Breaking Down the Faith Barrier - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, March 1st.

Today's podcast continues to look at the life of Moses. His example reminds you to put away your defenses and simply do what God commands. Here's part two of Breaking Down the Faith Barrier.

Why does that happen? Well, it certainly can't be that they're not equipped because it would be inconsistent with the nature of God. Therefore, it must be that it has something to do with their belief, that they can or cannot, that they are capable or they're not capable, something that has to do with their whole faith system. And I believe that when a person has a barrier in their faith, a barrier to their faith, that somehow they'll never be able to achieve, never be able to accomplish what God has said for them.

The title of this message is Breaking Down the Faith Barrier. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Exodus chapter three, because what I would like to do, I would like to illustrate this whole principle in the life of Moses. Now, God's call to Moses was very, very clear. It was an awesome call. It was a dramatic call. And it was a challenging call. And he had to respond one or two ways. And he responded in the way that most people would. Oh, Lord, you must have the wrong fellow.

There's no way in the world I can possibly do this. What I want you to see here, that every time God calls you and me to do anything, he never calls us and just stops at the end of that call. God never calls us without offering you with that call a promise, a promise of several things.

Not always the same, but one thing is always there. That is the promise of the presence of God with us, no matter what he calls us to do. And it is evident here in this call to Moses. And if you look in reading the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, whenever God calls his servants to do anything, whoever we are.

And I'm not talking about preachers and missionaries and church workers. I'm talking about whatever God calls you to do, whatever he calls you to be. With that call comes the awesome promise of the presence of God himself and the availability of his power to accomplish and achieve that.

He never makes a call and leaves us to it ourselves. He's not that kind of God. So when I look at this passage and see what is happening here and here are five excuses that that we find Moses offering of the same five excuses we find today. What I would like to do is to lay out just these five excuses that Moses gave because each one of these is like a building block that builds a barrier in my faith that I cannot trust God.

I cannot believe him to be what he says and what he promises to do. So let's begin with the first one of those building blocks, and that is the poor self image. Now, I think many people struggle with a poor self image. They struggle because of what they've heard. Now, what's the root of all that?

Well, I think the root of that probably you could you and I could find it in several things. And I think one of those things that you and I could look back and and see how people develop a poor self image is by comparison. Now, any one of us can find somebody that we know can do better than what we do.

But here's the issue. God doesn't choose men and women who always can do better than to do his work for him. He chooses people on the basis, he says, of his good intention, of his goodwill. He may choose you to do something to accomplish something in life. And he certainly has chosen you to be something in life.

Very important. And so what we do is we compare ourselves with other people. We say, well, you know, there must be a better person who could do this.

Well, that probably is. But that's not the issue. The issue is this, that God tells you to do it. And if God told you to do it, then you and I don't have anything that we can do except be obedient to God or rebel against God.

And so when God said to Moses, I want you to go and this is my call to you. He said, who am I? I'm a nobody. There's no such thing as a nobody. Everybody is a somebody. And those of us who know Jesus Christ as their savior, we are really somebody. You say, well, why do you think you're so somebody?

You know what I can do? I can tell you this is how valuable you and I are. Look at the cross and I'll tell you how valuable every single person is. That Jesus thinks you're so important.

He went to the cross and died for your sin and mine in order that you and I could be made the children of God and live forever in the eyes of God and before him. So one of those barriers that we have to deal with is the poor self image. The second one is ignorance. Now, look at this. Many of you are Christians and you've been Christians a long time. You know what Genesis is, you know where Exodus is, Leviticus and Deuteronomy and all the rest. You know about the New Testament. You know all those things.

But there are many of you and you don't know where those things are. And you say, well, how would I know? How would I know how to discover who God is? I want to tell you how to discover who God is.

And this is not only for the person who is not familiar. Here's how you discover who God is. God reveals himself to those who are willing to be obedient to what they know.

Now watch this. So you're reading the scriptures and you come across a command, whatever that command may be. If you will purpose in your heart to be obedient to what you what's real simple and you understand, here's what will happen. God will expand your understanding of who he is. That's the way you learn who God is. You don't learn who God is by simply reading the Bible. You learn who God is by reading the scriptures and obeying what God says.

And what does he do? He expands your capacity to understand who he is. That makes it possible for the person who's just become a Christian and the person who's been a Christian for 40 years to be able to each keep growing and discovering who God is. God wants us to know who he is.

Why is the first thing he said to him when he said, Now, let me let me think about this, God. He said, Well, I'm going to tell you who I am. I want you to know who's doing the talking.

This isn't some figment of your imagination. This isn't some angel doing the talking now. God says, I am that I am.

I'm the one who's doing the talking. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I'm the God who said, I'll bring your people out of Egyptian bondage.

I am the God who said, I will destroy the Egyptians and give their wealth to you. He had to deal with his ignorance. Second block. What's the third block? The third block is doubt.

And you see, look at what happens here now. If you'll notice in this fourth chapter beginning in verse one, have God having said to him, I'm calling you to go. I'm going with you. It's not your image. I'm the one who's going with you. I will be in you. Secondly, I'm telling you who I am. I've told you what I promised and I've told you you can rely on my power. And in spite of that, verse one, then Moses answered and said, What if they'll not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say the Lord's not appeared to you.

And so God said, all right, what is he doing? He's saying, now, I know what you said, God, but but I'm not sure about this. Now, all of us have problems with doubts at times. Anybody who says I've never doubted God just lied to you.

And if a person says lie used two years ago, but I don't ever doubt anything else anymore, they lied a second time. Because everybody has doubts at times about things that God may challenge you with or say to you. And you think, now, what am I as God?

Is this you or is this me? And sometimes we want to believe it's us because we don't want it to be God because we don't like what he may require of us. And so we have doubts. Now, when you and I doubt, what we have to ask is what's the basis of our doubt?

What evidence do I have? Having been a Christian this long, what evidence do I have that God is not going to do what he says? There's no evidence that God has ever failed to keep a promise.

The Almighty God who says I am is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, all loving, merciful, just and righteous God who cannot lie, who will not lie, and who is everything he says he is and more because our finite minds cannot comprehend the awesome reality of who God is. We have no reason to doubt. We have feelings that cause us to doubt. We have things that we think give us reason to doubt.

But the truth is they're not there in reality. Then he faced another obstacle here in his dealings with God. And so here is the fourth block in this barrier. And this fourth block, I think all of us have to deal with this at times, is feelings of inadequacy. Now, look, all of us feel inadequate at times in our life for things we have to do. You feel inadequate in your job. You may feel inadequate raising your children or in your relationships with your husband or wife or you may feel inadequate in your schooling or challenges in life or things that you're really seeking in life to accomplish and achieve. You may feel very inadequate. You say, well, then I shouldn't feel inadequate.

No, here's what I want you to see. There's nothing, listen to this now, there's nothing wrong with feeling inadequate as long as you don't stop with that. Feeling inadequate is good.

It's good if you mix it with the power of God. Yes, I am inadequate. And you humbled yourself before God and said, Lord, if you don't do this, if you don't accomplish this, God, it's not going to happen. I cannot do this. I am so inadequate. I am so very inadequate, God. There's no way for me to do this.

You're going to have to do this. What do you think God's response is? Shame on you. You ought to have more confidence than that. No. God's response is yes, yes, yes, yes. That's what I want to hear that you can't do it in your own strength. So you'll have to depend on me. It is inconsistent with the nature and character of God to ask you to do something he does not equip you and enable you and strengthen you to do with his presence, with his power.

Every single call of God will be assisted by his presence and his power. No such thing as I can't. Maybe I want, but not I can't. Last block in this barrier, and that is one that all of us have to deal with, and that is fear of failure. Now look at this. Now this stirred the Lord up a little bit.

I mean, we've already been through four blocks here, four excuses. Look at this. So in the 12th verse, he says this fourth chapter, Now then go, and I, even I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say. Now look, God knew before he makes this next statement, God knew exactly what he was going to do. He knew all about Moses' ability to speak eloquently, and he knew all about his brother Aaron. And you see, I believe that one of the primary reasons God made him that way was so that Moses certainly would not be proud.

In fact, he felt absolutely inadequate. He said, Now, Lord, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Verse 13, but he said, Please, Lord, now send a message by whomever you will.

