Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When believers know what God wants them to do, but refuse to do it, they often find creative excuses for their refusal. That's what Moses did until God graciously overcame his objections and lame excuses.
The bottom line, we must ultimately obey God. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, Moses said he was not eloquent.
Is this ever an issue for preachers? Well, you know, Dave, I think it's true that all of us would prefer to listen to someone who has the ability to speak. But even as you ask the question, I can't help but think of D.L. Moody. You know, Moody had about a grade three or grade four education. He didn't read well.
As a matter of fact, there's a story where someone criticized him publicly because of his grammar, and he acknowledged it and says, I want you to teach me so that I might be able to speak better. In fact, there's numerous stories about Moody's inability to pronounce words and yet think of how mightily God used him. That comes to mind whenever I think of Moses. I've written a book entitled Getting Closer to God. It has to do with the life of Moses. It traces his obedience as well as his disobedience, his discouragements, as well as his encouragements, the difficulty of leadership, the challenge of leadership. I believe that this book is going to be a tremendous blessing and encouragement for you. Here's what you can do to receive a copy.
For a gift of any amount, you can go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Continue to listen to these messages because in the process we will learn how Moses got closer to God. Chapter four, verse one, then Moses answered, behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice for they will say the Lord did not appear to you.
Now, this is very interesting. It says in chapter three, verse 18, God says they will listen to your voice. Now Moses is saying they won't listen to my voice.
Do you see the disconnect? God is saying one thing and Moses is saying another. And I think Moses has it all wrong because he thinks that he is going to be the deliverer. He doesn't understand that God is the deliverer and he only is the instrument that God is going to use.
It is God who is going to bring the deliverance. It's God that does it. Because when God calls you and me, he actually doesn't call us to a work, to a vocation, to a ministry.
He always calls us to himself first. It's a calling to God. And God says, well, if they won't believe you, I'll give you some signs. Throw down your staff and it'll become a serpent.
Put your hand in your shirt and it will become leprous. Take the water of the Nile, pour it onto the ground and it's going to turn into blood. And so you are going to be given all of these signs and you're going to be able to outdo the magicians of Egypt.
And we're going to be studying that because that's fascinating that these magicians of Egypt were able to do as much as, as Moses in some instances until they got to a certain point where they could not keep up with him. But God says, I'm going to give you signs because Moses, I want you to know that I am the God of men who have failed. I am the God of those who are in the desert. I'm the God of those who don't want to go back to their original calling.
Isn't that amazing? We make God Lord of all. We say Jesus is Lord of all except that he's not Lord of the desert. If you're in a desert today, you say Jesus isn't Lord here. Yes, he's Lord of the desert. So Moses, you go back and I'll give you these signs. We think that by now for certain he would say, of course, Lord, I'll go. So God is saying go and Moses is saying no because his objection actually is deeper.
So there's a fourth one. He says, Lord, he says, I don't have any natural talent. Chapter four, verse 10. You'll notice that the text says chapter four, verse 10, Moses said to the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am of slow speech and of tongue. The idea is he has an impediment.
Maybe he stuttered. So Moses says, I'm not qualified. And he begins to visualize what it would be like going to Pharaoh.
Imagine going down those long colonnades that he was acquainted with as a boy when he lived in the palace and you walk all the way down. You finally have an audience with Pharaoh. You're standing in front of him with all of his advisors around him and you open your mouth and nothing comes out and everybody says, speak Moses. It's, it's time for you to talk and all that he can do is to stutter and to stammer and the words aren't coming out and you can imagine the ridicule and the rejection and the fun that would be made of somebody who was in a position of such incredible embarrassment. So he says, I'm not a speaker.
Find a somebody who can talk. Aren't you startled with the Lord's answer to Moses? The Lord says, who has made man's mouth or who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?
Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. Moses, if I had wanted you to be eloquent out of created you eloquent.
If I had wanted you to be brilliant in other areas, I would have made you brilliant in other areas. Could I just speak to you heart to heart? Are you content with a way in which God made you? When you look into the mirror, are you content with the raw material that God gave you to work with? Is it okay with you that you're not one of the beautiful people? Is it okay with you that you're not as good looking, that you're not as talented as somebody else because you know who has made man's mouth, who makes someone mute and who gives someone the ability to speak but God? Those of us who are in public ministry, I have to confess to you that oftentimes we struggle in comparing ourselves with others. I remember as a young minister, I'd hear somebody speak like Evie Hill and I'd say to myself after hearing Evie Hill, I'm never going to preach another sermon again.
It makes me want to go back to the farm and start up the old John Deere and do something else. What a gift. And then I have to say as I look in the mirror, God, you created me this way if you had wanted me to have that kind of eloquence, you'd have given it to me. I'm content with who I am and the older I am, the more content I am with who I am.
Did that come out right? You understand what I'm saying? I don't have to be anybody else. The real issue is whether or not the self existent eternal God has called me.
That's really the issue. And he gives us a certain amount of talent to work with. Are you envious because God has been so generous to others in their eloquence, in their beauty, in their abilities. God says, Moses, I created you with that impediment.
Get over it. Well, you think that at this point Moses would say, of course I'm going, but now he has a deeper objection and we finally get to the heart of what's troubling Moses. Moses finally says, all right, I don't want to go.
Verse 13 of chapter four, he said, Oh my Lord, please send someone else. I just don't want to go. I've got a wife and children.
I hate Midian. I hate the desert, but if I go to Egypt, there'll be risk involved. There's the possibility that I could fail. If I fail here in the desert, nobody knows about it. Nobody knows whether I'm a good shepherd or bad shepherd because I'm living here in obscurity and isolation. But if I go back to Egypt, I will fail big time and I'll be on the front page of the Egyptian newspaper.
Everyone will know about it and I'm not interested in that kind of risk. Moses digs in his heels and he stands there on holy ground arguing with God and God says, go and Moses is saying no. How do you feel? God may be calling some of you to a new ministry. God may be taking you out of your nest, out of your sense of security because the desert may be bad, but at least you know the desert and God may be speaking to you about ministry opportunities. Someone will ask you to teach Sunday school and you'll say, who am I? I don't know enough.
And furthermore, I just don't want to do it. Think for a moment of what Moses would have missed if he had said no. He'd have missed being there when the Egyptian gods were humiliated.
What an experience that is. And we're going to touch on that briefly sometime when against all the gods of Egypt, judgment came. How humiliating it was for those gods and the God Jehovah triumphed and Moses was there to see the whole thing. He would have missed the crossing of the Red Sea. He would have missed 40 days of uninterrupted fellowship on Mount Sinai in the presence of God.
Says that Moses spoke face to face to God like a man speaks with his friends and he was up there 40 days and when he came back, his face was glowing. He'd have missed all that. He would have missed coming later on into the land and appearing on the Mount of Transfiguration, which is where Peter, James and John and Elijah also was. Moses would not have shown up on that mountain if he had continued to say no to God.
Think of what he would have missed. There are some of you whom God is pressing out of your comfortable nest. He is exuding you. He is pushing you. He is encouraging you.
He is calling you and it is possible that you and I will miss some great things because we will, like a mule, simply say no. So what is your excuse? Someone has said that an excuse is the skin of a reason, but it's stuffed with a lie.
That's what an excuse is. I remember Nancy Reagan saying that her father at about the age of 12, if I remember correctly, memorized some verses in Sunday school for a free Bible and he didn't get a free Bible, but the pastor's son did, even though the pastor's son didn't know the verses as well. And so this boy perceived that he had been delivered an injustice and never attended church again. How do you think an excuse like that will wash in the presence of the Almighty? When he stands before God, will God say, oh yeah, yeah, that's right. I remember that at the age of 12, you had that injustice and I guess that justified neglecting me and investigating what my son came to earth for.
And, and I guess, I guess that's reason for you to have done what you've done. You notice what the text says regarding God in verse 14 of chapter four, after Moses gave these five excuses, then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses. God says, I'm not amused. I'm not amused that you would have the nerve, the nerve to not go.
When I call, I'm angry. You think that God is going to accept those excuses? Do you think God is going to accept the excuses of Christians who all of their lives refuse to become involved? They have pulled down the shutters.
They have closed the windows. They have isolated themselves in their own little world because they were hurt years ago and they refuse to get over that hurt and they simply hold onto it and say, God, I don't care what you want me to do. The answer is no, I've been hurt.
Like Moses was hurt 40 years earlier. I won't go. May I suggest to you that when we excuse ourselves, we accuse ourselves. God is asking us to be led out of the desert. God is asking us to come to him in simple faith. Some of you are believers and you're saying no to God for various reasons and others of you have never trusted Christ as your savior and you're saying no because of a host of reasons. I want you to know today that those excuses will not work in God's presence and I need to remind you that in the New Testament, Jesus Christ referred to himself as the I am. He is the self existent infinite God, the same God that revealed himself to Moses when any old bush would be able to do and to burn under the inspiration, the direction, and the power of God. That is the very same God and Jesus invites you and me to him today for forgiveness, for reconciliation, to make our peace with God.
But it's possible that somebody here today is saying no, no. Back in 1952, Queen Elizabeth was crowned Queen of England. Now I was very, very young at that time, but I still do remember it. There was a lots of talk about the coronation. All those who were invited to the coronation were given beautiful invitations.
I didn't receive one, but other people received beautiful invitations, particularly if they were a part of the royal bloodline. And in that invitation, after giving all the details, it said this quote, all excuses set apart. The whole idea is that it was unthinkable that somebody would have an excuse not to attend. It was saying in effect excuses, thank you unacceptable. And the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the God of Gods calls us, calls us to ministry within the church, calls us to lead small groups, calls us maybe to usher, calls us to responsibilities of teaching. And it's possible for you and me to stand there and to say, because I've been hurt because of the past, because I'm not gifted, the answer is no. We should come to God today.
All excuses set apart. Would you join me as we pray? Our Father today, we want to thank you that in your grace you did overcome, you did overcome the rebellion of Moses. We thank you that he went.
We know that he's grateful that he went and we pray that you might help us to obey you in everything that you reveal to us, to give up all excuses, all rationalizations, and in your presence simply say, yes, Lord, your servant hears. Lord, I am willing, I am willing to receive what you give. I'm willing to lack what you withhold. I'm willing to relinquish what you take.
I'm willing to suffer what you require. I am willing, Lord. Father, do your work in our hearts, whatever it is that you've talked to us about today, all removed from us, our stubbornness, our unbelief and our excuses, help us to come with open arms and hearts and say yes to you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer and I have a question for you. Is your heart open to the possibility of change? Might it be that God is leading you into a new vocation, into a new relationship? Are you open to God? You begin every day with your hands open, so to speak, and say today is your day to guide me, to direct me.
Let me ask you another question. Do you know someone who would be encouraged by the life of Moses as they study it in the scriptures as well as in a book that I've written entitled Getting Closer to God? Someone who can see the ups and downs of Moses' life and yet how the trajectory of his life was to give glory to God? If so, I suggest to you the book entitled Getting Closer to God for a gift of any amount it can be yours. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You know, when I think of the Bible and the way in which it portrays its heroes, we see not only the good parts, but we also see the faults. We see the obedience as well as the disobedience, and that's why we are so encouraged through the life of Moses.
The title of the book, Getting Closer to God, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Remember that we exist to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible and to encourage believers to be faithful no matter the cost. It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Are there sins that we can commit that permanently prevent us from having a public ministry? That's the question troubling Joshua, who asks, can a calling that the Lord has for a person be rescinded if they become ensnared in a sin like sexual immorality? I've carried the guilt of my sexual impurity for a long time, and I wonder if I can ever minister again. Well, you know, this is an excellent question, and of course it's being asked by many pastors and Christian leaders, because if they commit immorality, they are wondering, can I go back into the ministry again? And I might say that the evangelical community is divided as to how we should answer that question.
On the one hand, there are those who say, absolutely not. You get one chance at this, and if your credibility is ruined, your credibility is ruined, and you can no longer minister. Others say, well, let's be more redemptive than that. But considering your question again as I look at it more carefully, you are asking whether or not your call is rescinded. Well, your call is something that God gave you, your call to the ministry. You were gifted, you were probably trained, the ministry was really the gift that God gave you, and now you've committed immorality, or at least at some point in your life you have, since your call was exercised. And I would say that the calling may still be there, but that doesn't mean that you can exercise it. There are plenty of men and women who have been called by God into ministry. The call was strong, it was persistent, it was proven by their abilities, but now they've disqualified themselves, and it may well be that you are among them. So, call or no call, the fact is that immorality disqualifies us to go back into the ministry.
And now I want to add a different part of my answer. Of course it is possible that God may bring you back into ministry. I think that a person who commits immorality should be out of the ministry for probably years to come.
There has to be a real proving of their character. But within time, if they are under accountability, it may well be that they can minister again. Probably not the way in which they did before, but it's possible that God may bring you back into the ministry. But here's my word from my heart to yours. Don't push it. Don't be anxious to get back. You let God do this as you humbly and patiently wait before him. Because credibility is the heart of Christian ministry. When we've lost it, it is very, very, very difficult to get it back.
But that doesn't mean it's the end of the world for you. God has something for you to do. It might not be ministry, but God keeps working in us, using us, and blessing us, even after serious sin. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, for those words of counsel for Joshua. If you'd like to hear your question answered, you can go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. Or call us at 1-888-218-9337.
That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Erwin Lutzer has concluded Excuses, Excuses, the second in a series of 12 messages about Moses, a man getting closer to God. Next time, Moses moves in a positive direction. Join us for Getting to Know God. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
