Montreal Conference: 1985, The Last Forty Years (7:20)
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
The 7th chapter of Acts. And the. 20th verse. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And when the next day showed himself unto them as they strolled, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee A ruler, and the judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons. And when 40 years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a Bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and as he drew nearer to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and burst not Behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from my feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee A ruler and a judge, the same that God said to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the Bush. And he brought him out. After that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the wilderness. In Red Sea and in the Wilderness, 40 years. I'd also like to turn to Hebrews Chapter 11. Verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the King's commandment. By faith Moses was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. I faith He forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, for He endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Through faith He kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them. Well my thought in reading these verses dear young people, is because I believe they bring before us those 40 year periods in the life of Moses and perhaps we could speak of it as the school of God, that which God is seeking to teach us in our life down here. I don't suppose any of us can expect to live as long as Moses 120 years, but his life is divided into 3 parts. Nor does it mean that we have to go through a third of our life. One way and a third another way, and a third the last way. But God would teach us in what we have in the life of Moses and that which He is trying to teach us in his school. Let me say first of all that what fits us for the glory, what fits us to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus in heaven, is that work that was accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Absolutely nothing else would make us fit. It isn't by degrees that we get in school or in the school of God that we could ever be fitted. We're to fit the moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior as we could or will ever be. Because the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin, and every believer is equally blessed. Every believer is accepted in the Beloved.
God could not give to us more than He has given to us. But I think the desire is in our heart, if we're true children of God, that we might be of some use here. The reason He has left us here is not to make us more fit, because as I say, we're perfectly fit for heaven, but His purpose in leaving us here, that we might be in this world for Him. As it was brought before us in 2nd Corinthians 5, that the life of Jesus might be seen in us, that we might be representatives of heaven here in this world, but there's an awful lot in us that stands in the way. That's a big hindrance. And God has to deal with us in his ways so that that life of Jesus would be manifested in us. And we have to go through these things in God's ways with us. He doesn't give any diplomas in his school because we never fully learned the lessons that he is trying to teach us. But we can be learning. And one has sometimes said the proof that a person is going on with God is that he thinks less of himself and more of Christ day by day. If we're growing in our own importance, we're certainly not learning what God is trying to teach us in His school, because the flesh profits nothing in ourselves. There's no good thing. But oh how blessed that God would have us to be so occupied with His beloved Son, that unconscious to ourselves, like Moses coming down from the mount, there would be the likeness of Jesus seen in US. Also didn't know that his face shone, but the other people saw it. If Moses had known that his face shone, he might have been quite proud, but because he had been in the presence of God, he had learned that he was nothing. But he had learned that grace and goodness. God had made his grace and His goodness to pass before him. And so there was a little reflection of it in the face of Moses, and others could see it. And as I look at the faces of you, dear young people. I think of you starting out in life and I hope that. Most of you, I hope all of you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. If there should be anyone here who does not yet know him, who has not yet received him, to no better time than right now to take your place as a Sinner and receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior. This whole conference would be well worthwhile if even one soul worth more than this whole world were brought to know the Lord Jesus as Savior. And so. That's the first desire that we have for you, that you might be saved, that you might be brought into the family of God, a new creature in Christ Jesus. But we also have a desire, as Paul said this I desire even your perfection. Oh, you say, but I couldn't be perfect. But God never sets before us anything less than a perfect object. He makes provision for our failure, but not excuse for it. He sets a perfect object before our hearts in order that there might be in our lives and that which is Christ like, because that's what he values. As it was mentioned in the meeting this morning. Haven't looked down upon a man here in this world and God could say this is my beloved son in whom I have found all my delight. And He likes to see in you and I that likeness to His Son, for that's what He delights him. And oh, how blessed, brethren, that when we are brought home to the glory, we will be presented as His beloved family, and we'll be there like Christ, nothing of the flesh, nothing of self left, but everything of Christ remaining, so that He will find His eternal delight when He joys over His own with singing, and rests in His. But as I say, I'd like to look at these things in the life of Moses in a very practical way. Because as I read these stories in the Bible, I like to fit myself into these situations because I believe God gives us these things in a very practical and living way so that we can see that there were others of like passions with ourselves. There were people that lived in situations similar to what we live in and God shows us what took place in their lives. And how God was working with them for their blessing. Blessing and dear young people, if you're saved, God is working with you. He has a purpose and all. May we be like the one who's the Potter, who's the play in the hands of the Potter, willing to let him mold us just as he sees right and best.
