MOSES DEFINING MOMENT
Ex. 2:11-15/Heb. 11:24-27
Intro:
1. John bumped into Marilyn at the store. He had not seen her in about 7 years. Marilyn had cancer. They talk for a while and as she departed she said, “Come and see me sometime.” About a month later he thought about Marilyn and felt burdened to give her a call. He put off calling for several weeks and when he finally got around to it he was told that she was in the hospital. After several more weeks of procrastination, he head for the hospital to visit Marilyn. As he was walking toward her room the met her husband, who said, “John, thanks for coming. Marilyn died an hour ago.” John said, “As he hugged me, like I deserved it or something. I felt like a slug. But right then I made up my mind that I would never put off what I sensed the Lord was leading me to do.”
2. John had what is called a Defining Moment, a life-changing decision that changed the direction of his life. Many times a life-changing moment does not happen at a point in time, but over a period of time.
Trans: Exodus 2:11-15, but first we have to go to Heb. 11:24-27 to see his Defining Moment. Our passage is merely the results of that moment.
I. FIRST, IT BEGINS WITH A WORD FROM GOD. Heb. 11:24a
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter – this means he received a word from God (Rom. 10:17).
Trans: As we are daily into God’s Word, God begins to speak to our hearts through His word. It often takes several weeks to figure out exactly what He is saying to us. George Murray was a British soldier who found himself in Alexandria without water. George recalled reading that Julius Caesar had run into the same problem, in almost the same location. He had a copy of that book in his pack and read that they found water by digging deep into the sand. He and his troops began to dig in the sand and soon found life saving water. That is how it works with the Word of God. We get into it and it gets into us. Perhaps God spoke to Moses from those passages we looked at last week – Gen. 15:12-21; 50:24, 25.
II. FURTHERMORE, BROUGHT A WATERSHED DECISION. 11:24b
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter – Moses was 40 years old (Ac.7:23) at the time. He made a decisive clear decision – he refused to identify with the Egyptians but with God’s people. Patrick Morley, “Every man must answer the question, “Who’s in control…The [defining moment] comes when we turn from self to God. We commit ourselves to accept God’s calling for our lives, and we will not discover that calling if we are consumed by our own agenda.” See Eph. 2:10.
The work that God prepared Moses for was delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. God also has a specific work for all of us to do! He has gifted us for a specific work. But it’s deeper than being committed to a certain work, it is a commitment to God (Mt. 5:16).
Bobby Darin had a number #3 hit song in 1963 called "You're the Reason I'm Living"
“You're the reason I do things
You're the things that I do
You're the reason I'm living
I'd be lost without you”
When He becomes the only reason were living, we will experience a defining moment.
III. NEXT, IT MEANT A BREAK FROM THIS WORLD.
A. Thus a loss of Safety. 25a
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God – as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son he was protected by the Egyptian army. By refusing to be called Pharaoh’s son, he choose to suffer. If we choose to turn our back on this world, the god of this world will come against us (1 Pet. 5:8). When we yield to our calling it will involve suffering (1 Pet.2:21). We cannot radically follow Christ and play it safe! And yet what is more safe then trusting God! It may seem that the world, money, and people can give us more safety then God, but that is an illusion! This world will think it’s safe when the antichrist comes (1 Thess. 5:3). It’s like fearing to fly in an airplane. Many think it would be much safer to get somewhere by car. I read, “Commercial airline travel is 30 times safer than transportation by car. It may not seem that way when you’re in a Boeing 747 at 35,000 feet. However, out of 5 million scheduled commercial flights in 1982, only five resulted in fatal accidents. Being carried by tons of metal thrust through the air by huge jet engines is actually safer than being pulled along in an 8-cylinder machine that never leaves the ground.” Loss of the Safety the world can provide might seem risky but in reality safety is found only in the will of God. Prov. 18:10; 29:25
B. A loss of Sensuality. 25b
than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin – Egypt had a lot of earthly pleasures to offer Moses. He turned them all down – but all earthly pleasures are passing pleasures.
