Excuses...Excuses...Excuses, Part 1

I think that if we were honest with ourselves, and we hope that we would be, that we would all say that obedience to God, for the most part, is a very Difficult thing at times. I was thinking about that this past week and realizing that God said to the darkness, Let there be light. And there was light. God said to the storm on the sea, Be calm, and it was. It became like glass. God said to a big fish, Swallow Jonah, and the big fish obeyed. And yet, God says to man, do this or do that, and for some reason.

We think that we can def the command of God. For some reason, we believe that we have the right to say no. I don't want to do that. Or, Lord, you know what? Now's not the time for me to do that. And so we delay our obedience to God. Well, Moses is just like you and me. And God would come to Moses and speak to Moses. And the Bible says in Numbers chapter 12 that God would speak to Moses as a man would speak to another man, face to face.

And you'd think, you'd think that Moses, having heard the voice of God from the burning bush, would jump into the opportunity to serve his God. I mean, it's been 40 years. You'd think he'd be waiting the wings. Oh, Lord, where have you been for the last 40 years? Am I ready? You bet I'm ready. Let's go get him. But that wasn't Moses. Instead of rejoicing, he was rel. Instead of relief, there was res. And I thought, wow, that's a lot like us, isn't it? He began to give excuses. You know the story.

You've heard it many times over in Sunday school. You've heard pastors preach on it. Moses would begin to give excuses. Well, you know, I can't speak so good. Who am I? Who are you? What is all this about? And how God would deal with Moses is remarkable. Because that's how God deals with us, too. We forget about the mercy and compassion of our great God who answers our excuses. In such unique and incredible ways, to assure us of his presence and power and purpose for our lives. We want to look at the requisition God gives to Moses.

And then we going to look at the reluctance that Moses gives to God. And then, thirdly, we're going to look at our response to this whole story.

It goes all the way to chapter 4, verse number 17. What will our response be as a result of learning from this story? What will we take from this story that will change our lives, that will make us the kind of people God wants us to be. We're going to begin with verse number 10 because I'm not sure we're going to get much further past verse number 10. So let me read that verse for you.

That's the requisition that God gives. Exodus chapter 3, if you got your Bible, hopefully you're already there. If not, turn quick. Because time is flying by. Verse number 10, chapter 3, Exodus. Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people. The sons of Israel out of Egypt. This verse is jam-packed with all kinds of truth that you and I need to grasp. We want to begin this requisition by looking at number one, the earnestness in it.

God is earnest in his requisition. Moses, therefore, come now. Now is the time, Moses. Remember what he said earlier in chapter three. He said in verse number seven, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters. I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land. To a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Am, the Perizzite, the Hiv, the Jebus.

And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressed. Them. Therefore, Moses, now is the time. Now, Moses, you need to go. Now, Moses, I am sending you to deliver my people out of bondage. Now is the time. Genesis 15, 13 told us it would be in the fourth generation of their enslavement before they were delivered. And God is fulfilling his word. God is so faithful to his promise. God is so true to what he said.

He says, Moses, now is the time. You got to go, Moses. Now. Think about that. God says to Moses, We got to go.

Are you ready? Come now, Moses. It's time to go. And yet Moses would be reluctant. And that's a lot like us, isn't it? God, you know, I like God. You know, God doesn't give suggestions. He doesn't say, you know, what do you think about this? He doesn't ask us our opinion. He doesn't care what we think on the issue. He has an agenda. He has a decree. He's got a plan. He wants it to be fulfilled in his time, in his way. So he says, now you need to do it. And yet, so many times we think that we can delay our obedience.

Listen, delayed obedience Is in reality disobedience. Think about that. You know, we teach our children at a very young age: come now.

You need to be here now. When daddy calls, you come. Why? Because if they're in the middle of the street someday and you call them, they don't come, they delay. What happens? See? Don't delay. If daddy calls, if mommy calls, you come. You see, delayed obedience is in reality defiance and disobedience to God. And the only result of that will be danger. And so we need to respond. When God says to Timothy, listen.

Through the pen of the Apostle Paul, flee youthful lust. Second Timothy chapter 2. He's not saying, listen, when the lusts come, Think about it. Pray about it. Then decide what you're going to do. He says, No, flee them. Fueg. Be like a fugitive. It 's where we our English word fugitive. Fuego. You run, you flee, you get out. There. That's why Paul told those in Corinth, flee First Corinthians 6 immorality.

1 Corinthians 10, flee idolatry. That's why Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6: Flee the love of money. You get out of there. You run. Don't delay. Because delay will always le to d when God says to do something and we don't do it.

