Promise Of Deliverance And Redemption

[0:00] Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus in chapter 6. Before we get into the text, let me just note, I hope when you guys hear the scripture read like earlier, Paul read from Nehemiah that you feel sympathy for those that have to read Hebrew names.

[0:34] I hope you're very sympathetic. That is not easy. Just saying that right before we read as this sits because we get into a genealogy. So I hope you'll be very merciful as we work our way through that. Now having said that, I hope it's not a distraction.

[0:46] But we're reading together as this sits. We're going to look at the entire chapter today. So I'm going to read verses 1 through 30. You guys can pray for me in the genealogy section. Let's pray.

[0:58] Let's read. Let's read. That's it. It's beginning in verse 1. But the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.

[1:10] For with a strong hand, he will send them out. And with a strong hand, he will drive them out of his land. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord.

[1:22] I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But by my name, the Lord, I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.

[1:37] Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel, whom the Egyptians hold as slaves. And I have remembered my covenant. Say, therefore, to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

[1:55] And I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.

[2:08] And you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

[2:21] I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

[2:35] So the Lord said to Moses, go in, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But Moses said to the Lord, behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me.

[2:48] How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? For I am of uncircumcised lips. But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

[3:05] These are the heads of their fathers' houses, the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, Hanak, Pelu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.

[3:16] The sons of Simeon, Jameel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul. The sons of a Canaanite woman.

[3:28] These are the clans of Simeon. These are the names of the son of Levi according to the generations. Gershon, Kohath, and Mereri. The years of the life of Levi being 137 years.

[3:42] The sons of Gershon, Libni, and Shammai by their clans. The sons of Kohath, and Amram, Ishar, Hebron, and Uziel.

[3:54] The years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. The sons of Mereri, Mali, and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to the generations.

[4:08] Amram took as his wife, Jachbed, his father's sister. And she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of the life of Amram being 137 years. The sons of Ishar, Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

[4:25] The sons of Uziel, Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amenadab, and the sister of Nashon.

[4:42] And she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The sons of Korah, Asir, Elkaniah, and Abisath. These are the clans of the Korahites.

[4:54] Eliezer, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel. And she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the father's houses of the Levites by their clans.

[5:08] These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their host. It was they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt.

[5:21] This Moses and this Aaron. On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, the Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you.

[5:33] But Moses said to the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me? Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

[5:45] And we again ask for your spirit's help as we open your word, as we consider it, as we look at it. We think even of what we read in Nehemiah, that they read the word of the Lord out loud. And these men, these teachers, gave the sense of it.

[5:59] Lord, we pray that your spirit would guide as the sense of your word is given to us. And as that word is applied to our hearts. We pray that you'd be glorified in the preaching of the word. We ask this all in Christ's name.

[6:10] Amen. Now, just to remind you of where we were last time we were in Etzis. We had seen in chapter 5 the beginning of a battle between the Lord, Yahweh, and Pharaoh.

[6:24] So, God and Pharaoh are going to battle, as it were. And they're drawing out those battle lines with some of the things we saw last time. God had declared that the Israelites would leave Egypt.

[6:35] And then in 5.2, we see Pharaoh's response. He says, moreover, I will not let the Israelites go. And so, God has said, they're going? He says, no, they're not. And so, you see the battle beginning.

[6:45] Who's really the God? And we talked about how Pharaoh was considered in Egypt to be divine. He is a God. And so, now this battle is raging between these gods.

[6:57] Is it Yahweh or is it Pharaoh? Who's really sovereign? Who's in control? We looked at how Moses and Aaron began their speech to Pharaoh with, Thus says the Yahweh, the God of Israel.

[7:12] Which is really giving an order from God in chapter 5, verse 1. And then later on in verse 10, Pharaoh sends a decree to the people which says, Thus says Pharaoh. Here's what God says.

[7:23] Now, you better listen to what I have to say. And so, again, we see that battle beginning. And then I said the crucial question that's being asked here that's going to be answered throughout the coming chapters was, Pharaoh says, who is the Lord?

[7:37] Which, again, is that word Yahweh. Who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? And he asks this somewhat rhetorically. He's saying, he's no one that I should listen to.

[7:50] I have no obligation to listen to him. I'm on God. I can do what I want. But the question's crucial because that's what I think we see answered throughout these remaining verses.

