Moses' Faith, Part 3

It was the late A.W. Tozer who said these words, It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he first of all hurts him deeply.

Let me say it to you again. It is doubtful whether or not God can bless a man greatly until he first of all hurts him deeply.

Why is that? Is that true? Well, it is true. Because Jesus is all you need. But Jesus is never all you need until Jesus is all you got. See, we got everything else. We have our income. We have our family. We have our job. We have our cars. We have our health. We have our talent. We have our education. Who needs Jesus? We got everything else that we need. But the problem is Jesus is really all you need. But until you realize that, you are far from walking intimately with our Lord. Man by nature is autonomous.

He's independent. He's self-sufficient. He is in control. He is self-reliant. He wants to be in control of his world. And so by nature he goes that direction, only to realize that he's not, that God's in charge of everything. He needs the Lord. He needs to depend upon the Lord for everything. So God sets out to erase your independence from him to establish your dependence upon him. That's what God does when he takes you through the desert. He wants you totally dependent upon him for everything. After all, the Lord said in John 15, Without me ye can do some things, all things.

You can't do anything without the Lord. We think we can. We think we can raise our children without the Lord. We think we can have a good marriage without the Lord. We think we can preach a sermon without the Lord. We think we can do everything that we do without the Lord because we're talented. We're eloquent. We are gifted. We are well-educated. This is not true. It might be true you're well-educated. It might be true you're talented and gifted. But you need the Lord in everything. You see, spiritual growth has, it's like a coin, right?

There's two sides to a coin. There's a human side and a divine side. So when you look at spiritual growth, you look at it from the human side.

And it primarily deals with Scripture, right? We're to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3, verse number 18. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3 that God's Word is inspired, right? And therefore, because it is, it is that one thing that is profitable for man to equip him to do everything he needs to do. So from the human side, in order for us to grow spiritually, we need the Scripture. And the Spirit of God uses the Word of God in our lives to grow us in our walk with the Lord.

But the flip side of the coin is the divine side. And from God's perspective, it's not the Scripture, it's suffering. That's the divine side. And He's in charge of the suffering. You're in charge, for lack of a better phrase, of the Scripture and reading and studying and memorizing and applying that Scripture to your life. But the divine side, God uses suffering to perfect the soul. Remember Psalm 119, verse number 67? Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep Your Word. Before I was afflicted, I did whatever I wanted to do.

I did life my way. But now, because I've been afflicted, now I keep Your Word. It would be great if we were committed to the Scriptures and we were so committed to them that every day we'd read them and memorize them and apply them, but we just don't. So God uses suffering, He uses affliction, He uses distress, He uses, for lack of a better phrase, the desert to drive us to His Word. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now, now I keep Your Word. What's the next verse? You are good, and do us good.

The psalmist only knew of the goodness of God after his affliction, because then he was able to understand the Word of God, and then he was able to understand the God Himself. It says in verse number 71, It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. The psalmist makes it very clear that there's something about affliction that teaches me the statutes of God, that without the affliction, I would not learn the lessons I need to learn. God knows what you need the best. So on a day, A.W.

Tozer says, It is doubtful whether or not God can bless a man greatly until he's, first of all, hurt him deeply.

He is so right on. Every man in Scripture was hurt significantly that God might use him greatly. Every man, for lack of a better phrase, was broken. Their self-will was shattered. Their independence from God was broken to a point where they learned to be dependent upon God so God could use them mightily for His glory and for His purpose. Years ago, many years ago, I did a series. Maybe some of you remember it. Tom, you might remember this. It was called Invitation to Intimacy. Remember that series?

A long, long time ago, at least 20 years ago, maybe 25 years ago, I don't know. Invitation to Intimacy. We wanted to invite people to walk in an intimate relationship with the living God. And so we told them, it begins with a divine inheritance. You want to walk intimately with God? It begins with a divine inheritance. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 1, verse 11. Because we've been redeemed, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Paul says we've been redeemed because we have been predetermined to be partakers of a divine inheritance. Peter would say it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead in order to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you. To walk in intimacy with God, it begins with a divine inheritance.

But it's also, number two, balanced by a disciplined obedience. It's balanced by a disciplined obedience. Because I have been redeemed, I now have a responsibility to live in obedience to my God. And so there is this desire I have, as Paul would say, that bodily exercise profits little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Therefore, discipline yourself unto godliness. 1 Timothy 4, 7 and 8. 1 Corinthians 9, Paul would say, I beat my body into subjection. I discipline myself lest I be disqualified from the ministry.

