The Right-Wrong Way to Seek Deliverance Ex2-11,25 #5 052696 Rick Howard

Well, this is as we’ve said, Pentecost Sunday, and I think you just need to turn to someone and say, “Happy Pentecost.” Would you do that? “Happy Pentecost.” That’s the day it is. It is also as you remember, Memorial Day weekend. But in this Bay Area, one of the major writers for the San Francisco Examiner said, in this Bay Area, that our people are A-W-O-L when it comes to honoring servicemen.

And, in fact, he quotes a conversation that had occurred the day before. A woman I know, he said, left her office and said, “Have a poignant Memorial Day.” And her coworkers shouted back, “Have a drunk and shallow one.” End of the quote. For most of us, it’s barbecues, beer, and driving, and the largest tally of death on any weekend.

This is the top weekend roadkiller in all of United States’ annual history. As for our memory, again, Newsweek columnist George Will wrote this week that the vast majority of Americans do not even know that Bob Dole was severely wounded in World War II. Nor do they know that Bill Clinton dodged the draft.

After all, he sneers, 90% of Americans are only occasionally and then mildly interested in politics. We enjoy the life we have in this nation because of the heroes, both men and women, who have served and who are today defending the freedom of this nation. I’d like all those people, men or women, who have worn the uniform of the United States of America in service to this country.

Would you please stand? All members of the forces at any time. Let’s give them a standing ovation. I think they deserve it. Would you? Thank you.

You may be seated. Thank you very much. I don’t think there’s been a Memorial Day weekend when I have not used the opportunity to place flowers on the graves of my father and mother. I hope you will as well take a moment at least to think about these folks that we honor. Graveyards are filled with people with remembrances, I mean the stones or the places remembering people who are never visited, and I’m not into going to graveyards often, and I certainly know that the spirits of the people who have departed are not in those places, but I also know that we are careless in terms of the memory of people who have made our lives possible.

Face it, however, God remembers, and He’s the one who really counts. We’re in the middle of this week, a series from the Old Testament book of Exodus, and if you’ll turn in your Bibles, please, to that book, this morning, particularly Exodus 2.

God cares; He remembers the promises He makes to people, He remembers the covenant that He has with His people. The world tries to eliminate the hope of covenant people. In fact, the world will eventually try to eliminate covenant people. But we are seeing in this current series of messages that God only lacks one thing.

He lacks the participation of people in His purpose. God is greater than all the schemes and powers of this world. And our participation, He has made mandatory, because what God intends for us is emancipation, not extermination. The world intends the extermination of covenant people, but God intends emancipation.

In our current series, we’ve entitled, in fact, “Going Out to Enter In,” and we’re studying the principles, those necessary principles of deliverance which are prerequisites to preparing God’s people. There must be a deliverance before there can be a possession. And if God’s covenanted people are to enter into their possessions, if they are to recover their inheritance, if they are to be what God intends them to be, then they must first go out of their bondage and enslavement before they can come in.

And I pray your spirit has been open, more than ready to just hear principles of faith. And these are specific words God has been bringing to us. One of our elders this morning in prayer said, “I am so concerned that people who are hearing this series are not hearing it in the eye of the Spirit. They are not hearing what the Spirit is saying.”

And I trust you are one of those who have a listening voice this morning. Like you now, I would like you to stand with me, please. Take your Bibles and open to Exodus 2. If you don’t have a Bible, use the Pew Bible. There’s a New King James Version in the Pew. And our focus this morning is actually beginning with verse 11 of chapter 2.

But I want to read some of the verses we read last week as well, beginning with verse 1. A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. However, when she could no longer conceal him, she took an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it among the reeds by the riverbank.

His sister stood afar off to see what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to bathe. Her maidens walked along the riverside, and upon seeing the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to retrieve it. Upon opening it, she found the child, and behold, the baby wept.

Touched with compassion, she said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Miriam, his sister, said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter replied, “Go.” The maiden went and called the child’s mother.

Pharaoh’s daughter said, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman nursed the child, and he grew. She brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, which must have been a difficult moment, and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

Pharaoh’s daughter named him. Now, in those days when Moses had grown, he went out to his brethren and observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. He looked around, saw no one, and killed the Egyptian, hiding him in the sand.

The next day, he went out again and saw two Hebrews fighting. He said to the one in the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” The man retorted, “Who made you a prince and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses became fearful and thought, “Surely this matter is known.”

When Pharaoh heard of the matter, he sought to kill Moses. Moses fled from Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well. The priest of Midian had seven daughters who came to draw water. They filled their troughs to water their father’s flock. Shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up, helped them, and watered the flock.

