God Above All Gods

So I've been looking forward to the previous three weeks as I was looking ahead in the sermon schedule. I was looking forward to studying the grumbling of Israel because I knew it would be a correction for me. I knew God would challenge and correct the grumbling that I have and the complaining that I have. I was looking forward to that series. I look forward to the Red Sea deliverance because I was looking forward to being able to declare this is the great deliverance of God and how it reflects the deliverance we have in Jesus Christ. I'm looking forward to Mount Sinai, where God comes down and meets with Moses, and it's a great event of worship and the law is delivered. I have to be honest, looking a few weeks out, I was conflicted over these passages. I was wrestling with what am I going to say with these passages? And it's not that I had never heard sermons of these passages. It's actually what I had heard preached from these passages. We're in Exodus 17 and in chapter 18, we're going to do the next two stories together. The reason I was conflicted is that every sermon or every lesson I've ever heard from these stories, it's on how to be a better leader. There are leadership principles that oftentimes are pulled from these texts and they're legitimately pulled from these texts. But I don't want to preach leadership lessons. You can go a number of places in your leadership lessons. You come to church to hear about God and the gospel and the God of love who say sinners. See, leadership principles are for good people. If you're a good person, you need better leadership principles so you can be better, more productive and a better person. If you're coming here, you're coming as a sinner in need of grace, in need of mercy, in need of God's instruction, in need of knowing more about who God is. and how he wants you to live in obedience as a worshiper. So I was anxious about this text until Sunday night. And God's word was open and it was clear God is doing a mighty work in this text. And I've been excited about preaching this text ever since Sunday night because God does a mighty work revealing himself in a unique way here in chapters 17 and 18. So the first lesson learned is that God's word never fails. He always tells us about Himself. It's always good for our instruction, our correction. God's Word is always about Him and His Gospel. Our more precise message this morning is this. God's purpose is for all nations to know His name and His salvation. Before I read our text, let me explain why we're going to look at these two together. First, the reason we're going to look at the battle with the Amalekites and the meeting with Jethro, the Midianite. We're going to look at these together because both are about God's relationship with other nations. The Amalekites, they come and attack Israel. Jethro comes to bless Israel. The Amalekites, by attacking Israel, are attacking God. They're demonstrating their rebellion against God. Jethro, he comes and he praises God. They're contrasting stories in that regard. They're two different nations responding to God in two different ways. The second reason they're being treated together in both stories, Moses is the mediator. They're consistent stories now. So they were contrasting stories because you have two different nations responding to God in two different ways, but they're also consistent stories because Moses is the mediator. He is the one that God uses to bring about his plan for both people groups. And then finally, the language and structure of both of these are very similar. Men are chosen for a special purpose. Joshua chooses men for battle. Moses chooses men to hear the troubles and the concerns within Israel. They're chosen to fight or to listen. In both, Moses sits in a seat like a throne. He sits, to be the mediator for the battle, he sits as a mediator, as a judge over Israel. And they both have a next day aspect, which is very important throughout Exodus. So that's why we're going to look at these together, primarily because it's about the nations being contrasted and what God's plan is for them. I'll be reading chapter 17, beginning in verse 8. Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Ur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. Whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat on it while Aaron and Ur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun and Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with a sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it. The Lord is my banner saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Chapter 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. 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 Gershon, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. And the name of the other, Eleazar. 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 went, 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 to 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 hardships 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. 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 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. Moses' father-in-law said to him, what you are doing is not good. You and the people will certainly wear yourselves out. For the thing is too heavy for you. You are 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 case to God. 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, who hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide among themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people will 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. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel and made them heads of 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 before Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father in law depart and he went away to his country. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you direct us, you correct us, encourage us now by the power of your word, but your spirit. Help me, Lord, to declare it. Help us all to hear and obey it. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Again, we are leading up to Mount Sinai. We've left the Red Sea. Israel has failed three times. They've grumbled over and over again, not trusting God, not worshiping him as he has called them to do. And here comes his people, the Amalekites. We know that from Exodus 36 that Amalek is the grandson of Esau. We also see them in Numbers 13 and 14, chapters 13 and 14. They're one of the peoples that the spies are going to go see, and they're going to be afraid. They're going to go report to the nations that they're great and mighty, and they're going to spread fear throughout Israel. Really, the Amalekites, they represent all nations here. They're these desert people, and they're coming to attack Israel. They're showing that Israel's going to have to go into a land that's already inhabited and battle. They're going to have to have victory from God over different peoples. Really, this represents something bigger in Scripture. The time of the Canaanites has come to a fulfillment. God promised in Genesis that after 400 years, he's going to let the Canaanites have a time to repent and the Canaanites have not repented. So God has brought Israel out of Egypt to take over the land. And this is marking the beginning of the battle with the Canaanites. The Amalekites and his people, they're not just attacking Israel, they're attacking God. They've heard of what's happened to Egypt. They've heard of the great victory that God gave Israel in Egypt and they're terrified. But instead of their fear leading them to worship like Jethro, they attack in a cowardly manner. Israel seems to be famished. They seem to be distraught at this time and they attack them in a cowardly fashion when they're weak. But they're not just attacking Israel, they're attacking God. Now the real issue here is how is this battle won? This is an interesting strategy for battle. Joshua, choose able men. OK, that makes sense. Go find some men who can fight. Go and fight. But Moses, you're going to go up on the hill and you're going to be the mediator. And there's something about his hands being up or his hands being down that gives them victory or defeat. So as his hands are up, there's victory. As his hands are down, it's defeat. And well, he gets tired. He goes weary. He needs people to hold up his hands. Now, a lot of folks will interpret this to be a lesson on prayer. That Moses, as he has his hands up in prayer, then the people have victory. And that's certainly, there's something about that. First Timothy 2.8, Paul encourages to lift up holy hands in prayer. In Exodus 9.29, Moses lifts his hands up in prayer. There is a proper posture of prayer here, but has more to do with Moses being the called out mediator for God's people. It's not just that his hands are up, it's actually what's in his hands. If you look at verse 9, he goes up with the staff of God in his hand. So the staff of God represents the power and authority of God. The staff of God is what God has already used through Moses to turn the Nile red. The staff of God is what God has already used through Moses to part the Red Sea. The staff of God is what God has already used to bring water from the rock. It's the power and authority of God. And when it's lifted up, it's not just prayer. It's the fact that when Moses is lifting up the power and authority of God as a symbol for Israel, that's when they have victory. The lifting of the staff is nothing but a symbol. That when God is lifted up, when God is recognized as the one who has a power and authority, the people prevail. That's why it said the Lord is their banner. It's just like in the wilderness when the snake was lifted up and everyone looked at it, they were healed. And just like when Christ is lifted up, people looked at him. They are saved. Here we see a nation, they're raging against God, the Amalekites. They don't acknowledge his power. They do not acknowledge his reign. They don't acknowledge his sovereignty. They don't acknowledge that he alone is God. And so they fight. And Israel has victory through Moses when God is lifted up. So what can we learn from this? First, church, we must recognize who our power is from. We must recognize there is no inherent power in us. We only have power and authority in the name of Christ. It is only in Christ that we are united properly for God's purpose. Christ has promised us all authority and power to take the gospel to all nations. It's only when we are submissive to Christ, it's only when we are gathered united in Christ that we truly exercise that authority. Many churches are divided. Either race, age, Whatever it may be, we have to realize, Christians, that when we come together as Christians, we're not coming together with people that we normally like. We don't come together to be with folks who are like us socially, racially, whatever it may be. We come together because the Holy Spirit indwells each of us and each of us are in Christ. That's why we come together. That's how a church is unified. That's why we all unite together. It's not a social status. It's not a race. It's the fact that Christ has called us all out. We don't love one another because we all like the same football team. Many of us like different football teams. There's many, many groups around America that gather because of some interest. Now, we gather and love one another because who each of us are in Christ, he must remain our banner. And only then will we have victory. The second thing we need to see, just as we've seen throughout all of Exodus, God is with his people. God is for his people. It is only in him that we will have a victory. We must learn to trust God that he is faithful to be with his people, that he is faithful to fight for his people. And this leads us to our last point. We must trust him in prayer. That's how we learn to love one another in Christ. That's how we learn to rely upon God. This lesson is about prayer because he is lifting his hands up. And I believe this in the back of Paul's mind in 1 Timothy, he is reflecting upon the lifting up of hands that Moses does throughout Exodus. We must learn to trust God in all our situations in prayer. Let's move to our next story. There's two main sections to this story. Verses 1-12, Jethro praises God. Verses 13-27, Jethro advises Moses. Now, before I get into verses 1-12, I'm going to briefly comment on verses 13-27. And I say briefly, and I think I mean it this time. So, about the leadership principle. One thing I want to point out here is that Moses is called to find the able men who fear God, who are trustworthy, who hate a bribe, to make the hard decisions for the Israelites when they have disputes. Now, there's something very important here. If Moses is the only one in charge, if he's the only one that has responsibility, he will grow weary. He will grow tired. He will not be able to do this. He will wear himself out. This is a very important opportunity for us in the midst of a Big church transition. We're going from having one pastor. I'm very thankful for the transition to going to Lord