Exodus 18Scripture
So today's assignment is Exodus 18–19. And if you think I'm going to read through all that today, I could, but I'm not going to. I am going to read all of 18 today; most of my work will be done in there. And then I will jump over to 19, and I will read one verse, or at least I will reflect on one verse. Let me make sure I know where that is, because I just decided to do it during worship. So let's see, somewhere in 19, we'll find it when we get there. Anyway, chapter 18, starting at verse 1. Exodus 18: "Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt." In other words, we are noticing, and have been noticing for the last 17 chapters, we have been introduced to the God who saves. Now, this is a turning point. And salvation is a continuation; we'll continue to see a God who saves through the entire Bible. But there is a shift here, and now the grand focal point, I believe, of the text moving forward is that we are being introduced to a God who sanctifies. And this is important for us today, because many of us embrace a God who saves, but we reject a God who sanctifies. But you can't have one without the other. It is two sides of a coin, if you will. And so now we are peering into the text, and 18 and 19 is the beginning of the introduction. It is the introduction of a God who sanctifies. Let that be the foundation for how you interpret, read, and see this text. Watch a God, watch what he does, watch how he shifts from saving them to sanctifying them. By the way,
Introduction
Sanctification is part of saving. It's part of the saving work of God.
He doesn't just want to redeem you out of the pits of hell; he wants to transform you into a new creation.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 2:07
He wants to set you apart for his purposes. He doesn't want you to function according to the old law, or the old way, or the old ways of life. He wants you to be new and newly made. I love this. He brought them out of the land. "Now Jethro, moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom," can you imagine that naming session? "For he said, 'I have been a sojourner in a foreign land'), and the name of the other, Eliezer," Eliezer, "for he said, 'The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh'). Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God. And when he sent word to Moses, 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,' Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way." Did you catch that? Who else is referred to as the Way? Did you know that hardship comes even when you're in the Way? Right? That's good stuff right there. I'm not preaching on that today, but that's good. I didn't catch that till just now. That was really cool. That's cool. That's interesting. Now I'm totally lost. I'm not even going to be able to preach my sermon straight. Where am I? What verse am I on? Verse 8? Thank you. "Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.'" This is Jethro saying, "I know the Lord is greater than all gods." Now, there's much conjecture here about what's going on in the heart of Jethro, because we know that he believes in other gods other than the God. So you can have someone who believes that this God is greater than the other gods, but still believes in the other gods. We're not really sure what's going on in the heart of jethro. We do know from the past that there is some difference between what Moses believes about God and what Jethro believes about God. And then listen to what happens in the midst of this difference of theological opinions. Listen to what happens as counsel comes to a man who believes one thing about God that's different from the man that the counsel comes from. It's interesting. It's interesting. "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?'" That's a lot of problems. I mean, 2.4 million people's worth of problems. "This is my property." "Somebody crossed my line." "Somebody came into my tent in the middle of the night, took my something." I don't know what they got in there. Donkey, all kinds of disputes. So what was happening is they would have these issues between the people. They would come and bring their issues before Moses, and Moses would make a judgment on that issue. And the line was long, from morning till evening. One person was judging and making judgments and corrections on the trouble that was happening in the midst of the people. Whoo, what a job. And Jethro was like, "What are you doing, man?" "And Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.'" It's interesting; he knows them already. "Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'What you are doing...'" Track with me here. This is not the way we like to receive counsel today. Typically we go find somebody who will agree with us. We definitely don't hang out with people very long who tell us the truth about us. If they don't use a little bit of flattery, peppered with one-tenth truth, we're out. We're not hanging out with that person very long.
But your growth comes from this kind of a comment.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:27
And as a matter of fact, don't think yourself so holy, because you are first cousins with God, and that person's a pagan, and you can't learn anything from them. Are you with me today? 'Cause you don't be so such-y much-y that you can't hear from people, or be corrected by people.
It's called common grace. He gives common grace to all men.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:03
There's some men you can learn from that ain't in church, and you deny yourself the wisdom that comes from them by not listening to them. I say that too much, because I know the longer we're in church, the more we only want to listen to church people. Some of us don't want to listen to church people. We'll go find pagans inside the church, and we'll hang out with pagans who will flatter us rather than pagans who will make us want to be better. Are you with me? Okay, all right, yay. This is going to be good, I promise. Don't fret. Don't fret. I always lose myself. I need to have a rolling... 17. Okay. "Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'What you are doing is not good.'" Can you imagine bringing your father-in-law... You had dinner, you're hanging out with your family, and then you got to go out the next day, and you're trying to impress them with how good you do your job. And then at dinner that night he's like, "Yeah, that was terrible. That was just... That was bad." I mean, can you see the scene? It's hilarious. I mean, Moses probably wanted his father-in-law to be proud of him for what he did all day, just working and slaving, and just judging, and working, and slaving, and judging. Just such a man of God. Jethro was like, "That was stupid." Yay.