We’ll continue this reading from verse 17 later in the message. Please keep your Bibles open. You may be seated. Repetition is imperative, not only for reviewing history but also because the Holy Spirit prompts us to recall crucial principles. As we studied the Old Testament, its overall hermeneutic is outlined in New Testament passages such as Romans 15:4. “Whatever things were written before,” referring to the Old Testament scriptures, “were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.” If you lack hope as a believer this morning, it may be because you haven’t allowed the Holy Spirit to teach you His ways.

Remember, like Moses, the modern Charismatic Movement is similar to the words in Psalm 103:7. “Moses knew the ways of the Lord, but the children of Israel only knew His acts, His works, what He did, especially for them.” Let’s review the discoveries from the preceding four messages in this series.

First, we discovered that God raised up Joseph as a transitional figure in His purpose. God filled Joseph with a vision of how he would be involved in God’s covenant in the future. The initial vision wasn’t the core message; it held within it the true essence. It wasn’t just about his family bowing down to him, but about Joseph’s alignment with the covenant of his forefathers, leading the people of God to the promised land through preservation.

Remember Psalm 105 verse 19 is the real verse that’s almost a theme for this series. Until the word of the Lord came to pass, it is the word of the Lord that tested Joseph, and that will be true in your life. Joseph was, of course, tested – betrayed by brethren, enslaved by enemies, imprisoned by his virtue. Ultimately, he was raised to incredible, dizzying heights of material prosperity.

Each of these steps tested him. Though they were different circumstances, the manager, the agent of all these tests, was God himself. And we’ve studied Joseph’s life. Even when he ended his life, he said, “Take my bones into the covenant land. Take me into the promised land. Don’t leave me in Egypt.” Pray for a moment with me in your own heart.

You don’t need to bow your head or close your eyes. You don’t know where you stand. I don’t know where I stand in the ultimate timetable of God. The people who began this church years ago had no idea of the specific word that God had given them. But they did what God asked them to do and surrendered the results to His eternal purpose.

Remember that Joseph, biblically, because of his faith, becomes the owner of the birthright. His eldest brother, Reuben, who should have had the birthright, who should have had the double portion, all that God promised, was bypassed, and Joseph was substituted for the dignity and double portion because of his faithfulness.

Sir, you need to hear me. Your choice determines your destiny. Not where you’re born in the family line. At the judgment seat of Christ, when each of us as believers stands before God, immediately it will be revealed whether we opted for the material or we opted to put our life in reference to the eternal.

For some, it will be a wonderful, exalting, crowning moment because we’ve lived our lives to the exaltation and reign of Jesus Christ as preeminent. For Christians saved, but their choices have been just the opposite. Some will be honored at the judgment seat of Christ. Even after their death, they have continued the investment in the things that were important, and they speak with authority toward eternal lives.

But second, we’ve discovered in this series the faithfulness or continuation of the God of the covenant. He honors and fulfills His purpose. There were 400 years of slavery in Egypt, which He had foretold to Abraham, but now they had multiplied, and they’d gone from 70 to millions of people. Prosperity and persecution had worked their twin purpose, and the Israelites now swarmed over Egypt like locusts.

My friend, trusting souls must leave it to God. If the circumstance seems inexplicable in your life, God is at work. Years ago, God allowed me to have this quote in my life. It’s actually a quote from an old English writer by the name of Faber. He writes, and I quote, “That man is the greatest victor who knows God is on the battlefield when he’s the least visible.”

You see, that’s the difference. That’s where, again, people who only see God for His acts, for His works, for what He’s doing, never enter into that. But he is the greatest victor who knows God is on the battlefield when he seems the least visible. That’s the faith of covenant people. Is the trial hot for you this morning?

Then build muscle. Is there great blessing? Then learn to build faith. Do enemies surround you? See the angels encamped. Enlarge your perception. Do defeats endanger you? See God’s redemption in all things. There is a specific work of God to be known. Thirdly, we’ve learned from this series Pharaoh’s scheme to prevent the covenant people from going out.

And I need to say this very clearly to you: he doesn’t care about your entering in; he cares about your going out. That’s the danger of the charismatic movement. Lots of people have entered into spiritual blessing, but they’ve never gone out. They’ve never known deliverance. They’ve never known freedom.

That’s what Satan does not want. That’s what Pharaoh does not want. He does not want you leaving your bondage. He doesn’t want you leaving where you are. And, of course, what did he do? First of all, he appointed taskmasters. The literal Hebrew is lords of tribute or service, and he made the Jewish slaves build treasure and military houses.

When that didn’t work, then he had them—uh—something called rigor, harshness. He tried to break their spirit, and a wounded spirit is far harder to deal with than a broken body. Thirdly, he tried to abort their whole generation through the subtle elimination of progeny, and male children mysteriously began to die on the birthing stools.