Paul knew about discipline. So he would reiterate it over and over again in his epistles about disciplining your life unto godliness. So that which begins with a divine inheritance is now balanced with a disciplined obedience. And that which is balanced with a disciplined obedience is beautified in a daily silence. It's beautified in a daily silence. Be still and know that I am God. Isaiah 30 says this, In silence and in trust shall be your strength. How many times did the psalmist say, I wait silently for the Lord.

Silence is such a major part of walking in intimacy with our God. It's like a marriage, right? When is the marriage beautified? It's not beautified amidst the hubbub of activity with family and friends and all kinds of social activities. No, it's beautified in the silence. Mom and dad, husband and wife together in silence cultivating the relationship. When there are no distractions around you. It's just you and your wife or you and your husband. So that which begins with a divine inheritance is balanced with a disciplined obedience and is beautified in a daily silence.

But that intimacy is always battled with a diabolical vengeance. Satan does not want you to walk intimately with the Lord. So he's going to attack, attack, attack all the time. He goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, right? And so we need to resist him steadfast in the faith. We need to shield ourselves with the armor of God. So because he's going to attack us, we must arm ourselves with the armor of God, Ephesians 6, 10 to 18, realizing that Satan does all he can to keep us from walking intimately with the living God.

The invitation to intimacy is an invitation that's extended to man to walk with our Lord. It begins with the divine inheritance. It's balanced with a disciplined obedience. It's beautified in a daily silence. It's battled with a diabolical vengeance. Ah, but it blossoms in a desert experience. That's where it blossoms, in a desert experience. Listen to the words of Peter as he concludes his first epistle, writing to Jews who had experienced the ultimate desert, all kinds of distress and affliction, all kinds of persecution and hardship.

Nero had given all of his efforts to persecute the Christians, and they were being killed and destroyed on a daily basis. And so Peter, in his epistle, and we did a series on Peter, and we entitled it, Hope for Those Who Hurt, because there was no one hurting more than the Jews that were scattered abroad than these Jews were, and they needed hope, and Peter gives them hope. In the end, verse 10, 1 Peter 5, he says these words, After you have suffered for a while, in other words, your suffering is inevitable.

It's going to happen. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, the personal ministry of our God is to extend grace to all those who suffer. So the God of all grace is going to do something that will cause your life to blossom as it's never bloomed before by saying this, the God of all grace who calls you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. So after you've suffered for a little while, God is going to perfect you.

He's going to supply all that you need. There's something lacking. And the word perfect is a word used in two different ways in Scripture. The mending of nets, right? Or the mending together of broken bones. Putting them back together again. Putting nets back together again. After you've suffered for a little while, God is going to put you back together again. He's going to let you go through difficulties and hardships and tie the nets together. Mend the broken bones. Put them back together so that you can be one.

And then he's going to confirm you. In other words, it's a phrase that's used in ancient literature to speak of making one solid as granite, immovable. You emerge tougher than you've ever been before, stronger than you've ever been before after you've suffered for a while. He will perfect you. He will confirm you. He will strengthen you. He will fill you with his strength. God wants to fill you with his strength. But we're so busy trying to exude our own strength that we have no time to rely upon God to fill us with his strength.

We want to show everybody how strong we are instead of God infusing us with his strength. But after you've been broken, after you've been desolate, after you're on your own with no one to hold on to except the Lord, he'll fill you with his strength. And then he'll establish you. He'll settle you. He'll lay a foundation. The foundation is laid and established to the point where it's unshakable and immovable, but happens after you've suffered for a little while. Some of you might be here today and say, Well, you know, I've gone through suffering, and I've gone through persecution, and I've gone through hardship, and I've gone through distress, whether it be emotional, relational, financial, and all those kind of things, but none of that's happened to me.

I'm not confirmed. I'm not perfected. I'm not strengthened. I don't see anything being supplied in my life. Well, there's an answer for that. He tells you up in verse number 5, God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. God of all grace will do this, but he opposes the proud, but he does give grace to the humble. So in the process of your desert experience, instead of relinquishing yourself and relinquishing your pride and relinquishing all that you think you are to the Lord and throwing yourself on his grace and his mercy, you are still kicking and screaming and fighting and becoming bitter because of your situation and your circumstance, and you don't understand why, and you get so upset, and you get so frustrated because of your pride.

So God doesn't bestow his grace on the prideful, but only on the humble. You need to humble yourself before the true and living God. All that plays itself out in the life of Moses. It's all right there. And you know, as we go through Hebrews 11, I could spend years on each character, taking you back to Genesis and Exodus, explaining all these people to you, taking you back to Joshua and Judges, and letting you see the character of these people develop before you. We could do that, but that would take us forever to get through Hebrews, right?

