MOSES, THE MAN THAT PLEASED GOD
SCRIPTURE READING:
Exodus 33:14-20
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
INTRODUCTION:
We cannot please everyone.
That is the truth we need to believe.
If you try to win the approval of everyone in your life, you will be the most miserable person of all.
You will be controlled by people and they will put you in boxes.
Trying to please everybody is a trap.
It will cause you to miss God's purpose for your life.
It will prevent you from growing in your faith.
It can lead to sin and it can cause hypocrisy in your life.
People pleasing is a form of spiritual idolatry.
Anything that we put in the place of God becomes our god and is idolatry.
A career can be a god.
A girlfriend can be a god.
Money can be a god.
Anything that comes number one in our lives becomes our god.
The truth is, I only have to please one person in my life - God.
I must be a God pleaser not man pleaser.
I live only for an audience of ONE.
I need only to seek one person's approval.
Jesus said this: “I don't try to please myself, but I only please the One who sent me.” John 5:30 (NCV).
Paul said: “I'm not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ's servant.” Galatians 1:10 (NLT)
Here in chapter 33 of the Book of Exodus, we can learn some valuable lessons on how Moses learned to please God.
During that time, the people had just worshiped the golden calf that they have created out of the gold and silver from Egypt.
God was angry and would have destroyed the Israelites if it wasn't for Moses pleading and intervention.
That is when Moses asked them whoever is for the Lord, come over here.
Many people hesitated but the Levites stayed on the Lord's side and were blessed.
It is always safe to be on the Lord's side.
In this chapter, God called them as stiff-necked people because of their stubbornness and hardness of heart.
But Moses displayed his patience in order to build and restore relationship between God and the Israelites.
Whenever he stood at the Tent of the Meeting, the pillar of cloud come down and stay at the entrance.
And all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.
There, the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.
However, in the latter portion of this chapter, we find God declaring that He is pleased with him.
Such a wonderful statement of affirmation and declaration of God's love for Moses.
I wonder if God could say the same words to us as well.
It would surely give much meaning and purpose to our lives.
But why was God pleased with Moses?
What did he do to receive such a great compliment from God.
Today, we will look at the three things that Moses desired most in order to receive such a commendation from God.
First, he desire the WAYS of God.
Then, Moses desired the PRESENCE of God.
Lastly, Moses desired the GLORY of God.
Then, the Lord said, Exodus 33:17 17 “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Imagine, the entire Israelites were stiff-necked people but one man stood among them differently.
There was one man who only aspire for the approval of God.
One man who was not a people pleaser.
One man who was not stiff-necked.
He tried his best to please God and was given an approval because of such godly behavior.
I wonder if we could do the same thing ourselves.
Regardless of what others may say to us, we only desire to please God.
THREE THINGS THAT MOSES DESIRED:
1. HE DESIRED GOD'S WAYS.
Exodus 33:13 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The first thing we can notice from this chapter is that Moses desired God's ways.
He had complete devotion to the ways of God.
The reason? So that he can continue to find favor with God.
There was nothing more important to him than to find favor in the sight of God.
No wonder, he pleased God by such an attitude.
The problem with us is that we have our own ways of doing things.
We enjoy doing things that are comfortable and convenient to our lives even if not in accordance to God's Word.
And our view of God is often distorted or diminished because we have embraced the mindset of our culture.
We begin to adopt the world's culture of idolatry and immorality.
We have even imposed that kind of mindset to others.
Hence, we are not able to comprehend concepts like His holiness, His power and His majesty.
We need to learn God's ways so that we can expand our vision and our capacity to worship God rightly.
We must surrender to His control even though we cannot fully understand His ways.
What are God's ways?
The character and the manner that God moved in their midst.
First of all, God's ways are completely different from our ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) "8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
God's ways are always godly and loving.
Psalms 25:10 (NIV) "All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant."
It is possible for us to keep the ways of the Lord and to prevent us from committing sin.
Psalms 18:21 " For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I am not guilty of turning from my God."
Therefore, if we want to please God, we had to focus on growing our character.
It is our character in this world that counts.
Integrity before God and men is more important than popularity.
“You may brag about yourself, but the only approval that counts is the Lord's approval.” 2 Cor. 10:18 (CEV).
It is only what He thinks about us that matters.
2. HE DESIRED GOD'S PRESENCE.
Exodus 33:15 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
The second thing we can learn from this chapter is that Moses desired God's Presence.
The text tells us that he does not even want to take another step if God's Presence is not with them.
He asked God a question: "How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?
"What else distinguish me and your people from all the other people on he face of the earth?"
He recognized that the presence of God distinguishes them from all the other people of the earth.
It was the presence of God that accompanies the power of God and the authority of God.
That was all he needed.
The was the most important thing in life.
He could go anywhere if God's Presence is with him.
No wonder, God was pleased with Moses.
Story:
Let me share to you a testimony of a man by the name of Pedro Ochoa, a former Satanist who surrendered his life to Jesus and was filled with the presence of the Lord and now preaches the Gospel.
I took this from the on-line version of Charisma news magazine.
It all started when he had an excruciating back pain at an early age of 9 years.
His parents brought him to be healed by a new age white magic or quack doctor - a Satan worshiper.
The pain was gone but Satan took a hold of him from then on that he was not aware of.
He went back and was promised for spiritual power and ultimately became a student for Satan worship.
He went through the ritual of consecrating himself, including donning an amulet that connected him to his idol/god in the spirit world.
Powers soon became evident in Pedro's life.