[8:01] Who is Yahweh that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? And so chapter 6 begins with God's reply to Pharaoh's opposition. But the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.

[8:16] For with a strong hand he will send them out. And with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. And so here's what Pharaoh says. They're not going anywhere. And God says, Moses, sit back and you're going to see what I'm going to do.

[8:28] I'm going to put him in his place. I'm going to show him who's God. God will deliver his people by using his power to make Pharaoh send the Israelites out.

[8:40] He's going to cause Pharaoh to drive them out. God even paints this picture that it's not as though he's coming in and rescuing them by secret. He's going to make Pharaoh do his work for him.

[8:52] Pharaoh is a tool in God's hand. And so he sets really the stage there. And so I think that really sets the background for what we're looking at in our passage. What I've really focused on today is the faithfulness of God that we see primarily in verses 2 through 8.

[9:09] And that's what I want to look at first as our first point, God's faithfulness. And then we'll touch on some of the genealogy and Moses' response. But first let's look at God's faithfulness there in verses 2 through 8.

[9:20] There's a phrase that's repeated there, and I hope you called it as we read through. Repeatedly God says, I am the Lord. And again, I know this is difficult, but to distinguish between what we would think of as Lord and just Master in general versus Yahweh.

[9:36] But remember, we're looking for those all caps here in Exodus and in the Old Testament. And so we see all four times he says, I am Yahweh. But it's repeated four times in these seven verses.

[9:50] He begins his discourse with Moses with those words. Look at verse 2. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord.

[10:02] Or again, I am Yahweh. So that's how he begins as he speaks to Moses. He tells Moses when Moses speaks to the Israelites that that's how he is to begin his speech. Verse 6.

[10:13] Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. So this is where you begin when you speak to the Israelites. I am Yahweh. And then we see in verse 7 that God will make the people to know that he is the Lord.

[10:29] I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am Yahweh, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And then finally in verse 8, God assures the people that they will inherit the land because he is the Lord.

[10:44] I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for possession. I am Yahweh. And so this really becomes quite crucial.

[10:56] The repetition of it ought to key us into this is important. Look what God keeps repeating. I am Yahweh. I am Yahweh. I am Yahweh. I am Yahweh. Yahweh to Moses.

[11:07] Moses to the people. He tells them what he is going to do. He is going to make known to them that he is Yahweh. And then he says, I am going to do it because I am Yahweh. That is the reason behind it. It is the result of it.

[11:19] It is the foundation for it. Now remember again the question that we saw in the last chapter. What does Pharaoh ask? Who is Yahweh that I should listen to him?

[11:30] And so that question really is set up for us what we are seeing now. God is saying, this is who Yahweh is. Pharaoh had asked the question.

[11:42] And God told Moses and the people that they will know him as Yahweh. So his work in delivering them. His work in giving them the land that they will inherit. All these things will reveal to them who Yahweh truly is.

[11:58] And then look at verse 3. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty.

[12:09] Again, I know we are not that familiar with Hebrew. But that is the Hebrew name El Shaddai. God has revealed himself. Or he has appeared to them as God Almighty El Shaddai. But by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them.

[12:23] Now I did include that in the four times he says I am Yahweh. Because that is that set phrase. But here is that word again for a fifth time in these seven verses. And this is really quite interesting.

[12:35] God says the patriarchs, and we can assume those before him, didn't know him as Yahweh. They only knew him as God Almighty. Now this is so difficult, I think, for us in English because we don't really think of names as indicating much about people's character.

[12:52] My name Chad doesn't tell you much about me. I was named that long before the Chads in the election and everything else came out. So that in no way shapes anything about my character.

[13:04] I am not a pregnant Chad or a hanging Chad or whatever. It tells you nothing about me. We don't think of names that way in English culture. And so it may be difficult for us.

[13:15] But he is saying God has manifested himself as God Almighty. This powerful God. This almost distant God from us. He is powerful and separated from us. But they did not know him by his covenant name.

[13:28] They did not know him relationally. I thought that the name itself implies relationship.

[13:45] So I thought maybe a good example of this that I'll pick on one person in the congregation. Dr. Guzman has been my doctor.

[13:57] He's been taking care of me ever since. Everything that happened with the E. coli. And so I'm on the phone with him one time. And I say, oh doctor, thank you. And he got on to me.

