Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20090517.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part I: God's Deliverance Of Israel From Egypt, Exodus 1:1-15:21
F. God's Overruling Of Others' Objections To Moses' Obedience To Him
(Exodus 4:18-31)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    At times, and at various levels, we find ourselves caught between God's will and the will of others when they strongly disagree:

    (1) Richard W. Garnett, professor of law at Notre Dame, wrote the article, "Behind the angst at Notre Dame" in the May 11, 2009 issue of USA TODAY, p. 13A where he expressed opposition to his university's plan to confer an honorary doctor of laws degree on the President of the United States at the school's graduation ceremony.

    Law Professor Garnett wrote the President has "aggressively and consistently" denied "the basic equality of every human being" in refusing the right to life of the unborn. (Ibid.) The professor holds, as do we do, that "[E]very human being, at every stage of development, should be welcomed in life and protected in law" as a "fundamental issue of justice." (Ibid., emphases ours)

    However, opposite Professor Garnett's view, the honorary degree itself states the President " . . . is inspiring this nation to heal its divisions of religion . . ." (FOXNews.com, 5/14/09). If the President strongly supports abortion, this implies the "politically correct" view that Bible believing Christians are expected to abandon their stance opposing abortion in favor of a world ecumenical religion!

    (2) In the same paper, Focus on the Family ran a full page ad (Ibid., p. 11A) that read: "What would you sacrifice for your beliefs? In the final round of the Miss USA pageant, contestant Carrie Prejean made a courageous decision that may have cost her the crown . . ."

    Carrie's decision involved how to answer the question posed to her on gay marriage, and she replied in line with her Biblical Christian beliefs [and the majority of the voters in her home State of California] that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

    Her words created a media firestorm and risked the loss of her crown, a fact pressuring Bible believing Christians who hold her view to give it up for the sake of peacefully coexisting with the world!

    (3) We face this issue locally, too! In the last two months, four members of our Church have reported on the great pressures they have faced in being caught between what God and what others wanted!

    The issues are confidential in nature, so I cannot detail them for you here, but the conflict is very real and potent!

    Accordingly, we may ask, "If God's will for me is countered by others with whom I must relate, HOW am I to proceed?!"

    Need: "What GOD wants me to do is SHARPLY OPPOSED by OTHERS with whom I must relate, so what am I to do NOW?!"

