The True Source of Security - Life of Moses Part 11

You know, when I was a child, I would lay in bed motionless every single night, and as soon as I would hear a creak or a noise in my room, I would open my eyes in fear, certain that there was going to be some horrible creature slinking around in my room. In fact, I always fell asleep, without fail, staring at my closet because I wanted to make sure that if something awful popped out of there, I had maximum time to get out of the room. I would never fall asleep with an arm or a leg hanging over the edge of the bed because I was sure that there was some demonic being just waiting to reach up from under my bed and pull me through some secret doorway into the inner resources of hell. See, I watched the Twilight Zone every week, and I knew that this was exactly how these monsters grabbed kids and carried them off, never to be heard from again.

Even to this day as an adult, I never allow a single part of my body to be hanging over the side of the bed when I fall asleep. Now, around this time, you're probably thinking, Lon, I sure hope you've got a good therapist. Well, really, let's go back to my childhood. Let me tell you how my father dealt with these fears that I had. He would say to me, Son, I'm going to leave the door open, and I'm going to be right in the next room. And if anything tries to hurt you, you just give me a call, and I'll be right here. And sometimes I would actually lay in bed, and just to be sure, I would yell out, Hey, Dad, are you still out there? And when he would send back that reassuring reply, Yes, I'm here, son, I would breathe a sigh of relief, and I would close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

Now, friends, here's the point. The point is that it was not the absence of danger that calmed my fears on those scary nights. It was the presence of my father. And you know, we all know what it's like to be afraid. Sometimes our fears are imaginary, like mine were as a little boy in my room. Sometimes our fears are very real, because the dangers are quite genuine. But either way, whether our fears are real, or whether they are imaginary, God offers us the exact same solution that my dad offered me on those nights when I was a little boy. He offers us the assurance of his personal presence.

Now, that's what we want to talk about this morning. We want to go back into the life of Moses. And we want to look at an event in Moses's life where God calmed his fears by simply assuring him of his presence.

And then we want to bring all that forward and talk about, well, what difference does that make to us? So if you brought a Bible this morning, I want you to open it with me to Exodus chapter three. And if you did not bring a Bible here in our main auditorium, if you'll reach right next to you under your armrest, you'll find a copy of the Bible, we're going to be on page 41. Page 41 in our copy, Exodus three in your copy.

And while you're turning, let me give you just a little bit of background. At age 40, Moses left the palace of Egypt, if you remember and became an exile on the backside of the desert for the next 40 years. Let's show you a map. And Moses here lived in the southern portion of the Sinai, inside the red circle that you see one day, as Moses was tending the sheep of his father in law fellow named Jethro, he saw a bush that was on fire, but was not burning up. And so being intrigued, Moses went over and God spoke to him from this bush here in Exodus chapter three, look at verse seven. God said, I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of Egypt into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Verse 10. So now, Moses, I want you to go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people Israel out of Egypt. Now you'll remember that several messages ago, we identified who this Pharaoh was, that God was sending Moses back to confront. His name was Amenhotep II.

Here's a picture of him. And his father, Thutmose III had expanded the Egyptian Empire, we learned, to its greatest extent in history. Let's show you a map of just how big the Egyptian Empire was at that time. When Thutmose III died, just four years before the events of the burning bush here in Exodus three, Thutmose handed this empire to his son, Amenhotep II, making Amenhotep II the most powerful man alive in Moses' day. Verse 11. But Moses said to God, God, who am I?

That I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Now this was not just a statement of humility on the part of Moses, we need to understand this was also a statement of fear. When Moses looked back at the palace of Egypt, the man he saw there, Amenhotep II, was a truly formidable figure. He was a man who had no accountability to anyone or anything. He was a man who could have Moses or anyone else killed with the simple snap of his finger.

He was a man to whom human life meant absolutely nothing. And frankly, on the human level, going toe to toe with this man scared Moses to death. Now remember a few moments ago, we said that some fears in our world are imaginary, and other fears we said are real. Well, I want you to know the fear that Moses had here was the latter kind. There was genuine reason for Moses to be afraid of the job that God had just asked him to do and of the man that God had just asked him to go face. But look how God quieted Moses' fears.

Verse 12. And God said to Moses, I will be with you. Friends, the way that God calmed Moses' fear was not by removing the danger or changing the job that he wanted him to do. The way he calmed Moses' fears was by assuring Moses of his personal presence as he went through the dangers that lay ahead of him. And I want you to notice that God's personal presence was the total and complete solution that God offered Moses here for his fear and his anxiety. Notice here that God's solution was not Moses, I will be with you, and God's solution was Moses, I will be with you, period.

God intended these five simple words, I will be with you to provide Moses with all of the security and all of the calm and all of the reassurance and all of the confidence that he would ever need. Now that's as far as we want to go in our passage for today because it's time for us to stop now and ask the question that I know you've been waiting to ask all morning. It's our most critical and important question, so are we ready? All right, here we go, nice and loud.

One, two, three. Yeah, you say, Lon, so what? Say, that's nice, I guess. I appreciate that, but what difference does any of that make to my life?

Well, let's see if we can talk about that and help you understand that. You know, most of us here know who Sandra Bullock is, the famous actress. Here's a picture of her on the screen. In 1994, of course, she starred with Keanu Reeves in the hit movie Speed. Since then, she's been in a number of hit movies, including Miss Congeniality, Murder by the Numbers, 28 Days, The Net, Hope Floats, Two Weeks Notice, The Secrets of the Yah-Yah Sisterhood, and on and on and on. Currently, she makes $12 million or more for every movie that she's in. She has homes in LA, New York, Texas, and a whole bunch of other places. And you know, our tendency is to look at a lady like this and say, my gosh, that lady probably doesn't have a worry in the world.

Well, that's not true. Listen to what she said, and I quote. She said, I always leave the house questioning every single move I make, down to the choice of cabs, the timing of every step.

It's a sick, sick cycle. I look back at every day, and half of it was lost in worry, end of quote. Folks, worry, anxiety, insecurity, fear, it's become the new American disease. Every year, antidepressant drug use in America tops $10 billion. Here in America, every year, over 30,000 Americans take their own life, and the primary cause is depression and anxiety.

According to Newsweek magazine, even in the best of times, over 19 million Americans suffer from fear-related disorders. And as we all know, this is not the best of times. Now, as followers of Jesus Christ, what does God say to us about worry, about anxiety, and about fear? Well, Luke chapter 12, Jesus said, verse 22, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life.

And he goes on to tell us why. Verse 25, who of you by worrying, Jesus says, can add a single hour to their life. Since you can't do this very little thing, then why do you worry about the rest? Friends, listen, if worrying caused people to live longer, Felix Unger would have lived to be 200 years old.

And so would Dr. McCoy, and Rabbit, and Radar, and George Costanza, and Martha in the Bible, and every Jewish mother alive, they'd all live to be 200 years old. But we know they don't. And the reason for that is exactly what Jesus said. Worry doesn't change anything. It never has.

It never will. I love what Corrie Ten Boom said, the famous lady that hid Jewish people from the Nazis in the Netherlands during World War II, godly woman. Corrie Ten Boom said, worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow.

It empties today of its strength. So you say, well, Lon, that's wonderful. I appreciate you telling me not to worry. But what solution do you offer me to help me stop?

I mean, it's easy to say, Don't worry, but give me some resources that helped me not do that. Well, my friend, God offers you and me the very same resource that he offered Moses. And that is he offers us five simple words, his promise, I will be with you. I mean, look at the people in the Bible, whom God asked to face the biggest obstacles in their lives, people in the Bible, whom God asked to climb the toughest mountains, whom God asked to confront the scariest enemies in their life.

Look at these people. Just like Moses, these people had good reason for being afraid for worrying for having anxiety. And when every one of them needed reassurance, like Moses needed, what did God offer every single one of them?

Well, let's look in Genesis 26, when Isaac was scared to stay in the land of Canaan, because there was a great famine there. God said to him, stay in the land of Canaan, for I will be with you. When Jacob when God asked him to return home and face his brother Esau after 20 years in exile, and he was worried that Esau was going to kill him because he stole his birthright.

He stole his blessing. Here was the reassurance God provided to Jacob. He said, Genesis 31, three, go and I will be with you. When God called the Israelites to invade the promised land, and they were worried about all the armies there in front of them. What did Moses say to calm their hearts?

Deuteronomy 31, he said, Do not worry, or be afraid, for the Lord your God is the one who is with you. When Joshua was asked by God to lead the people into the promised land and take the land of Canaan, and he was a little concerned about that and a little unsure of himself. What did God say to Joshua? Joshua one six, he said, Be strong and courageous, for as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

When King Jehoshaphat, Second Chronicles 20, was afraid to go out and face an army three times his size. God reassured him by saying, Do not be afraid or dismayed, for I will be with you. When the Apostle Paul Acts Chapter 18 was in Corinth, and people were out to kill him and he needed reassurance. What did God say to him? God said, Paul, I will be with you. And finally, when David wrote the 23rd Psalm, what did he say? He said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why? For thou art with me friends. This is what God has said to everybody who was afraid in the valley. This is what God has said to everyone who felt impotent to do what God had called them to do just like Moses did. God didn't offer these people pop psychology. God didn't offer these people Oprah speak.

God didn't offer these people feel good flattery or psycho babble. What's more, God did not try to convince these people that the dangers they were facing weren't real, because they were God simply said to them, no matter what comes your way, no matter what dangers you're facing, I will be with you. And since I am bigger than any danger you will ever face, you got nothing to worry about. So relax, be calm, because I'll be there. Now, you know, as followers of Christ, here in the 21st century, God has made you and me this very same promise. Jesus said Hebrews 13, five, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you. Jesus said john 1418, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. God promised us Isaiah 43, when you pass through the deep waters, I will be with you. And when you walk through the fire, the flames will not hurt you. So do not fear, for I am the Lord, and I am with you.

And when we as followers of Jesus Christ focus on this fact intensely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is with us in the good times, in the tough times, in our successes, in our failures, never ever does he forsake us. Never ever does he leave us as orphans. We are never unprotected.

We are never exposed. We are never, never vulnerable. We are never unguarded when we allow this great truth to dominate our perspective on life and to permeate our whole worldview, friends, it radically transforms the way we face the events of everyday life. Jesus said, I will never leave you or forsake you. And so the writer of Hebrews says, if that's true, the very next verse, therefore, in light of that, therefore, we may say with confidence, the Lord is my helper, I will not worry. I will not worry.

What can man do to me if the Lord Jesus Christ is standing next to me everywhere I go? Do you hear the confidence here? Do you hear the serenity here? Do you hear the peace and the assurance here? And it all comes from knowing one simple fact, namely that the Lord is with us.

He promised He would be and He is. You know, when I look back over my life at some of the lowest points that I've ever experienced in my life, one of them for sure was a time a few years ago when my little girl Jill was about three years old, maybe just a little younger. She had a seizure one night and we couldn't get it to stop. And so since we lived close to Fairfax Hospital, instead of calling 911, it was three a.m., we just threw Jill in the car.

I said to Brenda, you hold her, I'll drive. And we just rushed off to the Fairfax County or the Fairfax Hospital emergency room. We rushed her into the emergency room still seizing. She stopped breathing. They took her out of my wife's arms and rush Jill into a room back off the emergency room. They called for the respiratory team.

They brought an Ambu bag in. They started Ambu bagging her and they pushed us out of the room and they shut the door and closed the blinds. And there we were, three o'clock in the morning, standing in the hallway back in the emergency room of the Fairfax Hospital. There wasn't a person in sight. And my little girl was in this room where we couldn't even see what was going on.

We didn't know whether she was going to live or die. And there we stood in our pajamas. And I'll never forget how lonely I felt at that moment.

It was just Brenda and me. And I remember putting my arm around my wife as we stood there in the hallway. And I remember a verse of scripture that came back to me as I stood there.

It was the verse from Isaiah 43. Fear not, for I am with you. And suddenly, I had this overwhelming sense. I can't explain it to you, but I can just tell you I had this overwhelming sense that there were three of us standing there in that hallway. There was me with my arm around Brenda and there was the Lord Jesus Christ with His arm around both of us. And friends, it was the presence of the Good Shepherd that night in the hallway of Fairfax County Hospital emergency room. It was His presence that transformed that night from a night of despair into a night of hope.

It was like being back in my bedroom and hearing my dad in the other room yell to me, I'm out here. Don't worry. You can relax now.

I'm here. And you know, my friends, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to do. And this is what He wants to do for you.

This is what He will do for you. Because you're never alone. And I want to say if you're here today, and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your real and personal Savior, that you can look everywhere in this world system for this kind of peace, and this kind of serenity and this kind of assurance, and you will not find it, my friend.

And let me tell you why. It's because John 14, verse 27, Jesus said, peace, I give you when you're a follower of mine, my peace I give you, it's a peace that the world cannot give. You can't find this in the world because the world doesn't have this. It's a peace that only the living risen Christ can give a person. And I want to invite you if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ into a whole new dimension of living, a dimension of living where fear and anxiety don't have to dominate your life, but where you can face anything in life and everything in life with absolute confidence, assurance and calm, because you've got the living risen Christ standing next to you and you know it. And I hope I hope you'll think about that. You say, Well, Lon, you know, I just I just got to tell you something. I think that's all wonderful.

And I'm glad you had that experience that night in the in the emergency room. But you know what? I'm a follower of Christ. But sometimes I just don't feel like God's with me.

I mean, how can I be really sure that God's with me when there are times when my senses don't seem to confirm that? Huh? Well, that's a great question. Let me give you an answer. You know, I had the privilege of teaching all three of my boys to ride a two wheel bicycle. And here's how we would do it. I'd put them on the bicycle.

And I would say, All right, now here's the deal. You're going to ride and push the pedals. And I'm going to run right behind you.

In those days, I could actually do that. And I'm going to run right behind you. And and if you start to fall, if you get wobbly, and you start to go over, don't you worry, I'll catch you, you will not fall and hurt yourself. I'll be right there behind you. So you pedal, and I'll be there behind you.

Let's go. Now, the worst time I had teaching one of my boys was my oldest son, James. Because what he would do is he'd get on the bicycle and start and then he started looking behind him. And every time he looked behind him, he pulled the wheel sideways.

And every time he did the bicycle went over. And I kept saying to him, Jamie, you got to look forward. You cannot learn to ride a bicycle looking behind you. You've got to look forward. And he kept saying to me, but daddy, if I keep looking forward, how do I know for sure you're behind me?

I can't see you if I look forward. And I said, Jamie, I can solve that problem for you. Let me tell you, you can trust me, I will never lie to you. And if I tell you that I am behind you, and I will catch you, you do not need to see me to know that's true. If you know my character, as your father, you can trust me. And you can know it's true whether you see me or whether you don't. Now I'd like to announce he did eventually learn to ride a two wheel bicycle.

We did get it done. But you know, this very same truth applies to us in our walk with Jesus Christ. We have a God, Titus chapter one, verse two, we have a God the Bible says who cannot lie. It doesn't say that God does not lie. It says God cannot lie.

It is absolutely impossible in light of his character for him to lie. And so when he says I will never leave you or forsake you, that is truth you can take to the bank. And he says fear not for I am with you. That is truth that you and I can take to the bank. And friends, we don't need to see him to know that's true. We don't need to feel him to know that's true. Our senses do not need to confirm that in order to know that's true. Because if he cannot lie, then it is true. Whether we feel it, whether we see it, whether our senses confirm it or not, it is true. And that's what it means to walk by faith.

There are times you may not see this or feel it, or your senses confirm it. But it doesn't change the fact that the God of the universe who cannot lie said it's true. And we need to face forward and pedal and trust God that he's right where he says he is holding us up in his everlasting arms, guiding us with his everlasting plan, protecting us with his everlasting power, shielding us under his everlasting wings and nurturing us in his everlasting love. If he says it, then it's true.

And we just need to believe it. Let me conclude my friends to fear no evil while walking through the valley of the shadow of death. This is the inheritance of every true follower of Jesus Christ. And if you're a follower of Christ here today, this is your inheritance. It's an inheritance that God wants you to claim. It's an inheritance that God wants you to possess.

It's an inheritance that God wants you to enjoy. And I know here today that there are a lot of us who are facing really tough valleys in our lives. We have real problems today.

And these real problems produce real anxieties and real fears. Well, I'm here to tell you, and I'm here to encourage you to trust God. The good news is my friends, no matter how deep the valley may be, no matter how wide your valley may be, no matter how difficult your valley may be as a follower of Jesus Christ, you have God's promise that in every valley, no matter how wide, deep or difficult, I will be with you. And you know, what's interesting to me, you know, what I love is that when you look in the Bible, this is the only security anywhere in the Bible God offers us as his sheep. This is it. And you know why? Friends, the reason is because this is the only security we need.

That's it. And so I want to encourage you today if you're facing a valley in your life, you have God's promise that he will be with you. Trust him. It doesn't matter whether you feel it. Believe it.

It doesn't matter whether your senses confirm it. He will provide for you. He will protect you. He will be right beside you.

That's his promise. Wherever you go, whatever you face. Remember, there are always two people facing whatever you're facing. There's you and there's the Lord Jesus Christ with his arms around you.

It'll change the way you go through life if you'll remember that. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for reassuring us today that you, the God who cannot lie, have promised us that in every situation of life, you will be with us.

Just like you were with Moses and Jacob and Isaac and Joshua and the Apostle Paul and King Jehoshaphat and David, you will be with us. And Father, my prayer is that you would help us to believe what you tell us and to embrace it and to, Lord, make it our personal possession in such a way that it changes the way we face every single event in life. Father, remind us this is the only security you give because this is the only security we need. You are bigger than any problem, any danger, any peril we will ever face. And so as long as you are with us, there is nothing to fear. Lord, change our lives because we were here today. Change the very way we face the circumstances of our life. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, in God's people's name, amen.