Exodus 17-18 - 2011 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way let's pray father in heaven we bring to you our very lives we present our bodies as living sacrifices holy acceptable it's our reasonable service it's a privilege Lord a joy to gather together to break up our week with a spiritual meal in between weekends and to tell you Lord that we need you and we depend on you every single day of the week and to worship You Lord this is an opportunity for us to approach the scripture in a way that very few are able to do verse by verse line upon line chapter by chapter and to read this incredible story of how you worked in the Old Testament how people journey then marched by faith and sometimes by unbelief and to learn Lord what those lessons could mean to our own lives now spiritually speaking we have great principles in the New Testament and we see the practice and examples so often in the Old Testament so thank you Lord that you preserved us and you brought us here and once again we ask that you would speak to us we pray that our hearts would be tender as you do and for those of us especially Lord who have done this a long time and have heard many of these things are read through the Bible and are familiar with it I pray that your word would be like fresh manna to us and if there is hardened hearts or fallow ground break that up unite our heart to serve you in Jesus name Amen well God got his people out of Egypt there's something else he has to do get Egypt out of his people there's one thing to take his people from Egypt it's quite another thing to take Egypt out of the hearts of his people now I think we can all relate with that we've been saved we've been taken from the world that's one thing but it's quite another thing to have the world with its values it's love it's pleasure taken out of us and that's a recurring theme throughout these Old Testament wanderings and the journey with Moses and the people of Israel so what we've heard in the past their complaints we're going to hear again tonight but about something different now I wonder if Moses would have had a theme song maybe it would be on the road again Aaron and I are traveling on the road again and it's like there's the road again and again and again or maybe it would have been the long and winding road because for 40 years they just sort of went around and around or perhaps a better song would be including the children of Israel I can't get no satisfaction because it seems that for 40 long years on this incredibly long camping trip walking trip through the wilderness that the children of Israel never stay satisfied for very long not only are they not satisfied but Moses is not satisfied with their behavior now in Chapter 17 and 18 we get to road hazards if you will hazard number one confrontation that's chapter 17 hazard number two disorganization that's chapter 18 now these these are recurrent themes in all of life everyone's life confrontation and disorganization tonight the lessons we read about in the Old Testament the Scriptures have application to any and all of us in fact it's sort of a study just sort of in human nature itself now if I were to divide it up and I'll do that for you the confrontation in chapter 17 is divided into two sections there's confrontation from the inside and confrontation from the outside confrontation from the inside Moses gets confronted by his own people the people he's shepherding he's pastoring in the desert they're bent out of shape at God's provision or lack thereof in their opinion and they take it out on Moses so that's confrontation from the inside that's chapter 17 verses 1 through 7 second is confrontation from the outside a Middle East conflict with an ancient people the Amalekites takes place in verse 18 or verse 8 through verse 16 of chapter 17 so we have confrontation from the inside we have confrontation from the outside and we have number three administration by the qualified and that's chapter 18 that's how I would divide it up tonight for our purposes I'll do that the last time we saw the children of Israel they complained because they had no food especially the kind that they remembered the leeks the garlic's the onions and they complained saying in effect God was not able to furnish for them a table in the wilderness nothing could be further from the truth for David will write some years after this you prepare a table for me even in the midst of my enemies God is showing his people as he tries to show us that where there is no way God can make away well if your economy is failing if policies are passed if your taxes go up if your income goes down I wonder if you're going to complain or say huh how's the Lord gonna do it now it'll be fun to watch but David declared this I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's people begging bread that's a promise that we have let's look at the confrontation from the inside and this is an internal complaint from the people of Israel God's people themselves verse 1 then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin that's where we saw last week the Sinai area according to the commandment of the Lord and they camped at refa deem but there was no water so last time it was food now it's no water there was no water for the people to drink now refa deem can be identified today there is an oasis the largest Oasis in the Sinai area the upper part of that Oasis is the little wadi or awash with trees and water called in ancient times refa deem now refa demons rest stop rest stop you've ever been out on i-40 or i-25 and there's like these long periods of wilderness and then there's this rest stop and you pull in then there's water to drink and there's restrooms to use have you ever gone to a rest stop and there's no water running or the restrooms are locked so it says rest stop but you're not rested when you stop you go there for refreshments for respite for arrest you go to ref a team and ref a team is locked up and there's no water flowing they go to rest stop to refreshment that's ref Adeem but they find it without water now something I found interesting I was doing little bit of digging we read about the children of Israel complaining here eight times in the Old Testament the idea of God's people complaining is mentioned eight