Getting to the Place of Moses

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. When we head out to do the work of God in our own strength, there can actually be victories, but they're very small in comparison to what the victories could be if we learn to wait upon God. We're glad you're with us today for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. It took Moses 40 years to learn a very important lesson, one that we must learn also. You need God to be with you, to be able to find the heart you need for the glory of God to be manifested in your life.

We need to get back to the place of Moses. Here's Carter Conlon with today's message. The Apostle Paul who was a master theologian, the Apostle Paul who had understanding of the mysteries of God in a deeper way than probably anybody in his or any other generation. Peter the Apostle said he writes things that are hard to be understood.

He understood mysteries. He was taken by God into heavenly places. He told us in the Word that he saw things that were not even lawful to speak about. God loved this man, drew him up into his presence, gave him revelation.

Paul had the spiritual authority to direct the church. He could stand against devils of hell. He had a word from God in the midst of storms.

He knew how to bring people to safety. But listen to his testimony about himself because we ask ourselves, where did Paul get this power? How was the power of God made so powerfully known through this man's life?

Here's one of the keys. He says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. It didn't mean that he couldn't speak or he wasn't wise. But the wisdom he had and the ability to speak that he had came from God. This is what Paul was saying. It was not that which the world offers. I was not eloquent in my delivery and I wasn't standing before you in such a way that you were drawn to me and not to Christ.

That's in effect what he was saying. And it's very easy for those of us who stand in pulpits to unwittingly draw to ourselves because of eloquence, because of talent, because of ability, because quite often speakers have an ability to phrase things and put things together that leaves their audience standing, looking in awe. And speakers can often unwittingly turn the attention of the people away from Jesus Christ and to themselves.

The evidence of that is when people leave the building talking about the preacher, not talking about the savior. Isn't Bob wonderful? Didn't Bob preach a great message today? Isn't Bob this and isn't Bob that? And the reality is they've lost sight of Christ because Bob was way too big.

He's much bigger than he should have been. And Paul says, I brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

In other words, I didn't want to focus on anything. I didn't want to bring anything into your midst, but this amazing, wonderful redemption that was bought for us through the cross of Jesus Christ and the incredible power of God that is available to those of us who believe in him. When his Holy Spirit comes upon us, we are taken from where we are and we are made into that which God would have us to be.

Not that which we desire to be, but that which God desires us to be. It's incredible because when you look in Paul's life, he's technically saying this, the way up is down. The way to strength is through weakness. The way to wisdom is through acknowledging that we don't have any wisdom in ourselves. When we're empty of ourselves, then suddenly God is available to do in us what only God can do. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Here's what Paul is saying. There was nothing in me. When you looked at me, there was nothing in me that you should desire me, or even desire to be like me. You looked and you saw a frail vessel. You saw a man who was not with you in natural strength, but actually in weakness.

Who was not overconfident, but was wholly dependent upon God to the point where I stood before you in fear and in trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not such that your focus was drawn to me, but you looked at me because you were being strangely moved upon in your hearts. You were being moved upon to draw closer to God.

And you looked and you came to the conclusion that only God could be giving this man the ability that he has. Only God could be speaking through him because as I look at him in the natural, there's nothing about him that should cause me to be feeling the way I am feeling. I'm telling you, when God finds a surrendered vessel, there is power in the words that God gives to that man or that woman. And you might not be the most eloquent speaker and you might not be the most magnificent looking person that ever stood and spoke about Jesus Christ, but there is something in you of him that causes the heart to tremble that's hearing you. There's something in you that causes the words that God gives you to go right through the center core.

People are sitting there listening and they don't fully understand it, but they're saying it's as if you're speaking to only me in the room. And I felt like your words were going right through into my heart and examining the contents of my very soul and not just leaving me in distress, but lifting me up and giving me courage to go forward into the future to believe that what God has done for you, he can do for me as well. We do an incredible disservice to the body of Christ or to the seeking sinner when we draw to ourselves, as if the sinner has to look something like us to say that the Spirit of God is upon them. Best that we should be weak, that the weak among us could understand that there are no respected persons with God, but what God does through one, he is well able to do through another. Now, Paul had gotten to the place where Moses once was, and in our generation, I'm going to suggest it's a place where we need to return to. It's a place where you and I need to be again if God is going to use our lives in any measure of glory in this generation. Now, let me explain what I mean by this. In the book of Acts chapter 7, when Stephen, the young disciple just before he was stoned to death, is making, I say, a brilliant defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you read through it, it's an amazing defense. Only the Holy Spirit could have given him the words that he spoke. But in his defense, he takes a measure of what he says. He talks about Moses. Now, in Acts chapter 7, verse 22, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. So here's this man, Moses.

