July 26, 2025 • 35 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Dan Simmons (00:00):
I have the privilege of introducing a really good friend of mine who's a wonderful servant of God.
He has a passion for archaeology. In fact, he's kind of made that his life.
This is Scotty, as I call him, but L.S. Baker, Jr., doctor, Ph.D., is the associate director of Andrews University Press,
(00:24):
where he serves as the managing director for Andrews University Study Bible,
which a lot of us use, both the OT and NT volumes.
Dr. Baker is a research associate with the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University,
a research associate with the Lamar Center of Archaeology at Liskum University,
(00:46):
and is a, now he's going to be able to say these words a lot better than I am,
an artist with the great Apostle Hall Project and Ammon Temple and Karnak Complex in Egypt.
Basically, he's done a lot of archaeology stuff. Co-host for the Inside Bible of the Hope Channel,
(01:08):
director of Builders of Faith for online ministry, and served two years as a missionary in Micronesia.
He's married to a good friend of mine, Arnie Lou Salazar Baker, and together they have two
awesome daughters, which were my
Pathfinders, Einra and
Laura.
They live in Berrien Springs, Michigan
(01:29):
where they're active in their local church
and community through the Church's Pathfinder
Club.
I'm looking forward
to listening to Scotty Baker
and hearing him share
what
cool things we can learn from the
archaeology of the Exodus.
Dr. L.S. Baker Jr. (01:55):
Thank you, Dan, and thank you.
It's Mesa, right?
I thought it was, what do I know?
I said Mesa, and Dan's like, no, it's Mesa.
I have now learned how to say it right, I think.
Mesa Palms.
Thank you so much for inviting me to come.
I'm excited to be here.
This morning and this afternoon, I'm sorry, this morning and the next Sabbath morning,
I'll be preaching a sermon in the afternoon today, and then throughout the week, I'll be doing more lecture-style presentations about the archaeology of the Exodus.
(02:24):
But it's important this morning maybe to get a foundation that can kind of lead us spiritually through this week as we start to understand why the Exodus.
And so this morning, the topic for this morning is guilt.
At some point in all of our lives, all of us have to deal with guilt.
(02:50):
I expect that there are many here today who may be still doing that.
Guilt is paralyzing.
When we have committed an act of which we are later ashamed, we are filled with paralyzing guilt.
We're afraid to approach the one to whom we did the wrong.
Before receiving the forgiveness, the guilt that we live with causes us to not even want to be in the presence of the other party.
(03:19):
We'd rather meet anyone else on earth than the one we wronged.
Guilt lingers.
It lingers because we cannot forgive ourselves.
It lingers because we are not sure that we have received forgiveness from God.
Guilt not only ostracizes us from others, but it leaves us feeling useless to work for God.
After all, we reason, how can God use me after what I did?
(03:45):
If you find yourself with just such a guilt, you're not in bad company.
Moses found himself in the very same situation and dealt with his guilt for 40 years.
He acted with the best intentions, but it all turned out wrong, dreadfully wrong.
Today in the Bible, we will see God's overwhelming response to just such a guilt
(04:08):
and how we can deal with forgiveness of ourselves in a well-known but perhaps little-discussed story from the life of Moses.
Let's turn our attention then this morning to God's servant Moses.
Turn with me, if you will, to the second chapter, the second book of the second chapter,
that book of Moses, Exodus chapter 2.
(04:29):
And our passage for consideration this morning will come from verses 11 through 15.
This small story contains three powerful lessons about Moses' relationship with God.
It's significant to us because we need to avoid two of the mistakes that Moses made in this story
and follow his example in the third.
(04:51):
And by doing this, we will find the peace of forgiveness that Moses eventually found.
This peace will result in our relationship with God growing stronger,
melting the guilt away, and making us an unstoppable force for the kingdom of God.
I'm going to read it, Exodus chapter 2, verses 11 through 15.
(05:15):
I'm in the New King James Version.
Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown
that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens,
And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
So he looked this way and that way.
And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(05:39):
And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting.
And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion?
And then he said, who made you a ruler and judge over us?
Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?
So Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known.
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh,
(06:04):
and he dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
The source of Moses' guilt was the rash act he'd done.
I mean, he killed a man.
Sure, it was in defense of one of his brethren.
It was to help God, but it didn't work.
He ended up having to run for his life in failure.
(06:27):
He had meant his action to be for good, but it was an evil act.
So it turned out very badly, very badly.
Let's return back to that, those first two verses, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12,
and see if we can discover the cause of Moses' rash act.
Why did he do what he did?
(06:48):
And in the process, we'll discover powerful lesson number one.
I'm going to read it again.
This is verses 11 and 12.
Exodus chapter 2, 11 and 12.
I'm going to read here from the Bible.
Every other scripture is going to be up on the screen.
So if you want to join me in your Bible, you can just leave them open to Exodus chapter 2.
Exodus 2, 11 to 12.
Moses writes,
Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown,
(07:10):
that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.
And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
So he looked this way, and he looked that way.
And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(07:32):
Now let's read how Luke records the same story as told by the deacon Stephen in the book Acts.
As you can put it up on the screen, Acts 7, 23 to 25.
Now, when he, Moses, was 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 and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptians.
(07:56):
We just read that from Exodus.
For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
Did you catch it?
Do you see what caused him to act?
Let's go back one verse.
We've read verse 23.
Let's go back to verse 22.
It says,
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
(08:22):
Now, we're used to thinking about Moses as slow of tongue and slow of speech, but he was not.
At least not on that morning at age 40 when he went out to look at his brother's burdens
and decided the moment had come that he would lift his own hand and deliver them.
Look again at the end of verse 25.
It says,
He supposed that his brother would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand.
(08:47):
He took that hand that was mighty indeed, and he lifted it mightily in defense of his brother,
striking down and killing an Egyptian, but not delivering, as he supposed he would, his own people.
So what went wrong?
Moses didn't know, and he lived with the guilt of failure and self-doubt for the next 40 years while he learned about it.
(09:08):
At the end, he learned the lesson so well that when God called him back to service at age 80,
at the burning bush, imagine being called back to service at age 80,
Moses had lost all confidence in his own ability.
All he could say in Exodus 4, verse 10 was,
Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant,
(09:29):
but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
Well, we just read that at age 40, he was mighty in word.
Obviously, by age 80, Moses had lost all confidence in his ability to speak.