That is somebody else. You say, Well, was he including himself? No, the reason I know that is because the next verse says the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. Now, does that mean God got upset?

But know that God expressed his displeasure toward his servant with whom God had already said on four different occasions, I'm going with you. I'm going to provide what you need. Here's who I am. We will get it done.

I'm going to do it through you. And he said, Oh, but Lord, suppose I fail. Fear of failure. My friend, that has caused more people to miss the blessings of God in their life than anything else.

Fear of failure. He said, Oh, please send somebody else. Not sending anybody else.

I'm sending you. And he said, Here comes your brother Aaron. He says, I'll speak to him. He says, You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I even I will be with your mouth and his mouth. And I will teach you what you are to do. And verse 16, Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people. And it shall come about that he shall be as a mouth for you and you shall be as God to him. Listen to that. He said, Listen, you'll be as God to him.

And you shall take in your hand the staff with which you shall perform these signs. Now, you know the story. He went to Egypt. He marched into Pharaoh and all he had against all the armies of Pharaoh and all the civilization of Egypt with a wooden stick and said, I've come to conquer Egypt. And they laughed at him.

And you know what? They laughed until the plagues started. That is, until the promised presence and power of God became evident and the laughing was over. It was Moses in his struggling natural humanity saying, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. And God said, you can through me and you will.

And they did it now. You say, OK, all right. I acknowledge that all these things are true in my life at times. So what I do about them, I want you to write down these four words and just four words, because I believe this is the way you pull these blocks out of the barrier and you take you tear them all down. Four words.

I want you to just jot them down. The first word is listen. If I'm going to pull down these blocks, these barriers to my faith, first of all, I listen to what God says. Step number one.

Step number two. I leap. With courage and obedience, that is, I do what God tells me to do. You see, you can't lose obeying God. Do you mean to tell me you think that God would tell you to do something and then God's going to walk off and say, do the best you can? God doesn't operate that way. Listen, wherever he tells us to leap, he is there to hold us up and listen and to demonstrate his awesome power.

What he's looking for is men and women who are willing to give him the privilege of demonstrating who he is and the power of his might so that the unbelieving world will know that our God is God. The third word is leave. Just leave.

What do I mean by that? Leave all the consequences of your obedience to God. Leave them all to God.

Now, I want you to write this statement down. God assumes full responsibility for the life committed to him. God assumes full responsibility for the life committed to him. That's why you and I can leap and leave the consequences to him. The fourth word, the last word, the fourth word is look. You say, what do you mean by that?

It's what I mean. You listen to what he says. You take the leap of obedience.

You leave the consequences to him and then look. Hey, watch this. You look around and begin to see the evidence of three things. God's presence, his power, and the fruitfulness of your obedience to him. He wants you to see it. He wants you to see that he is a true God, that he can keep his promises. Now, what can you and I expect? What can you and I expect when we pull these barriers down, these blocks out of these barriers, when you and I begin to trust God?

Here's what you can expect. You can expect a spiritual freedom in your life like you've never known before. You can expect an awareness of the presence of God in your life like you've not experienced before. You can expect the evidence of the power of God in your life like you've not known before. You can expect a confidence between you and God that you've never had before. And you can expect, listen, you can expect and anticipate the blessings of God in every area of your life if you will simply trust him. My friend, don't let yourself miss out on God's best because these building blocks that you've allowed to bury your faith, to cheat you out of life's very best, God has the best for those who are willing to trust him. And trusting him means that I'm willing to believe this statement, that God assumes full responsibility for the life and the consequences of the life totally committed to him. You'll never lose obeying God. And Father, we thank you today for the wonderful story of the life of Moses.

Thank you that he was so natural and so human like all of us. I pray that you seal this message in the heart of every person who hears it, that it will ring in their ears, it will echo in their heart, it will resound in their spirit, it will be inescapable to them. And the next time they face a challenge, rather than to give in to some doubt, to give in to some barrier, to call upon you and to place their trust in you as the great I am. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of Breaking Down the Faith Barrier. We would like to invite you to join us in celebrating 45 years of God's faithfulness. Stop by InTouch.org slash 45 years to learn more. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.