The Making of a Mediator [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary love for the broken heart. There's grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing. He'll meet you wherever you are. Cry out to Jesus.

Cry out to Jesus. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in our series called Moses, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It'll be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Being loved and shown compassion by Pharaoh's daughter and then he's returned back to his own mother where he is fed and he's nursed and until he's weaned and we don't know how old he is before he gets returned back. During these times, Moses, his family's so delighted to have him, but they know that he's only going to be with them temporarily.

He's got to be turned over. And I just want you to think with me, what does this feel like for Moses' parents? To have to surrender their child to the ones that are oppressing their lives? Moses' father might have been beaten as a slave. They have to turn their child over to their slave masters? To the people that are oppressing their lives? This is who we're going to turn our son over to. Imagine handing your child over to your worst enemy.

But this is precisely what happens. And then Moses is raised in his Egyptian court with all of the fanfare, all of the royalty, all of the wealth. As best we can understand from what is later quoted in Acts chapter 7 and Stephen's famous speech as he's retelling the whole story of the people of God and the redemptive plan of God. When he comes to Moses, he says simply he was educated and all of the wealth of Egypt was his, I'm paraphrasing. In other words, Moses was highly educated in all the Egyptian ways. He was given all the benefits of anything that was understood in the known world at that time.

He was exposed to art, to literature, to music. He was given, he was in the lap of luxury. And yet the whole time that he was there, he knew he was a Hebrew. This was not his place. Did he go see his parents ever?

Did he ever see his brother, his sister? What was life like for, what's it like when you are in a place of such prestige and yet you know that you don't belong there, it can't be your ultimate home. And so what's so odd is that Moses was born under the specter of death and he didn't deserve that. But then he was growing up in the lap of luxury and he didn't deserve that either.

He just didn't have a place. And then after he had defended one of the Hebrews who was being killed by an Egyptian, and he stood up for him and he defended this Hebrew, he then has to flee for his life. And the thing that's so striking to me is that Pharaoh, who had treated Moses like a grandson, as soon as he learned that Moses had killed an Egyptian, now Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses.

How lightly these relationships were held, you see. And now he flees to Midian and he's just in exile. He's not in Egypt. He's not amongst the Hebrews.

Now he's just in a whole nother place. This is Moses' life. And you come to this verse and it says, and he was content to dwell with the man. How could you be content to dwell with a man in Midian?

Everything in your soul would want to at least be amongst the Hebrews, at least be back amongst the slaves, or at least be back amongst the Egyptians and try to make it right and try to come back into the luxuries that you once had. But instead the texture says he was content to dwell with the man in Midian. What are we to make of all of this except to say that Moses had something that was forged in his soul. And it made him a man who was acquainted with sorrow and familiar with grief and was able to live as an alien. He was able to live as one who was never inducted into any particular people or any particular system so that he held the things of this world lightly. It meant that he had been exposed to and lived with danger. He knew what that was like. This week people all over the world will be remembering 70 years since the liberation of those that were in the concentration camp at Auschwitz on January 27th in 1945.

One of the ones that was there is an Associated Press article featured this week. Her name was Marta Wise, a Slovakian Jew imprisoned at Auschwitz. She was 10 years old in 1945. The reason that she was still alive was that her sister was there and was so sick that she was in the infirmary and so they'd let Marta stay also. Normally going to the infirmary was a death sentence because they would do such outrageous and brutal experiments on you. But in this particular case in this particular moment in time it saved her life because knowing that the troops were coming Germans retreated and took most of the prisoners from the concentration camp with them but left a few of them back those that were infirmed and Marta was left there.

She was 10 years old and she weighed 37 pounds and she said she heard the troops marching and assumed it was the German troops coming to get her but it was Russian troops that had come to liberate her. I was just thinking about little Marta and I was just thinking about Moses and his life and when did he learn that there was an edict of death over his life. Not only did it happen at his birth but then it happened later and the reason he had to flee to Midian is that he became familiar with the feeling as if you heard the troops marching you would assume that they'd come to kill you. He lived like this. I can hardly think of anything that was more difficult than to not have a place in which you belong but it made Moses into who Moses was.