What is God telling you to do today through His Word? Are you obedient to that? Have you delayed in your obedience? And God says to Moses, Now.

Come now, Moses, for now is the time. In that requisition, that is the earnest plea that God makes now.

Let's go. When God says today is the day of salvation, He doesn't mean delay till tomorrow. He means today. In Hebrews 3 says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation. Don't do that. But today, if God is calling you, obey. James 4: To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. If you know what to do and you refuse to do it, God says it's sin.

Why? Because it's disobedience. It's delayed obedience to God, which is defiance to the Word of God. The second thing I want you to see is the encouragement from it.

He says, Come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. That's the encouragement. Why? Because God, listen, God guaranteed success. B my people out of Egypt. Now, it's very important to note: it's God's people, not Moses' people. Moses' people. It's God's people. Listen, when this church began. It was important for me to understand Matthew 16, when God said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God guaranteed succ in building this church.

And with that, that brings me great relief because I don't have to build the church. It's not my responsibility to build a church. That's God's responsibility. My responsibility is to be a faithful steward of the Word of God. And God will do what God's going to do. But God did make this promise that He would build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. Satan cannot stop God's work ever. And God says to Moses, Moses, I'm sending you back to Pharaoh because I want you to bring my people.

Out of Egypt. Out of Egypt. That's encouragement. Because he guaranteed success. Listen, I am guaranteed success as a pastor. Because God is going to build his church. You see, if I step in and start to bring up all these innovative ideas to kind of build up the church, I am competing with the God of the universe. For his people. Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to do that? I don't want to do that. And so I find great comfort in knowing that I have no responsibility in getting you here week after week after week.

And I have no responsibility in keeping you here week after week after week after week. Could you imagine the pressure on me? To make sure you were pleased, to make sure things were just right, so you'd come back week after week. And there's something you didn't like. Oh man, I got to change something. Well, they didn't like that, so let's change this, they don't like that, so let's change that. We got to make them happy. We got to get them back. We've got to keep them here. We've got to keep them laughing.

Make them laugh. Make them laugh. No, no, no, no, no, no What I can't remember who sang that song. You know, keep them coming back. I don't have any pressure at all on me to do that. None. Because I know that God is sovereign and God will build his church. And God's in the business of building the church of Jesus Christ. Bo, that is so freeing. For me as a pastor, and God gives great encouragement to Moses: go get him, bring him out. Success. But notice, number three, the extent of the requisition.

Just a cursory reading of it, you might not pick up on it, but think about it. God said to Moses, Moses, I want you to bring my people out of Egypt. He didn't say, Moses, I want you to bring them out of Egypt and into the prom land. D't say that, did he? Because Moses wasn't going to take him into the promised land. God had designed another man for that. His name is Joshua. And Joshua would bring them into the promised land. God never guaranteed to Moses that it would be Moses who would bring them in, but he did guarantee to the Israelites that they would go in.

We read about it earlier in verse number 8 of chapter 1 3. You can go down to verse number 17. What's it say? So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Per, Hiv, Jebus, a land flowing with milk and honey. He says, Moses, you go tell the elders, this is what I'm going to do for them. But God never told Moses that he was going to take them into the promised land because he wasn't. Now, Moses didn't know that. didn't understand that until he struck the rock instead of obeying the command of God to speak to the rock.

And there'd be a high price Moses would have to pay for disobeying just one sim command of God. And God said, Moses, you will not enter the promised land. And so when God says, I'm sending you to Pharaoh, come now, Moses.

To lead my people out of Egypt. There was an extent to that requisition. You see, so many times we think that God says more than He says.

Let me give you an example: Psalm 103, verse number 3. Starts with verse number one. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities. Who heals all your dis? So we pick up on that and think, well, If that's the case, and I'm going to claim the promises of God, that He's going to heal all my diseases. He's going to heal my cancer. He's going to heal my arthritis. He's going to heal my bad heart He's going to heal every disease that I have.

That's not what the text says. We go beyond what God says. It deals with all thy soul's diseases. I am blessing the Lord with all of my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. And therefore, it's my soul's disease that he heals. And how is it that my soul's disease is healed? It's healed because he pardons all my iniquities. He takes away all my sin. Therefore, my soul now is made a whole in God. Therefore, my soul will reap the benefits of a relationship with the living God. Therefore, my soul will be made whole.

