Illus: One lady gave her excuse for why she does not attend church. She said, "I don't go to church, and this is my reason:
• If I go some of the time, it makes me want to go all the time.
• And since I can't go all the time, it makes me feel guilty when I miss some of the time.
• So I don't go any of the time, and this keeps me from feeling guilty when i miss going some of the time."
Now, that's a real excuse, isn't it? (Moore, James W. Yes, Lord I Have Sinned, But I Have Some Excellent Excuses. Nashville: Abington Press, 1991)
You have to admire some people because if they are going to do something, they are going to do a good job. And we have people who have gotten so good at excuse making, they have built their lives around making excuses.
But when people build their lives around excuses, they are doing a very dangerous thing.
• Benjamin Franklin said this about excuses; "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."
• Washington Carver said, “Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
But not only have some of the great men and women said enlightening things about excuses, so has the Word of God.
Look at Luke 14:15-20. We read, “And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
These excuses are as ridiculous as the ones we hear today. These verses described a man who made a great supper, only to find that:
• One guest could not come because he was recently married
• One guest could not come because he had to prove five yoke of oxen
• One guest could not come because he had just purchased a piece of ground
Throughout the ages, people have given all kinds of excuses as to why they can not follow the Lord Jesus.
Even the great man Moses, gave God all kinds of excuses why he could not do what God asked him to do.
God desired to use Moses to deliver the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. But Moses was like many of us in this congregation, HE WAS FULL OF EXCUSES!
This was a BIG ASSIGNMENT, and Moses began to give God some BIG EXCUSES for why he could not do it.
Notice, the first excuse he used was -
I. HE WAS UNWORTHY
Exo. 03:11, “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Let’s look at the first excuse Moses used.
A. THE EXCUSE
Moses asks, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh..."
Now we mortals can certainly relate to what Moses said. God is not asking him to go to a normal man, but to the Pharaoh of Egypt. He was the most powerful man on the face of the earth.
This is why Moses said, “Who am I that I should GO TO PHARAOH.
WHY DID MOSES FEEL THIS WAY?
• Moses came from a nation of slaves, and might have considered himself unworthy for that reason.
• Moses recognized that Pharaoh could give the word and he was history.
But one thing for sure, he felt God was making a mistake to call him to do such a job. But God does not make mistakes, God never calls us to do something we cannot do.
Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Illus: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” (Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 2.)
When we give God these excuses, we are telling Him we know more than He knows, and that he has made a big mistake to ask us to do such a thing.
That is exactly what Moses was telling God!
When God calls us, we can often think of things that make us unworthy to serve Him.
But if God calls us to do something, the only thing that keeps us from doing it is usually some ridiculous excuse.
Moses said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh..?" This is not humility, THIS IS AN EXCUSE!
His excuse may seem plausible, but it WAS NOT! If someone is looking for excuse, one excuse is as good as another.
Illus: For example, a man did not like carrots. He gave these statistics as reasons why he did not eat carrots.
• Nearly all sick people have eaten carrots. Obviously the effects are cumulative.
• An estimated 99.9% of all people who die from cancer and heart disease have eaten carrots.
• 99.9% of people involved in car crashes ate carrots within 90 days of their accidents.
• 93.1% of juvenile delinquents come from homes where carrots are served regularly.
• Among people born in 1839 who ate carrots, there has been a 100% mortality rate. (Life Reach Newsletter, Jan. 1992, p. 1.)
So we might use these statistics as a reason to never eat carrots.
Moses felt that he had an excuse, he felt HE WAS NOT WORTHY! Look at-
B. GOD’S ANSWER
Exo. 3:12 “And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”
God was saying, “You think Pharaoh is great and you are no match for Him. That is true! But Pharaoh is no match for me.” God's answer is very simple, "I WILL BE WITH THEE."
We all go through life:
• Wanting our family to be with us
• Wanting our friends to be with us
But most of all we want to know that God is with us.
Illus: Listen, a man might pastor a church and his people are not with him. This is not good! This makes his job even more difficult.
But the most important thing for Him to know is this; if God called Him to do a job, GOD IS WITH HIM. We are all unqualified in one way or another, but when God calls us, He will be with us to enable us.
Moses’ excuse was HE WAS UNWORTHY. But when people do not want to do something, and give an excuse, if that excuse does not work, they go on to the next one. Look at his next excuse-
II. HE WAS UNLEARNED
Exo. 3:13 “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? WHAT SHALL I SAY UNTO THEM?”
Moses was saying, “Lord, I am not only UNWORTHY, I am UNLEARNED!
A. THE EXCUSE
Moses pleaded IGNORANCE! He said he did not know what to say to these people.
Ignorance can at times be cute.
• Jolen Schable tells about their little daughter Tristina was having trouble distinguishing right from left. "Just remember," I told her, "the hand that you 'write' with is your 'right' hand." She seemed to understand, so I logically asked, "So what would your other hand be?" To which Tristina gave the logical answer: "The one I erase with." (Jolene Schable, Tygh Valley, Oregon. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom.")
