turn with me to the book of Exodus and chapter 4. Book of Exodus chapter 4 we're continuing in our Sunday morning series in the book of Exodus and we're in that section of Exodus that deals with the call of Moses... the call of Moses and in our last two messages we looked at Moses at the burning bush and God's moving in his life and we continue now with that theme because the first half of chapter 4 also takes place at the burning bush. So try and remember that, keep that in the back of your mind that Moses is still standing before the burning bush, this back-and-forth dialogue or conversation between Almighty God and Moses is continuing on into chapter 4. I'm going to read chapter 4 and verse 1 to 17 for our text this morning and we'll start reading from verse 1 there, you follow along as I read. 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 thine 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 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 his hand was leprous as snow and he said put thine hand into thy bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and 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 hearken to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the voice of the latter sign And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. Not very slow to argue with the Lord though. 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? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what ye shall do. The subject this morning is stop making excuses. Stop making excuses. We deal this morning with Moses three objections or three excuses to the call of God in his life. Let's pray. Father, we ask for your blessing now upon your Word. Lord, as it ministers to us, we pray that you would speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray that now you would empty me of self as the preacher and fill me with thy Spirit, Lord, as I preach your Word, that you would cause your Word, Lord, to have its effect in each heart and each life. We thank you the Word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword and we pray that the power of this word might be unleashed this morning in our hearts and in our lives Lord and we just pray that you would stir our hearts about this matter of excuses that we often make to resist your will in our lives and we just pray that you'd have your will and your way in Jesus name, Amen. So Exodus chapter 4 continues, as I said, this call of Moses to service and the first half of this chapter, we just read verse 1 to 17, also takes place at the burning bush. Now, God willing, this morning and next week we're going to be in Exodus 4, so I'm just going to give you an outline for the chapter which will serve as a guide. I think we see firstly in verse 1 to 17 what we could call Moses' stubbornness towards the call of God. Moses' stubbornness towards the call of God. That will be the theme of our message this morning. Then we're going to look at Moses' submission to the call, verse 18 to 23. Praise God, Moses did ultimately submit to God's call in his life. Then we're going to look at an intriguing little section in verse 24 to 26, and Moses' stumbling block in the call. An interesting incident takes place at the inn on the way to Egypt, and we'll deal with that. And then we're going to look at Moses' supporter for the call, how God provided Aaron, verse 27 to 31. But in this lesson, we're looking at these excuses that Moses makes to try and avoid yielding to the call of God in his life. It's pretty amazing, isn't it really? We see Moses had seen this glorious vision of the burning bush. Moses had heard the audible voice of God speaking to him out of that bush. I mean, can you imagine the wonder of that experience? Can you imagine the wonder of seeing that visible manifestation of the presence of Almighty God and hearing the thunderous, majestic voice of God speaking to you audibly And yet we see Moses arguing with that God. We see Moses making excuses and Moses bringing forward objections to this great and almighty God as to why he is not fitted for the job, why he should not accept the call of God. And it's just a reminder, isn't it, this morning, of how stubborn we can be towards our God when he calls us. when God speaks to our hearts, when God gives us His work to do, so often we can be like Moses. And so I want us to focus this morning on these three excuses of Moses and God's answer to each of them. Notice excuse number one, and I call this number one, the sceptical audience excuse. The sceptical audience excuse. Essentially Moses says here, Lord, they won't listen to me, won't believe me. Lord, they won't listen. That's a common argument isn't it? Well why should I go and share the gospel? They're not going to listen anyway. Why should I go out on a Saturday? People aren't really interested in the Word of God anymore and so this is a common excuse that people put forward as to why they don't want to obey the Lord. So look at the argument of Moses' excuse here, look at Moses' argument, what is he arguing here when it comes to this excuse before the Lord? Well he says essentially, they will not believe the message, behold they will not believe me, they will not listen to the message nor hearken unto my voice, they will reject the message for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. So you can see what Moses is saying here, he's saying God they're not going to believe the message, they're not going to listen to the message and God, they're not going to accept the message. Now, Moses was in error on at least three levels with this excuse. Firstly, he was guilty of doubting and denying God's Word. Because if you remember in the previous chapter, in chapter 3 verse 18, God had said, and they shall hearken to thy voice and thou shalt come thou and the elders of Israel under the king of Egypt and you shall say unto them, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, et cetera. And so God had actually prophesied, remember we looked at that prophecy that God gave Moses in the previous chapter, God had told Moses specifically that they would listen to him that they would hearken to his voice, that they would be receptive to the message. And so can you see, when Moses says, God they're not going to listen, he's actually doubting and denying what God had actually said. God said to Moses, you go and they're going to hearken, they're going to listen to what you have to say. Moses says, God I can't go because they're not going to listen. And you know, when we make excuses, what we're really doing is doubting God's Word or denying the Word of God. You know, the Word of God says that we shall reap if we faint not. If we use the excuse, no, it's no point going anymore, it's no point preaching the message because people are not going to listen, we're actually denying the Word of God. Yes, it's true that many do reject our message, but the Bible also makes it very clear that if we go forth and reap, if we go forth with the message of salvation