times once in Joshua chapter nine once in Psalm 59 all of the rest the other six are in the Book of Leviticus book of Exodus in the Book of Numbers they're evenly split three and three so most of the time the attitude of complaining is in this wilderness wandering with Moses therefore the people contended with Moses and they said give us water that we may drink and Moses said to them why do you contend with me why do you tempt the Lord now the word tempt is interesting test would be a better translation the Hebrew word Nassau means to put somebody to a test to see if they're faithful or not to prove a person to see if that person is going to act a certain way let's see if God's gonna provide for us let's let's let him prove if he can take care of us out here in the desert they complained against Moses they're doing it to test the Lord now why would they test the Lord about water I mean just again think back let's see God opened the Red Sea number one God brought Krispy Kreme Doughnuts from heaven number two God brought them a heavenly GPS system a cloud by day a pillar of fire by night protection from the elements warmth from the cold he's brought them food quail manna and they're complaining oh yes this is it we're gonna die now really is it that short lived now you don't really have to go far to answer that question it is short lived because here's the truth we are humans and we have a human nature one of the strongest drives we have one of the strongest issues in our life is self-preservation if we don't get what we want when we think we want it or when our body says you need it now self-preservation is a strong impulse you recall when Satan was having a conversation with God about Joe remember that story in Chapter one of the book of Job and the Lord said have you considered my servant job there's nobody like him in all the earth Satan said something very interesting and I believe he was correct in assessing human nature he said back to the Lord skin for skin yay all that a man has will he give for his life he touched upon that drive of self-preservation men will do almost anything to have his needs fulfilled skin for skin all that a man has will he give for his life so yes God gave them food yes God opened up the red seat cool awesome praise God but I'm thirsty now and the human body does need a high level of moisture to sustain itself that we know and the people thirsted therefore water verse three and the people complained against Moses and said why is it that you have brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst ah yeah that's it you found me out you found the answers is roll a hole motive all the way along to lead you out here and have God do miracles and then kill you right here amazing so I love this so what does Moses do so Moses cried out to the Lord saying what shall I do with this people they're almost ready to stone me this people had gotten to the level of out in the wilderness yes trusting God yes but driven by the impulse of the human nature to the extent that they're ready to kill the leader that God used to deliver them out of bondage how quickly they forgot all that Moses had sacrificed and Aaron and Miriam up to this point a true sign of spiritual growth and it would be applied to the children of Israel but applied to us true sign of spiritual growth isn't how we act when we're in church or when we're in church and life is good in life is favorable that the test of real growth is how we act when the bottom drops out of our life when the water dries up when the food dries up Arthur W pink who wrote a commentary on Exodus said of the children of Israel they would rather lean on a cobweb of human resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent all-wise and infinitely gracious god I read that and I went out a cobweb of human resources well we're thirsty what are we gonna do what are you gonna do what is God gonna do something has to be done now trusting on a cobweb of human resources rather rather than the omnipotent God the all-wise infinitely gracious all-powerful God so they complain they're putting God to the test in reality they're being tested to see if they'll trust the Lord or not now here's what I like about what we just read in this verse Moses does the wise thing he's confronted with the problem the people that he's pastoring have a problem what does he do they say Moses you got to fix this we're mad at you Moses is wise and he goes to God goes God what are you gonna do James said if any one lack wisdom any takers for that anybody lack wisdom I do every day if anyone lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives freely or liberally and does not upbraid or chai but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavers is like the waves of the sea tossed to and fro they have a problem they bring it to Moses Moses does what they should have done brings it to the Lord Lord I need help I need wisdom what do I do there's something interesting here I can't pass up Moses it's considered the lawgiver by the Jews or the deliverer by the Jews the one that God used to deliver them from bondage the very one that is the instrument of their deliverance is the one they want to kill does that sound like anybody else you know Christ herein is Moses a type of Jesus Christ the New Testament says he came into his own his own did not receive him Jesus came as the deliverer they wanted to kill him we will not have this man rule over us so what does Jesus do said father into your hands I commit my spirit he like Moses commits himself to God Peter the Apostle writes in 1st Peter chapter 2 concerning Christ who when he was reviled he did not revile again when he suffered he committed himself to the one who judges righteously so herein is Moses the lawgiver the deliverer a type of Christ who would be a greater deliverer verse 5 and the Lord said to Moses go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel also taking your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go behold I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb Horeb is that area some believe right next Mount Sinai were later on Elijah will flee from Queen Jezebel and you will strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel so Moses takes his his staff his rod and I don't