and God kills him, and he's eaten of worms. Okay, so there's an example of a good orator. I mean, he was good. I mean, the people thought he was good. How about, how about Acts chapter 24, Acts chapter 24 and verse 1. Acts chapter 24 and verse 1. I'm just showing you places where it talks about someone being an orator. Okay, so if Moses is going to be like, you know what, I'm not eloquent, I'm not an orator, well, show me in the Bible where there's this great orator that God uses. I'll show you where there's two really wicked people that are orators, that are eloquent in their speech. Remember, you know, what did Paul say? We didn't come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom. But it's always the simplicity of the word of God because the word of God has power. And so you don't need to get up here and just, you know, just try to impress. And that's what a lot of orations are, is just, look at me, look how smart I am, and let me just impress you with my words. Okay. Acts chapter 24 and verse 1, it says, and after five days, Ananias the high priest descended with the elders and with a certain orator named Tertullus. Okay, so this guy's known to be an orator. Says, who informed the governor against Paul and when he was called forth Tertullus began to accuse him saying, so let's see, let's see if he sounds good here. Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence. We accepted always and in all places most noble Felix with all thankfulness, notwithstanding that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee, I pray thee that thou wouldst hear us of thy clemency a few words. Sounds so good, right? So flowery. Just, you know, it just you know, it just feels good on the ears, right? Though when I'm reading it, I know this is a wicked person that's trying to condemn a just person. So I'm looking at this person like you are wicked, you're full of pride, you think that you're so great at your speech and everything, and then Paul gets up and just speaks the truth, doesn't he? And but here's the difference. Paul has the Holy Ghost you know, behind him. He has God behind him to, you know, bring the remembrance of what to say and the power of the word of God will be more powerful than some stupid little oration that Tertullus said. Okay? Now, on that note, I don't particularly believe Moses. Okay? Now Moses said this. I do believe that Moses said that he is not eloquent and he's of a slow tongue and slow speech, right? But I want you to look at Acts 7, verse 22. Acts 7, verse 22. I'm not saying that Moses was the greatest orator in the world or he was like this most eloquent person in the world when it comes to his speech, but I don't believe that he's like this bottom of the barrel, bottom shelf speaker here. Okay? Like I think he's like just making it sound like he can't speak, like almost like he just can't even talk, like he can barely get through a sentence. You know, like he's really just selling himself way too short to the point where God's angry with him. You know, God gets angry with him and rebukes him about this. So, but in Acts 7, verse 22, it says in Moses, this is before he left Egypt, it says in Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, it was mighty in words and in deeds. Did you read that? He was mighty in words. I'm just so, I'm not eloquent. I'm slow with speech, slow with tongue. You know what that's a cop out for? Fear. I believe Moses was afraid to go up there alone and to speak to Pharaoh. Now, humanly speaking, could you blame him? I mean I can't blame him, but do you see how much of a contrast that is? I mean the Bible, the narration here, I mean obviously Stephen is preaching that sermon in Acts chapter 7, but I believe he's filled with the Holy Ghost. I believe that's all true. It says he was mighty in words before he left Egypt. Okay? So if you think about it, out of all the Israelites, who do you think would be the best choice? Moses. He's the one that grew up as an Egyptian mighty in words and in deeds in Egypt. Okay? So, you know, you kind of look at this and be like, well first of all, God can use anybody and God could use someone that's slow in speech, someone that's not eloquent, to get his word out. Because God's word is more powerful than any speech that's out here today. Okay? And simplicity sometimes is the best way to reach people. You make some flowery oration and your audience may not even grasp what you're saying. Sounds good, they think you're smart, but what's the point of making an oration? What's the point of even speaking so that they understand what you're saying? So the person gets up and just is blunt straight to the point, says what he means, and just calls it like it is. You know what? It may not sound as pretty, but those people know what he said. Right? And they can take that information and go with it. So I'm not saying, okay, to go so far down and be like, you know what, I'm going to decrease my vocabulary. And I'm just going to bring it down to like five words and I'm just going to use that and I'm going to sound like a caveman when I talk. No, obviously you want to you want to increase your vocabulary and be intelligent and read and all that stuff, okay? But the point I'm making is that, you know what, in the end you want to keep things simple. Okay? Every once in a while you might put in a vocabulary word that's maybe not used as much just so you can be a little more precise on what you're saying. Okay? But you shouldn't just be just going crazy with your vocabulary and just trying to be a thesaurus up here where you're just pulling out all these these words that people don't know and it's like, well, that means this but no one knows that word, okay? So anyway, that being said, I think Moses is obviously selling