Wow, with that introduction, I can hardly wait to hear what I've got to say. You know, i don't know. It is a joy and a privilege to be able to address you once again on behalf of the Lord. Ruth and I have so enjoyed Pastor Jeff's series of Unforgettable over the past few weeks And we've been learning about some of the Old Testament characters and their stories and how those stories all point to the Lord, jesus Christ, and what He's done for us and what, how we can He can work through our lives individually.
Speaker 1:My assignment this morning, as you probably already heard, is on Moses. When Pastor Jeff has signed this topic, i thought well, this might not be such a subtle attempt to let me know that I'm getting older. After all, moses lived to be 120 years. I don't think I'm going to make it, but would you pray with me this morning as we begin our message today? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege you afford us of gathering together in your house to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we thank you for the word of God that we are going to open today as we study and learn together, and may we have something to take home with us today and to apply to our lives to bring you glory and honor. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. You know, moses was the greatest leader that not only Israel but the entire world has ever known, and that's a fact. He was God's agent of salvation. He was a divinely called leader And his story leads us to the ultimate Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased, redeemed, bought back, if you please, people, by his own death on the cross of Calvary. Over in John, chapter one and verse 17, the word tells us that the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Are you out there? Okay, listen, if Moses went forward, he was going to drown. If he went backward, he'd be killed by the Egyptians. Such a choice. So what did he do? He followed God's leading. He went forward through the Red Sea on dry ground to safety on the other side. And, like Moses, we're all trapped many times between a rock and a hard place And the devil's nipping at our heels and troubles stirring all of us in our face from time to time. Or am I the only one in the house that ever faces those things? I don't think so. So what do we do, for wise like Moses will follow God's lead through the trouble and find safety on the other side.
Speaker 1:Many times throughout Moses' life, he had to make hard choices to continue to follow God through difficult situations and circumstances. How would you like to tell the king, the pharaoh, to his face that his stubbornness was going to cause the death of his own son? How would you like to deal with two million people grumbling and ungrateful every single day? How would you like to wander around aimlessly in the desert heat for 40 years, eating the same food every day, wearing the same clothes and the same shoes every day? Moses' choice was to go forward and to follow God. Not to back up, but to go forward and to follow God in his life. And he made that choice new every single morning. And, dear ones, you and I, as Christ followers, as Christians, have to make that same choice every single day, because the world and the things that are going on around us would pull us away from following after the Lord. So how do we do that? Well, the answer is to be safely and selflessly dedicated to God, as was Moses. He saved us and he'll provide the ground that we need dry ground in the midst of our storm. He will provide for us, and it changed Moses' life and dear ones. It will certainly change your life and mine. Can you agree with that Right?
Speaker 1:The mere mention of the name Moses arouses a lot of different images in the minds of people. For example, my thoughts go back to that award-winning film, the Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B DeMille and starring Charlton Heston, who played the role of Moses, and it's remarkable to me how much Moses looked like Charlton Heston. But in that role he was handsome and strong-hearted and he was very, very confident, and so my earliest ideas about Moses were formed from that classic Hollywood image. Today's generation would place that production among the archives of the film industry. The Ten Commandments has now been eclipsed by the Prince of Egypt, an entertaining animated film that presents another, completely different image of Moses. In this one he's sleek and trim and he's quick-witted and loves and fun-loving and virtually ageless. In this animated story, whether he was in the chariot, race with Ramses, or blowing up clouds of dust all around Pharaoh's palace, or leading people through the walled-up Red Sea, the tan superstar was everybody's hero, kids and adults alike, delighted in the fantasy portrayal of this man who looked the same in his teen years as he does in his 80s.
Speaker 1:I put in my notes, but wait a minute. There's something wrong with those characters and their portrayal. It's called reality. When you turn to the most reliable document on Moses' life, that is, the word of God, the Bible, you're able to form an accurate opinion of the man of God used in such remarkable ways by God and you come away with an understanding that is both realistic and very believable. It'll help you to relate to the man who lived in our world, lived in the same world that we live in and it faced with the kinds of struggles that we face, who didn't always handle them correctly either, but who, in spite of his sins and shortcomings, became useful in God's hands for God's sovereign purposes, in keeping with God's perfect timing and plan. And the good news is, so can you and I. We can do the same thing.
Speaker 1:So let's take a look into God's word, hebrews, chapter 11, if you would please, and just follow along with me. I believe it's on the screen as well. This, of course, is the great faith chapter in God's word, the heroes of our faith, beginning of verse 23,. The word says by faith, moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw that he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command. And by faith, moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith, they passed through the red sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. And we'll expand on those just a little bit in a few minutes.