in due time, we will reap if we faint not. So Moses' excuse here was an error, he was doubting and denying God's Word but he was also, we can see he erred in this respect, he was placing a condition on his obedience essentially. Now when you think about it, really how people would respond to Moses was really irrelevant. was irrelevant because Moses' job was to obey God. Moses' responsibility was to yield to God to follow God. Really how the audience would respond, whether they responded positively or negatively, was beside the point because God had simply told Moses, you go and I'll be with you. And we need to remember that this morning, that ultimately how the audience responds to the message we bring is really none of our concern. Of course it grieves us, of course it concerns us, But our job is to be faithful, our job is to be obedient to God, to simply obey God's call and we leave the results, we leave the response of the audience to whom we preach in God's hands. I mean, think of men like Noah, who preached for somewhere in the order of a hundred years. so little visible results. Think of men like Isaiah and men like Jeremiah and men like Ezekiel who go down in the Word of God as great examples of faithfulness to God and yet they saw very little visible results in their ministries. You see brethren, our job is not to focus so much on the results and focus so much on the response, our job is to submit to God and to follow Him and to obey Him. So how does God answer this excuse? We notice that God really answers Moses very graciously here. We see God's grace in his dealings with Moses and that's an encouragement to us that sometimes when we are called of God, maybe you have a call, you feel the call of God on your life to ministry and there often are some doubts that you have to work through. Aren't you thankful that God is so often patient and gracious in dealing with us and helping prepare us for the call? So God responds by giving Moses the ability to perform three miracles in order to authenticate his message before the children of Israel. Now what's interesting is, as you read through the Bible, Moses is the first man given the power to do miracles in the Bible. I'm not saying God hadn't done miracles before, God had done miracles, we saw that in Creation Week and other great miracles. But as you read the Bible, Moses was the first man who was actually given power by God to accomplish miracles. So the first man in the Old Testament to be able to do miracles. We know that Moses is a type of Christ. As you come to the New Testament, who's the first man who performs miracles in the New Testament? Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So God gives Moses three signs that he could take with him to Egypt and we're reminded of the truth of 1 Corinthians 1.22 that the Jews require a sign, specifically the Jews are very geared into signs and so God at times in his will gives signs to the Jews. But we as the church age believers are not so much looking for signs as we are listening for sounds, listening for the trumpet sound. So let's look at these three miracles and these three miracles were given to Moses in order to convince the children of Israel, if there was any doubt, that he was sent of God and that God was at work. But each of these miracles contains some very interesting symbolism and some very interesting thoughts. So we have the first miracle here, the staff to serpent miracle. God commands Moses to take his shepherd's staff, his shepherd's rod, and he was to cast that rod down and when Moses threw that rod on the ground, God did a miracle and that rod became a serpent. And Moses was so afraid of this serpent, he ran away from it. I'd run too, I think. Okay, you throw your rod down, all of a sudden it becomes a writhing, veminous serpent and Moses runs from it and God says, okay, Moses, I want you now to go back and take that serpent up by the tail. And so he goes, okay, Lord. And he goes over and he picks up the serpent by the tail and it immediately turns back into a rod. And so this was the first sign that God gave to use there in Egypt. so in verse 2 God says to Moses, what is that in thine hand? What is that in thine hand? Now whenever God asks a question of a human being like this, it's not because God needs information, God knows all things. The reason God is asking this question is to draw Moses' attention to the rod in his hand. Now isn't it interesting, Moses saying essentially, God I can't go, they're not going to listen and God's response was to say to Moses, what is that in your hand? What's that in your hand there Moses, this rod? And it's amazing how prominent this staff of Moses, this rod of Moses features right through the book of Exodus. God would use this simple shepherd's crook to accomplish some great miracles, not only the miracle of the rod turning into a serpent but it was through this rod that great judgments would be unleashed on Egypt, it was through this rod that the Red Sea would be parted, the rod would be held out and it was through this rod that later Amalek would be defeated as Moses held up the rod of God in his hand and God brought a great victory. What is that in thine hand? What is that in thine hand? You know, it's a reminder, isn't it, that God is in the business of using very ordinary things to accomplish extraordinary purposes. God is in the business of taking very simple things and using them in his power to accomplish great things. Surely Moses would have learned that lesson from this rod being turned into a serpent, that the mighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was able to take a simple and ordinary thing like a rod and use it in a great and powerful way. it's just amazing isn't it, how often in the Bible God just used very simple things in someone's hand. A dagger in the hand of Ehud, the ox code in the hand of Shamgar, a simple pitcher, lamp and trumpet in the hands of Gideon and his men, David a sling against Goliath, Samson the jawbone of an ass and the key is, as John Butler says here, not how impressive an object is which we have in our hands but what we do with it. Yielded to God, our talents and gifts, though small in the eyes of man, can accomplish great things for God. You know, if God can use a stick, if God could do something with a simple rod of wood, I suggest He can do something with you. I believe God can take your life and God can do something through you because at the end of the day, it's really not about us. It's not about our abilities and our gifts. It's about making ourselves available to a great God who can take us and who can use us. And so God says to Moses, Moses says essentially, Lord, I can't go, they're not going to listen. He says, what is that in your hand? And I wondered this morning whether God would ask us the same question. And you say, I'm not sure that I could ever be used to reach a soul for Christ. I'm not sure that I could ever be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I feel