know if this is directly or depicts it or not but that which was once an instrument of judgment becomes an instrument of God's mercy at one time he threw down his rod and it became a serpent now he takes up the rod as he has done and so many other times for miraculous situation as evidence of the power of God and God does a miracle through it kind of like Holden s I kind of feel like Moses for seven he called the name of the place masa which means testing and mera ba which means strife how do you think the people felt when he said I'm gonna name this strife I'm gonna name this place testing or proof because you wanted to prove the Lord to see if he was really here it would take care of you stripe because you contended with me and in contending with me you contended with the Lord mera ba because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying is the Lord among us or not till God tells Moses go up and strike the rock strike the rock at Horeb fast forward to your New Testament we're in the New Testament Christ typologically is seen as a rock he's called the rock or a rock and there's a very interesting passage of Scripture you might want to write in the margin of your Bible 1st Corinthians chapter 10 first Corinthians chapter 10 is where Paul says for they all ate of the same spiritual food and they all drank of the same spiritual drink or they drank from the rock that followed them which is Christ a very very interesting passage of Scripture naming the rock Christ now why is God and in particular Christ depicted as a rock a couple of reasons a rock is stable remember Jesus is going to give a story in the New Testament about a wise man who builds his house on the rock it's stable its durable the storms of life will come and that house will stand it will not fall it's durable it'll stand the test of time David said of the Lord the Lord is my rock my fortress my deliverer also in the book of psalms david says god is our refuge it is of a strong rocky refuge our refuge and strength a very present help in times of trouble and then jesus - peter will say upon this rock i will build my church not Peter Peters not the rock Peter means a little tiny pebble you don't want to build your church on Peter it'd be a faulty church if you did he was building it upon the confession that Peter made that Christ was the son of the Living God I'm gonna build my church upon the confession of Who I am not who you are Peter so a rock is stable a rock is durable and that the type is the type of Christ number two not only was a rock stable in this case the rock was struck now follow me here it was struck with the rod interesting the rod that at one time became a serpent and if I can stretch it just a little bit that which was the serpent is what struck the rock the rock was struck with the implement that at one time turned into a serpent you know go back in your minds if you remember Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 what we've called and told you before is the proto evangelii of the Old Testament that is Christ depicted way back at the beginning the protoevangelium where a promise is given that says the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent but the serpent will bruise the heel of the seed or the Saviour Christ put on a cross crucified him bruised by Satan not knowing that was the very thing that would crush Satan's Dominion and power ultimately struck smitten crucified for us now it's something else that's noteworthy before we move on tuck it away in their minds for the future on a later occasion Israel will once again come to a place where there's no water out in the desert there's no wells to drink from there's no water and their little water kits they're out the Lord tells Moses to go up to the rock that was in that place and go talk to the rock to speak to it and what does Moses do in anger he strikes the rock and he paid for it he didn't get to enter the Promised Land because of it he misrepresented God God wasn't angry with the people like Moses was but Moses gave off the impression that he was revealing the character of God the attitude of God toward those people God said I don't want you to strike the rock just speak to the rock you don't have to strike the rock you don't have to strike Christ he's already been smitten once once for all when Jesus hung on a cross he said it is finished father into your hands I commit my spirit it's done when I grew up I grew up in a religious system that believed in the continual sacrifice of Christ that Christ has to be crucified every time the church meets together through the implementation of certain sacraments they called it the continual sacrifice Christ must be continually crucified oh no not so it's once and for all and the Act 2,000 years ago on the cross the smiting of Christ was once and for all time you can't add to it you can't take anything from it it doesn't need to be repeated it can never be repeated you just speak to the rock Moses but he didn't so that's the confrontation from the inside his own people now let's look in verse 8 and number 2 confrontation from the outside now here's a Middle East conflict not an internal complaint an external conflict now Amalek came and fought with Israel in ref Adeem and Moses said to Joshua first time he's mentioned in the Bible Joshua choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand the Amalekites who are they who were they the Amalekites were a tribe of bedouin these traveling roving predatory bedouin zin that time that occupied that southern region of the land of canaan the Amalekites descended from a guy named Amalek do you remember him Amalek was the grandson of Esau and Esau you remember Esau was the man of the flesh he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup he didn't care about the spiritual birthright he cared about gratifying the flesh could care less about spiritual things I'm not into that stuff you gonna have my birthright I'm just hungry so a Malak becomes a type of the flesh throughout the Bible and here we find them the first time attacking Israel and you're gonna see them attack Israel again and again there'll be perpetual enemies for many many years to come Amalek is a type of the flesh when I say flesh I mean the evil old sinful Adamic or what comes