Moses on the Mountain with the Lord - Part 14
Pray Like Moses!
Exodus 32:1-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Sept. 29, 2010
BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION:
*As we begin tonight, Moses has been on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days. It was a miraculous meeting where God gave some of the most important standards of all time: The Ten Commandments.
*Unfortunately, things had not gone well while Moses was away. Down at the foot of the mountain, the people rushed to rebel against God. After all that God had done for them, they still turned back to the false gods of Egypt. We see this in Exodus 32:1-6:
1. Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.''
2. And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.''
3. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!''
5. So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.''
6. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
*They weren’t playing kids games. They weren’t playing ball. They were playing the wicked games that were often part of pagan religions.
*Those people had no idea how much trouble they were in. But we find out in vs. 7-14, and we see how Moses saved the day:
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.' ''
14. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
*How did Moses save the day? -- Through prayer! And Christians, God wants us to pray like Moses. Let’s look into the Word of God and see why?
1. First: Pray like Moses, because we are weak.
*Many times we are weak.
[1] Part of the time it’s our inability to help. Think how overwhelmed Moses must have been when he heard the Lord in vs. 7-10:
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.
*In the past, God has called them “My people.” But now He is done with them, so “Moses, they are your people.”
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.''
*What in the world was Moses going to do?
-There was no way he could straighten this problem by himself.
-Moses couldn’t go back in time and undo the wrong that had been done.
-And he wasn’t even with the people. He was still on the mountain.
-And even if Moses had been there with them, the problem was in their hearts.
-Moses couldn’t get in their hearts to straighten them out.
*We like to fix things, but there was nothing Moses could do to fix this by himself. The problem was just too big. And sometimes we will face problems too big for us to handle. But God is bigger than all of our problems, so Moses took this problem to God in prayer. -- And that’s what we should do.
*Sometimes we are weak due to our inability.
[2] But sometimes it’s our ignorance. This was the case with the Children of Israel.
*There they were at the foot of the mountain, having a wonderful old time.
-They had given up on Moses.
-They had forgotten the real God.
-They had taken charge of their own lives, and they didn’t have a clue.
*Those people had no idea how much terrible danger they were in. And church, there are people like that all around us tonight: clueless about the guilt of their sins, the judgment of God, and the good news of the cross.
*I think of a testimony from Pastor Rodney Buchanan. He told about a friend who gave a Bible to someone who was going through a difficult time. The person was in real need. Their life had been one disaster after the other. But in all that time there was never any real concrete attempt to give their life to God and follow Him.
*And Rodney said, “As my friend gave a Bible to this person, and encouraged him to read it, he suggested that he might start by reading the Christmas story, since it was that time of year. The man looked at him with real surprise and said: ‘You mean the Christmas story is in the Bible?’” (1)
*That story sounds amazingly ridiculous to us, but this is the world we live in today. People are ignorant about the truth, and one of the most important things we can do for them is pray.
*Pray like Moses, because many times people are weak.
2. Also pray like Moses, because our God is willing to hear.
*God is surely willing to hear our prayers! He is bigger than our problems. But He is not too big for us!
*Our God is approachable. He is able and willing to listen to us. God’s Word shows this to us in vs. 10-13. First in vs. 10, the Lord told Moses, “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.”
*God told Moses to leave, but He didn’t make Moses leave, so in vs. 11-13 Moses boldly walked through that open door, and began to plead with God:
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?” (Notice that Moses said: “Lord, these are not MY people. They are YOUR people!”)
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.'''
*God heard Moses’ prayer, and He will surely hear our unselfish prayers. He wasn’t too busy for Moses, and He won’t be too busy for you!
*Augustine once wrote: “God loves you as if you were the only one to love!” (2)
*And C.S. Lewis tells us that God “has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. . . -- You are as much alone with him as if you were the only being he had ever created.” (3)
*God is willing to hear our prayers. And like Moses, we can boldly go to Him. But how can we do this? How can we boldly come before God?
[1] One way is to plead the character of God. This is what Moses did in vs. 12, when he said, “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.”
*In other words: “God, if you do this, the Egyptians are going to slander Your good name. You are not evil. You are good and kind and full of compassion.”
*Plead the character of God. Hebrews 4:14-16 tells believers the same thing:
14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
*How can we boldly come before God? -- Plead the character of God.
[2] But also plead the promises of God. This is what Moses did in vs. 13, when he told the Lord, “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.'''
*That’s a great way to pray. Find a promise from God, and plead that promise to God, because He always keeps His Word.
*How can we boldly come before God? -- Plead the character of God. Plead the promises of God.
[3] Most of all, plead the blood of Jesus Christ
*As we read in Hebrews 10:19-22a:
19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21. and having a High Priest over the house of God,
22. let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. . .
*Christians we can pray like Moses, because our God is willing to hear. God loves us enough to listen to us. And if we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can come boldly to find His mercy and grace to help in time of need.
*Pray like Moses, because our God is willing to hear.
3. But also pray because prayer works in amazing ways.
*Prayer works in amazing ways. Listen again to the example in vs. 13-14.
-Moses prayed:
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.' ''
14. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
*What an incredible difference! -- In vs. 10, the Children of Israel were history. They were going to be consumed. Two and a half to three million people were going to be wiped out by the wrath of God.
-Listen to the Lord again in vs. 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.”
*But in vs. 14, “the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.” The KJV says the Lord “repented.” This word means God was sorry; He regretted His anger; He was moved to pity and compassion. And the word picture for “repented” is to breathe strongly, like you are letting out a big sigh. Do you ever do that when you are letting something go?
*God changed His mind here, and why? -- Because Moses prayed!
*God answers prayer!
-Now He doesn’t always answer our prayers how we want or when we want.
-But our unselfish prayers always make a difference.
*Back in 1996, the American Academy of Family Physicians did a survey and found that 99% of doctors believe there is an important relationship between prayer and healing. Nearly 1,000 health care professionals met at Harvard Medical School that same year to explore the connection between faith and healing. Dr. Herbert Benson said: “I'm not a religious person. I came to this not from belief but from science. Honestly, I came to this feet dragging.”
*At least 2 studies confirmed the connection. In a California study, researchers studied how prayer affects recovery from heart problems. Half of the nearly 400 subjects were prayed for by born-again Christians while the others received no known prayers from strangers. Neither group was told about the prayers.
*Those subjects who were prayed for had half as many complications as those who were not prayed for. They required less artificial respiration and had a lower rate of congestive heart failure.
*A second study, by Dartmouth Medical School, tracked how patients' own prayers helped them recover from bypass surgery. The death rate after six months was 9 percent. For churchgoers, however, the rate dropped to 5 percent. And none of the deeply religious patients died during that period. (4)
*Of course God does not always heal in answer to our prayer. But God surely answers our prayers according to His perfect will.
-I promise you: Your prayers will make a difference!
-God promises you: Your prayers will make a difference!
*Pray like Moses!
-Because on our own we are weak.
-Because our God is willing to hear.
-Because your prayer will work in amazing ways.
*One more thing: The surest, most wonderful, most life-changing prayer you can ever pray is this: “Lord Jesus, please save my soul.”
*Let’s go to the Lord in prayer right now.
1. SermonCentral sermon “Christmas through the Eyes of the World” by Rodney Buchanan - John 1:1-14 - Dec. 14, 2003
2. “WEDDING HOMILIES -- 7 - Commitment” by Wayne Brouwer - Seven Worlds Corporation, 310 Simmons Road, Knoxville, TN 37922, Copyright 1995
3. “WHY PRAYERS ARE UNANSWERED And What You Can Do About It” by Dr. John Allan Lavender, p. 47
4. “Faith Helps Heal the Body, Doctors Say” by Brian Melley, Associated Press writer
http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-96/12-16-96/a01wn005.htm
