The Deliverer Departs, Part 2

If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4, we've been looking at the fact that Moses, the deliverer of Israel, is departing to Egypt. And last week we looked at the fact that he came to his father-in-law Jethro and made a request. And that request was that he might be able to return to his people. That request was granted with a great blessing by Jethro. And with that request came his return to Egypt. So Moses puts his wife Si on a donkey, we presume, and takes his two boys with him, and off they go to Egypt.

And so equipped with the revelation of God and equipped with the rod of God, Moses was seeking to fulfill the plan of God. There had to be all kinds of emotion in the life of Moses as he sought to fulfill. The plan of God. And yet, on this day in Exodus chapter 4, we see Moses neglecting one crucial area of responsibility. And with that, we begin to see how God works in the lives of His people. So Moses goes with the message of God. It's a message about judgment upon disobedient. Egypt and the consequences of their sin.

And yet, and yet, Moses must real the severity of the consequences of sin in his own life. You see, we forget about that. We don't like to look at the consequences of sin.

We don't like to talk about them in the age of grace. We want to talk about the mercy and love and the grace of our wonderful Lord. And while all that's true, listen.

We must understand that God never looks lightly upon sin. He never does. Even if you are the greatest man of God to ever live, God never looks lightly upon sin. He will always deal with unconfessed sin. He will always deal with those things that you think you can hide from everybody else. He will bring them to light. He will deal with them because as Moses would say in the book of Numbers, Be sure your sin will find you out. Always does. And on this day, the sin of Moses found him out. It was exposed.

And when you read through the text and you think about Moses and where he's going and what he's doing, and you read this, you think, how does this fit in to the whole deliverance thing? If you got your Bible, Exodus chapter 4, verse 24. Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him, that is Moses, and sought to put him to death. Then Si took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw it at Moses' feet. And she said, You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me. So he let him alone.

At that time she said, You are a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision. Now the LORD said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses in the wilderness. So he went and met him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.

So the people believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed low. worship. We 've looked at the request, we've looked at the return. This morning we want to look at the responsibility, the reunion and the results as the deliverer departs to Egypt.

First of all, his responsibility. His responsibility. Listen carefully. As a leader of the people of God, you have great responsibility. And if at any time you neglect to fulfill that responsibility, you will ultimately pay the consequences, as Moses was paying the consequences. In Exodus chapter 4. To whom much is given, much is what? Much is required. To whom much is given, much is required. I remember growing up, my mom used to always tell that to me. Two things she always said to me as I left to go to school: remember who you are and what you are.

Okay, second thing she always told me was: to whom much is given, much is required. That responsibility, number one, was defined by God.

That responsibility, number two, was disregarded by Moses. Listen carefully. That responsibility was des by Zipporah, his wife. Now we're going to spend the bulk of our time here today because you need to understand these three points under the responsibility given to Moses. You need to understand the message God has for you as a father, you as a leader, you as a family. And wives, you need to listen to Sipp's response because how God deals with her is quite remarkable. For you need to understand your response to your husband's responsibility as your God-given leader of the home.

This has tremendous implications for the Church of Jesus Christ. For you and me today. And it shows you how practical the Word of God is. There is a responsibility given to Moses. Turn back with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter 17. Moses had been given a responsibility. He was one of the covenant children of God. He was of the seed of Abraham, and therefore he had a responsibility. Because God made a covenant with Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 17. Moses would know about that covenant because his mother would teach him about the law of God.

God made a covenant with Abraham. God said further to Abraham, Now as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout. their gener. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every Male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your fores. And it shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations.

Skip down to verse number 14. But. An uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my coven. We need to come to grips with what God was doing with Abraham. Circumcision is not the means of salvation. Circumcision was always the mark of separation. Did you get the distinction there? You see, the Jews would call the unbeliever the uncircumcised individuals. They were the circumcised ones. It was a constant reminder, listen, of the grace and mercy of God upon a sinful Person.

