"Holding Fast"

Dan Newburg

First Baptist Church of Devine

2022 Chronological Bible • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago • Presented 2 years ago

Exodus 5:1–6:9

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Introduction

If you don’t know by now, I love to joke around. Some times I joke so much that it’s a fault.

When I told a good friend of mine that I worked with when I was in an IT job that I had surrendered to the ministry and that I believed God was calling me to be a pastor, he told me that he already knew I was going to tell him that one day because my jokes were worse than your every day ‘dad jokes.’ I guess that means that pastor humor is the cheesiest there is.

One type of joke I have just loved are jokes that are known as ‘Chuck Norris Facts.’ Are y’all familiar with these? They’re awesome. They are told as facts about Chuck Norris that we may be otherwise unaware. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Chuck Norris doesn’t do push-ups, he pushes the earth down.

Chuck Norris counted to infinity. Twice.

Chuck Norris can do a wheelie on a unicycle.

For those who know that our friends at the Church of Christ are not fond of instrumentation during worship, here’s one for you: Chuck Norris plays the piano during worship at a Church of Christ.

Sadly, I can go on with these for longer than most of you can tolerate, but the novelty in them is the sense of toughness and attitude that they suggest about Norris. These things have an international impact, by the way. There was a bakery in Croatia that had a frequent problem with break-ins until they put Chuck Norris to work for them. As a joke, some of the bakery employees put a life-size poster of Norris in the window with a sign that read, “the shop is under the protection of Chuck Norris.” Would you know that when the sign went up, the break-ins stopped? The entire town that the bakery is in apparently has seen his movies and even the thieves appear to fear his roundhouse kick. There are even people who pop into the bakery asking for an autograph because they believe Chuck Norris is hiding in a storeroom waiting to bust some bad guys.

Now, this may have been a joke, but posters of an actor offer no sustaining power, no encouragement, no value for which someone can cling beyond the paper and ink they are printed with. Once the laughter gives way to silence and the reality of a fallen world with its afflictions and opposition settles in, what are we to do with the discouragement that the world throws at we Christians?

I believe our text this morning will reveal to us empowering answers, namely that when opposition comes, God’s people should find encouragement in his promises and the future hope to which they point.

Opposition to God’s Purposes

This brings us to first acknowledge that opposition to God and his purposes will be a constant which the people of God face.

Turning our attention to the passage open before us, we have made our way into the book of the Exodus, which we will find to be the detailing of God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt. As the book of Genesis closes, Joseph has died and such time has elapsed that there is a new pharaoh who had no recollection of Joseph and the blessings of the Hebrew God. So blessed was the nation of Israel in Egypt that the numbers of the nation alarmed Egyptian leadership, and the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews in a move that the Egyptians thought would protect the integrity of their own nation. The labors of the Egyptian slaves is difficult. And God moves to raise a new leader amongst his people, Moses, who will lead the Hebrews out of their bondage because God has not forgotten his promise to Abraham concerning the Promised Land. So God enlists and equips Moses to begin the task of leading Israel, and the first direction God gives Moses is to go to Pharaoh and announce that the God of Israel desires his people to be liberated from Egypt.

Now, in prior chapters, God has already warned Moses that Pharaoh is going to need a mighty hand to compel him to release the Israelites, but Moses obediently goes before Pharaoh and declares, Exodus 5:1 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” Notice, the boldness to go before the most powerful ruler in the known world and unapologetically declare: “Thus says the Lord.” No gimmicks, no 13-week discipleship program with the promise of a meal to reel ‘em in.

And Pharaoh says, “Of course. Can I offer from the storehouses of Egypt food for this feast?” That would have been nice, but that’s not what actually took place. As we read on, we see the response of the king of Egypt as he denies the command of the one true God. Exodus 5:2 “2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.””

Opposition to God comes in various forms. One thing that we can be confident of is that opposition to God and his purposes will always arise from those who, like Pharaoh, do not know the Lord. I know some of the opposition that was faced by Christians in this assembly today who just this morning faced strife from their spouse or children. “I don’t want to go, it’s boring and I hate it,” said the kids to their mother. “Ever since you started going to that church, you’ve changed and I don’t like it,” said a husband to his wife. Any time we enter ourselves into a situation where the Word of God will be proclaimed, where God will be glorified and praised, Satan will stir up opposition within those who are still his children (1 John 3:10).

Opposition to the Lord is only increasing. No longer are we living or operating in a community, let alone a nation, that fears the Lord. Last month, California pastor John McArthur was preaching on transgenderism where he said, there is “no such thing as transgender” and that there were only two gender categories - male and female. After expounding on the destructive and entirely sinful nature of transgenderism, the platform his message was streamed to declared the simple truth from God’s Word to be “hate speech.” If you’re in the sanctuary today, consider yourself fortunate because I may have just earned the same stripes from those who do not know the Lord and are inclined to oppose him.