Butler, “Wine, women, and song were readily available in the palace anytime Moses wanted them. But he refused these illicit pleasures. Moses wisely saw that these pleasures, though great they may be, were only for a short time, especially when compared to eternity. He saw beyond the temporal and the emptiness of worshipping at the altar of worldly pleasures.”
Something I wrote down years ago, I do not know who wrote it but it depicts world pleasure.
“O world what a deceiver you are! How quickly you can shrink and fade for us into nothingness; in a brief moment, by one single blow on the head, or a fever in the blood, or an attack of the heart, and we are through with you forever, and your vain show is over. Yet how you do seduce us with your flattery and charm us with your painted face, so that, in our blind infatuation and flaming lust for you, for just one little moment of your unreal corruptive joys we forget our God and forgo eternal rewards.”
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17
C. A loss of Security. 26a
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward – Moses would have been set for life! Retirement with a full pension; 100% medical coverage; guaranteed employment; unlimited supply of groceries; clothes, gold, and the newest chariot model.
F. B. Meyers, “What a magnificent land Egypt must have been in those days. The atmosphere was rainless; the Nile River brought from afar the rich soil that bore corn enough to feed the world; the banks of the river were covered with cities, villages, stately temples, and all the evidences of an advanced civilization. If Moses wished for anything, the wealth of the treasures of Egypt was within his reach.”
But the only real security is in God and apparently he knew it! We play such foolish games, the former Mayor of N.Y city, Mayor Bloomberg was so smug about Chick-Fil-A and made know his opposition to their stand against homosexual marriage. I’m sure he has a good pay-check, good retirement, and an arrogant attitude the he and his city is secure. But that didn’t stop hurricane Sandy! Turn on the TV and you’ll see how secure they are!
Trans: Moses had a Defining moment, which caused him to break with the World system (Rom. 12:2). D. L. Moody had such a defining moment. He heard a challenging sermon, in which the preacher said, “The world is yet to see what God will do with, and for, and through, and in, and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. Moody took those words to heart, later he wrote, “He said ‘a man,’ he did not say a wise man; nor an eloquent man; nor a rich man, but simply a man. I am a man, and I will try my utmost to be that man!” See 2 Chron. 16:9.
George Mueller said, "I was converted in November, 1825, but I only came into the full surrender of the heart four years later, in July, 1829. The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you are taken up irrespective of God? I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh, be not satisfied until in your own inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!"
IV. FOURTH, IT CAUSED HIM TO BASE HIS LIFE ON ANOTHER WORLD.
A. An Eternal world. See, Heb. 11:1,6,10, 16,26
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward – he lived life with eternity in mind. Hudson Taylor, “He is no fool, who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain, what he cannot lose.” This world offers us nothing of real value (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Back in October of 1982, in Badger Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, more than 60 thousand die-hard University of Wisconsin supporters were watching their football team take on the Michigan State Spartans. Their team was losing big time! Yet there were busts of joy and applause coming from the Wisconsin fans. How could they cheer when their team was losing? Because some 70 miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the 1982 World Series. Many of the fans in Badger Stadium were listening to the world series game on their portable radios and responding to something other than the visible game before them. We have eyes of faith that allows us to penetrate into another world, and it causes us joy no matter what is going on in this physical one!
B. An Invisible God. 11:27
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible – Neither Moses nor you or I can see God (1 Pet. 1:6-8). And yet – WE SEE GOD! We do that by faith (Rom. 1:20/ Col. 1:15/1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16). If I could bring my great-grandfather back from the dead. And tell him about a flat screen box, in which he can see sports events, music, news, movies, places around the world he would think that I lost my mind. But reality is, all those images are in the air! Just because we cannot see them, does not mean that they are not there. And everybody here knows that what I am saying is true. And, God is here and He is real! But unless you have your antennae of faith up and tuned into station J-e-s-u-s, you cannot get the reception.