But not just his ability to speak, also his ability to act.
Just three verses later, in verse 13, he says,
(09:50):
Oh my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send.
By the hand of whomever else.
Moses finally realized 40 years later that his hand was not mighty.
It could not accomplish this deed.
He had already tried and he'd already failed.
(10:11):
But Moses wasn't paying attention.
God had already answered his doubt earlier in the conversation at the burning bush.
In fact, it was read very nicely in our scripture meeting this morning.
Exodus chapter 3, verse 19, it says, this is God speaking.
God says, but I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go.
(10:33):
No, not even by a mighty hand.
Moses was sure of that too.
So what's the solution, Lord?
So in verse 20, so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders,
which I will do in its midst.
And after that, he will let you go.
No, Moses, a mighty hand will not accomplish this task, but my hand will.
(10:55):
My preaching mentor, the late Dr. Kenneth Mozak,
was fond of using a particular example when talking about the hand of God.
He would quote the Egyptians and magicians.
We did this in our Sabbath school lesson this morning.
From chapter 8, verse 19, when they said, this is the finger of God.
Talking about the plagues.
This is the magicians of Egypt.
And then Dr. Mozak would hold up his pinky finger like this.
(11:18):
He said, if the finger of God could dip into the river Nile and it turned to blood.
If the finger of God could stroke the heavens and they became dark.
If the finger of God could smite the dust of the earth and it became swarms.
then what about the whole hand of God?
Moses had to learn that the hand of God was more than a mighty hand.
(11:41):
A mighty hand will not accomplish this task, but my hand will.
But I'm sure, God said, that the king of Egypt will not let you go,
no, not even by a mighty hand.
So I'll stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with my wonders.
And so Aaron, God sent Aaron to help Moses learn the first powerful lesson.
(12:07):
It doesn't matter how weak or how mighty our hand is, only God's hand can accomplish God's work.
To prove this, the first three plagues of Egypt were all accomplished by the hand of Aaron.
Look at this. Exodus 7, 19.
The Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your hand.
Exodus 8, 5, the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your hand.
(12:30):
And then Exodus 8, 16 to 17, Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your rod as hell out of his hand.
See, Moses, Aaron is a slave.
See the wonders that took place?
Do you think they came from Aaron's hand?
It was as if God was saying, can Aaron's hand make the water in Egypt turn to blood?
Can Aaron's hand cause frogs to ascend out of that renewed river where, by the way, everything had just died?
(12:55):
In overwhelming and continuous number, can Aaron's hand cause all the incredible amount of dust in Egypt to suddenly turn to lice?
Moses, it wasn't Aaron's hand, now what was it?
Then the next two plagues were accomplished without any human hand at all.
God just did them himself.
See, Moses, I don't even need a human hand to accomplish my work.
(13:20):
Then the sixth plague, Moses was told to join Aaron and together gather ash and throw them up into the air so that they caused boils on whomever they fell.
And so slowly God was leading Moses to understand, yes, Moses, I can even use your bloodstained guilty hand to accomplish my work.
Look at this.
The next three plagues were all accomplished by the hand of Moses.
(13:43):
Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand.
Moses, stretch out your hand.
Moses, stretch out your hand.
See, Moses, I can use your hand to send hail in a thunderstorm upon a desert country like Egypt.
See, Moses, I can use your hand to hurl locusts upon the earth to devour all the lush vegetation that grows around the Nile.
(14:05):
See, Moses, I can use your hand to blot out the sun for three whole days.
Yes, Moses, I can use your hand to do these mighty works.
Why?
Because it's not really your hand that's doing it, it's mine.
The lesson for us seems obvious.
It matters not how mighty or helpless our hand actually is.
(14:28):
We are completely unable to accomplish God's work.
Understanding that is what makes you able to be used by God.
God doesn't need you to stretch out your hand to accomplish his work.
He needs you to stretch out his hand to accomplish his work.
And when you're able to realize that every time you lift your hands to do something for God's work,
that you're really lifting God's hand, you would be more than mighty in it.
(14:55):
After this, we see Moses lifting God's hand at the Red Sea.
Do not be afraid.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will see again no more forever.
The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.
Then in Exodus 17, we see the battle of the Amalekites.
(15:18):
Aaron and Hur are holding up God's hands when they hold up Moses' until the victory is complete.
Moses thought on that morning at age 40 that he would lift his hand and deliver his people.
That was mistake number one.
(15:38):
Mistake number two comes the following morning.
So let's return to our story and read the next two verses.
Exodus chapter 2.
We're going to read now verses 13 and 14 again.
Exodus chapter 2, 13 and 14.
And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting.
And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion?
(16:02):
And then he said, who made you a ruler and judge over us?
Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?
So Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known.
To understand this mistake better, let's focus on the question of the wicked Hebrew in verse 14.
(16:23):
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
The question is, who made you?
Who made you?
I guess he forgot who it was who saved that three-month-old baby boy
(16:46):
from the murky depths of the crocodile-infested Nile.
Who made you?
I guess he forgot who it was who directed the Egyptian princess
to come to the very spot on the longest river in the world
on that very morning to find a papyrus-woven basket
hidden among the dense papyrus reeds.
Who made you?
(17:08):
I guess he forgot.
who it was who arranged things so that his mother would get paid to raise her own boy.
Who made you?
I guess he also forgot who it was who arranged things so that he was adopted in the royal family
by the very man who sought to kill him 12 years earlier.
Who made you?
(17:29):
When he asked the question, who made you ruler and judge over us,
he wasn't asking, who do you think you are?
He was asking, who does God think you are?
the hebrews most assuredly rejected moses because they lacked faith in god they feared the consequences
if things went wrong after all they had hearts of slaves and while it's important for us and true
(17:51):
that we must guard against having the hearts of slaves i would like us to focus on god's chosen
man moses because the bible says that when he heard that verse the next verse says who made you
rule and judge over us it says that moses fled he ran moses knew the answer to that question
but he ran.
Moses knew that God had saved him as a baby.
Moses knew that God had raised him up
(18:13):
and made him crown prince.
Moses knew that God had chosen him
to deliver his people.
He knew who God was.
He knew what God would do,
but what he didn't know
was what was God doing on that morning.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Before we get too hard on Moses,
are we really that different?
(18:36):
We know what God has done in the past.