He's drawn out of the river. He is raised by Pharaoh's daughter as her own son. He obviously has access to the finest education. He's got access to find culture. He's taught by the greatest tutors in the nation. He's going to be a ruler. He's going to be a leader in Egypt. And Stephen says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that he is mighty in speech. He's got an incredible command.

Perhaps you can just see him standing on the steps of the palace he would have been in and giving an oration. And everybody is listening to him and thinking, this is our future leader. This man is a great leader. And he said he was mighty in words and in deeds. So that means he had abilities that were given to him to build, to do things, perhaps to put together armies.

We don't know exactly all that he was doing. Now, when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And he said, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptian.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. In verse 25, it says, for he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. He supposed that they would understand. He had this inner knowledge of what his life was supposed to be. But you see, the problem with Moses, which is the problem with many of us, is he outran God.

He ran ahead. He was ahead of God. And the brethren didn't understand because the messenger was there, but there was no evidence of the presence of God.

We have no shortage of that in our world today. We have no shortage of that in many church buildings where the messenger is there. The messenger is speaking about the things of God.

The messenger is talking about deliverance and talking about callings and talking about what God is going to do, but there is a strange absence of the presence of God. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to live there. I don't want to be like that. I don't want my life to be like that.

I'd rather die tomorrow and just go home to heaven. I don't want to stand and be speaking about God, and God is not there. And talking about what God can do, and God is not doing it in our midst. Now, he has this inner knowledge of what he is called to do, but the problem at this point in his life at 40 years of age is that he's mighty in words and deeds. And somehow it must have got into his heart.

The time has come. Now, God didn't speak it. He spoke it out of his own heart, and he headed out at 40 years of age, and he's got influence in Pharaoh's court. He's got an army behind him, and he's probably strong, and he's got muscles. He's got all this stuff.

He's got a sword by his side. He's called to bring a whole nation out of bondage and into freedom. That's the calling on his life. And he heads out just as a messenger of what he's called to do. God is not with him yet because it's not the appointed time.

Isn't it amazing? And instead of bringing millions of people out of bondage, he buries one Egyptian in the sand. And there was a victory of sorts, but it was rather dismal compared to what he was called to do. When we head out to do the work of God in our own strength, there can actually be victories, but they're very small in comparison to what the victories could be if we learn to wait upon God, if we learn to let God be our strength and didn't head out in our own strength to do it. See, Moses went out mighty in words and in deeds, but Paul said, I stand before you not with excellence of speech or of wisdom.

Look at the contrast at this point between the two men. Now, Moses is going to now be taken into a truth that's going to take him 40 years to learn. It can take some of us a long, long time to learn this truth, to get to the place of Moses, to get to the place where God can actually use our lives in a greater measure than we could ever be used with any amount of natural zeal or natural wisdom or natural strength, natural ability of influence and authority, and good can be done. Don't misunderstand me, but the good that his accomplice could be so far beneath, think of it, the contrast, one Egyptian, and he's called to deliver a nation. There was a victory.

It was very, very small. He did succeed in defeating one oppressor, but he was called to bring a whole nation into captivity. And I just wonder sometimes how many of us fall so far. It's not that we don't get to heaven, don't misunderstand me.

So there's no condemnation here. Our names are in the Lamb's Book of Life, but what a shame one day to get to the throne of God and find out what our life could have been. Can you imagine? You finally get there, and then you see the video of what life could have been, and you just, but you were too strong, the Lord would say. You were too wise. You were too focused on yourself.

You had too much confidence in your own ability, and you headed out to do something that you weren't ready to do. Now, in Exodus chapter 33, after 40 years now, 40 years of being in the wilderness, 40 years of looking after sheep, not just in the desert, but the Bible says in the backside of the desert. I mean, the desert's bad enough, but the backside of the desert is as bad as it gets. That's like as far into dry places as you can go, and he's finally an old man. He's got a stick in his hand, and of course, the Scripture tells us he encounters God in a burning bush, and it's at this point that the Lord calls him to go out and do the work that he's called to do, and Moses is now at the point where he's lost all confidence in his own ability. He's lost his ability in 40 years of just being out in the wilderness. He lost his ability to speak. He's not eloquent anymore. He's not mighty in words or deeds anymore. He's herding sheep.

