Sermon Tone Analysis

Moses – Prince of Israel: Preparing the Deliverer

Text: Exodus 2:11-25

Theme: God is preparing each of us for our life ahead.

When you plan a trip for your family, what type of preparations do you make?

You probably have our car serviced and road ready.

You do laundry, plan what clothing you will take and pack your suitcases.

You may have your paper delivery stopped and your mail held at the post office.

You adjust your appointments, plan your itinerary and make sure you have enough cash for the trip.

You wives clean because you hate to come home to a dirty house.

I remember as a child going on vacations with my parents.

I can recall those long hours in the backseat of the station wagon heading across Kansas to Colorado.

No Interstate 70, no air-conditioning, no DVD players or Ipods, the roar of the hot Kansas wind coming through the windows.

My dad always liked early starts so we would often leave as the sun was coming up.

As a kid, I made no preparations.

Mom and dad took care of everything.

Dan and I were just along for the ride.

Our Father in Heaven is taking each of us on the long journey through life.

We may think we’re the ones siting behind the wheel, directing the route we take, but in reality we’re just passengers.

He is at the controls.

He has packed all the necessities we will need.

During the trip, there are plenty of pleasant surprises, and blessings.

Sometimes the trip may become routine—even monotonous.

Sometimes the trip brings difficulties.

Still the Father has prepared for those times too. 2 Pet.1:3 says, "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…" We have everything we need for the trip because our Heavenly Father has made all the preparations.

God is preparing all of us right now.

He’s preparing some of you to be saved.

He’s preparing young people for their careers, young adults for their marriages, young couples for their children, middle-agers for retirement, retirees for new challenges.

He’s preparing some for church membership, some for maturity in Christ, some for a ministry in the church and some for a life mission.

No matter where you are in life, God is preparing you for the rest of the trip just as God was preparing Moses to be the deliverer of His people.

But the journey doesn’t go quite as expected.

Let’s watch a clip from the movie Prince of Egypt and catch a glimpse of the detour Moses is about to take on his trip through life.

[PLAY VIDEO]

This was all part of God’s preparation of the deliverer.

As we saw in the second clip from Prince of Egypt, God was adding to Moses’ education.

If Moses was going to deliver his people from bondage it wasn’t enough for him to be trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

He also needed to be trained in the wisdom of God and spiritual things.

When God prepares a person for His work, He often leads them through three stages of preparation.

They are leaving, learning and longing.

I. PREPARATION STAGE #1: LEAVING vv.11-15

1. the life of Moses presents a series of striking contradictions

a. he was the child of a slave, and the son of a queen

b. he was born in a hut, and lived in a palace

c. he inherited poverty, and enjoyed unlimited wealth

d. he was the leader of armies, and the keeper of flocks

e. he was the mightiest of warriors, and the meekest of men

f. he was educated in the court, and dwelt in the desert

g. he had the wisdom of Egypt, and the faith of a child

h. he was tempted with the pleasures of sin, and endured the hardships of virtue

i. he was backward in speech, and talked with God

j. he was a fugitive from Pharaoh, and an ambassador from heaven

k. he was the giver of the Law, and the forerunner of grace

A. GOD PROVIDENTIALLY WORKS IN OUR LIVES TO ACHIEVE HIS WILL

1. God used all of the different events in his life to shape Moses into the person God

intended for him to become

a.

God is always behind the scene, ordering everything for His own purpose and glory

1) even our smallest of actions are providentially orchestrated by God and fit into

His grand scheme

"I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to

direct his steps."

(Jeremiah 10:23, NASB95)

2. at some point, Moses deliberately determined to throw in his lot with a despised and

persecuted people

a. we’re not how Moses came to find out that he was really the son of Hebrew slaves

b. we’re not told about the inner conflict he must have endured in deciding to identify

with them instead of his adopted Egyptian family

c. but identify with the Hebrews he did

3. not only did he identify with them, but he proposed to deliver them by his own power

and authority

a. how do we know that?

Acts 7:23-25 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.

24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.”

NIV

b. in his defense of the Hebrew slave we see something of the character of Moses

1) he was compassionate

a) in verse 11 we see that Moses went out to his brethren

b) he looked at their burdens, and he saw the abuse of one of the slaves

c) Moses understood that he was to be the deliverer and he wanted desperately

to help them

2) he was courageous

a) when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew Moses couldn’t sit on the sideline

b) courageously, he got involved

Acts 7:24 “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged

him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:” KJV

3) he was decisive

a) some have tried to make the case that Moses killed the Egyptian in

self-defense

b) v.12 clearly points out that he made a decision to kill the man because he

looked this way and that and when he saw no one he killed him

c) one of the features of Scripture which constantly impresses me is the absolute

honesty with which the lives of Bible heroes are described

d) the Holy Spirit has not concealed his defects—Moses was in too big a hurry

4) he was impetuous

a) Acts 7 makes it clear that Moses knew he was to be the deliverer

b) he thought he was prepared—he wasn’t

c) the Scripture says he looked this way and that way, but he never looked up to

God

d) he was in too big of a hurry

e) he was trying to do God’s will man’s way