The opposition against God won’t just stop at words, by the way. People disconnected from God can become violent towards others. This can take many different forms. Notice in our text that Pharaoh wasn’t just content to have said “No thanks” to Moses, but he goes on to apply pain. In Exodus 5:7-8, Egypt’s king declares that the anguish of Israel be dialed up by increasing the difficulty of making the bricks Pharaoh was using to build his kingdom. Any time that someone promotes their own self-serving agenda like Pharaoh is here, they make life for others a grim experience. Evil people, particularly those in positions of power over others, will be especially cruel to the children of God. In fact, they delight in destroying the well-being of others.

Before I continue on, I want to call attention to those who entered this building today that are living in opposition to God. You came here maybe for the first time or the fiftieth time telling yourself that you want nothing to do with him, I get it. You’re the king or queen in your perfect little world. That sense of power you have come to love - it’s not yours. God’s purpose for your life is for you to be a keeper and guardian of what he has given you: your life, your spouse, your children, your siblings, every last thing to your existence. Yet the power you’ve come to love is the root of your rebellion and why to this point you have refused to surrender rule to the rightful King and Lord of all - Jesus.

God’s desire and purpose for every last one of us here is his wish that none of us would perish…that is die without having trusted upon Jesus Christ for salvation (2 Peter 3:9). God desires that each of us would reach that place of repentance and cry out to him in faith. If you continue to live for yourself, like the kings of every nation you might build a magnificent kingdom, but it will not last for at the end of time, there is one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess is Lord of all. The question is, will you bow and confess with joy before King Jesus or against your will?

Discouragement when serving God

The second reality we are faced with in this text is that opposition will give way to discouragement when serving God.

Immediately preceding the encounter of Moses and Aaron with Pharaoh in Exodus 5 is the reunion of these two brothers after a long time apart. In their reunion meeting, Moses tells Aaron about all the things that God had commanded him to. I don’t know about you but I read those final verses of Exodus 4 with a sense that excitement had filled the room that the brothers were sharing because it was evident that the God of Israel was going to move in a mighty way to deliver his people. That excitement even carried over to the nation in bondage. Exodus 4:31 “31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.”

You can imagine how filled with optimism and hope the tents of Israel must have been. Conversations around the mud pits about how God was going to liberate them and that there may be a day when the toil of their labors would cease. Some may have even remembered the promise of God to Abraham and stopped what they were doing to immediately worship and praise God for his faithfulness to his word. That is, until Moses and Aaron entered Pharaoh’s court and are spurned. The excitement of carrying God’s message is soured when Pharaoh rejects what God has commanded. And hope gives way to beatings and harder labor to meet the expectation of the self-serving king of Egypt. And looking out upon the affliction of the people he was sent to lead, all Moses can do when faced with the extreme discouragement of what had not come to be is cry out to God, saying, Exodus 5:22-23 “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Loved ones, I don’t know if you realize this, but we are in the midst of a battle that is raging. A number of young persons in our very own community are dealing with significant emotional and psychological trauma and the enemy is making great advances in these generations. Increasing numbers are no longer attending church, no longer open to the claims of Jesus Christ, and are convinced that living a holy life is just another relic from the past. It’s old fashioned. We look at our local schools where we see more students who are claiming to be same-sex attracted or are identifying as a sex other than their sex at birth and we throw up our hands in discouragement and disgust. Young people, I know you’re struggling with your classmates and many times feel the best thing to do is avoid any interaction with non-Christians. Don’t give in to that feeling. Be Jesus to them. Who else will be? Be prepared to give an account about who Jesus is and the faith you have. But also know that your message won’t always be received. Jesus warned his disciples that they and the message of the gospel would be rejected and times haven’t changed. Discouragement comes to all who serve God.

But I don’t want to leave this here, simply calling our teens to the front lines and hoping for the best. Looking back to history, we know that leading up to World War II Winston Churchill was shouting from the rooftops for England to put a stop to Hitler and his Reich, yet the nation ignored him. The British had determined that after the first World War, they wouldn’t be drug into another conflict, so they developed a strategy of appeasement that did nothing more than enable Hitler.

I know that the suggestion that we are in a battle is off-putting to some, but if we are to even begin to stop the bleeding we see, we must give our absolute allegiance to God. And with what I am about to say, you can just ignore my words like the British ignored Churchill. But giving our absolute allegiance to God means recognizing God is on the throne and responding to him with a priority in every regard. Speaking plainly, we are where we are because Christians take commitment to Christ and his church far too lightly. Never a day late or absent from work, but can never seem to get to the Lord’s work with the same timeliness. Ready to raise our hands in the team meeting for additional opportunity, but when the same is extended at church, our trained response is, “I’ll pray about it” without ever a prayer lifted or follow-up provided.

