Introduction: There is a new series on television this year called Hero’s. I haven’t seen it, …Real life Hero’s like the man who threw himself on top of a man who had fallen onto the subway track in New York.
Real life Hero’s are important, because they give us someone to look up to, someone to pattern our lives after. Now having said that Jesus should be our Number 1 Hero. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we should constantly be doing our best to become more like Christ. However, the Bible is full of stories of Men and Women who became Hero’s of the Faith. The Author of the Book of Hebrews lists several of them in the 11th chapter. None of those listed in The Hall of Faith were perfect, they all made mistakes, but I believe we can all learn something from their stories that will help us as we strive to become more like Christ. This morning I want to Read Hebrews 11:24-28, as our text, as I begin a series of sermons on “Hero’s of the Faith.”
Moses was born during the period of time when the Israelites were living in the land of Egypt. They had come to Egypt back when there was a severe famine in the Land. God used Joseph, who had become the Second most powerful man in the Land of Egypt, to save the lives of his Father and Brothers. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt was so thankful for everything that Joseph had done for Egypt He allowed Joseph’s Father and Brothers to settle in the land of Goshen. But that was then.
It had been somewhere around 350 years since Joseph had died, and the new King of Egypt didn’t remember Joseph and saw the Hebrews as a potential threat to His Kingdom. Consequently He began using them as slaves and treating them harshly. Yet God continued to bless the Hebrews, and they continued to multiply. Eventually the King became convinced that the Israelites had become to numerous and gave the order that all baby boys born to the Hebrews were to be throne into the Nile River. In verse 23 we read that Moses’ parents hid him for three months because they were not afraid of Pharaoh’s edict. Of course you know the story. After 3 months his mother placed baby Moses in a basket, then put the basket into the Nile River for Pharaoh’s daughter to find. Which of course she did, and after seeing Moses, she decided to adopt him and raise him as her own son. So for the first 40 years of his life, Moses was known as the grandson of Pharaoh. He had the best of everything. He had been given a good education, and was well on his way to becoming a powerful political leader in Egypt. Some people believe that he was seen as the eventual heir to the throne. I don’t know about that, but I’m sure he was a very powerful man in the land of Egypt. But at the same time, he had not forgotten who he was and where he had come from. Undoubtedly, Pharaoh’s daughter had been honest with him and told him that he was adopted, because he knows that he is a Hebrew.
According to the Bible, one day Moses went to check on the Hebrew slaves and saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of the Israelites. Moses couldn’t stand to see this man beaten, so he took matters into his own hands. He looked around to make sure no one was watching then he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. Even though Moses thought no-one would ever find out what he had done they did, and he was forced to leave Egypt to keep from being killed himself.
He fled to the Land of Midian, where he would live as a shepherd for the next 40 years of his life. D.L. Moody once said, “Moses spent the first 40 years thinking he was somebody. He spent the second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
Moses was tending his Father-In-Laws sheep on the far side of the dessert near the Mount of Horeb one day when he saw something that intrigued him, something that he had never seen before. He saw a bush that was burning. But there was something unusual about this particular burning bush, you see for some reason the bush was not being consumed by the fire. So Moses decided to take a closer look. When he got close enough to the bush, God called out to him from the bush and informed him that he needed to take off his sandals because the ground he was standing on was Holy Ground. God then proceeded to tell Moses that He had seen the way the Israelites were being oppressed in Egypt and had heard their cries and had decided to deliver them from their suffering. Then God told Moses that He wanted to use him to deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. Moses isn’t all that excited about the possibility of going back to Egypt. In fact he proceeds to argue with God and give him as series of excuses as to why he can’t do what God is calling him to do.
In the time that we have left this morning I want us to take a closer look at the excuses that Moses used, and see if we are sometimes guilty of using the same excuses when God calls on us to do something for Him.
I. THE FIRST EXCUSE MOSES USED IS THE “WHO ME” EXCUSE AND IT’S FOUND IN EXODUS 3:11.
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
In other words, Moses said, “But God, I’m a ‘nobody’ who has spent the last 40 years of my life herding sheep on the backside of nowhere, why in the world would you want to use me.”