And we're not Jewish people. Jewish people would know the historical background of all those characters inside and out, right? They would know them. We don't. But every once in a while, we take a brief moment to help you fill in the blanks so you can begin to understand what it means to walk by faith and not by sight, to believe absolutely in what God has said and behave accordingly to all that God has said. And Moses and Abraham are written about more than anybody else in Hebrews 11. And we know that Moses would prefer the imperishable.

We know that he would perceive the invisible because it says that he endured as seeing him who was unseen, Hebrews 11. We know that he would forsake the treasures and the riches of Egypt, that he might endure affliction with the people of God. So he preferred the imperishable. He perceived the invisible. And we know through the book of Exodus that he performed the impossible. But the only way he could perform the impossible was that he had to pass through the invaluable. And that was on the backside of the desert in Midian.

Now, the writer of Hebrews doesn't tell us about that, but the book of Exodus does. And the Jewish audience would know about Moses because they knew that Moses was Israel's greatest leader. But what made Moses Israel's greatest leader? Because, you see, Moses in and of himself could not convince the Hebrew people that he was their deliverer, although he tried, always so desperately tried. He killed an Egyptian, we saw in Exodus 2, because an Egyptian had mistreated one of his Hebrew people. So he killed him to show his power, his strength, his athleticism.

The people would sit back and say, Whoa, man, the man is strong. Look at that guy. Maybe he will be our deliverer. No, he didn't respond. And then the very next day, there were two brethren, two Hebrew people, who were arguing. He broke up the fight so he could show them that he was a peacemaker. But they said, What are you going to do? Kill one of us, too? They weren't ready to accept him as their leader. But he was doing all he can to prove to them, Hey, I'm your guy, man. Look at me.

I can do these kind of things. Follow me. But nobody wanted to follow, although he was well-educated. And he was a very educated man, very intelligent man, very wise man, Moses was. Acts tells us that he was mighty in deeds and mighty in words. He could speak. He was able to perform great acts of wonder. Great guy. Magnificent man. You see him very self-confident. You see him very independent. You see him very self-reliant. You see him in control. Right? All the things that we would say, Well, this guy can lead.

This guy's a man. This guy's a man's man. This is the guy we need to have lead us. But nobody was following. So by faith, that is, he believed what God said, he fled to Midian. He fled to Midian. Interesting that in the book of Exodus, it says these words, verse 16, Exodus chapter 2, Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock.

Wow. Imagine the scene. Seven women. Because he only had seven daughters. And they went to draw water for the sheep. But other shepherds came and moved them out of the way. And Moses sees that. So what does Moses do? He does what he's been educated to do. He does what he's been trained to do. He wards them off. He defends the women. And we would applaud that. And rightly so. He did the right thing. But even in that, he was showing that he didn't need God. He just needed to do what he could do himself.

And so he moved them all away. And the women were like, Look at this guy, man. Look at Moses' muscles.

So they go home and tell their dad. Look at this. When they came to draw water for their father, he said, Why have you come back so soon? They said, An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds. And what's more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock. Wow, dad, you should have been there. This guy was incredible. He went in and took his staff and moved them all out of the way. And then he filled the trough and watered the sheep. So the father says, as any good father would do, he said, Well, where is he then?

Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat. Go get the guy. Ask him if he wants to stay forever. Just go get him. Moses was willing to dwell with the man. And he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. And she gave birth to a son. He named him Gershom. And he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. Next scene is 40 years later. At Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, where God would appear to Moses in the burning bush. So you have a man, Moses, who for the better part of 80 years saw himself as the man, but had to come to a place to realize that he needed God.

So you never read about Moses in prayer. You never read about Moses walking in intimacy with God, walking with God in the cool of the day and in fellowshipping with his God. You never see those things in Moses' life. Scripture doesn't record those things. We know by faith. We know what God said. And God had to speak to him and move him. And so he knew that. But we never saw Moses as a man of prayer. And prayer is that one element that shows us our dependence upon God, right? Show me how long you pray, and I'll show you how dependent you are upon God.

Show me how little you pray, and I'll show you how much you depend upon your own education, your own skill, your own financial well-being, your own personhood. It's as simple as that. So here's Moses. Never really spent time in prayer. He was one who was never said of one who sought after God or waited on God. He used human logic, human wisdom. And rightly so. He was gifted that way. He used the fact that he was an educated man who knew what to do. All those things. But none of that qualified him to be God's man.

It qualified him to be Pharaoh's man. It qualified him to lead in Egypt, but didn't qualify him to lead in God's kingdom because God has a different set of standards than the world does. And so while he had been to the school of man, by faith, God led him to Midian, a dry desert place, modern-day Saudi Arabia, because although he was educated in the school of man, he now had to be educated in the school of God. And in the school of God, there's only one professor. It's God himself. And the classroom is not air-conditioned or done remotely so you can sit at home on your bed and do the schooling.

