Sunday, January 25,
2015 pm
Evangelism Index
The Excuses of Moses (and Us)
Exodus 3:10-4:17
A.
Exodus 3:10-4:17 –
Moses is called by the LORD at the burning bush to deliver Israel from
Egypt
B.
This occurs after
Moses flees Egypt at the age of 40 (Acts 7:23) for killing an Egyptian
task master. He spends 40
years in Midian tending the sheep of Jethro, priest of Midian (Ex. 2:18,
3:1) and marries his daughter, Zipporah.
AT the age of 80 ( Exodus 7:7, Acts 7:30) while tending the flock
of Jethro Moses sees a bush burning with fire but it is not consumed.
As he approaches the bush God speaks to him and tells him to take
off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground.
Moses complies.
C.
The LORD then
commissions Moses to deliver his people from Egypt (2:7-10)
D.
Moses begins to ask
questions and seeks to excuse himself from the assigned task.
There are 5 excuses he makes:
i.
Who am I
(11-12) – He saw himself as insignificant and unqualified to carry out
this task. The Lord
answers, “I will certainly be with you.”
ii.
When I come to Israel
what shall I say to the people?
(13-22) – Moses doesn’t know what to say or how to tell them who
it was that sent him. The
LORD answers, say, “I AM WHO I AM”
He gives him further instructions
iii.
What if they don’t
believe me?
(4:1-9) – Moses fears that his words will be rejected.
The LORD says, “What is that in your hand?”
It was his staff. He
was told to cast it down and when he did it turned into a serpent.
He then was told to pick it up by the tail and when he did it
became the rod in his hand again.
Furthermore he was given another sign – his hand became as
leprosy when he placed it in his bosom.
iv.
O Lord, I am not an
eloquent man
(4:10-12) - Moses says he
doesn’t know how to adequately speak.
The LORD said, “Who made your mouth?”
Furthermore He promised, “I will be with you and teach you what
to say.”
v.
O my Lord, please
send by whomever else You may send.”
(4:13-17) – at this
point, the LORD is angry.
He again answers that Arron is coming and will be with him.
HE can speak for you.
The LROD doesn’t accept his excuses and bids him to go.
vi.
Moses complies and
goes to Egypt. In time the
Israelites are saved from their captivity.
E.
Excuses and
evangelism. We find many
excuses to keep us from fulfilling our responsibilities in the area of
evangelism. Many of the
excuses Moses offered are similar to excuses we might use today, so with
that in mind we want to examine these excuses and make application to
our command to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature” (Mark 16:15-16).
A.
Moses had lack of
confidence in himself. He
saw himself as insignificant. Perhaps he was afraid of what might happen
if he returned to the land.
B.
Many today do not try
to teach others because we lack confidence in ourselves.
We think we are not good enough, we don’t know enough, we are not
prepared enough, etc.
C.
You can do something.
While you may have limitations, you can do something.
D.
God eliminated this
excuse of Moses. HE said,
1) “I will be with you”, 2) He promised that one day you will serve God
on this mountain.
E.
God will be with us
as well! WE are His people
– 1 Pet. 2:9-10.
Matt. 28:20 Jesus made the promise that He will be with us.
God can make us sufficient!
2 Cor. 3:5-6 – our sufficiency is in Him.
He has given us all that we need.
Phil. 4:13 tells us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me.
A.
Moses basically says,
I have no idea what to tell them.
What if they ask me, “What is the name of this God who sent you?”
B.
Many today fear being
asked questions they cannot answer.
They fear they don’t know enough.
C.
For us, let the word
of God speak. When His word
speaks, it is the source.
2 Pet. 1:3 – we have all things that pertain to life and godliness.
Jude 3 tells is it was “once for all” delivered.
It is complete (2 Tim. 3:16,17)
D.
The scriptures are
pretty plain when dealing with “the first principles” – 1 Cor. 15:1-4 –
the gospel; God’s plan of salvation – the 5 steps, remaining faithful,
etc.
E.
Furthermore, in my
limited experience with this, MOST people do not have a vast knowledge
of scripture. Simply
letting the scriptures speak will suffice you at first.
Also, a lack of knowledge to answer a particular question is not always
a failure. You can
demonstrate your sincerity by saying, “I don’t know, but I will find
out” and THEN finding the answer.
Coming back to someone with genuine questions goes a long way.
F.
