MOSES: FROM DOUBT TO DELIVERANCE
A SECOND CHANCE
Sunday October 6, 2002
Scripture Reference: Exodus 3:1-10
Intro.
A. God Prefers Failures.
1. Did you know that? That God prefers failures? I know that it sounds strange and it goes against everything our society teaches us but it is true none the less. God prefers failures. Allow me to share with you some examples.
a) Abraham. Wait a minute you say Abraham was not a failure. He was even willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac because God told him to. He left the only place he knew as home and traveled as God lead him not even knowing where he was going. Yes but we also read in the story of Abraham where he lied, on several occasions to save his own skin. You will find those in Genesis 12 and Genesis 20. But even though Abraham did this he still came to be known as “The Friend Of God”. Failure isn’t final.
b) How about Jacob? He was a chiseler and cheat early on in his life. His name means deceiver. He cheated his brother out of his birthright and later lied about who he was to his father so that he could receive that blessing. Yet later on after a struggle with God he is renamed Israel and God used him mightily.
c) I won’t recall all the events of these people but what about David? An adulterer, a liar, and murder, who later was called a man after God’s own heart. Then there was Peter, he denied with curses that he even knew Jesus and yet God used him to raise up the New Testament church. So much for God not wanting failures on His team.
2. Let me share with you a true story about Thomas Edison: I suppose one might regard Thomas Edison as one of the world’s greatest failures. This man tried more than a thousand different light bulbs until he got it right. Have you ever failed at something a thousand times before you got it right? If you had, your name might be right up there with that of Thomas Edison.
Actually Edison didn’t think of these failed experiments as failures. He
regarded them as steps in a long process. But late in his life something
happened to Thomas that would have defeated a lesser man.
Thomas Edison’s son Charles, one-time governor of New Jersey, tells the
story. On the night of December 9, 1914, Edison Industries was virtually
destroyed by fire. Edison lost two million dollars that night and much of his life’s work went up in flames. He was insured for only $238,000, because the buildings had been made of concrete, at that time and were thought to be fireproof.
Charles was 24; Thomas was 67. The young man ran about frantically,
trying to find his father. Finally he came upon him, standing near the fire, his face ruddy in the glow, his white hair blown by the December winds.
"My heart ached for him," Charles Edison said. "he was 67 - no longer a
young man - and everything was going up in flames. He spotted me. ’Charles,’ he shouted, ’where’s your mother?’ I don’t know, Dad,’ I said. ’Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this again as long as she lives.’"
The next morning, walking about the charred embers of all his hopes and
dreams, Thomas Edison said, "There is great value in disaster. All our
mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew."
B. My friends, I don’t know what it does for you but it ought to serve as a source of tremendous encouragement to know that God’s preferred plan is to use people who are considered by most to be failures. That no matter what you have done God can and still does want to use you.
1. Before we move into the text of this message let me take you back to
that question I asked as we began this series. “How does God want to use you in this day?” Even if you feel that you are a failure, our God is a God of second chances. Let’s learn today how Moses was given a second chance to fulfill God’s destiny in his life. Let’s read Exodus 3:1-10 (read).
Trans. Notice with me first of all that this was a common place encounter.
I. THE COMMON PLACE ENCOUNTER.
Read with me again the words from V.1 (read). We would say that this was a day like any other day.
A. A Day Like Any Other.
1. Here is a place where I want to say to those of you who are familiar with this story that we need to try and read this as if we were seeing it for the first time. We tend to miss so much of the majesty and mystery of what God did here and what He wants to do in our lives because we are to familiar with some of these stories.
2. Here is Moses out on the backside of the desert. Undoubtedly Moses has been here before. Remember that this is the end of his forty years in God’s Wilderness University. There is little doubt in my mind that Moses has made many trips to this place to tend the sheep of Jethro. He has probably picked out a favorite place to sleep at night and he knows where to find shade when the midday heat begins to bake your body.
3. When Moses woke up this morning there was no heavenly messenger to tell him that something special was about to happen to him. I imagine he got up as he always did, combed his hair, trimmed his beard. I imagine he brewed up a cup of coffee and as he sat there he probably thought about the day ahead. A day like any other, a day that would be filled with the sounds of bleating sheep.
4. Can I say to you that these are the places where God normally chooses to speak to us? In the common ordinary routines of life. Think about your own experiences. Hasn’t it been the case that when God spoke to you, when God did something extraordinary in your life it was just an ordinary day? You were just getting up and getting ready for work. It was just another trip to the supermarket or to the doctor’s office. It was in the normal everyday routines of life that God chose to come to you in an extraordinary way.
Trans. Look at what happens on this ordinary day V.2 (read). Now as this was just an ordinary day in the life of Moses this was also an ordinary bush.
B. The Bush Was Not Unique.
1. The word for “Bush” that is used here refers to the acacia shrub that was a common everyday variety of shrub to this area. When I was growing up we might have called a bush like this a “Tumbleweed”. Moses had seen more than his fair share of these bushes, and he had undoubtedly seen them burn. In fact he had probably used some of them for kindling to start a fire to keep him warm on those cold desert winter nights. But there was something different this time. Not in the bush but in what has happening to the bush.