No, the classroom is the backside of a desert. When you graduate, you graduate with a Ph.D. in the ways of God. That was Moses. He would graduate with a Ph.D. in the ways of God. When you come to Exodus chapter 3, you can already see a difference in Moses. It says in chapter 3, verse number 11, Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I? Well, 40 years earlier, he was trying to convince him that he was the God. And then in verse number 1 of chapter 4, Moses said, What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?

For they may say, The Lord has not appeared to you. You can't reason with these Jewish people. You can't sit down with them and have a conversation with them. I've tried that. It doesn't work. Verse 10 of chapter 4, Then Moses said to the Lord, Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to your servant. For I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. Where 40 years earlier, he was very ferocious. He would speak all kinds of things because he was eloquent in words.

He would try to reason with everybody, talk them into following him. But now, 40 years later, he can't speak so much. I'm slow of speech. What can I say? What do I say? How do I say it? Different kind of man. And then in Exodus chapter 14, when they have been released from Egyptian bondage, listen to the words of Moses to show you the difference of how this man is at the age of 80 than he was at the age of 40. Verse 10 of chapter 14, And Pharaoh drew near. The sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened.

So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. So what do you do? Moses said to the people, Do not fear. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Isn't that great? Moses learned. Psalm 103 tells us. Verse number 7. Mark it down. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. Moses knew the ways of God. But the children of Israel did not know the ways of God. They could see the acts of God. They could watch God from a distance.

But they did not know the ways of God. That's why the psalmist would say these words. Or put it this way. Exodus 33. Moses said this. I pray you, Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you.

You don't know God unless you know the ways of God. And so Moses' cry was, Lord, show me your ways. Teach me your ways. So you go to the Psalms and it says in Psalm 25, verse number 4. Make me know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day. But it's all dependent upon the ways of God. And then it says in verse number 9. He leads the humble in justice. He teaches the humble his way. He doesn't teach the arrogant his way.

He teaches the humble his way. Doesn't the book of Numbers tell us? That Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. He made known his ways to Moses. But the children of Israel could only watch the acts of God from a distance. And then it says over in Psalm 27. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth or level path because of my foes. Again, the psalmist cries, Lord, teach me your ways. Psalm 86. Psalm 86, verse number 11. Teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name and I will give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with all my heart and will glorify your name forever.

Who's the guy that glorifies the name of God forever? He's the guy who gives thanks to God in his heart. Who's the guy who gives thanks to God in his heart? The guy whose heart is united to fear the Lord. And who's the guy whose heart is united to fear the Lord? It's the guy who says, Lord, teach me your ways. I want to know your ways. My ways are irrelevant. My family's ways are irrelevant. Lord, your ways are relevant. Your ways matter. Your ways are the only thing that makes a difference. Teach me your ways.

Psalm 95. Listen to this. God says for 40 years I loathed that generation. The generation that came out of Egypt. I loathed them and said they are a people who err in their heart. Why do they err in their heart? Here it is. Ready? And they do not know my ways. Therefore I swore in my anger, truly they shall not enter my rest. Wow. How about you? You know the ways of God? What did Jesus say? I am the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. But he says I am the way. I'm the only way. In other words it's my way or the hell way.

There is no other way. I'm the way. And you've got to cry for me to know the way. Like Moses did. And God brought Moses to a place in his life where he would depend upon God for everything. No longer was he self-reliant. No longer was he self-confident. All of his confidence was in God. All of his dependence was upon God. No longer was he an independent thinker. No longer was he an arrogant individual. No, it was all about, Lord what do I do now? Lord, teach me your ways. Lord, if your presence does not go with us, we are not leaving from this place because we need you.

We're not going anywhere unless you go before us. Lord, we need you. So when the psalmist says, he may know his ways to Moses but his acts to the children of Israel, Moses would walk in intimacy with his God. Because he would pass through that which is invaluable. Because it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has first of all hurt him deeply.

Let me pray with you. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the time as brief as it is that we could spend in your word. But we are grateful for a reminder of the man Moses who learned the ways of God. May we be those kind of people, Lord. You have said that you are the way. You are the only way. There is no other way. You are that way. And Father, we want to know your ways. We want to know you. We don't want to air in our hearts. We don't want you to loathe this generation. We want you to love this generation.

So we are asking that you would do a mighty work in all of our lives. Draw us closer to you. Stop at nothing to make us the people you want us to be. That we might totally rely upon our God for everything. Erase our independence from you. Establish our dependence upon you. And we will give you glory until you come again as you most surely will. In Jesus' name. Amen.