It made him someone who was not just able to be comfortable with a variety of contexts and a variety of people not just like a third culture kid it made him have a broader worldview but it did something within him. It meant that he never was overly inducted into a religious system of the Hebrews never overly inducted into a political system amongst the Egyptians. He wasn't ruled by Pharaoh. He wasn't even ruled by anything in Midian because when the call of God came upon his life though he was resistant he went and I think part of this was because relationships were fragile for him and he had no deep loyalty from anyone. It's not that there was something that his family could have done about it but I just wonder what was his family thinking about when they surrendered him to Egypt and what was Moses thinking knowing that he really wasn't with his true family and as soon as I as I said earlier as soon as as soon as he was guilty of a crime in Egypt Pharaoh turned against him and even amongst the Hebrews you just see when Moses came and he defended one Hebrew who was being assaulted by another Hebrew how quickly the Hebrews themselves turned said who made you a prince and a judge over us I'm just saying was he didn't he didn't really have a a people and something within living in the context of being so familiar with being alienated and being familiar with danger and having nobody that was particularly your advocate maybe this was what it was inside of Moses that made him such a huge advocate for the oppressed you see it three times in chapter two where he just instinctively intuitively automatically defends the weak when he sees the Egyptian that is striking the Hebrew the word that is used here then is repeated of the word that Moses uses of what Moses does to the Egyptian and the implication here is that the Egyptian is going to be killing the Hebrew and something that Moses just couldn't stand it you know there's a part of your brain that is rational and says okay here are the pros and cons and of what I'm getting ready to do and I ought not do this because I have so much luxury here in Egypt and and I'll probably get in real trouble if I do this and this is probably not the best way to solve the problem and you can debate what you can debate whether Moses should have done this should have taken up for the man or not whether this was just murder or what what not was it sin we don't we're not really given that but here's my sense of it is that there's something inside of Moses's heart that would transcend his rational thoughts and it would just take over do you know what I'm talking about there's a part of your brain there's a part of your soul that is instinctive it is something that just acts it is something that is built on a deeper conviction than any rational thought and it was this desire within him when he saw that someone was being oppressed when he saw that someone was being taken advantage of when he saw that someone was being persecuted or mistreated something happened inside of the heart of Moses and I'm just suggesting that maybe it was forged because Moses himself had been left out had been alienated had had no one standing up for him that Moses just had a huge compassion for the underdog and so he immediately just stood up for the Hebrew that was being killed and then not long thereafter just immediately after we see a scene which two Hebrews are now in a fight with one another one is striking the other and when the one strikes the other and it's clear that this is the offender Moses rebukes the offender is a huge compassion for the underdog and he has a huge passion for justice that's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through pastor Alan Wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright and then we see a scene where he goes to Midian it seems like just up a simple little scene but what's actually taking place is that he he comes up to his place where there's a water trough where you come and you feed you you water your animals and the daughters of the priest in Midian have come to water their little flocks and to get water there at the at the well but some rustic and unruly shepherds that have just you can imagine they're they're rustic and rough guys they come up and it's a society that mistreats women and always makes women have to go to the back of the line and all and they come up and they're basically just being rough and shooing the women away and it's a dangerous scene for the women and Moses who is a complete stranger he's complete stranger to all of them instinctively stands up and defends the women so much so that they go back and tell their father this Egyptian even though they it was Moses who they just thought he was Egyptian they said it's Egyptian saved us there's three scenes in chapter two where there's something that happened in his soul where he just becomes an advocate for those that are at risk he becomes uh he becomes one who is zealous for righteousness but there's something else that it creates i think in Moses's soul that is absolutely imperative for us to understand and ultimately point us to Christ and that is i think what happened and this happens with with some of you who experienced this that when you experience the sense of not belonging here the sense of being and feeling like an alien here that something happens that makes you very hungry for God and this is what we're going to see play out in the life of Moses later when we come to Exodus chapter 33 you'll hear Moses say therefore if i found favor in your sight please show me now your ways that i may know you in order to find favor in your sight consider too that this nation is your people and God said to him my presence will go with you and i will give you rest and Moses said to him if your presence will not go with me do not bring us up from here and the Lord said to Moses this very thing you've spoken i'll do for you found favor in my sight and i know you by name Moses said please show me your glory and he said i will make all my goodness pass before you will proclaim before you my name the Lord and i'll be gracious to whom i'll be gracious and i'll show mercy on whom i'll show mercy it's as if God were saying to Moses you don't have a home but i'm going to be your home you've always been restless but now you're going to rest in me you never had a place in which you really belong but you're going to belong to me forever you may not have ever had a sense that you were ultimately and finally and fully accepted but i want you to know you're accepted by me what he's essentially saying was Moses everything that's happened in your life has positioned you for this that you're going to be so hungry for me and i'm going to delight in your fellowship and i'm going to talk to you in way in ways that i never talked to anybody else are we going to fellowship in ways that i've never fellowship with any other human being in other words all of this was arranged so that Moses Moses would be set up to become a mediator a person who would not count equality with Pharaoh a thing to be grasped but would be willing to empty himself and take on the form of being a Hebrew slave and defend the Hebrew slaves take on the form such that