When it comes to matters of so boldly proclaiming “Thus says the Lord” where God has placed us, we are quick to appease because, frankly, everyone is afraid to admit that in some sense, life is us in our own mud pits, making bricks. And we aren’t interested in really taking a stand because we don’t want to get anywhere near someone taking away our straw. So rather than the clear black and white distinction on matters that are In Christ and not, we run for a world painted with fifty shades of gray.

So then no one even bats an eye when our kids’ school competitions and events overlap with meetings at church any more. It’s just supposed to be understood that sports and extracurricular activities take priority over God. It’s not even more than a whisper when trusted leaders in the church can do no better than say things like, “my business or my career is my priority and building that up is of greater importance than first considering the welfare of the church that the Holy Spirit has placed me in. I am too busy to consider more commitment to our Lord than showing up Sunday for church and cutting a check for the offering.”

We will certainly face discouragement when serving God, but at the same time, there are things that may be sources of discouragement that exist because of our unwillingness to give our absolute allegiance to Christ.

Reassurances from God

From opposition to discouragement to the reassurances from God.

Let’s notice how with such mercy and grace that God meets the deflated Moses in response to his cry at the end of Exodus 5. We are reminded of how in the midst of life’s adversities, it is easy to focus on ourselves or our circumstances and in turning our eyes to us, take them off of the one who is sovereign over all. So God addresses Moses and he doesn’t just give him a divine shoulder tap and say something like, “Aww, c’mon slugger. Get back in there and take another swing at it.” In God’s mercy God returns the gaze of Moses from the man in the mirror to the God of all creation and his redemptive purposes.

Exodus 6:1 “1 But 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.””

God is saying to Moses, “though the kings of this world rule by a fierce hand, get ready to see me glorify myself by revealing how fierce and unwavering my love is for my children.” God then tells Moses that he is always faithful and always trustworthy, and it is God’s own reputation that is at stake in fulfilling the promise to their father Abraham as well as the promise to deliver the nation from Egypt. And loved ones, God is patient and longsuffering and always triumphant. Look at how God calls Moses to remain centered upon him as he reassures Moses after such great discouragement.

Exodus 6:7-8 “7 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 out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 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. I am the Lord.’ ””

God is calling you and I to never substitute the relationship he has established with us for anything else and anything less than the only living and real God. For Israel who was ruled and oppressed in Egypt, God is assuring Moses that he will do the work necessary to deliver them because of God’s love for his firstborn son.

Friends, God does not change. God has done the work of delivering forgiveness of sin through the cross of his Son and extends that deliverance to you and me today. We cannot let the discouragement that comes from the opposition we will encounter as servants of the God Most High take our eyes off of the Lord or cause us to forget the promises the Lord Jesus Christ made regarding the future. In the midst of God calling Moses to do this work, God tells moses Exodus 3:7 “...“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.” That is God saying he has seen affliction, suffering, and discouragement. God isn’t just looking back into history, God is speaking in looking throughout all time, past, present, and future and is saying, “I know what will come your way when you are faithful to me, but keep your focus on me as I the Lord your God keep my focus upon you. You will not lose heart if your thoughts are fixed on where I am leading you.”

As Jesus told his disciples,

Matthew 19:28–29 ESV

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Have you ever been on a road trip? A trip that was filled with excitement at the outset, leaving home early after loading up the car and setting out upon the great adventure before you. That excitement lasts until reality sets in with the realization that between the starting point and the destination, there is a long, hard journey. Maybe our knees will grow numb, maybe we will stare out the window in boredom, get into a war with our siblings in the car, be forced to make way too many stops at way too many gas stations, but when we keep our focus on the destination, it makes the discouragements of the long ride worth it all. For the child of God, our journey is towards our heavenly destination, the new Jerusalem. That journey can be long and hard, but if we keep our focus on where God is leading us, we will realize that the end result of the journey is worth the hardships along the way.

Conclusion

Friends, when we are in Christ, three things have been done. We have been set free from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. No penalty because Jesus did the time for our crime. Sin’s grip loosening because greater is the strength of the hand that clings on to us - he’s saved us and will never let us go. And he’s preparing a place for us where sin cannot enter because he has done that atoning work that grants us the permission to be in the presence of his awesome holiness.

If you know this within your being because God has saved you, then you will face opposition when you tell others what God has done and what his Word teaches, plainly, boldly, and decisively. You will be discouraged because no one in their right mind turns down anything free, except God’s gift of grace. But take heart, God has promised to never leave his children or to forsake his children. He will be with us every step of the way. So press on, giving your full allegiance to King Jesus, and when you find yourself in the deepest places of discouragement, remind yourself of what awaits you. I find the hymns of our faith to give me words when I can’t muster my own. Here is the final stanza of “Sweet Hour of Prayer” (#429 in Baptist Celebration Hymnal):

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, May I Thy consolation share, Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height, I view my home and take my flight: This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise to seize the ever lasting prize; And shout, while passing thro’ the air, “Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”