himself short because, you know, the Bible says that he was mighty in words and in deeds. So I don't particularly believe him that he's not eloquent at all or that he's that much slow in speech or anything like that. Now, this is where God's going to get angry with him. So if you have that information you know that he's like mighty in words and deeds in Egypt before he left there and he's just like, I'm not eloquent in speech I'm slow in speech. You can imagine that God's probably looking at him like I know who you are, right? I mean he knows where he came from but Exodus chapter 4 and verse 13 says, and he said, oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. So he's basically trying to get out of it and saying like send somebody whoever you will but basically it's kind of like not me though. Verse 14 it says, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart and thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what ye shall do and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and he shall be even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God and thou shalt take this rod in thine hand wherewith thou shalt do signs. So that same rod that he's you know basically turned into a serpent in front of Moses as the same rod he's going to use later on and this is where Aaron's going to be coming in. You'll see Aaron using the rod Aaron speaking and all this but basically I believe that God's you know this is a case where God doesn't force people to do anything right as far as like we have free will. I believe God wanted Moses to be the one speaking to Pharaoh and to do all of this but because Moses was trying to get out of it he's like you know is Aaron not your brother? I know he can speak well you know what he's coming to meet you and he's going to and you know he'll speak for you and basically now you're going to have this kind of you know Moses is one of the only people that the Bible talks about where he spoke with God face to face as a friend right and so that being said is that he's going to get the information from God and then basically he's going to give that information to Aaron. So that's the chain of events that's going to happen. Aaron's not speaking to God like Moses is and then Moses is going to give him the information and then Aaron's going to speak that out to the people and to Pharaoh and all that. And so that's how it ends up going down but I don't believe that's the way that it was specifically supposed to be at the very beginning. But what I'm going to show you later though is that God knew that's the way it was going to be. Just because God wanted it you know had a plan set for it doesn't mean he didn't know that that's not the plan it was going to go for. Because God declares the end from the beginning God knows the end from the beginning he knows what choices you're going to make but that doesn't mean he's still not going to try to put you down those paths that he wants you to go. But he knows whether you're going to veer off that path or whether you're going to choose to take that path or not and he already knows that and he's setting up things before that ever happens okay. And the thing that I'm going to show you is that actually he sends Aaron to Moses before that conversation ever happened I believe okay. And I'll show you that later but in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 18 there's something very similar obviously there's a lot of parallels when you're dealing with Moses and when you're dealing with Jesus okay. But here's a parallel that I see here dealing with Moses and Jesus which is the fact that Moses Moses flees from Egypt because a pharaoh who wants to kill him right Jesus well technically his parents flee from Israel because there's a king that wants to kill him but he flees to Egypt. It's opposite okay but notice this in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 18 it says, and Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said unto him let me go I pray thee and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt and see whether they be yet alive and Jethro said to Moses go in peace and the Lord said unto Moses and Midian go return into Egypt for all the men are dead which sought thy life. Now that phrase right there all the men are dead which sought thy life just kind of stuck out to me because of what it says in Matthew 2 about when Jesus was a child and what happened with Herod. Go to Matthew chapter 2 and verse 19 Matthew chapter 2 and verse 19 If you didn't already know this the whole Bible is about Jesus okay so when you're going through Genesis if you were here when I went through the book of Genesis I mean every single chapter had something about Jesus in it same thing with Exodus though I mean Exodus is packed I mean the Passover alone right there is huge when it comes to what Jesus is going to do in the future but in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 19 it says but when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt so they had already fled to Egypt saying arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young child's life and he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. See how it's the opposite right now Midian's not Israel don't get me wrong here but Moses flees from Egypt because the king of Egypt wants to kill him he comes back God says you can go back because everybody's dead that was going to kill you you know when Jesus was a child you know Joseph was holding a dream take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and then when he's in Egypt he says you can come back to Israel because those that wanted to kill the young child are dead you see the similarity it's obviously opposite as far as which going into Egypt or