The Bible is clear and we can even trace his leading in our lives.
We know what God will do.
The future is certain.
We can also see that in the Bible.
But what we struggle with is what is he doing today?
Why?
While surrounded by Christian brothers and sisters,
there's so much intentional backstabbing and hurt.
(18:59):
Why?
Do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?
Why?
does God allow me to make such choices, bad choices, again and again and again.
But God doesn't ask us to understand him today.
He asks us to trust him today.
We may never know why these things happen.
Maybe it's not for us to know.
(19:19):
Maybe we'll know sometime in the future.
Maybe the timing is just wrong.
God doesn't always intend for us to understand, but he always intends for us to trust.
Look at Proverbs 3, verse 5 and 6.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths smooth.
(19:40):
You know what Moses should have said, right?
You know what Moses should have said when he heard the question,
who made you a ruler and judge over us?
He should have said, who made me?
Well, let me tell you about him.
He is the one who looked into the void and emptiness of space,
took hold of that formless and empty void and spoke a world into existence.
(20:02):
who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that wicked world
and made it come crashing down around their heads
in the worst catastrophe this world will ever know
or will ever know to the end of time.
Who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that shriveled up 99-year-old man
and his 89-year-old barren wife
and made him fertile like 20-somethings
(20:23):
and a nation was born.
Who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that slave in a dungeon
and in one day rose him up to be the second ruler over the mighty kingdom of Egypt,
who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
His name is God, and he sent me to save you.
(20:45):
That's what he should have said.
That's what he should have said, but he didn't.
He did it because he forgot who was asking the question.
Remember, it wasn't the righteous Hebrew asked the question.
It was the wicked Hebrew.
It was the wicked Hebrew.
We didn't remember who's asking the questions.
Did God really say you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?
We need to remember who's asking the question.
(21:05):
Are you the king of the Jews?
We need to remember who's asking the question.
Where is the evidence for the existence of your God?
We need to remember who is asking the question.
This is a spiritual battle.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness and heavenly places.
(21:26):
Therefore, Paul counsels us in Ephesians 6,
take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
having done all to stand.
Moses forgot who was asking the question.
So when he heard the question, his mind went to the human who had made him a ruler and judge.
(21:48):
And the Bible says in Exodus 3.15 that he fled from the face of Pharaoh.
It would take him 40 years before he'd be ready to hear the right answer to that question.
And again, Stephen offers us valuable insight into the question,
who made you a ruler and judge over us?
In Acts chapter 7, verse 34 and 35, Stephen still talking to the Sanhedrin moments before being stoned, by the way.
(22:12):
It says, talking about Moses, this is God talking to Moses at the burning bush.
I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt.
I have heard their groanings.
I have come down to deliver them.
and now come, I will send you to Egypt.
How did Moses react to that sentence?
This Moses whom they rejected,
(22:32):
now Stephen's commenting about it,
now talking 40 years earlier,
this Moses whom they rejected saying,
who made you a ruler and judge
is the one God sent to be a ruler and deliverer
by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
(22:52):
God says, it's me.
The first powerful lesson is that we must remember whose hand we are stretching out
to accomplish God's work.
Isaiah 41, 10 and 13 says,
Fear not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
Yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(23:17):
Three verses later, look at this.
For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
saying to you, fear not, I will help you.
The second powerful lesson from Moses' relationship with God at age 40
is that we must remember who made us who we are.
We just learned that one.
Psalm 100, verse 3, you know this.
(23:39):
Know that the Lord, he is God.
It is he who has made us and not we ourselves.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Those are the two mistakes that Moses made that we must not make.
We must not forget who made us who we are, and we must not forget whose hand is actually being used.
(24:01):
The third lesson is found in Moses' unwitting example.
It is found in the last verse of the story, Exodus 2.
This is verse 15, the last verse that we'll read this morning.
Exodus 2, verse 15, Moses writes,
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.
(24:24):
On, let's see, is it not today, tomorrow, it's going to be Monday night,
we're talking about who the Pharaoh of the Exodus is, so we'll get back to who this is.
But surely this matter is known.
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian,
and he sat down by a well.
(24:45):
When at the darkest moment of his life, when all hopes seemed gone,
when the despair of guilt was overwhelming,
when he knew, just knew that he was an abject failure,
he sat down by a well.
The third powerful lesson is simply to sit down by a well.
(25:06):
You know what a well represents to the ancient people?
Do you realize, I'm asking people in Arizona if you know how valuable water is,
Do you realize that outside of the Egypt Nile, by the way, I was telling Dan when I came
into the airport yesterday, this feels like Egypt.
Actually, your temperatures, I think, are very, very similar to the way Egypt is.
So if you want to picture the store, you can really just kind of absorb it by going outside.
(25:28):
So certainly you're going to understand everything I'm talking about.
Most people don't understand how valuable water is because they live like in Michigan
where we have tons of lake water.
I can shower all day and not use too much water.
And there's no bill for water.
It's cheap.
Sorry to make you jealous about that.
Do you realize outside of the Egypt Nile, in the narrow Jordan River Valley,
the two rivers in Mesopotamia, this isn't any water anywhere in Mesopotamia.
(25:51):
This really, I mean, in the Middle East, this really isn't any water.
To get fresh water, you have to dig a well.
Have you ever been out in the hot sun, sweating hard, working hard, playing hard?
Of course you have.
You live here.
You need a drink and you couldn't get one.
Dan tells me everywhere he goes, he takes water.
I'm sure everybody does the same.
It is.
It's hot.
You have to have water.
(26:13):
by the way side note from the sermon they geologists have been telling people in egypt forever that
there's water under the desert in the deserts on both sides and they don't believe it's this desert
right but they they found that the largest underground water reservoir is there and now
they're actually moving and building they're building cities out into the desert trying to
move people away from the nile that's there's plenty of water in egypt uh anyway so you can you
(26:38):
You don't have to imagine.
You can remember it.
You can dwell in it how thirsty you get in the hot sun.
You also probably know what life is like with dust on everything.
And in Egypt, there's dust on everything.
It's on your clothes.
It's even under your clothes.
It's in your food.
It's everywhere you are.
There's a thin film of dust.
(27:00):
And you can also probably imagine what life is like where even the food that you eat has dust in it.
Imagine sweating in the very hot sun.
Imagine living with animals in very close proximity.
