WHEN GOD IS VIEWED AS INSUFFICIENT Exodus 4:1-17
SETTING THE SCENE: • God meets with Moses • God commissions Moses • God tells Moses that He will be with him • God gives Moses a blue print
EXODUS 3:16-17 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
EXODUS 3:17-18 Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.
EXODUS 3:19-21 “However, I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, unless he is forced by a strong hand. I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles that I will perform in it. After that, he will let you go. And I will give these people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
EXODUS 3:22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”
EXODUS 4:11 Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
Why does Moses make excuses? Why does Moses present objections to God’s plan?
Because He doesn’t believe (or isn’t convinced) that God is sufficient.
EXODUS 3:11-12 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”
PRINCIPLE: When God asks us to do something we know we can't do on our own, it exposes whether or not we think He's sufficient
Why might Moses doubt God’s sufficiency?
He already tried to deliver the Israelites.
ACTS 7:23-25 As he was approaching the age of 40, he decided to visit his brothers, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. He assumed his brothers would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
Humanly speaking, it would be impossible.
MAIN IDEA: God is trying to teach Moses that He is sufficient.
MOSES’ OBJECTIONS AND GOD’S RESPONSES:
1. ISRAEL’S POTENTIAL REJECTION OF MOSES
EXODUS 4:11 Then Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
EXODUS 3:18 They will listen to what you say.
THREE MIRACALOUS SIGNS: a. The changing of Moses’ staff
EXODUS 4:2-4 The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” but the Lord told him, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand.
EXODUS 4:5 “This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
THREE MIRACALOUS SIGNS: a. The changing of Moses’ staff b. The changing of Moses’ hand
EXODUS 4:6-7 In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, white as snow. Then He said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” He put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.
THREE MIRACALOUS SIGNS: a. The changing of Moses’ staff b. The changing of Moses’ hand c. The water of the Nile changing to blood
EXODUS 4:8-9 “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
EXODUS 7:8-10 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
EXODUS 7:11-12 But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers— the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices. Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent.
2. MOSES’ INADEQUACY
EXODUS 4:10 But Moses replied to the Lord , “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent —either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant — because I am slow and hesitant in speech.”
ACTS 7:22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.
2 CORINTHIANS 2:14-16 But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. And who is competent for this?
2 CORINTHIANS 3:5-6 We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ. It is not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.
EXODUS 4:11-12 Yahweh said to him, “Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”
3. MOSES REQUESTS FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO GO
EXODUS 4:13-15 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and He said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do.
EXODUS 4:16-17 He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will serve as God to him. And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”
KEY THOUGHT: The primary way any person will be convinced that God is sufficient is through obedience
EXODUS 33:12-13 Moses said to the Lord, “Look, You have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ Now if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, please teach me Your ways, and I will know You and find favor in Your sight. Now consider that this nation is Your people.”
EXODUS 33:13-16 Then He replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” “If Your presence does not go,” Moses responded to Him, “don’t make us go up from here. How will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight unless You go with us? I and Your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”
APPLICATION • Ask yourself if there are any areas where you are making excuses to justify disobedience
APPLICATION • Ask yourself if there are any areas where you are making excuses to justify disobedience • Evaluate the evidence for God’s sufficiency
APPLICATION • Ask yourself if there are any areas where you are making excuses to justify disobedience • Evaluate the evidence for God’s sufficiency • Take a step of faith
Recommend
More recommend