Trans: We need to learn to live above “See Level!” You say sure Moses had the burning bush experience and being up on Mt. Sinai with God, this seeing God is BEFORE the burning bush or Mt. Sinai! We don’t have to see a bush burn to see God! It’s by faith in that which is not seen!
Tozer, “To most people God is not a reality…Yet, the same terms used to express the knowledge of God are used to express physical things. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psa.34:8); “All Your garments smell of myrrh…”; My sheep hear my voice” (Jn. 10:27); “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Mt. 5:8)…What can all this mean except that we have in our regenerated hearts a way to know God that is as certain as the way we know material things through the 5 senses?” Then what’s the problem! He goes on to say, “Our chronic unbelief! A spiritual kingdom lies all about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within our reach. God Himself is here, waiting our response to His presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its reality…The great Reality is God! God and the spiritual world are real! Our problem is that we habitually think of the visible as real and doubt the reality of any other. The visible has become the enemy of the invisible; the temporal of the eternal. The object of the Christian faith is unseen reality!”
V. FINALLY, BUT THERE WAS TEMPORARY WOE. Ex.2:11-15
Observation: Moses had the right plan but he used the wrong method to bring it about! We cannot do God’s will in our way! We cannot use fleshly means to accomplish spiritual things. A Defining Moment can turn into a Dumb moment! Why? Because we think we immediately have to do something, when we simply need to trust Someone. The key is not to worry about Doing but waiting on God to show us the next step.
A. His Fit. 11-12
11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way [he should have looked upward!], and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand – Moses like all of us had a besetting sin, that he needed to deal with – his was anger. Ex. 11:8, 11; 32:19, 21-22/ Num. 20:7-12
Trans: A Defining Moment does not turn us into Perfect people! No experience can cause you to lose you old sin nature. That is not to excuse our sin, Moses could have had victory over his fleshly anger but he choose not to (1 Cor. 10:13). But no one reaches perfection in this life. Howard Hendricks was speaking at a conference in Dallas, and asked the question of the audience of 2000, “Do you know someone who is perfect?” He was about to go on, when he noticed a lone hand raised in the back of the auditorium. Hendricks asked, “Are you perfect, or do you know someone who is?” The man replied, “Oh, no, I’m not perfect. But as far as I can tell, my wife’s first husband was.”
B. The Fight. 13-14\
13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, "Why are you striking your companion?" 14 Then he said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" So Moses feared and said, "Surely this thing is known!" – what was he planning on doing – delivering Israel, one Egyptian at a time! This was sin – and he tried to cover his sin in the sand. You cannot cover sin. 1 Jn.1:9
C. His Flight. 15
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well – because he didn’t wait on God, humanly speaking, he set God’s program of deliverance back 40 years! Things don’t always go the way we want but it’s always our fault! We have to get sin permission. Reminds me of a mother who was informed by her child that his class would be picking names out of a hat to see who would get the class tarantula. The thought of having that spider in her house was unnerving – but there were 43 kids in his class, what was the odds that he would pick the winning number. Later the boy came home with the huge spider! She said, “Son, you mean to tell me out of 43 kids you got the winner number!” He said, “Not exactly, I was the only kid in the class who’s parent signed the permission note!”
Con:
1. Let’s pray God would give us a Defining Moment – where we would began to get serious about Jesus Christ.
2. I read about a woman who taught children in a wealthy part of the city. To get there she walked past a slum area of the city. One day she was walking past that area, when she heard a woman cry out for help. She rushed her to the hospital, but was told to take a seat. She waited and waited, the woman was getting sicker and sicker! So she took her to another hospital and was told the same thing, take a seat. After waiting for hours, she took the sick woman to her home and sought to give her comfort. And that night she died in the woman’s arms. It was a Defining Moment; she decided she would give her life to comfort such sick and dying woman. The city was Calcutta and that woman’s name became known as Mother Teresa. May God brings us all to a defining moment for the glory of God…
Johnny A Palmer Jr.