[14:08] He said, why do you call me that? I said, because you're my doctor. You're taking care of me. It was like reverence. He's like, no, I'm Pedro. And I think how true that is that there's a relationship there that goes beyond just the doctor-patient relationship.

[14:26] We're brothers in the Lord. We are friends beyond that. We are elders together. We have a relationship that I can call him by his first name. That I can call him up on the cell phone when he's at work and really just butt in when other patients may not have that privilege.

[14:40] There's a relationship there that's implied by the fact that I call him by his first name. I thought another example was Leonardo and I were at class this past week and we had a professor that we called Dr.

[14:52] It was Dr. Allison was our professor. I don't call him by his first name. That would be awkward. It would be implying something that I don't have.

[15:02] I think that helps us to get an idea of what's going on here. God's making himself known in a way that had not been known before. But let me just step back and say, is it true?

[15:17] Is that true? Let's just look at some statements from the Bible. So Genesis 17, 1 through 2. The Lord appeared to Abram. This is the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 17.

[15:27] The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. That's El Shaddai, the same word that's used in our passage. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.

[15:41] So that speaks specifically to what God says here. They knew me as God Almighty. I made covenant with Abraham as God Almighty. And even this walk before me and be blameless, coming from an almighty God, had to be quite fearful or frightening for Abraham.

[16:02] But that name Yahweh, we first see in chapter 2 of Genesis. And it appears 11 times there. Now it's easy to, as we look at the creation account, it's easy to say, well, we know that Moses wrote Genesis after this account.

[16:18] But Moses knew God as Yahweh, so maybe he wrote back what he knows about him back into the story, if that makes sense. He used the name that he knows for God in the creation account.

[16:30] That's very possible. But as we look through the book of Genesis, we see that there are other times in which he continues to use God's name as Yahweh. And so, one possibility is, if we take this a very straightforward reading of the passage and say, Moses talks about God as Yahweh, even though no one really knew him as Yahweh back then.

[16:53] And that's a real possibility. He uses God's covenant name, because that's who God is. But the people back then didn't really know him as God. But I think another real possibility is, God is revealing something special about him.

[17:07] Let me give you a few examples that might point to the fact that people actually did use the name Yahweh before. Genesis 4.26. To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh.

[17:19] At that time, people began to call upon the name of Yahweh. Now, again, it could be Moses writing it in, but people specifically began to call upon the name of Yahweh. Yahweh. So, what I think is going on here is that God may be revealing to them, saying, I'm going to reveal something about my name that's never been known before.

[17:40] They knew me as El Shaddai. You're going to know me as Yahweh. You're going to know that relationship. I'm going to reveal who Yahweh is. So, even though the name may have been known before, they didn't know what the name meant.

[17:53] I'm going to show you what the name means. And how is he going to do that? It's going to be through the Exodus. Through God's deliverance of his people, and ultimately through bringing them into the Promised Land.

[18:05] So, Peter ends, paraphrases it this way. He says, I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but only partially in the capacity of El Shaddai. But who I am fully, which is what my name Yahweh captures, I did not make known to them.

[18:21] This is made known first only now to you, the Exodus generation, who will witness my mighty saving power. I thought that's a good paraphrase of what God may be communicating to them.

[18:34] They only knew me partially. You're about to know me in a whole new way, in a deeper level than ever has been known before. But again, I said, our topic is God's faithfulness.

[18:46] And this revelation of who Yahweh is, is only one part of how we see God's faithfulness. We see his faithfulness revealed in this passage, because he is a God who keeps his promise.

[18:57] He made covenant with Abraham. Now he remembers that covenant. To Abraham and to the patriarchs. He remembers the covenant. Now, let me just say again, I'm sure by now I don't need to say this, but just remind you that when it says God remembered the covenant, it doesn't mean God forgot.

[19:13] Okay, God is not like us in that way. God is not forgetful. He doesn't go, oops, I said I was going to do something. I forgot to do it. What have I been doing for those last 400 years?

[19:24] I should have done this a lot sooner. Sorry about that. That's not what remember means. We've seen already that God prophetically told them that they would be in the land of Egypt for 400 years, and that they would be slaves there.

[19:37] So it's not that God just now remembered that that's what he said, and now he's going to do it like we do. You know, I know I told you I'd take out the trash. I forgot, but I'll do it today. I promise.

