Greg Laurie - God's Answers to Man's Excuses (12/16/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie begins "The Greatest Stories Ever Told" with Moses in Exodus, showing God uses flawed, ordinary people for extraordinary purposes. From Moses' murder and excuses to his calling at the burning bush, the message reminds us God sees our potential, answers objections with His presence and power, and calls us to obey despite our failures—because His plans succeed through willing hearts.
Moses – The Man of God with Flaws
All right. Well, grab your Bible and turn in it to the book of Exodus. Let me just say that I'm really happy to be back teaching again here on Thursdays and, of course, on Sundays. You know, I love to do the crusade evangelism. It's very exciting. But my greatest love is pastoring and teaching the Bible. So I'm glad we can get together on a Thursday night and just open up God's Word.
Now we're in a series right now on Thursday night that we're calling The Greatest Stories Ever Told. It's sort of like a flyover of the Bible. The Bible from 30,000 feet. And we look at the mountain peaks. I don't want to say the greatest hits of the Bible, but in a way we're sort of looking at those significant Bible stories that stand out. Now we have already looked together through the book of Genesis at the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, Abraham and Lot, and of course the exciting adventures of Joseph. So we've closed the book of Genesis, and now we come to the book of Exodus. And by the way, next Thursday, I want you to read ahead for next Thursday. Read Exodus chapters 5 to 10. That is your homework assignment. Okay? And you will be tested. No, you won't be. But read ahead, and it will be a lot more meaningful to you as we read the follow up to the story that we're going to be looking at now.
But Exodus obviously picks up where Genesis leaves off. It's sort of one continuing story. In fact, the very word Exodus means a departure or a going out. And that certainly is the theme of this book. The author of Exodus is the same as the author of Genesis, and that is Moses. Now, he is the human instrument that wrote these words down, but it was the Holy Spirit obviously directing him. And when we think of Moses, a lot of things come to mind. We think, for some, of Charlton Heston. If you go back that far, he portrayed Moses in the film The Ten Commandments. But you think of Moses, Moses the great lawgiver. Moses, the man whose personal integrity and godliness kept three million people plus from full-tilt idolatry. And probably the best thing you could say about Moses is, he was Moses, the man of God. That's how he was described. Moses, the man of God. If someone were to sum up your life, could they say that about you? You say, well, I'm a woman. Okay, well, let's change that then. Would they call you the woman of God? Or the man of God? Would that be an accurate summation of your character and who you are as a person?
Well, it was an accurate description of Moses. Yet, he was also a human being. And that means that he had flaws just like the rest of us. As we are going to see, he had some serious setbacks and made some gross mistakes. In fact, it should be pointed out that Moses is one of the two people in the Bible that was used by God that was actually guilty of the sin and the crime of murder. So you could see that God can use a very flawed person. The life of Moses is a great paradox. Bible commentator H.I. Haldeman said this of Moses, and I quote, "The life of Moses presents a series of antithesis. He was the child of a slave, yet he was the son of a queen. He was born in a hut, yet he lived in a palace. He inherited poverty, yet he lived in royalty. He was the leader of armies and the keeper of flocks. He was the mightiest of warriors and the meekest of men. He was educated in the court, and he dwelt in the desert." End quote.
But one thing that you learn from the life of Moses is God can use anyone. Have you ever wondered if God could use someone like you? I remember when I came to faith at the age of 17, if it wasn't enough to know that God loved me and forgave me on my sin, when I started hearing that God could use a person like me, I thought, but how? I don't really have any skills to offer to God. My aspiration up to that point in my life was to be a graphic artist, specifically a cartoonist. That's pretty much how I spent most of my time in school, drawing when I should have been studying. And I got A's in art, not very good grades in any other class. And I had a backup plan. If the graphic art thing didn't work out, I wanted to own a pet shop, of all things. So there I was. There was my career path, at least at the age of 17. And so I come to Christ. And I'm thinking, well, how could God use me?
Well, back in those days, in the early days of the Jesus movement happening at Calvary Chapel and other places around the world, all these Christian bands were forming. Every time you turned around, there was another Christian band. So one night I was over at a Bible study, and there were a few talented musicians there. One guy who could play guitar. Another guy who was a great flute player. I think you called them a flautist. Is that right? But anyway, so the one guy was playing the song, and the flautist was playing along, and we were all kind of singing. And I started pounding the tabletop. And someone said, let's form a band. We actually had a name for our band. And we went to the church, Calvary Chapel, and said, we have a Christian band. Can we play tonight? Unbelievably they said, sure. So now I'm in a Christian band with no musical skills whatsoever. It was kind of awkward to carry an entire tabletop up to the platform. So they gave me a conga drum. So I stood up there, and the guy who could really play guitar was playing, and he could sing, and the guy who could really play the flute was playing. And I was hitting a conga drum out of rhythm. And I was thinking, I don't think this is my calling.
