35

Acts 7:24-34 MOSES CALLED OF GOD TO DELIVER ISRAEL

Introduction:

The children of Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for nearly 400 years.

But God had already made plans for Moses to deliver them.

I. God’s early dealings with Moses concerning his call

Moses had spent the first forty years of his life in Egypt. He would

spend the next forty years in the wilderness. At the time of this text, he is

still in Egypt, but unknown to him, he is about to go into the wilderness. In

our text we see a situation develop which will cause Moses to go into the

wilderness area.

Moses had been brought up as though he were an Egyptian. He was brought

up in the house of royalty. He was brought up as though he were the son of

Pharaoh’s daughter. His childhood playmates were Egyptians. His friends in his

teen years were Egyptians. His friends and associates as an adult were

Egyptians.

Yet Moses knew that he was not an Egyptian. His skin and his facial

features were that of a Hebrew. He had memories of his early childhood when he

was in the home of his own Hebrew mother, whom Pharaoh’s daughter had employed

to nurse him and give him milk until he was old enough to be weaned. He would

remember sitting in mother’s lap and seeing his father and his older sister,

Miriam, and his older brother, Aaron. There must have been times when his

mother held him in her arms and told him that he was her child and that she was

his mother.

When Moses was forty years old he visited his kinsmen. He felt a bond to

them that he did not have with the Egyptians. He knew about the God which the

Hebrews worshipped. He knew about the Christ whom the Hebrew God had promised

to send. When Moses visited with them, it was because he understood that God

had put him in the home of Pharaoh’s daughter in order that he could deliver

them from the bondage in they found themselves.

II. The incident that caused Moses to flee from Egypt

V. 24, “And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended [him], and

avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian.” Moses saw an Egyptian

slavemaster beating a Hebrew. Moses looked one way and then the other and there

was no one in sight. So he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.

Moses understood that he was to be a deliverer for the Hebrews and he

thought that killing the Egyptian who was oppressing his people was in keeping

with his calling. V. 25, “For he supposed his brethren would have understood

how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.” He

thought that the Hebrew people also understood that he would be their deliverer.

They had been praying for a deliverer and God had placed him in the home of

Pharaoh’s daughter making him an heir to the throne, giving him an opportunity

to deliver them when he came to throne. But they did not understand that he was

to be their deliverer.

V. 26, “And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and

would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong

one to another?” The next day after Moses killed the Egyptian Moses saw two of

the Hebrew men engaged arguing and fighting. I can imagine that other brethren

were gathered around watching and that they were excited about the fight urging

them on.

But Moses was not glad to see them fight. It disturbed him. It saddened

him to see two Hebrew brethren, who ought to be helping one another trying to

hurt one another. So Moses jumped in between them and stopped the fight. He

asked them, “Sirs, why do ye wrong one another?”

This is a question which Christians sometimes need to answer. Why should

a Christian wrong anybody? Especially why should a Christian do wrong to a

fellow Christian? Christians are supposed to love everybody. They are

especially love their fellow Christians.

When Moses stopped the fight and demanded why the two men wronged one

another, the one who had been in the wrong snapped back at him. V. 27-28, “But

he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler

and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian

yesterday?”

So Moses knew now that his deed was known and that the news would quickly

reach the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh would not take kindly to anyone killing one of

is taskmasters. Moses knew that his own life would now be in danger. If he

should stay in Egypt he, himself, would surely be killed. Being the son of

Pharaoh’s daughter would not spare him from Pharaoh’s wrath.

III. The forty years that Moses spent in the desert wilderness

V. 29, “Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of

Madian, where he begat two sons.” Moses was a stranger, a so-journer, in the

land of Midian. It was there that he married a daughter of a Midianite priest.

He had two sons by her. For a livelihood, Moses became a shepherd. He tended

sheep for his father-in-law. Grass was scarce in that desert land and often

Moses had to lead the sheep a considerable distance for his place of residence.

There is little doubt that his mind would often go back to the land of Egypt and

to the Hebrew people who were still in bondage and under oppression.