[19:49] That's not what God's saying. What God is saying is that this is the reason behind what he's about to do. He has promised that he will do it. Now he will act upon that promise.

[20:01] He's communicating the reason for his acting in this situation. It is because of his covenant promises that he will deliver them, which means that he's faithful to what he's promised.

[20:14] God has said he will do it. God will do it. There are probably plenty of times that we say we're going to do things, like taking out the trash, and we don't do them. Someone else has to come behind us and do them or whatever it may be, but we don't carry out what we say we're going to do oftentimes.

[20:30] Sometimes it's because we forget. Sometimes it's because we lied. Sometimes we just don't have the power to execute what we say we're going to do. We think we're going to do something, only to realize that we're not actually capable of doing that because of something else being more powerful to us that may stop us.

[20:50] But the fact that God keeps his promise, that God does what he says he will do, means that our God can be trusted. What he says, he will accomplish.

[21:01] And so that means not only that our God can be trusted, but that his word can be trusted. What he's told us, we know to be true and can be believed. And so what's going to happen?

[21:13] Well, we see in verses 6 through 8 that God will bring them out, that he will deliver them, and that he will redeem them. Look there with me. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

[21:26] I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you up out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

[21:44] I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. And so we see, again, that God will bring them out, he will deliver them, and he will redeem them.

[21:59] God is a redeemer of his people. It says 15.13, we read after the fact, they say, you have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.

[22:10] You have guided them by the strength, by your strength to your holy abode. So there's that spoiler, the teaser there, right? You know how the story's going to end. When it's all over, what are they going to say?

[22:22] You redeemed us, and you brought us to your holy abode. And the reality is that he has redeemed a people to dwell with him forever. We know in the gospel that God delivers us from bondage to sin by redeeming us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[22:41] He makes us his people, and he to be our God, that he might bring us into his presence in the new earth, that we might dwell with him forever. And I'll touch on this again in the conclusion, but what we see here is really a picture of the gospel, isn't it?

[22:58] We've talked about how the slavery in Egypt pointed to our bondage and sin, and that we being spiritually dead. And even the passing of the waters points to the idea of baptism into new life.

[23:13] And the promised land speaks of eternity with God the Father in the new earth. And so as we go through here, we see this beautiful picture of the gospel. I will bring them out from under the burden of the Egyptians.

[23:25] I will deliver them from slavery to them. And I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. Again, I'll come back to this in the conclusion.

[23:39] But God says he will deliver his people with great acts of judgment. What does he mean? You know by now probably it's the pleads that he brings on Egypt. But just consider, is this not also true in the gospel?

[23:53] God delivers his people through great acts of judgment. What does he mean? God's judgment for your sin, if you're a Christian, is taken out on the Son, on Jesus Christ.

[24:06] God pours out his judgment. So if you're a Christian today, you've been delivered, you've been redeemed by great acts of judgment. God's judgment upon Christ, who bore your sin on the cross.

[24:17] What a beautiful picture of the gospel. Listen to God's words in the New Testament, Colossians 1, 13 through 14. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

[24:37] From the domain of darkness. From the domain of darkness. I imagine that if you were living in Egypt and slavery, you might well describe that as the domain of darkness. And here we see spiritually God has delivered us from the domain of darkness.

[24:49] And it says, And transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So when we talk about being redeemed, what does that mean?

[25:01] Well, Colossians there uses an appositive to say, Redemption is the forgiveness of sins. That's what it means to be redeemed, is to have your sins forgiven. Revelation 21, 3 through 4.

[25:14] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God.

[25:25] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away.

[25:40] So, I want to be careful that we remember not only what God has redeemed us from, but also what God has redeemed us for. You guys may remember we talked about that the theme for these messages on the front of your bulletin is from bondage to glory.

[25:57] And this is exactly what God is saying to them here. He's going to deliver them from bondage. To what end? Well, what does it say in verse 8?

[26:07] I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. So there's a land. There will be a place that he will bring them into.

[26:19] But look back at verse 7. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

[26:32] So there's a land, but there's also what? A relationship. I will be your God, you will be my people. That is really the covenant promise to Abraham that's repeated throughout the Bible, throughout the Old Testament.

[26:46] What Christ is working is to make us to be God's people, that we might dwell with him forever in a land. And that's not Canaan. Right?