from Adam nature that we all have you have two natures as a believer in Christ the old nature new nature the nature that comes from Adam the nature that is that comes to you from Christ in being born again the second birth galatians chapter 5 the flesh wars against the spirit the spirit wars against the flesh these two are contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things that you would now before you gave your life to jesus christ there was no war you were totally under the Dominion of the flesh it dominated you what will I eat what will I drink what will I put on those are the things that occupied your life it was all about you it's centered on you there was no battle with the spirit you didn't have a spiritual nature yet there was no conflict you were totally under the Dominion of that nature that came to all of us by Adam as soon as you gave your life to Christ as wonderful as it is as wonderful as it was as transforming as it was after a while you began to notice something there's a conflict man there's a battle going on I still have those impulses I've been renewed by the spirit and I have desires toward the things of God but those old things I still battle with now ah keyword you battle with them you didn't battle with them before you just gave yourself over to them now you battle with them the flesh against the spirit the spirit against the flesh they're contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things that you would know here's the key you're either building up one or the other you're feeding one or the other you feed the flesh the old nature by the things of this world and in so doing you weaken the new nature if on the other hand you feed the new nature the spiritual nature the Word of God prayer fellowship a number of things that can do it you build it up if you're feeding your flesh that's or that's if you're feeding your spirit that's the key to victory over the flesh oh I battle this area of my life constantly what do I do I'm gonna face it in just our battling it know if you feed the spirit and are preoccupied with the things of God giving little or no time at all to the things of the flesh therein lies the key to victory it's sort of like weeds this is a good time to talk about weeds because right about now they're all over your yard now did you plant those weeds no and it's a funny thing about weeds not only did you not plant them they were probably there before you got your house you don't have to water them you never have to fertilize them you never have to call the weed guy and say could you could you take care of my weeds so I have something to do during the summer just feed them and water them tend them for me no you have to go out of your way to feed the garden feed the lawn take care of that because it won't grow by itself the weeds grow by themselves so the key is to feed the spirit and not the flesh it's something about a Mallick and the Amalekites the attack began as soon as they start their spiritual journey toward the land of Canaan very similar as soon as we take off in our spiritual journey that's when we discovered the battle now maybe not the first week you come to Christ life is good life is grand wow-wow-wow answers purpose meaning joy love but a few weeks down the line that flesh starts rearing its ugly head again and making demands on you oh not so fast I know you're trying to go to the promised land but remember me now you're gonna find something out in Deuteronomy 25 Lord willing if we ever make it that far toward the end of the Pentateuch we get the insight that the Amalekites when they attack the children of Israel Moses will bring this up later when they attack they didn't attack from the front but they attack from the back and they attacked the weak and the weary and the faltering this the stragglers the people who weren't really with the pack they were sort of lingering and straggling behind they sort of lost their way a little bit and I have discovered that Satan loves to attack those within the church the stragglers they're not always in fellowship they don't always maintain the discipline it's like every now and then and they're so open and out in the open and thus susceptible to these attacks and so they're easy pickins they move a little bit slower not the same amount of purpose and commitment in their walk that's why it's important important to maintain these spiritual disciplines that the Bible speaks about Moses said to Joshua again verse 9 choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand so Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek and Moses Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill now who is her while her is not him her is the son of a man named Caleb not the Caleb of Caleb and Joshua but according to Chronicles another guy named Caleb but her evidently was some famous person in Israel because it just mentions him without any qualification of who he belonged to or what he did according to Josephus now this isn't Bible but it is history Josephus says that he was the husband of Miriam now remember Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron and according to Josephus her married Miriam so her was one of the relatives of Moses so it was when Moses lifted up his hand Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed so we get this picture of Moses reaching up his hands and then getting tired and then these two fellas propping them back up but verse 9 says the rod of God was in his hand and so Jewish commentators don't have this picture but this picture that he placed it horizontally the rod grabbing it with both hands and lifting up his arms like a banner why the rod of God this symbolized the relationship God had with his people this symbolized God's power God's intervention God's influence over their lives and so that would give them courage as they would fight and certainly to Joshua so he'd raise it up when he'd raise it up in his hands in the air stretch in worship and adoration to the Lord that's how the Jewish scribes interpret it they prevailed the children of Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand or his hands and his hand in particular with the rod that Amalek prevailed in a spiritual battle you need spiritual weapons and one of the great weapons - often neglected by most of us is the avenue of Prayer the idea of the hands raised up is Lord I'm looking to you I'm trusting you I'm really not doing anything Lord you're doing it all I'm Moses you're doing it all but my hand is up because I trust that you're gonna work on our behalf and so he fought the bottle a battle he cooperated with God in the battle in that he was praying before the Lord it was the physical battle but it was also a spiritual battle I was reading in my my devotions this last week I was in second chronicles and I was going through chapter 16 in second chronicles chapter 16 one of the kings of Judah named ASA member ASA there was David there was Solomon there was riobamba there was a by Gaea there was a sir and then Jehoshaphat when ASA was the king of Judah in this 36th year of his reign the guy up in Israel King Basha started building up some of the border towns with Judah so that people down south couldn't go up north and people up north couldn't go down south sort of cordoning off those that lived in Judah so what does King ASA do well what should he do he should have prayed you should at any time there's a problem automatically the first thing you talked to God about he didn't do that he goes to the king of Syria ben-hadad and he makes a deal with him let me give you some gold and silver and stuff from the house of God and from my house I'll give it to you and I'll pay you off to fight against my buddy Basha in Israel and so he invades Israel happy that he's won the victory ASA is going like this in his palace great strategy we did a good thing this is smart we figured it out a prophet comes to him named Hanna and I and says King ASA it was stupid what you did now I'm paraphrasing just a little bit it was foolish in that you have trusted the king of Syria rather than the Lord your God you should have trust of God you trusted the Syrian King you're trusting in the arm of the flesh not in the spirit and then Hannah and I said ASA don't you remember when the Ethiopians and the Libyans revolted and all you did is pray and God routed them and sent them away you didn't do that this time and then the Prophet said for the eyes of the Lord moved to and fro throughout the entire earth that he might show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are committed to him not a great verse of scripture God's looking looking who is it that will fully trust me who is it that will call upon my name who is it that will turn away from the stratagems of the flesh and just rely on me there's one I'm gonna pour out my provision because his her heart is totally fully committed to me so Moses lifted up the rod God has worked God will work again Lord our hands are up to you we we pour out our expectation before you but moses hands became heavy so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it good move smart and aaron and her supported his hands on one side and on the other and his hands were steady until the going down of the Sun we have a question I'll throw it up on the screen that says are the Amalekites and the Israelites still at war with each other no they're not physically yes they are spiritually the flesh will always be at war with the spirit until the going down of the Sun but historically no the Amalekites are an extinct race as far as we know there's no pure Amalekites when was the last time you met an Amalekite say in a drugstore grocery store I never have they're not around anymore and their descendants are not with us but I'll explain a little more about that in just a moment if you hold on so Moses hands getting heavy propping up the hands on one side then the other side until the going down of the Sun do your hands ever get heavy now I'm speaking spiritually of course I'm as it yeah I get really tired when I work out what I mean is do your hands ever get heavy in prayer spiritually one of the greatest tools we have and weapons against the enemy is the avenue of Prayer one of the most neglected is the avenue of Prayer it's hard work the Bible speaks about laboring in prayer it gets hard to do it in fact because prayer is so powerful a weapon it's the thing Satan will attack to keep you from doing let me get him distracted and get them trying to figure this out in their own mind by their own flesh instead of trusting me that's a distraction it's funny and it's sad when you say Lord I'm just gonna devote this time now to you this Lord this next whatever amount of time is yours all of a sudden the phone rings the phone may have rung all day or all week in fact if you want to get phone calls sort of a surefire thing is just pray or you get a knock on the door or your mind gets distracting you start remembering things you for the ole again now you remembered you want to write it down your arms get heavy you get weary verse 13 so Josh would defeated amalek and his people with the edge of the sword and the Lord said to Moses write this for a memorial in the book and recounted in the hearing of Joshua why because Joshua will become the leader the successor to Moses here he's a general fighting the battles in charge of the warfare he will continue to do that but he will also become the successor to Moses in terms of leadership write this down in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven so that answers the question it hasn't happened yet but God makes a promise that the Amalekites are a doomed race God is going to exterminate them all and eventually like many other races they have fallen into extinction there's no Amalekites today and Moses built an altar and called its name the Lord is my banner here adenine is C or Yahweh Nissi the Lord is my banner because the Lord was his banner as he held that rod up in in the form of a banner with both hands and expectation of the Lord the Lord showed himself strong for he said because the Lord has sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation and can I just say you're gonna have trouble with your old nature from generation to generation you say well I'm young now you know I'm struggling with certain things because I'm young okay you'll find in middle age you'll still struggle when you get older you'll still struggle maybe in different ways maybe not the same capacity but the flesh is the flesh and you'll struggle