IV. The burning bush and God’s call for Moses to return to Egypt

V. 30, “And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the

wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.” It

was during such a search for grass for the sheep that he came near to Mt. Sinai

that he saw a strange sight. He could look off in the distance somewhat up the

side of Mt. Sinai that he saw a bush which appeared to be afire. That, within

itself, must not have been so strange. extreme heat or, perhaps, lightening

could set a bush on fire. But the strange thing about this was the bush just

kept burning and never burned up. After more than enough time had passed for

the bush to be nothing but a pile of ashes, Moses could see that it was still

blazing just as high as ever.

This continual burning of the bush really got the attention of Moses. V.

31, “When Moses saw [it], he wondered at the sight...” Moses had surely seen

burning bushes and burning trees before, but he had never seen one that would

never burn up. This one just kept burning. So Moses came closer to the burning

bush to get a better look. (V. 31), “...and as he drew near to behold [it], the

voice of the Lord came unto him.” Can you imagine how startled Moses was as he

approached the bush giving it his full attention when suddenly there was a voice

which spoke to him out of the bush calling him by name.

V. 32, “[Saying], I [am] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob...” The voice which came from the

burning bush not only called him by name. Someone was within that burning bush

who knew him. He knew him by name.

The person within the bush identified Himself as God. He said, “I am the

God of thy fathers.” Now keep in mind that Moses had been brought up as an

Egyptian. But God reminded him that he was not an Egyptian. He was a Hebrew.

He was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God had made a covenant with

Abraham and confirmed it with Isaac and Jacob and Moses was a descendant of the

covenant people.

(V. 32), “...Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.” Upon hearing the

voice and hearing the speaker identify Himself as God, Moses was afraid and

began to tremble. He would no longer look directly at the burning bush, but

bowed his head and looked down at his feet.

The voice continued to speak to him. V. 33-34, “Then said the Lord to

him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy

ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt,

and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come,

I will send thee into Egypt.” God instructed Moses that he was to pull off his

shoes because he was standing on holy ground. Let me say to you that it was not

the burning bush which made the place holy. It was the presence of the High and

Holy God which made that ground holy. Even so it is not the building or the

ground which makes this place in which we meet today a holy place. It is the

special presence of God here in this service which makes this place a holy

place.

God informed Moses that He had seen the afflictions of the children of

Israel and that He had heard their cries for deliverance. Even today God sees

the afflictions of His people and God hears their cries for help and

deliverance.

God told Moses that He had come down from heaven to earth to deliver them

and was present here in that bush for the purpose of sending Moses back to Egypt

to deliver His people from bondage.

Now what’s this? If God was going to deliver them, why was He sending

Moses to deliver them? God was sending Moses because God had the plan and God

had the power, but God would use a man to be the human leader in the

deliverance. God was granting Moses the privilege of being that man.

V. God’s call to salvation and to service

God saw the need of all mankind to be delivered from the bondage of sin.

God needed a man to go to the cross and to be an acceptable sacrifice for the

sins of man. But in the great foreknowledge of God, God saw that there was no

such man and there never would be except that God make special arrangements for

such a man.

So God sent His Son, His only begotten Son to the earth to be born of a

virgin into human flesh and to go to the cross to be the acceptable sacrifice

for the sin of men. Jesus has already come to earth and has already given

Himself in sacrifice for the souls of men.

Today God calls upon all men everywhere to repent of their sin and to

trust Jesus Christ to deliver them from the bondage of sin and from the cruse of

sin. The choice is now up to each individual. He can reject the Christ like

the Hebrew man rejected Moses or he can call upon the Christ and be saved.

God also calls every saved person to service. Not all are called upon to

deliver a whole nation from bondage and oppression, but all saved people are

called upon to serve God. Not all will see a burning bush and have God to speak

to them from the burning bush, but God has chosen to have His word preached and

He uses the Holy Spirit to send that message to your heart.

Conclusion:

I call upon each and every unsaved person in this building to answer God’s

call to salvation by coming and placing your faith in Jesus Christ to save your

soul.

I call upon each and every saved person who has not yet been baptized with

Scriptural baptism to come and to present yourself to this church for baptism.

I call upon each saved person whom God would have to move your membership

to this church to come forward and let your wishes be made known.

If God has called someone here to preach the gospel and you have never yet

answered that call, then I am going to ask that you come forward and answer

God’s call.