Sometimes finding out what you are called to do starts with first finding out what you are not called to do. And I thought, okay, I am not gifted in this area, but I can draw these little cartoons. And at that time the tracks that would be handed out were really bizarre. They were all hellfire and brimstone. In fact I even read a few before I was a Christian and laughed at them. So I did my own little track based on a sermon that Pastor Chuck gave from John 4. And I called it Living Water. And I showed it to Chuck. And he liked it. And we printed it up. And those went out quickly. And we printed it up more. And it was all said and done. There were like, I don't know, two or three million of those things circulating around. And I thought, this is what I am going to do. I will be a graphic designer for God. This is great. But I had this thought in my mind. What if God calls me to preach? And I was terrified of the idea. Because like most Americans, I was deathly afraid of public speaking. Do you know whenever they take a poll and ask people what they are most afraid of, public speaking is always on the top of the list. Sometimes even higher than death. Which I find interesting. Would you like to die or speak publicly? Shoot me now.
The reason I bring this up is I wasn't a public speaker before. I wasn't a person who liked to get up in front of people and talk. But God directed me differently than I wanted to go. And one little opportunity led to another. And next thing I knew, the Lord was using me in that way. And my point to you is, God wants to use you too. Now we are not all called to be public speakers. We are not all called to be musicians. We are not all called to do the same thing. But we are all called to do something. Let me say that again. We are not all called to do the same thing. But we are all called to do something. Because we are a part of what the Bible calls the body of Christ. Just like we have a human body. And every part of my body plays a role. And you think some things are not as important as other things unless there is a problem. You think, well I don't really know how important toes are until you break your foot. Suddenly, yeah, I kind of like having the toes there giving me stability. You don't think of certain parts of your body as the most significant, but maybe they are more significant. For instance, we will think of a hand as important or our face, but yet if we don't have a heart pumping blood, all these other things are secondary.
I don't know what your role is in the church, but God has called all of us and gifted us to serve Him. In fact, we are told in Romans 12, just as our bodies have many parts, each one is a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all part of that body. Every one of us has a different work to do. We are all part of this body. We belong to each other. God has given each of us an ability to do a certain thing well. So God, as we are going to see in a moment, was going to call a man named Moses, and He comes up with a litany of excuses as to why God could not use him. And I want to underline the word excuses. In fact, the title of my message is, God's Answer to Man's Excuses.
Excuses vs. Reasons – Moses' Objections
What is the difference between a reason and an excuse? Answer. A reason is legit. An excuse, it is a dressed up lie. An excuse is what you make up when you don't want to admit the truth. And one person defined an excuse as the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. Now before you tell me that God could never use someone like you, let me point out some of the amazing people in Scripture that were called upon by the Lord. You would think all of them would have been disqualified, but each one was used powerfully by God. For instance, Noah, he got drunk. Abraham was old. Jacob was a liar. Gideon, he was afraid. Rahab, oh my, she was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy, they were too young. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. And John the Baptist, well he ate bugs. Peter denied Christ. The disciples fell asleep while praying. The Samaritan woman was divorced more than once. Zacchaeus was too small. Timothy had an ulcer. And Lazarus was dead. So what is your excuse?
Now I am not condoning what many of these people did. But I think we have to all agree in noting that God used every one of them. So what is your excuse as to why you could not be used of God? Well, I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. Let's backtrack and let's have an overview of the life of Moses. Remember, as we came to the end of the book of Genesis, we looked at this incredible story of Joseph. And you remember how he was able to interpret for the Pharaoh his dreams. And he was exalted to a position of prominence. And the Pharaoh invited Joseph's family to join him. And so here was the Jewish family of Joseph living safely under the protection of Pharaoh, who really loved this young man. And now we fast forward many, many years. And Joseph has died. And so has the Pharaoh who favored him. And another Pharaoh has risen in his place who knew not Joseph or his people and turned against them. Because now this handful of Jews has turned into millions. And they have become slaves to the Egyptians. And the Israelites, the Jews, are crying out to God for someone to deliver him. They cried out to the Lord day and night. Enter Moses, the man of God. But first he would be Moses the baby protected by God.
Moses' Early Life – Protected and Prepared
Well, the way that works out is that Pharaoh had sent out an order that he wanted all of the Jewish baby boys killed. So when those midwives were assisting in the delivery process that they thought was a boy, they were told to take that little boy and drown him in the Nile River. Don't let that boy live. You can spare the girls, but kill the boys. It reminds us almost of a precursor to the final solution, so-called Adolf Hitler, where he wanted to eradicate all Jewish people. So here is the Pharaoh, probably the first anti-Semite, who wants to eradicate the Jews from the face of the earth.