[26:57] We're not looking for a physical land on this earth as it stands today. We're awaiting the return of Christ. Can we believe that Christ will return? Well, yes. God's faithful.

[27:09] He remembers his promise. Christ is returning. And when he returns, this earth will be consumed in fire, and there will be a new earth, and new heavens, new skies, and we will dwell with the Lord forever, which is the picture we see in Revelation 21.

[27:25] He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. What would that be like? He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[27:39] That doesn't mean that we're going to be crying, and God's going to be there just wiping tears out of our eyes. I think you understand what's being said is, there will no longer be tears. And death shall be no more. Death is done away with, so are tears.

[27:53] I think that's the connection there, if you're catching that. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. These things are over with when we dwell in the presence of the Lord.

[28:03] What a glorified, beautiful existence this is. This is a picture that's being painted for us here in the Exodus. Now, we've seen the faithfulness of God.

[28:17] Let me just touch for a moment on Moses, and really the genealogy, just briefly, because I don't think that's the major point of the passage. I would demonstrate that even. Verse 30 repeats verse 12.

[28:34] I probably could go even further and say verse 29 actually is a repetition as well. So 29 and 30 repeat what's already been said. Look there. The Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord. I tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you.

[28:47] I'm sorry. Tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say to you. But Moses said to the Lord. So God tells Moses what he should say. And Moses responds, I can't say it because I have uncircumcised lips.

[28:59] Have we heard that before? Well, yeah, back in 11 and 12. Go tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go out of this land. But Moses said to the Lord, Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me.

[29:10] How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? I am of uncircumcised lips. So verses 29 and 30 repeat what we see in verses 11 through 12.

[29:21] Why the repetition? I would argue that what comes in between is really parenthetical information. Right? We can imagine putting a parenthesis around this. You guys have read stuff.

[29:33] There's a parenthesis there. You can kind of read over it. But there's important information there. But it kind of hinders the flow of the story a little bit. Or maybe we might say that they go on a sidetrack.

[29:43] Maybe if we were reading an academic book, this would be a big footnote at the bottom of the page. You know, you look down at the bottom. I know a lot of you just skip over the footnotes. The book that, one of the books that De'Alder and I had to read for our last class, it was this massive, like 780-page book.

[30:00] And I'm looking at it, and some of the pages, half the page is footnotes. And I'm like, shoo, you know, because I'm skipping over most of that. But the information is there for you to know. And so we can almost picture this like that.

[30:12] The fact that it's repeated points to the fact that we're picking up the story again. I went off on this sidetrack, but here we are. We're going to go back to where we were before. And so he repeats that information to keep the flow of the story going, if that makes sense.

[30:25] So why is the genealogy there? Why is he included at all if it's not really fitting in the flow of the story? Well, I think it's there to point to the fact that Moses and Aaron are true Israelites from the tribe of Levi.

[30:43] And remember, Moses is writing this later on while they're in the wilderness. So this information isn't being revealed in the course of the story as we follow the historical flow of this narrative. This information is not being revealed to them.

[30:54] This is something that he adds when he writes this. But it's for the sake of the people in the wilderness to know that Moses and Aaron really are from the tribe of Israel.

[31:06] Now, why would that matter? Let me say before I even get into that, this is part of a genealogy that's probably taken from another book somewhere. He's including a genealogy. He doesn't make it through all the tribes of Israel.

[31:18] He stops when he gets to Levi. So he's following the flow of some other book. I think he does four tribes, including Levi, altogether. When he gets to Levi, he stops because why? Well, he's dealt with Moses and Aaron.

[31:29] And he even points out, this is that Moses and Aaron that are in the story. You guys remember, Moses was in Pharaoh's house for the first, well, until he was 40.

[31:43] And we talked about, we don't know exactly when he went into Moses' house. Once he was weaned, it could be when he was two. It could be a little bit older than that. But he may have spent the first 38 years of his life in Pharaoh's house.

[31:55] He then spent 40 years in the wilderness. He comes back and rescues the people. They're out there in the wilderness. And who are you? We don't know you. You didn't grow up with us.

[32:07] How do we know you really are? And so he traces out this heritage to say, this is who I am. And so I think this is included for us so that we know that they really are from the tribe of Israel.

[32:21] I would even argue that Moses is showing us God's faithfulness again. 400 years have passed that they've been in slavery. But they haven't lost this lineage that he can show that he's really from one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

[32:36] He can trace that heritage back and show God has been faithful to keep this people that ultimately, though not from the tribe of Levi, but ultimately that God would bring about the Savior, the Messiah.

[32:48] And let me just briefly touch on the fact that we see Moses again doubt himself. I feel like I've dealt with this a good bit in past sermons. But we see it in verse 12. And again, that's what's repeated in the end.

[33:00] The people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me? Such a great human argument. It's the kind of thing we would all say. Look, I made my argument to the Israelites and they wouldn't believe me.

[33:13] Maybe you could argue, I made my argument in Hazleton and the citizens of Hazleton wouldn't believe me. What hope do I have of convincing the president to believe me? Right? It's a logical argument.

[33:27] If the Israelites wouldn't believe me, and they're even your people. They know the promises and they won't believe me. What's this other man who thinks he's God going to do listening to me?

[33:39] He's not going to believe me. Again, I think Moses is looking at himself and his perceived sense of failure and believing that he's incapable of doing what God's called him to do.

[33:59] Now, in himself, sure, he's incapable, isn't he? But the problem here is he's forgotten what's been stated and who it is who stated it.

[34:10] His attention should be on God who is faithful. Look at verse 13. But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge, a command, about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

[34:25] God's given a command. Look back at verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.

[34:38] Does Moses believe God? God said he's going to do it. It's not Moses that has to convince Pharaoh.

[34:50] Moses doesn't have to be some skillful orator to get Pharaoh to believe what he wants him to believe. Who's going to make the people to leave? Pharaoh is the secondary means, but the primary means is God.

[35:08] God's going to cause the people to leave. I read verse 1 and it's almost like, Moses, get a lawn chair, sit back, prop up, and relax. I got this handled. And by the time we get to verse 12, he's like, I can't do it.

[35:21] And so, I think again, we're taught the lesson that our trust has to be in the faithfulness of our God and not in our own strength. It is so easy to look at things and perceive failure and think, I can't do it.

[35:35] I was reading an article this week of just the great resignation that they're calling it in America and how that's even gone into the church and how many pastors have resigned during this pandemic.

[35:55] And I think it's so easy to look at things and perceive that as personal failure. And it's so hard to keep saying our trust is in God, His strength, His power.

[36:08] Is God faithful to His promises? Can we trust God? Yes. He's about to demonstrate that in powerful ways. God's promised Abraham that they would leave Egypt, that they would be given a land, wait and see what the Lord's going to do.

[36:27] And that's kind of my message to all of us. Let's wait and see what God's going to do. As the passages are revealed. And Lord willing, next week we're going to get into the first, although maybe not the first of the pledge, but the first sign and the beginning of the pledge.

[36:42] It's coming. We're about to see God's power being worked out in the deliverance of His people. So let me just make a few points of application as we close. This passage is really the beginning of what we might call the Exodus.

[36:55] It's been building up to the Exodus. We're beginning it now. And it tells us that the Exodus will reveal the name of Yahweh. It's going to reveal who God is. We're going to see His faithfulness.

[37:06] We're going to see His power. And we're going to see His love for His people and how that's going to be manifested all throughout the Exodus. So that's, again, that teaser for us to be looking for as we go ahead.

[37:18] As we study through this book, we don't want to miss that in the account. We want to see God's faithfulness, His power, and His love for His people as He delivers them. And so God has said to them, you're about to know Me in a whole new way.

[37:35] You're about to see who Yahweh is. And I think if that's true for them, how much more true is it for you? Have you seen who Yahweh is?

[37:47] Has God manifested Himself to you? Listen to John 1.18. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side.

[37:59] He, that's Jesus, has made Him known. I think this is almost the same words we see here in our passage, isn't it? He could say, no one's ever known Yahweh the way you're about to know Yahweh.

[38:11] They knew El Shaddai. They knew God as being all-powerful. But they didn't know Him the way you're about to know Him. And John 1.18 tells us, no one's ever seen God, but Christ has made Him known.

[38:25] Christ has shown us God. And so we have even greater blessing than the Israelites had. Or Hebrews 1.1-3.

[38:35] Long ago, and many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in His last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things through whom also He created the world.

[38:51] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. And He upholds the universe by the word of His power. So God in the past spoke to us by prophets.