Moses had a self-esteem problem. Like many of us, he had trouble believing that God could use him at all, much less to do something as significant as delivering the children of Israel from the hands of Pharaoh. After all, Moses was well acquainted with Egypt. He had spent the first 40 years of his life there. He knew how powerful Pharaoh was and it just didn’t make any sense to him that Pharaoh would even give him the time of day, after all he was just a “Shepherd.” You see the Egyptians, had a very low opinion of Shepherds, and I’m sure that that was something that Moses had not forgotten during the past 40 years.
God shows some patience and understanding to Moses here and responds to this first excuse by assuring Moses that He would be with him. Let’s look at God’s response in verse 12.
“And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
I want you to notice here that not only does God assure Moses that He would be with Him, but that He uses the word “when” instead of the word “if” when referring to bringing the people out of Egypt.
After Moses realized that God wasn’t going to accept his first excuse He tried a different approach.
II. THE SECOND EXCUSE MOSES USED IS THE – “BY WHOSE AUTHORITY”
EXCUSE.
Look at Exodus 3:13
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, `What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?"
Essentially Moses was saying, Okay God if I agree to do this and I go to the Israelites and say the God of your fathers has sent me to you, what am I supposed to say when they asked me your name.
Now I want to point out here that God did not expect Moses to be able to answer every question that the Israelites might have about Him. The only thing God was asking of Moses was to be willing to go and explain what he did know.
Once again God was patient with Moses and responded to his question by saying:
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.’"
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”
But Moses still wasn’t ready to give in and do what God was calling him to do, so He tried another excuse.
III. THIS THIRD EXCUSE IS THE “WHAT IF” EXCUSE. (EXODUS 4:1 )
“Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, `The LORD did not appear to you’?"
This was a hypothetical question but I would have to say that Moses did have a legitimate reason for asking it. He was concerned about whether the Israelites would accept him or listen to what He had to say. Because after all, he had tried to reach out to them and help them 40 years before and they had rejected him.
Moses was so concerned about what might happen that He had completely missed what God had already told him was going to happen, and that was that He was going to deliver the Israelites from their suffering.
Unfortunately many Christians still use the ‘what if’ excuse when it comes to sharing their faith. They say, “But what if they ask me a question that I don’t know the answer to.” So instead of obeying God and trusting Him to give them the answer, they simply refuse to share their faith with anyone.
But, let’s get back to Moses now. Once again God answered Moses. This time He uses a series of miracles to convince Moses that He would in fact ‘be with him.’ and ‘give him the power to perform these same miracles’ before Pharaoh. These signs or miracles would convince the Hebrews that Moses really was a prophet of God.
God told Moses to throw down His staff. Now to his credit Moses obeyed, and when the staff hit the ground it became a serpent, and according to verse 3, of Chapter 4, Moses ran away from it. (Which reminds me of an incident that took place a couple of years ago when several of us were trying to clean out the old barn down by the creek). But maybe it would be better if I didn’t get into that right now.
Then God told Moses to do the unthinkable. He told Moses to pick up that snake by the tail. Now Moses may not have been the smartest person on the face of the earth, but he was smart enough to know that you don’t pick up snakes with your hands, and you certainly don’t pick one up by the tail. But once again he did what God told him to do. He bent over and very carefully picked up the snake by the tail and was amazed when it immediately turned back into his staff.
Then God told Moses to put his hand in his coat and pull it back out. When he pulled his hand out, it was full of leprosy, and was white as snow. Then God told him to put his hand back into his coat and pull it out again. This time when he pulled his hand out, it had been restored, and there was no sign of the leprosy.
After this God told Moses that if the Israelites still didn’t believe that he was a prophet after these two miraculous signs that he should dip some water out of the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground, where it would turn to blood.
Now there is a lesson for us here. God’s confirmation or sign didn’t come until Moses obeyed. When he threw the rod down it became a snake. When He picked it up it became a staff. When he put his hand in his cloak and pulled it out, it was leprous. When he put it back in and pulled it out it had returned to normal. That was and is how God does things. Unfortunately many people today want a sign or confirmation before they are willing to do what He wants them to do.
God had revealed himself to Moses. He told Moses of His desire to use him to deliver the Israelites from their suffering in Egypt. God promised that He would be with Him and that He would ensure His success. He had even given Moses 3 signs and assured him that He would use the same three signs to convince the Israelites that Moses was a prophet. But that still wasn’t enough for Moses. He still wasn’t ready to start packing his bags for Egypt.
Which brings us to His next excuse, which is found in Exodus 4:10. Follow along as I read it to you.
“But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me. I’m clumsy with words.” Exodus 4:10 (NLT)
SO HIS FOURTH EXCUSES IS…
IV. THE “I’M NO GOOD AT THAT” EXCUSE.
Moses claims that he has never been a good speaker and that He was slow when it came to talking, but he sure was quick when it came to making excuses.
Most of us don’t like to do things that we aren’t good at. Maybe it’s because we are afraid to fail, or maybe we just don’t want to embarrass ourselves.
This time God responded to Moses by saying, “Look, who do you think I am? Am I not the one who made you? “Now go, and I will help you and teach you what to say.”
Our weakness and inadequacies are not a problem when it comes to God. In fact He specializes in using people who weren’t voted the most likely to succeed in their High School Class.
Someone once said, “God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called.” In other words God provides us with the gifts and talents we need to fulfill the task that He has called us to do. If God is calling you to do something I assure you He will enable you to do whatever it is, so He can in turn be glorified.
V. BUT MOSES STILL WASN’T CONVINCED. IN FACT HE BEGGED GOD TO SEND SOMEONE ELSE.
This last excuse is found in Exodus 4:13, which says, “But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
God had been patient with Moses up until this point. But when Moses asked Him to send someone else, God became angry. Look at verse 14.
“Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know He can speak well.”
And then in verse 15 God says, “You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.”
One of the lessons we all need to learn from this is that God doesn’t like excuses. In fact He much prefers it when we are quick to agree to do what He asks us to do. But it wasn’t really the excuses that made God angry it was the fact that Moses didn’t trust Him to do what He said He would do.
Okay, Moses eventually went to Egypt, and as they say the rest is History. God did everything He promised to do, and as a result Moses grew in his faith and eventually became a great leader.
But how can we relate this to our lives today. Well the truth is God is calling each one of us this morning? It comes in many ways.
1. FIRST, THERE IS THE CALL OF SALVATION.
In fact, He is calling each one of us into a continuing love relationship with himself through His son, Jesus Christ. Some of you here this morning have heard His call and responded by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. But there may be a few of you who are here this morning that have heard God’s call to salvation but haven’t responded to it yet? If so, what’s your excuse?
2. SECONDLY, THERE IS THE CALL TO BE LIKE CHRIST.
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. As Christians we should all be striving to become more like Christ. But some of you are thinking, “but it’s so hard to be like Christ, I’m just not strong enough.”
While some of you if you are honest with yourself would have to admit that you don’t want to be more like Christ, because you are having too much fun living life your way.
The truth is it doesn’t matter what your excuse is, it won’t be good enough. God expects those of us who are Christians to be obedient to His call to be more like Christ, and if you aren’t doing that, then you need to repent of your disobedience and get right with Him.
3. FINALLY, THERE IS THE CALL OF GOD TO SERVE HIM.
Those of us who are Christians have all been called to serve Him in some way. He has given each of us gifts and talents that He expects us to use in serving Him. Some of the most common excuses God hears from us include: “Lord, I just don’t have enough time to serve you.” Or how about this one: “Lord, I promise I’ll serve you when I retire.” And then of course there’s always the one Moses used, “Lord, I just don’t feel like I’m qualified enough to serve you.”
Invitation: What about you? Are you willing to respond to His call on your life today?
(1) Have you responded to His call of Salvation? If not I encourage you to do so today?
(2) Those of you who are Christians, have you responded to His call to be like Christ? If not you need to.
(3) Have you responded to His call to serve Him? If not, I encourage you to respond immediately, trusting that God will equip and empower you to do whatever it is that He is calling you to do.