Well, among those Jewish families, there was a couple named Amron and Jochebed. And Jochebed gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. And she knew he was special from the very beginning, and she named him Moses. And actually, the word that is used to describe this little baby is a word that can be translated, he was not only beautiful, but he was favorable, bountiful, and cheerful. You know, there are happy babies, right? And there are unhappy babies. There are beautiful babies. And to be delicate, there are babies that are not quite as beautiful, right? Let's be honest. Not all babies are beautiful. You will look and say, that is a beautiful baby. You will look at others and you will go, wow. That is a baby. Maybe he will grow out of it. No, don't ever say that. But Moses was not only physically attractive as a baby, but there was something special about him. Later in Acts chapter 7, Stephen is telling the history of Israel. And he uses a word to describe Moses that can be translated exceedingly fair. And that is a word that means that he had a special purpose in life. So from the very beginning, just looking at this baby, they knew God has His hand on this baby.
Well, they are not going to kill him. So they want him to live. And God had a plan for this baby, as He has for every baby. And every baby has a right to be carried to term and be born. And maybe that baby wasn't planned. By the way, if you ever have a child that you weren't planning, don't tell the child you weren't planned. And that is not a good thing to say to a kid. Maybe some of you were conceived out of wedlock. I was. And so when you realize that, it sort of affects the way that you look at things. But here is what you need to realize. Though you may not have been planned by your parents, you always were planned by God, you see. And He has always had a special plan for your life. And Psalm 139 says, "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They are innumerable."
And so Moses' mother, Jochebed, put her beautiful baby in a little basket. Sort of like a little boat. You have heard of Noah's ark? This was Moses' ark. A little watertight basket. And she had a plan. She knew that the Pharaoh's daughter would come down to a certain area of the river. And so she knew once she laid her eyes on the beautiful little Moses, she might have mercy upon him and perhaps take him into her home. So she put Moses in this little basket and sort of gave him a little push. And he is sort of floating down the Nile River. And then almost on cue, Moses cries. And Pharaoh's daughter is aware of it. And she looks and sees this gorgeous little child and decides to adopt her. Well meanwhile, adopt him rather. Meanwhile Moses' sister Miriam was sort of standing around checking things out. So she goes up to the Pharaoh's daughter who wants to adopt the baby, take the baby in. She says, You know, you are not going to be able to nurse this child. But I know this other woman that could nurse him. Would you like her to nurse him? Yes. Let's have that other woman nurse the baby. In fact, I'll pay her for it. Sweet deal. So Jochebed, Moses' mom, gets her baby back and she is able to nurse him and care for him and raise him at least for a few months and get paid for it as well. But this was very, very hard to let him go again.
But here is the thing I want to point out about this. Is we see the practical and the spiritual working hand in hand. See, Jochebed, the mother of Moses, had a plan. But she also prayed. And you know, sometimes when we see something blessed by God, we forget that there was a plan. When we did these crusades this year and Harvest America and all the rest of it, there was a carefully orchestrated plan that we followed. We adapted it as we went. We bathed it in prayer. But we had a plan. And sometimes we don't have a plan. We just randomly walk through life expecting God to do everything. But there is God's part and there is our part. And God will often work through some kind of a plan that we might make. When God directed Nehemiah to go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, first he went around the city multiple times and he came up with a battle plan, if you will. And said, here is what we all need to do together. Now let's do it and pray as we do it. Sometimes people will be, I don't want to say too spiritual, because it is not spirituality at all. Maybe the better word would be too mystical. Maybe they are out of work. And they say, I am just praying for a job. Okay, that is fine. Good. Pray for a job. Have you applied anywhere? No. Have you submitted a resume? No. Somehow I just think that is like leaning on the flesh to send in a resume. I am just trusting God. Well you better get ready for an unexpected fast that is coming your way. Because you are not going to eat, buddy. Get practical. Put out your resume. Put out your application. And then pray that God will guide. See there is a place for the practical as well as the spiritual. Joachim had a plan. The plan worked. Moses was taken into the court of Pharaoh himself.
Moses' Calling – From Shepherd to Deliverer
Finally he had to let him go. His mother. And Stephen fills in some gaps. This is a fascinating thing. When you think of Stephen you remember him as the first martyr of the church. But don't forget that before he was executed he gave a sermon. And he was a young guy. But man he knew his Bible. And he knew his history. And really as we get a lot of insights into the life of Moses they came from the sermon of Stephen delivered to the Sanhedrin. Here is what Stephen said about Moses in Acts 7:20. "At the time Moses was born a beautiful child in God's eyes. His parents cared for him for three months. When at last they had to abandon him Pharaoh's daughter found him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he became mighty in both speech and action." The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Moses was actually being groomed to be the next Pharaoh of Egypt. Because the Pharaoh had no son or heir. So here he was being raised in the way of the Egyptians.
Now at that time, unlike today, Egypt was a highly developed civilization. They were renowned for their knowledge in the areas of engineering, mathematics, and astronomy. In fact thanks to their knowledge of astronomy they developed an amazingly accurate calendar. And their engineers planned to supervise the construction of edifices that are still standing today. So for Moses to be taught the wisdom of the Egyptians meant that he would have been taught military tactics, art, music, painting, philosophy, law, as well as their religion. The Egyptians would school the elite in something known as the temple of the sun. It was sort of the Oxford of the ancient world. So here was Moses being schooled in the finest university in the world. Here was Moses being raised in the palace of the Pharaoh. Here was Moses being groomed to become the most powerful man on the face of the earth. But underneath the robes of royalty beat the heart of a Jew. A man who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he saw how his fellow Jews were being mistreated. How they were mere slaves. And he could have said, well, you know, that's tough for them. But hey, I've got it made in the shade. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my position. But no, Moses' heart went out to the Jewish people and he wanted to do something for them.
Now what he did was the wrong thing. But I think we could safely say his heart was in the right place. Why did he want to help them? Well, Hebrews 11 gives us an answer. It was by faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be treated as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to suffer the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of the Messiah than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the great reward that God would give him. Now that's an amazing statement. He thought it better to suffer than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Think about this. God's worst is better than the world's best. What is God's worst? What are the hardest things about being a Christian? Well, resisting temptation maybe. Not caving in and doing what everybody else does. Being persecuted. Being harassed for your faith. Being rejected because of what you believe. Those are the worst things about being a Christian, I suppose. And that's better than the world's best. What is the best the world has to offer? Well, I guess it would be success. Maybe fame. Maybe fortune. Maybe all the pleasures that can be experienced. But for those of us that have lived on both sides of the fence, we would say the worst the Christian life has to offer is better than the world has to offer.
Now let's flip that around. What about the best that the Bible and God's Word offers us? What about the best of the Christian life where we have meaning and purpose and the forgiveness of our sins? What about the promise of our reward later in life? What about the promise of heaven? See, that's the whole point of that passage. It's saying he would rather suffer and get that final reward than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Yes, there is pleasure in sin. Maybe one of the mistakes we've made in the church is telling people sin is never any fun and stay away from it. It's miserable. Well, look, I'll tell you to stay away from it, but I won't tell you it's never any fun. Because the fact of the matter is sometimes sin is fun. Am I right? How many of you have ever sinned? Quick poll. You've sinned? Okay. Wow, this is a sinful crowd. How many of you have had fun sinning? Okay, you've had fun. It's all right. How many of you have been miserable after sinning? Raise up your hand. Yeah, that's right. That's good. So you know both sides of it. There's that rush. There's that excitement. Then there are the repercussions. Moses thought, you know what? I'll take the hardest thing rather than the best that all Egypt can offer me.
Moses' Murder and Flight – A Wrong Start
So that brings us to our story. That was the ramp up. Now we're actually going to read Exodus 2. Verse 11. "It came to pass in those days when Moses was grown. He went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and he looked that way." You might want to underline that phrase. We'll come back to it. "And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion? And he said, who made you a prince and a ruler over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses was afraid and said, surely this thing is known." Verse 15. "When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well."
Now God did not tell Moses to do this. Verse 12. He looked this way and he looked that way. Too bad he didn't look up. Because if he had, God would have said, don't you even think about it. Years ago at our church in Riverside we were having sort of a clean up day where we were doing some gardening and some painting and things like that. And I want you to know I have no skills whatsoever in any of these areas. My wife, if she sees a walk to the house with a hammer, she is alarmed. What are you going to break? Because I try to fix something. I always make it worse. I am the opposite of a handyman. I am an unhandy man. But I wanted to help out. And so I decided to trim the hedge. And there was one of these electric hedge trimmers. And so I plugged it in. And I was trimming. It is kind of cool. I thought, this is kind of fun. I like this. And I trimmed. And somehow I went too far and I cut the cord. And the thing just stopped. And I kind of looked over this way and looked that way. And I set it down and walked off. A friend of mine named Dennis Davenport, who pastors a church up in the high desert, years later told me he saw me do that. I mean it was like 20 years later. I didn't think anyone saw you. I remember I was up on the roof nailing down some shingle. And I saw you. And I thought, what is with that guy? I didn't think anyone saw. He saw. Now you know. Moses said, okay, nobody is looking. I will just kill this guy. But that didn't work out so well for him. He wasn't even a clever sinner. After he kills him, where does he hide him? In the sand. The sand is not a good place to hide a body. Especially when the wind is blowing. Because he is hidden now and he is exposed in three minutes. And sure enough, there was that body laying out there. Many eyewitnesses had seen it. It was reported to Pharaoh. He effectively put a contract out on the life of Moses. Now Moses is on the run as a fugitive. He has lost his home. He has lost his position. He has lost his people. He has lost his reputation. But the good news is, he had not lost his God.