  1. When God told Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, this ORDER was SHARPLY OPPOSED by MANY with whom Moses had to relate:
    1. God's will for Moses' ministry clashed sharply with Pharaoh's will, for God had noted in Exodus 3:18-19 NIV that Pharaoh would let Moses lead Israel into the wilderness to worship Him only under duress!
    2. God's will for Moses' ministry clashed sharply with Israel's will, for the people of Israel had rejected Moses' leadership, Exodus 2:13-14.
    3. God's will for Moses' ministry clashed sharply with his wife's will:
      1. Exodus 4:25 implies Moses did not circumcise his younger son due to his wife's objection! After he circumcised their first infant, she was appalled at the rite's application to an infant as it was foreign to her Midianite culture, so she had denied it for her second son!
      2. However, God wanted Moses to circumcise both sons lest he be removed from Israel's fellowship (Genesis 17:10-14), so Moses needed to circumcise his son before leading Israel out of Egypt!
  2. This CONFLICT between God's will and man's will had so INTENSIFIED that Moses was NOT disposed to ADDRESS it:
    1. Moses' flight into the wilderness due to rejection by his Egyptian rearers and Hebrew kinfolk (Ex. 2:13-15) left him socially displaced, a fact evidenced by his naming his eldest son, "Gershom," i.e., "a stranger here," Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Exodus 2:22.
    2. So, when Moses' Midianite wife opposed his circumcising the second son, Moses feared alienating her and her family, his last remaining support base, so he had failed to address the circumcision issue!
  3. However, seeing GOD indicate He had CALLED and EQUIPPED him to lead Israel out of Egypt, in FAITH, Moses headed for Egypt REGARDLESS of the HUMAN OPPOSITION involved, Ex. 4:18a!
  4. Accordingly, GOD OVERRULED in the HUMAN RESISTANCE Moses faced that he might FULFILL God's calling, Ex. 4:18b-31:
    1. First, God moved Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, to give permission for him to return to Egypt to visit his Hebrew people, Exodus 4:18a,b.
    2. Second, God encouraged Moses to return, telling him that the men in Egypt who had wanted to kill him were now deceased, Exodus 4:19.
    3. Third, God predicted for Moses' encouraging foresight the events of conflict with Pharaoh that he would face en route to seeing Pharaoh finally release Israel to follow him out of Egypt, Exodus 4:21-23:
      1. God told Moses to perform the miracles God gave him, Ex. 4:21a.
      2. However, Moses was told God would harden Pharaoh's heart so he would not let Israel go until a final sign that involved the death of Pharaoh's firstborn, Ex. 4:21b, 22-23. [This hardening was done by external means, not by God's control of Pharaoh's will, for the Egyptians believed in hardening their hearts against confessing any sins lest they became guilty before the gods, and were left to go into eternal damnation, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 114-115. So, steeped in his pagan Egyptian beliefs on hardening one's heart, Pharaoh of his own will readily hardened his heart against God (Ex. 3:19; 5:1-3 with 6:1), and God let his magicians duplicate some of Moses' signs to give Pharaoh reason to harden it more, Ex. 7:20-22. Yet, opposite Egyptian beliefs, God's signs were so great, Pharaoh was moved to confess his sins! (Exodus 9:27; 10:16-17!]
    4. Fourth, God worked in Moses' wife so he could do His will, 4:24-26:
      1. When Moses began to take his wife and sons back to Egypt (Ex. 4:20), they stopped at an inn (Ex. 4:24a) where God threatened to kill him for not having circumcised his younger son, Ex. 4:24b-25.
      2. To save Moses' life, Zipporah herself circumcised her son, uttering a bitter remark to show she did not approve of it, Exodus 4:25-26.
    5. Fifth, God directed Moses' brother, Aaron to meet him as a supporter (since Moses may have sent Zipporah and her sons back at this time to live with her father, Jethro), Exodus 4:27 in view of Exodus 18:1-7.
    6. Sixth, God directed Moses and his brother, Aaron to perform God's signs before Israel's elders, and they believed God had called him, and they in turn persuaded Israel to follow Moses, Exodus 4:28-31!
Application: If we are caught between God's will and the sharply opposing will of other people with whom we must relate, (1) may we trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we (a) REVERE the LORD ABOVE the HUMAN OPPOSITION to it, (b) and START to do God's will. (c) We must TRUST GOD to OVERRULE in the actions of those opposed to His will (d) that we might complete His assignment with His blessing!

Lesson: When Moses chose to TRUST and OBEY God's CALLING, the LORD overruled in the OBJECTIONS of those who SHARPLY OPPOSED this divine ASSIGNMENT so Moses could FULFILL IT!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 The Lord recently applied this sermon's message (as follows):

Months ago, our Board Chairman asked me about a report he heard of a couple outside our Church who had mailed out invitations announcing I would officiate at their wedding to be held in our Church near the end of April! I replied I had never heard of such an event, but when the rumor about it kept circulating, and I did not know how else to contact them, I urged those who had told me of their intent to tell the couple I was not planning to be at their wedding! I realized I was being strongly pressured by the couple before all their wedding guests to perform the wedding against our stand that holds I must perform weddings only for those in our body! The bride finally called to ask if I would perform her wedding in our Church, and I explained our stand.

The bridal couple then sent out new invitations, telling their guests the wedding would be in another Church with another pastor!

At the time, I was concerned that the wedding guests might think badly of our Church, for they could presume I had wrongly embarrassed the bridal couple before their guests! However, I knew God had led me and the Board to take our stand, and that we had acted in good faith, so we had to leave this threat for the Lord to handle!

Well, God solved this problem as He had in Moses' life! The day of the wedding, though all the guests had shown up at the other Church, the minister was absent! When he was contacted by phone, he refused to come down to the Church because the couple had never met with him, nor were they thus approved to be married by him! The bridal couple finally obtained a justice of the peace to come and perform a quick ceremony three hours after the wedding was set to begin! I heard the guests were very offended over the whole event!

Indeed, one of the women in our Church who heard the story said, "The Lord really protected our Church from a bad situation!"

Truly, the Lord had worked to make our stand on the weddings we perform itself the means of protecting our Church's testimony! In fact, the Lord so overruled in the events that occurred that we ended up being vindicated before the guests involved in the wedding, the very people I had first wondered might be offended at our action!

May we then follow Moses' lead to TRUST God's sovereign control of others around us, even if they STRONGLY COUNTER GOD'S WILL for us, and just START to DO His will!