2. It burned but did not burn up. And not only that but God appeared to him in the bush. ** Here is what I want you to see in this scripture. God wants to speak to us, He wants to reveal His will for our lives to us, and he will often do that by using common ordinary things in extraordinary ways. [] Traffic accidents happen every day of the week. But God used a traffic accident in my life to get my attention and direct me back to His will for my life. To be a pastor. [] People lose their jobs everyday of the week, it is a common experience but often times God wants to use that event to get our attention. I am not saying that in every such event is God trying to get our attention but we ought to be alert and ready to listen in case it is.
Trans. Now let’s see what we can learn from Moses’ response to God’s revelation to him.
II. THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S CALL.
Once God makes His move in your life the next move is up to you.
A. It’s Your Move.
1. Look at V.3 (read). Once again, Moses has seen his fair share of bushes burn, but this was different and he took time to go and see what was going on. I would suggest to you that he put himself in the place where God was able to speak to him.
2. Now I think a key word in this whole story is found in V.4, “When”. You see at this time Moses does not know what is going on. It’s a bush that is burning and it’s burning longer than he had seen one burn before. Now you and I know the story and we know that God is in the bush but Moses didn’t. When is it that Moses discovers that this is God in this thing? When he turns to take a look. What did Moses do? He turned aside from his normal routine. He gave his attention to an extraordinary event.
3. What will it take for God to get your attention? And I do not mean for a few minutes or a few weeks or even a few years. What will it take for God to get yours and my attention so that we will turn to Him forever? It seems like it is getting harder and harder for God to get people’s attention these days. There are events like 9/11, planes crashes, earthquakes, fires, but still we seem to carry on as usual after the first emotional impact is over.
4. When Moses turned aside that day, even though he did not realize it at the time he was entering into God’s destiny for him. You and I can do the very same thing right now. Does God have something to say to you today on this ordinary Sunday from this ordinary preacher? Will you turn aside to hear what He has to say?
Trans. Notice also that Moses became available.
B. Your Availability.
1. Look again at the last part of V.4 (read). “Here I am” it quite literally means, “It’s me”. What this is the answer of a servant’s heart. Last week we learned that Moses learned the lesson of Obscurity. In Egypt he was somebody. He was groomed in all the elements of Egypt’s high society. But after forty years in the desert he had been humbled and was in fact at the place where God could finally use him.
2. Moses did not say when the Lord spoke to him, “Oh Lord I am so glad you called. I am the man you have been looking for. Here is a list of all my credentials and accomplishments. You need someone to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt? You came to the right man.” NO! Moses just answers God with a simple “Here I am”. My friend that is all God wants from any of us. He just wants to know that we are available to do whatever He may ask, to go wherever he may lead, to say whatever he asks us to say. ARE YOU AVAILABLE?
Trans. Now notice something else God needs from us.
C. Your Separation.
1. Look again at V.5 (read). Why remove his sandals? The reason was that God wanted nothing between himself and Moses. “Holy” literally means to separate or set apart. God wants nothing in our lives that will obstruct the relationship He wants to have with us. Remember, He is a jealous God. He wants us to listen to Him and Him alone.
2. I think there were some other things that God wanted Moses to be separated from that he also wants us separated from. One of those would be our past, with all of its failures, with all of its disappointments and sin. I think God wanted Moses to realize that this was a day of new beginnings for him. He had failed before but God works miracles with failures. God wants you to see that as well. Maybe you blew it BIG TIME this week. Maybe you spent most of this week with your back turned on God. God is in the business of forgiveness and restoration. That’s what He wants to do for you today! He will take your sins and separate them from you as far as the east is from the west.
3. Look what God does with Moses V.6-10 (read). In V.6 Moses hides his face. I believe that Moses had some idea of his destiny back when he was in Egypt. Look at 2:11-14 (read). But he tried to implement God’s plan on Moses’ timetable and it failed miserably. I think this is why he buried his face in his hands. But look at V.10 (read). Did you see it? God told Moses that He is the God of second chances. “Yes Moses, you blew it before.” “You tried to take the bull by the horns and do this thing your way and you failed, but my plans for you have not changed.” “You are still the one I want to use to deliver my people.” WOW! IT’S THAT TERRIRIFC?!
Trans. Let me give you a few life lessons.
LIFE LESSONS:
A. Any Old Bush Will Do.
1. Let me share with you Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” You and I are clay pots, or in the imagery of Ex.3 we are scraggly old bushes, but God uses Clay pots and scraggly old bushes. You see it is NOT the Bush and it is NOT the pot. It is what is in the bush and what is in the pot that matters. Paul said we have this TREASURE in jars of clay. It is Christ in you that enables you to rise from ruin and failure.
B. Don’t Run Ahead.
1. That is what Moses tried to do back there in Ex. 2:11-14. He tried to go before he was even sent. [] I remember guys in Bible College who just didn’t want to wait until graduation to enter into ministry. Some of them dropped out to try and pastor churches. Many of them failed. They wanted to go before they were sent.
C. Don’t Give Up After A Failure.
1. You are going to have failures; you just have to face that reality. But what you also need to know is that in God’s book your failures just make you more qualified.
D. Don’t Resist God’s Call.
1. We are going to spend some time next week looking at how Moses did
this. If you resist God’s call you may find yourself spending a long time in one of those Wilderness University classes.
ARE YOU READY TO SAY YES TO GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE?