40 Years in the Wilderness – Preparation Time
This was a huge mess. Moses had sinned. He had committed a crime. What he did was wrong. But God was not done with Moses. You see, here was the problem. He had the right idea, but he went about it in the wrong way. And sometimes we try to do God's work in the wrong way. God wants to do his work in his way, listen to this, in his timing. Just as important as the will of God is, so is the timing of God. And sometimes the Lord will give you a sense of what he wants to do in your life, but the time is not quite right. And we get impatient. How many of you are by nature impatient? Okay. How many of you are very patient? You're patient. Just patient. It's good. I think it's wonderful. I don't understand you. But actually I admire you. But I'm one of the impatient people. You know, I'm the guy who gets a pizza and I eat half of it before I'm home. I just can't wait. And I have burned the roof out of my mouth out multiple times to prove it. I don't like to wait for something. I've actually been known to eat my dessert before my dinner. I've gone to the back of a book and read the last few pages without reading the whole book. So I understand what it is to be impulsive by nature. But I've learned with the passing of time to slow down and wait on the Lord. I've learned that it's a lot better to hit the delete key on that email you wrote in anger than to hit the send key. You know what I'm saying? Have you ever been upset by something you type out something? And even as you're typing it. And then you get to the send thing. You get the cursor there. Boom. Boom. Ha ha ha. What have I done? So now you're Googling. How do I get an email back that I just sent? Google answer. You don't. Comma. Idiot. Oh no. Sometimes I'll write the letter. I'll wait until tomorrow to send it. I get up in the morning and read it. I'm not sending that crazy thing out. What was I thinking last night? Just slow down a little bit. And wait on the Lord. God says in Scripture He makes all things beautiful in His time.
Well Moses didn't wait. He acted impulsively and foolishly. Now he's running for his life. And he sets off to the wilderness. You know it's interesting. You can take the life of Moses and divide it into three 40 year segments. Moses spent 40 years in the court of Pharaoh finding out he was a somebody. Then he spent 40 years in the backside of the desert finding out he was a nobody. Then he spent another 40 years finding out what God can do with a person, with a somebody that realizes they are a nobody. I kind of botched that. But you get the gist of it. And now this is the first 40 year segment is completed. He is out of the palace. Now he is headed to the wilderness for 40 years. He finds a family. Takes a job with them. Marries one of the daughters. And he becomes a Shepherd. Ironically one of the very things that was despised in Egypt. And Moses fades into complete obscurity. Once an heir to the throne of all of Egypt. Now he is a common Shepherd to someone else's sheep. He has lost his self confidence. No more visions of grandeur. Yes he has failed. But in his defense it appears he has failed forward. Because God is now going to recommission him.
The Burning Bush – God's Call and Moses' Excuses
At this moment Moses had been in all hope of doing anything except probably just living out his life. Maybe he was even relatively comfortable. Maybe he even found a degree of contentment. I don't know. But one day the Lord came to him and spoke. And that brings us to Exodus 3. Turn over there if you would. Exodus 3 verse 1. "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the backside of the desert. He came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire. But the bush was not consumed. Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush does not burn." I mean you can just see a bush is burning. It keeps burning. He is like, I am now going to look and see why this is happening. But it is freaking me out. And so he turns aside and God calls to him from the midst of the bush. "Moses. Moses." And he said, "Here I am." The Lord said, "Don't draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet for the place where you are standing. It is holy ground." God goes from this point. He begins to tell Moses he has seen the suffering of his people. He says, Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt. And I want you to go to the Pharaoh. And I want you to demand their release.
Now think about this. Moses hasn't heard from God that we know of for forty years. Forty years there hasn't been a peep from heaven. And now God is speaking to him and calling him. And how did he do it? Through a burning bush. Now it was not an uncommon thing for a bush to catch fire. A bolt of lightning could cause that to happen. But he had never seen a bush that perpetually burned. So what was this? It was an ordinary thing doing something extraordinary. In other words, God was doing something out of the ordinary that got the attention of Moses. And then the Lord spoke. I have discovered in life that often the way the Lord speaks is when something out of the ordinary happens. You know, your plans don't go as you had hoped. All of a sudden the door shuts. This doesn't work. That doesn't open up. And you go, wait, wait. Everything is wrong. No wait. Actually everything may be perfectly right. Often God closes one door to open another. And I have learned to pay attention to that. And not freak out about it. Okay, Lord. What are you doing here? This is unusual. This is out of the ordinary.
Now think about Moses. He is 80 years old. Skin is weathered and tan from the blazing sun. He is seasoned. And unbeknownst to him, he is ready to Rumble. God has been whipping this boy into shape. But who does anything at 80? I mean, that is past retirement age. The Lord said, ah, you are just where I wanted you to be. You are just the man that I want. I want you to notice what God says to Moses in verse 6 of chapter 3. "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Now when we hear those three names, we think of them as great patriarchs of the faith. And indeed they were. But let's just for a moment consider each one. Abraham. Oh, certainly a man of God. But he had serious lapses of faith. And Isaac. He was blessed, but he often did not listen to the Lord. And Jacob's faux pas are legendary. Yet they were powerfully used by God. So here is what God is saying. Moses, I am the God of men who have failed. I am the God of ordinary men who have accomplished extraordinary things. Moses, I am coming to you and I am saying, if I can use Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I can surely use you. Are you up for that? Are you ready to go? Because I am aware of what is happening. The Lord says in verse 7, "I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry. I know their sorrows." The Lord says, I know. I have heard. I am aware. Know this. God is aware of what you are going through. Maybe you are suffering. Maybe you are in pain. Maybe you are in sorrow. God is aware. Hebrews 4:15 says, "This high priest of ours understands our weaknesses. He faced all the same temptations we do. Yet he did not sin." So God is saying, Moses, I have come to deliver Israel. And you are my man. Just as that old bush is burning, you are going to burn, old man, with my fire. So are you ready to go?