Imagine all the various unspecified body fluids you emit at various times for various reasons.
How important is fresh water for you?
(27:20):
Life revolved around the well.
Life revolved around the well because without fresh water, there is no life.
You need water to wash and be clean.
You need water to quench your thirst.
You need water to survive.
A well represents water, life-giving, life-sustaining, life-purifying water.
(27:40):
In that life, gold is not as valuable as water because you must have water to live.
When I think of a well and what happened at a well in the Bible,
I remember the story of a man who sat down by a well and his prayers were answered
and a bride was found for his master Isaac.
Short time later, probably the same well, another man sat down at that well,
(28:04):
and he met the love of his life, Rachel, and a family was born.
But I remember of another man who sat down by a well and told a woman all she had ever done,
and a town was converted.
Moses sat down by a well, and not just any well.
He sat down by a well in Midian, a well that just happened to have the daughters of the priest of God at Midian,
(28:29):
at it that morning. A priest who had played an instrumental role in re-educating Moses about who
God was. Yes, Moses sat down by a well. Sometimes in life, we just need to sit down by a well and
give up control of our lives. We just make a mess of things. Sometimes in life, we need to just sit
down by a well and allow God to act in our lives, to take control, to bring people into our lives,
(28:53):
to help guide us back into a right relationship with him. Sometimes in life, we need to sit down
Sometimes in life, we need to sit down by a well and read the sweet words of life that offer pardon and peace to all,
(29:19):
those wonderful words of life, and drink in the life-giving, life-sustaining, life-purifying words of God.
Jesus said in John 17, 17, sanctify them by your truth.
Your word is truth.
And so this short story in the life of Moses, this remarkable story,
(29:43):
which at first glance appears to simply be a story of failure,
simply marked the low point in Moses' life in which Moses, by humbling himself,
eventually was brought out of.
Moses, who by his own admission became the meekest man in the face of the earth,
learned these three lessons.
He stretched out his hand to accomplish God's work.
(30:04):
But he had to learn that when he stretched out his hand,
he wasn't his hand doing the work, but it was God's hand.
He had to also learn, because he had forgotten,
who brought him to the point in life where he was at.
He had to learn that it was God who made him who he was, not he himself.
And he had to learn that when he felt all was hopeless, when he was overwhelmed with guilt,
(30:28):
when he needed the assurance of forgiveness,
when he was directed to a well where he gave his life eventually back to God.
We have come to church this morning for just this reason.
You may not know why you're here, but God brought you to this place to be revived,
to remember who made you, remember who loves you,
(30:49):
To remember that failure is only a reminder that we can truly not succeed without our maker.
Without God.
We have come to church to be in the presence of fellow believers.
Believers of God.
Just as Moses was surrounded by the priest of God in Midian.
So we too here at this moment are surrounded by the family of the people of God here in Arizona.
(31:09):
Don't let yourself believe that you are here by mistake.
If you are here, it's not a mistake.
Satan's deceptions are insidious.
Satan's lie is that God can never forgive us.
Satan's lie is that God can never use us again after what we've done.
But the truth is that God never asked us to lift our own hands to do anything.
Every time we use a gift for God that he's given to us,
(31:30):
every time we perform a talent,
every time we lift our hand to do anything for God's work,
it was never us doing it anyway.
It was always God.
And because it's God who makes us who we are in life,
it's God who sets us up to succeed.
It's God who is acting to accomplish his mighty works through us
so that you never have to worry about how worthy or unworthy we actually are.
(31:50):
If he calls us, he will empower us by his hand.
All he asks is that we let go of ourselves and take his hand and do his work.
Do you need forgiveness or the assurance of forgiveness?
Are you living with guilt?
Is your hand bloodstained?
Then let me offer you this bit of hope.
(32:12):
Philippians 1 verse 6 says, Paul says,
being confident in this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ. And then again, John wrote this in 1 John 1.9,
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all,
(32:35):
all unrighteousness. Sometimes in life, we have to sit down by a well. So why don't you
Make a commitment today to sit down by his well and spend time listening to his word, the Bible,
which is a well of hope and forgiveness.
We can't herd sheep in seclusion.
(32:56):
You guys have sheep in Arizona?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about my ignorance of Arizona.
But most of us probably are not herding sheep in seclusion like Moses was for 40 years.
So we can commune with God.
But we can make a decision to spend a quiet moment with God each day.
We can make that decision.
many of us here today I'm sure have and are continuing to make that decision
(33:18):
and we must continue to make that choice and make that decision to keep spending
a quiet moment with him. Moses found forgiveness and became a mighty man for God
it all started though by sitting down by a well
it took him 40 years before he was ready to let God use him
I don't know how long it will take you but time isn't the point
the point is taking the time
(33:41):
Moses had to take the time and so do we
Moses had to surrender his life including his time and spend meaningful moments with God each day
and so do we
we are you are useful in the hands of God
let's pray
Heavenly Father what a glorious reminder
what a freeing reminder it is to learn this morning
(34:01):
through the short story in the life of Moses
that failure is just something to grow from
that no matter what has happened in the past,
you are willing to forgive everything
if we just confess it.
That, Lord, you want to remake us
into useful instruments.
And, Lord, every time we do anything,
and many of us here today do lots of things
in your name and for you
with all the right motivations and right help.
(34:21):
But, Lord, help us to remember
that we can become more than mighty in those acts,
that those acts can become like mighty miracles
in this town, in this city, in this area of Arizona.
If we just remember that it's not us doing it
by our own effort through getting burnt out,
trying to work so hard,
but actually you acting through it.
Lord, help us to remember this and take this encouragement
to realize that no matter what we've done in life,
(34:43):
we can be useful because it doesn't matter about us anyway.
It only matters about us surrendering to you
and letting you work in our lives.
And thank you so much for giving us that hope this morning.
The hope that when you give us the gospel commission,
tell the whole world about you and your soon coming
and your forgiveness of their sins
and their hope of a better life,
that this isn't something that we have to accomplish,
but something you want to and will accomplish through us
(35:06):
just willing. And so, Lord, I ask that this morning. I ask that everyone here who right now in their own
hearts are thinking, I am willing to go where you want me to go. I am willing to do what you want me
to do, Lord, that you please, Lord, will help us to surrender completely and do whatever it is you
call on us to do with all of your might. In Jesus' name, amen.
I have the privilege of introducing a really good friend of mine who's a wonderful servant of God.
He has a passion for archaeology. In fact, he's kind of made that his life.
This is Scotty, as I call him, but L.S. Baker, Jr., doctor, Ph.D., is the associate director of Andrews University Press,
(00:24):
where he serves as the managing director for Andrews University Study Bible,
which a lot of us use, both the OT and NT volumes.
Dr. Baker is a research associate with the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University,
a research associate with the Lamar Center of Archaeology at Liskum University,
(00:46):
and is a, now he's going to be able to say these words a lot better than I am,
an artist with the great Apostle Hall Project and Ammon Temple and Karnak Complex in Egypt.
Basically, he's done a lot of archaeology stuff. Co-host for the Inside Bible of the Hope Channel,
(01:08):
director of Builders of Faith for online ministry, and served two years as a missionary in Micronesia.
He's married to a good friend of mine, Arnie Lou Salazar Baker, and together they have two
awesome daughters, which were my
Pathfinders, Einra and
Laura.
They live in Berrien Springs, Michigan
(01:29):
where they're active in their local church
and community through the Church's Pathfinder
Club.
I'm looking forward
to listening to Scotty Baker
and hearing him share
what
cool things we can learn from the
archaeology of the Exodus.
Dr. L.S. Baker Jr. (01:55):
Thank you, Dan, and thank you.
It's Mesa, right?
I thought it was, what do I know?
I said Mesa, and Dan's like, no, it's Mesa.
I have now learned how to say it right, I think.
Mesa Palms.
Thank you so much for inviting me to come.
I'm excited to be here.
This morning and this afternoon, I'm sorry, this morning and the next Sabbath morning,
I'll be preaching a sermon in the afternoon today, and then throughout the week, I'll be doing more lecture-style presentations about the archaeology of the Exodus.
(02:24):
But it's important this morning maybe to get a foundation that can kind of lead us spiritually through this week as we start to understand why the Exodus.
And so this morning, the topic for this morning is guilt.
At some point in all of our lives, all of us have to deal with guilt.
(02:50):
I expect that there are many here today who may be still doing that.
Guilt is paralyzing.
When we have committed an act of which we are later ashamed, we are filled with paralyzing guilt.
We're afraid to approach the one to whom we did the wrong.
Before receiving the forgiveness, the guilt that we live with causes us to not even want to be in the presence of the other party.
(03:19):
We'd rather meet anyone else on earth than the one we wronged.
Guilt lingers.
It lingers because we cannot forgive ourselves.
It lingers because we are not sure that we have received forgiveness from God.
Guilt not only ostracizes us from others, but it leaves us feeling useless to work for God.
After all, we reason, how can God use me after what I did?
(03:45):
If you find yourself with just such a guilt, you're not in bad company.
Moses found himself in the very same situation and dealt with his guilt for 40 years.
He acted with the best intentions, but it all turned out wrong, dreadfully wrong.
Today in the Bible, we will see God's overwhelming response to just such a guilt
(04:08):
and how we can deal with forgiveness of ourselves in a well-known but perhaps little-discussed story from the life of Moses.
Let's turn our attention then this morning to God's servant Moses.
Turn with me, if you will, to the second chapter, the second book of the second chapter,
that book of Moses, Exodus chapter 2.
(04:29):
And our passage for consideration this morning will come from verses 11 through 15.
This small story contains three powerful lessons about Moses' relationship with God.
It's significant to us because we need to avoid two of the mistakes that Moses made in this story
and follow his example in the third.
(04:51):
And by doing this, we will find the peace of forgiveness that Moses eventually found.
This peace will result in our relationship with God growing stronger,
melting the guilt away, and making us an unstoppable force for the kingdom of God.
I'm going to read it, Exodus chapter 2, verses 11 through 15.
(05:15):
I'm in the New King James Version.
Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown
that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens,
And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
So he looked this way and that way.
And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(05:39):
And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting.
And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion?
And then he said, who made you a ruler and judge over us?
Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?
So Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known.
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh,
(06:04):
and he dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
The source of Moses' guilt was the rash act he'd done.
I mean, he killed a man.
Sure, it was in defense of one of his brethren.
It was to help God, but it didn't work.
He ended up having to run for his life in failure.
(06:27):
He had meant his action to be for good, but it was an evil act.
So it turned out very badly, very badly.
Let's return back to that, those first two verses, chapter 2, verses 11 and 12,
and see if we can discover the cause of Moses' rash act.
Why did he do what he did?
(06:48):
And in the process, we'll discover powerful lesson number one.
I'm going to read it again.
This is verses 11 and 12.
Exodus chapter 2, 11 and 12.
I'm going to read here from the Bible.
Every other scripture is going to be up on the screen.
So if you want to join me in your Bible, you can just leave them open to Exodus chapter 2.
Exodus 2, 11 to 12.
Moses writes,
Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown,
(07:10):
that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.
And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
So he looked this way, and he looked that way.
And when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
(07:32):
Now let's read how Luke records the same story as told by the deacon Stephen in the book Acts.
As you can put it up on the screen, Acts 7, 23 to 25.
Now, when he, Moses, was 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 and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptians.
(07:56):
We just read that from Exodus.
For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
Did you catch it?
Do you see what caused him to act?
Let's go back one verse.
We've read verse 23.
Let's go back to verse 22.
It says,
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.
(08:22):
Now, we're used to thinking about Moses as slow of tongue and slow of speech, but he was not.
At least not on that morning at age 40 when he went out to look at his brother's burdens
and decided the moment had come that he would lift his own hand and deliver them.
Look again at the end of verse 25.
It says,
He supposed that his brother would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand.
(08:47):
He took that hand that was mighty indeed, and he lifted it mightily in defense of his brother,
striking down and killing an Egyptian, but not delivering, as he supposed he would, his own people.
So what went wrong?
Moses didn't know, and he lived with the guilt of failure and self-doubt for the next 40 years while he learned about it.
(09:08):
At the end, he learned the lesson so well that when God called him back to service at age 80,
at the burning bush, imagine being called back to service at age 80,
Moses had lost all confidence in his own ability.
All he could say in Exodus 4, verse 10 was,
Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant,
(09:29):
but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
Well, we just read that at age 40, he was mighty in word.
Obviously, by age 80, Moses had lost all confidence in his ability to speak.
But not just his ability to speak, also his ability to act.
Just three verses later, in verse 13, he says,
(09:50):
Oh my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send.
By the hand of whomever else.
Moses finally realized 40 years later that his hand was not mighty.
It could not accomplish this deed.
He had already tried and he'd already failed.
(10:11):
But Moses wasn't paying attention.
God had already answered his doubt earlier in the conversation at the burning bush.
In fact, it was read very nicely in our scripture meeting this morning.
Exodus chapter 3, verse 19, it says, this is God speaking.
God says, but I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go.
(10:33):
No, not even by a mighty hand.
Moses was sure of that too.
So what's the solution, Lord?
So in verse 20, so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders,
which I will do in its midst.
And after that, he will let you go.
No, Moses, a mighty hand will not accomplish this task, but my hand will.
(10:55):
My preaching mentor, the late Dr. Kenneth Mozak,
was fond of using a particular example when talking about the hand of God.
He would quote the Egyptians and magicians.
We did this in our Sabbath school lesson this morning.
From chapter 8, verse 19, when they said, this is the finger of God.
Talking about the plagues.
This is the magicians of Egypt.
And then Dr. Mozak would hold up his pinky finger like this.
(11:18):
He said, if the finger of God could dip into the river Nile and it turned to blood.
If the finger of God could stroke the heavens and they became dark.
If the finger of God could smite the dust of the earth and it became swarms.
then what about the whole hand of God?
Moses had to learn that the hand of God was more than a mighty hand.
(11:41):
A mighty hand will not accomplish this task, but my hand will.
But I'm sure, God said, that the king of Egypt will not let you go,
no, not even by a mighty hand.
So I'll stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with my wonders.
And so Aaron, God sent Aaron to help Moses learn the first powerful lesson.
(12:07):
It doesn't matter how weak or how mighty our hand is, only God's hand can accomplish God's work.
To prove this, the first three plagues of Egypt were all accomplished by the hand of Aaron.
Look at this. Exodus 7, 19.
The Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your hand.
Exodus 8, 5, the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your hand.
(12:30):
And then Exodus 8, 16 to 17, Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your rod as hell out of his hand.
See, Moses, Aaron is a slave.
See the wonders that took place?
Do you think they came from Aaron's hand?
It was as if God was saying, can Aaron's hand make the water in Egypt turn to blood?
Can Aaron's hand cause frogs to ascend out of that renewed river where, by the way, everything had just died?
(12:55):
In overwhelming and continuous number, can Aaron's hand cause all the incredible amount of dust in Egypt to suddenly turn to lice?
Moses, it wasn't Aaron's hand, now what was it?
Then the next two plagues were accomplished without any human hand at all.
God just did them himself.
See, Moses, I don't even need a human hand to accomplish my work.
(13:20):
Then the sixth plague, Moses was told to join Aaron and together gather ash and throw them up into the air so that they caused boils on whomever they fell.
And so slowly God was leading Moses to understand, yes, Moses, I can even use your bloodstained guilty hand to accomplish my work.
Look at this.
The next three plagues were all accomplished by the hand of Moses.
(13:43):
Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand.
Moses, stretch out your hand.
Moses, stretch out your hand.
See, Moses, I can use your hand to send hail in a thunderstorm upon a desert country like Egypt.
See, Moses, I can use your hand to hurl locusts upon the earth to devour all the lush vegetation that grows around the Nile.
(14:05):
See, Moses, I can use your hand to blot out the sun for three whole days.
Yes, Moses, I can use your hand to do these mighty works.
Why?
Because it's not really your hand that's doing it, it's mine.
The lesson for us seems obvious.
It matters not how mighty or helpless our hand actually is.
(14:28):
We are completely unable to accomplish God's work.
Understanding that is what makes you able to be used by God.
God doesn't need you to stretch out your hand to accomplish his work.
He needs you to stretch out his hand to accomplish his work.
And when you're able to realize that every time you lift your hands to do something for God's work,
that you're really lifting God's hand, you would be more than mighty in it.
(14:55):
After this, we see Moses lifting God's hand at the Red Sea.
Do not be afraid.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will see again no more forever.
The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.
Then in Exodus 17, we see the battle of the Amalekites.
(15:18):
Aaron and Hur are holding up God's hands when they hold up Moses' until the victory is complete.
Moses thought on that morning at age 40 that he would lift his hand and deliver his people.
That was mistake number one.
(15:38):
Mistake number two comes the following morning.
So let's return to our story and read the next two verses.
Exodus chapter 2.
We're going to read now verses 13 and 14 again.
Exodus chapter 2, 13 and 14.
And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting.
And he said to the one who did the wrong, why are you striking your companion?
(16:02):
And then he said, who made you a ruler and judge over us?
Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?
So Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known.
To understand this mistake better, let's focus on the question of the wicked Hebrew in verse 14.
(16:23):
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Who made you ruler and judge over us?
The question is, who made you?
Who made you?
I guess he forgot who it was who saved that three-month-old baby boy
(16:46):
from the murky depths of the crocodile-infested Nile.
Who made you?
I guess he forgot who it was who directed the Egyptian princess
to come to the very spot on the longest river in the world
on that very morning to find a papyrus-woven basket
hidden among the dense papyrus reeds.
Who made you?
(17:08):
I guess he forgot.
who it was who arranged things so that his mother would get paid to raise her own boy.
Who made you?
I guess he also forgot who it was who arranged things so that he was adopted in the royal family
by the very man who sought to kill him 12 years earlier.
Who made you?
(17:29):
When he asked the question, who made you ruler and judge over us,
he wasn't asking, who do you think you are?
He was asking, who does God think you are?
the hebrews most assuredly rejected moses because they lacked faith in god they feared the consequences
if things went wrong after all they had hearts of slaves and while it's important for us and true
(17:51):
that we must guard against having the hearts of slaves i would like us to focus on god's chosen
man moses because the bible says that when he heard that verse the next verse says who made you
rule and judge over us it says that moses fled he ran moses knew the answer to that question
but he ran.
Moses knew that God had saved him as a baby.
Moses knew that God had raised him up
(18:13):
and made him crown prince.
Moses knew that God had chosen him
to deliver his people.
He knew who God was.
He knew what God would do,
but what he didn't know
was what was God doing on that morning.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Before we get too hard on Moses,
are we really that different?
(18:36):
We know what God has done in the past.
The Bible is clear and we can even trace his leading in our lives.
We know what God will do.
The future is certain.
We can also see that in the Bible.
But what we struggle with is what is he doing today?
Why?
While surrounded by Christian brothers and sisters,
there's so much intentional backstabbing and hurt.
(18:59):
Why?
Do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?
Why?
does God allow me to make such choices, bad choices, again and again and again.
But God doesn't ask us to understand him today.
He asks us to trust him today.
We may never know why these things happen.
Maybe it's not for us to know.
(19:19):
Maybe we'll know sometime in the future.
Maybe the timing is just wrong.
God doesn't always intend for us to understand, but he always intends for us to trust.
Look at Proverbs 3, verse 5 and 6.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths smooth.
(19:40):
You know what Moses should have said, right?
You know what Moses should have said when he heard the question,
who made you a ruler and judge over us?
He should have said, who made me?
Well, let me tell you about him.
He is the one who looked into the void and emptiness of space,
took hold of that formless and empty void and spoke a world into existence.
(20:02):
who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that wicked world
and made it come crashing down around their heads
in the worst catastrophe this world will ever know
or will ever know to the end of time.
Who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that shriveled up 99-year-old man
and his 89-year-old barren wife
and made him fertile like 20-somethings
(20:23):
and a nation was born.
Who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
He's the one who took that slave in a dungeon
and in one day rose him up to be the second ruler over the mighty kingdom of Egypt,
who made me?
Let me tell you about him.
His name is God, and he sent me to save you.
(20:45):
That's what he should have said.
That's what he should have said, but he didn't.
He did it because he forgot who was asking the question.
Remember, it wasn't the righteous Hebrew asked the question.
It was the wicked Hebrew.
It was the wicked Hebrew.
We didn't remember who's asking the questions.
Did God really say you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?
We need to remember who's asking the question.
(21:05):
Are you the king of the Jews?
We need to remember who's asking the question.
Where is the evidence for the existence of your God?
We need to remember who is asking the question.
This is a spiritual battle.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness and heavenly places.
(21:26):
Therefore, Paul counsels us in Ephesians 6,
take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
having done all to stand.
Moses forgot who was asking the question.
So when he heard the question, his mind went to the human who had made him a ruler and judge.
(21:48):
And the Bible says in Exodus 3.15 that he fled from the face of Pharaoh.
It would take him 40 years before he'd be ready to hear the right answer to that question.
And again, Stephen offers us valuable insight into the question,
who made you a ruler and judge over us?
In Acts chapter 7, verse 34 and 35, Stephen still talking to the Sanhedrin moments before being stoned, by the way.
(22:12):
It says, talking about Moses, this is God talking to Moses at the burning bush.
I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt.
I have heard their groanings.
I have come down to deliver them.
and now come, I will send you to Egypt.
How did Moses react to that sentence?
This Moses whom they rejected,
(22:32):
now Stephen's commenting about it,
now talking 40 years earlier,
this Moses whom they rejected saying,
who made you a ruler and judge
is the one God sent to be a ruler and deliverer
by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
(22:52):
God says, it's me.
The first powerful lesson is that we must remember whose hand we are stretching out
to accomplish God's work.
Isaiah 41, 10 and 13 says,
Fear not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
Yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(23:17):
Three verses later, look at this.
For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
saying to you, fear not, I will help you.
The second powerful lesson from Moses' relationship with God at age 40
is that we must remember who made us who we are.
We just learned that one.
Psalm 100, verse 3, you know this.
(23:39):
Know that the Lord, he is God.
It is he who has made us and not we ourselves.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Those are the two mistakes that Moses made that we must not make.
We must not forget who made us who we are, and we must not forget whose hand is actually being used.
(24:01):
The third lesson is found in Moses' unwitting example.
It is found in the last verse of the story, Exodus 2.
This is verse 15, the last verse that we'll read this morning.
Exodus 2, verse 15, Moses writes,
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.
(24:24):
On, let's see, is it not today, tomorrow, it's going to be Monday night,
we're talking about who the Pharaoh of the Exodus is, so we'll get back to who this is.
But surely this matter is known.
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian,
and he sat down by a well.
(24:45):
When at the darkest moment of his life, when all hopes seemed gone,
when the despair of guilt was overwhelming,
when he knew, just knew that he was an abject failure,
he sat down by a well.
The third powerful lesson is simply to sit down by a well.
(25:06):
You know what a well represents to the ancient people?
Do you realize, I'm asking people in Arizona if you know how valuable water is,
Do you realize that outside of the Egypt Nile, by the way, I was telling Dan when I came
into the airport yesterday, this feels like Egypt.
Actually, your temperatures, I think, are very, very similar to the way Egypt is.
So if you want to picture the store, you can really just kind of absorb it by going outside.
(25:28):
So certainly you're going to understand everything I'm talking about.
Most people don't understand how valuable water is because they live like in Michigan
where we have tons of lake water.
I can shower all day and not use too much water.
And there's no bill for water.
It's cheap.
Sorry to make you jealous about that.
Do you realize outside of the Egypt Nile, in the narrow Jordan River Valley,
the two rivers in Mesopotamia, this isn't any water anywhere in Mesopotamia.
(25:51):
This really, I mean, in the Middle East, this really isn't any water.
To get fresh water, you have to dig a well.
Have you ever been out in the hot sun, sweating hard, working hard, playing hard?
Of course you have.
You live here.
You need a drink and you couldn't get one.
Dan tells me everywhere he goes, he takes water.
I'm sure everybody does the same.
It is.
It's hot.
You have to have water.
(26:13):
by the way side note from the sermon they geologists have been telling people in egypt forever that
there's water under the desert in the deserts on both sides and they don't believe it's this desert
right but they they found that the largest underground water reservoir is there and now
they're actually moving and building they're building cities out into the desert trying to
move people away from the nile that's there's plenty of water in egypt uh anyway so you can you
(26:38):
You don't have to imagine.
You can remember it.
You can dwell in it how thirsty you get in the hot sun.
You also probably know what life is like with dust on everything.
And in Egypt, there's dust on everything.
It's on your clothes.
It's even under your clothes.
It's in your food.
It's everywhere you are.
There's a thin film of dust.
(27:00):
And you can also probably imagine what life is like where even the food that you eat has dust in it.
Imagine sweating in the very hot sun.
Imagine living with animals in very close proximity.
Imagine all the various unspecified body fluids you emit at various times for various reasons.
How important is fresh water for you?
(27:20):
Life revolved around the well.
Life revolved around the well because without fresh water, there is no life.
You need water to wash and be clean.
You need water to quench your thirst.
You need water to survive.
A well represents water, life-giving, life-sustaining, life-purifying water.
(27:40):
In that life, gold is not as valuable as water because you must have water to live.
When I think of a well and what happened at a well in the Bible,
I remember the story of a man who sat down by a well and his prayers were answered
and a bride was found for his master Isaac.
Short time later, probably the same well, another man sat down at that well,
(28:04):
and he met the love of his life, Rachel, and a family was born.
But I remember of another man who sat down by a well and told a woman all she had ever done,
and a town was converted.
Moses sat down by a well, and not just any well.
He sat down by a well in Midian, a well that just happened to have the daughters of the priest of God at Midian,
(28:29):
at it that morning. A priest who had played an instrumental role in re-educating Moses about who
God was. Yes, Moses sat down by a well. Sometimes in life, we just need to sit down by a well and
give up control of our lives. We just make a mess of things. Sometimes in life, we need to just sit
down by a well and allow God to act in our lives, to take control, to bring people into our lives,
(28:53):
to help guide us back into a right relationship with him. Sometimes in life, we need to sit down
Sometimes in life, we need to sit down by a well and read the sweet words of life that offer pardon and peace to all,
(29:19):
those wonderful words of life, and drink in the life-giving, life-sustaining, life-purifying words of God.
Jesus said in John 17, 17, sanctify them by your truth.
Your word is truth.
And so this short story in the life of Moses, this remarkable story,
(29:43):
which at first glance appears to simply be a story of failure,
simply marked the low point in Moses' life in which Moses, by humbling himself,
eventually was brought out of.
Moses, who by his own admission became the meekest man in the face of the earth,
learned these three lessons.
He stretched out his hand to accomplish God's work.
(30:04):
But he had to learn that when he stretched out his hand,
he wasn't his hand doing the work, but it was God's hand.
He had to also learn, because he had forgotten,
who brought him to the point in life where he was at.
He had to learn that it was God who made him who he was, not he himself.
And he had to learn that when he felt all was hopeless, when he was overwhelmed with guilt,
(30:28):
when he needed the assurance of forgiveness,
when he was directed to a well where he gave his life eventually back to God.
We have come to church this morning for just this reason.
You may not know why you're here, but God brought you to this place to be revived,
to remember who made you, remember who loves you,
(30:49):
To remember that failure is only a reminder that we can truly not succeed without our maker.
Without God.
We have come to church to be in the presence of fellow believers.
Believers of God.
Just as Moses was surrounded by the priest of God in Midian.
So we too here at this moment are surrounded by the family of the people of God here in Arizona.
(31:09):
Don't let yourself believe that you are here by mistake.
If you are here, it's not a mistake.
Satan's deceptions are insidious.
Satan's lie is that God can never forgive us.
Satan's lie is that God can never use us again after what we've done.
But the truth is that God never asked us to lift our own hands to do anything.
Every time we use a gift for God that he's given to us,
(31:30):
every time we perform a talent,
every time we lift our hand to do anything for God's work,
it was never us doing it anyway.
It was always God.
And because it's God who makes us who we are in life,
it's God who sets us up to succeed.
It's God who is acting to accomplish his mighty works through us
so that you never have to worry about how worthy or unworthy we actually are.
(31:50):
If he calls us, he will empower us by his hand.
All he asks is that we let go of ourselves and take his hand and do his work.
Do you need forgiveness or the assurance of forgiveness?
Are you living with guilt?
Is your hand bloodstained?
Then let me offer you this bit of hope.
(32:12):
Philippians 1 verse 6 says, Paul says,
being confident in this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ. And then again, John wrote this in 1 John 1.9,
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all,
(32:35):
all unrighteousness. Sometimes in life, we have to sit down by a well. So why don't you
Make a commitment today to sit down by his well and spend time listening to his word, the Bible,
which is a well of hope and forgiveness.
We can't herd sheep in seclusion.
(32:56):
You guys have sheep in Arizona?
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about my ignorance of Arizona.
But most of us probably are not herding sheep in seclusion like Moses was for 40 years.
So we can commune with God.
But we can make a decision to spend a quiet moment with God each day.
We can make that decision.
many of us here today I'm sure have and are continuing to make that decision
(33:18):
and we must continue to make that choice and make that decision to keep spending
a quiet moment with him. Moses found forgiveness and became a mighty man for God
it all started though by sitting down by a well
it took him 40 years before he was ready to let God use him
I don't know how long it will take you but time isn't the point
the point is taking the time
(33:41):
Moses had to take the time and so do we
Moses had to surrender his life including his time and spend meaningful moments with God each day
and so do we
we are you are useful in the hands of God
let's pray
Heavenly Father what a glorious reminder
what a freeing reminder it is to learn this morning
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through the short story in the life of Moses
that failure is just something to grow from
that no matter what has happened in the past,
you are willing to forgive everything
if we just confess it.
That, Lord, you want to remake us
into useful instruments.
And, Lord, every time we do anything,
and many of us here today do lots of things
in your name and for you
with all the right motivations and right help.
(34:21):
But, Lord, help us to remember
that we can become more than mighty in those acts,
that those acts can become like mighty miracles
in this town, in this city, in this area of Arizona.
If we just remember that it's not us doing it
by our own effort through getting burnt out,
trying to work so hard,
but actually you acting through it.
Lord, help us to remember this and take this encouragement
to realize that no matter what we've done in life,
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we can be useful because it doesn't matter about us anyway.
It only matters about us surrendering to you
and letting you work in our lives.
And thank you so much for giving us that hope this morning.
The hope that when you give us the gospel commission,
tell the whole world about you and your soon coming
and your forgiveness of their sins
and their hope of a better life,
that this isn't something that we have to accomplish,
but something you want to and will accomplish through us
(35:06):
just willing. And so, Lord, I ask that this morning. I ask that everyone here who right now in their own
hearts are thinking, I am willing to go where you want me to go. I am willing to do what you want me
to do, Lord, that you please, Lord, will help us to surrender completely and do whatever it is you
call on us to do with all of your might. In Jesus' name, amen.
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