Speaker 1:I'd like to give you kind of a 30,000 foot overview of Moses' life and his sum of his accomplishments In Exodus chapter, chapters one and two. You can look at that later if you'd like. In fact, i'll be going quickly through some of these things, so you'll have to look up some of it, but you should be reading about it in your own Bibles and in your own way, as God would direct and lead you. But Moses was born in those two chapters that describes his birth. Israel was led by Joseph and he moved them into Egypt just getting a little background here And they flourished there in the land of Egypt. They grew to be extremely large, very prosperous. They were having a great experience in the land of Egypt.
Speaker 1:And then in Exodus, one in verse eight, the word says there arose a king. the pharaoh passed away. There arose a king who didn't know Joseph, didn't understand why they were there, what they were doing, but they were huge and a great workforce, and so he became fearful of the Israelites, because they were many more than the Egyptians and they could have possibly taken over things. And so he was afraid. And so he issued an order for all the male children as they were born They were to be killed. The daughters were to be saved but the males were to be killed. But when Moses was born, his mother hid him for three months And when she couldn't hide him any longer she placed him in a basket, laid it in the reeds alongside the river, and the daughter of Pharaoh came and realized. She found him there and realized that he was a Hebrew, and so she had compassion on him, didn't want him to die, didn't want to kill him, and then she discovered that he needed someone to nurse him, and so they found his mother and she gave him back to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And it was Pharaoh's daughter who actually named him, because she had drawn him out of the river. That's Moses means. So he grew up and was educated in all the ways of Egypt and he became the prince of Egypt.
Speaker 1:And when Moses was grown, when he was grown, he looked at the suffering of his brethren, the Hebrews, under the strong rule of the Egyptians. And he saw one day one of the Egyptians abusing one of his brethren, and so he rose up and he killed that Egyptian. And Pharaoh sought them to kill Moses. And so he fled to the country of Midian And there he married his wife and he began tending the sheep of his father stepfather or it was his father in law, hello, his father in law, jethro. And there on the backside of the desert, tending to those sheep, he turned to see a burning bush, but it was not consumed. Very strange sight. In the desert It wasn't uncommon for bushes to be on fire, but this one was not burning up, it was just on fire. And God called him from that burning bush, and he said remove your sandals, because the ground you're standing on is holy ground.
Speaker 1:And God explained that he saw the oppression of his people in Egypt and he heard their cries and he planned to deliver them and bring them into their own land. And so he called Moses divinely so to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. And God, determined to make the descendants of Abraham, the Hebrews, israel, if you please, into a true and free nation. And the establishment of Israel as a nation prefigures God's fulfillment of the eternal kingdom, over which Jesus reigns forever. Beautiful picture of that Moses said God, but wait a minute. He says what if they won't believe me? or what if they won't listen to me? Moses had a problem He was not good with words, he had a stuttering issue that he dealt with regularly, and so he didn't feel adequate for that. And so God not only gave him his brother to help him, to come alongside of him, but he also gave him a rod that would do miraculous things to convince Pharaoh to let his people go.
Speaker 1:Now, it took 10 plagues to convince Pharaoh to release the people, and they were horrendous plagues And every one of them came against the belief of the Egyptians, and we're going to have time to go into all these, but every one of these points everything that we're talking about here. It would be a whole message or a series of messages in itself, and so this is just an overview. And in 10 plagues to release them, you have to remember again that the children of Israel had been slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years. Think about that. Generation after generation after generation, all they knew was slavery, and the last plague was the death angel killing the firstborn of every household, every animal, the firstborn as well as Pharaoh's own son. Hebrews were to kill a lamb without blemish and place the blood on the doorposts and the lentil over the door of their homes. Then he said to them when I see the blood, i will pass over you. So he established the Passover, and that is still celebrated to this very day And until Christ's coming, his death on the cross.
Speaker 1:The Exodus was the greatest divine redemption act the world had ever seen, and it, however, only prefigured the coming of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. How did you do that? By the shedding of his own blood. The Lamb of God shed his own blood on the cross of Calvary to take away our sin, and the Lord would then pass over us. After the final plague, pharaoh relented and he finally let the people go. But it wasn't very long before he changed his mind, because he wasn't too happy about losing his workforce. All the slaves were exiting the country. He didn't like that, and so the Lord led Israel out of Egypt with a pillar of cloud in the daytime and a pillar of fire at night.