It may not always be according to our planning. I'm sure if Moses had planned his life, it wouldn't have been at all the way it worked out. But nevertheless, it was God's plan. It was working out. Are you and I willing to let God workout His plan? If there seems like lost time, if there seems like troubles, if there seems like things that we just can't understand, why should this happen to me? Nevertheless, God knows what he's doing. He makes no mistakes. He is giving an individual tuition to each one of us. Over here and I see a number of young people, but as God looks down upon this crowd, you're an individual. He sees you. He knows your home, He knows your background, He knows he watch your body being formed before you were ever born. And in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. He knows your emotional setup, He knows all about you, and He has a personal interest in you. He's looking on you in this room, I say as an individual. Individual and He wants you to hear Him calling, that He wants to bless you and use you in a practical way in your life. Because after all, dear young people, the only thing that's going to count in that day of manifestation is not how well we got along in the world, but whether there was that in our lives that abides for His glory. That's the only thing that's really going to count in that day and so. So if we have this in mind, we're willing to look up like the Apostle Paul when he was converted on the road to Damascus and he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? We can say, As for God, his way is perfect. Well, as we see the beginning of this story, it was a very, very stressful time in Egypt. Just imagine if you had been living in Egypt and the decree, it was actually passed that all the baby boys that were born were to be thrown into the river. What a situation. We do have some stressful Times Now, but not quite that bad that all the baby boys were to be thrown into the river. His parents might have well been discouraged and said, oh, this is a. Very, very hard time for us to live in, but God was behind all these things. God was working out His purposes in the midst of them, and He had His eye upon that little boy Yammer over. He had his eye upon that family. I like to think of that little family somewhat in seclusion. I've said to people, sometimes you tell me the name of the father and the name of the mother. Of Moses and Aaron and Mary. William Very few people know their name. That's sort of hidden in the Scripture. And yet here was a family that God was dealing with. Here was a family out of which three children were to come, and they seemed like a hidden family, so to speak, lost in the crowd. But here was a family life going on, for God was feared where they desired that their children should grow up and be useful for the Lord, no matter how difficult and dire. The circumstances under which they were born. Well, God took care of things, and when Moses was born, this decree had gone forth. What were they to do? Well, as long as they possibly could, they hid this boy. That's what your parents were doing. Many of you have Christian parents, perhaps not all, but many of you. And they did their very best to hide you from a lot of influences that you didn't realize were dangerous and harmful to your soul. You may have thought they were kind of strict, but nevertheless they were doing it for your good. And so this little boy was hidden as long as it was possible for them to hide him. But now the day came when they couldn't hide him any longer. He was getting a little bigger, I suppose His cries were a little louder. Somebody was sure to discover him. And so they take him down and put him in that little arc of bulrushes down at the river's brink. To me it's very interesting that when we read about this in Hebrews, it says it says they were not afraid of the King's commandment. But when we read it in the Old Testament in Exodus, it seems they were very much afraid because it says Miriam was set there to see what would become of him. Well, I just say this little word of encouragement. To those who are parents, I guess we all have kind of mixed feelings at times and there was unbelief. There was afraid what was going to happen. They wondered what was going to happen to this boy living in such a hard situation. But at the same time there was faith. Isn't it lovely that God, when he sees, even though there is a lot of unbelief in our poor hearts, he also sees the faith. And he records the faith in the faith chapter and tells us they were not afraid.
