Go in, speak unto Pharaoh.
The successive services of the Christian life
I. That the successive services of the Christian life are required not-withstanding the apparent failure of past efforts (Exodus 6:10-11).
1. This service must be continued by Moses and Aaron because the command of God has not yet been executed.
2. This service must be continued by Moses and Aaron because their duty has not been accomplished.
3. This service must be continued by Moses and Aaron because the slaves must be freed.
4. We find Moses and Aaron were sent on exactly the same work as before. There is much waste of effort in the Church, because men are so restless and changeful in their toils. We need determination, concentration, and patience in our effort to free the slave. Failure is no excuse for fickleness in Christian service.
II. That the successive services of the Christian life are more difficult in their requirements. The first injunction given to Moses was to call the elders of Israel together that he might communicate to them the Divine will in reference to their nation. Now he is told to go direct to Pharaoh. The language of the 12th verse shows that Moses regarded the service as increased in rigour.
1. This increased rigour of service is surprising. Must the scholar who has failed in the alphabet be put to the declensions of service?
2. This increased rigour of service is disheartening.
3. This increased rigour of service is a discipline. Increased work has often made a bad workman into a good one. It has increased his responsibility. It has awakened him to reflection.
III. That the successive services of the Christian life sometimes awaken the expostulations of men (Exodus 6:12).
1. These expostulations make mention of natural infirmities. “Who am of uncircumcised lips.” It is unnecessary that men should inform God of their natural impediments to religious service. He knows them. He is acquainted with those whom He sends on His errands, with their weakness and strength. If He calls, it is yours to obey.
2. These expostulations make mention of past difficulties and failure. “Behold, the Children of Israel have not hearkened unto me.”
3. These expostulations are presumptuous.
Lessons:
1. Not to shrink from the successive services of the Christian life.
2. To leave all the moral work of our life to the choice of God.
3. Not to imperil our welfare by expostulation with the providence of heaven.
4. To concentrate our energies patiently on one Christian enterprise. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Perseverance
Johnson tells us that “all the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united by canals. If a man were to compare the effect of a single stroke of the pickaxe, or of one impression of the spade with the general design or the last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled and oceans bounded by the slender force of human beings.” The great Freetrader’s motto was that of the needle, “I go through.” Having given himself to the cause, he was not the man to desert it; undismayed by reproach and laughter, and undaunted by the tremendous power of his opponents, he pushed on in his arduous task, clearing the way foot by foot by dint of dogged resolution and unflagging energy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)