coming out of Egypt but it's very similar and then go to Exodus chapter 4 again in verse 20 so Moses is going to go there with his wife and his two sons now his two sons are Gershom and Eliezer and I want you to know instead of really just being green in your head that he goes there with them but then there's going to come a point where he's going to send them back but he goes there with them so he takes his family with them into this adventure if you will that he's about to get into here but in verse 20 it says Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass and he returned to the land of Egypt and Moses took the rod of God and his hand and the Lord said Moses, when thou goes to return into Egypt see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand but I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go so he's kind of telling them which he kind of already told them already in chapter 3 is that you're going to do all these wonders with this rod but just know that I'm going to harden his heart so he's not going to let you go even though he sees a lot of these wonders that are going to be done I love this because God's not just setting him up like he's surprised later on I thought when the frogs came he was going to let us go I thought when the lice came he was going to let us go just know that you're going to be doing all these signs but he's not going to let you go he's being let in on what's going to happen here now what I love about this is in verse 20 it says he took the rod of God in his hand so that rod is actually called the rod of God now that could have just simply been a shepherd's rod that he had there but that same rod is the one that he turned into a serpent, he says take that same rod and you're going to do my wonders with that and he calls it the rod of God which is interesting because remember that Moses basically was rejected by his people then he fled in the Midian after he killed the Egyptian but then it says that he's going to send them back to be a ruler and a judge over them but the thing that sticks out to me is that with this rod Egypt is going to be smitten by the rod of God and that's the key here is that Moses is just a man but it's by the rod of God that all these things are going to be accomplished and just some verses on this about the rod the rod of God if you will Psalm 2 for example it says in verse 9 thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel be wise now therefore O ye kings be instructed ye judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the sun lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him and there's many verses on this and I don't want to really belabor this because I mean in Revelation we see that you know how the child that was born of the woman was going to rule the nations with a rod of iron and it talks about you know Revelation 19 when Jesus comes on a white horse it says that he's going to rule them with a rod of iron but I think it's interesting that here Moses is given the rod of God but that's the key to remember here is that these wonders it's not like Moses had special powers okay and he was like this superhuman being you know to be revered as a superhuman being it's that he was a servant of the Lord he was a servant of God that God used and that it was God that did all those miracles God's the one that did that and it was with the rod of God and it's interesting too that he uses a shepherd's rod and you know thy rod and thy staff they comfort me you know talking about the famous the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want in Psalm 23 and how it's a shepherd's rod but it's also a rod that he's going to just smite the nations with and he smites Egypt with it obviously in Exodus which we'll be getting to so that's something interesting to see there Exodus chapter 4 and verse 22 Exodus 4 and verse 22 so he takes the rod of God with him and it says in verse 22 I want you to know that that last plague where he's going to all the first born including the first born that sits upon the throne of Egypt Pharaoh's first born that he said that from the very beginning ok so I believe Moses knows that all these signs and wonders that are going to be done it's not until this one that really it's going to happen but he's basically saying if you don't let my son go I'm going to kill your son that's the ultimatum that he's given Pharaoh and now this statement here is very interesting go to Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 this is a great example there's a verse in the Bible that has dual fulfillment ok and if you get into Bible prophecy you've got to understand that there's dual fulfillment there's kind of the immediate fulfillment or the shadow fulfillment if you will and then there's the ultimate fulfillment that comes later this happens all the time in the Bible especially dealing with prophecies of Jesus but notice what it says here in verse 1 so Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 it says when Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt do you see how that clearly could be talked I mean line that up with Exodus chapter 4 what did God say it says Israel is my son even my first born and I say unto thee let my son go that he may serve me now if you were reading modern versions where they actually take the Septuagint which is the Greek version of an Old Testament they change this to not say son but children ok I'm going to show you why that messes up this verse and it first of all is that what it says in Exodus does it say you know Israel are my children is that what it says no it says Israel is my son and these are all singular personal pronouns that are being used about Israel ok so go to Matthew chapter 2 Matthew chapter 2 now Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 does not say as it's written in Exodus chapter 4 but I'll say this it definitely applies to Exodus chapter 4 it definitely applies to that passage and what he's saying there but I'll say this is that I believe Exodus 4 Hosea chapter 11 is pointing to something greater and that's the Lord Jesus ok and notice what it says in Matthew chapter 2 and I'll look up here Matthew chapter 2 verse 13 it says and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son so according to Matthew 2 what is that verse in Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 specifically talking about Jesus Jesus being brought out of Egypt when he was a child so when it says when Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt that's talking about the Lord Jesus that's the ultimate fulfillment of that verse but it does have kind of a shadow fulfillment of the children of Israel being brought out of Egypt so I just want you to see that and show you a great example of something that's dual fulfillment if you will that happens all the time in the Old Testament ok when you're in Daniel it happens a lot sometimes you even have triple fulfillment meaning things happen over and over again it's kind of like this thing that keeps rhyming throughout history but you have it's all leading up to the ultimate fulfillment when you're dealing with the abomination of desolation yeah sure I believe it happened with Antiochus Epiphanes but that's not the ultimate fulfillment of the abomination of desolation the ultimate fulfillment is going to be the Antichrist with the false prophet with the dragon and then Jesus is going to come and destroy them at the very end ok and you're going to have a lot of that stuff happen throughout the Old Testament so I just want to show you that because this passage here just rings out about Hosea chapter 11 but then Matthew 2 just shows you how it applies to both but more so to Jesus ok now go back to Exodus chapter 4 and we're going to see the severity this kind of seems to pop out of nowhere but we're going to see the severity that God has about Moses circumcising his children ok something very severe here is about to happen it's almost kind of like this side note it's like whoa what's happening here right we're on this mission we're going to go we're going to go into Egypt we're going to do these signs and all of a sudden Moses is about to get killed and you're just like what happened right well let's read this and Exodus chapter 4 verse 24 says and it came to pass by the way in the inn so they're on their way I believe they're in an inn which would be like a hotel right they still call them inns right you have the holiday inn I don't think this was the holiday inn but it says that the Lord met him and sought to kill him now when it says him I believe it has to be going back to Moses because that's who we've been talking about is Moses ok so I don't believe it's talking about killing the child because we're going to get into circumcising the child here but basically they're at the inn and the Lord is meeting him and he's basically going to kill him kill Moses ok why verse 25 it says then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and said surely a bloody husband art thou to me so he let him go and she said a bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision so obviously there's some marital issues there about what they should be doing with circumcision right the Bible doesn't give us all the details about like what's going on and obviously Zipporah did not agree with circumcision ok now but that being said is that this is very important and you say well why is it so important that his sons are circumcised go to John chapter 7 John chapter 7 John chapter 7 verse 22 now in the New Testament we don't have to circumcise our children I don't don't plan on in the future but at the same time in the Old Testament and even right before the Old Testament with Abraham that was something that they had they were supposed to do and some physical thing that they were supposed to do but in John chapter 7 verse 22 it says Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision now if you just stop there you'd be like what Moses did it says not because it is of Moses but of the fathers because Abraham the covenant was actually given to Abraham to begin with I'm going to show you that but it says that Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision but it says not because it was of Moses but of the fathers and ye on the sabbath day circumcised a man if a man on the sabbath day received circumcision that the law of Moses should not be broken are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit hole on the sabbath day so he's kind of making a point here about obviously it's okay to heal somebody on the sabbath day but at the same time he's saying Moses gave you circumcision but he's like he didn't start with Moses that's the point he's making there the law of Moses it was in the law of Moses in the Old Testament you need to be circumcised to be a part of that covenant okay but circumcision didn't come from Moses originally it came from Abraham actually well it came from God to Abraham but in Genesis chapter 17 go to Genesis chapter 17 say why is he being so hard on Moses? Because Moses is the one bringing in the law okay if you're going to be the leader that's bringing in this covenant and circumcision is one of those commandments and you don't have your children circumcised then that's a problem but also the fact is that all those that were of Abraham's seed were supposed to be circumcising their children but then also basically all those that are in the Old Testament that was part of if they wanted to keep the passover they had to be circumcised