like God is perhaps calling my life, but I'm not sure that I've really got what it takes. And God asked you this morning, what is that in your hand? Look at it. What is that in your hand? You see, the rod for Moses symbolised the power and the authority of God. We don't carry a physical rod today, but what we do carry is the word of the living God. This is the rod of truth. This is the authority of God. And ultimately God's saying, Moses, don't worry, you've got the rod in your hand and the rod will get the job done in Egypt. And today God says, what is that in your hand? And you might be afraid that you could never be used, that maybe you wouldn't have anything to share with someone else, but what is that in your hand? rod would get the job done for Moses and let me say, what we have in our hands, the Word of the Living God will get the job done. You see, it's not about us but it's about the Word of God. This book will get the job done. When you think about it, really, when Moses went to Egypt, all he took was his rod. I don't see Moses taking a lot of other things and if God is calling you If God is calling you to the ministry, if God is calling you in the New Testament sense to be a preacher, then you can have confidence because it's not you that's going to do the work, it's this book that's going to do the work. There is great power in this book. There is great power in this book that we carry in our hands. In my short ministry even, I have seen the power of the Word of God in lives. I've seen the power of God unleashed through this book to transform people. scared to go out? Maybe you say, I'm not called to be a full-time preacher. That doesn't matter, we're all called to be sharers of the gospel. And you say, but I'm not sure they'll listen. What is that in thine hand? We carry the powerful message of the gospel, the message of the cross there, the message of the gospel that has great power to save lives. So God draws our attention to what is in our hand and God wants us to simply yield what we have to him. use. It seems so often in the Bible that God simply wants us to give him what we do have and then he'll use us. So often we're focusing on what we don't have, well I could never serve God because I don't have this talent and I don't have this gift and I don't have this and I don't have that and God says I'm not looking for all of them, I'm not asking you to give me what you don't have, I'm simply asking you to give me what you do have and then I'll be the power working through you. I think, as we know that Moses is a type of Christ, Deuteronomy makes that clear, Acts chapter 3 makes that clear, as we think about Moses and his rod, I can't help but think of the coming Lord Jesus who will one day rule the nations also with a rod, but his will be a rod of iron. Now, what would be the significance of this sign? Now, Moses would not have missed the significance of the rod being turned into a snake and back into a rod again. Because the serpent was one of the prominent symbols of Egypt. In fact, you can just study what archaeology has uncovered and you'll often see in the Egyptian paintings, the Egyptian statues, guess what you see on the pharaoh's headdress? A serpent. even the gods of Egypt often had a scepter in the shape of a serpent and the Egyptians worshipped the serpent as a god of power, a god of healing. Interesting isn't it, how in pagan religion all throughout the world there's usually a belief about a serpent. Even here in Australia, the Aboriginals have these beliefs about the rainbow serpent. Did you know that the serpent is still a very popular symbol even in the new age today? It's seen as apparently a symbol of rebirth. The serpent shedding its skin is seen as a symbol of rebirth and of renewal. And it's interesting, isn't it, how Satan has given people this impression that the serpent represents good, that the serpent represents good luck, but the Bible actually makes it very clear that the serpent is a symbol of Satan. That the serpent is not a symbol of light, but of darkness. dark power, demonic power, the power of the devil and isn't it interesting that one of the most prominent symbols of Egypt was the serpent. It shows that ultimately, through those false gods, they were worshipping the serpent who is Satan and he was the evil power behind the Pharaoh's regime. They believed the serpent was a source of wisdom and healing. You know where this goes back to? It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The serpent. Satan manifests as the serpent there, deceiving our first parents into sin. The serpent is not a symbol of healing. serpent doesn't have anything good for you, the serpent is Satan, who is, the Bible makes clear, is a destroyer, he is a murderer who desires your destruction. And so do you see what God was showing Moses here? Moses was raised in a palace, he had seen those heathen looking serpents growing up and God is clearly showing Moses, Moses I'm going to, through you, destroy the power of the serpent in Egypt. going to give you power over this serpent, you're simply going to be able to pick it up as it were by the tail and deal with it. Now again we see Moses as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses, who pictures Christ here, was able to take the tail of the serpent and have mastery over it. Our Lord Jesus Christ did more than take Satan by the tail, as it were, he bruised the serpent's head. very first prophecy in the Bible, Genesis 3.15, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, thou shalt bruise his head and it shall bruise thy heel. And so we have that prophecy in Genesis 3.15 of the fact that the coming Messiah would bruise the serpent's head. Do you know that's what took place when Jesus died on the cross? He dealt Satan a mortal blow. When Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed his blood, he conquered the powers of darkness. He conquered sin. He conquered Satan. And what you need this morning is not some belief in a new age serpent. What you need this morning is the savior, Jesus Christ, who conquered Satan, who broke his dark power. And if you'll come to him, he'll transform you. You see the picture here in Moses. Moses prefigures the Lord Jesus Christ. destroyed the serpent and at the end of time God Almighty is going to take Satan by the tail as it were and throw him into the lake of fire for all eternity. So the serpent symbolizes Satan and we can see that very clearly, God was going to use Moses to overcome the serpent's power in Egypt, that's very clearly conveyed in this miracle, this first sign. Number two, we notice the second sign, the leprous hand miracle in verse 6 through 8. The Lord now gives Moses a second sign and he says, Moses, I want you to take your hand and put it into your bosom. So probably you put it inside his cloak and after the servant, Moses is thinking, what's coming next? He takes his hand out and his hand was leprous, the Bible says, as white as snow. Now when you have leprosy that looks as white as snow, that's the very worst kind of leprosy. Now understand in the ancient world, leprosy was feared. There was no known cure for leprosy in the ancient world. It was an incurable disease and it was believed that only God could cure leprosy. So again, the basic reason for this sign was to demonstrate to the people of God his power and the God who called Moses. So he puts his hand inside his bosom there, brings it back out and it's leprous and then God says put your hand back in again and he brings it out and it's healed and cured. Now again, I think I see a picture here of the Gospel and you think about the hand going over the heart area here and coming out leprous, it's kind of a picture of our sin, isn't it? Do you know leprosy is a picture of sin in the Bible? Very clear picture of sin. The bosom is the region of the heart and the affections. The hand being drawn out there pictures really the issue that we all have. Did you know that we are all sinners? We're all leprous, spiritually. The Bible says in Romans 3, verse 23, for all have sinned, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says in Romans 3, 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Did you know not one of us are righteous? And if we're honest, the reason why we do evil things with our hands is because we have sinful hearts. It's kind of the opposite, isn't it, to the message of the world that says, you're a good person. Believe in yourself. You're just such a good person. Actually, none of us are good. No, we are sinners. And don't you see the picture though as Moses puts his hand in and takes it out again and it's healed or cleansed, don't you see a picture there of the only cure for leprosy is the power of God. The only cure for sin is the blood of Jesus Christ and that is what we need this morning. We are sinners by nature and sinners by practice and God through His power, God through His Son Jesus Christ died on the cross there the Son of God died on the cross bearing our sin, taking our leprosy as it were upon himself and shedding his blood for the remission of our sins so that we could be transformed, cleansed and healed. God then gives Moses the third sign in verse 9. Now understand again, the Egyptians believed that the Nile River was a god. They believed that the Nile River was the source of life. I mean, they held the Nile River in high esteem. So for Moses to take some water out of the Nile River and then turn it into blood would again demonstrate the power of the God of Israel over the pagan gods of Egypt. Interestingly, the very first plague ended up being God smiting the River Nile and turning it into blood. So God gave Moses these three signs in response to his excuse, Lord they're not going to listen. He says okay, well they'll give you these three signs if you're worried about that and I'll give you the power and the ability to do these signs so that they will believe. Now understand, in our era we don't look so much for these kinds of signs because God has already given us the Word of God, we have the truth, we have the Son of God and his resurrection is the greatest sign of the truth of Christianity. Okay, but in Moses' day, especially to the Jewish people, the Jews require a sign, 1 Corinthians 1 says, and so God at times used signs to confirm his word to people. So that was the first excuse, Lord, they won't listen. They will say, they will say, the Lord has not appeared unto thee. You see Moses' assumption there, he's even assuming what they're going to say. You know we do that sometimes? Oh, I couldn't witness to that family member, I know what they'll say! Well, you can guess but you're making an assumption. I can't speak to the... there's no point going out and sharing the gospel because I know what they're going to say, they're going to say not interested. Well they will just say that sometimes but whether they say that or not is really besides the point. Plus you might actually assume wrong. Do you know one thing I've noticed in the Christian life, when you assume what the other person is going to say, most often you're wrong. not really a big part of the message but remember that in the local church, oh no, I could never go and speak to that brother about that issue. I know what he will say, you don't know what he will say. There's one thing I've learned in ministry today, is very often people end up saying something quite out of the box that you didn't realise they were going to say. Excuse number two, I call this the speaking ability excuse. Moses is basically saying, Lord, can't speak well. Or basically, Lord, I can't do it. Ever heard that excuse? Or I could never serve in that ministry, I can't do it. Or I'm not very, you know, I can't go door-knocking, I'm not a good talker, we hadn't noticed. hadn't noticed, he seemed to be very good at talking. In fact, I've noticed that even quiet people, if they really get stirred up enough about something that's important to them, can all of a sudden find their tongue, can all of a sudden talk very well. In fact, what I find interesting about Mo's excuses is saying, Lord, I'm of a slow tongue and a slow speech, but he's very fast to argue. He doesn't seem to have any problem talking when it comes to arguing with his God. you don't have a problem talking either, if it's something that's important to you, you can... some people who say they can't share the gospel or they can't speak for God, I'm telling you, they're some of the biggest gossips in town. They have no problem talking about the latest tidbits of news, they have no problem talking about everything else under the sun except what God asks them to talk about. True? It's a common one. can't speak or I can't do it. Oh, I could never play an instrument in the orchestra and then you find out on the grapevine that they've gone to eighth grade. Hmm? Is it you can't or is it that you won't? Is it that you have an attitude problem? I can't speak Lord. Let's think about this excuse again, each time we'll analyse the excuse and then see the problem with it really and then we'll look at God's answer. Think about the distraction of this excuse, he says in verse 10, I am not eloquent. Now why was this excuse a distraction? Because again, it was really besides the point. Even if what Moses was saying was true, His focus was wrong because God did not say, God wasn't going to use human eloquence to get the job done. God didn't need Moses' speaking ability. God didn't need human wisdom to get the job done. All God was looking for was a yielded, submitted vessel. So even if it was true, it was a distraction, it was irrelevant. God didn't need human eloquence to get the job done. You know, God is not really looking so much for great human abilities. God's looking for availability. I think it was Robert Murray McShane wrote in a letter to a minister friend, it is not great talents that God uses so much as great likeness to Jesus. Likeness to Jesus Christ, being like Him. The other thing to bear in mind, if you're telling God about your weaknesses as an excuse for not serving Him, you're not telling Him something He doesn't already know. Do you think you're informing God about something He doesn't know? God didn't choose you because of your abilities or lack thereof. God simply wants to use you. It's not about you. It's not about your talents. It's not about how well you speak and all these sorts of things. Ultimately, it's about what God can do through you. And guess what? When God works through us, despite our weaknesses, He gets the glory. If you go out there in confidence in your own abilities and your own talents and you're looking to those things, who's going to get the glory for that? You will. Remember the Apostle Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 through 4, he said, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It's a reminder that the great need today is for scriptural, spirit-empowered preaching, not clever human rhetoric and philosophy. Are you hearing me? The great need of the hour is not for human eloquence in the sense of clever rhetoric, philosophy, There's way too much of that out there. There are some people out there who are very powerful orators, but their message is empty, devoid of power. The great need of the hour is for scriptural, Spirit-empowered preaching from the Word of God, the plain spoken truth of the Word of God. That's what God uses, not your own cleverness. Is that your excuse this morning? Lord, I can't do it. deep down you know that actually, yes, with God's help you probably could. I can't do it. Not only was this excuse a distraction, it was also dishonest. It was dishonest because Moses, we know from Acts chapter 7, 22, was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. So not only do we see the distraction of the excuse, really whether Moses was eloquent or not was beside the point, we see the dishonesty of the excuse. The Bible reveals very clearly that contrary to what Moses was claiming, he actually was a great speaker, a very powerful speaker. Someone wisely pointed out, they said that an excuse is really a lie wrapped with the skin of a reason. Do you realize that? That usually when you're making excuses, there is an element of dishonesty. It's true. Moses here is making an excuse and he's being dishonest. He's simply not being honest. with God. Excuses... I can't serve God, I can't show up to church more than once a week, I couldn't come because of this... the amount of excuses I have heard. Now, I do understand that there are sometimes genuine honest reasons people give, e.g. they have a car accident, or they're very ill, or there's some genuine reason why people have to be absent perhaps, or why they can't serve on a particular weekend, or why they maybe can't even serve in a particular ministry. But I'm just saying that more often than not, our reasons for not serving God, our reasons for not being involved, our reasons for not being faithful, they're not genuine, honest reasons, they are lies wrapped in the skin of a reason. Excuses. They're just excuses. And the real issue is your attitude, the real issue is a lack of willingness to simply obey God and do what He has told you to do. When you really get down to it, you're just making excuses. Was that you this morning? dishonesty of this excuse. Think about the disrespect of this excuse. Moses was arguing with God. Moses was arguing with God. That's kind of disrespectful, to argue with Almighty God. You say, oh yes, Moses should never have argued with God. If you're honest, in your Christian life at some point you've argued with God. you've argued with his word. Seriously, have you never struggled with the will of God for your life? Have you never struggled to accept God's will in a certain area in your life? Moses being disrespectful, when we give God foolish, insincere, dishonest excuses, it's really an act of disrespect to God Almighty. And rebellion and disrespect always go hand in hand. got a child who's rebellious, they're usually disrespectful. Not only was Moses arguing with God, Moses was really accusing God. Because if you look at the verse, it's really interesting what Moses says here, he says, Lord I'm not eloquent, neither heretofore, heretofore meaning previously up until this point. So Moses is saying, Lord I'm not eloquent and I never have been. sorry, that's a lie, because he was mighty in words and deeds. But he's saying, Lord, I've never been eloquent in my life and Lord, even since speaking to you, I'm still not eloquent. Even this vision of the burning bush hasn't cured my problem, God. That's what he's saying. He says, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant. So Moses is basically saying, Lord, it's really your fault, never been eloquent, I've never really been able to speak and Lord, even since you've spoken to me, I'm still the same, I can't speak.' Really, Moses is accusing God and blaming God for his so-called lack of speaking ability. As one writer says, it's like he says, look Lord, I've been standing here talking with you for 15 whole minutes and you still haven't done anything about my speech problem. know, when we complain about how God's made us or how we think God's made us or how we perceive that we are made, we're really telling God he's made a mistake. We're really accusing God. How does God answer Moses' excuse here, verse 11 and 12? And the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.' So God answers Moses graciously again and God's answer to Moses was to number one, remind him of his power, verse 11, who hath made man's mouth? You know, all the way through we see here, when Moses was doubting his calling, struggling with his calling, God's response was to turn Moses' focus away from himself, back to God and his power. Not once do we hear God saying, Moses, you've got what it takes, mate. You know, you can do this thing. Moses, the most important thing is that you believe in yourself. Do you know that's a very popular idea out there? Especially in the Christian film industry. Some poor guy needs counselling, it's always the men who need to be reassured. Some pretty girl says to him, the most important thing is you just believe in yourself. No, the most important thing is that you believe in God. The most important thing is you stop looking to yourself and stop relying on yourself and stop trusting in yourself. The most important thing is to trust God. And God never in this encounter says, Moses, you've got what it takes. Moses, you've got the talents. Moses, let's pump up your self-esteem. No, God says, Moses, get your eyes off yourself and start looking to me. I am that I am. I am the creator God. I made man's mouth. Don't you think I can take your mouth and use it? maybe that's what you need this morning. You're struggling with God's will in your life, you're struggling to obey God's call in your life and God would, rather than focus on you, remind you of his power. Listen, if the Great I Am has called you, don't you think the Great I Am can equip you? he reminds Moses that even severe disabilities are not limitations to him. God even says here, "...