How mighty is that? Maybe he might have built a fence somewhere, a corral, or put some stones in a pile, but he wasn't building palaces and pyramids and these other things that they were prone to do back in the land that he came from. It's at this point that God calls him, and you and I know the story, how he goes in, not in strength, but in weakness.

He no longer has an army. All he has is a brother who delivers a one-line sermon that he's too shy to deliver himself, but he's a man who's walking under the authority of God, and God's power is now walking through his life. He brings all of these people out of captivity and into the wilderness, heading towards a place of promise. And as they're on that journey, the people decide, as he's gone up in the mountain to talk to God, they decide to make a golden calf.

And the Scripture says they sinned a great sin against God in what they did. Exodus 33, 3 said, I'm not going to go up in your midst lest I consume you on the way for your stiff-necked people. He said, I'll send my angel before you. In other words, I'm not going with you, but I'll send a messenger before you.

And there'll still be victory there. But it was at this point, Moses says, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. In other words, Moses said, what I'm saying today, if you don't go with me, I'm not going.

It's as simple as that. We did this once before. Do you remember, God, 40 years ago, I went up with a message. Your presence wasn't with me, but I had the Word and it was the Word. But your presence wasn't with me. And the people didn't recognize what you had destined my life to be because you weren't with me. And we did this 40 years ago, and that mistake sent me into a wilderness for 40 years.

And I'm just not willing to go there again. So if you don't go with us, don't move us because I'm not going. For how will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us? So we will be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth.

Moses just saying, look, everybody's got ideas in this generation about God. They've got ideas about culture. They've got ideas about culture. They've got ideas about country. They've got ideas about marriage.

They've got ideas about right and wrong in and out of your house. There's just so much speech. There are so many people, there's so many voices everywhere. Some are against you. Some are for you.

Some say you're speaking through them. And he says, but the only thing that really makes a difference is if you go with us. If you don't go with us, we are just like the people around us. We're going in our own strength. We're going with our own wisdom. We're going to our own destination, even if we think you're leading us there.

And all we are is just another group of people with an argument in an ever-degenerating society. And Moses said, I'm just simply unwilling to go unless you go with me. And I think that's the place we need to get to again in the church of Jesus Christ. Every last one of us will say, God, I'm not moving until you lead me. As that one prayer request said tonight, just help me to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord again.

Help me to stop trying to procure my own freedom. Listen, you headed out before God. That's why you failed. You felt you had a word from the Lord and you told everybody God was with you. And you went out, you fell flat on your face, just like Moses, because you went out ahead of God. Yes, God had a plan and a purpose for your life, but you fell over the top of your skis.

May I put it that way? You went just a little too fast for God. Now you find yourself sitting on a couch, listening to this preacher preach this word, and you've gotten to the place where Moses was. You're getting to that place where Paul was.

You're actually coming to the place where God's power can now become your portion. When you arrive at the place of saying, God, I am not going if you don't go with me, I'm done trying. As our last prayer request said, I'm done trying to be better. I'm done trying to change. I'm done trying to get free in my own strength.

I've had it. God, how will the people know I belong to you unless you go with me, unless your presence is in my life? And the Lord said to Moses, Exodus 33 17, I will also do this thing that you've spoken to, this thing that you've asked me for, for you have found grace in my sight.

And I know you by name. God was saying to Moses, I'll go with you because you found grace. You found the place of mercy. You found the place of power. You found the heart that you need so that the glory of God can be made manifest through your life.

I love you. He said, and I know you by name. Hallelujah. He knows your name.

And you have found grace in his sight. It's not about your success and it's not about your failure. It's about getting to the place of saying, God, if you'll go with me, I'll go. But I'm not going without you. I'm done trying to do this thing. I'm done trying to live the Christian life by myself.

I'm done talking about the victories. I'm done just being a messenger. I'm done with going to church and coming home all excited because the preacher got all excited.

It lasts till Monday and I fall right on my face again. I'm fed up and finished with all of this stuff. If you don't go with me, I'm not getting off this couch. And the Lord looks at you and says, good, I've been waiting for you to get to this place. Now you found grace in my sight.

