35
Acts
Introduction:
The
children of
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
spend the next forty years in the
wilderness. At the time of this text, he
is
still 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
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
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
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
was during such a search for grass for the
sheep that he came near to
that he saw a strange sight. He could look off in the distance somewhat up
the
side of
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.