• That reminds us of the CEO who was scheduled to speak at an important convention, so he asked one of his employees to write a 20-minute speech for him. When the CEO returned from the big event, he was furious. "What's the idea of writing an hour-long speech for me?", he demanded. "Half the audience walked out before I finished." Jenkins was baffled. "I wrote a 20-minute speech for you," he replied. "I also gave you the two extra copies you asked for."
• Another good example of raw ignorance was when our Census Bureau was comparing notes relating to their recent national nose-counting. One of them said that he knocked on a door in west Texas, and explained to the lady of the house what the census was all about. He said, "Madam, every ten years the federal government tries to find out how many men, women and children live in the United States." The lady said, "You came to the wrong house, mister. I sure don't know!" -- Associated Press, 3-21-91
But there are some folks who are not ignorant, they just use ignorance as an excuse to disobey God. Even Moses, the great man of God, used ignorance for an excuse. He said, “…WHAT SHALL I SAY UNTO THEM?”
Look at-
B. GOD’S ANSWER.
Look at Exodus 3:14-15, we read, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
God gave Moses the answer that was needed. God will help our ignorance when we are truly serving Him.
Moses felt that he couldn’t obey God because HE WAS UNWORTHY, UNLEARNED, and -
III. HE WAS UNAUTHORIZED
That is, unauthorized in the eyes of the people, not the eyes of God.
Exo. 4:1 “And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.”
A. THE EXCUSE
Moses is afraid that the people will not follow his leadership. In verse 1 he is saying:
• THEY WILL NOT BELIEVE ME
• THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME
• THEY WILL SAY I'M LYING
B. GOD’S ANSWER
God gives Moses various signs that would prove that Moses had authority.
God said to him, “I will make them believe you.”
• I WILL TURN A ROD INTO A SNAKE Vss. 2-5
• A HAND WILL BECOME LEPROUS AND THEN NORMAL AGAIN Vss. 6-8
• WATER WILL TURN INTO BLOOD Vs. 9
Moses told God that he was UNWORTHY, UNLEARNED, UNAUTHORIZED, and -
IV. HE WAS UNABLE
Exo. 4:10 “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”
A. THE EXCUSE
Moses said he wasn’t ELOQUENT! Moses claimed to be "slow of speech".
B. GOD’S ANSWER
Exo. 4:11-12 “And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”
God answered by reminding Moses that God was his creator, and that God would be with his mouth and would teach him what to say.
Moses had many excuses. He said he was UNWORTHY, UNLEARNED, UNAUTHORIZED, UNABLE and then he finally told God-
V. HE WAS UNAVAILABLE
Exo. 4:13 “And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.”
A. THE EXCUSE
• Moses had seen the glory of God in the burning bush
• God talked with Moses intimately
• God answered all of Moses' objections
In spite of all this, in verse 13, Moses basically says to God, "Send anybody but me!"
B. GOD’S ANSWER
Exo. 4:14a “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses,...”
This prompted God's anger. He promised that Moses would have help from his brother Aaron. Later, Aaron would cause Moses problems.
At this point Moses decided it was time to say "Yes", and start to obey God (Vs. 18).
Conclusion:
There are people in this congregation that will stand before the Lord as complete failures, unless they learn to quit living their lives hiding behind excuses.
Through the years, people have given some ridiculous excuses if they did not want to do something. But I am here to tell you that God is not going to accept those excuses.
Some of you can look back on your life this week, and there are things you know God wanted you to do, but you did not do them. Just because you think you concocted a flimsy excuse, you think that is the end of it, BUT IT IS NOT! For example:
• Some of you were surrounded by lost people this week, but you have excuses for why you did not witness to one of them.
• You had hundreds of hours to do good deeds, but you have excuses for why you never did one good deed.
• You could have done all kinds of things around the church. You could have washed windows, cleaned classrooms and bathrooms, or beautified the flower beds, but you have excuses for why you did not do these things.
• You had hours you could have spent in prayer for the lost and for loved ones, but you have excuses for why you did not do this.
• You had hours to spend in the precious Word of God, but you have excuses for why you did not.
Can’t you see that you are living a life of selfishness, when you hide behind excuses?
There is a difference between a REASON and an EXCUSE.
• A REASON is something that keeps us from doing what we would like to do.
• An EXCUSE is something we concoct in our minds to keep us from doing what we should do.
It is going to be rough on many professing Christians, as they stand before the Lord and give account to Him for all the ridiculous excuses they gave, so they could live their selfish life the way they wanted to, instead of the way He wanted them to.
I. HE WAS UNWORTHY
II. HE WAS UNLEARNED
III. HE WAS UNAUTHORIZED
IV. HE WAS UNABLE
V. HE WAS UNAVAILABLE
