Breaking Free from Fear

Breaking Free from Fear
Exodus 6:28-7:7
November 28, 2021

Introduction

ILLUS – A Southern Thunderstorm.

1. It is amazing what fear can do.

2. If you have ever taken a ride on the “fear train” you know it can take you to some bad places.

3. How can we break free from fear?

4. Tonight, we will discover how God can help us break free from fear by looking at what He did for Moses in Exodus 6:28-7:7.

Exodus 6:28-7:7

Context

1. God was ready to deliver Israel from their bondage in Egypt and bring them into freedom in the Promised Land.

2. Despite several attempts to strengthen His servant, Moses continued to resist God by making excuses.

Transition – Notice how God broke Moses free from fear. . .

I. God Confronts Our Fears (28-30)

A. God knows our secret fears (28-29)

1. God repeatedly told Moses to confront Pharaoh. Why?
a. Because God wanted to deliver Israel and had chosen Moses to do so.
b. But before God could use Moses, Moses needed to learn how to walk by faith and not by sight.

APPL – One way God confronts our fears is during a crisis.

2. God put His finger on the issue that created fear in Moses’ heart.

3. God took Moses out of his comfort zone to strengthen him by stretching him.

ILLUS – A can of tomato soup.

APPL – God knows our secret fears and He wants to set us free from them, all of them.

2 Timothy 1:7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV)

B. Confess your fears to God (30)

1. Once more Moses used the old same excuse.
a. “Unskilled in speech.” (Third Time)
b. Therefore, Pharaoh would not listen.
c. But the Book of Acts gives us a different picture.

Acts 7:22, And Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

2. I appreciate Moses’ honesty because a sincere relationship is built on honesty.

3. Moses was making excuses, yet it was how he felt.

Philippians 4:6-7, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

4. Moses felt insufficient for the task and overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility.

APPL – Again, if we are honest, who is sufficient for God’s work?

ILLUS – Leading worship at a community night of worship

2 Corinthians 3:4-6, And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant

5. Moses was afraid of failure. (Pharaoh’s rejection)

ILLUS – Quitting the high school football

APPL – Would Moses have failed if Pharaoh rejected him? No.

• The only way Moses would have failed was if he failed to obey the Lord’s command.
• We must leave the results with God.

APPL – Why was God so patient with Moses (and us)?

• God knows our frame.

Psalm 103:13-14, Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

• God is not finished with us yet.

Philippians 1:6, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Transition – Now, let’s look at what God did next and the impact it had on Moses.

II. Fix Your Eyes on Jesus (1-7)

Hebrews 12:1-2, Therefore, since have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

A. Jesus is all you need (1-5)

1. To address Moses’ fear, the Lord brought the fear in Moses to the surface.

2. To free Moses of fear, the Lord revealed His sufficiency to Moses. (Yahweh)

3. God made Moses His ambassador.

APPL – God is willing and able to meet our needs and supply all that we need.

Philippians 4:13, 19, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me… And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

4. God gave Moses a preview of upcoming attractions (aka – what would happen next). (3-4)
a. Pharaoh would harden his own heart first, then God would seal the deal.
b. God would multiply His signs and wonders to bring out Israel after Egypt had been severely judged.

APPL – God is directing our paths as well.

Psalm 32:8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

5. God revealed His goal. (5)
a. That Egypt may know that He is the Lord.
b. And all of Egypt’s gods were false.

APPL – God will not leave Himself without a witness.

• God is using His Church today to communicate the same message.
• Jesus Christ is God’s Son and salvation is found through no one else but Him.

John 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

6. God assured Moses that he was not alone because God was with him.

APPL – Why is God’s presence important?

• God’s presence means His favor is upon us.
• God’s presence means His power will prevail for us.
• God’s presence is our victory.
• Therefore, there is no need to fear.

A.W. Tozer, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Psalm 73:25-26, 28, Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever… as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

B. If God commands it, then do it (6-7)

1. “So Moses and Aaron did it; as the Lord commanded them, thus they did.”

2. Genesis 6:22 was the last time this statement was made.

Genesis 6:22, Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

APPL – Up to this point Moses had been going through the motions.

• But something shifted in him.
• It was different now.
• He knew it and God knew it too.
• Moses was in! He was committed.
• Sure, he was 80 years old.
• But now he was in the game with his eyes fixed on the Lord, not fear.
• From this point on that phrase was used of Moses repeatedly in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 3:5, Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later

Conclusion

APPL – Are you walking by faith or living in fear? If fear is getting or has gotten the upper hand, there is an answer. . .

Psalm 56:3, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.