Or you go to Isaiah 53, and people like to take this and couple it with Psalm 103 and say, Well, by whose stripes we are healed, that the atonement provides healing for your body. Now That is true. That is absolutely true. But there is no guaranteed of your bodies being healed on this side of eternity. Your body will be healed. It's called glorific, right? At the resurrection, your body will be resurrected, and you will have what the Bible calls a glorified body, a lot like our Lord had after his resurrection.

Resurrection. In fact, not a lot like he had, exactly like he had. That's the glorified body. That's the perfect body. That's the healed body. That is the completely restored body. And through the atonement, that does happen. It does happen through Christ's finished work on the cross. But don't think for one moment. Because the stripes of our Lord that we are healed today. Because God said, it is appointed unto man. Wants to die, and after that, the judgment. Man's going to die. How does man die?

Because of diseases, because of decay, because the body's wasting away. That's the effects of sin. Right? The wages of sin is death. And because of sin, and because of God's promise that if you sin, you will die. You need to understand that one day there will be a healing, a complete healing. It's called the state of glorification when you go home to be with the Lord and your body is brand new. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about. See? It's important you know the extent of the requ. What exactly does God say?

What is it God didn't say? What did God guarantee through his word? That's very important to grasp. The mas. The enthusiasm behind the requisition. The enthusiasm behind it. Listen to what God says.

Therefore, come now, I will send you, Moses. You. That's the enthusiasm behind it. Moses, I am going to use you. Moses, I want to use you to accomplish my purpose. Folks, let me tell you something.

That is supreme enthusiasm that God would use people like you and me. To further his purposes. Let me just take a moment to expound on that for you, if I could.

The very fact that God would use human instruments is unbelievable to accomplish his purposes, but he does. We made reference to this verse last time we were together, John 20, verse number 21. As the Father has sent me, so send I you. Let me talk to you just for a moment about the enthusiasm behind God's call upon your life.

You need to understand that God's call upon your life is indescribable. That's why it's so enthusiastic. It's indescribable. The Bible says.

As the Father has sent me, so send I you, John 20, 21. You can't describe. The mission that God has for you. I'm not sure Moses could describe the mission that God had for him, but it was an indescribable kind of mission. Because God had called him to accomplish a great purpose. You see, God the Father sent his best, his son. To accomplish redemption, his son would leave the comfort of glory, the joy of gl. To come here, indescribable. And yet, our call as well is indescribable. Not only is it indescribable, it is incomparable.

Incomparable. As the Father has sent me, so send I you, as so. Just like the Father sent me, I am sending you. Folks, that is the enthusiasm behind the call of God in your life. It's incomparable. You can't compare it with anything on this earth. There is no greater call in all the world to be sent by God to minister to people of God. None. It's indescribable, it's incomparable. It is ind. Ind. You cannot get around it. Oh, you can give your money to missions, to support missionaries on the field, but you can't get around the fact that God said, As the Father has sent me, so send I you.

And that's why he reiterated the commission. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and even in the book of Acts. Because he wants you to understand it's indisputable. You can't get around it. You can do anything you want. You can give any excuse you want. It's indisputable. God's called you to be His representative to a lost world. Case closed. Indescribable, incomparable, indisputable, in, in. John 15, 16, Christ says, You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

It's in. I've appointed you for this. You will do it. Because God has decreed you to be a part of His overall ministry to this world. Not only that, it's indispensable. It's indispensable because God's method of reaching man is man. That's how God reaches man. God's method of reaching those in slavery was a man, Moses. He works through man. He works through human instruments. He works through vessels such as you and me. And it's indispensable. This is God's method of reaching the world. Man, reaching man, one man at a time.

That's how it works. And not only that, it's invaluable. In valuable. Why? Because God has entrusted to us, as 2 Cor 5 verses 18 and 20 says, the ministry of reconciliation, that we are His ambassadors, we are His representatives to a lost world. And there's nothing of greater value in all the world than the truth of Almighty God and the opportunity we have to dispense it. To everybody we come in contact and work with. That is the enthusiasm behind the requisition. Moses, I'm sending you. You're the man.

And you think that Moses would say, oh man, thank God. It's about time. For 40 years, I've been waiting to go, and now I'm more than ready. I'm overripe. I'm ooz with juice because I'm so ready. But Moses says. Who am I? Who am I? Who are you? And Moses begins to give excus, a lot like we do. Who am I to do that? And next time we're together, we'll help you understand it. We'll help you understand why Moses would even ask, what is your name? Who are you? And all that coming together will answer for you every excuse you could ever give to God that would cause you to delay your obedience to Him.

Or to outright defy any obedience to God. And God wants to put your heart and mind at ease by helping you understand His nature, His character, His promises, His power. That you, like Moses, might be used to lead God's people.