Series: Exodus
Title: Who is the LORD?
Text: Ex 5: 1-2
Date: April 16, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Exodus 5: 1: And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2: And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Pharaoh was proud. This is the problem of every sinner while dead in our sins. Pharaoh had many gods and regarded himself a god. So does every spiritually dead sinner. Pharaoh regarded himself wise. So does every unbeliever. Pharaoh regarded himself righteous by his sacrifices to his many vain gods. So does the unbeliever. Pharaoh regarded himself in need of nothing from the true and living God. So does every unbeliever. Pharaoh regarded those God called his people as nothing. They had been slaves for 400 years. Unbelievers regard believers same way.
Therefore, sinners make the same mistake Pharaoh made. They refuse to observe God’s works and hear God’s word. Here was two of the LORD’s servants standing before him speaking God’s word—obviously, the LORD is Sovereign, who is able sends his messengers with his word and accomplish his will.
The word they declared was “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go…” Obviously, the LORD is he who has a chosen people who he sets free from bondage by Christ our Redeemer.
They preached “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast…in the wilderness.” Obviously, the LORD is he who spreads a feast for his people in the midst of the wilderness.
They preached, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me.” Obviously, the LORD is he whom his people worship and praise and give all the glory.
Proposition: All questions concerning the LORD are answered by observing the LORD’s work and hearing the LORD’s word.
Subject: Who is the LORD?
THE LORD IS HE WHO SENDS HIS MESSENGER SPEAKING HIS WORD
Exodus 5: 1:…Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel,…
The LORD is able to send his messengers and make them speak his word.
Malachi 3: 1: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 4:5: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Then the LORD sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ. Christ said,
Matthew 11: 10: For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
When the LORD sends his preacher, he makes him preach God’s Word, Christ Jesus the Savior.
John 1:6: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7: The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
And because it pleased God to save by the foolishness of preaching, the LORD always sends his preacher, preaching Christ, by which Christ comes into his child—his temple—and gives Life, Light and Faith in Christ.
That tells us the LORD is sovereign over all, especially in the salvation of his people. Before God teaches us this about himself, we think second causes are the sovereign god. We imagine that if a man is in some secluded place, never hears the gospel and perishes then that shows God is not sovereign to get his word to every man. No! It shows God put him in a secluded place. God never sent his word because God never intended to save him. It is because he was not God’s elect.
In scripture, wherever God scatters his elect child, God sends his messenger with his gospel, ruling everything to do so. God sent Abraham the gospel in an idolatrous land and called him out. In our text, God put Moses on the backside of the desert for 40 years until the very day God promised then he sent Moses to speak his word to deliver Israel. Before God put Nebuchadnezzar in the dust, God sent his messenger Daniel declaring God did it to make him, “know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” (Dan 4: 25) God sent Jonah “so Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.” (Jon 3:3) God used the hatred of his enemies to arrest Paul several times so that from prison Paul preached and God saved his elect. God even made the state pay to deliver Paul to Rome to prison where God used Paul to preach the gospel and saved his elect in Caesar’s house. From the first believer until the last in scripture, God sent his gospel and called out his elect.
Brethren, be sure to get this. God sending his messenger to his people is Christ himself coming to his people with his gospel and Christ saving us. Was God able to send forth Christ to accomplish the redemption of his people?
Galatians 4: 4: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5: To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Was God able to send forth the Spirit of Son into our hearts making us call on God?
Galatians 4: 6: And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Is Christ able to send his messenger to blow the gospel trumpet and announce the arrival of King Jesus into our hearts?
Malachi 3:1: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple,…saith the LORD of hosts.
God is sovereign in salvation: to send Christ who redeemed us, to send the gospel through his messenger and to quicken, call and keep us by that same gospel. Now, this morning, this same God has sent his gospel to you for a reason! Either to condemn or save. Do you know who he is?
THE LORD IS HE WHO REDEEMES HIS PARTICULAR PEOPLE
Exodus 5: 1: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go…
Who is the Lord? The LORD is he who has a particular people who Christ sets free from bondage. Natural Israel was God’s people, not any other nation on earth, to typify God’s elect are God’s people, not any other people on earth.
Romans 9: 6:…they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:…8: That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise [God’s elect] are counted for the seed.
Those God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world are the true Israel of God. God’s elect are typified when God said of natural Israel,
Exodus 11: 7: But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
God’s grace is particular, distinguishing grace. God puts a difference between his people and the rest of this world. That difference is Christ! Christ delivered all his people from the curse of the law when he laid down his life on the cross for us. It is typified in God delivering natural Israel from slavery through the Passover lamb.
Galatians 3:13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
God delivers his people from Satan by binding the strong man and saying “Let my people go!”
Mark 3:27: No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
God delivers his people from the slavery of our sin-nature, when the Spirit of Christ creates us anew and causes us to walk by faith in Christ.
Ezekiel 36: 27: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
The last enemy Christ shall deliver us from is death.
1 Corinthians 15: 55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56: The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then Christ shall deliver us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God in heavens glory. (Rom 8: 23) The LORD is he who has a chosen people who he delivers by Christ Jesus our Redeemer! Now, this morning, he has sent his word to you declaring God is he who delivers his people by Christ Jesus. Are you one Christ redeemed?
THE LORD IS HE WHO SPREADS A FEAST FOR HIS PEOPLE
Exodus 5: 1: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast…in the wilderness.
It is our great Shepherd, Christ Jesus, who prepares this feast for his people, making us hear and believe in spirit and in truth.
Psalm 23: 5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
It is in his holy mountain—his church—that the LORD of hosts prepares this feast, his gospel—the feast of his person and his work: righteousness by Christ, holiness by Christ, perfection in Christ
Isaiah 25:6: And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people [his elect Jew and Gentile] a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
He makes us keep this feast with no mixture of our sinful works of self-righteousness.
1 Corinthians 5:8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The unleavened Bread is Christ the living Bread. The unleavened bread of sincerity is giving God all the glory for every part of our salvation. The unleavened bread of truth is believing the word of God which God makes his preachers declare in truth, which God makes his people believe in truth.
Now, God has spread his feast of electing, redeeming, regenerating grace before you this morning. Has he made you hungry for this feast?
THE LORD IS HE WHOM HIS PEOPLE WORSHIP AND GLORIFY
Exodus 5: 1: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
For his children, gathering at this feast is not an option. This is something we must do!
Exodus 10:9: And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.
Job 23:12: Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
It is because the Head of the table—the one person of honor at this gospel feast—is our Life, our Righteousness, our God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Each time, he assembles his people to hear his gospel, we gather unto him, to hear only him, to worship only him, to glorify only him.
Now let me end with a few words.
First, all questions concerning the LORD are answered by observing the LORD’s work and hearing the LORD’s word. Be not like Pharaoh, who thought himself wise and yet proved himself ignorant. Hear the gospel and read God’s word, observing the LORD’s works. Hear the gospel and read God’s word, hearing the word of the LORD.
Secondly, let’s answer the question, “Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice?” He is the sovereign LORD of salvation who has sent his gospel in truth here today. He is the LORD who sets his people free by Christ Jesus his Son. He is the LORD who has spread this gospel feast and fed his people here today. He is the LORD who all his people worship and obey and glorify. This is who the LORD is! This is why you should obey his voice!
Amen!