you could be a stranger you could join but you had to be circumcised as a man but in Genesis chapter 17 verse 8 it says, and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God and God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations so when it comes to circumcision the physical circumcision what's it what's it specifically supposed to be for it's supposed to basically be there for the fact that he's gonna promise to bring them into the land what is Moses supposed to be doing but bringing them into the land of Canaan right that's the whole point now obviously Moses doesn't end up doing it cause he messes up and Joshua's the one that does it but at the same time Moses is the one that's supposed to be leading them out of Egypt and bringing them into the promised land he's gonna promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob down the line but that physical circumcision was like this token if you will it was a token to remind them like hey I'm going to bring you into the land of Egypt I have separated you from the rest of the world as a people and I'm gonna bring you into that land I'm talking physically speaking here all on the physical level here that physical people with physical circumcision physical land and then keep reading there in Genesis chapter 17 it says in verse 10 this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you even every man child in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with money or any stranger which is not of thy seed he that is born in thy house and he that is bought with money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people and he that he hath broken my covenant so when you go fast forward to Moses going into the land of Egypt to bring them into the promised land and he has a son that's not circumcised do you see the problem okay we may look at them and be like whoa seems like God's kind of over reacting here okay but if you understand what all that represents okay go to Colossians chapter 2 colossians chapter 2 obviously all this physical stuff represents spiritual right the seed of Abraham represents Christ you know the promised land ultimately represents new Jerusalem heaven right but circumcision also represents something spiritual okay so in the New Testament we're not worried about the physical circumcision we're not worried about the physical land right it's all spiritual to us because we don't care about you know a heavenly Jerusalem we care about a country a heavenly country you know that city that he's preparing for us you know we don't care about the city that's over there right now in the Middle East or anything like that okay but in Colossians chapter 2 verse 10 it says and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who had raised him from the dead so you have two you have an Old Testament ordinance and a New Testament ordinance mentioned there because even in the New Testament we baptize people physically in the water but both those things represent something spiritual and circumcision is no longer in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision if you be circumcised don't don't seek to be uncircumcised which I don't know how you do that but but if you're uncircumcised don't seek to be circumcised you know that's what the Bible teaches in the New Testament but when you're in that where they're at you know as far as this covenant with their fathers and they're going into this land that physical thing mattered there as far as just the physical aspect of going into land and all that okay if Moses was killed if he was killed here he would have went to heaven he was a saved man okay it's not like this had anything to do with his salvation but for him to be the leader that's going to bring them into the promised land that covenant needed to be kept and apparently his wife was not for that whole thing with circumcision I'd imagine Moses was probably like we need to circumcise our child now I've always looked at this as being like they just had Eliezer right because Gershom was kind of early on but Eliezer or Eliezer or however you say it his second son I always just imagine like it was a baby and they just hadn't circumcised him yet who knows this could have been like a teenager right I mean when they first did circumcision Ishmael was 13 just so you know Abraham was 99 for all you Bible trivia people out there that being said I don't really know how old his children were I mean Moses is 80 years old here he'd been in Midian for 40 years so he could have been a full grown man for all we know when he went there with his sons but that being said is that he got circumcised the hard way that's not the way I mean now 8 days with the circumcision is because actually medically speaking they'll even say that that's when your blood will start clotting when you start producing vitamin K and so there's actually medical reasons why you would wait till the 8th day to circumcise that's why a lot of times at the hospital they'll give them a bunch of vitamin K like a shot of vitamin K because if they're going to circumcise your child you've got to have that vitamin K if they're going to do it like right after the child is born or a day after or whatever because technically you need to wait till the 8th day I'm not circumcising my children anyway so it doesn't matter to me but that being said that's something where the biblical aspect fits perfectly with what we know medically now so almost done here in Exodus 4 and verse 27 here what we're going to see here is that I believe in Exodus 4 and 27 we're kind of kicking back in time a little bit to when God told Aaron to go out to meet Moses okay so remember when Moses was at the burning bush and he's like I can't speak I'm slow on speech and then God gets angry