Now I'm going to go with you. And your testimony is going to be all about the grace of God. Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Your message is not going to be about how you did anything. Your message is going to be about what God has done for you through his son, Jesus Christ.

It's not going to be about human wisdom or human speech or human power. It's going to be about the mercy and the power of God. And your message will be one that can touch every heart and every soul in every place because you've been at the bottom. You know what it feels like to be struggling, but you also have learned what the power of God feels like in a surrendered vessel. We have for too many years in this nation, in America in particular, we have spent all this time building ourselves up just to go out and fail and leave our nation in bankruptcy. It's absolutely mind boggling when in reality, the power of God is found when we finally get to the end of ourselves.

I've said it so many times in the past and I'll say it again. The end of ourselves is the beginning of God. When the womb is barren and only God can give life, when we're four days dead in the tomb and only God can raise us, when we're too weak and too young to find a giant and only God can give us the victory, when we feel unlovely like yesterday and we know that only God can give us the mercy that is needed now at the throne of the king, when we're called at the time of our greatest weakness, as was Gideon. And time and history just unveils it before us. For those who want to see it, it's when we get to this place that Moses was in, this place that the apostle Paul found. When he said, when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

He wasn't just filling words on a page to write in scripture. It's time for the drug addict. It's time for the drunk. It's time for the depressed.

It's time for the single mom. It's time for those that feel hopeless. It's time for you to rise up in the power and strength of your God and be a voice for God and be a testimony for God, not just a message about God, but God with you, which is which is the hope of glory. That's what Paul said. It's Christ in you that is the hope of glory.

Not bringing a message about Christ, but Christ bringing his own message through you, through a surrendered, weak, stammering vessel. Moses stood before the most powerful, influential leader of his generation. And it must have been so humorous.

I'm convinced the only reason Pharaoh didn't kill Moses and Aaron right on the spot initially is because it was so humorous that this old man would come and challenge the greatest army on the face of the earth with nothing but a stammering tongue and a stick in his hand. Praise be to God. He was so weak, he couldn't even deliver a one-line sermon.

He had to have his brother deliver it. But it was in that place of nothingness that God became everything, that God's hand could move, God's power could be made known. See, this is why Moses said, God, I'm not willing to go with a message. I'm done with going to church and trying to get excited by the preacher. Forget it. I'm done with it. I've done all that.

I've walked all that. And some could say, no, I'm still sitting depressed in my living room. I'm still drug addicted. I'm still an alcoholic.

My marriage is still falling apart. My kids are still rebelling against God. I am finished with looking for somebody else, a messenger, to make me excited about the things of God. And so if you're not going with me, you're not going with me.

I'm not going. And God says, good. I'm glad you finally got there. I'm glad you finally found the place of strength. You found the place where the glory of God now will be made known in your life and through your life.

None of us want to go there. In the natural, we're almost repulsed by the idea of becoming weak. Isn't the whole thing about becoming stronger, of greater influence and authority?

And a lot of people strive for it. And a lot of places build that natural man only to send the people out powerless and to watch their generation going into darkness. No, we got to get back to the place of Moses. We got to get back to that place where we're not standing in our own strength. We're standing in weakness and in fear and in trembling and our speech and preaching are not with persuasive words of human wisdom.

Doesn't that describe a lot of our preaching today? But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power in your strength, my strength is failing, but your strength is never ending. My wisdom is limited, but yours is infinite. My speech can begin to stammer, but your words have the power to create a universe. So help me, God, to let you be God and take me to where you want me to go and give me what you want spoken when I get there.

In Jesus' name. It all begins by just admitting that you need a Savior. You can't save yourself. Who are you trying to kid?

You know it now. You can't get free on your own. And many who are listening to my voice, you have no assurance that heaven is going to be your home. But I tell you, you can't have that assurance if you simply admit that you need a Savior. Don't make it complicated and understand that God loves you. Remember, he said to Moses, you found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. God sent his Son to die in your place and to pay the price for the wrong that you have done, which the Bible called sin, which separates you from God. So admit your condition and understand that Jesus Christ died because he loves you. And just with your mouth, say, Jesus, you are my Lord. I give you my life. I give you my life.

And when you do that, when you finally get to that place where you're not trusting in yourself anymore, you watch what God will do in your life. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. Join us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.