"God's Words/Man's Mouth"
Exodus 4:1-11

“10 ¶ And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.” (Ex 4:10-17)

A. God had just given Moses three signs, powerful, meaningful signs that nothing could stand in the way of the mission that was committed to him.

1. Shepherd’s rod into a serpent: The great wisdom and power of Pharaoh would be overthrown by a shepherd, one unclean to the Egyptians.

2. Hand made leprous. The sinful heart of man would be no match for the power of God; for God can make the unclean clean.

3. Water to blood: God would execute vengeance upon the gods of the Egyptians. It is God who is the source of life; not the Nile River or the other Gods of Egypt.

B. Moses raises an objection out of false modesty. “It’s not you, O God; it’s me.”

1. I am a weak reed, I am slow of speech. How can I bring the word to Pharaoh.

2. False modesty can be rebellion and contumacy, as it was here. But God is gracious to Moses, just as He is to us.

3. But God tells Moses the truth; what an astounding statement: I make the dumb, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind. Both good things and bad things come to us from God, for He is the author of all things. Paul was smitten by God and was blind until he was baptized; Zacharias was made speechless by God because he doubted the word of the angel, and remained dumb until John was named.

4. This passage refutes the shallow Gnosticism of the modern world, that the devil is the cause of all bad things. Job said it was the Lord that giveth and the Lord that taketh away.

C. Aaron is appointed by God

1. “I know he can speak well.’ Of course; God made him with the gift of eloquence.

2. He will be glad: God is the author of good will and gracious spirits, even of older broth-ers toward younger ones.

3. Aaron would be Moses’ prophet, just as Moses would be God’s prophet.

4. Go on, Moses. Take this rod and do wonders.

II. Very important observations:

A. God has made man’s mouth. How astounding is this statement.

1. God made man with the gift of speech. The mouth was made for speech, just as the eye for seeing, the ear for hearing, and all the other senses made for their function.

2. What an amazing organ is the mouth: it can form the sounds that make all the languages of the world. You can take a tiny Japanese baby, put it with an English man and wom-an, and the baby will grow up speaking English, with no knowledge of the Japanese language.

3. The reason: the mouth is connected to the mind, and the mind associates the sounds with the ideas. The ideas are the same, but the sound associations are different. The tongue learns to imitate the sounds that it hears.

4. Ultimately it is from the mind and the heart that the mouth speaks, as Jesus said. This is the reason we will be judged by what we say, because our mouths are servants of our hearts.

“1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. 3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” (Pr 16:1-3 AV)

“1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. 2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. 3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? 5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. 6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. 8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.” (Ps 12:1-8 AV)

“22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Mt 12:22-37 AV)

1. The heart is revealed by what the tongue says.

2. The wicked are trapped by their own words: Pr 12:13 The wicked is snared by the transgression of [his] lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.