They were counting upon God. Well, everything looks so impossible, and if you can just picture the situation to see the daughter of Pharaoh coming along and finding this boy, you say the worst person in the world that could ever come came along right at that moment. I can just think of what Miriam must have thought. The the King's daughter coming along. Sure, it was all over for Moses, but it wasn't. It wasn't. Faith rises above impossible situations. Perhaps you say, perhaps a parent here says it's impossible. It's not. With God, all things are possible. And perhaps, as a young person says, I'm just an impossible situation. You don't know what's happening in my life and it's impossible. This was the most impossible situation you could think of, but it wasn't impossible to God. And the very person that they feared the most was the one who turned around to be his protector. And he was taken from there, handed back to his mother to care for him as a protected child, and now brought up in the court of Pharaoh. Oh, how good to know our God is able if you find yourself, dear young person, in a bad spot, in a hard spot. You say there's no hope in this situation. There is hope in God. Sometimes we have to say, like the psalmist, why art thou cast down? My soul, why art thou disguided within me? Help thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. And so the Lord came in, and so Moses now. Is learned. He's taken into the court of Pharaoh. He's taught all the wisdom of Egypt. And I'm sure that before he was started in all this education, that his mother, who was taking care of him was also teaching him the other side of things. That is, she was not out filling his ears and his little heart with the fact that God. Had an eye on those people. They were his people, that he had made promises of blessing for that nation. And so there were two converse things working. What he had heard from his mother of the promises of God, the purposes of God, the blessing that God had in store for that nation, and then what he was hearing in the school about Egypt, which at that time was perhaps the greatest nation in the world. In all its progress, of which those pyramids and other things in Egypt are the evidence of the greatness of that nation at about that time. So those converse things were working. It asked the way it is. Maybe at home you're hearing about following the Lord, living for the Lord Jesus, being a witness for Him. And at school you're hearing the very opposite. You have got to make it for yourself. You've got to be somebody and make yourself your own mark in this world. And those converse things are working. This is the first 40 years, the first third, shall I say, of the life. Of Moses and all these things working in his mind. But I'm sure that behind all the training that was being given by his father and mother were those prayers. I'm sure they were praying, because no doubt there came a time when they had to, as it were, relinquish him and let him come under what seemed like the influence of the schools and of the education of the land of Egypt. And as he went on, it says he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and He was mighty in words and deeds. Well, you were, You were, I might think. Now this is a grand point for God to come in. When he's God is good education, when he can talk well, when he can really assert himself. This is the time that God would take him up and use him. But oh, we find something that perhaps is surprising to learn that this all built up a confidence in himself and you know that the scripture says as it was mentioned this morning, he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, but blessed is the man who maketh the Lord his trust. Well, Moses did want to be a help. And as I look over you, dear young people, I know. That behind all the things that you're learning in school and everything, you're a true child of God, that there is some desire in your heart. I say you wouldn't be a Christian if it were not so. There's some desire in your heart to do something for the Lord. There's some desire that you should be a help to the people of God. No, I always enjoy thinking about that because no matter how worldly a young person is, if I feel are really the Lord's, I know that underneath all the exterior there's a divine life within. There's a life in there, the very life of Jesus. It may be hidden behind a lot of things, but it's there. And that's why in these conferences it's always our hope that somehow that outward sphere would be penetrated and God would as. Were bring something to that new life that would find a response and a desire to live to please the Lord. I think of what Paul said when things were going rather adversely in Corinth. He said not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. He said, Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. That is, I could lecture you or somebody else could lecture you on what you should do, and you say it's just a letter to me. That's what they think. But the Spirit giveth life, and that is if it's possible that your eye could be turned upon the Lord Jesus. Then that new life would respond. And you would say, I do want to live my life for the Lord. And I think that in occasions like this, it truly often takes place. It took place in the heart of Moses. He saw things that were going on out there in the world. He saw one of his brethren badly treated, and he couldn't take it. He said after all. I've learned how to handle these situations. I can do it. I can set this thing right. And so I guess this is something like youth. I think this is we've all us. Those of us who are older can look back and relate to this. When we thought we could do something and we found out how helpless we were and we tried, we really meant well. And so did Moses. He thought that his brethren would understand how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And perhaps I hear a young person say, I try. You don't know how hard I tried. None of my brethren seem to understand and I just got discouraged and I give up. Well, that's exactly the way Moses felt, I'm sure at this time. He tried. He wanted to set things right. You wanted to do something for the Lord and for his brethren. Isn't it lovely what it says here? It says it came into his heart. 23rd verse. And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. It came into his heart. He said I can do something. But it tells us here that he was frustrated things didn't work out at all. And it says here. That right after, right before this, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. So he thought, well, I'm well qualified, I've got a good education, and I've got a position because I'm in the King's court, brought up as a King's son. I can handle this. But no, you can't do it in your own wisdom or strength, and perhaps you've tried. And you got frustrated and you said it's no use. I I give up. Nobody understands, but the Lord does. The Lord had purposes, but all there were a lot of things that dear Moses had to learn and you and I have to learn. God doesn't use us when we think we can do it, but He uses us when we say I can't, but the Lord can. It says, Most gladly, therefore I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When did he say that? He said, when the Lord showed him. And he said, When I am weak, then am I strong. And the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Well, he's 