Series: Exodus
Title: Stronger than the Most Powerful
Scripture: Exodus 7: 1-7
Date: May 14, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
God has power to work his will and purpose in all his creation. God has never and shall never be stopped from working what he purposed to do. God always works his will and purpose at all times using all things in his creation.
Propositions: Everything that comes to pass is by the power and will of God and is accomplishing God’s purpose of glorifying his name in the salvation of his people.
We see this in our text in Exodus 7: 1-7: The LORD speaking here is the pre-incarnate Christ.
POWER TO MAKE HIS MINISTER
Exodus 7: 1: And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2: Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
Christ has power to make and speak through his minister. When Christ said, “I have made thee” it means Christ sanctified and sent Moses to speak Christ’s word. Christ declared this to the Pharisee’s to show that God had sent Christ.
John 10: 33: The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 34: Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
One example where it is written in the word is in our text, Christ said to Moses, “I have made you a god unto Pharaoh.” Christ continued,
John 10: 35: If he called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Moses was called a god because Christ, the Word of God, came to Moses and sanctified him and sent him.. So if he called Moses a god because the Word of God came unto him and we know the scripture is true, it cannot be broken, Christ said then,
John 10: 36: Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
From this we see that the relationship between Christ and his preacher is patterned after God the Father and Christ his Son. God the Father sanctified and sent Christ into the world to accomplish the Father’s will. Christ took the form of a servant, serving as God the Father’s ambassador, his anointed, his minister to his people. God the Father was in Christ and Christ in the Father and the Father spoke and worked through Christ.
John 7:16: Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
John 6: 44: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45: It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Therefore, because God the Father made Christ his minister, because God the Father sent Christ, because God the Father speaks through Christ, Christ is to be heard and believed. He said,
John 10: 37: If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38: But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
After this pattern, Christ makes his minister and sends his minister and speaks through his minister. It pleased God to save through preaching to glorify Christ. Even the relationship between Christ and his preacher is glorious because it is patterned after God the Father and Christ his minister.
So Christ sanctifies and sends his preacher to preach Christ’s person and works; Christ and him crucified! The message of Christ’s ambassador is not himself it is Christ who is the manifestation of God. Our message is that Christ is God’s salvation, Christ is God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, God’s redemption, which God provided for his people.
Since Christ sanctifies and sends his preacher, since his preacher preaches Christ’s word and works, and since Christ is speaking through his ministers therefore Christ’s preacher is to be heard and his word obeyed. It is the word of Christ himself. That is what Christ meant when he said to Moses, “I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh.” To reject Moses’ was to reject Christ who sent him. It is true today as it was then.
2 Corinthians 5: 20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Many religious folks reject this because it tears down their false refuge of being self-taught apart from God’s ordained means of salvation in this gospel age. God the Holy Spirit asks, “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?” Where in God’s true church will find such self-taught men? You will not! Scripture says, yea, Christ himself said, “They shall be all taught of God!” Therefore, God has “made foolish the wisdom of this world.” How so? After God proved generation after generation under the old covenant dispensation that fallen sinners can in no way understand and come to God by their own self-taught wisdom, “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor 1: 20-21) The only religious man who rejects any word of God, including this word of God, it the man who is trusting in his own will and works!
If Christ was preaching somewhere in this earth today and men refused to hear him, no excuse would justify despising Christ so. Well, where one of Christ’s preacher’s is preaching in this world, Christ is preaching! Do we grasp how true this is? Those who do let nothing come between them and hearing the preaching of the gospel. That is not supposition, that is fact. God’s saints who have been taught by God know it is so and prove it is so by their faithful attendance to hear the gospel of Christ preached. Let men reject this truth all they will but it does not change the holy word of God that to reject one of Christ’s ministers is to reject the Lord himself.
1 Samuel 8: 7: And the LORD said unto Samuel,…they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
Luke 10: 16: [Christ said to the seventy] He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Mark 6: 11: And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
The LORD said to Moses “I have made thee a god.” The word “god” in this context means one set over men by God, whom we are to obey. Civil rulers are an example. To reject them is to reject God the same as to reject Christ’s preacher is to reject Christ.
Romans 13: 1: Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2: Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
When Christ said, “I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh” it means Christ made Moses to have authority and power over the most powerful ruler and nation in the whole world. The same is true of all Christ’s preachers. God said to Jeremiah,
Jeremiah 1: 9: Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 10: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Whenever you find a person who thinks so little of Christ’s messenger so as to forsake assembling together with the saints you find a person who thinks that little of the LORD who sent his messenger.
Christ is the Power and Authority of his preacher. Christ makes his minister have more power and authority than the mightiest kings on this earth. But the preacher has “this treasure in an earthen vessel that the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Cor 4: 7) We see it in our text.
Christ alone gives his preacher the word to speak—Christ said to Moses, “thou shalt speak all that I command thee.” Moses was not to speak his own word. Neither are Christ’s true ministers to speak our own word. Christ commands his minister to speak all that Christ commands.
