You've Got To Be Kidding Series

MOSES: FROM DOUBT TO DELIVERANCE

YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING?

Sunday October 13, 2002

Scripture Reference: Exodus 3:10-22

Intro.

A. Last week learned some very encouraging truths. For one thing we learned that God prefers failures. God is not going to and frow throughout he earth looking for “Superstars” to employ in His service. Let me give you a very powerful and encouraging verse of scripture that I would challenge you to memorize. It is found in 2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…” Notice what God is looking for, “…those whose hearts are FULLY committed to him…” Now most of us would think that God is searching the earth for those who are really good looking. Those who are slim and trim and have muscles bulging out all over the place. Those who have never known the joy of acne, or vision enhancement devices, better known as glasses. Or those who are extremely intelligent, who score over the 1500 mark on their SATs. Who have more letters after their names than letters IN their names. Those who are powerful and persuasive in speech. Who, as we like to say, “Could sell ice to an Eskimo”.

1. But these are NOT the people God is looking for. The bible gives us abundant evidence that God is looking for people who in the eyes of most of the world are failures. People whom most of us would not trust with any task of significance.

B. The second truth we learned last week that I hope we will all take to heart and apply to our lives is that God gives us a second chance. Moses had really blown it when he tried to be God’s deliverer before it was God’s time for him to do so. He failed miserably and ended up in the desert for forty years tending sheep. But God was not finished with him yet and my friends, no matter what you failures have been God is not finished with you either.

1. Today we are going to see that even though God appeared to Moses and offered him this second chance to do what God had planned for him from the beginning. Moses was still stubborn and unwilling. Boy I am sure glad that I can’t relate to Moses there, Ha Ha.

2. Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why are we so resistant to a God who loves us so very much?” We know as we have repeated so may times from Jeremiah 29:11 that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, but we can still be incredibly resistant to those plans.

Trans. Let’s see what we can learn from the life of Moses that will help us to become compliant with God rather than resistant to Him. What I want to do today is focus first of all on Moses’ first objection to God’s plan, then we will look at four of his excuses that he gives to God for not wanting to join in this plan. First of all Moses simple says:

I. I CAN’T DO THIS!

Look again at what Moses said in V. 11 (read). I think the best paraphrase of this is simply, “I can’t do this.” Now I also believe there are times when we say, “I can’t do this.” When what we actually mean is “I won’t do this.” I think we need to be very careful that our attitudes are truly humble and not belligerent. Let me give you three things that I think we can see in what Moses said here.

A. Moses Wouldn’t Let Himself Believe.

1. Let me point out to you what I have tried to say several times through out this series. We need to get ourselves back there with Moses where we experience what is happening for the first time. This whole thing has been pretty incredible for Moses to comprehend. God has appeared to him in this miraculous way and told him that he has seen all that is going on with the Hebrew children and that he is now poised to deliver them.

2. Then what does God say? In V. 10 God says to Moses “I am sending you…” Can I just point out to you here that at this point Moses difficulty is not with God’s plan to deliver the Hebrew children. ** Here is where the rubber meets the road, as we like to say. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We all like that, we all say “Amen” and “Praise The Lord”, but we are a lot like the story Dr. Burch told us a few weeks ago. (let her walk, let her run, let her fly). Then God says to us, “I want to use you to do this” and we say, “Wait a minute Lord. That was not what I was so excited about.”