Speaker 1:But Pharaoh, his chariots and his army took out after them after he had a change of heart. He couldn't go. The children of Israel couldn't go back. They'd be killed by the Egyptians, and so they had to go forward.
Speaker 1:And so God instructed Moses to go forward. They were facing the Red Sea, and God told them go that way, and he said how, how, how, how, how are we going to do that? He said you raise that rod in your hand And he said it will part the sea, and I want you to see that here in Exodus 14 and 16. But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel will get bogged down in the mud. Is that what it says? Listen to it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Whoa, how in the world is that possible? Go on dry ground in the midst of the sea? You know the Egyptians had taken off after them And the children of Israel did that, and we all know the story. The sea did part. It was a wall on each side of them as they went through And they got over to the other side and watch what happens. And you'll have to just listen to this. It's so many verses I didn't have them put it on the screen, unless they fooled me and did it. But anyway, in verse 26 of chapter 14, you have to take a closer look at it yourself But it says this once they got to the other side, the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots and on their horsemen.
Speaker 1:And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth While the Egyptians were fleeing into it, and so the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained, but the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them, on their right Hand and on their left. And so the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt, and so the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant, moses.
Speaker 1:You know, some people have argued and said that Because of the time of year, it was that the Red Sea was only about four inches deep, and so they were trying to explain that as to how the children of Israel got across there. Well, i think it's even a greater miracle if they really believe that, because the whole Egyptian army, the horses, the chariots, everything drowned in four inches of water. So Moses brought the children of Israel two million of them, think about that, two million people Out of the Red Sea and now into the wilderness, on their way to the promised land, and three days into the wilderness, they were out of water, and so guess what they did? Like some of us whenever we find something that is not to our liking, they began to gripe and complain. Now, i know most of you saints would never do anything like that, but people do.
Speaker 1:You know The bitter waters? well, they came to this, this place called Mara, and the waters were bitter. They couldn't drink it, and so the Lord performed a miracle, through the hand of Moses, to make the water sweet, and they all were able to drink. The next thing they do now they have water is they complain because they ran out of food. Think about trying to feed two million people anyway, but they were out of food, and so God provided food miraculously from heaven. They called it Manna Word mana means what is it? Well, i'll tell you what it was. It's like quite coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey, and it sustained the children of Israel for 40 years in the desert. What bastard Chuck? why'd? why'd they wander around the desert for 40 years? You know, the promised land that they were going to, the land of Canaan, was not that far from where they started. That's a that's a good question. You have to remember.
Speaker 1:These people were slaves and gent for generations 430 years they had only obeyed their masters. They had no idea, they didn't think on their own, they didn't act on their own it do things on their own and they certainly had no way of Being prepared for battles. They had never fought, they only did what they were told. And So the Lord had to train them, had to teach them. He had to retrain their thinking, for them not to trust Egypt and what was provided for them, but for them to trust and follow him. And so everything that he did for the children of Israel was to point that out. You can trust me, you can follow me, i'll take care of you. And so they were very, he was very adamant about that, and God wanted them to know and to test that. He wanted to Them to know, and he wanted to test them to see if they would actually follow his Commandments, do what he had said. And so the people continue on their journey and once again to begin to complain to Moses because they were Thirsty again.
Speaker 1:Now this, there's too many verses here for us to have it on the screen, but I would just encourage you to look at Numbers, chapter 20. Look at verses 1 to 13. This tells the story, and You can read that on your own, and I encourage you to do that. It's an incredible story That's often overlooked in the life of Moses.
Speaker 1:God instructed Moses to take his rod, because the people were thirsty, and to speak to this huge rock That was in front of them. Speak to it and it, and it will yield water. Instead, moses struck the rock twice with his rod and water came out. This was a case of outright disobedience to God, and it cost Moses his ability To lead the children of Israel into the promised land. See, moses had finally had it with these grumbling and complaining people, and so he was ticked off and he let him have it, and it word tells us here in that passage he says Here you now rebels. He said must I bring water out of this rock? And so it didn't focus on God at all, but it focused on Moses. He said speak to the rock, and instead he spoke to the people. And then he struck the rock twice with the rod. God allowed it and he. God allowed it, and he Got the water for the people, because I think he was more concerned about the people than he was at Moses at that point, but it brought no glory or honor to God and the focus was on him.