Moses had a problem with his speaking ability. So do all Christ’s preachers. None are able to make the word accomplish God’s will. So Moses was to speak the word that Christ gave him unto Aaron--“thou shalt speak all that I command thee. [unto him].” Then Aaron spake to Pharaoh—“and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.” Aaron typifies Christ our Elder Brother, our Prophet, Priest and King, the Mediator between God and men. Christ gives his preacher the word to preach then, like Moses trusted Aaron to speak to Pharaoh, Christ’s preacher trusts Christ to speak the word into the hearts of his people and make it accomplish his will.
So the glory for which God chose to save through the preaching of the gospel is not the preacher’s. Christ’s glory is the reason God chose to save through the foolishness of preaching. God gave Christ the glory to make his preacher, patterned after he and the Father. God gave Christ the glory of being the Power and Authority and Wisdom of his preacher. God gave Christ the glory of being the subject preached! God gave Christ the glory of being the one who gives the message to his preacher and who makes it effectual in the hearts of his people through the Holy Spirit. Someone might ask when God gave Christ this glory?
Ephesians 1: 20…when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21: Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23: Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
POWER TO WORK HIS WILL
Exodus 7: 3: And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4: But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Through the declaration of his word, God has power to work his sovereign will. All that the Lord declares here will be accomplished through Moses declaring the word of God.
First, through his word God hardens some—God said, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” The first time Moses preached the word, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. This time, God says, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”
But how could God charge Pharaoh if we do not have ability to obey except by grace? Inability does not negate responsibility. God does everything justly. It was just for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart as the reward for Pharaoh hardening his own heart. The man who hears this word of God declared and constantly object, constantly refuses to bow, shall receive the reward of his sin, which is just reprobation.
Romans 1: 21: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened….24: Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts,… 25: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections:…
This truth ought to make us flee to Christ immediately without delay. But the fact we can ignore this warning shows the necessity of God’s irresistible grace to draw us.
Yet, even in the rebellion of those who reject God’s clear word, God has power to accomplish his purpose. Through Pharaoh’s hardened heart, God said, “I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.”
Pharaoh’s rejection did not frustrate God’s purpose but was according to God’s purpose and was worked together by God to accomplish God’s purpose.
Romans 8: 28: We know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 9:17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
When Christ walked this earth did the rejection of the Pharisee’s frustrate God’s purpose? No, God used their rejection to fulfill his eternal purpose for Christ to might multiply his signs and wonders in the earth that he might work the greatest wonder of all by his enemies nailing him to the cross which is the glory of God and the salvation of his people.
Acts 4: 26: The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28: For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Acts 13: 27: For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28: And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29: And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Everything happening in the world right now in rebellion against God is being worked by God’s sovereign will to accomplish his eternal purpose. Believer, let this be great consolation to us. When men reject our gospel and reject us it breaks our hearts. Nevertheless, we know that if it comes to pass God is using it to glorify himself and manifest to his true people his sovereign power to save, even using God-haters to do so.
Psalm 76:10: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
Believer, rejoice in this! But if you are a rebel who is refusing to bow to God’s word then please here this warning! Bow and pledge allegiance to Christ. You cannot win by kicking against the truth!
POWER TO ACCOMPLISH A TWO-FOLD PURPOSE
Exodus 7: 5: And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
First, God will make all men know his name. God said, “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt.” Everything God does in this earth—everything that comes to pass—declares the glory of God’s name. When the enemies nailed Christ to the cross, satan thought he had finally won. All the self-righteous host thought they could finally get back to their vain charade of religion. But God merely used satan and his seed to put Christ on the cross so Christ could crush satan’s head and defeat all his enemies. By what his enemies did to Christ, God has caused his name to be declared in all the world for thousands of years since just like he did with Pharaoh!
Romans 9: 17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
The second great purpose in everything God is working is to save his elect—“when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” God used his enemies to put his Son on the cross where Christ declared God just by fully honoring God’s holy and righteous law by bearing the wrath of divine justice for his people. Christ also declared God the Justifier of his people by carrying away the sins of his people forever, making us the righteousness of God in him. He fully accomplished the redemption of his people! He delivered us when he said it is finished!
Every hateful word and deed, least to greatest, is serving this purpose of declaring God’s name and saving his people. In the end, every rebel shall confess as God says that “I am the LORD.” And every child God chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world shall be delivered to behold our Redeemer forever.
Philppians 2: 10: [And] at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
THE ILLUSTRATION
Exodus 7: 6: And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they. 7: And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.
God illustrates that everything we just heard is true. “Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.” It is sort of comical to picture these two old fellows walking up to this powerful despot. But by their age and prior falls they knew the weakness of their flesh. So Moses and Aaron looked away from themselves. By God’s grace, they believed God’s word and faithfully obeyed. They declared his word. That is all they did, they spake unto Pharaoh.
By Christ they were “Stronger than the Most Powerful” in the world. When they saw Pharaoh harden his heart, they did not judge after the flesh and think their labor was in vain. Instead, they judged after the spirit, remembering this is what the LORD said would happen and they continued speaking all that Christ commanded!
Let us follow their example. At all times let us look away from ourselves. At all times, let us believe on Christ. At all times, let us trust God to do as he promised. At all times, let us simply declare his word. God has power to work his sovereign will and is doing so in everything that comes to pass. And Christ makes us “Stronger than the Most Powerful.”
Amen!