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 know this verse has been a great comfort to people with severe disabilities, the blind, the deaf, we know that ultimately all those things are a result of a sin-cursed world, but it shows that within the overarching realm of God's providence and his workings, that God actually sometimes allows people to have a severe disability so that he can be glorified. That should encourage you. You say, I don't think God could use me, I'm on the spectrum. I don't think God could ever use me, I have this disability or this disability. Did you know that your disabilities are not a disability on God? Did you know that your weaknesses are not constraints on the power of God? That your imperfections are not limitations on what God can do? In fact, as I read the Bible, I find that your weaknesses can actually become occasions for the wonder working power of God because God is in the business of taking weak people and imperfect people and even people with disabilities and showing himself strong through them. I read a story this week of a man who, quite a famous preacher in America, I think it was back in the 30s and 40s, and he was preaching at another church and the church was all excited because the pastor's wife there, the pastor of that church, his wife was expecting a child and their first child and she had a little Down syndrome baby. the pastor was devastated, the wife was broken-hearted and this man of God who was visiting them at the time wisely pointed them, took them to Exodus chapter 4 and verse 11 and read him this verse and said, this child is actually a part of Romans 8 28 for you. God has actually given you a child like this and God helped that pastor and his wife to so embrace that truth and to be such a testimony that 70 nurses from the hospital visited the church and 30 of them converted to Christ. Actually it's sad, isn't it today, that often children are being aborted because there's a fear that they might be born with a disability. where in some countries Down Syndrome children are almost extinct now because they think it's the most merciful thing or your child might be Down Syndrome or your child might have this disability so you take the child's life when actually God made that child. Did you know Down Syndrome children are some of the happiest people on the planet? They are some of the most happy people. Now it would be very difficult if you're in that case, be very difficult, but we're saying this is God's view, God's saying, Moses, I'm the one who's made man's mouth. In fact, I've even made the dumb and the deaf and the blind, have not I the Lord. In other words, Moses, I can work through you. I'm on the throne, I can work through you. I can work even through severe disabilities. 2 Corinthians 12.9, God said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. What we see here in Moses is not really humility, but unbelief. C.H. Macintosh writes, So how does God respond to Moses' excuse, God I can't speak? God responds by reminding Moses of his power and then reassuring him, number two, with a promise. Look at verse 12, now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. Moses, you obey me and you go, I'll give you the words to speak and I'll give you the ability and I'll give you the power to speak them. If God's calling you, then God will give you the words to speak, God will give you the power to speak them. And it applies really to all of us, whether you have a calling to be full-time in the ministry as a pastor, missionary, evangelist, or not, God has called all of us to speak and God will be with us. God can take our mouths and use them, our tongues, and with his enabling, use us to speak his word. The unction, the power to speak, and the utterance, the words to speak, come from God. It's not an uncommon thing for men of God to struggle when they're called with this issue, I don't think I'll be able to speak. You'd be surprised, sometimes you might sit there and hear a preacher and you think, man he's got the gift of the gab, he speaks so confidently, speaks so well! I could never preach like that because, you know, I'm not like him, it comes naturally to him. You'd be surprised how many preachers who preach very powerfully and seemingly very confidently, had struggles like you thinking, I'll never be able to speak. I think it's Brother Keith Piper who wrote the Answers book. wouldn't know it that he was a shy and timid person, you'd go out soloing with him, the guys, no one quite like him, it's hard to stop him, it's like press play and away he goes. But as I understand it, he used to avoid in class, he used to work out a way where, you know how you give a class presentation, he would try and work out a way to avoid ever having to give up the front presentation, he was shy, he didn't want to speak in public, now you can't shut him up. You say, how? God, God calls and God enables. It's amazing how God can take someone and use them and it's also a blessing that God can take some of us who don't struggle so much to speak and teach us to shut up sometimes. Sometimes we need that help, okay. Some people need to learn to speak, some of us need to learn to speak less and God's grace is available for both kinds of people, amen. Just threw that in there as a challenge for myself there, so no. No, but even if you don't struggle as a general rule with talking and being a speaker, preaching is something else. I don't want to give the wrong impression there, when I first started preaching I was scared spitless. Absolutely scared, Phyllis, I'm still scared, okay, because it's speaking the Word of God, it's not getting up to just give a presentation or a speech, it's something divine about it, not divining the preacher of himself, but it's a method that God has given. And I would suggest that no preacher should ever stand up in self-confidence and say, I've got what it takes, I'm a good speaker. No, not at all. You come in utter dependence upon God because only God can give the preacher the utterance, the words to speak and the unction, the power to speak them. Jeremiah struggled with the same thing. God called him, he said, Lord, I cannot speak for I'm a child. You feel like that as a preacher, Lord, I can't speak. How can I get up and preach your word? nothing Lord I'm a child and the Lord said say not I'm a child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord and I love this then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said unto me behold I have put my words in thy mouth God is the one who puts the words in the preacher's mouth. If he's surrendered to him, God will do the work. You say, I don't think I can share the gospel with that neighbor. Let God touch your lips. Let God give you the words. Trust him. I don't think I could ever go out and knock a door with the church soul winning program. Yes, by God's grace, you can. By