willing, having multiple pastors, having elders. And so that we spread the workload of pastoral care. What we're looking for is able men. Men who fear God, men who are trustworthy, men who don't have a love for money. I'm personally looking forward to the church being better cared for under our new constitution. But what I need you to do is be praying for these men. They'd be protected from God. They would not be wore out from the work. They would delight in it and be renewed by God. Let's focus on what God is doing here in redemption. Jethro comes out to meet Moses. If you're new to this, Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. Moses was a bit of a hothead early on. He killed a man in Egypt and so he had to flee and he fled to Midian and then he met his would-be wife and Jethro became his father-in-law and when God revealed himself to Moses, Moses had to go to Jethro and ask permission to go back and he sent him. Jethro appears to be a very wise man in scripture, but he's a Midianite. He's not an Israelite. He is a foreigner. He's not a child of Abraham according to his lineage. It's the father-in-law of Moses, and he brings his family back to him. We don't know when Zipporah and the children left Moses. They were with him at one point with the circumcision and the bride of blood or the bridegroom of blood event. We don't know when she went back, but here they are coming. And the names of the children are significant. Gershom. Moses named his son that because he was a foreigner. It also represents the fact that Israel was a foreigner in Egypt. Israel was not in their land yet. They weren't home. And the other son, Eliezer, God is my help again. He is with his people. He fights for his people. Now, there's a clear contrast. The Amalekites, they came and they fought against Israel and God. Jethro, he comes and he hears the report of what God has done and he praises God. Now, in order to really appreciate this, we need to back up and get the big picture. God created man for himself. Every man, every woman, every child, every human being is created by God for God. We're created to be worshipers. We're created to worship and bow down before him. But all men have rebelled against God. All men have sinned against God. And after that original sin, after Adam rebelled against God. God made a promise, I will reverse that curse. I will bring you back to worship. I will remove the wrath that I have against you and I will call you to be worshipers. He chose one man, Abraham. To be the man that received the direct promises and to be the man through whom those promises go out. And if you go to Genesis 12, that's the beginning of the covenant people, the end of it. He says to Abraham, I, you will be a great blessing to all the nations. You will be a great blessing to all the nations. And the principle there is that Abraham was blessed to be a blessing. It wasn't just the people of Israel that would be blessed, it was all nations. And as we already mentioned, there was a 400 year promise that the Canaanites would have to repent as God sent Israel into Egypt. Now let's fast forward here to the Exodus. God has made his people numerous. He's taken them into the land 400 years later and he has made his name known to Israel and he's making his name known through Israel. His name is tied to the nation Israel. The two coincide. God's reputation is tied to Israel, how he cares for them and how they respond to him. Now he has let his people Israel know his covenant name and they are to proclaim it to all people. The entire event in Egypt was about making God's name known. He wanted Israel to know that He was with them, that Yahweh was their God and He would deliver them. He wanted Egypt to know that He alone was God. He wanted all the nations to hear what He did in Egypt, so they would worship Him. Listen to Exodus 9, 16, as God speaks to Pharaoh, But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. God's goal is for all nations, every people, every tribe, every tongue, all people to come to know Him. And here, it's significant that this happens with Jethro in this place. Listen again before we get into this text to what Jethro says. I'll begin in verse 8. Then Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that had come upon them in the way, how the Lord had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good the Lord had done to Israel and that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, bless me the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hands of the Egyptians. 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 sacrifice to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. He praises Yahweh. Now, the Egyptians should have praised Yahweh. They had the first hand experience with Almighty God who devastated their land. The Egyptians should have recognized the power of God and praised him. The Amalekites, they should have heard of what God had done to Egypt. And instead of responding with fear to attack, they should have responded with fear and said, we want to worship this God. Here. Not only is Jethro the Midianite doing what these other nations should have done, he's doing what Israel should have done. After the Red Sea, they sang a song worshiping God, but then they grumbled and they complained and they grumbled and they murmured and they quarreled and they wanted to stone Moses. The Midianite is singing the praise Israel is meant for. Also, remember when God told Moses to go to Pharaoh, the request was to go make a sacrifice. Let us go so we can make a sacrifice. The Lord says, let my people go that we may sacrifice. The first sacrifice done in the wilderness is done by a Midianite. The worship Israel was saved for, a Midianite is doing it first. At one level, I believe this is intentionally shameful for Israel. It's a rebuke that this is recorded here, after the three failures of grumbling and complaining, right before the great worship event that makes them a nation. This is put here to remind them, do not forsake worshiping the one God. Israel, they had a conflicting problem. They wanted to worship other gods, but they also wanted to always claim God alone was for them. God isn't just for Israel. God has blessed Israel so that it can be a blessing to all people. But they failed to worship. Secondly, on another level, this is strategically placed to remind us always that God is for all people. He is for all nations. He is for all tongues. It's not just about Israel becoming a nation. It's about Israel being an instrument of God's grace to all people. As I think about this, we see this theme throughout all Scripture. We especially see it in Jesus Christ in his own life. As we're preparing for Christmas, who came and worshipped Christ? It wasn't the Jews. It was kings from the east. Already symbolizing that the nations are going to come and bow down before this one king of all creation. Jesus himself in Matthew 8 says this, a recording of an event. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worried that I have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one go when he goes into another come and he comes into my servant, do this and he does it. When she has heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him. Truly, I tell you. With no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus said, Go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And a servant was healed at that very moment. Christ is doing exactly what Moses is doing in Exodus. He's contrasting the Jews with a Gentile. He's contrasting the people of God who should believe with those who you don't expect to believe. He makes it very clear. Many will come from the east, from the west. Many will come who are not Israelites. Many will come who are not children of Abraham by birth, but are children of Abraham by faith. And they will be at the table with Abraham, Isaac, He's challenging us in our faith to not take it for granted, to not think we have this as a reward. It's by grace we've been saved. It is by our faith that we must trust God. We can see this in Jesus' final commandments, this call to the nations. Jesus came and said to his disciples in Matthew 28, All authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all. nations. The goal of God is to reach all people. The purpose of God is for all tongues and tribes and nations to come and worship Him. That is what our purpose is to be about. We're to think God's thoughts after Him. We're to desire God's desires after Him. If God desires all people to worship Him, we should desire the same and we should work towards that end. So first, church, we must praise God that his plan is for all people in all races. I look around and I'm pretty sure we're all non-Israelites. None of us are saved by birth. We're all saved by our faith in Christ, which is given to us by God's grace itself. And we have to remember that we're saved not just so we can receive the blessing. You're blessed to be a blessing. The code of Abraham is consistent in the same as Abraham was called and blessed. He was blessed to be a blessing. Church, are we actively seeking how has God called us to be a blessing? We are the recipients of great promises. Are we going out and being a blessing to others by sharing those promises? See, we're not just called to be blessed, we're called to spread the fame of God. One of the great sins in the church is to look around and think that person is too far from God. How could God love someone like that, like the Jews would say the tax collectors or the Gentiles? We must realize our sin was great and God's grace was greater. There is no sin greater than God's grace where sin abounds, grace abounds. No one's worthy of it if no one's reward We don't get to pick and choose who hears the gospel. We're told to tell everyone the gospel. Is there somebody you think I'm not going to share the gospel with them because they're too far from it, they don't want to hear it, they couldn't hear it. The only reason you can hear is by God's grace, the only reason they can hear is by God's grace. We are to spread the fame of God. We are to praise him. The next application we can see. Moses was too weak to be the one intercessor. Moses was too weak to hear everything from all people. Our mediator is not. That's one of the great messages of Hebrews. Moses failed. Jesus thrived and is victorious. Where Moses is weak, Jesus is strong. He is a greater mediator. He now stands at the right hand of the Father, interceding for all of us. We have a greater opportunity to pray. We don't just have the authority of a staff in our hand. We have the authority of Jesus's own name. We get to go to the father and pray in his name, seeking his glory. The next last application I want to think about together. Is that Moses was too weak to hold up the staff for the victory? And as we think about Christ in contrast to Jesus, Jesus is not too weak to be the mediator. Jesus stands. Jesus continues to mediate and to be powerful enough to save. And he doesn't just hold up a staff to save us. Jesus was nailed to the cross to save us. Jesus remains nailed to the cross by his own power as God Almighty to save sinners. But as we think about the anguish of Christ being the other cross, that actually isn't the real power he's fighting against. You see, our enemy isn't like the Amalekites. Our enemy is God himself. Our enemy is the righteousness of God. Our enemy is the wrath of God that is against us because we're sinners and the righteous God sent his own son to die in our place. Jesus Christ came not just to be nailed to a cross. But he came to suffer the righteousness of God that's against our sin. Moses couldn't mediate that way, only Jesus Christ can. Our sin makes us offensive to God, our sin, no matter who we are, no matter where we were born, no matter our lineage, our race. Whatever good deeds you may think we have done, we're all sinners before God and God's wrath is against us and Christ himself bore that wrath. Only he is able to do that. See, God's wrath is against us unless someone else takes it from us. Because he's righteous and God sent his son to be righteousness. So that our wrath, the wrath for our rebellion is taken upon him and his righteousness is given to us. He is the mediator who is able to save what we must do is lift up our hearts to him. We must do is realize he's the only victory. He's the only salvation. He's the only way we can be saved from God. The one who fights against our rebellion. It's by Christ who is with us and fights for us. Not only must we believe in this message, we must send it out to every nation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we praise you. That you love sinners. That you have chosen to save sinners. That you have chosen to send your Son to die for all those who believe in you. We pray for everyone here. Lord, call out sinners to believe in you. Call them out to be saints. Give them the faith. Help them, Lord, to see. Help them to hear. Help them to see the power of Christ that is able to save them. And help us, Lord, to be a church who seeks to see the nations come to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.