Nothing like being corrected when you think you're awesome.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:31
"'You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.'" You're not able to do it alone. "'Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to god.'" This is a man who obeyed God's voice. Okay? If that doesn't trouble you dead. That should trouble you. This is a man God speaks to through clouds when he wants something. Now somebody's come to him and said, "Obey my voice, and God will be with you." Does that trouble you? "'And you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe,'" sound familiar? That's relevant for today, I would assume, "'and place such men over the people as chiefs,'" go Chiefs, anyway, "'of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.' So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said." That's mind-blowing. And honestly, that's troubled me all week, because "I just need a word from God before I move." Are you with me today? "I just need a word from God before I do anything." That's not what this says. That's troubling. "If you do this, God will direct you'll be able to endure, and all the people will go to their place." "Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times.
Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country." That's good stuff. Well, I had three points today; I made it five points during worship. We're going to get through them quick. But here's my main point, and the main point is the shift that we see in chapter 18. Don't miss the shift. In 1 through 17 we have seen the God who saves. In there we've seen God provide, we've seen him do a bunch of things, but it is the God who saves. Now we are shifting, and we see a God who sanctifies. And over the coming chapters we're going to see and be introduced to the God who sanctifies. Now, don't let it be lost on you: the way God attempts to sanctify the people is fulfilled entirely in Christ Jesus. And what the law could not do now can be fulfilled in a unique way through believing in Christ Jesus and being filled with the Spirit. The law had a hard time sanctifying, but it does not mean the standard of the law is obsolete. His standard is his standard. The Holy Spirit helps us in the sanctification process, but it is always God's plan and desire to not merely save his people, but to sanctify his people. And sanctifying his people is part of saving his people. So that's the point today. Don't walk away missing that. We're being introduced to the God who sanctifies. And then the question comes: how does God sanctify? In chapters 18 and 19, how is he sanctifying his people?
I have five points that I want to talk to you about today. Now, I've got them all convoluted, and a couple of these are going to seem
Point 1God sanctifies with trouble
Troubling, but just stick with me, because there's beauty in them. God sanctifies with trouble. Now, I added that one in worship, because Moses is dealing with trouble after trouble of the people. People are troubled. God does not remove the trouble, but he trains, and he sets apart, and he sanctifies Moses, and develops and disciplines him in the midst of the trouble he faces. He's teaching him with trouble. He's teaching the people with trouble. If you've been in this thing with us from the beginning of Exodus, how much has trouble been their course, and how much growth have we seen in this nation because of the trouble?
In your life, God saves, but he does not take you away from trouble, because trouble oftentimes becomes a means for setting you apart and making you holy.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:31
You ever heard the phrase, "Marriage is not to make you happy, but to make you holy"? How many of you would agree with that sentiment? It is not that happiness is not a part of it, but it is that happiness is not the full extent of marriage.
You will often find you are becoming more holy than you are happy.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:00
And so is the relationship with God. As we are the bride of Christ, we go into this thing thinking that we're going to be happy, and we quickly discover it is his goal to make us holy, because he is not just the God who saves, but he is the God who
Point 2God sanctifies with silence
Sanctifies. Are you with me today? Point number two: God sanctifies with silence. God sanctifies with silence. No, silence does not mean that you're far from God, or you're not in a relationship with him like you used to be. Oftentimes God uses silence to sanctify his people, to teach, and to train, and to discipline. Oh, and discipline is a part of God's plan. Exodus 18:13–16, to reprise it: "The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?' And Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.'" We move on to Exodus 33, and I'm jumping ahead here, but if we were to jump up to Exodus 33:11, guess what it says of Moses? Listen to this, Exodus 33:11: "Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." Have you ever wondered why God, who gave Moses such detailed verbal instructions about so much, like the construction of the tabernacle and keeping the law, never instructed Moses on how he was to perform his role as judge in Israel? He never says anything to Moses about how to judge the issues with the people. God spoke to Moses face to face. God gave him instruction about everything. God gave great details about everything. But here he's silent on how to judge the people. He's silent. He remains silent. It isn't like he's silent for a season and then he speaks up. He stays silent on the issue, never instructing Moses on how he's to perform his role as judge of Israel. Instead, he allowed Moses to struggle under an overbearing workload for a while, and finally sends Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, to be an organizational consultant in Exodus 18. While visiting his famous son-in-law, Jethro observes Moses' judicial administrative methods and then gives great advice on delegation. The outcome was a much more efficient and effective way of serving the people. Why didn't God just tell him from the beginning? Or why didn't he just call him to the tent of meeting one day and give him some direction and line this thing out for him? Why Jethro, of all people, who possibly is still a pagan? What in the world? Now we're taking advice from somebody who believes in multiple gods, for a nation that's God's, the one true God. And if this counsel had come directly from God's mouth rather than from Jethro, it is my position that we would likely still be structuring our churches this way, our denominations this way, our organizations this way, by thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, because it's God's endorsed way of organizing people and there is no other way. God speaks with clarity, listen to me, and preciseness on everything that is required to redeem his people and make them holy throughout the generations. He's clear on every commandment to be obeyed and every promise to be trusted. But regarding secondary and administrative things, he leaves much to our figuring it out. That's just facts. Exodus 18:24 says, "So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said." Shocking. Shocking. If God speaks to you through a cloud, is it possible for God to speak to you any other way? Because he can do what he pleases. Some of you want to lock him into a little box and make him do what you please. But he's God. He does what he wants. And if silence is his recourse, it's his business. Yeah.
And I want you to know, if he's silent, it isn't punishment.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:53
It isn't because he doesn't love you. And it may not be because you're far away from him. It might simply be because he's trying to sanctify you with
Point 3God sanctifies through correction
Silence. Number three: God sanctifies through correction. Oh, that thing we avoid most often. And it does its sanctifying work in us. Correction does some sanctifying work, and correction will make you something that you were not, and it will humble you. Exodus 18:17–18: "Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'What you are doing is not good.'" This is bad. "'You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you.'" You aren't good enough, smart enough, disciplined enough, and strong enough to do it on your own. In a world where we want to live in isolation, we don't want the church, we don't want the body of Christ. "We just need just Jesus and me."
There's no such thing as just Jesus and you, because the Godhead is triune.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:01
So to take God, you got to have fellowship. Right? You with me today? You don't get to... Let me tell you are the bride of Christ. You know what the bride is? The body. You know what the body is? You don't get to reject the body and say you love God. "Well, I'm introverted." So am I. According to college tests, like 99%. Like, meet me at a birthday party somewhere in town that's not a church event. See what happens there.
That don't mean I don't go. You understand what I'm saying? I can see the benefit of small group, but every week it's a struggle for me to go. Does that mean... It's a struggle because we prioritize ourselves, our time, our energies. We don't want to be annoyed. We don't want to have to make food for somebody else. Or, yeah, you know what I mean. Like, now, some of you love all that stuff, and that's great for you.
That's great. That's why silence is miserable for you. Everything just needs to party. That's how you energize. So then when God grows silent, you're like, "!" But he's sanctifying you, because everything doesn't have to be a party, and he don't always have to be speaking. And he's trying to teach you that his ways are higher than your ways. He sanctifies through correction. Through correction Jethro corrected. If you avoid correction, you avoid God's sanctifying process. And God corrects several different ways. God can correct through people in the church. Okay? There are people in the church that you're in relationship with that can disciple and correct you and guide you. They can see issues in your life, and they can speak into those things, and they can help you. And it's your choice to listen or not. But part of God's saving process, he uses people to correct. You know how else he corrects? His word. That's why people don't read it much, because there's a lot of correction in there that's painful. It's painful. The reality is Jethro corrected him.
In other words, Moses' mission was right, but his method was wrong. Bad systems can undermine all your best intentions.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:55
Although helpful, I imagine this correction still might have stung Moses a little bit. Hebrews 12. And for those of you who don't think God corrects once you're in Christ, or disciplines, one, you're wrong. Two, let me give you some Scripture reference. Hebrews 12:11 says, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant." Now, this is for people who have faith. This is for believers. These are for people who are in Christ. He moves on to say, teaching believers how to endure, teaching believers how to endure, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, "For the moment all discipline seems painful," for you believers, "rather than pleasant, but later," if you stay under discipline, "it yields the peaceful fruit." Some of you don't have peace because you are undisciplined. You avoid discipline like the plague.
Notice here that access to peace is on the other side of discipline.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:17
Or, in other words, it's understanding that God sanctifies. Part of his sanctifying process is God sanctifies through correction. And he sanctifies through correction why? To get us to peace. So correction is not just God's disciplining winnowing fork, disciplining rod, but it is also there to move us to peace.
The point of correction is peace for you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:42
That's good. Some of us can't get to peace because we can't stand correction, and we avoid it like the plague. "But later it yields the peaceful fruit." Later. Later. I'm not talking about just "correction now, give me peace." I'm talking about staying in correction.
Anybody can be corrected once. No one wants to be corrected for three months.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:11
If you stay there, it produces "the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Notice what it produces: peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Sanctification. He's making you new. Proverbs 3:11–12: "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline." The Lord, he does that. "Do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." Yes, God disciplines. Yes, fathers should too. Hebrews 12:3–6: "consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?" That's for believers. "'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.'"
Listen, our prideful, fallen nature hates to have our mistakes and weaknesses pointed out. It's why it's so difficult oftentimes for us to read the word, because we see it so clearly in us. But Moses' response revealed his humility. He didn't brush Jethro off as an outsider who didn't understand. He didn't try to protect his reputation by lying and telling a little fib that, "Well, you know, I've been thinking about doing that very thing myself." And he didn't pull rank by reminding Jethro that between the two of them, it was him who tended to hear God more. Rather, Moses humbly received and immediately implemented Jethro's counsel.
In this world, such a leader is rare.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:32
You know why he could do it so quickly? You know why he didn't have to say, "Let me pray about it"? Is this too hard for you guys today? Listen to me. "Well, thanks for your input, but let me pray about that." You know, he don't say that. He just does it. Now notice, he's judging the nation according to the statutes and the laws of God. He knew them, so he knew that the advice wasn't against them. So although the counsel didn't come directly from the mouth of God, it was fitting to the statutes of God. The reason why we can't do anything outside of a divine revelation is that we don't know the law and the statutes of God. So when somebody, either a believer or not a believer, gives us some kind of counsel, we don't know if it's wise counsel, or we don't know if it's counsel that falls under the statutes of God, because we don't know the statutes of God ourselves. That's the problem. There are people who live their whole life immobile, and it isn't because they haven't received grand counsel, and it isn't because God hasn't sent one person after another person after another person to direct them. It is because we don't know his statutes, and it's because we don't trust that we know his statutes when we hear advice. Let me tell you,
Point 4God sanctifies through instruction
This man talked with God face to face and still did what somebody else advised. Number four: God sanctifies through instruction. Exodus 18:24–27: "So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country." God is not just sanctifying Moses; he's sanctifying a nation with instruction. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 says, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training," listen to me, "in righteousness." Track with me. Watch these words in the coming chapters: holiness, righteousness, sanctifying work of God, set apart. Watch it. Why? Because we have been introduced to a God who saves, and we are being introduced to a God who sanctifies, and this is how he does it. Isn't it good that God doesn't just save you and let you flounder around in life, but he wants to complete the work he began in you through Jesus Christ? Notice, you enter into salvation through Jesus Christ, and you enter into sanctification through the leading of the Spirit and the purification work of the Holy Spirit, which dwells in you. Are you with me today? He's doing a work in you. Are you open to receiving and applying God's instruction? Because receiving it is not enough. Just hearing it's not enough. Just knowing it's not enough. Just learning it's not enough. But it is about applying God's instruction. That's where sanctification hits the ground.
Sanctification involves not just hearing but doing.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 35:33
God's word and wise counsel from others are tools he uses to guide us, but will you obey? And the fifth and final way that God sanctifies that I see, we jump to chapter 19, and we'll do that together. Let's see if I can find it, because I read it briefly. Chapter 19. See if I can find it. Let's see. Okay, here it is. I'll just read this section here. "On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled." You hear that? "Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly." Just like the people. "And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.'" And if you jump to 20, let's just do it, because I'm going to set it up for next week, what I'm going to be talking about next week, and just kind of, just because. Verse 20... Chapter 20, let's see here. No, verse 18, chapter 20, verse 18: "Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.' Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to test you,'" there it is again. Have you seen how much God's testing people up in here? "'...That the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.'" Why? "That you may not sin." Do you see the sanctifying work of
Point 5God sanctifies with fear
God here in fear? So my fifth and final point is: God sanctifies with fear. Now, we say this, we say this today, you would quote Hebrews and you'd say, "Well, we have not come to Mount Sinai, where we fear and we tremble and we shake and we quake. We've come to another mountain, Mount Zion, where we can enter boldly before God." Oh, that does not mean fear is not a part of his sanctifying work, because the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Are you with me today? He's trying to sanctify you. He's trying to renew your mind. And the way he does it, sometimes God sanctifies through fear. Now, God sanctifies through trouble, God sanctifies with silence, God sanctifies through correction, God sanctifies through instruction, and God sanctifies through fear. That may not sound fun to you, but you need to know that with each of these, God is doing something wonderful in you. He has a plan. And getting you out of Egypt is not his only plan, and getting you to the land of promise is not his only plan.
Let me tell you, he wants to transform you from what you were to what he intends you to be.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:54
And if you're here today and you're wrestling on some level with who you used to be, he has a plan for you.
He wants to sanctify you, not merely save you. He wants your journey to be more than to the foot of the cross, but to move beyond the cross into the sanctifying work of our heavenly Father.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:18
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