God's grace, he can use you. The God who created your mouth can take your mouth and use it as a vessel his glory. Okay, we come to the final excuse now, we're getting low on time here, number three, the somebody else excuse. Moses basically says, Lord, send someone else. Lord, here am I, send her. Here am I, send him. Do you know a lot of people sit in the local church and they think someone else will take care of that? someone else will serve in that ministry. You know, as a pastor, sometimes people suggest things to me and say, pastor, why don't we do this? And why don't we do this idea? And why don't we do this ministry? And I think that's a wonderful idea. Do you know what scares me though? If I put that out to the church, it'll be the same group of workers who are already overstretched trying to help the pastor, that'll be the first to say, we'll help you pastor. While the rest sit and think someone else will do it. That's not right. God wants to take you and God wants to use you. Don't have the mindset, someone else will just take care of it. God will use someone else. Well, in a sense, that's true. If that's really the way you want it, you'll be the one to miss out on seeing God use you. If you really don't want to serve God, God will not force you and God will take someone else and use someone else and you will be the loser. You will miss out. here, really, we get to that underlying heart attitude. Up until now, Moses has been masking it a little bit, instead of saying, well Lord, here's this excuse, and Lord, here's this excuse, and it hasn't... I mean, it's been a measure of disrespect, but now Moses comes right out and says, God, send someone else. Look at verse 13, and he said, O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send. What's he saying? Lord, Okay Lord, you send by the hand of him you'll send. Lord send someone else, you've got someone else. I'm not going Lord! Here we get to the heart of it, Moses really didn't want to accept God's call. You see, surface excuses reveal a deeper heart problem. Did you hear that? Surface excuses, lies wrapped with skin of a reason, are actually revealing a deeper heart attitude, a deeper problem. Send someone else, Lord. Excuse me? O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.' Moses calls God his Lord and orders God to do something in the same breath. You say, how on earth could Moses tell God to do something contrary to what he was revealing? Well, we do the same thing. Oh Lord! And then we complain. Oh Lord! I don't want to do this. Oh Lord! No I won't. Hang on, if you're calling Him Lord, you shouldn't be refusing Him. If you're calling Him Lord, you shouldn't be disobeying Him. Right? You know, it's one thing to say with genuine humility, Lord I just don't feel I can do this, I feel nothing, I have no strength of my own. And we talked about this in a previous, I think it was the last message or the message before that, in one sense that attitude is good, I can't, but there's a difference between saying in a sense, in humility before God, God I just I need your help, I don't feel equipped for this, and saying I won't. See Moses is now not just saying I can't, he's saying Lord I won't, essentially. How did God answer this? Well the Bible says in verse 14 that God was angry with Moses. No, I don't think God would ever get angry, actually God does get angry but his anger is a righteous anger, he doesn't lose his temper as we do. but he does have righteous indignation and did you know God was angry at Moses stubbornness? God was angry at Moses excuses that he was making not to serve him and I submit to you that God still gets angry with his people when they just offer excuse after excuse after excuse as to why they won't obey. the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.' The word kindled there means to glow or to blaze. God's anger waxed hot against Moses for his disobedient and stubborn attitude. God was not angry in the sense of losing his temper in a sinful way as we do but rather he was filled with righteous indignation at Moses' stubbornness and Moses' disobedient attitude. the Bible reveals that God by his nature is slow to anger. You can read about that in Nehemiah 9.17, Psalm 103 verse 8, Psalm 145 verse 8. Part of God's character is that he is slow to anger. That tells you how much Moses had provoked his God. God is slow to anger, that God would get to this point of actually feeling righteous indignation towards his servant for his stubbornness. You know, God feels that way when we constantly throw excuses in his face as to why we won't serve him, as to why we won't go where he wants us to go, as to why we won't submit to his call. It displeases him. does God answer this? Well he's angry but then he again really shows grace and says, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart and thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth and I'll be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what ye shall do and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God and thou shalt take his rod in thine hand wherewith thou shalt do signs.' God again responds to Moses objection with grace and provides his brother Aaron to be his brother and to be his co-worker, we'll talk more about this principle in the next message. It's just interesting though to pause and think about the fact that if Moses had just surrendered to God, God would have taken Moses and just simply used him without Aaron's help. Now, I believe there's a principle we're going to see that often in Scripture, God puts two men together and you can see the wisdom of God in that. And ultimately, Moses did submit to God's will, we're going to see that, praise God, he got there. In verse 18, Moses went, returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said unto him, let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which be in Egypt. So by the time we get to verse 18, praise the Lord, Moses got himself sorted out, he yields to God. But you know, we do need to pause here and just remember that if we stubbornly dig in and refuse to submit to God, God will send someone else and we will miss out on the privilege of being used as an instrument in God's work. Do not make the mistake of thinking that God's work can't survive without you. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you are indispensable to the work of God. Do not make the mistake of thinking that God needs you. I had a young man say to me once, I think God really needs me. He's still not serving God, he's still wasting his life, he disobeyed God's call. And if Moses had not ultimately submitted to God, as he did, God would have raised up someone else, God would have used someone else, when you say no to God, a definite no to God, and refuse His call to service, ultimately you are the one who's going to miss out. You will miss seeing God work. Think of what Moses would have missed if he hadn't submitted to God's call. He would have missed seeing the plagues of Egypt, God's demonstrations of God's power against the gods of Egypt. He would have missed seeing the Passover, would have missed seeing the exodus, he would have missed the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud, he would have missed the parting of the Red Sea, he would have missed the manor in the wilderness and he would have missed seeing the water come out of the rock. You see, when you refuse God's call, when you refuse to allow God to take you and to use you, you are the one who's going to miss out. God's work will still go on without you. God will get his work done without you, God will raise up someone else if you refuse but how much better to yield to God and let him take you and let him use you? And so in a sense Moses ended up having to share what God would do with Aaron because he simply refused or he simply kept arguing with God and so God raised up Aaron. be his co-worker and his helper which I think ultimately in the providence of God was a good thing but we just need to bear in mind that if we do not yield to God, God can raise up someone else to accomplish his work. So God says I'll send Aaron and with just three points here about Aaron I think we could say he'd be a happy co-worker Verse 14, when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. That's a blessing when you have happy co-workers in the ministry, not grumpy ones. Morning, pastor. Morning, sons, how are you? Good to see you today. It's a blessing to know the Lord, isn't it? Can you help with this? Yeah, okay. Yep. No, Aaron. was going to be glad to see Moses. Are you happy to see each other as Christians? You know, some Christians are happy to see each other, sometimes some Christians don't want to see other Christians. So here comes someone, so let me get out of here, you know, let me get away from that person. But no, on the positive side, Aaron was going to be a happy, helpful, happy co-worker. You know, the man of God needs happy co-workers. where the preacher can feel like he comes and asks you to do something and you're not going to be angry, cheesed off, he'd be a happy co-worker. helpful co-worker because Aaron had a speaking gift, God said I know that he can speak well and he would act as Moses' spokesman before Pharaoh. So God would give his word to Moses, Moses would then give the word to Aaron and Aaron would then proclaim it, Aaron would function as a spokesman for Moses. So he would be a happy co-worker, he would be a helpful co-worker, but I just have to mention at times Aaron was a hindering co-worker. Later Aaron would be complicit in the golden calf incident and he would team up with Sister Miriam in criticising Moses, the man of God. So if you're going to be a helper, and this is not aimed at anyone, praise God, I'm not saying our assistant pastor's in this category, okay, he's not, he's happy and helpful, just those two things, not hindering. But it's a reminder, isn't it, you have to think about who you work with and if you're going to come alongside and work with the man of God, make sure you're a helper, not a hindrance. So praise God, the rest of the chapter reveals that Moses did ultimately yield to God's call. he got there eventually. And it is a reminder that God is very patient with us as we struggle sometimes to yield to his will. But let's learn from Moses' example, rather than making lots of excuses and arguing with God and accusing God, just say, yes Lord. You know, when God first called to Moses out of the burning bush, what did he say? Here am I. You know, don't be surprised after you've said, here am I, and God starts sharing the details of what he's actually going to get you to do, you might start, like Moses, to feel doubtful. No, I'm serious, because people very often, sincerely, say, yes Lord, here am I, I surrender, and the Lord says, okay, thank you, and here's the job description, and you say, actually, there she is, there he is. True? That's what Moses started out, really, with that spirit of surrender. Lord, here am I. But the more God told him about what his will was, the more God told Moses about the job description, the more Moses said, find someone else, Lord. You may find, just bear that in mind. You say, I've surrendered to preach, I've surrendered to do God's will. That's wonderful. Just remember to carry on that spirit of surrender when God says, I want you to do this, this and this and it blows your mind because it wasn't quite what you had in mind. So Moses ultimately yielded to God's will, will you? Are you one of these excuse filled Christians? Excuses as to why you won't become a member, excuses as to why you won't obey God and get baptised, excuses as to why you won't serve God in the ministry, excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses and really if you're honest, They're just lies, insincere statements wrapped in the skin of a reason and you really should be saying, Lord, I'm available, I'm willing. Let's bow for prayer shall we? Every head bowed, every eye closed. Stop making excuses as to why you won't serve God. As we draw this message to a close, let me ask this morning firstly, is there anyone who would say, Pastor, I'm not sure that Jesus Christ is my Saviour. You spoke today about the power of the serpent, the power of Satan and how God, through Christ, provided salvation on the cross and I would like to know more about that, I'd like to know more about Jesus Christ and how I can be delivered from the serpent's power and from sin. If that would be you this morning, I'd like to pray for you as I close. Would you just raise your hand if that's you? So, Pastor, please pray for me as you close. Yes, thank you. You can put your hand back down. Anybody else? Pastor, please pray for me. Yes. I want to know more about Christ and how I can be set free. One hand is being raised, anybody or else? We'd love to take the Bible after the service and show you from the Bible how you can receive Christ, how you can be set free from Satan's power. Will there be any here who maybe just, you don't have to raise your hand, but in your heart maybe just say, Lord, I've been making excuses. And the Spirit of God can help you to see which ones they are. Excuses why you're not being the wife you should be. Excuses as to why you're not being the husband you should be. Just excuses as to why you won't obey any command of the Word of God. Excuses as to why you won't share the gospel. Excuses as to why you won't serve. May you come this morning and say, Lord, help me not to be like Moses. Lord, I yield to you whatever your will is. Lord, here's a blank sheet of paper, take my life and do with me as you will. Bless us now, we pray, Lord, as we close. Thank you for this hand that has been raised. We pray, Father, for this dear individual, that they would come to know you as their Saviour. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless each one of us. Help us not to be excuse-filled Christians, but obedient to you, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.