with it until the old nature is gone ie the death of the body and you're in the presence of the Lord the flesh wars against the spirit Galatians 5 the spirit against the flesh so god dooms this race because of an unprovoked attack on his people innocent blood and the perpetual animosity that they will have toward Israel in the future fast forward fast forward to the book of Samuel in your minds were first Samuel where Saul is appointed as the king and the prophet Samuel sends him out against the Amalekites and says because of what they did way back then it's time to see that fulfilled the Lord has gonna use you to be the instrument to utterly wipe them off the face of the earth don't spare anybody animals anything go out and wipe them out Saul goes out and he comes back and he goes praise the Lord I've done everything God wanted me to do and Samuel goes well if you really did do everything God wanted you to do how is it that I hear the bleating of sheep I'm hearing animals in the background here background noises and they sound an awful lot like animals Oh Saul said well I brought the best of the animals from the Amalekites to sacrifice to the Lord I want to I really want to show God how much I love them so I brought him to sacrifice oh and he brought King Agag the king of the Amalekites with him so Samuel says Saul do you think the Lord has as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord for behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed or listen to God is better than the fat of rams because you have done this and not obeyed the voice of the Lord in utter Lee wiping out this race God's gonna tear the kingdom from you you're saying well what's the big deal I mean okay so he spared somebody and he spared a few people and he spared some of the animal what's the big deal what's the big deal about getting rid of all the Amalekites first of all you need to understand their history and how vile they were as a race in general number two you just have to look at what happened in the book of Esther and the book of Esther Esther who was appointed one of the queens and her relative some would say uncle Mordecai we're told or least Mordecai was to bow down to a guy named Haman member Haman Haman was an Amalekite if Saul would have obeyed there would be no Amalekites there would not have been a threat to the people in Persia but what happened Haman decides we have to exterminate every single Jew in the Empire and he was almost successful but he wasn't successful because God provided a way out but nonetheless so close to the entire race of God's people being wiped out God foresaw that as a possibility so he told them get rid of them there's no Reformation program for the flesh what do you do with your flesh kill it starve it don't negotiate with it well I know I'm doing this today but tomorrow I'll do a little bit less just a little bit less not as much as they've a little bit eventually I'll quit totally no you starve it totally starve it now Paul put it this way I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not i but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God you take it to the cross you crucify you don't negotiate with it you starve it completely that's the best way to debilitate and disable the flesh while cultivating the spirit don't negotiate well the little girl you may have heard about she fell out of bed one night little girl and she was crying her mom came in the room and said honey why'd you fall out of bed and little girl said I don't know but I I think it's because I stayed too close to where I got in makes sense when we fall it's often because we've stayed too close to where we got in we come to Christ but we stay so close to all the things that drag us down and we keep plop falling plop falling plop falling move in a little bit more from the edge now chapter 18 see how far we can get here's the third that is administration by the qualified note here's why I like chapter 18 and it goes pretty quickly Moses very aggressive very strong leader but up to this point has been doing it all himself not giving it to anybody else for the sake of administration he's just sort of the one-man show pastoring two and a half million people on his own Joshua fights the battles he does all the spiritual work fortunately he has a father-in-law who's smart and insightful and sees what Moses is doing and it's a great great study in not only human nature but in administration and delegation verse one and Jethro not Bodeen Jethro the the priest of Midian Midian keep that in mind Midian Moses father-in-law heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people and the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt then Jethro Moses father-in-law took Zipporah Moses wife after he had sent her back with her two sons of whom the name of one was Gershon for he said I have been a stranger in a foreign land and Gershon means stranger and the name of the other was Eliezer for he said the god of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh so these two kids were named after the experience of the parents in this case and Jethro Moses father-in-law came with his sons and wife to Moses in the wilderness where he had encamped at the mountain of God and he said to Moses I your father-in-law Jethro am coming to you with your wife and your two sons with her and so Moses went out to meet his father-in-law bowed down and kissed him and they asked each other about their well-being and they went into the tent now at this point you might have a question so what's Moses wife doing apart from Moses with the two kids they're back in Midian because if you remember back in chapter 7 after they were there in Midian they went back toward Egypt yes and you would infer back all the way to Egypt so that she would be part of the exodus here they come out they come to Mount Horeb and she has been with her father and the two kids have been with Grandpa probably what happened is they were on their way back to Egypt from Midian and then that whole weird thing with the circumcision remember that in chapter 7 and she said you're a bloody husband to me probably at that point Moses said honey this is gonna be a tough journey I'll catch up with you on the back loop and sent her and the two kids back to Grandpa for her spiritual well-being and Robbie for his own as well and Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh how the Egyptians for Israel's sake all the hardship that had come upon them on the way in how the Lord delivered them and Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done for Israel whom he delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians and Jethro said blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians remember Jesus will say let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven Jethro was a Midianite a Midianite was related to Abraham like the Amalekites and the Midianites will also become enemies of Israel like the Amalekites were and will but this Midianite is different he seems to have heard of Yahweh but here he becomes a believer or a convert now watch this verse 11 now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods may be before he didn't know maybe he had his own suspicions that well everybody has their own god or goddess they're sort of all alike all roads lead to heaven but not now now I know that the Lord Yahweh is greater than all the gods for in the very thing in which they behave proudly he was above them it could be that he became a convert through hearing all that God had done then Jethro Moses father-in-law took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God and Aaron came with the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God so it would seem that Jethro giving evidence of his faith is now offering sacrifices to Yahweh he'd heard Moses speak about him but now he knows this is the true God you know there's nothing like your personal testimony your story you have a God story of how God saved you and when you bring that personal testimony back to your friends back to your relatives back to your immediate family they know you they look at you skeptically but if they can see the changes and see the evidence it's the greatest proof they see a changed life they see the evidence before them in the Gospel of Mark in chapter 5 a man who was demon-possessed was delivered by Jesus of the demon wanting to follow Jesus so excited I'm going now wherever you go Jesus said no no go back home and tell your relatives your friends everything that God has done for you start there just tell them let them be your mission field now with your personal testimony well after the reunion after the the meal here after the celebration Moses returns to his busyness his nine-to-five job now watch this and so it was on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening you think it was hard holding up the staff watch this so when Moses father-in-law saw all that he did for the people he said what is this thing that you are doing for the people why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning till evening and Moses said to his father-in-law because the people come to me to inquire of God that sounds so noble I'm the link to God they come to me because they want to hear from God when they have a difficulty they come to me and I judge between one and another and I make known the statutes of God and His laws so Moses father-in-law said to him the thing that you do is not good I'm sure he thought my father-in-law is gonna see how hard I work and I'm gonna come home in the tent in the evening he's gonna have lamb prepared and a cup of coffee and he's gonna say son-in-law I'm so proud of you good going I saw how hard you work today he said this is not good he qualifies it verse eighteen both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out for this thing is too much for you you are not able to perform it by yourself Jethro the father-in-law sees that Moses has been reduced to a cosmic problem shuffler from morning till evening trying to do everything personal needs family needs social problems all by himself just imagine the kind of things that Moses would have to listen to he stole my sheep he snores every night and the tent wakes up the neighbors all the things he would hear all day long it would get wearying notice verse 14 the word alone why do you sit alone and verse 18 you are not able to perform it by yourself Moses you need a team of people to do it here's the principle one person no matter how gifted can do a ministry alone a service alone a task alone Dwight L Moody was wife she said I'd rather find a hundred men to do the work than to do the work of a hundred men Moses is doing the work of a hundred men Jethro is going you need a hundred men to do the work you need some administration you need some delegation two reasons why number one he says you're gonna wear yourself out by the end of the day you're gonna come home go man I'm just wiped out and beyond my limit number two you're gonna wear them out imagine the patience it would take to stand in line to let one guy hear all the problems impossible listen now to my voice verse 19 I will give you counsel and God will be with you in other words you listen to father-in-law as if God is speaking stand before God for the people that you may bring the difficulties to God and you will teach them the statutes and the laws and show them the way they must walk and the work that they must do get alone with God he says number one verse nineteen you get alone with God number two you get a hold of God's principles and you teach the law you teach the principles of God get alone with God get ahold of God principles number three get qualified people to help you that's verse 21 moreover you shall select from all the people able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and place such over them to be rulers of thousands hundreds fifties and tens and let them judge the people at all times and it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you but every small matter they themselves will judge so it will be easier for you they will bear the burden with you as time goes on God is saying to Moses Moses the ministry should become easier not harder but you need people to help you for that to happen now in numbers chapter 11 the Lord will say to Moses specifically select 70 elders 70 elders and the spirit that I have put upon you Moses I will take and put upon them the same spirit I put upon you I will put upon them and they will bear the burden with you now there's