ALSO, I again ask,
HOW LONG is this a valid reason?
When does it go from being a reason to an excuse?
A good exercise to help you with this is to memorize scriptures.
There are resources available by sound brethren with lists of
scriptures to memorize.
There are also ways to mark your Bibles to help you locate answers to
particular questions and answers.
G.
BUT the bottom line
is it requires work to become more proficient.
2 Tim. 2:15, 1 Pet 3:15
A.
The third question
Moses posed was a fear of rejection.
God gave him the tools to verify he was sent from God.
There were the 2 signs.
Furthermore there would be the 10 plagues and his prophecies.
B.
We do not have
miracles, but we have what we need – the Bible.
Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation…
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.”
John 20:30-31 tells us that what is written is so that we may believe.
C.
And with experience
we can share that effectively with others.
We have tracts that direct people to the Bible, etc.
We have godly examples (Matt. 5:16).
James 2:18 – SHOW them your faith.
It is by far the most powerful tool you have!
MOSES when he asked this was told, “What is that in your hand?”
It was his staff.
That staff was used to prove who he was.
FOR us, USE WHAT YOU HAVE!
God doesn’t expect any more from you than what you are capable of
giving. You may be a 1
talent servant. So what?
Use that ONE talent!
D.
Furthermore, whether
or not they believe you is irrelevant.
Your task is to go.
And the truth is – many will NOT believe you or His word.
Jesus warned His disciples this would happen and He told them to
go to the next city (Luke 9:3-5, 10:1-16).
Let God deal with those who
reject the truth.
Ezekiel in Ezek. 3:16-21 was a watchman with the task of sharing God’s
word.
Paul in 1 Cor. 3:5-8
speaks of planting and watering.
Let God give the increase and worry about it. Moses was told to
Go! It wasn’t an option and it was all that he was accountable for.
WHAT do these 3 examples as well as Jesus have in common?
They were rejected continually as they taught!
A.
I don’t know if Moses
had a speech impediment or not.
Perhaps he just wasn’t good with words.
Whatever the case, God said, “Who made your mouth?” and then He
said, “I will be with you!”
Again, use whatever abilities you have.
B.
We don’t have to be
seasoned orators to proclaim the word of God.
In fact, when discussing with others let the word of God do the
speaking! The more you
appeal to the Bible, the less you have to say on your own.
C.
Reaching others is
not about how well you speak.
Paul may not have been the orator that Apollos was (Acts 18:24),
but he got the job done VERY effectively.
1 Cor. 2:1-5 – it was the word of God that he used.
Most of the apostles were “untrained men.”
With the help of God they got the job done!
D.
Something else to
consider. If you can get
someone interested, there are others who can come study the Bible with
them along WITH you.
Acts 10:24, 33 – Peter sent to Cornelius and Cornelius sent FOR Peter;
Acts 8:30-31 – the Eunuch taught by Peter.
Barnabas was sent to Antioch after some obeyed.
This provided further instructions
A.
Send by anyone else.
This is closer to real reason.
Perhaps it was his lack of confidence, he was comfortable where
he was at, or some other reason.
The bottom line: He didn’t want to go!
HOWEVER: 1) IT angered God; 2) God didn’t accept that and excuse him. 3)
God STILL expected him to go!
NOTE: All the excuses in the world will NOT bring acceptance.
BUT, neither will a refusal to obey!
B.
Today, whatever the
excuse, this is often the real reason.
Excuses are typically smokescreens for our not wanting to go or
not being willing to prepare ourselves so that we CAN go!
FRIENDS, that is NOT an acceptable excuse to God (i.e. consider
jury duty – not wanting to go will not excuse you).
Ephesians 4:16 calls for “every part” to do its share causing growth of
the body.
Titus 2:14, we are to be a people “zealous for good works” (cf. Eph.
2:10)
C.
When we stand before
God in judgment, we will answer for how we used our talents! (Cf. Matt.
25:14-30). We do NOT want
God angry with us!
When all was said and done, Moses went as told to do and he did fine.
He gained confidence and wisdom and was very effective.
NOTICE that in all these excuses that Moses made they were a lack
of confidence in himself.
But the answers are there.
What about us? Chances are that if we are not striving to seek the lost,
it is because we don’t have confidence in our abilities or the courage
to do what needs to be done.
Let us learn from Moses to answers these excuses for ourselves
and overcome them.