But there again, midwives were raised up by God, probably Egyptian midwives, who yet defended God’s purpose. When that failed, Satan, through Pharaoh, entered into a genocidal experience and tried definitively to eliminate all people, killing all babies, boys, whether Egyptian or Israelite. Again, my hearing friend, are you willing to pray this into your spirit this morning?

What taskmasters have bound you to something totally non-essential? They have crushed your spirit, aborted your vision, tried to eliminate you. What is their purpose? What is the Lord’s purpose? It is to make emancipation possible, going out possible, freedom possible. That’s what emancipation means. Satan wants to exterminate you.

And that is exactly, of course, what we need to learn: the difference concerning. Fourth, and finally, last Sunday, we saw the lives of simple Jewish peasants. We saw one man whose name was Amram, meaning “I exalt the kinsmen,” married to a lady named Jochebed, meaning “God is the glory.”

And these two, ultimately, despite everything else, demanded fruitfulness. They had a love for the people of God and an absolute commitment to God’s purpose. Out of this came a choice. By the way, the history of their family changes. Levi had a cursed history from the day of Jacob’s words. But beginning with Amram and Jochebed, they make choices that change the history of their family.

I know many of you in this room today blame your family, your husband, your wife, your divorce, your problems, your children, your job. You’re part of a thinking system that consistently believes somehow that you are a victim. God, however, consistently, due to choice, reverses the laws of primogeniture.

In other words, He reverses who ought to get the glory because He looks for a man or woman who has a willing heart. History, circumstances, tribes, and times do not make the man. Oh, I know there’s a popular deterministic theory that says a man is made by his history. He’s made by the family he’s born into.

He’s made by the circumstances of his time. But the Bible teaches something entirely different. Man makes his own history. God waits for a man to make a choice. Anita and I have fallen in love with this new television series about angels. I can never get the right name of it, but whoever writes it is definitely a born-again Christian.

And last night, there was an interesting, very visible confrontation between the devil and the impersonation of the devil, who in this moment was working through a patriot, a so-called patriotic group, a white supremacy group, and the confrontation was between him and the angels. In one interesting moment that I thought was very, very intriguing and probably slipped by most people:

The one angel who had a childhood involvement with one of the men leading this group is speaking to him to make a decision. And he says, “How can I get rid of Satan?” The angel says, “You have this choice.” And the devil says, “Yeah, free will. That’s the biggest mistake God ever made.” And the angel says, “No, it wasn’t a mistake. That’s the greatest decision God ever made.”

To give man and woman the ability to choose. Amram and Jochebed hide the infant for three months. Acts 7:20 uses a very interesting word. They not only hid him, but they nourished the child in the house of the father for three months. It wasn’t simply defying or hiding, but it was maturing and nourishing. I want to say to you, it’s not enough to participate with God in conceiving purpose; we must intercede for divine birth.

We’re bad at that in this church. I’m bad at that. Most Christians are bad at that. We love to conceive ideas. We love God to give us vision, but we don’t know how to nourish the divine ideal. Premature baptism of even a godly vision into the river of Pharaoh will always bring death. A Christian is not a fatalist.

But we will be, we will be. We’re participants, not puppets. We cooperate with God not only by rejecting fear and birthing a future, but we also cooperate with God through intercession. We cause the promise of God to stand up. We bring the vision to fruitfulness. And this is often our weakness: these months of hiding, nourishing, protecting, and providing.

Amram and Jochebed had recognized the divine origin in the glint of the Eternal on this child’s brow, and it was that discernment of God’s origin that recognition that caused them to risk everything else before launching the child of promise into the river of providence. It was time to nourish and cause him to stand up.

And I tell you, church, it’s time you repent, and I repent of this. What great leaders, what great intended plans of God, what great desired interventions of God have we destroyed? We conceive it, but we don’t nourish it. We don’t hide them and improve their growth before committing them to the sovereignty of God.

And you see, really, this is our theme today. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. Probably in Exodus chapter 2, we have the greatest revelation of these principles. In this chapter, a whole list of characters pass before us. There’s Jochebed and Miriam. There’s Miras, or Mary, the daughter of Pharaoh.

There’s an Egyptian taskmaster and a beaten Israeli slave. There are two contentious Israeli brethren. There’s a household of Rehual. And each of these characters finds themselves around a kind of central involvement, and that is Moses. And we have so much to learn from this morning. These are perhaps the weightiest principles of divine truth that exist in this small passage of the Word of God, and you must walk through them carefully and reverently — careful to protect and nourish the principles for growth in your life.

One great Bible scholar said there are three basic headlines to the principles we learn in Exodus 2. One is the power of Satan. Two is the power of God. Three is the power of faith. Biblically, faith is always experiential. It is not objective, like the faith of our fathers. It is subjective. It is faith being worked out in the details of your life. Behind these principles are rhema words to us personally. Out of the unchanging Word of God comes forth a personal word, a deliberate, circumstantial word that we need both individually and collectively to stand upon this morning. And I hope there’s a prayer in your spirit that says, “Lord, I’ve come to hear what you have to say. If you haven’t, you should have stayed home. I’ve come to hear what you have to say. And my heart… is open to the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Probably the first principle in today’s lesson is of release. Actually, it’s kind of a transitional one from last week’s lesson. Jochebed and Amram have hidden and nourished this little baby for three months. The Word of God says, “When she could no longer hide him.” That’s a very specific moment. She took an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, and put the child in it. Then she laid it in the reeds of the riverbank. The hiding and nourishing were over. She knew the timing, and Amram and Gibe, who had walked through these rare three months interceding and praying, had done everything they could do. Now it was time to launch this child into the providence of God.

I read a long quote last week, and I will read it again. It’s probably one of the longest quotes I’ve ever read in any teaching in this church. It’s from C. H. Macintosh, and how important it is. C. H. Macintosh says, “Was this nature’s foresight to devise this? Was it nature’s ingenuity to construct this ark? Was the baby placed in this ark at the suggestion of a mother’s heart, who cherished the fond but visionary hope that thereby she might save her treasure from the ruthless hand of death? Were we to answer these in the affirmative, I believe we would lose the beauteous teaching of this entire scene. How could we ever suppose that this ark was devised by someone who saw no other portion or destiny for her child but death by drowning? Impossible,” he says. “We can only look upon this magnificent, significant structure as faith’s draft, faith’s check, which is handed in at the treasury or bank of the God of resurrection. This ark was devised by the hand of faith as a vessel of mercy to carry this proper child over death’s dark waters into the place assigned to him in the immutable purpose of the living God. There’s the difference — ‘Que sera, sera. What will be, will be,’ versus people who have done their responsibility and they write a check on the treasury of the God of resurrection. And they submit this child. That this child, this proper child, may be assigned to the immutable purposes of the living God. What is this principle?”

Of course, it’s release. Before God will ever intervene in your life, there must be release. Most of us have our thumbprints on God’s purpose. We fondle it. We toy with it. But ultimately, we never release it. Faith surrenders its earthly treasures to God. It renders up its divine vision. It gives over its spiritual conception.

That’s the kind of faith; this is relinquishing faith. And that’s the kind of faith that’s rewarded and vindicated, and then you will receive it back again. Hear me. In what is perhaps the most touching passage in the Bible, Abraham, over a hundred years old, receives a miraculous child of faith. In Hebrews 11, we are told that Abraham is tested by God who says, “kill it, slay it, put it on the altar.”

Talk about faith. For anyone who can believe, and for everyone who can believe or conceive when they’re beyond age, it’s another person entirely who can take the knife and totally release it. By the way, Hebrews says concerning Abraham, that he did this because he believed in the God of resurrection, and that if the death of the vision was necessary, God would bring it back to birth.

That’s the relinquishing kind of faith that enlarges us, changes us, and glorifies God’s purpose so he can return it to the altar upon which we’ve laid it. If you hold too tightly to anything God has given you, any vision, any word, it’s like grasping a delicate bird. You squeeze it too hard, and it dies.

On the other hand, volunteer to be God’s answer. Allow God’s Spirit to conceive in you the answer, and then bravely come to the point where you don’t fear anyone but God. Pray over its purpose, nourish it, hide it, and cause it to stand forth. Then there comes that moment, in God’s timing, that you commit it to the river of providence.

I’ve got news for you. That’s always the river of death. It wasn’t simply the Nile at this time. It wasn’t simply dangerous because of crocodiles. It was by Pharaoh’s edict, the river of death. But when you’ve nourished and principled the thing that’s of God, then you release it. Oh sure, it’s fearful.

It’s greater faith. But I commend to you, that’s a different attitude than Miriam’s. I love the word about Miriam. Don’t read it too quickly. She stood afar off to see what would become of the baby. Now, I’m not putting her down, and thank God she was there. But if you don’t see in those words the attitude of the majority of folks in this church, then you don’t understand where the church is today as an institution.

Stand afar off and just see. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see what becomes of this. What a difference from Jacobet and Amram. Secondly, from the lesson, of course, is the place of Pharaoh’s daughter herself. One tradition calls her Maris. I don’t think we know exactly who she is. There’s archaeological evidence that the word Mary, M E R I, is the name of a princess of that period.

But there’s an interesting Bible part of this story in 1st Chronicles 4:17 and 18. There’s the genealogy of a man whose name was Merid, M E R R I D. He had two wives. One was Beha, the daughter of Pharaoh, and that’s the end of the quote. Is she the princess of this story? Josephus later calls her Therm Muus, and it’s interesting that though history tells us that she was childless and extremely desirous of having a child.

Did this princess herself end up as a follower of Jehovah? Was she, along with her son later, involved in the destiny of the people of God? That’s a real possibility from the scripture. But the issue is so clear. What happens here is not just womanly compassion. It’s not just the subtle pressure of barrenness that causes this princess to defy her father’s command and perhaps even to end up in the wilderness with a nation of slaves.

Egyptologists tell us that princesses like her in royal houses had their separate homes, they had abundant liberties. But this was a bold thing for her to do. For she was at this moment, in order to face truth as she saw it, overriding the cruel command of a totally absolute monarch, even if it was her father. The Bible simply says in verse 6, “When she opened the ark of reeds and saw the child, behold, the baby wept.”

The Hebrew word “saw” here is interesting. It’s from a primitive root that means “perceived,” “beheld,” “recognized.” And that’s the principle, of course, its recognition. Let’s work on this for a while this morning. God providentially raises up support for the thing which is of divine origin. And today we add to Amram and Jochebed, the place of Pharaoh’s daughter, to that understanding.

But listen to something very important. You recall from last week, we looked at Hebrews 11 about why they did this. This passage says that when he was born, he was a proper or beautiful child. They were not afraid of the king’s command, and they nourished this child. I told you the word for proper or beautiful, a rare word never used in the New Testament, is “osteos.” I mean, it’s never used in this kind of context. This means the child had the mark of the city.

Not a city as you and I know, but the eternal city whose builder and maker is God. As the writer to the Hebrews says four times, we will never find such a city here, but we search for it. I know some of you think heaven’s gonna be picket fences and some rural ranch farm, but I’ve got news for you: where you’re heading is a city!

And that city is one built and made by God. This Levite child had the countenance of the city of God. Amram and Jacobad recognized this, and that’s why they were willing to take this chance. And now this secular princess sees not just a Hebrew male child, not even particularly a handsome or winsome weeping child, but she’s overwhelmed because she sees in this child the stamp of divine origin.

Let me tell you, Divine Origin always has a recognizable stamp. And that’s why some of us wander forever in a wasteland and wilderness because we cannot recognize the difference between that which bears the stamp of divine origin and that which bears the mark of the flesh. And many of us spend our lives on the latter.

Divine origin is recognizable. That which God has conceived by the Holy Spirit and is born of God’s purpose has its own rare and separate countenance. Furthermore, anything born of God comes with providential care. Hear me: God will raise up support for that which he births, even if it’s from the house of Pharaoh.

I remember very well a moment in our church when we faced a hostile town council on this peninsula. In fact, if we had pursued a legal case based on what was said and done during that council meeting, it would have left them extremely liable. But after that meeting, that hostile enmity, I walked out to my car and placed my hands on the trunk. I was literally devoid of breath. I felt like I was having a heart attack, as young as I was.

Our attorney was present. Our architect had flown in from Minnesota. Several of our leaders were there. As I placed my hand on the car, God said to me one word that I shared with leadership afterward. God said, “I do not want this church to have an arbitrary relationship with this township.” Just as I heard that word from the Lord, one of the men came up and whispered, or actually said aloud, “What are we going to do next?”

I replied, “I haven’t the foggiest idea. Let’s go home.” We mostly got into separate cars. About three days later, God said to me, “Out of the book of Job,” just an interesting verse where Job cried out due to his battle with God. He wanted a “daysman,” an umpire who could argue and resolve the difference. I confessed those words to our leadership. God, raise up a “daysman.” I’m sharing this to say that this week, in a specific circumstance, I became involved with a man on this peninsula who might be one of the wealthiest men to live here. Certainly, he’s the man who controls more acres on this peninsula than anyone else. He’s currently working on projects for 110 acres here and 5 acres there, building projects in major communities. This man has suddenly turned with a warm heart toward this church. Although he’s only visited once in his entire life, and I met him and Anita on a separate social occasion, he said, “I want to volunteer my time to ensure that this church makes the best possible choices and locations in this moment of its history.”

I want you to hear me: divine origin comes with providential care. God will raise up support for what he has birthed. I like the beginnings of this church. I like the concept and dream you have, covered carefully in an arc and pitch. Since you don’t intend for the child to drown but to thrive, you set this child in concert with God into the current of God’s purposes.

I’ve often reviewed the history of this church. The men and women who ultimately incorporated this church did so in the midst of the Great Depression. And the first building that was built by this church (that still stands on Roosevelt Street) was built in the beginning horrors of World War II.

Can’t you just see most Christians saying, “Well, you know, this is such a bad time, you know?”

Alexander McLaren, in his marvelous exposition of Scripture, says (and I quote), “Our story teaches us today that God’s chosen instruments are immortal until the work is done. No matter how forlorn the outlook may seem, how small the probabilities in their favor, how divergent from the goal the road may seem that he leads them on, he watches over them.”

I love this quote. Around that frail arc, half lost among the reeds, is cast the impregnable shield of the purpose of God. Miriam, standing afar off, sees an ark. Men of faith see that it is cast and is protected by the impregnable shield of the purpose of God. Everything serves the will of God when it has divine origin in it.

The current in the full river, the way the flagger reads lie, so that it will stop the arc before it’s borne too far along. The hour of the princess’s bath, the distraction of the crocodiles, the direction of the idle glance of the princess, the cry of the child at the specifically right moment, the impulse welling up in the heart, the swift resolve, the innocent diplomacy of Miriam – all these things tie together. You say, Providence! God says, what is born of me has my concern.

Thirdly, the story from Exodus 2 has a seemingly simple age or time mark to it. For a look at these words with me, verse 11: “It came to pass in those days when Moses was grown.” Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith, when he became of full age.” That’s interesting because the time from verses 2:10 through 2:11 in one verse is 40 years, and then when you go later on down in chapter 2 to verses 22 and 23, there’s 40 years in less than a verse. God compresses 80 years into a moment. And you think God has to conform to your timeline to finish it in five minutes.

Boy, we Charismatics are something else. Here’s 80 years God succinctly encompasses. Listen to Stephen, God’s first Christian-era historian, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 7:23, “When Moses was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.”

In fact, turn with me for a moment to that passage. In Acts 7:17, the first time phrase, “When the time of the promise drew near.” That’s an interesting Greek word that means “chronos,” the actual moment, the year. God’s plan is always on the clock. God is never late. When God told Abraham in Genesis 15 it would be 400 years, that’s how long it had to be.

But in chapter 7, verse 20, later on, your translation says “time” again, but it’s a different Greek word. “At this time Moses was born.” Here the word is “kairos,” this season or during this experience. This unique season of testing, this climactic final moment of birthing. And, of course, that chapter goes on to say this, this Pharaoh dealt – I’m referring to Acts now, 7:18 – “This Pharaoh dealt treacherously with the people of God, oppressed the forefathers. And listen to this phrase. I’d like to see this phrase used as a statement about this nation. ‘He made them expose their babies so they might not live.'”

The next principle, of course, is that of timing. We’ve learned release and recognition. But equally important is this one of timing. I love what D. L. Moody used to say concerning Moses. He said in Egypt, he learned to be somebody. In the Midian desert, he learned to be nobody. And then he spent the last 40 years of his life learning what God could do with a somebody who was willing to be a nobody.

It’s more than humor, isn’t it? My dear friend, God will fulfill his purpose in five minutes if it takes a hundred and five years to get you ready.

There’s no limit to how quickly he’ll accomplish his purpose. Again, checking in with Stephen in Acts 7:22, “Moses was learned, and listen to this phrase. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.” God never wastes anything. That 40 years from the little ark and the bulrush, 40 years which may have seemed endless to Amram and Jochebed if they were even alive at this point, God was educating, preparing, and developing.

We want to rush in. I hear it all the time from these Bible college students. We want to have a ministry the minute we commit ourselves to God. We want a pulpit. We want a church. We want somewhere to preach. We want to release our gift. Thank God he doesn’t let that happen.

In fact, when it does happen, it’s generally devastating. God spends 40 years providing the necessary background and preparation for Moses. He was in the finest courts and attended the greatest university center of his day – actually, probably the greatest university that’s ever existed. It was a phenomenal place where the princes of Egypt were educated.

According to tradition, he became a military commander and a genius. In the great expedition of the Egyptians against the Ethiopians, it was Moses who led them – archaeology seems very clear about this. The point is, the purpose of God demands surrender to His timing. He knows what He’s doing and why it’s being done.

You may call it delay, costly, or even a mistake. However, God says it’s not; it’s preparation. Fourth, an imperative principle in Exodus 2 is presented. This principle, stated succinctly, is the divine necessity, the daring danger, and may I say, the damning danger of identity and relationship with fellow man.

I’ve quoted this for years and love it. I don’t think anyone has ever described this situation better than an old wag who wrote years ago (it’s anonymous): “Oh, to live with saints above, that will be pure glory. But to live below with saints we know, well, that’s a different story.”

Stephen states in Acts 7 that when Moses was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. When God is ready to act, the people of God, the principles of God, the leadership, and the purposes of God will merge into union. No Christian is productive alone. You might say, “Well, I watch Christian TV at home and I get really blessed.”

Good for you, honey, but you’ll be barren the rest of your life if you’re not in union with the people of God. God has placed us into a family. In fact, the psalmist says, “God sets the solitary in families.” I like to quote that – God sets the contrary in families.

