I invite you to turn in the Bible tonight to the second book of the Bible as we look at tonight Exodus chapter 18 and continue our morning study here tonight in the first part of Exodus 18, we'll consider together the first 12 verses. This is the word of the Lord, Exodus chapter 18, beginning at verse 1. Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel's 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 Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, 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, in 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 and how the lord had delivered them and jethro rejoiced for all the good that the lord had done to israel and 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 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. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. israel has really had no sense uh no appreciation for why god was doing all that he was doing for them and that's a shocking thing to say they haven't shown much gratitude they haven't shown much thanksgiving they haven't appreciated much of anything have they there has been nothing but complaining along the way and it's been startling to see how deep-rooted that problem has been All they seemed to be about was their comforts in the wilderness. Talk about a navel-gazing people. Was this just about them? It's really remarkable because they saw everything that the Lord had done for them. They saw. I mean, they didn't have it handed to them in a book and they had to read about it, right? They saw with their eyes this stuff. They saw Moses plunder the nation with his rod, knowing that the Lord was doing this when he turned the Nile into blood. They saw his power. They saw his plagues. They saw the sea heap up. They passed through safely. They saw a quail. They saw manna drop on their doorsteps in the wilderness. They saw the split rock. They saw all this, and we're wondering at this point, are they believing? uh last section they charged god with not even being with them i mean it's just astonishing isn't it and what didn't they understand about what god was doing did they know did they get it did they understand why god was doing all this did they understand why god was was doing this and showing his great power in this way hadn't this been the greatest problem for them to understand this and appreciate this and show gratitude with this? You feel like God has to just pull them through the desert. God has to wake them up. The whole time they're miserable, unthankful, complaining, malconsents. Why was God doing all this? Why was God doing all this? Are things any different for us? Why is God doing all this for us? Why has He done all these things for us? Why has He helped us and blessed us and saved us? I wonder if it's easy to go forward into wilderness life and forget why God's doing what He's doing. And then it just sort of all becomes about us and our group and our problems and everything sort of turns inward after a while. the lord had to remind israel of something along the way remember what the lord reminded israel that the lord your god is is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness you're a stubborn people remember and don't forget how you provoked the lord your god to wrath in the wilderness from the day you came up out of the land until you came to this place you have been rebellious against the Lord no it's not because of your righteousness it's not because you're so special and have done so many good things he says that I'm doing this for you it's not because of the uprightness of your heart that you're going in and getting the land and then he tells them why I'm doing all this that I may confirm the word that I the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The great promise of the Abrahamic covenant, we call it, or the covenant of grace, remember Genesis 15 when the pieces were cut, was that, and the Lord kept speaking this the whole time from Genesis 12 on in this gracious covenant that he was making with Abraham. Remember what the Lord said to Abraham, the great thing he would do from his seed? From His seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Do we know that that was God's purpose in all this? Why did He raise up a people? Why did He pull them out? Why did He deliver them? So that through them, the gospel might be preached to the ends of the earth. They would understand the gospel. And that from them, the seed would come, Galatians tells you, who is Christ. so you see how awful their behavior has been they're not getting what the very purpose is of their existence what it is to proclaim what it is to tell they have no sense of it and their inward focused complaining life along the way demonstrated that now that's the heart of this evening that the lord is giving a display of his intention and why he's doing all that all this for them tonight and that he desires for us to understand as his people, since the problem is just as real, why he is delivering us, why he has saved us, and what he is accomplishing in this great deliverance. That gives the church every kind of motivation to tell others the story of redemption. That gives the church every kind of motivation to tell the plan of salvation, what God has done to make it known, as we sing out from Psalm 22, to the ends of all the earth that they may hear about our King. And that's what I want to look at with you tonight, that great intention of the Lord in pulling them out and how He puts that on display. You'll notice in verse 1 of Exodus chapter 18 that we read, 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 sent her home along with her two sons. What a fascinating section. News is spread everywhere, by the way. All the nations are talking. They've heard about this God of Israel. They've heard about this God who came and think about this how powerful this is this is a polytheistic world there's all they have all these nations have their gods and they've heard about this certain god who came down and pummeled the greatest nation on the earth and the evidence of it is Israel I mean um Egypt's just a mess remember when they come into the land and Rahab says we have heard and when we heard what the lord did to the egyptians and what he did for you our hearts melted here you were coming we find something interesting all these groups are talking about this they've heard they don't know a lot they've heard at some point after the exodus moses had sent zipporah and his sons ahead it's a strange sort of interjection that you can't you stop you say well what what in the world is going on here there's emphasis on this in the text you didn't just do that you didn't send in where they were traveling a woman and the two sons like that ahead in the rugged wilderness uh open to attack and dangers why in the world would moses do that what is going on here um you why would you send his wife and sons away from the community away from the pillar away from the lord's presence into the barren wilderness to ahead back to jethro anything of anything anyone says after this point is all speculation you understand that and boy does everyone do it um it was a common belief that by the jews that moses gave zipporah a certificate of divorce because she was a bitter woman. Remember when the circumcision happened and she said, you're a husband of blood to me. And they say, see, she was a bitter woman. Moses put her away. That's not very nice to this great humble prophet, is it? Calvin said in his day, the view was that she was enraged on account of the circumcision incident and turned back herself. Calvin himself didn't believe that. Calvin believed that Moses was showing compassion on his wife to give her time to be with her father. I like that. But here's the fact. It's all evident, it seems, from the text that Zipporah went down when they packed up and left, that Zipporah went down to Egypt, that Zipporah and the two sons came out of Egypt just like everyone else, and at some point in the wilderness way, Moses sends her ahead. Now, if all the commentators can speculate, I'm going to do it for a moment. He takes his wife, puts her on a donkey, rides away the sons, and I ask the question, why would he do that? What has been driving Moses the whole time? He wasn't always the way he is now. He was a complainer to start, wasn't he? God met him at the burning bush and God made things very clear. Moses tried to get out of it from the beginning and he made very clear what he had promised and made very clear that God was fulfilling the promise to Abraham as he referenced Abraham to Moses and explained he was giving Abraham's people the land. What did God say through Moses was the reason he was doing this in Exodus 9? I have raised you up for this very purpose, Israel, And Pharaoh, actually. That I might show you my power and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. That was said in the midst of the plagues. I want my name proclaimed through this. I want my name made known through this. Proclaimed to who? Moses is believing the promises made to Abraham. All of this before the giving of the law, all you see the gospel program in place, you see deliverance, you've seen salvation, you've seen bread come down from heaven, you've seen water given in the wilderness, and God had said from the beginning that what would happen in the Abrahamic covenant of grace is that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through the seed. Notice Moses records here that his son's names had meaning. Gershom means sojourner. Eliezer, Moses even proclaims here afterwards, the God of my father is my help. The God of my father is my help. Moses is so trusting the promise right now. And it's shining. in his naming of his sons. And Moses was proclaiming to Israel in his own sons' names, faith. But what had Israel been saying? God wants to kill us. Moses says, they want to stone me. So I believe Moses takes his wife and two sons and sends them off as a testimony of faith before Israel of the promise. You say, how can you be sure? I can't really be sure. But it has happened before. Who else did this? Abraham. Twice. He packed up Hagar on the donkey and Ishmael, sent them away. And then he had all these sons by Keturah. And we read in Genesis that while he was still living, he sent them away. And the whole picture in Genesis was Abraham was doing this with understanding and in faith. Why? Because Isaac was the seed. Isaac was the son of promise. Now why was Abraham sending away his sons? Why was Abraham doing this? Because he heard that in Isaac his seed shall be called. And in Isaac and Israel, the nations would be blessed. I'm sending your son. think about this abraham to egypt the seat of promise and he's going to come out and from him all the nations of the earth will be blessed and your inheritance will be as the sand on the seashore here's where this gets wonderful who was one of the sons that abraham sent away Listen to this. Abraham again took a wife. Her name was Keturah. And she bore him Midian. Midian. In faith, what Abraham did was pack up Midian and his other sons, they're all mentioned there, and sent them eastward, away from Isaac. He believed that one day his son would be a blessing to this son. Do you follow me? He believed one day this son Isaac, Jacob, Israel, would be a blessing to this son. Now, do I know that's in Moses' mind? I don't, but that to me is the best speculation. Moses trusts. Moses believes the promise. And it challenges us, it challenged Israel to live by faith in the promise themselves. Here's my question. Israel had done nothing but complain. Did they understand the project was bigger than their own earthly wants and their own earthly desires? Did they get that? Did they understand that? It seems like everything has been so inward on them. Did Israel know what God had saved them unto? Did Israel know what God was doing through them? Did Israel know that they were the people intended to be from them, the seed would come to be a blessing to all the nations? That all the peoples of the earth, the Lord would say, and Solomon would later pray in his temple when the temple went up, that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You. The nations might come. Sometimes we're so inward focused, we're miserable about our own wilderness life, we totally forget the bigger plan. We totally forget the bigger picture, that it's bigger than us. And we're unable to see the purposes of God working out. They're working. One of the worst sins in the church today is that we've become so inwardly focused and inward focused and complaining and turmoil that we forget why we were brought out ourselves. And before us, we have a great display of the reason. That's why I love this passage. They come to Sinai, as God had promised, and lo and behold, Jethro sins, And he brings his wife. Moses didn't go get his wife and children. He goes to Sinai because that's where God promised he would bring him in Exodus chapter three. And so Jethro is bringing the wife and the sons. And I want you to step into Jethro's shoes for a moment. He's the priest of Midian. He's a large flock himself. Moses had cared for his flock. This is where Moses was taught to be a shepherd. Jethro walks up to Sinai, the mountain of God, walks close in the distance, and he looks and there are two million people. He left. Think about that. He had left with just Zipporah and his sons. Now, two million are standing there. I can't imagine what that must have been like for Jethro, but notice what happens. Moses cares for his father-in-law. We read in verse 7 that Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and he bowed down and he kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and they went into the tent. They had the typical greeting and embrace of the time and they go and they sit down and notice what's on Moses' heart. Notice what's burdening Moses' heart here. He is so overwhelmed by God's goodness to him and to Israel. He wants Jethro to know this. I love this. Keep in mind, his father, Jethro, is a descendant of Abraham. Keep in mind, Midian was sent away. Midian was pagan. Jethro was a priest, which means he believed in all the gods. He was a syncretist. He believed like the day of all the different gods of the lands. He believed in his own gods. He believed in the God of Israel. and he was very much like many of the people that we meet today that you come across in everyday life. They are religious, but they're not yet convinced that Jesus is the only way. They are religious and they'll accept your God, but they have their own gods. They're not quite sure, are they? They see all religions as equal and all having some value and all offering something to help people. Jethro could be your American. Moses cares. Moses comes and he sees his father-in-law. Look at the love for his pagan father-in-law. Bows down. Respects him. Honors him. I mean, I could have a million father-in-law jokes right now and I won't do that. Loves him. Totally appropriate to the culture of the time. shows as much respect and as much honor as he can for this man. Culturally possible, that's what Moses does. And then it says something just beautiful in the Hebrew. You have it said here that Moses told, it's the word for proclaim. Moses proclaimed to him, to 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 and how the Lord had delivered them. Remember, this whole section was about what the Lord was doing. Moses just proclaimed the gospel to his father-in-law. All he can speak of are the wonders of the Lord. All he can speak of are the wonders of the Lord for Israel. All that the Lord had done to Pharaoh. All that the Lord had done to the Egyptians for their sakes. God, let me tell you about this, Jethro. I've got to tell you what I just went through. This is wonderful. God thundered down in power. I came to Egypt, and his people were enslaved. They were building with bricks and without straw. The bondage was absolutely terrible. And Pharaoh was cruel to them. Pharaoh held them. Pharaoh gave them no rest. I've never seen this kind of abuse ever. No total power and sway over them. And the Lord thundered down with mighty deliverance. And the Lord freed them. On Moses' lips are the wonderful works of the Lord. Moses spoke of, notice it says, after they came out. Then we had all these hardships come upon us on the way. and the Lord delivered us from them all you notice something about the testimony it's not so much about Moses and Israel it's immersed with the Lord I mean when we hear testimonies today generally they're all about us and the things that God did to make our life great uh with personal wants and desires that that's nothing at all I want you to notice the testimony that that is emphasized here moses is brutally honest it has been really hard i need to tell you how hard it's been it was we got out and it's been nothing but trial after trial after trial and through it all the lord keep keep reaching down and helping us he's caught up in that this was the story the whole way through that the lord had reached down that the Lord had come, that the Lord had rescued, that the Lord had delivered, that the Lord had preserved. And here's where we sort of run up against Moses becoming a sort of testimony of the very purpose Israel was to be to the nation. We don't speak this way, do we? We hide our lives, don't we? This is the greatest problem in the church. When's the last time someone said, hey, you know, I asked you how you're doing and you said, well, the events of my life have been terrible. I've been suffering depression. I've got anger in my heart. I've been drinking too much. I've got a sin I can't beat. My loved one's sick. We always say, great, everything's going well, isn't it? Our witness is very weak sometimes because we're hiding the dark realities of sin. The sin that once held us in bondage. the sins that so easily at one time ensnared us. But we're here tonight. You're here tonight sustained by God's power. How Christ has sustained you in the wilderness. Do you know it? It's a plain, it's an honest, it's a clear, it's a heartfelt, simple testimony of the realities of sin and the Lord's deliverance and help. Moses doesn't hide that Jethro it's been hard we went down to Egypt I saw my people whipped beaten I tried to deliver them it only got worse at first to be honest with you I wanted to give up in fact I had to face what was absolutely impossible for me to do and I couldn't do it I couldn't do it God called me to do something I couldn't do and I said to the Lord at one point what are you doing I struggled so much I said to him I don't know if you remember this back in chapter, I think it's five. You have failed. You haven't delivered them at all. But do you know what he did? He plagued them. He turned the Nile to blood. He rained hail and locusts on them for us. He took out their firstborn because they had killed our firstborn. And Pharaoh refused to set us free and the Lord came and he set us free. And then we got out in the wilderness, and it was just wonderful, his power that was put on display. There were Egyptians, those war chariots, remember, they came after us as we headed out of Egypt. And they came at us with all their warriors with the war paint on, and let me tell you, he drowned them. And then we get out in the wilderness, and we had nothing to drink. And we get out in the wilderness, and we were hungering and thirsting, and here we are. And then the Amalekites came up against us. They hit us in the rear and they attacked all of our weak ones and the Lord beat them. Our witness is shallow today because many of us never talk of the Lord's works in our life. We're too caught up in our ways and our walks and hiding life. And we're about temporary happiness. So that when a thorn in the flesh comes, we're so focused on Lord, take it away. Three times I appealed to the Lord, take it away, that we've not yet made it to realize that infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions, distresses are opportunities to boast. Why? Because then the power of Christ is resting on me, says Paul. Then in my weakness, I can talk about His strength. then in my weakness, I have a story. Witnesses are not expected, said Richard Bauckham, like lawyers to persuade by the rhetorical power of their speeches, but simply to testify to the truth for which they're qualified to give evidence. But to be adequate witness to the truth of God, witness must be a lived witness involving the whole of life, even death. It's sincere, right? Because it's birthed out of one who is qualified to simply testify to what's happened to him that's witness it's bigger than this too isn't it in all of Israel's failings notice the witness is prevailing when you think of here Jethro's response you see faith in Jethro and this is an overwhelming moment in the narrative of what the Lord is showing us. Notice this. 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. This was the priest of Midian. who was not certain and just said, now I know the Lord is God over all the other gods. I know now there's one true God. Here's what I love to consider about this. Israel saw the plagues. They saw the Red Sea. They saw the frogs. They saw the locusts. They saw Pharaoh's defeat. They saw the bodies floating the next day and on the seashore. They received the water and the bread. Jethro hears the proclamation of one man who came out. And with no questioning, with no doubt, oh, this is all just too sensational for me. I believe. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the other gods. I believe the word, Moses. I always wanted to know, and now I know. And yet the end of this ends with Jethro joining in the worship of God. What a beautiful section of Scripture. What an encouragement. Moses proclaimed the gospel and have you figured out what you have presented to you tonight? The whole program of history. This is why God told His church to be out preaching the gospel, to making the story known. The story of slavery to sin. The story of bondage and misery to our sin and sadness. The story you've always known that the Lord one day set you free and that He set you free from the tyranny of the devil and He baptized you and He brought you out to the other side and your whole wilderness way, you're still here. No matter what you've gone through and you know it's been hard. You know it's been hard. He's brought you here. You're here tonight hearing his love and grace and gospel. And all this is the story of the greater Israelite who came out and spoke peace to the nations. In fact, his story was repeated when in his earthly ministry, Jesus came out and the children of Israel were all grumbling against him, mad at him because he wasn't supplying signs. It's the same old story, same old story. And he goes and he meets a woman and offers her living water at the well, a Samaritan, she goes back and pulls in a city and the Samaritans, who didn't have one sign done among them, we read in John 4, they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. We believe His Word. This is Ephesians. And he came, Jesus, and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him we both, Jew and Gentile, have access in one spirit to the Father so that you're no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. You see what Moses is showing us tonight? A foretaste of this. The promises of the covenant of grace drove him that one day the seed would come and that that seed would be a blessing to all the nations as was promised to Abraham so that those nations would be like the stars in the heavens and the sands on the seashore. And here you are. Here you are tonight. You have received this blessing that was promised in the covenant of grace so many years ago our story brothers and sisters is the fulfillment of everything that moses explained to jethro that day how much do you have to say then think about it how much do you have to say telling with joy the wonders of what the lord has done for you I'm facing a lot of hard things. You're facing a lot of hard things. We're all sinners in this together. But you have a great Savior. And you have one who's conquered for you. And you have one who's delivered you from all of your sins. And He went to the cross and He said it's finished. And He rose victorious and He brought you out. You died with Him. You were buried with Him. You were raised with Him. And yes, we know your life's hard. We know your wilderness way is hard. But you've got a great story of the Lord's power to preserve in your weakness. And this is the Psalms, but I will hope continually, Psalm 71, and I will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will come. I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, listen to this. This is an old saint in Psalm 71. O God, from my youth you have taught me. How many of you can testify that tonight? And I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, oh God, don't forsake me until, if you're still living with old age and gray hairs, until I proclaim your might, your power to the next generation, your power to all those who come. He wants you to live by faith. and his promises, like Moses did. And before your brothers and sisters and before the world, to model to them to be examples in hardship that whatever the Lord calls us to deal with or to endure, not to be miserable, complaining Israelites in the wilderness who are just bitter, but to understand why Jesus left you here. You're my witnesses to the ends of the earth. I pray, Father, for those who will believe in me through their word, the apostles' word, this is you he's praying for, that they may all be one just as we are, all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. That's what he wanted. Don't take them out of the world. keep them from the evil one, but as the demoniac was set free in Mark 5, which we're soon going to get to, go out, he said to him, and tell others the wonderful things that the Lord has done for you. There it is. So what an encouragement to us tonight of what it means to live by faith, to act like it, as pilgrims and sojourners traveling through a land that is not our home, testifying before all others that there are a lot out there right now. That's why we can never be so inward focused that we miss the design of this. There are a lot out there right now who are asking questions. And they've always wanted to know who the true God is. And you have that knowledge. And you have a story that they might know that the Lord is greater than all the other gods. And that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And that they may believe that He has come. Let's thank Him together tonight. Gracious Heavenly Father, may our witness be strong. May we always remember why You have saved us and set us apart for Your glory. That Your name may be proclaimed in all the earth. May Your church be faithful. As Christ came and preached, may Your church continue and be faithful in that great commission. And in our own witness, as we go out into another week, may it be strong, simply testifying of the wonderful things that you've done for us. Give us boldness. Give us help. Give us opportunities. Make it clear who we are to speak to. Give us that kind of drive where we see the very drive of you, O Lord, to evangelize the nations in your great gospel program. May we never be closed off to that. May we as the Escondido URC love to advance that and to advance your gospel to the end that people may believe. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.