"I started training, and began to grow in this power. I started with moving small objects with my mind - and my powers continued to grow," he said.
But the power came at a price when he started hearing voices from the devil.
He was told that his destiny was to go to hell and that he was born to fight a battle against God and Christ.
Pedro sank deeper and deeper into spiritual darkness and Satanism.
He was soon placed in charge of a group of other teens who also desired to grow "their powers."
They held seances and spoke to the dead.
They used an Quija board regularly with great success.
And they spent a great amount of time in cemeteries.
As he reflects upon his life, Pedro says that he came to realize that the more he sank into Satanism, the less human he was.
"I didn't cry, I didn't laugh... I had zero feelings,"
He also learned that the powers he thought were his were actually demons working through him.
But God has a plan for his life.
His conversion happened one day when his English class professor told him to turn in his research paper after attending a special meeting.
That meeting turned out to be a Bible study.
And so, in obedience to his teacher, he went but as he came close to the room, his body started shaking.
The closer he got, the worse he felt.
He was sweating all over and felt he was going crazy.
He realized later on that it was all the demonic power and devils living in him who were scared to come into the presence of God.
Pedro attempted to turn his paper in and leave as soon as possible, but the teacher refused the paper, saying he would need to sit through the meeting.
"They started to talk about God, the Bible, the Son of the Living God, the ABC of salvation, the Cross." Pedro says.
"I was listening, but fighting with the stuff inside of me.
Later on, the words started to hit me.
God loved me; died on the cross for me; He was not against - he wanted to rescue me!"
As the meeting concluded, the group stood to sing a song and the leader began to pray for each person.
As he prayed, people began to fall to the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then, the teacher came to Pedro.
"We were eye to eye when he began to pray and boom!
It was like an explosion," Pedro says.
"I fell to the ground, but it felt like falling on a bed.
My body began to shake like crazy.
I felt this power like electricity going through my head, feet, legs, hands.
It was so strong.
I couldn't resist, like millions of volts in my body."
He felt that he would die. But he did not die.
"I suddenly realized I could breathe," Pedro says.
"Then, this voice came into my mind and kept repeating.
"God is real! God is alive! Jesus is real. God is touching you now."
He started to cry like a baby.
Then, he opened his eyes and realized that the power that was in him was nothing compared to the power of God which was now touching his soul.
He also realized he was on the wrong side and there was no need to be an enemy of God.
Pedro stayed on the floor as the powers of darkness drained from him and the Holy Spirit worked in him.
After some time, the teacher returned, helped him sit up and prophesied that for the next three days, he wouldn't be able to sleep as the Lord wanted to speak to him.
During those three days, the Lord's presence was upon him, revealing and explaining things to him.
After his salvation experience, he stopped communicating with his old Satanic friends.
Presently, at the age of 34, he is now the director of evangelism at Hilltop Campus Church, an Assemblies of God Missions ministering to several Colleges and Universities in Illinois.
He spends a lot of time mentoring young people to grow in their prayer lives and experience the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
What can we learn from this story?
Don't be deceived by the enemy.
Don't even involved yourself in witchcraft.
God's power is greater than the power of the enemy.
When we have the Presence of God in our lives, we have the power of God available to us.
When we have the Presence of God in our lives, people around us can feel the Presence of the Lord in us.
When we have God's Presence in our lives, people close to us can also be changed.
That is why God's presence is more important than anything else.
And when we have the abiding presence of God, he will be pleased with us.
Here are some verses about the Presence of God.
When we know God's Presence, we take the path of life.
Psalms 16:11 (NIV) "You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
In order to receive God's Presence, we must seek Him with all our hearts.
Jer. 29:13 (NIV) "13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
We must never take another step in our lives if God is not there.
We must never take another step in our business, in our relationship and in our plans when God's Presence is missing.
Let us therefore desire for more of God's presence each day through our regular worship and devotion.
This will gain the approval of God.
3. HE DESIRED FOR GOD'S GLORY.
Exodus 33:18 18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
The third thing that we can learn from Moses is that he desired for God's glory.
Not man's glory but God's glory.
Again, there is a big difference.
Man's glory will be for a short time, but God's glory is for eternal.
And then, God answered: "I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you..."
Then, the Lord explained carefully how this will happen.
God said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
"When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
Then, I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must no be seen."
It was the glory of God that Moses desired.
God allowed it to happen as He passed by.
It was enough for Moses to enjoy the glory of God.
In the same manner, seeing for the glory of God should be the single most important desire for every Christian.
All the other desires should be subservient to this.
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 11:36 (NIV) "For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."
This should be our delight.
This should be our aim and utmost ambition.
"To Him be glory forever."
We can desire for material things, but these material things should bring glory to Him not to us.
When we desire for God's glory, we will be he happiest people on earth.
We will be the most fulfilled, the most satisfied and the most contented people on earth.
After all, that is why we are here on earth.
The chief purpose of man is to glorify Him.
And so, have you glorified God in your life?
Have you glorified God in your love life?
Have you glorified God in your career?
Have your glorified God in your business?
Have you glorified God in your family?
Desire for God's glory and God will be pleased with you.
Here are several Scriptures concerning God's glory:
1 Cor. 10:31 (NIV) "31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Phil. 2:9-11 (NIV) "9
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Isa. 60:1 (NIV) "“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
Let us summarize.
God was pleased with Moses because
Moses desired for God's Ways.
Moses desired for God's Presence and
Moses desired for God's Glory.
Remember: I don't need everybody's approval to be happy.
I need only God's approval to be happy.
"Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close." Palms 27:10 (NLT)
