Passage: Exodus 3:16-22

The Big Idea

God gives Moses His plan, and His plan is a promise: I will bring you up out of Egypt. Pharaoh won’t let them go, not even by a mighty hand, so God will stretch out His own hand. Only His wonders can truly free a slave. And He won’t send His people out empty-handed. Yet an entire generation that left Egypt never entered the land, because they didn’t mix God’s promise with faith. God’s plan is simple: I’ll take care of everything; you trust Me.

Didn’t Recognize You

A woman had a heart attack and, on the operating table, had a near-death experience. She asked God, “Is my time up?” God said, “No, you have another forty-three years.” So, figuring she had plenty of time, she stayed in the hospital for a facelift, a tummy tuck and a new hair color. On her way home, she was hit by a car. Standing before God, she demanded, “I thought I had forty-three more years! Why didn’t You save me?” God replied, “I didn’t recognize you.”

Thankfully, that’s not how God really works.

Paul was confident that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).

Who began the work? Jesus.
Where is the work being done? In you.
Who will complete it? Jesus.

God’s plan is a promise, made to you. He loves to make promises, and He delights in keeping them.

The Promise to Preach (Exodus 3:16-17)

God told Moses: “Go gather Israel’s elders and tell them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, appeared to me and said, “I have surely watched over you and seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”‘”

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob again: God chooses, God makes alive, God changes us. He covers every phase of our spiritual life, like a whole movie series: the prequels, the original trilogy and the sequels.
This is the first message Moses is to preach: God will save you. Fully and completely. His plan, His promise. He won’t fail.
No matter what the situation, no matter what powers of hell come against Him, no matter what addictions or loves have hold of you, God will not be stopped. He will redeem.

But wait…

You know the story. Of all the adults who left Egypt, only two, Caleb and Joshua, actually entered the promised land forty years later (Numbers 14:29-30).

Did God’s promise fail? Didn’t He know what would happen? That worries me. It even scares me a little.

To answer it we have to look at the bigger picture.

The promise was made to God’s people, not only to that one generation.
God shows us clearly what was wrong with that generation, and we’ll see it play out through Exodus and Numbers: they didn’t fully believe and trust His promises. They refused to live by faith, so they never entered.

The writer of Hebrews says that since the promise of entering His rest still stands, we should take care that none of us falls short of it. The good news was preached to us as well as to them, but the message they heard didn’t benefit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith (Hebrews 4:1-2).

Faith is how God’s promises become real in our lives. “Why don’t I ever experience the victorious Christian life I hear about in other people?” Faith.

God still brought that generation out of Egypt. But they died before they saw the whole promise fulfilled. Don’t let that be your story. It doesn’t have to be. God will bring everyone who believes His promises into the land. Just ask Caleb and Joshua.

There will be many tests of faith along the way. Think of them as discipleship opportunities.

Not Even by a Mighty Hand (Exodus 3:18-20)

“The elders will listen to you. Then you and the elders will go to the king of Egypt and say, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ But I know the king of Egypt won’t let you go, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders that I will do among them. After that, he will let you go.”

This redemption won’t be easy. In fact, it’s impossible.
The king of Egypt wants to hold onto you. He claims to own you. No human “mighty hand,” no amount of effort, can free you.
God even raised him up for this (Romans 9:17). Why put such an obstacle in the way? So that God gets the glory when He’s the only one who can save, and His wonders can be seen for what they are: miracles, a redemption only He can accomplish.

If you were “rescued” by any power other than the grace of Jesus, I have news for you: you weren’t rescued. You were transferred to a different prison. Maybe you quit a drug by sheer willpower or an accountability system. But now you’re a slave to your own efforts or to a man-made system. That’s self-sufficiency, and it’s still independence from God. Only Jesus can truly free you. Only His wonders can do what’s needed in the human heart.

“After that, he will let you go.”

After Jesus does His work, Satan has no power to hold onto us anymore. We’re truly free.
We can depend on God for everything and never have to look to our own resources again.
Now serving God becomes real, not just an idea.
In Egypt we were building another kingdom, a kingdom of rebellion against God. Every human heart builds that kingdom. Only the power of Jesus frees us from it, so we can pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.”
That’s the freedom we sing about: free to serve God instead of the enemy. Everyone is serving one or the other. What are you serving?

Not Empty-Handed (Exodus 3:21-22)

“I will give this people favor with the Egyptians, so when you leave, you won’t go empty-handed. Every woman will ask her neighbor for silver, gold and clothing, and you’ll put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Hudson Taylor said that God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.
It doesn’t matter where it comes from. God will provide everything His people need to serve Him.

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

What good works?

Jesus gave Himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people of His own, eager to do good works (Titus 2:14). What might that look like?

Praying for the church, the lost, your family, your little ones
Giving to those in need
Boldly sharing the hope of the gospel with friends, family and coworkers
Encouraging the hurting
Teaching children (and yes, changing diapers)
Writing a letter, sending a text, opening your home
Studying the Word
Showing up early to greet people, pray and set up
Going on a mission trip, moving, planting a church
Serving your boss, your spouse, your kids and the elderly in love and joy

All these things build God’s kingdom.

The only thing that gets in the way is being too concerned with our kingdom, the way we want things to be. We like building big monuments in Egypt that will impress people for years. God wants us to leave it all behind, come out and meet with Him, and serve Him.

That seems like a waste if you’re interested in visible kingdoms. But if you’re one of God’s people, it’s all you really want.

Do you feel that pull to come out of Egypt, to leave worldly pursuits behind for kingdom pursuits? That’s the Spirit of Jesus calling you out to freedom, to a deeper and more important life. And whatever He calls you to do, He will equip you to do.

Grace Takeaway

God’s plan for your life is a promise: “I’ll take care of it.” He began the work, He’s doing it in you, and He’ll finish it. No human hand could free us from Egypt, so He stretched out His. And He never sends His people out empty-handed. The only question is whether we’ll mix His promise with faith. His grace is sufficient for you, and blessed is the one who puts his hope in the Lord.

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God’s Plan: I’ll Take Care of It