[39:03] But in His last days, He's spoken to us by His Son, who is fully God, the exact imprint of His nature, who upholds the universe, who is there in the creation itself. So just like Israel, who are about to know Yahweh, we have even more of God revealed to us in His word through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[39:25] What a blessing that is. And how often we might neglect that. Secondly, in application, Etz. 5.15, so going back to that last chapter, the foreman of the people of Israel came out to Pharaoh and said, why do you treat your servants like this?

[39:41] So remember, the Israelites cry out to Pharaoh for deliverance. Why do you treat us like this? Stop with the treatment without the straw that we're having to make the Brits. Pharaoh responded, you're idle.

[39:55] He says, you're lazy. You are lazy. That is why you say, let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of Brits.

[40:08] As we think of our comparison of gods, as Pharaoh and Yahweh go to war, Israel in this moment of weakness cry out to Pharaoh for deliverance. And what do they get?

[40:20] You're lazy? Get back to work and I'm giving you no help. By contrast, God hears the cries of his people and he answers them.

[40:32] What God is like that? What God hears the cries of his people and answers them? Psalm 26 through 8. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed.

[40:43] He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh, our God.

[40:57] They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. As I hear that, I think, it's probably too long that Americans have trusted in the strength of their own wealth or the might of their government.

[41:11] Some trust in horses and some trust in chariots. What are your horses and chariots that you trust in today? But the contrast is, but we trust in the name of Yahweh, our God.

[41:25] Is that where your trust is today? How about over the last two years with everything that's happened with COVID and all the stuff with the government, has your trust been in Yahweh in the name of your God?

[41:38] Or have we been perplexed because our trust all along was never in Yahweh? it was in the government or it was in the comfort of our life, our wealth, our job?

[41:53] I want to encourage you, maybe more than encourage and say, Christians, we have to trust in the name of our God. That's where our trust is.

[42:04] He is faithful. He hears. He delivers with the might of His right hand. He alone is all-powerful. He alone truly cares for us. He alone is faithful to His Word.

[42:20] And I mentioned this already. I said I'd come back to it, but finally, we see the faithfulness of God is manifested foremost in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1.20 tells us, for all the promises of God are yes in Him, in Christ.

[42:38] God's promises are fulfilled in the person of Christ. We have not yet seen the fulfillment of all those promises. We've seen the foretaste of it. We await the consummation of it. But all the promises of the Old Testament we see come to fulfillment in Jesus Christ and His person and in His work.

[42:55] God remembered His covenant to save His people and Christ came to fulfill that covenant promise. I've mentioned a little bit about this, but verse 6 reads, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

[43:11] And I thought one of the commentators I looked at, Tim Chester, writes a good summary or explanation of this. He says, Ultimately, that promise found its fulfillment as Jesus died.

[43:22] The arms of God were both outstretched on a cross. There was a mighty act of judgment, but the judgment fell not on God's enemies, but on God Himself in the person of His Son.

[43:37] Jesus redeems us to be God's people by dying for us. When you're wondering what God is doing, when you doubt His kindness, when you're struggling to trust Him, when life gets harder rather than better, look to the cross.

[43:51] See how God Himself bears His own judgment out of love for you to redeem you. If you're struggling to obey God, you don't need more willpower. You need to know God more.

[44:03] That's what we're seeing in the story. God's allowing Himself to be known more. You will know me as Yahweh. And again, we have a greater knowledge of that through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[44:17] We need to remember who is God. He is a God who is faithful. How do we know He's faithful? Well, He kept His promise to save us. How did He do that? By pouring out His judgment on His own Son in love for us that He might redeem us and bring us into His presence that we might have joy forevermore.

[44:37] Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are a God who is faithful to His promises even though it cause great pain, great hardship as we see Christ suffering on the cross.

[44:54] And yet, Lord, we thank You that You are faithful to Your promise, that You have saved a people for Your own name. Lord, we pray if there are any in this room who have never trusted in Jesus Christ, that they would do so, that they would see the gospel clearly presented here, Your wrath poured out on sin, either on the sinner or on our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that they would flee to Christ for refuge, that they would find deliverance from the dark domain, Lord, that they would one day enter into Your very presence.

[45:24] Oh, Lord, what a blessed promise that is. We thank You that You are faithful, God, and help us, Lord, not to trust in horses or chariots, whatever that may look like in our day, but that our trust would be in Your name.

[45:38] We pray this in that great name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen.