Endtime Ministries...
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Message number two in the "Commandoes For Christ" series. We started just with the introduction and last week we differentiated between being `In Christ' which is salvation, and Christ being `In You'. These two go together, of course, if you are `In Christ', then you should realise that Christ is `In You', and He IS in you.
You see what we need to realise is that Christ `in you' is not a second work, or a second blessing as some people would think. It is a first blessing, it is part of salvation just waiting to be appropriated by the Christian. No such thing as a `second blessing'. There is a first blessing, but it is not always appropriated by the Christian. Remember last unit we looked also at that wonderful verse in 1Thessalonians which said "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." (verse 24). And we also looked at the fact that salvation is the start of the obedient Christian life. It is not the end of everything, you don't say "Thank you Lord that you have saved me" and then sit back and do nothing. No. No.
When you are saved, that should be the start of the Christian life.I have entitled this message "Off to a bad start" because many Christians get off to a bad start. They get saved and then they grind to a halt. They go through life neither one thing or the other. Neither wanting the world or really turning away from worldly things either.
We are going to have a look at somebody in the Bible who in a way was just a bit like that. We begin our message right back in Egypt, when the Jews were slaves there. Come with me to the book of Exodus chapter 1. You can put a book-mark in here because we are going to be coming backwards and forwards to Exodus.
We will just fill in a bit of the background. Look at Exodus chapter 1 verse 7: "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." Where is this land? It is down in Egypt.
Verse 8: "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. (9) And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: (10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. (11) Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharoah treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.(12) But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
(13) And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: (14) And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. (15) And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: (16) And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live."
So every Jewish boy that was born was to be killed. Now turn over to Exodus chapter 2. Let us just pick up the story a little further on. Verse 1: "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to a wife a daughter of Levi. (This man's name was Amram and his wife's name was Jochebed). (2) And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. (3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. (4) And his sister stood afar off, (that is Miriam) to wit that would be done to him. (5) And the daughter of Pharaoh - note it is the daughter of Pharaoh - came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children."
How do you think she knew? Obviously, he would have been circumcised, wouldn't he? She knew he was a Hebrew child. Verse 7: "Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? (8) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother."
Isn't God's provision wonderful? She called the child's mother! (9)"And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. (10) And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water."
And you know how the story goes on, forty years passed, Moses goes from being a little baby and becomes a man forty years of age. He grows to be a polished, scholarly man with all the privileges of royalty, he received a magnificent education and he was a trained statesman. He was a soldier, an administrator and he lived in the very courts of Pharaoh. Forty years in the very presence of Pharaoh himself.
Now all this time - we need to know this - Moses knew that he was a Hebrew and that his real place was with the Jewish nation. He knew he wasn't an Egyptian. He knew that 400 years earlier God had promised Abraham He was going to raise up a deliverer for his people to save them from the tyranny of the wicked Pharaoh.
Let us just look back for a moment to Genesis 15. You see Moses knew all these things, he had the best of learning, verse 13: "And he (that is God) said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, (that was Egypt) and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them - how long? - four hundred years. (14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance."
Now Moses knew all of this. How do we know that Moses knew all this? We know this simply by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Acts chapter 7. Let us pick up the story that was told by Stephen. Remember when Stephen was before the Council and he was about to be stoned in Acts 7. And Stephen gives a tremendous message to these people before they stone him to death. And he really does a panoramic summary of what happened back in the olden days, back to the Jews. Verse 20:
"In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. (22) And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. (23) And when he was full forty years old,(note that, "full forty years old" you will see why in a moment) it came into his heart to visit his brethren (note, it is his brethren) the children of Israel.(24)
And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not." You see, Moses supposed that his brethren would understand, but they didn't!
Now let us get a few more details of this event by going back to the first hand account, back in Exodus again. Exodus chapter 2 and let us pick up the story again in verse 11. You are probably saying "What has this got to do with `Commandoes for Christ' and the Christian life? Well, you will see soon.
(11) "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, (how old was he? We have just read in Acts 7, he was forty years old, so life begins at forty, that is when you are fully grown, according to the Bible) that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. (12) and when he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand."
Note, he looked this way and he looked that way, but he didn't look upwards, he looked to the left and to the right and to the front and back but he didn't look up. And incidentally, it said `he hid him in the sand'. Now how do we know he hid him in the sand? Because Moses must have written the Book of Exodus. You see this is another proof that Moses wrote the Book of Exodus, how would he have known if he hadn't done it himself?
Look at verse 13, "And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: (these Jews fight a bit, don't they?) and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? (14) And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest hou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. (15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land if Midian: and he sat down by a well."
Do you see what happened? Here was Moses, by his own account, he knew that God was going to use him to deliver the Hebrews from the Egyptians. And yet within 24 hours, he had totally blown his opportunity. He had muddled it up - all in twenty four hours.
I wonder, are we any different from Moses? I wonder, does God have responsibilities for me and for you, for all of us, only to have us looking that way and looking this way to see what our friends and our neighbours and our fellow men think rather than looking up to God, to Heaven to see what does HE want US to do? It is easy for us to look around and do what we think is right, but do we look up and see what God wants us to do?
Let us not condemn Moses outright. At least he didn't just stand by and watch the Egyptians beating up the Hebrew slaves. But let us also learn a lesson from this. What he did, while he was noble and he was brave, it was not what God wanted him to do. He probably thought when he saw this Egyptian beating up the Hebrew, "this is it, this is the moment when I am to save my people." And I guess he blundered in like a bull in a china shop.
He smote the Egyptian and he tried unsuccessfully to bury him. With the best intentions in the world this man, Moses, God's man, became a murderer instead of a missionary. You think about that! And you realise something, when Moses tried to tackle the job, he couldn't even bury one Egyptian successfully. Maybe he left his toes sticking out of the sand, who knows? But he didn't do a very good job.
What a contrast to God! When God tackled the job a little bit later on, not only did God do the job properly, He buried the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea, just like that. That is how competent God is to deal with His own business.
Now do you see the contrast between human effort and the power of God? Moses was going to do his own thing, he knew that God had told him that he was to lead his people out, but he was trying to do his own thing.
Now can we learn a lesson from this story? We sure can, we should be able to learn a lot of lessons from it. Moses fled from Pharaoh, otherwise he would have been killed. How old was he? 40 years old and for another forty years he lived in the land of Midian. The number forty is the number of testing. This is a time of probation, testing. Another forty years. And let us not forget that Moses was the very man whom God had specifically raised up for a particular task. He was God's man!
Now here he is going out into the wilderness, the desert; but because of Moses own sincerity and enthusiasm, what had he done? He had neutralised his usefulness, he just cancelled it all out. Why? Because he had committed himself to a need, the need of leading these Jews out instead of committing himself to God, and GOD'S will. See the difference? He tried to do God's work in man's way. He had to learn a lesson that I believe we all need to learn, it is not scholarship, it is not how much you know about the Word of God, it is relationship between a person and God.
It is not ability. You see there are people with lots of ability, but it is not ability, it is availability. Availability to whom? To the Living God Himself! There are some people who really, ability-wise, have got very little to offer. But their availability to God is tremendous, and God uses these people.
I wonder, how do we individually, personally, each one of us, myself included, how would we measure up alongside Moses? Are we any worse? So what happened, the next forty years, poor old Moses, the soldier, the scholar, the statesman, the person who was born to be a leader, who was called to be a deliverer for God, what happened to him? He was reduced to tending the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro out in the desert. Look at Exodus chapter 2.
Verse 15: "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. (16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: (note this man is a priest) and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. (17) And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. (18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon today? (Incidentally, notice the name here in verse 18, it is "Reuel". This person, these girl's father, their father's name is Reuel but there are three names in your Bible that are mentioned, "Reuel", that is his name. He is also known as "Jethro" when you look down in chapter 3. "Jethro" is his priestly title and Jethro means "pre-eminence" and don't forget he is a priest of Midian. But he also has a third name by which he is known, it is "Hobab", and this is the affectionate name that Moses and his wife Zipporah called him after their marriage and you will find this over in Numbers. So don't get confused because sometimes a person has two or three names. Reuel and Jethro and Hobab are all the one person.)
