Moses Standing In The Breach

MOSES STANDING IN THE BREACH

Exodus 32:7-14, 32.

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Bill’s girlfriend, Karen, got a job at a local hardware store. Karen told Bill, "The owners don't want us hanging out with our friends. If you stop by, tell them you're my brother."

2. On Bill’s first visit, he walked to the customer service desk and asked an older woman there, "Is Karen around?"

3. When the woman looked at him quizzically, Bill added, "I'm her brother."

4. The woman smiled and said, "What a nice surprise. It's so nice to meet you; I'm Karen's mother!"

B. TEXT

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” 11 Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” 14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” Exodus 32:7-14, 32. NKJV

C. THESIS

1. We have a moral crisis in this country. The problem is not only that the politicians are bought out by special interests controlled by destructive ideologies;

2. The bigger problem is that there’s an overall moral breakdown in our society. They're very grave signs of secularism taking over.

3. Even more serious than all these is that the Church is indifferent, apathetic, and asleep at the wheel.

4. Tonight we're going to look at a textbook example of intercession. God felt constrained to punish Israel, but Moses intervened.

5. We're going to look at the reality of Hedges, the crucial need for intercessors, the things that hindered Moses, and the five arguments he used to prevail with God.

6. The title of tonight's message is, "Moses Standing in the Breach.”

I. THE REALITY OF HEDGES

A. ORIGIN OF HEDGES

1. God places a protective wall around His people, called a ‘hedge’. Hedges are real and protect us from evil and the judgment of God. The devil said to God, “Have you not put a hedge around him[Job] and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land” Job 1:10.

2. The Hedge is placed by God because of imputed righteousness (life) by faith.

3. Hedges operate by the spiritual Laws of God.

B. DESTRUCTION OF THE HEDGE

1. SIN DESTROYS THE HEDGE.

a. “23 So he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them” Psalm 106:23.

b. The hedge around Israel was breached by sin.

2. Breach (defined):

a. an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct.

b. a gap in a wall, barrier, or defense, especially one made by an attacking army.

3. Breaches occur invisibly first, then become manifested physically.

4. 10 The Lord said to Joshua, “11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant….taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied….12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction.” Josh. 7:10-12.

II. THE CRUCIAL NEED FOR INTERCESSORS

A. A GOD’S LOVE FOR ISRAEL(SINNERS)

1. But -- wonderful thought! -- God doesn’t want His wrath to fall on the disobedient; He longs to spare us.