1St 40 years then. As someone has put it, Moses is learning to be somebody. He was of an important person. And I want you to notice a little phrase the Spirit of God uses here. It says this Moses who was a ruler and a ruler and a judge that says. In the 27th verse, either did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee A ruler and a judge? And then the 35th verse it says this Moses soon they refused, saying, Who made thee A ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer. Those verses have often struck me. They rejected him because he was a ruler and a judge, but God sent him to be a ruler and a deliverer. You know, that's often spoken to me in a little comment that perhaps others have heard me quote, that spoken to my heart many times that I found in Mr. Darby's writings. And he said Christianity is known by what it brings, not by what it finds. We got so occupied with what we find. Things were wrong here. Not only was an Egyptian oppressing an Israelite, but actually the sad part of it was that two Israelites were fighting too. Fighting among themselves. And Moses became a ruler and a judge. And we often say that's wrong and I'm going to make it right. And the Lord has to say, but you can't do it. I'm the only one. But I can use you not as a ruler and a judge, but a ruler and a deliverer. You see, I get discouraged because of the situation. But after God had had his dealings with Moses. He doesn't come to them as a ruler and the judge, but as a ruler and a deliverer. But that's what we learned in the school of God. That's the second part of what God was trying to show to Moses. Well, Moses said when he found out that he not only was unwanted by the Egyptians, but he was even unwanted by his own brethren whom he thrust away. And they, he thought they would surely understand, but they didn't. Have often said what the human heart craves more than anything else is understanding and love. I think that if you just think about that, that's what we all like. We want to feel that somebody understands is that we can only find a person that we can talk to and we feel that person understands. You're just drawn to that person. That's the Lord Jesus. He understands perfectly. He knows us through and through. As I say, He watched us before we were born. He knows our bringing up. He knows our education. He knows. Our training, He knows our inmost feelings. Isn't it lovely that we can go to Him and pour out our hearts before Him and tell him because he understands perfectly. And some people who understand us don't love us because as they understand us, they see things in us that aren't very desirable. And then they don't love us because those things are so undesirable. But Oh my dear young people, you have a friend. A wonderful friend, he understands you and nothing that he'll ever find out about you will make him love you the less. He loves you with an eternal love. He wants you to have that knowledge in your soul, more than that, the enjoyment of it in your soul. Though Moses felt that this was so people didn't understand him, he didn't have the sense of love in his soul. And so it says then fled. Moses that this saying was a stranger in the land of Median, where he begat two sons. Did you ever say that I just like to run away? I just like to run away and get away from it all. It's just too much for me to handle. That's what Moses thought. He didn't get away from the Lord. That time that he ran away, he just ran right into this kind of school that God wanted to teach him, something that he never did learn or could learn in the school of Egypt.
Of Egypt would only build him up in his own importance, but the backside of the desert would empty him of all that. When he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds, it seemed like a good time for God to use him. But after he had passed through his 2nd 40 years, those years in the school of God. By the Lord said, now I'm going to use you, Moses. Moses said, I can't talk. I can't talk. What man that had been mighty in words and deeds learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, he couldn't talk. Oh, how different it is when we want to talk for the Lord. Oh, how helpless we feel. You may have a degree in college, but when you want to talk to the Lord, the lumpkin in your throat, you saw a situation among your brethren with the other young people, he said. I don't know what to say, I just can't. The Lord teaches us our own nothingness. But while he was there, on the backside of the desert fly, there were. He had two children born, and those two children, really the name that he gave to them showed that he was learning something, at least in the school of God. The first one, the name means a stranger here and the second one, God is my help. Well, those were things that he didn't feel at all like when he was. He didn't feel like a stranger in Egypt. He was the King's son, brought up there in the court of Pharaoh. He is a very important person. And he certainly didn't seem to feel the need of God's help. He was well qualified himself. He could handle it. But on the backside of the desert, he says I'm a stranger. And dear young people were strangers here. This is not our home. If we try and find our rest in this place, God will always stir up the nest. Maybe some of his dealings with you are just that. He wants you to realize that, that this is not your wrath. You will never find anything so well settled and ordered, even the best of your affairs. He lets you feel there is nothing here that's stable. You can't find your rest here. We're strangers here, as the little hymn says, we are but strangers here. Heaven is our home. Earth is a desert drear. Heaven is our home. But at all he didn't stop at that. I'm glad for the second Son. God is my help. God is my help. And God knows everything. The Lord Jesus is up on high, and the angels and authorities and powers are all subject to Him. There isn't a situation he couldn't change if he wanted to. That's always been a comfort to me because we think, why doesn't God change this situation? Did you ever stop to think there isn't a situation you couldn't change if it was his will? There isn't anything that's too hard for him. Why doesn't he change it? Well, because he has something for us to learn in it. There's a need to be and a purpose of love. And so here we see with Moses on the backside of the desert, he's learning. And those two sons that were. Born seemed to bring before us this, but isn't it amazing? 40 years? A lot of waste time you say? Could he not learn those lessons quicker? All brethren, we can learn things in the schools of this world far more quickly than we can learn them in the school of God. It takes an awful lot of time for us to learn the smallest lesson in the school of God, because what God is teaching us is that we're nothing and Christ is everything. And we don't like that emptying process. 40 years. It took him, this well educated man, this trained man. 40 years in the backside of the. Desert took him 40 years. It was well worthwhile because he learned that God was sufficient, that he was nothing, that that God was his help. And that isn't nice here tells us about the Lord appearing to him in the Flaming Fire in the Bush 32nd verse. Saying, I am the God of thy father, is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet. For the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them.
And now come, I will send thee unto Pharaoh. I like that little expression I have seen. I have seen because it seems to me that when Moses tried to set things right 40 years before, he acted as though the Lord hadn't seen him. All the Lord didn't realize what was going on and that he had to step in. But after the Lord had prepared him, he said, Moses, I see all that's going on. And perhaps there's something you say, why doesn't the Lord step in? What's going on here? What's going on there? The Lord has seen it all. He knows all about it. He knows every situation in your home life, in your school life, in your assembly life. He's surely seen, and he realizes all about it. And now, when Moses has in some measure at least learned this lesson that he's really. Nothing. And that he must rely upon God who would be his help. The Lord says now, Moses, I'll send you, I'll send you. Isn't that beautiful? And I believe that's good for us because that's the only thing that will ever fit us to do anything for the Lord is that he should send us. Mr. Darby once said, he said it isn't the need that puts us to work, It's the Lord's call. And in that passage in Isaiah where? The prophet Isaiah says here am I. Send me. I believe the emphasis is not on the me, but on the word send. In other words, I don't want to go unless I'm sent because I couldn't do it in my own strength. But if the Lord sends you to do something, He'll stand by you. I often say to my wife, when we want to do something for the Lord, I say, let's not think about whether we can do it, just let's ask as the Lord want us to do it. If he wants us to do it, then he's going to undertake. But if we say we can do it, we can do it, maybe we break down because we might rely on our own strength. I know the world won't tell you that. The world will say you can do it. Just get your strength up and say I'm going to do it and you'll be able to carry it through. Ah, but in the school of God we learn we can't do what God wants us to do in ourselves. But when we have learned that, the Lord sends us then, as the Bible says. What man goeth to warfare at his own charges? Is there any man ever went to? Enlisted and says, well, you'll take me as a soldier, I'll provide my own uniform, I'll provide the ammunition, I'll look after my medical interests. Oh no. Once he's accepted, that becomes the charge of the ones who have taken him to be a soldier. And you know, when the Lord wants you to do something, he says, you've got to lean entirely upon me. I don't think you can do it, but just know that I am able. And that keeps us humble, doesn't it, brethren? It must have kept Moses very, very humble to go back to these very people who had thrust him away and said, who may be a ruler and a judge, but God sent him back. And may I say, is there a young person here and you're discouraged and you tried to do something and you were rejected and disappointed and you really heard about it. And you say, I'm never going back. I'm never going to try again. Oh please. Don't say that if you're going to try it in your own strength, yes, that's fine. Never. But if the Lord wants you to do it, He may send you to the very people that you would never, never accept you or want your help. Oh, how different are the ways of God from the ways of man. Oh brethren, dear young people, are we willing? Can we put ourselves into His hands? So the Lord said, I will send thee into Egypt. Well, even when he went, it wasn't very pleasant. You know, even the people while they received him at first, he afterwards said to my Moses, you made things worse for us instead of better, because don't you see the Pharaohs increased our burdens. God still didn't make it easy for Moses. And I want to tell you path of following the Lord Jesus is not intended to be an easy one. The Lord said that a disciple is not. Above his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And that speaks to my heart as though the Lord were saying to me. Gordon, were you saying that you thought your path should be easy? Did you think you were supposed to have a little easier path than I had when I was here in this world? When you're my representative now, I shouldn't put myself above him. If they rejected him, they're going to reject me.
And so Moses goes. To be not a ruler and a judge, but a ruler and a deliverer. It's not, it's not lovely. I just think those words are so beautiful. A ruler and a deliverer. The Lord sends you. He may send you to help somebody that's in a real difficult situation. He may send you to preach the gospel in a difficult spot, to be a ruler and a deliverer. Now Moses goes back and. It tells us how the Lord picked him up now he spitted him. And as someone has said, the 1St 40 years of his life he was learning to be somebody. 2nd 40 years he was learning to be nobody and now in the last 40 years he must learn that God is all sufficient for the whole situation. And you know this wasn't very easy for Moses. If you turn over to Exodus, I'd like you to see here a couple of experiences in Moses life. In the 31St chapter of Exodus, and pardon me, it's in the 32nd chapter, tells us here in the 11TH verse. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say for mischief? Did he bring them out to slay them? To slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent for this evil. Against this people. I also want to read the. 10th Verse Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. Seems to me that this was a very. Real thing in the life of Exodus, in the life of Moses, rather, that's recorded here in this 32nd chapter. That is, the people had broken the 10 commandments and if they had been placed under pure law, it would have been certain judgment. But God turns to Moses and said, I'll cut them off and I'll take you and make you a great person. Well, you know, this was a real temptation. To make of his family. How great nation thought, Moses said. Oh no, Lord, I want all the people to be blessed. Sometimes we can have that kind of attitude, you know that as long as as long as we're kept. They've often thought about Hezekiah. All that Hezekiah seemed to be concerned about was that there was peace and truth in his days. He wasn't concerned about what was to follow. He was just concerned about himself, and the Lord did preserve. Peace and truth in his days. But here Moses was concerned about all the people of God. And may I say this as I am a little bit older, dear young people, I have to, I feel I have a great responsibility to pass something on to you because as some of us grow a little bit older, why we don't want you just to say, well, as long as those older brothers can keep things peaceful in their time, they're not concerned about what we're having to face. But as it were, God wants you to be prepared. You're a generation if the Lord leaves you here, may. Face even greater difficulties in ours, and I think it's so unselfish on the part of Moses, he said. I'm not just thinking about myself and my own family. I want the people here to all be blessed. In other words, he was, as it were, thinking of the ones who were to follow. And now let's pass on to the next chapter, and the 12TH verse. And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight. Show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hands. But here we find Moses. Now the Lord has used him. He's brought the people across the land, across the Red Sea. Did they appreciate it? Did they really value what Moses had done for them? And he said, As for this Moses, we want not what has become of him. They would forget all about him. And Moses becomes discouraged at this point and he says I can't do this alone. He says in the Book of Numbers, he said, I can't stand the murmurings and complainings and these people, all their strife. It's too much for me. Take me away and let me not see my wretchedness. And they asked the Lord, who would he give to be a help to him? Isn't the Lord's reply beautiful? My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And So what was Moses reply to this? He didn't say if thy presence go not with me. He said if thy presence go not with us. But it was very beautiful. We see Moses now not looking down on the people and says I'm going to set this right or that right, But he identifies himself with them. He says I'm part of them. I don't want the Lord just to take my family. I'm part of the failing people of God. And I want the assurance of the Lord's help as I seek to guide them. And the Lord said, I'll be with you, Moses. And Moses said, I want you to be with all thy people, if thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hands. What a large heart God had given to Moses. You can easily see the difference between being a ruler and a judge. He would have been glad to see the people cut off for their rebellious ways if he was a judge. But as a deliverer. Said, I want these people to be taken and blessed and brought in, and he said, I can't do it without the Lord's presence, and I know that they need the Lord's presence too. He said, if thy presence go not with us, carry us not up. Hence. Well, how lovely it is to see this in the heart of Moses. But there's one sad little note in the life of Moses, and that is when he came to that place and the people were so. Shall I say rebellious and striving and everything like that? And the Lord said to him, Moses, speak to the rock, and waters will come out of it. We know this was the second occasion. The first occasion they came there, God said to smite the rock that the waters would come out, and Moses smote the rock so the waters could come out. And the ground of all blessing is that the Lord Jesus was smitten for us. He was the rock. That rock was Christ. It tells us He was smitten at Calvary. But brethren, he never needs to be smitten again. The work that has laid the groundwork for your blessing and for every dear young person who's saved it was all finished long ago. It was finished at Calvary. The Lord did the work that is going to bring everyone of His own safely home to glory. The rock will never have to be smitten again. But we can't speak to the rock. We can go. That blessed One who accomplished the work, what's he doing? He's up there at the right hand of God. He's living for us. He's there to supply grace to help in time of need. If we have failed, He's our advocate to restore us. But he'll never have to die again. And so Moses. And he gets upset and he smote the rock twice. He didn't change the heart of God. And someone has said the water came just the same. Because the water came because the Lord Jesus was smitten. The blessing comes because of Calvary, because of what the Lord had done. But Moses lost a privilege. He lost a privilege that was the desire of his heart. He wanted to lead the people in to the Promised Land. And it went I'll with him because he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. And may I say this to you, and I say it to myself, never lose your patience with God's people. Never. Because God wants to bless them. He desires their blessing. He's laid a groundwork for their blessing. And so we see that Moses, as I say, in the 1St 40 years, he thought he was somebody important and could set things right. God passed him through a lot in order that he might learn that he was nothing.
And at the end. And he did come to that point, I believe, where he realized if there's going to be any deliverance, it had to be a work of God. He had seen the affliction of his people and he was going to bring them out, and he did bring them out. But now Moses, we say, well, I guess he has learned that God is everything. Ah, brethren, let us keep humble before the Lord. It doesn't matter how long we have known the Lord or how long we've sought to please him. Circumstances are going to arise in your life, in your gathering with some other young person, with some boyfriend. And your girlfriend that maybe make you so mad you'll speak unadvisedly with your lips. And it may be, it doesn't mean that Moses will not be in the glory. He was on the Mount of Transfiguration talking about what the Lord would accomplish at Jerusalem. God hasn't forgotten what Moses did. And he was there because of that work accomplished at Jerusalem. But he lost a privilege. He lost a privilege. And that's what I want to say to you, dear young people. Don't get discouraged. That's Satan's great effort is to get us discouraged along the way. And even if we have in some measure learned some of these things, as Satan will never, never give up trying to get us discouraged and say, well, you've tried and look here now. Oh, don't God is able. I believe discouragement is where Satan is spoken of as the roaring lion. Thomas thought of Satan is the roaring lion. In persecution. But if you turn to first Peter 5, we won't take time. You would see there that it says this, casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you. And then the next verse says be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And perhaps you have a care. You came to these meetings with a care and you're going away with a heavy care upon your heart, something that you just wish. Why doesn't God grand deliverance? Why doesn't he settle this thing? Why doesn't he Take Me Out of this problem? And he wants you to cast. Rested on him. But Satan says now get discouraged, get annoyed at the person, speak unadvisedly with your lips. Ah, brethren, may the Lord keep us. We never graduate from his school. Moses didn't graduate or he wouldn't have lost his patience. We're going to graduate when we get home to glory, then the flesh will be gone. Then we'll be fully like Christ. Below, as long as we walk here, may we walk in dependence. May we seek His company. And his blessing. And so I just want to encourage you, dear young people, maybe you're starting out. Maybe things have been difficult in your life, but remember, God is faithful. He has His eye upon you for blessing. And as we seek to learn those things that he wants to teach us, it's for our good and for blessing. And let's remember that time when Moses had come to the third part of his life. Shall I say those years when he had seen that God was everything he he said, What shall I do if I found grace in thy sight? Show me thy way. Give me a helper, Lord. And the Lord said my presence. Shall go with thee, I will give thee rest. And there can be nothing sweeter in your life as a young person or an old person than to go through life with the sense that you have the Lord's presence with you. Well, he never will leave you nor forsake you, but he wants you to have the sense of it, as I've often said, that dear old brother said to me many years ago, some here know him, Brother Mcleave. And he said to me many years ago, he said, Gordon, I never ask the Lord to be with me. I know he's with me. He's promised that he'll never leave me nor forsake me. But he said I do ask him to give me a sense of his presence. Build a young person, he's not going to forsake you either. He's not going to let you go, but may you have a sense of His presence. And if you do, He'll have a lot of lessons to teach each one of us. But oh, it'll be well worthwhile when we see His face, to have in some measure entered into that which He has for us in this world. The privilege of letting the life of Jesus be seen in us until finally we're in His presence with Him and like Him forever.