a parallel to this just real quickly in the book of Acts chapter 7 the number of the disciples is multiplying remember the story and there's two groups that are arguing Hebrews and Grecians about their widows and what they're being doled out every day and they bring it to the Apostles and the Apostles are wise thinking like this I got to get alone with God I got to get a hold of God's principles and I got to get a hold of other people to do the work so the elders the pastors the Apostles say it's not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables we'll give ourselves to Word to the Word of God and the Ministry of prayer but you select from among yourselves seven men fill with the Holy Spirit full of good reputation that we may put over that stuff we'll get alone with God we'll get a hold of God's principles and teach them - you will get qualified people to spread out the load and do the work and Moses chose able men of all of Israel and made them heads of the people rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties rulers of tens so they judge the people at all times the hard cases they brought to Moses but they judged every small case themselves then Moses father-in-law then let Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went his way to his own land Moses was a hard worker nothing wrong with that Jesus worked hard we see that he was up early and he ministered throughout the day and he was often very tired and went without food necessarily in water even sometimes that his family thought he was crazy at the same time I find that Jesus kept a beautiful balance yeah there were times like that but you remember the situation where he tells his disciples to come aside by themselves because they've been working so hard come alone come aside by yourselves and get some rest get some rest balance out your life here's the rule here's the principle as we close manage your life by what's important not by what's urgent set priorities and then do those things and don't worry about the other stuff oh but that person needs me now maybe remember the two sisters of Lazarus said my brother's sick Jesus you've got to come now did he come no he stayed two more days to Lazarus was dead Lord you should have been here one my time how are you incredible lesson do you know that Jesus was able to say to the father everything that you've given me to do I've done how can he say that he'd only worked three three and a half years three and a half years of public ministry yes he cured people there's a lot of people uncured there's a lot of blind eyes still blind deaf ears still deaf people that were still dead uncured on helped people all around how could Jesus say I finished the work which you gave me to do you know the answer was because he lived on the schedule of God's priorities for his own life he managed his life according to the important not according to the urgent and Jesus got aside the Bible says early in the morning and he prayed and he listened to God and I think he learned and we should learn from him that daily management of simply Lord it's a new day as I give myself to you I want you to manage my time and help me to set my priorities to worship you to love my family etc etc and to live within the parameters of my gifts and my callings for me I'm not gonna save the world I'm not gonna cure the world I'm not gonna heal the world I'm gonna do what you want me to do and then go home and get a good night's sleep I close with this story Billy Sunday was a baseball player years ago he became an evangelist when he was converted that young man converted to Christianity went from baseball player to evangelist is a very hard-working man the counselor who counseled Billy Sunday on the day of his conversion said William I give you counsel of three things that you should do priorities that you should keep in your life if you do these things no one will ever be able to write the word backslider after your name William number one talk to God for 15 minutes every day number two let God talk to you for 15 minutes every day prayer in the word number three spend 15 minutes every day talking to someone about God William if you do those three things no one will be able to write the word backslider after your name you'll grow in grace and knowledge 15 minutes in the word 15 minutes in prayer 15 minutes minutes telling somebody else about Jesus priorities Heavenly Father as we close tonight we thank you for these two chapters and the lessons in human nature and managing friends and enemies loving both but dealing very differently with them and coming before you with the problems that we face Lord not every lesson has been for all of us tonight but every lesson has been for someone you know our needs you know our down sittings and our uprisings you know our failures lord I pray that when we go home tonight and when we wake up in the morning we would begin to think about what priorities you want from us specifically individually what you've called us to do us to be and then help us Lord with so many things to do and so many needs in the world to be able to discern what your will what your calling for us is based upon the passions that you have given to us and based upon the gifts that you have entrusted to us Lord may we be men and women of the word and men and women of Prayer and men and women who make Christ known and Lord I pray if anyone here tonight is struggling is backsliding is going the other direction has been feeding the flesh and not the spirit as they've come tonight to get their spirit watered and fed and strengthened I pray Lord that they would continue in that and grow in that and become disciples of others Lord we all have Amalekites we all have the flesh they're very unique to who we are and you know our weakness you know we get attacked when we're tired and straggling and struggling pick us up Lord and lift up our hands and strengthen our knees and make us dependent upon you so that the enemy will flee as our lives or independence as we lift the rod up in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 9,046

Rating: 4.7723579 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Exodus, Sermon

Id: 1iYWI6yGhWE

Length: 66min 23sec (3983 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018