Cometh the day, cometh the man

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020

EXODUS 10 VERSES 1 – 11

We are thinking today of the life of Moses – “cometh the day cometh the man”.  That is what God did here in Egypt, in the nation of Israel.  We are particularly thinking of the work of God in general, that which brings us here on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings.  The scope of the work.  As Moses went down into Egypt what was on his mind?  He had instructions from the Lord to bring the children of Israel out.  It was not the intellect of Moses alone or persuasive arguments but the work of God alone.  When Moses went in to face Pharaoh he was told to go but asked who he would take – verse 9 “we will go with our young and with our old and with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go.”  Deliverance was for everyone.  The gospel of saving grace today is for each and everyone.  You can have confidence to come here today, that we have a God in heaven who is able to save all who will come unto him.  He is able to save. 

 

The cause that Moses was directed in.  His life would take on a new meaning.  Maybe your life is going to take on a new course.  God will redirect you today, change your direction in life.  Here was Moses – his past experience in Egypt, adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.  Moses wept when she opened the basket (Exodus 2 verse 6). She picked him up and brought him into her household.  He was educated in all the best education.  One day he forfeited all that and turned his back on the palace.  He had to follow after God.  Maybe you have done similarly with the gospel of God, turned your back on him.  Moses had one major decision to make.  He turned his back on all he had to follow after God.  In Acts 7 when Stephen gave the history of the Children of Israel said in verse 18 “another king arose that did not know Joseph.”   He put his finger on it.  Verse 20 “in which time Moses was born.”  Maybe there is a situation arising for you that God wants to see you through.  Think of Esther.  Chosen to be the wife of the king.  She did not know what she would face in the coming days.  Mordecai her uncle heard of a plan to kill all the Jews on a certain day.  Esther was the queen, in a certain role and position.  God would use this position.  Mordecai explained the situation to her.  She could be the one who could redirect things.  “How do you know but maybe you are the person brought to the kingdom for such a time as this.”  Are you dedicated to Christ today?  Do you love him with your heart and soul?  When you see Christ hanging on the cross, paying your price and mine, suffering for your shame and mine – is your life following wholly after him?  Are these drive-ins for such a time as this?  Maybe you are open for such a time as this?  Moses saw an Egyptian and a Hebrew fighting together.”  Moses stepped in and killed the Egyptian. The following day he saw 2 Hebrews fighting together.  One asked him “are you going to do what you did to the Egyptian?”  “For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them but they understood not.”(Acts 7 verse 25)  Moses tried to move 40 years before God wanted him to move.  We might get an opportunity that might disappear very suddenly.  Be careful of God’s timing.  Are you and I keeping our heart and mind open to the will of God today?  For 40 years he has been a shepherd in the wilderness and he never saw a bush burning like this one he came across one day.  God was redirecting his life.  Maybe there are things happening in your life that you have never seen or thought of before.  God gave Moses a task – to go into enemy territory.  Exodus 5 verse 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’.  Pharaoh replied “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.”  Maybe God is giving you a task today.  You are not sure what will happen if you follow the Lord’s leading.  Moses said to the Lord “maybe the people will not listen to me, they will reject me and my message.”  God is calling us not for an easy ride.  You are in for a surprise.  It will be a difficult task.  We will be called in our different spheres to win men and women to Christ.  The devil is like Pharaoh, he will not let his people go.  He will not let those people come to Christ today.  Imagine Moses watching that bush when God spoke to him.  He has to leave that tranquil place to step into Pharaoh’s palace.  It must have been wonderful to hear the voice of God.  Will we be able to pass on to our next generation what God has done in our lives in a day yet to come?  God has called us to a service that is difficult but it is our responsibility today.

 

The call that he was devoted to.  God redirected Moses.  He was a shepherd but God made him a mighty man in his army.  God can take you today, use us as a mighty object in his hand for the salvation of precious souls.  You and I have to surrender ourselves to God, to his will and dedicate ourselves to go.  Moses was reluctant to go but he was devoted to the call of God.  Moses told Pharaoh that every man and woman, old and young would leave Egypt.  Will you surrender all to God today?  Maybe God will redirect your path today just as he did Moses that day before Pharaoh.