Moses' Excuses – God's Patient Responses
Now the appropriate answer would have been, Lord, I don't know how you are going to pull this off. But yes, I am ready. But that is not what Moses did. Moses started throwing out a bunch of excuses. I can't do this. You have got the wrong guy. Well let us examine those excuses. Number one. He effectively said, I don't deserve to be used by God. Exodus 3:11. "Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'" You know, he did have a point. Who is he? I mean, if you were God, would you pick Moses to be the guy to do this? Seems like God always goes out of his way to pick the most unlikely candidates. How about Jonah? Here is a man who hated the people that God would call him to. I hate those people. You are the perfect guy. You go and preach to them. Makes no sense. How about Gideon? When we are first introduced to him in the book of Judges, he seems like he is afraid of his own shadow, hiding from his enemy. And the angel comes and says, Hey Gideon, you mighty man of valor. It is almost like a joke. What are you, mocking me? No, he was not mocking him. The angel looked at him and did not see him for what he was. He saw him for what he could become, you see. God sees your potential. Maybe you do not. God sees you for what you will be in the days ahead. You just see yourself for what you are in the moment. And so God is saying, I know Moses. You do not feel ready for this, but you are indeed ready. You are the one that I have chosen. And the Lord always goes out of his way to pick unlikely people.
Number two, Moses says, Well, I don't have all the answers. Verse 13 of Exodus 3. "Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say, "The God of your fathers has sent me," and they say to me, "What is his name?" What shall I say?'" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Moses says, Who am I? God says, I am that I am. It is not about you, Moses. Who are you? You are an instrument. I am the one who will use you for my glory. But what if they ask me something and I do not know the answer? So what if that happens? Sometimes we are afraid to share our faith because someone might ask us a hard question. Well, actually, that hard question will just drive you back to the Scripture. Don't be afraid to say to someone, You don't know if you don't know. And definitely, don't make stuff up. They ask you a question. Say, That is a great question. I have never thought of that. And I do not know the answer to it. And I would like to get back to you on that if I could. That is all right. That is honest. But then go back to what you do know. Well, what if the person I am talking to doesn't even believe that there is a God? Shall I even quote Scripture to them? What if they say they don't believe the Bible is the Word of God? Shall I still quote the Bible? Absolutely. Let's say you were in a battle with someone and you pulled out a sword and they said, Well, I don't believe that sword is real. Really? Stick them with it. See what happens. They will react like any other person. And the Word of God is alive and powerful if the person who is hearing it claims to believe it or not. Because God says it is sharper than any two-edged sword. And He says in Isaiah 55, It will prosper where He sends it and achieve the purpose that God has for it. That is excuse number two.
Here is excuse number three. The people won't believe me. Flip over to Exodus 4 now. Verse 1. "Then Moses answered and said, 'But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice. Suppose they say, "The Lord has not appeared to you."'" The Lord said to them, "What is in your hand?" Moses said, "A rod." Common instrument for a Shepherd. The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground. And it turned into a snake. And Moses ran from it. Again, this is funny to me. I mean, what is in your hand? Rod, throw it down. Ah! Runs, you know. Turns into a snake, though. Probably a cobra. I will tell you why in a moment. Now God says, "Reach out and take it by the tail." And He reached out and caught it. And it became a rod again in His hand. The Lord says, "Now they will believe that the Lord God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you." Now, first of all, you never pick up a snake by the tail. If you are going to go snake hunting, you know. And we used to hunt snakes years ago when we were kids. You get them behind the neck. And you use your foot. There is actually a little device you can use to sort of pin a snake down. But we would chase these snakes. And we would put our foot on them. And not crush them, but hold them in place. And you reach down and you get them right behind the head. And you hold them firmly there. Then they wrap their coils around your arm. But as long as you have got them by the neck, right behind the head, you are okay. You grab a snake by the tail, he can turn around and bite you. So this was the step of faith to take probably a cobra by the tail and pick it up. But Moses did it. And this just shows that God was calling him to face his fears.
Now the reason I say it was a cobra is that was the symbol of Egypt. So I presume it was this kind of a serpent which was common in that part of the world and also has a venomous bite. If you are bit by a cobra, you have a serious problem on your hands. But here is what God was saying. He was taking the symbol of Egypt and he was saying, I want you to grab it by the tail. And I don't want you to be afraid of it because I am going to defeat this serpent. I am going to overpower the Pharaoh. And I am going to do it through you. So overcome your fears and step forward and go for it. And later on, when Moses was in the court of Pharaoh, he did the miracle of the rod turning into a snake. Interestingly, the Pharaoh had some magicians that could duplicate certain things. And they were able to duplicate this miracle. But Moses' rod, who became a snake, ate their snakes. We will get to that later. And that is a fascinating message that we will look at. But here is the point I want to bring to each of us. We have to face our fears and have confidence in our message. We have been given authority by Jesus Christ to represent Him. Jesus said in Matthew 28 in the Great Commission, "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations." You see, Moses is called to represent God to the pagan culture of Pharaoh in Egypt. And we have been called by God to do the same. And by the way, we too are living in a pagan culture. The idea of a Christian country is something we need to realize is not a reality, at least at present. Could America ever turn back to God? I believe we could. But right now we are becoming increasingly pagan. And when I say pagan, I don't mean that in a derogative sense. I mean it in a descriptive sense. Pagan meaning we believe in false gods. We believe in many gods. It seems like we believe in every god but the right god. But the Lord has called us as believers to represent Him. He has given us authority. We are His ambassadors. And as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we are to bring the message to this world we live in. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says, "God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him. We are Christ's ambassadors. And God is using us to speak to you."
Final Excuses – Moses' Reluctance and God's Provision
Now we come to the next excuse of Moses. I am not a good speaker. Verse 10. This is from the New Living Translation. "Moses pleaded with the Lord, 'O Lord, I am not a good speaker. I have never been one and I am not one now. I am clumsy with words.'" Listen to this. God does not need good speakers. He needs obedient servants. We think of the Apostle Paul who was a great orator. A great communicator. But listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2. "Brothers and sisters, when I first came to you, I didn't use lofty words or brilliant ideas to tell you God's message. In fact, I came to you in weakness, timid, and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. I did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but the Holy Spirit was powerful among you." I don't consider myself a great preacher. But I do have a great message. And thus, when I step into a pulpit, I preach with confidence. Not self-confidence, but confidence in the truth of what I am saying. I know it is true. I know it is right. And I know it is powerful. So what I try to do is stay out of the way, and just deliver the message and let God work as He will.
Now another excuse from Moses. I am not qualified. Excuse number 5. Verse 13. "O Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send." Another translation puts it this way. "O Lord, please send anyone else." Have you ever felt that way? It is interesting. He uses the word Lord. And then he effectively says, No. No, Lord. It is like when Peter had that vision on the housetop of Simon the Tanner. And in this great sheet that was lowered from heaven, there were all these creatures that were forbidden in the Mosaic law. And God said, Kill and eat. And Peter said, Not so, Lord. Those words do not go together. You do not say, Not so, Lord. Lord. No, it is, Yes, Lord. Well, no, Lord. I don't want to do this. I can't do this. I am not the right guy. Send someone else. And by the way, this angered God. Moses comes up with an idea. Why don't you use my brother Aaron? You know, he has got the gift of gab. I don't really like to speak in front of people. And I use him, and I just kind of hang out with them and go along. But let Aaron do the talking. God condescends to the request of Moses and allows Aaron to be the spokesman. Huge mistake. This we will find out later. Because Aaron was the guy who had the bright idea of forming the golden calf and worshiping it. Moses should have just done what God called him to do. He was saying, Get someone else to do it. Here I am, Lord. Send him.
Now here is something to consider. If God is calling you in some way, shape, or form, to not respond can actually be sinful. Sinful. I just thought it was an option. You know, I can just live my life the way I want to live it. And if I want to serve God, I can. Well, wait. That is kind of true. God has given you a free will. And you can live your life, I suppose, as you want to live it for the most part. But if God calls you and says, I want you to do thus and so, and you say no, that is disobedience and that is a sin. I am just doing what God has called me to do. And we all have to just do what God has called us to do. And to not obey him is to sin against him. In fact, the scripture says in James 4:17, that knows to do good and does not do it to him, it is sin. But I am not qualified. Well, really, who is? In fact, the ones who think they are usually are disqualified. Because they are so full of themselves, God won't use them. God likes to use people that don't think they are worthy. God likes to use people that don't think could ever be used by God. God likes to use ordinary people in extraordinary ways. So he gets the glory. And then when something wonderful happens, the people that actually knew that person say, well, it couldn't be him. It must be God. Exactly.
Invitation – God Wants to Use You
So here is my challenge to you in closing. Probably the best word some of you have heard tonight. He said in closing. Thank you. My closing words to you are, God wants to use you. God has a place for you. God has gifts. He has instilled in you and wants you to put into action. So here is what you need to do. You need to pray about it and then say, Lord, what am I called to do? Say, well, Greg, how do I find out what I am called to do? My suggestion, do a bunch of stuff and if it doesn't work, do something else. A lot of times we are praying for, you know, some sign from heaven. But I heard a sign from heaven earlier in that service maybe when someone said, we need help in the Sunday school. Oh, I am not called to Sunday school. What are you called to do? I am called to preach to thousands. Listen, if you can hold the attention of a classroom full of five year olds, indeed you have a gift, my friend. Why don't you just go help because they need help. We need help setting this up or tearing this down. and we need help over here. Why don't you just get out there and help where you can. And a lot of times through process of elimination you will discover what you are not so good at. But then in time you will start discovering what you are good at, what you are gifted at. And it might be something you never thought of before. You never thought of it before.
See, I wanted to be one thing. God said, well, yeah, you know, I'll use that somewhat. But I'm going to call you to this other thing where you have no personal skill set, so you'll completely depend upon me for it to work. And God might be gifting you in a way, in an area you never even dreamed of. So here's what you need to do. You say, all right, Lord, I'm available. I will do what you want me to do. I'm willing to take a step of faith. Well, in his defense, Moses did obey. And of course, God used him in a powerful way. Now, in our next study, we're going to look at Exodus 5-10. And we're going to see his confrontation with the Pharaoh. We're going to look at the plagues that came upon Egypt. And we're going to see how the Pharaoh tried to trick Moses through a series of compromises. And it's a perfect picture for us of how the devil will try to sidetrack us ever so subtly from what God has called us to do. But that's next time. So read ahead again, Exodus chapters 5-10. But let's close with this thought. I know I said the other thing was the close, but now this is the closing close.
Maybe you have failed in life. Maybe you've messed up in life. You haven't done anything as horrible as Moses. You haven't murdered a person. But you've done some pretty bad things that you're very ashamed of. And when you think about being used by God, you have a hard time wrapping your mind about around being forgiven by God. But I want you to know that your failures come as no surprise to God. He knew you were going to do it before you did it. And he made provision for you through Jesus Christ, who died for you on the cross and paid for all of your sin, and then rose again from the dead. And if you'll turn from your sin and ask for his forgiveness, he will pardon you tonight. Now that's for you that have never believed in Jesus before. No matter what you've done, God will forgive you of your sin. But this is also for some of you that have walked with the Lord and you've known the Lord, but maybe you've turned away from him. In a way, it's not unlike Moses' situation. You've sinned and you feel, well, I'm disqualified forever. God would never forgive me. No, he will forgive you if you will come back to him.
So we're going to close in prayer now. And if you need to make a commitment or a recommitment to Jesus, why don't you do that right now? Let's all bow our heads and everyone pray. Father, thank you for your word to us tonight. Thank you for loving every one of us. And thank you for purchasing our salvation and forgiveness at the cross of Calvary where Jesus died in our place. And now I pray for those that are here and are listening. I pray if they don't know you that you will help them to come to you now and believe and be forgiven of their sin. Well, our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed and we're praying. If you need God's forgiveness tonight, if you want to be certain that when you die you will go to heaven, if you want your guilt removed, if you want to put your past behind you, would you just raise up your hand and let me pray for you tonight. You want Christ to come into your life? You want him to forgive you of your sin? You want to go to heaven when you die? Just raise your hand up and I'll pray for you. Just lift it up high where I can see it, please. God bless each God bless you. God bless you. God bless you there in the back here toward the middle. Just lift your hand up. You want Jesus Christ to come into your life tonight. God bless you there in the back corner. God bless you. While our heads are still bowed, maybe some of you would say, Hey, I am a Christian, but I have been compromising. I have been doing things I know I should not be doing. And I need to get right with God tonight. I need to come back to Him tonight. I need a second chance tonight. Pray for me. If that is your desire. If you want to recommit your life to Jesus, raise your hand up and let me pray for you. God bless each one of you. God bless you.
Father, I thank you enough for each one of these. I pray you will give them the strength to stand up and follow you and receive all that you have for them. We commit them to you now. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Listen, those whom Jesus calls, He calls openly and publicly. And in the moment our worship group is going to lead us in the song of invitation. And I am going to ask if you raise your hand during that last moment of prayer, saying that you want to make that commitment or recommitment to Christ, I am going to ask that as the song begins, you would get up out of your seat, walk up here, stand in front of this platform. And when you all get here, I am going to lead you in a prayer of commitment. Why do I ask you to come publicly? Because Jesus said, If you will acknowledge Me before people, I will acknowledge you before My Father and the angels in heaven. But He added, If you deny Me before people, I will deny you before the Father and the angels. This is a way to acknowledge Him publicly. Maybe you did not raise your hand, but God has been speaking to you. And you want to make this commitment or recommitment to Jesus, you come as well. So again, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, or if you have done things you are ashamed of, and you want to ask God to forgive you for them tonight, and come back to the Lord, as the group sings, you get up out of your seat, come up here to the front, and we will all pray together. So if you are going to come, come right now. Come on. Get up out of your seat. Come on down here. Come on. God bless you.