God's Plan and Our Passions

July 22, 2018
Pastor Clint Ziemer

Audio of the sermon preached on July 22, 2018, at Cable Community Church, Sherrard, IL

Episode Notes

God's Plan and Our Passions



Exodus 2:1-15


In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells of tense times in Holland during the time of the German invasion. One night Corrie tossed restlessly in her bed as war planes roared overhead, shattering the blackness with fiery artillery. Hearing her sister downstairs in the kitchen, and unable to sleep, she went downstairs for a cup of tea. She and her sister talked until the night was quiet again and the sound of the fighter planes had died away. Explosions had ripped nearby, but now all was quiet.


Groping through the darkness to her room, Corrie reached out her hand to pat her pillow before lying down. Suddenly she felt something sharp cutting her hand. It was a jagged piece of metal ten inches long -- a piece of shrapnel from an exploded bomb.


Corrie said to her sister, “Betsy, if I had not heard you in the kitchen...” To which her sister replied, “Don’t say it, Corrie! There are no IFs in God’s world. The center of his will is our safety.”


Last week we had a message on God’s deliverance.  We saw that no matter what pressures the Pharaoh applied to the Israelites, God was still with them.  In fact, God prospered them under pressure and they multiplied - much to the frustration of the Pharaoh.   Today we begin with the pharaoh's death-threat hovering over the Israelites.   If you recall this part of the Bible, you know that the King of Egypt has ordered that all males born to the Israelites be thrown into the river.  This, he thinks, will keep them from becoming too powerful.  Little does Pharaoh realize God is about to use this edict, through the actions of a God-fearing mother, to bring His deliverer directly into the court and family of Pharaoh.


Let us study God's Word from Exodus 2:1-15 and notice ...


The Providence of God  (vv. 1-10)


The Passion of Moses  (vv. 11-12)   and


The Deliverer is Refined  (vv. 13-15)



Read Exodus 2:1-15

  1. Body
    1. The Providence of God  (vv. 1-10)
        1. Despite the troubles going on, God is still at work redeeming
      1. Moses' Birth
        1. Acts 7:20 --  At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.
        2. To the ancients beauty was a sign of divine favor,  the Jews say  his form was like an angel of God,
        3. Hebrews 11:23  --  By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
        4. They sought God's favor over Pharaoh's.  They desired to please God.
        5. Reminds of another child pursued and harassed by those who sought His life -- Matt. 2:13-23
      2. His Upbringing
        1. But when she [his mother, Jochebed] could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.
        2. Some Bible scholars believe that Jochebed may have been following a divine directive in how and where they placed Moses into the Nile.  (ref. Heb. 11:23, "By faith Moses, when we has born...")
        3. The sister, Miriam, was charged to watch and see what happened.
          1. Was Moses to be eaten by crocodiles?  Would he be rescued?
          2. Milton in 'On His Blindness," -- "They also serve who only stand and wait."
        4. Twice Jochebed was required to give up her son:  Once to the river and then again to Pharaoh's daughter.
        5. Romans 8:28 --  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
    2. The Passion of Moses  (vv. 11-12)
        1. Moses had the right direction, but the wrong strength
      1. His Choice
        1. Hebrews 11:24-25  --   By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,  choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
        2. Christ is our example.  Phil. 2:6-8  -- who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.   And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
      2. His Sympathy
        1. Moses looked left and right, but he didn't look up!
        2. James 1:20 -- for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
    3. The Deliverer is Refined  (vv. 13-15)
        1. Moses needed to learn to rely fully upon God
      1. Moses' Failure
        1. Moses decides to use his talents in bringing his people to God. 
        2. Acts 7:22 he says, “Moses was educated in all the ways of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action”. 
          1. Moses was a very talented person. He had been raised in the finest libraries of the world. 
          2. He had been raised in military action. 
          3. We find outside of scripture, Moses was leading another group in an assault that was a mighty victory for the Egyptians. 
          4. Moses used his own talents in bringing forth God’s will. Moses thought everything would kind of fall in place.
        3. Acts 7:25 --  For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
          1. Moses was bringing forth his own destiny in his own time using his own talents. But, there’s a problem with this. When we understand what God’s will is for us in our lives and things are not happening as fast as we want them to happen, we become anxious. So, rather than giving it to God, we try to become God’s hand in all of this. 
          2. Moses wanted the destiny of being a leader way too soon or sooner than God wanted it to happen. Moses runs into all kinds of difficulties in not following what God wanted but what Moses wanted.
      2. His Flight
        1. Into the humbling experience of the wilderness
          1. Proverbs 3:34 -- God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.
          2. James 4:10 -- Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
        2. Both Moses and the nation of Israel needed to be further refined
        3. Isaiah 48:10 -- Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 
        4. Though he wasn't quite there yet, by the time God was ready to use Moses it could be said of him what is recorded in Numbers 12:3 -- Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
        5. The time in the desert taught him that even though he had talents, they were to be used under the direction of God - not at his own discretion. With that humility, Moses would then be able to handle the ridicule and rejection of the Israelites - without taking it personally. He would be able to be patient with them and pray for them when needs be. With these gifts, he would then be able to make the difference he wanted to. 
  2. Conclusion
    1. Summary of Moses' traits
      1. a passion for justice
      2. impatience with wrongdoing
      3. a hot temper
      4. wisdom when exposed to dangers
    2. The best schools of Egypt had prepared Moses to be a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, and all of this learning would be of use to him in later days; but  he was lacking in one thing, One thing in which the court of Egypt could not help him.  He that was to do all by divine revelation must know, what it was to live a life of communion with God, and in this he would be greatly instructed through assuming a shepherd's life in Midian.  By the former life he was prepared to rule and guide the nation of Israel, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God on mount Horeb.  Those that know what it is to be alone with God, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in his upbringing in the court of Pharaoh.
    3. So what about you? Where are you in regard to your relationship with God? Have you given yourself to Him?  Have you really trusted your life, your eternal life, to Him?  Maybe you’ve come to the point where you admit:  “I’m a good person.  And I do things better than any church member I’ve ever saw. I’m just really good.”  Well, you see, there was a really good guy in Acts chapter 10. His name was Cornelius.  He prayed to God, did all kinds of good things, gave of his means.  He was a good man but there was still something that was missing that he couldn’t do in his life.  That was he could not save himself.   So God put together Peter and Cornelius.  Peter shared the message with him about Jesus Christ and how He came and He died for him. In all of that, Cornelius, still a good man but not saved for all eternity gave into God’s Word.  He relied upon Him.  He, and his entire household, became followers of Christ.  We can be pretty good people, but we can’t save ourselves.  It takes the power of God to do that.  Through His Son and through His blood we can be saved.
    4. Maybe you’re where Moses was.  There are just so many things that you want to happen in your life.  Maybe you’ve even tried some things but it didn’t work.  Maybe you’re still trying to make certain things happen but it’s not turning out the way you thought it would.  Submit to God's plan over your passions.  Give in to God’s will and not your way.

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