(verse 18) "And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon today? (19) And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. (20) And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him that he may eat bread. (21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Now pick up the story down in chapter 3 verse 1:
"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: (same person, you can see it is the same person, he is called the priest of Midian in Exodus 3:1, he also called the priest of Midian in Exodus 2:16 - you must compare Scripture with Scripture.) and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb."
I guess poor old Moses must have felt defeated. I am sure this man knew the meaning of depression and despondency. I mean he had lived for forty years in the courts of Pharaoh, he had everything he wanted there, the best of everything, and here he is now tending some sheep in the back-side of the desert. What a contrast! This man, I am sure would know the meaning of depression and despondency. I wonder how often poor old Moses even contemplated ending it all with suicide? I am sure it must have crossed his mind.
Let me ask you something, as a Christian, do you have times of depression, of despondency? Are you down-hearted, do you have "grey" days or sometimes even "black" days? Well, Moses did!
But let us learn a lesson, to Moses something happened, look at Exodus 3 verse 2: "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (3) And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."
Moses was amazed! He had never, ever seen anything like this before. Here was a bush that burned, and burned and burned and kept on burning and as far as he could see, it could burn on for eternity. I am sure in a way Moses could not help but compare himself to that bush. I mean in his heart, he probably said this "I have never seen a bush like that before!" But I am not like that bush, forty years ago I burned myself out in just 24 hours, just like that, and since then I have been just a heap of ashes, for forty years since. Here I am lost in the back-side of the desert.
There must be something very unusual about that bush, something very unique. He looks at the bush and no doubt he said, "It must be a very wonderful bush". Look at verse 3: "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (4) And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, (note there is the condition,) when the Lord saw that he (Moses) turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I."
Let me ask you a question, when did God call Moses? Was it in verse 2 when he stood afar off admiring the burning bush from a distance? Not at all. God didn't even say a word then. But in verse 4, it is when "he turned aside to see", then God called! Not only that but do you notice that God called him by his name?
I wonder if God has ever spoken to you by your name, I don't mean necessarily audibly, but have you ever known that God said something to you, personally, that you are to do something? If not I wonder if you have ever turned aside, like Moses did, to look?
Do you perhaps wonder why in your Christian life there is not any real driving sort of sense of direction. You are just sort of going around perhaps like a ship with a broken rudder.
Why is there, perhaps, no purpose in your Christian life? Maybe why you just drift along and have no real target, no goal or nothing lined up in view, is because you never turn aside. Moses turned aside, God called him by name. Moses responded to God, do you?
Now I wonder if we, some of us, a lot of us, have been too busy. Maybe a little depressed like Moses and have never turned aside and therefore God has reImagesed silent, never called us by name. Verse 4: "And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. (5) And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. (6) Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."
Let us learn a real lesson from this story, so far. Moses thought that the burning bush was a very remarkable bush and in verse 3 he says, "it is a great sight". And no doubt he thought there was something wonderful, something unique, something special about that bush that it could burn, and burn and go on burning and yet not burn itself out.
But Moses was wrong! God could have used any old bush that he wanted to, he could have used that scruffy, scraggy-looking bush over in one side of the desert or he could have used a beautiful, shapely, fine looking bush that was growing by the water's edge.
Any old bush would do! You see Moses, any old bush would do, any old bush, if only God is in the bush! The trouble with Moses was that for forty years he learned all the wisdom of the
Egyptians and he was mighty in word and deed and probably Moses admired his own foliage, he thought he was probably the "big cheese", or maybe the "big bush"?
Maybe he thought he was, or he knew he was the person that God was going to use, but he kept looking at himself. And when he looked at himself and tried to do something, look what happened, he burned himself out in just twenty four hours and he was just a heap of ashes for forty years afterwards.
Beloved of God, it is not the bush that sustains the flame, it is God in the bush that does the job, this is a lesson we all have to learn. Everyone of us is just like a little old bush, but do we have the flame of God within us? Look at verse 4 again:
"....God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said Here am I."
And what happened?(verse 6)".... And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."
You see, it was no longer the bush but God in the midst of the bush. Note it says "...Moses hid his face: for he was afraid (not to look upon the bush, but to look upon God.)
When at last Moses put things in the right perspective, wonders began to happen. Verse 7:
"And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;"
God knew all about their sorrows, He knows all about your problems, your despondencies and the things that face you. God knows all about them. Notice too, in this verse it says here "..I know their sorrows;" - "I have surely seen their affliction". God was able from this point of time to use Moses. Look at verse 8:
"And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (9) Now therefore, ( God says, "now therefore" but not 40 years ago) behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them."
Look at verse ten, this is a real treasure of a verse, "Come therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt."
God is saying essentially to Moses, you have served your apprenticeship, Moses, I think maybe you have begun to learn a lesson. Now God is able to use Moses. Sure Moses still had a lot to learn, but don't we all?
Let me give you a practical example from this folks. Something that I feel burdened about and I am sure many of you here will be as well: The Calvary Bible Church needs a building of its own. We want to reach the lost, we want to teach the Word of God, we want to witness faithfully in these last reImagesing days before the Rapture comes, it is so close now. And I believe that God wants to use us. I mean we are a faithful group of folks, which I think we are. We believe His Word, I believe there is a two-way relationship. God wants to use us, we want to be used. Now, do you believe that? I believe that!
But we must allow God to use us His way. He can use any old bush even you and even me, but it is not the bush that is important, it is not us that is important. It is God in the bush.
Now let me close by asking you a question. How can we be used of God, just as Moses was? Turn over to the Book of Galatians. Paul lays it out so clearly and yet we can be so blind at times!
Chapter 2 verse 20, we are going to look at this verse time and time again throughout this series.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ - liveth - in - me: (those are four very important words, I mean the whole verse is important.) "I am crucified with Christ" (are YOU really crucified with Christ?) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
I wonder, do you allow Christ to live in you or do you do your own thing all the time? Just turn back to Romans chapter 12. You see this is the same thing that was applicable to Moses. Verse 1:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Do you do that? Do you offer yourself to God as His instrument? You see it is not ability, it is availability. How available are you to God?
We all know about the great people of God, men in the Bible like Moses that we have just looked at today, and Paul and Abraham and Elijah, David, Ruth, Mary and Priscilla And about the great people of the Christian world, like Spurgeon, Meuller, Luther, Penn-Lewis, Aylward and Tyndale.
Let me ask you a question, were these people really any different from you or from me?
God did not give them more than He has given to you. What they had, you have, what they could be, by the grace of God, every little bush can also be. We all have our own sphere of calling, some are not called to as dramatic service as others are, but we can all be what God wants us to be, by Christ's Life within us. Do you get the message?
You see it is not the person themselves, or the ability they have got, but their availability to God. I believe that Luther, Tyndale and these people, they had the same problems that you face - but they made themselves available to God. Let us turn to our last Bible reference, Philippians chapter 2. I wonder if you are a saved person. Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Are you a saved person? Then there is a message here for you, there is a little instruction from Paul.
Paul writes, "The things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." Here is not a commandment from Paul, Paul is showing us something God tells us we should do. Look at verse 12:
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:" Work it out! Are you saved? Right then let this salvation which is in you, let it come out and go forth. You don't have to make your own salvation, you are saved. Work out that salvation which is in you with fear and trembling. Look at verse 13:
"For it is God which worketh IN you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." That is a very important verse. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
(14) "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: (15) That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world."
Do you shine as lights in the world? Are you a little bush that is shining from within because God is within you?
I like verse 16, I like to identify with Paul here, Paul says "Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, and I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."
Paul knew if he laboured for the Lord that these people he had laboured unto, they would do as he had taught them. In wasn't in vain. That is my prayer too, that the Word of God that you hear will have an effect on you, and that you too will let the Lord Jesus Christ work in your life. That you will be seen as being maybe just a little bush - but burning though unconsummed, with the flame that is God in you! If we can learn this lesson, the lesson that Moses learned when he saw that bush, I believe we can grow to be a real "Commando For Christ".
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