Pastor Paul Chappell: Out From Your Doubt

we're gonna read in Exodus chapter 4 and I'm going to read beginning in verse number one and we'll read for the sake of time down through verse number nine and Moses answered and said but behold they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee and the Lord said unto him what is that in nine hand and he said a rod and he said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it and the Lord said unto Moses put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe that I am the Lord God of their fathers the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee and the Lord said furthermore unto Him put now thine hand into thy bosom and he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold he saw it was leprous as snow and he said put by an hand into thy bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and he plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned again as his other flesh and it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearkened to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the voice of this latter sign and it shall come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs neither harken unto thy voice that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it unto the dry land and the water which thou take it out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land let's pray together father we thank you this morning for the wonderful truth that we hold in our hands we thank you that we do not read fables we do not read simple Shakespearean plays or theology made up of man but we thank you that we study the very truth of God and we ask that you would allow us to grow in our faith and overcome our doubts this morning and we pray this in Jesus name Amen you may be seated well all of us appreciate a confident leader I know as the storms have been coming through Florida the governor has been speaking and he's been calming and assuring towards the people that they're ready for the worst and and I know that when we think about situations like North Korea we don't want a president that says yeah I don't know what we're gonna do if that guy shoots another bomb I'm glad that we can hear things like we got what we need to take care of the situation we like to hear confidence in our leaders and if there was ever a man that really struggled with confidence as a leader it was this man Moses in fact most of us in looking at his life would not really describe him as a leader at all he was a man that was very reluctant very doubtful and a man that really didn't believe that God could use him at all now some of you remember the story how that Moses had been spared and God had spared his life and and he'd been raised in the courts of Pharaoh but one day he saw one of his countrymen he saw a man a Hebrew man being beaten by the Egyptian taskmasters and Moses upon seeing that committed a murder he murdered the taskmaster him because of that murder the Bible tells us that he fled to a faraway land named Midian and there amongst the Midianites he married and he was living we might say he had gone AWOL or we might say that he was on the lam he was running from the law however you want to view it he was several hundred miles away from the children of Israel and and yet it was there that God found him by the way it doesn't matter if you live in Lancaster LA or New York City God's gonna find you and God came to Moses there in Midian and he came to him in the strangest of ways remember last week we saw he came to him by way of a burning bush that didn't burn it was on fire but it never was consumed it it did not find a way of being destroyed it just kept burning and burning and God began to speak from that bush to this man named Moses and here it is in this burning bush revelation in this miraculous appearing of God to Moses that God is revealing his will to Moses and yet the overwhelming emotion of Moses was not encouragement or faith or belief but we see in the Bible his overwhelming response was doubt you know many Baptists many Christians struggle with this matter of really just taking God at His Word many times people doubt that God could use us many times people doubt that they could ever have a godly marriage that's for other people some people doubt that they could ever give that's for wealthy people some people doubt that they could ever witness that's for talkative people some people doubt that God could use a storm to bring glory to himself some people doubt that God could ever bring revival into these United States of America it seems that even with all the promises of the word of God that many of us are like Moses we hear what he's saying but then we reason ourselves all the way home in our cars back down to a place where we're doubting that God can really do it well this morning we're going to learn that with God's calling comes God's enabling let's say that together with God's calling comes God's enabling that God's never gonna call you to do something without enabling you to get the job done now I want you to notice in our outline this morning the reluctance of Moses Moses was a very reluctant man and after all of the revelation of this burning bush Moses turns to God and says behold they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice not the kind of leader that we think God would use he says God I hear what you're saying but they're not gonna believe me they're not gonna hearken unto my voice this plan of yours is never going to work God you've got the wrong guy that's what Moses is saying you have chosen the wrong person now we don't know exactly why he felt this way it could have been the fact that he had committed the murder I mentioned a moment ago it could have been the fact that he was a long ways away from the will of God for his life and one thing is really true when you think about it Moses could not deliver the people there's no way that he could do that there's no way that I can save a soul only God can save a soul but God's still looking for people to be witnesses for him amen and Moses was not gonna truly conquer Pharaoh but God wanted an instrument God wanted a witness he wanted someone that would say here am i Lord use me the fact of the matter is that when it comes to having a godly home or raising a godly family or being a godly witness none of us really are able but that's the point of the story God is able in fact we learned Wednesday night this wonderful verse and I put it in your notes it says being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ so the confidence is not in ourselves the confidence is not that we can do it that we can build it that we can make it the confidence is going to be in Christ that he has begun a good work in us and that he will finish the work 1st Thessalonians 5 20 for faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it now I believe that God has called us to be his followers and God has called us to live for him and to be a light for him and and and if God is calling us to live for him that he's going to do that through us G Campbell Morgan was a very famous British preacher and he had been saved at an early age and in fact by his early 20s was preaching to very large crowds throughout London he was very eloquent in his preaching his theology was sound but liberalism came across the land in England and in Europe and there were certain teachers and it was known as German rationalism and liberalism higher criticism they called it coming into the mindset of many young preachers they had to wrestle with some of the challenges against the Bible and people questioning the truth of the Bible and Darwin's theory was popular and there was a period of time for G Campbell Morgan when doubt began to fill his mind here he was a preacher and yet he began to wrestle with some of these things and G Campbell Morgan for many weeks struggled in his own heart and mind in fact he went through a period of time where he took all of his books and all of the writings and he put them on the shelves and he locked the shelves and he put himself in a room for several days where he read one book in one book alone and that book was the Bible and as he read through the Word of God time and time again G Campbell Morgan came to that place where he realized God's Word is true and God's Word can be trusted and he came forth from that room and became one of the mighty preachers of England in fact his messages are well read even today messages from the pulpit of Westminster Chapel just a few blocks from Buckingham Palace where he preached the gospel of God and was famously known as a great man of faith but I tell you this morning this great man of faith had a season of doubt he went through a time where he wondered about God could God really use him and some of you go through seasons of doubt and I want you this morning to see that having a lack of faith does not mean that you are not a Christian or that something is wrong but not listening to God this morning it's what is wrong Mohsen Moses was a man who had failed to listen to God after all the Bible says in chapter 3 and verse 12 he certainly said certainly I will be with thee and there shall be a token under thee that I have cynthy when thou has brought forth the people out of Egypt chapter 3 and verse 17 and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt in other words God had told him that he was going to do the delivering Moses just wasn't listening to God and many times God tells us give and it shall be given God says if we go forth and so precious seed will come again rejoicing and bringing our sheaves with us God gives us many promises but like Moses we doubt that it would ever be true for us and that's why Martyn lloyd-jones who follow GK emmamorgan at that Westminster Chapel once wrote these words the ultimate cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief the ultimate cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief why was this man at the backside of the desert and why have other prophets of God cowered under a juniper tree and why do Christians quit and why do we sometimes spend lengthy peer of time depressed and discouraged and the answer can be found in one word unbelief Moses was simply not believing God he had a lack of faith and not only that he had a lack of vision he just failed to see what God wanted him to see you see the Bible says in proverbs 29 and verse 18 where there is no vision the people perish but he that keepeth the law happy is he now the word vision means biblical understanding so God is telling us where there is no biblical understanding where there is no biblical paradigm if you're not seeing it the way God sees it then you're not going to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil where there's no vision the people perish we need men in this room who have a biblical vision for their family lest their children perish but we need today to have fathers who have a vision and we need today to have mothers who have a vision for a christ-like home in a godly atmosphere and we need today to have pastors who have a vision for the potential of the youth and the potential of the church because without a biblical vision then people will perish and so it was if Moses didn't get God's vision an entire generation of people were going to perish Moses had a lack of faith he had a lack of vision now maybe his lack of vision was because of his past failures in fact on the next day after he committed murder he went back into the land of Egypt and he observed some people there and notice what they said to him in your notes verse number 14 chapter 2 after he went out the second day he said who made thee a prince and they judge over us intend us now to kill me as thou Kilis the Egyptian you see as Moses was there in Egypt's land some of these Jewish people the Hebrew brothers said to him hey who do you think you are who made you the boss over us we saw that murder that you did and Moses no doubt felt at that moment like anything but a leader in fact as soon as they said that he went hundreds of miles away to Midian he remembered distinctly the words of failure those words who do you think you are he didn't see him as a leader and some of you have had some words said to you maybe when you were 8 or 9 or 10 you're never gonna make it you're ugly maybe you've had someone say to you you know what as a teacher you're the dumbest student I ever had or maybe someone has said to you God can never use you maybe there is a past failure that is blurring your vision today and I want to tell you something instead of listening to the accuser today instead of listening to Satan today I encourage you to listen to God who is not finished with you yet Moses had some stuff in his past some of you have some stuff in your past but don't let that blur the vision of what God wants to do with your future lloyd-jones said to dwell on the past simply causes failure in the present to dwell on the past simply causes failure in the present hey don't ruin your future by living in your past the Apostle Paul the great Apostle Paul who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament the Bible tells us as he was on the road to Damascus he was converted why was he going to Damascus he was going there to kill Christians he was going there to throw Christians in prison and that's why he wrote in Philippians chapter 3 brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forth towards those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus sometimes you've got to put your past failures behind you so that you can accomplish what God has for you in the future I heard about two kids that were outside playing and a little boy took a rock and he threw it in and he killed one of his family's chickens and he said he said it was an accident and knowing boys I'm not sure that it really was but whether it was or not he figured nobody would notice he buried the chicken after he got done burying the chicken his sister said I saw what you did and if you don't wash my dishes I'm telling mom well the boy did this is for days and days and finally he went to his sister he said you wash them she said no way I'm gonna tell mom he said I already told her and she forgave me and I'm free again can I tell you something you can be free again the devil may be holding something over your head like blackmail the devil might say why if you ever sang up for that choir somebody might walk in and they might see you and then remember what you did way back when hey I got to tell you something if you're saved your sin is under the blood of Jesus Christ it's as far as the East is from the West don't let your past sin blur your vision about tomorrow maybe it was because of past failure maybe he had a lack of vision just because of a lack of faith in fact it's interesting to me in verse one he says but behold they will not believe me warned where's be says that's just another way of saying I don't believe you God see some of you say you know I would try to witness and tell somebody about Jesus but but they're not gonna believe me no the question is not whether they believe you the question is whether you believe God because God has promised that his word will never return unto himself void God has promised that he will bless his word so we see the reluctance of Moses but notice secondly today the revelation of God verse 2 and the Lord said in him what is that in nine hand and he said a rod and he said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground and he became a serpent and Moses fled from before it and the Lord said unto Moses put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand notice God's power demonstrated God says Moses I understand you're having a little trouble believing I understand you seem to feel like this isn't going to work so so let me demonstrate my power and and he yes this question he says what is that in nine hand now this is very significant what is in nine hand would you say that with me what is in nine hand one more time is in nine hand this is where it always begins you say but I don't have anything I don't have much in my hand I just want you to understand that God is going to ask you what is in your hand not what is in someone else's hand but what is in your hand like the boy at the feeding of the 5,000 and they said there's a lad here with five barley loaves and two fishes but what are they among so many you see it's not a matter of how much or how little you have it's a matter of will you yield it to God are you willing to say Lord I don't have much I don't know much I'm not much but what I have I give to you you see and this was why God said Moses what is in my hand and he says a rod and he says now throw it down and it immediately becomes a snake I believe it became a cobra snake the Cobra was the symbol of the Pharaoh it was a symbol of Egyptian power and that cobra snake now crawling down at the feet of this man Moses and now I see Moses doing the smartest thing he's done all day long the Bible says he fled from it or he ran away from it here we see a frightening moment for Moses this rod becomes a serpent and he fled from before it I remember years ago when we first came to Lancaster 1986 and I was out door knocking and I met a lady at her home and invite her to church and asked if my wife and I could come back that evening and we came back and talked to her and her husband and we began to share the gospel with them and they were gloriously saved in their living room was wonderful not far from here maybe a mile or two and after they got saved he said I'd like to like to show you something kind of cool I said yeah great we'd been there already probably a couple of hours and I've been through many verses about baptism and assurance of salvation and so forth he said I want to take you into a room and show you in my habían all right and then we go into a room and I'm telling you three walls of this room were covered with fish aquariums but they weren't filled with fish they were filled with Mojave green rattlesnakes and this guy has a hobby of going out into the fields with sticks and putting a stick on the neck of a Mojave green and then picking it up throwing it in a burlap sack bringing it to his house and putting it in those aquariums and I'm looking at this and I'm thinking this guy is nuts I mean I'm glad he got saved and everything but this is weird his wife's kind of looking at me and my wife like yes it's a little weird isn't it and and and I was thinking myself there's no way on earth I'd ever sleep in this house I've been waking up at night thinking are they getting out are those aquariums good aquariums I mean I just I'm just one of those people I just be thinking thoughts like that all night in fact we had to actually give marriage counseling to them because the wife was so filled with anxiety she couldn't stay in the house and I think ultimately the man may have chosen the snakes I'm not sure by the way fellas if your wife has something like that that you're afraid of if if it's snakes kill the snakes you say well I'm an animal lover and I believe in animal rights okay kill the snakes animal lovers get no rights around here when it comes to snakes I'm just telling him his wife was so afraid of snakes the Bible tells us that Moses jumped back in fear but didn't notice what God tells him in verse four he says now take it by the tail I don't know about you I'd have a little trouble grabbin this big ol Cobra by the tail but the Bible says Moses took it up and it became a rod again in his hand aw Tozer said God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible what a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves God is saying Moses I know you have your doubts but don't forget who you're talking to don't forget what I can do he says Moses why don't you go ahead and put your hand into your bosom there in verse number six put your hand in towards your stomach and when he took it out it was filled with leprosy leprosy was feared by the Egyptians they had tried many different times to make medicines to cure let's say they had many lepers camps it was recorded in the history of the Egyptians it was a dreaded disease indeed and God is simply saying in this lesson look at now Moses you know that over there in Egypt with all their gods and with all their wisdom they've never been able to do anything about the leprosy problem but Moses put your hand back into your stomach and take it back out and when he did he was completely healed God was saying all of Egypt has tried to heal and all of Egypt has tried to cure leprosy and I've been able to do it right here instantly Moses don't forget you're not dealing with the gods of Egypt you're not dealing with the gods of this world you're dealing with the I am God and our God is a cleansing God our God is a powerful God and may I say to those of you that may be visiting with us today that leprosy is a type of sin it eats away and it destroys it destroys the heart it destroys the home and there's only one way to have forgiveness of sin and that is by coming to Jesus cries who cleanseth us from all of our sin for the Bible says in first John 1 and 7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin the same God who cured leprosy is the God who cures sin when we come to Jesus Christ and ask him to cover us with his blood to forgive us he says I'll cleanse you from your sin there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains listen the church cannot cover your sin and the baptistry water cannot cover your sin but Jesus can cover your sin when you come to him by faith his power is demonstrated and his promise is declared to Moses notice in verse 8 it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearken to the voice of the first sign they will believe the voice of the second sign or the latter sign and it shall come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs neither harken unto thy voice that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon Island and the water which they'll take us out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land God says look Moses if they don't believe by the sign of the rod if they don't believe by the purifying of your arm then I want you to take water out of the River Nile and I want you to pour it down on the ground and I want you to see that it'll turn to blood he said Moses I just wanted to clarity you that I am God and that I am with you and sometimes we say well it's just impossible that that man could ever be saved and God says with me all things are possible and sometimes we say but but I just can't do it and God says you can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you and sometimes we say but I'm just too tired and God says come unto me all you that are weary and I will give you rest and sometimes we say that I'm just kind of worried about the outcome if I try to stand up for Jesus and God says cast all of your cares upon me and sometimes we say but I just can't go on it's just it's just so difficult and God says but my grace is sufficient for you and sometimes we say but I just can't figure things out and God says I will direct your steps and sometimes we say but I'm not able and God says but I am able and sometimes we say but I I can't manage and God says I'll supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory by Christ Jesus and sometimes we say but but I'm afraid and God says but I'm not giving you the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind and sometimes we say but I feel all alone as I stand for Jesus and God says but I will never leave you and I will never forsake you listen we've got to determine today are we gonna listen to Satan or are we gonna listen to God it's time that some of us started listening to God's promise once again God says I declare to you that you don't need to fear you're not going to be defeated we must begin to live not by reason but by revelation not by what we think but by what God says the reluctance of Moses is matched by the revelation of God who speaks his truth and who demonstrates his power but notice finally this morning the resources of God it's one thing for God to say what he will do it's another thing for him now to show and and and not only has he shown that the miracles of the snake and the leprosy but look at verse 10 Moses said on the lord oh my lord I am NOT eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue some people say that Moses had a stuttering problem I don't know how it would have sounded he may have gone to the Jewish people and says excuse me can I tell you something I don't know if that's how it sounded but he was slow of speech he had a problem with getting the words out this no doubt was another reason he thought God had chosen the wrong guy and notice what it says in verse 11 the Lord said unto him who hath made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord you see Moses completely forgot who he was talking to he's talking to the I am remember last week I am I am eternal I am all-powerful he says by the way I'm the Creator God by the way and I want you to notice this church just real quickly he said look at he said I want you to know I make man's mouth I make the dumb I make the deaf I make the sing I make the blind I want to tell you something that God makes those who have knowledge to understand and God creates those with Down syndrome and God creates those who can see it God creates those who cannot see and no doctor and no medical plan has the right to murder the little unborn child in its mother's womb just because they sense a defect God makes life all life he's the sovereign creator of life he says Moses you don't have to tell me about your tongue you don't have to tell me about your a cleft palate you don't have to tell me folks about you're hurting hip your arthritis your your your snap crackle and pop when you get out of bed you don't have to tell me about all the reasons why you can't I am God and I can he says I created you I know you you see God is creator so God created man in his own image God is the creator John Glenn the famous astronaut said to look out the window as I did that first day and to look out of this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible friend this morning you don't need to explain your deficiencies to God he knows them he knows your past to present your future he knows your abilities your inabilities he created you he knows you he not only is your Creator but he wants to be your teacher he wants to help you know how to succeed notice in verse 12 now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say you see Jesus has promised that the Holy Ghost will teach us and will show us what we ought to say I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed is someone in their home or maybe in a coffee shop and and and and they will ask questions and I'll be sharing with them about the truths of God and suddenly verses pop into my mind verses I didn't rehearse that morning I'm not talking about my wisdom I'm talking about the Word of God and God's Spirit brings them to my mind and God teaches me as I teach someone else I'm saying it's not of me it's not my word it's not my power it's not by my strength it's by his Spirit saith the Lord hey does anybody in here this morning want to live on that level or do you just want to live on the level of what you can do and what you can say and what you can see do you want to keep making excuses and keep doubting or do you want to start believing and let God lead you as your Creator and your teacher and use you to make a difference in this generation God says Moses you can keep making excuses you can keep saying how hard it is to win souls and how it's so hard to get a class to grow or how it's so hard to change your neighborhood are so hard to have a godly marriage or you can just let me teach you and show you how to get it done that's the God that we serve thirdly God is our helper Moses felt kind of an unable but notice what happens here in verse number 13 and he said oh my lord sinned I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send now this is a little bit of pretence on the part of Moses because he's calling him Lord but he's not really making him Lord is he jesus said why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Moses is saying Lord but not really letting God be the Lord are you willing to let God be the Lord are you willing to let God have control of your life notice what God says in verse 14 the anger of the Lord was kindled over Moses again and he said it's not Aaron the Levite I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he see Athey he will be glad in his heart and thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I will be with thee with thy mouth and with his mouth and we'll teach you what ye shall do and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and he shall be even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shall be to him instead of God folks I want you to try to get this in your mind quickly Moses is in Midian the children of Israel are in Egypt God is here speaking in Midian to Moses about his needs and Moses is explaining I I don't think I have the ability and I have problems speaking and suddenly God says I think that's Aaron coming right now oh yes it is it's Aaron and he's happy to see you and yes I'm gonna tell him I'm gonna tell you what you need to know and you're gonna tell him what he needs to say what I want you to realize is simply this God already has the solution coming if you'll just start obeying him God sent Aaron hundreds of miles to this point to intersect with them at that immediate point listen with God's calling comes God's enabling say well if I gave I don't know if I really could know listen God may have another job right now and have another race for you you may have another way and God may have a way for you but listen you've got to learn how to trust God I find it quite amazing that just out of nowhere Aaron shows up that would be like someone just walking in here from Montana to help you with your car payment tomorrow my friend God is able God is not limited he is our helper in fact look what happens in verse number 27 the Bible says in Exodus for 27 and the Lord said to Aaron go into the wilderness to meet Moses and he went and met him in the Mount of God and kissed him isn't that wonderful God provided God provided away look at verse 31 and the people believed and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he looked upon their affliction then they bowed their heads and worshiped now you can live your life by reason and doubt or by revelation and deliverance some of you need to get out of the doubt this morning some of you this morning need to realize that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and just trust what God is saying there may be someone here today who doubts that God loves them who doubts that they would ever go to heaven you may doubt that God really would ever forgive all of your sin and I want to tell you Satan wants you to doubt that and Satan does not want you to have assurance but God wants you to have assurance that he loves you and that His Son Jesus died on the cross for your sin he doesn't want you to live in doubt he wants you to live with deliverance today and if you've never known his delivering power from your sin then even today you could come to Jesus Christ and call upon his name and he would forgive you and he would save you from your sin don't live in doubt when there's a deliverer when there's a savior when there's an IM who wants to lead you on in faith

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 5,609

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Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, doubt, freedom, bondage

Id: BSrYmmd62yQ

Length: 34min 55sec (2095 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 11 2017