Whenever they circumcise that male boy, they were reminded of the fact that even though sin is passed from generation to generation, God in His mercy devised a plan of salvation. Based on his God's own choice, you must understand that. Because Jewish people teach today that circumcision is a means to the kingdom of God. That if you're not circumcised, you can't get into the kingdom of God. That's not what the Bible teaches. You see, circumcision was a mark of one's heart's condition that he believed in the covenant promise of God to Abraham.

And knowing that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that covenant, our belief in what Jesus Christ did is the circumcision of our heart, is the cutting away of the flesh from the heart, that our hearts would be committed to Jesus Christ our Lord. All that to say this, Moses had a responsibility. God defined it very clearly in the Bible. This is what he needed to do. And Moses neglected his responsibility. He neglected it. And don't think for one moment that you can set out to lead God's people and neglect areas of responsibility to God and think it's okay.

It's not. And Moses is that classic illustration. It's not okay. You got to deal with it. You got to make sure that there are things that are not being hidden. You see, we wouldn, how would we know this unless God pointed it out in Moses' life? We wouldn't know, right? I mean, we could have gone right from verse number 23 to verse number 27. He said, man, Moses, go get him, babe. Go preach about the judgment of God to Pharaoh. You let him have it. You tell him that God's going to kill his firstborn because he's not going to repent and God's going to harden his heart.

Go get him, Moses. And yet, Moses, you can't go get them until you get it right because you've neglected something. So God brings judgment upon Moses. Moses was about to die. Now, if that's not God telling you about the seriousness of sin, I don't know what is. He's called this man to be the deliverer of Israel. He's going to become the greatest man in the history of Israel. And God says, okay, listen, you're going to die because you neglected something very important to me.

God is telling every one of us here today, don't neglect any area of responsibility to your God. Don't do it. You a Sunday school teacher? You're an adult Bible fellowship leader. You're teaching other people the Word of God. James 3:1, Don't many of you seek to be teachers because with it comes a stricter condemnation. Now what God said? Don't go think you can teach people about me and my ways unless you're going to fulfill my ways. So here was Moses going to go teach the covenant people of God about the covenant of God and yet neglect part of the covenant that God made back in Genesis 17 with Abraham.

I mean, that is so practical for us today. If you're a father here today, you've been called to lead your family. Moses is leading his family. The principle that we have reiterated for the 10 years of our ministry, if your ministry doesn't work at home, your ministry doesn't work at all. We forget about that. Moses had a ministry with Si, his two boys. God says, wait a minute, Moses, I'm going stop you dead in your tracks.

Literally. You've got to make sure that you've got things right at home. That you're leading properly at home. Because if you're not, Moses, you can't lead my people. Boy, that's a searching indictment upon the Church of Jesus Christ today that we might begin to understand God's call upon those who lead in the Church of Jesus Christ. So God stops him in his tracks, wants to put him to death because he had a responsibility he neglected. Think in your life. What responsibilities has God given you that you've neglected?

That you haven't fulfilled. Maybe you've forgotten about them. Maybe you stopped doing them because your wife didn't really like them. And I think that was probably the case here, because we will see that this responsibility defined by God was disregarded by Moses. He didn't do it. So his wife did. His wife knew about circumcision. She knew, she would have had to have known what had taken place. She would have had to have known. That God would oust those people from his covenant who did not obey his word explicitly.

She knew that. We would. Suspect we would conclude that Gershom, who was the oldest son of Moses, would have already been circumcised. Zipporah probably did not like the method by which that took place and therefore refused that Eleazar, the next, would be circumcised. And so we conclude that Eleazar would be the boy that was uncircumcised at this point. We can't be dogmatic on that, but that is a legitimate conclusion because there's only one that circumcised, only one boy. And so you'd think it would be the younger one, not the older one.

And this responsibility was despised by Zipporah. Look what she says. Very simply this. She took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and threw at Moses' feet and said, You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me. There was dis in her voice, her tone, her words. This was a barbarous act in her mind. That you would have to do this, Moses, to fulfill some covenant with your God. And she was not happy. And she would take that fores, cut it off, and throw it at his feet. Because she despised the law of God.

Sipp was a Midianite. She was a Midian. And not understanding the full ramifications of the Abrahamic covenant and what God was doing, she was not pleased with the process of circumcision. Well, you know something. Sipp did not continue on in the journey from this point on. She went back to her father, Jethro. How do we know that? Exodus chapter 18 tells us that Jethro, when they finally are delivered out of Israel, and Israel is out of Egyptian bondage, Jethro brings his daughter.

and their two boys to meet Moses at Mount Hore. She missed out on the blessings of God. She missed out on the opportunities to watch her husband be used of God in a mighty way. She missed out on how her husband, in his humility, and the Bible says that Moses was the the meekest man on the face of the earth He would go and perform all these signs, and he would be God's representative to Pharaoh.

And she missed all of that because she des the covenant of God with Abraham. She missed the blessing. And she would end up with Moses down the road. But God took her out of the way for a while. Because God didn't want his servant Moses hindered by a wife that would cause a discrepancy between him and his commitment to his God. Let me tell you something.

This story is remarkable when it comes to understanding God's call upon our lives as husbands and wives. Is it not? Our responsibility as leaders in the home, leaders in the church, and what God places on us to be obedient to His Word that we might accurately represent Him. And even coming to a conclusion as Si did, that this was something she despised in her heart and she didn't want to have anything to do with it, but she did it to spare her husband's life and threw the foreskin at his feet. You are a bloody bridegroom to me.

She would say. And God sends her home back to her father. Because she did not have that same passion that Moses would have. Why did Zipporah circumcise the son and not Moses? I think Moses was incapacitated. I don't think he could make it. He was dying. And God showed Moses the seriousness of his sin. He was unable to do anything, so Sephor to save her husband's life did it. But her attitude, her attitude was wrong, wasn't right. Tells me a lot about. Spiritual compatibility, does it not? Those of you looking to get married, the most important thing is: are you spiritually compatible?

Do you believe the same thing? Do you have the same doctrinal beliefs? If you don't, there will be problems in your marriage. There will be. Oh, they won't rise up in the first year or two, but they will rise up.

You've got to be spiritually compatible. You've got to believe the same thing. You've got to be committed to the same God. And those of you who are married, You need to understand as husbands your responsibility before the Lord to fulfill the requirements as outlined in His Word. And for women, we need to realize our responsibility to help our husbands along, to fulfill the plan of God, to obey the voice of God, and do it with an attitude that honors God. Does this fit into the story? You bet. I'm so glad God put it in here.

You know, God never puts anything in the word by mistake. He didn't say, oh, oops, I didn't mean to put that in there. No, He wants it in there. He wants you to understand it. It is so crucial for us to realize. If God gives us a responsibility, we've got to fulfill it without compromise, with the right attitude. Which leads us to point number four: the reunion. It's almost as if God just throws those couple of verses in there and then just goes on with the story. Just to remind you, just to remind you, he's serious about sin.

He's serious about it. So don't do it. Don't do it. It says in verse number 27, Now the Lord said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses in the wilderness. So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Here's the reunion between two brothers, Moses and Aaron. Aaron's three years older than Moses is. And there's the command to Aaron to go and to meet his brother, and there's the conversation with Moses as he would tell him. All. Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

God would supply the need of Moses. God had already told Moses, I'm going to send Aaron. He's going to be your spokesperson. It's going to happen. And now is the fulfillment of that plan. And here are where two lives intersect, where God is working in the life of Aaron and in the life of Moses. And these two now will be joined together once again after years of separation. And the reunion was a great reunion as they hugged one another and kissed one another. And this is the first record we have of Moses telling anybody about what God said to him.

We assume he told his wife. We know that he didn't explicitly tell Jethro, we looked at that last week, that he wanted to go back and check on the condition of his people, but here he is telling his brother everything that God said to him. All that God said. And that's the reunion. And then you have the results. And it says down in verse number 29: Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel. This was the meeting. They came together and they met with the leaders of the children of Israel and tell them about the plan of God.

And the reason behind that plan. And then it says in verse number 30, and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people. Aaron would come and be the spokesperson for Moses, and he would tell the leaders of Israel all that God had said, not leaving out anything, including the judgment upon Pharaoh. So Moses had to relay the truth accurately to Aaron, so Aaron then could accurately proclaim the truth to the leaders of Israel. Notice the text says he then performed the signs in the sight of the people.

Aaron didn't do that, Moses did that. Look down over in verse number 17. After God had already told. Moses, that Aaron would be his mouthpiece. He says in verse number 17, and you shall take in your hand the staff with which you shall perform the signs. So it's Moses who performs the signs, and it's Aaron who speaks. And then it says in verse number. 30 at the end, that Moses performed the signs in the sight of the people. You have the meeting, you have the message, you have the miracles, and then you have the magnificence.

Of that message and miracle proclaimed in the lives of the people when it says this. So the people believed, and when they had heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshipped. When they heard everything that God had said to Moses through Aaron, they believed. They believe. God told Moses earlier: if you go to them and you tell them exactly what I say to you, they'll believe. And they did. 40 years earlier, they would not believe Moses, but this time they did.

Because he came equipped with the word of the Lord, he came equipped with the revelation of God. He gave it to them just like God had said. He before the sign, just like God said he should do. And they believed, and they bowed low, and they worship their God. I think about that, and I think about today's message. And I think about you have heard what God has said about your responsibility as leaders, as fathers, as wives, as husbands, as parents. And the consequences of disobedience. Do you believe?

Do you believe in what God has said? Then our response is to bow low and to worship Him. With our lives, to honor him with our lives, to give glory to him and say, Yes, Lord, yes, Lord. You know, I think it's so important for us to realize that when we leave the place of worship, we leave Knowing our call and what we should obey. And today, the lesson is very clear. What God has said, we need to fulfill. Whatever area of neglect is in your life, whatever you're not doing to follow the will of God and the plan of God for your life, whatever you're holding back on, you need to deal with it.

Why? Because God's serious about it. He is. And as a child of the living God, we need to be obedient to our God. We don't have to be obedient. We want to be obedient to our God. We want to serve him. And God says, Is there anything you're neglecting?

Is there anything you're not doing for me? You need to do it. Need to obey me. You need to serve me. Maybe you're here today and your husband, and you don't come to church as often as you'd like because your wife has other things for you to do. And so instead of Bringing eruption to the relationship, you pacify her by not coming to church very often. Don't do that. Bring her to church. Lead her the right way. Show her what God has said. Maybe Moses was negligent in his responsibility with Sipporah to help her understand the wonderful plan of God and how that covenant relationship that he made with Abraham.

Years earlier, was the basis for blessing in the life of God's people. And they needed to follow that blessing and honor their God and to lead his wife properly. And maybe God's calling you to do that today. We need to stop neglecting our spiritual responsibility as fathers with our children. To teach them and to lead them, to help them understand the importance of honoring God, serving God, and loving their God. And if we don't lead by example, how are they going to catch it? They got to catch it.

Well, we can teach it, but they got to catch it. And they catch it by a life that lives it, right? And God says, I just want you to do what I ask you to do.

That's it. If you love me, keep my commandments. Do what I've said. And as John said, his commandments aren't burdensome. They're not going to weigh you down. They're not going to cause you to have all kinds of heartache. There's joy in serving the Lord and honoring His glorious name. And that's the way we need to be. And, like the nation of Israel who heard the revelation of God and believed and bowed low in worship, that's our response today. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. I want to obey you. Yes, Lord, I want to serve you because I believe in what your wor has said.

And I want to honor you in every area of my life. I don't want to neglect anything for you, Lord. That should be all of our prayer this morning. Let's pray together.