Speaker 1:And I want you to know, loved ones, disobedience always, always has consequences. When you know what the word of God says about something and you deliberately disobey it, it will always bring a consequence. For that you can count on it. I've counseled with people numerous times and explained the word to them and show them what, where they need to go and what they need to Do. And well, you know I can't do that, i don't want to do that, i'm not about doing that. I've had them sometimes stomp out of my office. Guess what? They paid a tremendous price for that. Things cratered on them, caved in, lost their, their families, the lost their, their mates. They lost out on so many things, not because of what I said, but what this Bible said.
Speaker 1:Disobedience to the word of God will always bring consequence into our lives. Then they came to Exodus, chapter 20, where the Lord gives to Moses the 10 commandments, and this is the one that we primarily, besides the parting of the waters. So, but the 10 commandments, these were the instructions on how to live life. Again, because they had never been instructed, they only been told what they were to do. And so now He gave the 10 commandments and, by the way, these weren't the 10 suggestions. You, i didn't suggest they follow those things. He's commanded them. You will do these things or you pay the consequences of that. They were how to believe, how to live, what the value and the function, how to function in life. And They have, for the most part, those 10 commandments Been ignored or abandoned, even taken out of our society. And look what that's done for us In our world. Are you tracking with me? Take those out. I remember when they removed them from our school classrooms.
Speaker 1:I Won't go on any further than that, but I hope you get the point. God used Moses in so many more miraculous ways, as a great leader in, with a great, great wisdom and guidance, but he was just a man like us. Now I told you, i would just give you an overview and I'll stop with the story here, but it doesn't end the message. I I would be derelict if I didn't show you and tell you What happened to Moses. You find that out over in Exodus, over in Deuteronomy. I'm sorry, it's Deuteronomy, chapter 34. You can read verses 1 through Through 7, but I'll, just I'll give you this. Just listen closely to it, would you?
Speaker 1:then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. Then the Lord said to him this is the land of which I swear to give Abraham, isaac and Jacob, saying I will give it to your Descendants and I have caused you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it. So Moses, a servant of the Lord, died in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and He, god God, buried him in the valley of the land of Moab, opposite of Beth Peor, but no one knows his grave to this day. And that's so very true. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyes were not dim, nor his natural vigor diminished. Oh, so it should be in my life at 120. Wow, you know.
Speaker 1:Moses spent the first 40 years of his life thinking he was somebody in Egypt. Then he spent 40 years learning He was an nobody on the backside of the desert, and Then he spent 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody. That's his life summed up in a sentence, and all of us have a story to tell as well How. How has the Lord helped create your story and now has his story empowered you in your life and family? Listen, men and women if we desire to have the faith that's been expressed by Moses, the kind of faith that enables you to forfeit the security of this world and the security and to take on the security That God has for us, we must develop a deep-seated, quiet Confidence in him, who works all things after the counsel of his will. Fortunately, that's easier than it sounds, because God does all things right. So Moses discovered that by long experience, and so can you and I. I Want to live my life So eternally committed to my Savior and so available and free to him that all it takes is a whisper From heaven and I'm obeying. I Want that for my wife, i want that for my children, i want that for my grandchildren. I Want that for all of us as the people of God as well. If you could put yourself in the skin of any biblical character, who would it be? I would urge you to put yourself into the skin of Moses.
Speaker 1:Consider what he gave up and what he received in return. You know there was no monument to this man of selfless dedication. No towering sphinx, no imposing pyramid. Egypt was more than willing to forget that this man ever existed. He was buried in some lonely peak on the barren slopes of Mount Pilgrim of Mount Pilgrim Pizga is the way it is pronounced, pizga without so much as a single flower on his grave.
Speaker 1:He willingly traded the earthly monuments in a claim, the perks and power, the pleasure, for reward in the invisible realm. He cashed it all in for a relationship with the living God. It was the best trade that anyone could ever possibly make. What he lost he couldn't have kept anyway, and what he gained, he could never lose. Moses couldn't do any better than that, and neither can we. So have you cashed in all for a genuine relationship with the living God, who loves you and cares about you more than I have words to describe? If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. Why? Because he's crazy about you. He really is.
Speaker 1:So I urge you to surrender your life and your future into the hands of a loving and caring Heavenly Father. You will be amazed what he will be able to do for you and how he will use you. Would you pray with me this morning, heavenly Father? we thank you for the privilege we are afforded to be called the children of God For those of us who have surrendered our lives to you. we thank you for examples such as Moses and the other great men and women of faith that are in our Bibles. We pray that they be lifted out of the Bibles and into our own spirit and life. Lord, may we take away something from this message this morning and this teaching, lord, that would impact our lives and cause us to go forward in faith, believing you with all of our hearts And we'll give you the praise in Jesus' name, amen.