God places us into families, and the first evidence of a miraculous release of divine deliverance is the movement of divine purpose, which leads to a renewed sense of identity with the people of God. This is always a part of what God is doing, and that movement never happens, that release is never realized, until the identity with God’s people becomes real to us.

Of course, that also becomes our first great test. In Moses’ case, because of his identity with the people of God, he goes out and strikes an Egyptian who has been mercilessly beating a fellow Israelite. He looks around, then goes out the next day and finds two contentious Israelites. So what’s new?

And when he tries to bring peace to them, they say, “Who made you a prince or judge over us? Are you going to kill us like you killed the Egyptian?” Do you get the point? First, the fear of man’s wrath will destroy you. Second, the effort to gain man’s favor will destroy you. Here are the two principles: When Moses identifies with the people of God, which is an important step to releasing God’s purpose, the first thing that happens is an interpersonal relationship.

He acts out of fear in reference to the power of man. The second thing he does is he hopes somehow he’s going to gain favor through his actions. And I want to say something to you – it might be the most important word I’ll share with those of you who can spiritually hear: No person is in a position to serve anyone until they’re entirely and wholly independent of the person they’re attempting to serve.

A person who knows their proper place knows they are in God, knows they’re a servant of Jesus Christ. They can stoop to wash their brother’s feet, but they do it because they’re not seeking their favor, nor are they afraid of their judgment. Hebrews 11 says, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” That’s Hebrews 11:24-26. He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin. He understood that the reproach of Christ was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

If you’re going to be used by God, you’ll reach a point of identity with God’s people. And at that moment, by its very nature, you’ll face your greatest test. The fifth principle, of course, standing boldly in this passage, is the principle of separation. Let’s briefly review Exodus 3:16-22.

In that passage is a warm construction of scripture. Let me quickly tell you again: Moses ran. Verse 15 states that Pharaoh heard of this and sought to kill Moses. He fled from Pharaoh’s presence and dwelled in the land of Midian, sitting by a well. A priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water to fill the troughs for their father.

You know what seven daughters would have meant in this culture? Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them. And when they came to Rehuel, their father, he said, “How is it you’ve come so soon today?” It’s like a husband saying, “You mean you finished the dishes already?”

You may wonder, can I think of something else for you to do? They said, an Egyptian delivered us and he drew enough water for the flock. And he said to his daughters, “Where is he and where have you left him? Have him come and eat bread.” In the next verse, he gives his daughter to Moses, to Mary.

And in the following verse, she bears a son, and they call his name Gershom. “I’ve been a stranger in a foreign land,” and it happened in the process of time. The king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned. Interesting, isn’t it? This daring act of Moses, killing an afflicting Egyptian taskmaster, and I suppose Christians will always divide over whether it’s right to have this kind of activity in our lives, how we should respond to abortion clinics and so forth.

But the means are not as important as the end. For Exodus 2 says that through this feral hearing of the matter, Moses fled to Midian and sat down. And of course, as I said, the Hebrew says, He shook Egypt. God isn’t concerned with how it happens; He just wants it to happen. And Raphael is an interesting man in this passage.

His name means the friend of God. He was a pre-descendant of Abraham through Keturah. Midian was the son of Abraham by Keturah, and the suggestion is they were a black people, and the equal suggestion is that they had continued in a priestly way to hold to godly principles. In fact, hear me, it was Jethro, as we later know him, or Rehuel here, who sets Moses straight about how to deal with the people of God.

Let’s look briefly at a map so that you will see both Goshen and Midian. Goshen, of course, is where the children of Israel were kept in the upper part of Egypt, as it is referred to. Moses had to go all the way through that wilderness, and believe me, I know what that is, on a bus for eight hours. You have no idea what that journey must have been like.

To bring him to Midian, that’s what we now call modern Jordan. In fact, it’s very near to the city of Eilat, where we had the privilege of being just a matter of months ago. Five simple principles, as we’ve said. By the way, the name Midian means contention or brawling. We need to release, recognize, surrender to time, and identify with God’s people.

But lastly, we need to separate. You see, divine purpose is always personified, ultimately. God uses men, not machines. Therefore, His greatest concentration of effort in finance and focus is on the development, training, and release of men and women. Men and women are God’s answer to the dilemma of society, not committees or organizations.

Men and women are God’s justification for His mercy. Men and women are God’s justification for His activity in a sin-cursed world. It is men and women, divine choices, divine purpose, divine personifications. It is men and women and not institutions that are the focus of God. And God is far more concerned about His man than He is about His money.

Let’s just consider this: maybe you’re here this morning, and you’re more like the Israelites than like Moses. Beaten by taskmasters, people who have committed you to building treasury houses, who have broken your spirit, who have aborted your destiny. I want to say this to you as I’m closing. The last three verses of this chapter are really the transition into chapter three.

In this chapter, it says, “It happened in the process of time” (verses 23-25), “the king of Egypt died, the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, they cried out, and their cry came to God because of the bondage. God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant with Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel and acknowledged them.”

Will you please hear me now? He heard, he remembered, He saw, and He acknowledged them. By the way, that verse begins with another king dying. You might be excited about Dole or Clinton, but good luck. In the first two chapters, we’ve had more kings dying than we’ve had anything else happening.

Don’t place your hopes solely upon them, because like sand, it will be gone. Your real life has to be anchored to something far more important than that. A release from taskmasters, a release from harshness. This king, by the way, in this passage, this last king is probably Maneptha. God hears their cry. He remembers the covenant. He looks upon them, but above that is this continuing principle. He knows them.

Your husband or wife doesn’t really know you. We don’t ever truly know another human being. God does. He knows why our responses are exactly what they are. We are not pragmatic vessels that God uses up and discards.

What’s God saying to you this morning about release? What is God saying to you about nourishing divine conception? What is God saying to you about again visiting and involving yourself with the people of God? What’s He saying about timing? What is He saying about submission and separation? I said to you a moment ago, a few moments ago, this passage probably more succinctly brings together principles of God in raising up leadership and bringing deliverance than any other passage in the Word of God.

Underline it, illustrate it, make it live before you like a drama, and then hit you with the punchline. This is what it takes. Now, the fact is, of course, before we go home — oh, you’re not going home this morning. I can preach long. You can eat dinner here, aren’t you? Before you leave to do whatever you gotta do.

You know, I know the world, the world mocks these services, these church services. You know what happens? Squeaky organs, squeaky sopranos, screaming preachers — you know what happens? What can possibly happen? A lot. Now, not in a lot, not in a lot. See, you learn to get over this percentages thing. It’s not a throw of the dice.

But something happens. One skinny young preacher, already ridiculed by his denomination, given a little teeny church in a backwater place because he wasn’t good enough for a main pulpit. He’s watching a television program about some young people being imprisoned in jail, being actually on trial. God broke his heart.

He rushed to the city of New York, never been in a big city in his life. And to the embarrassment of his denomination and his own family, he put his foot in the door of eternity.

And that young man birthed a ministry that today is all over this world, providing deliverance for people with drug addictions and other addicting forms of lifestyle. You tell me, man doesn’t make a difference, I’m gonna tell you you don’t know history. The historian Lecky says the ministry of John Wesley personally stopped England from the French Revolution.

The ministry of a man from a pulpit changed history. Something can happen. Again, not to the many, but to the few. People who hear in the eye of the spirit. God says you’re to participate in something beyond this material stuff. That there’s an enemy who wants to keep you bound, enslaved, broken, bitter, harsh.

He wants to abort your future and your design. And if you ever do come up with a divine idea, He wants you to surrender it quickly to the waters of death. He doesn’t want you to nourish it, intercede for it, and birth it until it’s ready by faith to surrender to the purposes of God, where God will provide that that divine idea will come to birth and will stand up.

And then God wants you to turn to His people, your brothers. And that’s a mark that He’s about to do something. He starts doing it in your heart, towards the people of God. It’ll be a test.

And then He breaks a connection.

And He separates you.

And then the story starts. 80 years of preparation for 40 years of glory. 40 years of purpose. 40 years of covenant. Oh, I still have years to run on my preparation time. Stand with me, please.

My daddy left me a lot of gifts, none of which were material, but some of which I’ve questioned over the years. But one of the gifts he left me was a tremendous sense that if I would ever be used by God, I could neither fear the face of man nor seek his favor.

That’s been a tough one to live out.

Neither fear the face of man nor seek his favor.

Some of you are dreams of God, I know that. And there have been concepts birthed in you, words from the Lord. Some of you have been so crushed by taskmasters and buried by harshness that those words are almost forgotten memories. But they’re there. And God’s purpose is to deliver you so that He might bring you in.

Because He loves you, He believes in you, and He needs you to fulfill His purpose.

Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, for this time, these folks, and for this divine moment of destiny in which you, by your grace, work in us, Lord. You stir up. Sometimes you stir up enough stuff we wish wouldn’t even be stirred up again because we wonder if it’s ever gonna happen. But you stir it up.

You flame it in us. You teach us the lessons of nourishing and handling and trusting. Release each of the people in this sanctuary, as well as these corporate people, to be what you would have them be regardless of their age, history, or the day. Release them to be what you have them be in your purpose.

We ask in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, “Amen.” The stumps have a table back there and a table here with literature. Please get it. The lunch is out this way, and tonight is the Sullivan Singers. God bless you. Say you love somebody. They may need to hear that right now. Amen.