If God Says He Will, Will He?

Alrighty. Thank you, David and Emily and Josh. Good music. Good piano playing and singing. Sorry.

I forgot about children's church. Okay. Children no children's. Never mind. Never mind.

Alrighty. Anyway, my wife and I have been on a trip for about seven weeks, so I might seem like a visitor today. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter 20, and my wife was ill this week, which hardly ever happens. I don't think I can remember the last time she missed the church service, but she was didn't wanna come today. She is starting to feel better.

Just did not want to spread her whatever she had, little bug. And I'm going to be in Exodus chapter five. Exodus chapter five. I'm going to read a couple verses in chapter twelve first, but we're gonna be in Exodus chapter five verse twenty twenty beginning. I just wanna read a couple verses in Exodus 12 just to give you the setting here that Moses is faced with.

Exodus twelve thirty seven and thirty eight, and then we're gonna go right to Exodus five. And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkoth about 600,000 on foot that were men beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them and flocks and herds even very much cattle. I wanted you to see that because what we what Moses has here is a great host of people. He has great responsibility.

It says 600,000 men and children and all these animals and doesn't even mention the wives. So you're talking over a million people, at least million and a half maybe, and that he's responsible for. And it has to be a well organized expedition. There were plagues and negotiations taking place and that must have lasted at least a year and, things were going to get much worse before they would get better. And in the midst of this, great historical event in the bible is a human being named Moses.

You know, sometimes we read about these figures in the Bible and we think they're like super people. Yet they're not super people. They're just like you, like me, and Moses is in need of great encouragement. And that's what we're gonna look at today and and the end result is we see God meets his needs just as he will meet our needs. So look in Exodus chapter five now.

This is where our message is gonna take place. The main part of the message, Exodus five. I'm gonna be begin reading in verse 20. And they met Moses and Aaron and who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto them, the Lord look upon you and judge because you have made our savior to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people? Why is it that thou has sent me? For since I came to pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has done evil to this people neither has thou delivered thy people at all. It seems like the more Moses spoke to pharaoh, the worse it got for the people and the people are feeling this. Chapter six.

And then said the Lord unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh for with a strong hand shall he let thee them go and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God said unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham and unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the hand of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers.

And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians And I will bring you into the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an inheritance. I am the Lord. And then the final verse, verse nine, and Moses said spake so unto the children of Israel, but they hearken not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage. Let's pray.

Our father, I do thank you for this scripture and and the life of Moses for it shows us how you're there to encourage your servant just like you're there to encourage us today. And I pray, father, that you'll use this message in our hearts and lives. If there'd be one here that's never trusted you as their savior, the bible way, I pray this would be the day they'd make that most important decision that will determine where they spend eternity. Pray they might not leave this place today without doing business with you, for you welcome them with open arms. And I just pray now, father, that you would be exalted in all that I say and do, and thank you again for this day.

And again, we thank you for pastor Polar and his ministry and Katie, and pray for your hand to be upon them wherever they might be this morning. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. See, Moses was chosen here to lead the people out of Egypt. He had the responsibility to visit Pharaoh and inform him about God's plans for the nation of Israel.

Pharaoh responded by making it very difficult for the people, And as a result, Moses is taking it on the chin here, and he was a little discouraged and perplexed, and he was doing the right thing. You know, that happens sometimes. We do the right thing and things kinda get a little harder sometimes. He was doing what God had told him to do, and this is what he's faced with today. This is the, the situation here.

And remember, I had mentioned you're talking over probably a million and a half people at least, and that's not even counting all the all the livestock and so forth. So God reminds Moses of some great truth about himself. And if Moses would keep these truths in mind, he would be able to rest in the Lord. He'd be able to he would realize that his task was not bigger than the God he served. Know, that happens.

You know, sometimes we get a task and we think it's bigger than the God we serve, but that's not the case. There's nothing we face in life that is bigger than the God we serve. He's bigger. And Moses is reminded of this, and it actually in the end of this message, you'll see it really helps him. And one of the things God reminds Moses of is that he is a powerful God.

Look in verse one and two again of chapter six here. It says, then the Lord said unto Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh for with a strong hand shall he let them go and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of the land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And then verse three, and I appeared unto Abram and unto Isaac and unto Jacob and by my name God Almighty, But by my name Jehovah was I not known. So there's there's a little change here of names that he mentions that is significant here.

Pharaoh is no match for God. He's powerful. Alright. It's like Hitler. He was powerful.

It's like Putin. He's powerful, but they're no match for God. And, pharaoh's no match. He did have advantage. See, Moses has basically slaves, not soldiers, and Pharaoh has soldiers and and, I mean, it's really mismatched.

But God was already arranging the circumstances for the people to be released from Egypt. He was working on the people's behalf even though they didn't know it or realize it. He was working on Moses' behalf and he's working on our behalf, even sometimes when we don't realize it. He says he has a strong hand, a mighty hand. He uses that term.

And then the names he uses here are significant. He says, God al may mighty. That's the word El Shaddai. Means nourisher, strength giver. The God who is able, you know, he's able to carry me through as the song goes.

And that's how he was known to people, God's people, But now with Moses, he uses the name Jehovah, and that's the difference. That's different. This is the personal name of God. It means redeemer. It is always connected with deliverance when it's used in scripture, and the name Jehovah would remind Moses that his God was not only the sustainer and provider, but also the one who was personally related to his people.

He is powerful, he tells Moses. He tells us that too. He is, personal, personally involved in Moses' problem. You think that didn't encourage Moses? You know, all his responsibility and he's he's discouraged and and, the people are beaten on him.

He gets the message from God and takes it to the people and they don't believe him. And God says, I'm powerful Moses. I'm almighty. And I'm your personal God, Moses. I'm personally involved in your problem.

And that's true of us too. I don't know what your problem is today. Yeah. We all have problems. If you don't have a problem today, you'll probably have one tomorrow.

So we all have problems, but it's always encouraging to know that God's working on it. He never sleeps. He never slumbers. Twenty four seven, God's always on duty. You know, we we aren't always on duty, but he's always on duty watching over us, working in our lives.

If especially if we know him as our personal savior and Lord, we know he's not gonna forget us. There's nothing we go through that he's not aware of. There's not a problem too much bigger. Yeah. We we can't have a problem too much bigger than Moses had here.

Million and a half people yelling and screaming and kids crying and animals bleeding and and, he's supposed to have that all organized and lead them in out of Egypt. And, that's what we see here. So the first thing Moses realizes here here and God wants them to see is we serve a powerful God. He's bigger than our problems. There's no problem bigger than him.

The second thing I see here is in verse five. Look in chapter six verse five. It says, and I have also heard the groanings of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembered my covenant. We not only serve a powerful God, we serve a compassionate God. He's aware of their hardships.

He sees their hard work. He sees their bloody backs. He sees their despair. You know, I don't I I can't imagine, you know, from experience what they're going through. I've had a couple tough bosses through the years, but I've never had, you know, anybody beat up on me or or not pay me or or, make me work, endless hours.

And that's what was taking place here. And God is trying to help, Moses and them to understand that he he cares. He's going to deliver them. That's his promise. He's going to deliver them through Moses, and, he really does care.

Look in Hebrews chapter four. There's a couple of verses here I wanna look at just for encouragement. Hebrews chapter four, beginning in verse 14. Hebrews chapter four beginning in verse 14 says, seeing then we have a great high priest has passed into the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.

And then we get this invitation. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now, this is this is Jesus Christ inviting us to come to him for with our needs, with our cares, with our problems, and he says he'll help us. He's aware of our problems and what we're going to ask before we even ask because he's already working on the problem. That's what he was doing in Moses' day here.

He's working on it. They just don't know it. And many times we go through struggles and God's got it under control. We just don't know it. We don't realize it.

And then we're reminded and that brings a lot of comfort and and strength to our hearts. He really does care. God really did care for Moses and the people, and and yet there's this struggle going on. And then the third thing I noticed in verses six through eight is God is faithful. Look in verse six again here.

It says, wherefore I wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will rid you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an inheritance for an heritage, I am the Lord. God tells Moses to put aside his broken spirit and feelings of inadequacy and return to the people with this message. He mentions seven I ams or I wills.

Sorry. Like, the title of my message is if God says he will, will he? If God says he will, will he? And he says, seven I wills here to encourage Moses. He says, take this message back to the people.

I will rid you of their bondage. I will rid you and bring you out from their burdens. I will, redeem you with a stretched out arm, he says. I will take you for my people. I will be to you a God.

I will bring you into the land and I will give you to you as the land as a heritage. And, these are promises of God. And that's another thing that fits us today. And many times when we go through struggles, God ministers to us by reminding us of his great promises. Do you think if God says he will, do you think he will?

If he says he'll do something, do you think he'll do it? If I say I'll do something, there's a good chance I will, but there is a slight chance because I'm human that I might not. I might fail. You might fail. But God doesn't fail.

His promises are sure. When he says I will, he will. Now what are some of the I wills for the believer today or for people today? Well, there are some in scripture. I picked a few of them out here.

God reminds us as well that we have some I wills in scripture. For example, I will save you if you call upon me. Romans ten thirteen, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I remember prior to getting saved, I called upon the Lord a couple times. Lord, if you get me out of trouble, I'll straighten up.

Well, you know, next day or two, I'm out of trouble and back to the old same old thing. But then there came a day where I called upon him with belief in my heart that he he is the savior. I'm a sinner. He's the savior. He paid the price on the cross for my sin in full.

And my part is to believe the gospel, and then when I called upon him, he saved me. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He will save you. That's his promise. There's if there's anyone here today that's never called upon the Lord with faith in the Lord, you do that today and he will save you.

If you don't do that and you're and you haven't never done that, then you're not saved. You're not a saved person. He can't save you unless you believe, unless you understand you're a sinner in need of a savior, but that's one of the I wills he offers today. He offered Moses seven of them. He offers I'm gonna show you three of them for believe for people today.

These are mostly for believers, but the second one is, I will answer prayer. Look in Jeremiah chapter thirty three three. Think it's thirty three three. Jeremiah chapter 33 verse three. Oh, yeah.

That's it. Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Now, if I was to ask you here today individually, some of you especially that have been saved for many years, you go back to that initial call, address Jesus as your savior, you got saved, But from that point until now, there have been many times you've come to the Lord in prayer and he has answered. You know, specific things without a doubt and answer from him. And I know there could be some testimonies like that here.

I could give some testimonies on answered prayer. He says I will answer. Remember Hebrews four fourteen through 16, he invites us to come. You know that word? It's a powerful word in scripture, c o m e, when it comes from the lips of the Lord Jesus.

He says, come. He offers that invitation to every person. Come. Come unto me, he says. And he'll give us rest.

Rest for our souls. And then, you know, as far as prayers being answered, there's there's another verse I wanna share with you because it's important to know that it's, you know, the Lord's not just, you know, give me, give me, give me, my name's Jimmy type of a, you know, just ask him for things only when you want something and you don't care about them any other time. But look in John chapter 15. It tells gives us a little secret to answered prayer. John chapter 15, I think it's verse seven.

John chapter 15 verse seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and shall be done unto you. See, the secret to getting real prayer answered and to having an effective prayer life is to be in tune with the Lord. Be in tune with his word. Find out what he likes and dislikes, and your prayers will line up.

And when you ask him something, he's gonna grant that prayer. He always answers prayer either yes, no, or wait. We're fortunate he says no sometimes to our prayers. But there's a lot of misconception about prayer today because of the health and wealth gospel people, you know, name it and claim it. Often in my Facebook page, I'll get this, this little note will come up from some organization.

You're gonna get a check this week. Click here and claim it and thank the Lord for it, and it's gonna arrive this week. I always type in there false teacher ain't so. Don't follow this. It's true.

It is a false teacher. You can't name it and claim it. That's not how prayer works. Real effective prayer works because, we're walking with the Lord. We know what he wants us to have, and we don't pray for stuff that we know that he's not for or stuff that we don't actually need.

I've heard I've heard actually preachers stand up and say that they prayed for a new Lincoln Continental, and not only did they pray for one, they wanted a red one. And they came out and there it was. Isn't that ridiculous? That's false. But Jesus God says, I will answer prayer.

If we understand what real spiritual prayer is in the Bible. So I will save you if you call upon me. I will answer prayer, and then here's another one that's very encouraging, and I think this encouraged Moses. It's kinda it's kinda has the idea. Look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse five.

We're almost done here because we unlike when pastor Polar's here, we didn't have a lot of preliminary things, and he usually has extra music and so forth. And so we're gonna get out a little early today. Hebrews chapter, 13. And some of you probably will already know what I'm gonna read. Hebrews chapter 13 verse five.

Let your conversation be without covetousness. That's talking about your whole life behavior. And be content with such things as you have for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's that other that's that third I will. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

And what we're supposed to conclude by that verse is, if you have Jesus, you have enough. You have all you need if you have Jesus. So those three things. What are some I wills for you and me today? I will save you if you call upon me.

I will answer prayer if you pray spiritual prayers, the right kinds, and I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That was true of Moses in his day and it's true today for us. So Moses did God's will and it didn't seem like things were going the way that they should, but God encourages Moses to keep doing the right thing and in time, things would be well. Look in verse nine. And Moses speak so unto the children of Israel, but they hearken not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.

Moses is encouraged even though the people reject Moses, the people still do not listen to Moses under under pressure. But now, Moses can handle it better because he's reminded to rest in the Lord. He's reminded that his God is powerful. He's reminded that his God is compassionate. He's reminded that his God is faithful.

And Moses rests in the Lord, and the big reason is this, and this is the key for us too. Moses is to focus on his God and his God's promises and not on his problems. You have problems today? I mentioned we all have problems. I got problems.

You got problems. And if we focus on those problems, we're gonna be a pretty discouraged people, a pretty downhearted people. But if we focus upon God, he's powerful, he's compassionate, and he's faithful. That's the message that Moses got in Exodus chapter five and six here. Let's pray.

Our father, I thank you for this word. Thank you for all that you do for us. Thank you that we can trust you just like Moses did. And we know Moses was under hard pressure because of the tremendous responsibilities he had, and yet you you reminded him that no problem is bigger than his God. God's bigger than anything.

That his God is aware of what's going on in the lives of the people and in Moses' life and he's compassionate and God is faithful. He will fulfill all promises that he has given us. It's our part to believe. Again, Lord, if there'd be one here today that's never trusted you, I pray this would be the day they would make that decision. And and Lord, if there are those today that have heavy burdens on their hearts, I pray they might learn and and cast those cares upon you and trust you and look beyond the problems to you.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Brother David's gonna lead us in one more hymn here and invitation.