with him and he's like you're not your brother, well he's about to meet you in the wilderness right, it's kind of like he's going to meet you he's going to meet you, he's going to be there with you you know what, he's going to speak for you well this is kicking back to show you that God told Aaron to go out there it's not like just Aaron just roaming around the wilderness and then he's just like oh hey Moses right, he just happened to run into him no, God actually told him to go out and meet Moses notice what it says in verse 27 Moses said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses and he went and met him in the mouth of God and kissed him, so where did he meet him at did he meet him in Egypt did he meet him at the inn no he met him at the mouth of God which makes a lot of sense because that's where he's like literally on the mouth of God talking to God in this burning bush and says Aaron's coming to meet you right, and Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him so basically Aaron meets him there at the mouth and Moses just like tells him everything that's going on here back in verse 14 when God's angry with him notice what he says here he says, and the angry Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well, and also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart let me ask you, when he met him, was he glad? well he kissed him, I would say that that would count as being glad and so, do you see how it's kicking back saying like, before any of that happened he had already called Aaron and said hey, go meet Moses and I just love this because it really just shows God's like all knowing like, he's working in another, I don't want to say another dimension but he's working in another realm than what we would think of, right, I mean he's already got this he's got this, you know chip in play over here, or this this, you know what's the word I'm looking for, what's the chest term, right, I don't want to call Aaron a pawn, but he's got this one moving over here while he's speaking here knowing that he's going to want Aaron's help, or he's going to use Aaron for help, but he's trying to convince Moses to do it himself, he's already got this one moving into place, knowing what he's going to choose, and boom, there it meets okay, that's just a little insight to God's foreknowledge and God's, you know, determinant counsel, and how he works in a realm of time where he's outside of time okay, Exodus chapter 4 verse 29 it says that Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel, so at this point I think we're back to the point where, okay they're getting past the inn they've escaped that dilemma with the circumcision, and Moses and Aaron are now gathering together the elders that are in Egypt, okay and it says in verse 30 Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people, and the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads in worship. So you know, they did exactly what God told them to do, he found the children of Israel and something that, I don't know you know, sometimes we read past like I said, when you're dealing with this passage, there's been so many movies and so many shows and so many things that have been done on this story, that you have to just flush that out of your mind and just realize, oh okay he actually showed the sign of the serpent to his own people before he even did to Pharaoh right, he already turned water in the blood for his people before he ever did it to Pharaoh right, and just little things like that that stick out in your mind to say okay this is different the Bible's right, okay so you want to really just get this ingrained in your mind that this is how God did it he was convincing the children of Israel that Moses was sent by him, that he's going to deliver them out use these signs and he's trying to convince them first before they even go to Pharaoh okay, so Exodus chapter 4 like I said, that kind of ends the, gets done with the burning bush conversation with God there, but then it leads into him getting into Egypt, so now Moses is back in Egypt okay, and we're going to have a couple more chapters really before we get into the plagues okay, and stuff that leads up to that but I'm excited for that I'm excited for the book of Exodus in general just because there's so many great stories in it, and even some people say well once you get past Exodus 20 then it gets real dry okay, there's some places where you're talking about badgerskins and fine twine linen where we're going to, I'm going to try to make it exciting for you, okay but there's a lot of passages on judgments and laws that I think are going to be very interesting and very pertinent, okay, even if they aren't the laws of the land today, it'll teach you a lesson as far as how we should be judging things, what's right, what's wrong, and I think that's going to be very useful when we get to those passages so that's that one little word of prayer, Father we thank you for today thank you for your word, and thank you for the book of Exodus, and I pray that you'd help me to preach it rightly, and so that we can get everything we can out of it and Lord just pray that you'd help us to use it thank you for these stories and these passages that we can apply to our lives, and Lord we just love you and pray that you'd be with us as we go out throughout the rest of this week, and we pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, Amen Brother Dave will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed Alright, take your song books and turn to song 173 Song 173, if you would stand we'll sing Love Lifted Me, song 173 Heard my despairing cry From the waters Lifted me Now safe am I Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me When nothing else could