Great Prayers of the Old Testament
Part 5: God Want us to Pray Like Moses Prayed
Exodus 32:1-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared October 19, 2024)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Exodus 32, to see another great prayer in God's Word. In this chapter, Moses had been with the Lord on Mount Sinai for 40 days. It was the miraculous meeting where the LORD God used His own finger to write some of the most important Laws of all time: The Ten Commandments.
*And in Deuteronomy 9:9-10 Moses said, "When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly."
*Unfortunately, things had not gone well while Moses was with the LORD. Down at the foot of Mount Sainai, the LORD's people rushed to rebel against God. After all that God had done for them, they still turned back to the false gods of Egypt. The Bible tells us about it 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.
*Church: 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 here 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.
MESSAGE:
*Moses saved the day for his people. And he did it through prayer! Now Christians, God wants us to pray like Moses prayed. Let's look into this Scripture and see why.
1. FIRST: PRAY LIKE MOSES, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE BLIND TO THE DANGER THEY ARE IN.
*That 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 one true 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 today: They are clueless about the guilt of their sins, clueless about the judgment of God, and clueless about 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. That man was in real need. His life had been one disaster right after the other. And many of those disasters were self-inflicted. But that man had never really tried to turn his life over to God. He had never tried to start following the Lord.
*And Rodney reported that, "As my friend gave a Bible to this person, and encouraged him to read it. He suggested that the man might start by reading the Christmas story, since it was that time of year. Then the man looked at him with real surprise and said, 'You mean the Christmas story is in the Bible?'" (1)
*That kind of cluelessness may sound ridiculous to us, but this is the world we live in today. At the extreme, people don't believe that the Bible is the Word of God. They are in the worst possible danger, the danger of spending all eternity in hell, because no one can be saved without trusting in God's Word.
*Everyone who has ever been saved, was saved by the Word of God. 1 Peter 1:22-25 makes this truth clear when it says this to Christians:
22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
23. having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
24. because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
25. but the word of the Lord endures forever.'' Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
*Rejecting the Bible, rejecting the good news about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ means rejecting your only hope of salvation.
2. PRAY LIKE MOSES, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE BLIND TO THE DANGER THEY ARE IN. ALSO PRAY BECAUSE THERE MAY BE NO OTHER WAY WE CAN HELP.
*Many times, there is nothing else we can do to help people in danger. We see the problem. We see the danger. But there's nothing we can do on our own to help. Think how overwhelmed Moses must have been when he heard the Lord in vs. 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 had called them "My people." But now He is done with them, so "Moses, they now are "your people."
*Next in vs. 8-10 God said:
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 possible way he could fix this problem by himself. Moses couldn't go back in time and undo the wrong that had been done. Plus, Moses wasn't even with the people. He was still on Mount Sinai with the LORD God. But there, Moses did the most important thing we can do: He prayed for mercy from our gracious God.
*In the last part of this chapter, Moses did take firm action against the great sin of idol worship to a golden calf. Three thousand of the worst offenders were put to death by the Levites that day. But still there on Mount Sinai, there was nothing Moses could do. The problem was just too big for him to handle. And we will surely face problems too big for us to handle. That's why author Evangeline Blood said, "It is far more important to pray with a sense of the greatness of God than with a sense of the greatness of the problem." (2)
*God is bigger than all of our problems! That's why Moses took this problem to the Lord in prayer. And that's exactly what God wants us to do!
*A lady once went to Pastor G. Campbell Morgan and told him, "I only take small things to God, because I don't want to worry him with the big things." Dr. Morgan replied, "Lady, anything you bring to God is small." Wonderful truth! -- God is bigger than any problem we will ever face, so we should boldly go to Him for the help we need. Pray for that big breakthrough. (3)
3. PRAY LIKE MOSES, BECAUSE THERE MAY BE NO OTHER WAY WE CAN HELP. AND PRAY BECAUSE THE LORD IS WILLING TO HEAR.
*God is surely willing to hear our prayers! And the Lord is bigger than our problems, but He is not too big for us! He is able and willing to listen to us. God's Word shows this truth 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 force Moses to leave.
*Then, in vs. 11-13 Moses boldly walked through that "open door," and he 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?
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.'''
*Notice that Moses said, "LORD, these are not MY people. They are YOUR people! YOU brought them out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand."
*God heard Moses' prayer, and He will surely hear our unselfish prayers. The LORD 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!" And C. S. Lewis tells us that God "has infinite attention to spare for each one of us." Lewis added, "You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created." (4)
*God is surely willing to hear our prayers. And like Moses, we can boldly go to Him. But how should we do this? How should we boldly come before God?
[1] ONE WAY IS TO PLEAD THE CHARACTER OF GOD.
*That's 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!" Moses pleaded the character of God. -- And so can we. In fact, Hebrews 4:14-16 tells Christians to do this:
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.
[2] HOW SHOULD WE BOLDLY COME BEFORE GOD? PLEAD THE CHARACTER OF GOD. AND PLEAD THE PROMISES OF GOD.
*God has given us many great promises, and He wants us to plead these promises before Him. This is what Moses did in vs. 13 when he prayed for the LORD to "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 is a great way to pray: Find a promise from God, and plead that promise to God. Plead God's promises to Him, because He always keeps His Word. Foreign missionaries have often faced far greater difficulties than most of us. In the 1800s, Hudson Taylor was an English missionary to China. And during one especially trying time, Hudson wrote these faith-filled words to his wife: "We have twenty-five cents. And all the promises of God!" (5)
*Adoniram Judson also had strong faith in the promises of God. He was a devoted Baptist missionary and Bible translator who served in Burma from 1813 to 1850.
*"Adoniram" is a very unusual name to us, but it is a very good name because it is based on the Bible word "Adoni." That Hebrew word is usually translated as "Lord." It is used over 400 times in the Old Testament. Any time you see the word "Lord" in the Old Testament, and it's not in all capital letters, that word is probably "Adoni."
*And Adoniram means "My Lord is exalted," or "My Lord is most high," so it is a good name, and it is certainly the faith-filled way Adoniram lived his life. There he was over in Burma, lying in a filthy jail, simply for telling people about Jesus Christ. His feet were bound to a bamboo pole, with 32 pounds of chains on his ankles.
*Then another prisoner, a non-believer, sarcastically asked, "Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of converting the heathen?" Adoniram instantly replied, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God!" What faith! Adoniram Judson was living in strong faith. (6)
*That's the kind of faith God wants us to have. And we can boldly come before God by pleading both the character of God, and the promises of God.
[3] BUT MOST OF ALL, PLEAD THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST
*As we read in Hebrews 10:19-22:
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. He loves us enough to listen to us. He loved us enough to even die on the cross for our sins! And if God loved us that much, -- He certainly loves us enough to hear our prayers.
*That's why Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" If we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can come boldly to God to find His mercy and grace to help in time of need.
4. SO, PRAY LIKE MOSES, BECAUSE THE LORD IS WILLING TO HEAR. AND PRAY BECAUSE PRAYER WORKS IN AMAZING WAYS.
*Prayer works in amazing ways. Listen again to the example in vs. 13-14 where Moses prayed for God to:
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 completely consumed. Two and a half to three million people were going to be wiped out by the wrath of God. Please listen again to vs. 10 where the LORD said, "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," and this original word means God was sorry. He regretted His anger. He was moved to pity and compassion. And the word picture here is to breathe strongly, like we do when we let out a big sigh.
*Don't you do that sometimes when you let something go? God changed His mind here. And why? -- Only because Moses prayed! God answers prayer!
*Back in 1996, the American Academy of Family Physicians did a survey. And they 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 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." (7)
*Of course, God does not always heal in answer to our prayer. But God surely answers our prayers according to His perfect will, and our unselfish prayers always make a difference. Here is a testimony about another man named Moses. He was a pastor named Moses Lee.
*I did not know him very well, but in 1993, I had the honor of preaching the funeral for Bro. Lee. He was 93 years old when he went home to Heaven, after serving many years as a pastor in Louisiana and Alabama.
*At the graveside, Bro. Lee's son told me something that happened when he was 13 years old. He said they were on the Boeuf River trying to have a baptismal service. The wind was blowing really hard that afternoon. It was so hard that the water had choppy waves on it, and they were afraid to get people into the water, especially the children.
*But Bro. Moses Lee took the problem to the Lord. He led the people in prayer and asked God to calm those waters so the baptismal service could go on. God answered that prayer! Almost immediately, the wind and the waves died down. And they stayed down until the last person was baptized. Then the wind and the waves came back up again.
*Jesus Christ is able to calm any storm. And He cares. Jesus cared about children getting baptized in the Boeuf River, and He cares about us. For reasons we do not understand, Jesus may not calm the storm we are in. But in those times, He will calm the storm in us, so we should always trust in the Lord. And keep trusting Him to answer our prayers in the best possible way.
*God came through for Moses in the Bible. God came through for the Children of Israel. God also came through for Moses Lee and those children waiting to be baptized in the Boeuf River. Jesus Christ came through for them all. And somehow, He will come through for us!
CONCLUSION:
*I promise you: Our prayers will make a difference! But most importantly, God promises us that our prayers will make a difference!
*So Christians: Pray like Moses! Pray believing, because God is willing to hear our prayers. God wants us to pray, and when we get to Heaven, we will see all of the amazing things God did through our prayers. But one more thing: The surest, most wonderful, most life-changing prayer you can ever pray is this: "Lord Jesus, please save my soul." Call on our crucified and risen Savior to save you now, as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) SermonCentral sermon "Christmas through the Eyes of the World" by Rodney Buchanan - John 1:1-14 - Dec. 14, 2003
(2) Author Evangeline Blood - "Men of Integrity" - November/December 2006, p.11/16 - Source: "In Other Words" - November 2008 - #2? - produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
(3) Quote from "Message on The Urban Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans" - 02/18/1998 - Source: SermonCentral sermon "Our God is Not Small" by Alan Stokes - Luke 9:28-36
(4) Sources:
-For Augustine: "WEDDING HOMILIES: 7. Commitment" by Wayne Brouwer - Seven Worlds Corporation, 310 Simmons Road, Knoxville, TN 37922, Copyright 1995
-For C. S. Lewis: "WHY PRAYERS ARE UNANSWERED And What You Can Do About It" by Dr. John Allan Lavender, p. 47
(5) Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 242 - SermonCentral illustration contributed by Lou Nicholes
(6) Sources:
-Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'ADONAI'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915. - https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/adonai/
-"Faith in God makes great optimists." - "The Presbyterian Advance" - Found at Sermonillustrations.com
(7) "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