even when he was in exile he would be content to dwell with the man in Midian because he was a man who was able to interact in many different spheres and God said this very thing that i've designed inside of you now this is the way it's going to function i'm going to meet with you and you're going to meet with the people and you're going to be the mediator of a covenant that i established with the people because we need someone who is not so inducted in the systems of the people that he cannot come and meet on the mountaintop with God but we need someone who is who is still able even though he's with God and he glows with the glory of God that he's able to come down and still be one amongst the people and content to dwell with the people and so he becomes a mediator he becomes one who goes in between he becomes the mediator between God and man and so when the people of God murmured against Moses and murmured against God Moses had a compassion for them and he blessed them instead of cursing them and he was able to identify with the people because he himself had experienced what it was like to be alienated he didn't want the people to experience that and so if God ever said i'm going to strike these people down Moses would intercede for them and Moses would meet with God because he wasn't just like the other people he wasn't so inducted in all the little pleasures and systems of the world he hadn't been he hadn't been brought up in the slavery so he didn't think like a slave and he had he had not been inducted into the Egyptian system so he didn't just think like a person of privilege instead he was different from everyone else and he meet with God he was hungry for God he wanted the fellowship with God he was able to be a mediator of a covenant and all of this is to point us to Christ because Christ is a true Moses if Moses was the one who delivered the people out of their bondage of slavery then Christ was a better Moses because he didn't just come to deliver people out of physical bonds and physical slavery but he came instead to deliver us out of cosmic slavery to sin he came to deliver people who were oppressed of the devil pressed of the evil of the world people who were under a weight of heavy condemnation he came to set them free he came to take them out he came to deliver you out of your bondage and if Moses was one who was a covenant maker and made a covenant with God wherein God said tell the people if they obey then I'll bless them then Jesus came as the new covenant maker the true Moses of a new covenant of a better covenant of a new covenant that was altogether different than the old because in the new covenant is not between God and the people but it's between the father and the son and Jesus the true covenant maker the true God man was able to mediate perfectly for us he was content to make his tabernacle in our midst and be a human being like us but he was also God and so in Jesus Christ a new covenant was made and this covenant was made that the son would keep all of the all of the obedience that was required of humanity on behalf of humanity then the father would be able to pour out all the blessings that had been long spoken to Abraham and to Moses and every blessing of God that he always had in his heart to want to just pour out upon his people God longed to be able to do this he just needed a mediator he needed someone who could identify with the people and someone who could identify with God and so it was that Christ had come as the true Moses the true the true mediator of a new covenant and if Moses had come in order to work signs and wonders and miracles so that people would know the reality of God Jesus came as the true Moses who was able to work miracles and raise the dead and himself his own life be raised up from the grave so that we all know that Jesus is real and that God is alive he is the one who came as the true Moses and it was all based and rooted in this that Jesus himself was born under an edict of death and he had to run for his life his parents had to hide him from Herod and he lived as one who didn't have a real place born in Bethlehem raised in obscurity and Nazareth wanted to be at Jerusalem never was never was inducted into the religious system of the Pharisees never identified with the political ideologies of the day and what it meant for him was that Jesus was so so able to not be overly loyal to any particular group that he could identify with anyone and they called him friend of sinners what I'm saying is that he was content to make his dwelling place with men and what happened was that this Jesus who was rejected and despised who was alienated in every way imaginable who was hated was wanted dead when he went to the cross what he experienced there beloved was not just the weight of taking the penalty of sin but the ultimate feeling of being alienated he felt what it was like to be alienated there wasn't a friend in the world there for him and then he even said my God my God why have you forsaken me I'm saying is that he was Gershom he was a sojourner he didn't have a place except in God and anyone who believes in Christ anyone who accepts his saving work is given an astounding revelation and an assurance you're reconciled with God you're at home with God to if you ever feel lonely in this world if you're ever rejected in this world there's something that trumps all of that the grace and the riches of fellowship with God that is unimpeded uninterrupted and eternal because of what Christ did for you he was the perfect mediator of a new covenant and when you accept Christ and when you accept Christ all spiritual riches are yours in him and that's the gospel alan wright and today's teaching on the making of a mediator unlock the power of blessing your life could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through pastor alan wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org i love the set of circumstances as we look especially from this hindsight view of moses's life i'm not so sure i'd appreciate where he was in that particular moment having to live in these alien lifestyles over and over again but what a way god used him and if you're feeling alone right now maybe like you don't fit in alan is that good news that we can glean well christ really was truly alienated on our behalf he really experienced what it was like to be forsaken by the people that were closest to him and even in a sense to experience god forsakenness on the cross to feel all alone and so jesus has been through everything that you've been through so when you are tempted when you are suffering when you are in the valley times of life you can be assured that christ is your great high priest and he understands everything you're going through it also means because he's been he's fully human he can mediate the covenant on your behalf it's extraordinary good news christ our high priest the perfect mediator thanks for listening today visit us online at pastor alan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 if you only caught part of today's teaching not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at pastor alan.org that's pastor alan.org today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries