Faith Hope Love - Moses: The Persevering Intercessor

So blessed to hear the word of God that really helps us and strengthens us in our faith.

I know we've been standing worshiping, but I want to encourage you if you can stand right now.

I want to read from the book of Revelation, chapter 15.

Revelation 15 · chapter mention

The book of Revelation, chapter 15, I read from verse 3.

Revelation 15 · chapter mention

It says that they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways.

O King of the Saints, who shall not fear you, O Lord, or glorify your name?

For you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you.

For your judgments have been manifested.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for preserving your words to us.

Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus that you come and glorify yourself.

I ask that I decrease and that you will be increased.

I ask that, Lord, we will not hear from man, but we will hear from you, O Lord.

But when we hear from you, our faith increases.

When we hear from you, we are filled with love.

When we hear from you, we have hope to face tomorrow.

We give you praise in Jesus' name.

Amen.

We may be seated in heavenly places.

Amen.

I'm really excited about this word, and I'm so thankful for our elders for this great opportunity to share the word of God.

I just love sitting and receiving from them.

And to have this honor of sharing the word of God is really humbling, and they've laid pretty solid foundations of faith.

About six weeks ago, Neil began this new sermon series with a sermon titled Faith Defined.

And he gave us some four examples or four categories of faith.

He says that faith is persuaded, faith trusts, faith works, faith endure.

And we've been looking at certain individuals that are recorded in Hebrews 11.

We've looked at Abel, we've looked at Enoch, we've looked at Noah, we've looked at Abraham, and last week Pastor Tyler shared a message called generational faith, which was so powerful.

One of the great inheritance that we can give to our children is faith.

You can give them material possession, they may lose it.

But when you give them faith in God, even if they lose material possession, that faith will endure.

And God will see them through whatever difficulty they may be going through.

And so this morning, I believe that we are going to receive words that will build our faith and cause us to obey God and receive from Him.

We're gonna be looking at a man called Moses, and this man is actually very big in the Old Testament.

As a matter of fact, all the people that we've heard from, he wrote about them.

Thank you, Levi.

He was from the tribe of Levi, Moses.

And Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch in Greek.

Pent means five, and Teucos means scrolls.

So Pentateuch, five scrolls.

He wrote that in Hebrew, they call it Torah.

And so he wrote about all the people that we've been hearing about.

He's the most mentioned individual in the Old Testament.

He's mentioned about 667 times in the Old Testament.

He's the most mentioned Old Testament individual in the New Testament.

About 67 times you hear of Moses.

So this man is pretty prominent.

And as we saw last week with generational faith, he is also a beneficiary of generational faith.

Because last week we heard that Israel is now in Egypt.

They are in Africa.

When they went to Egypt, there were only 70 people.

But because Israel had a promise from God, and God made a promise to Abraham that I'll make your seed and your generation like the stars of heaven, they cannot be numbered.

So because of this promise, they were increasing, they were multiplying.

And the Bible says that God made his people very fruitful, and he made them stronger than their enemies.

Now, in the process of time, a new Pharaoh came in who did not know about Joseph.

I don't know whether they eras Joseph from the records or whatever happened.

He didn't know about, he didn't acknowledge Joseph.

He didn't remember all the contributions that Joseph made to the economy of Egypt and how God used Joseph to preserve lives and save the then world.

This new Pharaoh felt very threatened by the growth and the increase of the people of Israel.

And so he developed some strategies to control their population.

First of all, their men were subjected to slavery and hard labor and they afflicted them.

But the Bible says that the more they afflicted them, the more they increased, and the more they multiplied.

So Pharaoh didn't know what to do.

So he said, Well, you know what?

When the Hebrew women are in labor and they have boys, he instructed the midwives to kill them.

But the midwives feared God and they would not do it.

And because they feared God, the Bible says God blessed them and gave them families.

Other versions say he gave them houses, but I think families is better.

And Pharaoh summoned the midwives and said, Why haven't you carried out my orders?

And the midwives were very smart midwives.

They said, Well, the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women.

As a matter of fact, before we get to them, they've already delivered.

And that was how my birth was.

Before the local midwife got to my mother, was already born.

And so Pharaoh now made an edict that it was now illegal for a Hebrew woman or a Hebrew family to have a baby boy.

It was against the law.

Now, this is why it is so important to pray for who is in authority.

Because you never know what laws they will pass.

Pharaoh has now passed the law that it is illegal for a Hebrew family to have a baby boy.

What are you gonna do when such laws have been passed?

There is a couple called Amram and Jochabet from the tribe of Levi.

They'd already had Aaron and then they had Miriam.

But Moses, when he was born, the law was enforced.

And because the law was enforced, like, what are we going to do?

They saw that this is a beautiful baby boy, but it's illegal for us to keep him.

So what are we gonna do?

And Jochabed, I love the faith of Jochebed, the faith of godly women, never despised the faith of godly women.

Jochebed was not afraid to keep Moses, as a matter of fact, she kept Moses for three months, and it got to a point that Moses crying so loud, like everybody will know that this is a boy.

I need to have a way.

And she remembered that Noah made an ark for the saving of his family.

So Jacob had said, Well, I can make a floating basket.

So she constructed a floating basket made of bore rashes and put pitch, coated it with pitch and all the stuff and made it to float.

She put her son Moses in the basket and released him on the Nile.

Now the instruction from Pharaoh was to drown the baby boys in the river Nile.

Nile is is worshipped in Egypt.

It is the longest river in Africa.

And I'm from Africa.

There are people who have dedicated their entire lives to worshiping rivers and waters.

So Pharaoh was like, you have to sacrifice your baby boy to the Nile.

But Jochab defied the orders of Pharaoh.

She put Moses in the basket and released him among the reeds of the Nile, not knowing what could happen to him.

She couldn't stand it.

She left.

I don't know whether she was praying or not.

But a big sister, Miriam, what a big sister.

She was taken around.

Like, let me see what will happen.

What will happen to my baby brother?

So she hung around for a little bit, and then the daughter of Pharaoh with her maidens came to the Nile to do their purification and washing.

They heard a baby boy crying, and Pharaoh's daughter went and drew him and said, Wow, this is one of the Hebrew boys.

I'm going to name him Moses because I've drawn him out from the Nile.

So the name Moses means to draw out.

I think Pharaoh's daughter was a little prophetic.

Because God was going to use this draw, draw out, Moses, to draw his people out from 430 years of slavery.

But Moses was named by the enemy.

So Miriam showed up and said, I know somebody who will take very good care of this boy.

I know somebody who will nurse this boy for you.

So well, go go grab that, go grab that person.

And let's talk about pay here.

Now Jochabet has been given Moses, and she has been put on Pharaoh's payroll, receiving wages and salaries for raising her own son.

That is what faith will do for you.

While others were busy drowning their boys in the Nile, Jochebed defied the orders of Pharaoh, and she was rewarded for her faith.

Now I believe that when she was raising and nursing the boy, he was praying over him.

I believe she was pounding some faith into that infant.

Paul said to Timothy, from your infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which is able to make you wise unto salvation in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is God breathed, is breathed out by God, and it is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And so Moses, when he was 40 years old, the Bible says that it came to his heart.

I don't know how, but he says it came to his heart to visit his people.

Before that, I want to backtrack a little bit and read Hebrews chapter 11, verse 23 to 29.

Hebrews 11:23–29

He says that by faith, when he was born, Moses was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's eat it.

By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ great greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

So, like I said, Moses, there's so much to his life, like you don't even know where to start.

And an hour is not enough to delve into the life of Moses.

But I'm really thankful for the writer of Hebrews, who we don't know, but we know that it's inspired by the Spirit of God.

The writer broke it down to four main categories: his birth, his joining to Israel, his leaving Egypt, and instituting the Passover.

So made man's life very easy this morning.

So we've already talked about his birth.

Now, when he was when he came of age, at age 40, he had to make a decision.

The Bible says that he went and saw his people.

And we read about that in the book of Acts.

Acts chapter 7, verse 23 says that when he was 40 years old, it came to his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

Acts 7:23

How did it come to his heart?

It was God.

Now when he went to visit his brothers, he saw an Egyptian violating the Hebrew.

An anger rose up in him and he struck the Egyptian and killed him.

Now the next day he went to visit his people and he saw two Hebrew men fighting.

And he told them, You are brothers, you're not supposed to be fighting.

And they turned against him.

They said, Who made you a prince and a judge among us?

Who gave you this authority?

We know who you are.

You are a murderer.

Do you intend to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?

And Moses was burned.

Moses was broken.

So at this at this word, he had to leave.

So he left Egypt, which the Bible calls it was an act of faith.

Because that decisive action to kill the Egyptian was because of what was in his heart.

He knew that God was going to use him to bring deliverance to the children of Israel.

He left Egypt and he stayed in Median for 40 years.

40 years.

Moses, the son of Pharaoh's daughter, is now a shepherd.

God, when he's raising great leaders, sometimes he takes them through through shepherding.

Because if you can be a shepherd of sheep, then you can be a shepherd of people.

So Moses is now a shepherd.

And he married Zepporah and gave birth to two sons, Geshom and Eliezer.

And 40 years had come.

Now he's 80 years old.

It seems like the dream is gone.

And the vision is gone.

When he was 40, he came to his heart to bring deliverance.

But now he's 80.

And he's forgotten about his dreams and his vision.

But the Bible says that one day he took his sheep to Horeb, which is the mountain of God.

And Moses saw a sight that he'd never seen before.

The burning bush that we all know about.

He saw flames of fire, but it was not consuming anything.

And he heard the voice of God.

Moses, Moses, Moses, take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.

Moses now has encountered the living God.

And as I was reading it, God gave him three signs.

We will come to that and we'll break that down.

But before that, God said he has heard the cries and the groanings of his people.

He has seen the afflictions that they are going through in Egypt and how they are being mistreated.

And he's going to send Moses to go back and bring his people to the promised land.

And Moses said, Who are you?

When I go and ask them, Who are you?

I want to know who you are, I want to know your nature.

And God said, I am that I am.

And when you look at the Gospel of John, the I am statements of Jesus, it blows my mind.

He said, I am the good shepherd.

He said, I am the true vine.

He said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He said, I am the bread of life.

He said, I am the light of the world.

He said, Before Abraham was I am, the great I am has encountered Moses.

First sign that God gave Moses, let down your rod.

And he turned into a snake and he fled.

The second sign that God gave him, he said, put your hand in your clock.

Put your hand in your garment.

And he did.

And when he removed it, it was full of leprosy.

Now leprosy is a terrible disease that eats the skin.

And I was thinking about it.

Why would God give such a sign to Moses?

Well, the scripture doesn't say, but I felt like God was addressing a heart issue in the life of Moses.

Those leprous words that were spoken to him 40 years ago, God was going to heal it.

God was going to change the heart of Moses.

Maybe you are here and somebody spoke some words to you, and as a result of that, what you felt that God is calling you to do, you don't want to have anything to do with it.

This morning, God wants to address that.

And God addressed the heart of Moses and healed his leprous heart.

He was trying to give every reason why he was not the candidate for the job.

I cannot speak.

Well, you can't speak.

The scripture says that you are a man who is mighty in words and in deeds.

And you were trained in all the wisdom and in the knowledge of the Egyptians.

But now he's saying, I can't speak.

He said, No, I will be with you, I'll give you.

Aaron, Aaron will be your speaker.

No, no, send somebody else.

But we all know who won.

God always wins.

And Moses at age 80 is going to fulfill his calling.

It is never too late with God.

In his time, he has made all things beautiful.

And Moses submitted to the will of God and is now going back to Egypt.

And he's going to stand before Pharaoh and declare, Let my people go.

It wasn't easy.

Pharaoh is very stubborn, very prideful.

He said it all.

He has magicians and enchanters, and even his crown, they have a cobra that is on it.

Very hardened man.

God showed all the signs.

Turned the Nile into blood.

Rivers were being turned to blood.

Nats were everywhere.

Frogs were everywhere.

Hail was falling.

Still, Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Five of the signs that God did, Pharaoh hardened his heart.

And the remaining five, he says, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

Because God was going to bring judgment on the Egyptians.

The final act that God demonstrated in Egypt that caused the release of the children of Israel was the Passover.

Seven feasts God gave the Israelites to remember him.

Anna mentioned that they are observing the Feast of Atonement, Day of Atonement.

It's one of them.

There are other six of them.

They have the Passover, they have the unliving bread, they have Pentecost, they have Atonement, they have Feast of Trumpets, and they have Feast of Tabernacles.

All of that feast, they all point to Jesus Christ.

But the Passover is really special.

And I want us to read it in the book of Exodus.

In Exodus chapter 12, verse 1, it says that the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months.

Exodus 12:1

It shall be the first of the month of the year for you.

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses.

A lamb for a household.

So it was a lamb.

He says, When the angel of death is passing through the land of Egypt and he sees the blood, he will pass over you.

And all the children of Israel did that.

The Passover was what brought deliverance.

430 years of slavery, when they observed the Passover and they killed the Passover lamb and applied the blood, there was a release.

When judgment came in the land of Egypt, all the Hebrew people were spared because of the blood.

Now, because of the blood of Jesus, who is the Passover lamb of God, whatever bondage that we were in, whatever slavery that we were in, whatever sin that has held us in captive because of the sacrifice of Jesus and his blood, there is a release for us.

There is freedom for us.

Now, when the children of Israel observed the Passover, that was their final meal before they left the land of Egypt.

Jesus Christ, his final meal that he had with the disciples, was the Passover.

That was when he told them, This is my body, and this is the bread, and this is the wine, it's my blood.

And he went to the cross and he was crucified for us.

And it was that act that has set us free today, that has brought us into right relationship with God.

Moses was the man that God gave the law through.

He says the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

When Jesus was on the mount of transfiguration, Moses appeared.

Elijah appeared.

And to us, we we think Moses is dead, isn't it?

But to God, they are all alive.

He's not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.

Moses showed up.

The man who died on the mount of Piscah in the plains of Moab.

And the children of Israel mourned for 30 days, 30 days they cried for Moses.

Here he was on the Mount of Transfiguration, talking with Jesus.

But the cool thing is that when Moses and Elijah disappeared, it was Jesus standing alone.

And Peter was all over the place.

Let's make three tabernacles.

And the cloud came down.

And the voice of God says, This is my beloved son.

Listen to him.

Now the law that God gave through Moses is good.

The law is not evil, the law is good.

But what the law couldn't do is that it couldn't make us perfect.

It only revealed how sinful we are.

So the law is supposed to be our guardian, bringing us to Jesus Christ.

So Jesus told the Pharisees and the scribes that you search the laws and the scriptures because you believe that in them you have eternal life.

But these same scriptures testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me.

And so the law is supposed to lead us to Jesus Christ who fulfilled the law for us.

He was the only man who could live a perfect life in accordance with the law.

And on top of that, made the sacrifice for the disobedience for the law.

What a man, Jesus Christ.

What a man, what a gift that he is.

So beautiful and he's so precious.

He loves us so much.

That is why he went through all of that for us.

Before I bring the message to a close, we want to look at some lessons of faith from the life of Moses.

Number one, Moses was a friend of God.

He pursued God's presence above everything else.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the life of Moses is his intimate relationship with God.

In Exodus chapter 33, verse 11, he says that the Lord will speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.

Exodus 33:11

So he was a man of relationship.

He loved the presence of God.

He spoke to God so much that when he came down from the mountain, people could not look at his face because his face was shining.

He was speaking with God.

This man, Moses, spent 40 days on the mountain without food, just talking with God.

He was a man of relationship, a man who pursued the presence of God.

It got to a point God said, You know what?

I can't bear with the children of Israel.

I'm going to send an angel to go with you.

Moses said, No, no, no.

If your presence will not go with us, then do not send us from this place.

He was obsessed with the presence of God.

And God said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you peace.

Moses, the intercessor, that's the second lesson.

He stood in the gap in prayer many times.

Many times judgment was coming on the children of Israel.

When they made the golden calf, said this Moses' delay is in his coming.

We don't even know what has happened to him.

Let's make a God that will take us out to the promised land.

And God was going to wipe out the children of Israel, but Moses fell before the Lord and interceded for them.

Many times he interceded for the people.

As a matter of fact, when God parted the Red Sea and everybody was happy, singing and rejoicing, three days, just three days after that, they came to a water that they could not drink because it was bitter.

And they started complaining, started murmuring and accusing Moses.

And God healed the waters for them.

God made a covenant with them.

Moses interceded for the people.

God said, You know, I'm going to make a generation from you, Moses, and I'm going to wipe out all these people.

Moses, no, no, wipe me out.

You'd rather wipe me out.

Because the enemies will say that you just couldn't help these people to get to the promised land.

You were not able to help them, you just killed them.

No, don't do that.

He interceded for them.

Many times we see Moses interceding for the people, but I've never found a place where the people were praying for Moses.

You won't see it.

When they had problems, when they had difficulty, they will go to Moses.

But they will always go to Moses and put the blame on Moses.

But Moses interceded for them.

Moses, number three, he was faithful, faithful servant of God.

He remained steadfast in his calling.

One of the greatest commendations given to Moses was his faithfulness.

God himself testified in Numbers chapter 12, verse 7.

Numbers 12:7

He says, My servant Moses is not so.

He is faithful in all my house.

And 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 2 says, Moreover, it is required of steel that they be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Moses was faithful.

All the things that God told him to do, he did it.

Not perfectly, there was a time, we all know the story, when the people were striving with him because of water.

God told him, you know what?

Just speak to the rock.

Because there was a rock that was following them.

Just speak to the rock and water will come out.

But Moses, because of the pressure from the people, struck the rock.

God said, No, he didn't follow through it.

So you are not going to lead them to the promised land.

But Joshua will do it.

In spite of that, he was still faithful.

Moses was faithful.

And he trained Joshua to lead the children of Israel to the promised land.

We all know for 40 years they were wandering in the wilderness.

Because of unbelief, for 40 years they were just wandering around until that generation is all wiped out.

A journey that is supposed to take 11 days' journey took 40 years.

Lay hands on him, disciple him, because he will lead them to the promised land.

So Moses made disciple, he made a disciple, which is the great commission.

We are called to make disciples.

He discipled Joshua.

I have a question.

So if the dream that God has given us, if it doesn't happen, if it doesn't happen, will there be somebody that we will invest in to make the dream happen?

Moses' lifelong dream was to lead the children of Israel to the promised land.

That could not happen.

He had to die when he was 120 years.

The Bible says that his eyes were not dim and his natural forces were unabated.

At the age of 120.

Wow.

He had to just go to the top of the mountain and die, and God buried him.

Nobody could tell where they buried Moses.

But as I said before, he showed up on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And our loved ones will show up too.

Five months ago, when we were going through a very rough time, our daughter Keziah died in Utrecht seven months.

Painful time.

Worshiping, God spoke.

He said, though you are being tried, you will come out like God.

And I opened my Bible.

I flipped it open.

After he spoke to me, I flipped it open, and there it was, Job 23, 10.

It just opened up.

He knows the way that I take.

And when he has tried me, I shall come out like gold.

Faith might go through trials, just like gold.

When the miners, when they mine for gold, in the initial stages, the gold is there, but because it has not been processed, the value of it is not as powerful as the gold that has gone through the process.

If they don't allow the gold to go through the process, they can still get something from it, but it cannot be compared to the gold that has been processed.

And so they have to subject the gold through extreme temperatures.

And the melting point of gold, what is the melting point of gold?

About 947.5 Fahrenheit.

And in that heat, all the gung and the slack begins to separate from the gold.

And the gold is now so bright and so sparkling, it becomes like a mirror.

God allows our faith to go through fire.

But it will endure.

But after it has gone through that process, you see the image of Christ reflecting and beaming so strong.

Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

Your faith, my faith, the communal faith.

So this morning I want to encourage you.

Maybe your faith is going through trials right now.

Remember that when the mining engineers, when they are purifying the gold, there's certain temperatures that they don't allow.

Because if they do, they will lose value.

They don't go beyond 947 Fahrenheit.

Because if they do, they are going to lose the value of the gold.

And I want to encourage you that whatever you are going through is not designed to destroy your faith.

God knows what we can bear.

And He will not allow trial that will destroy your faith.

He only allows trials that will purify your faith.

If you are here and you're like Moses at the age of 40, maybe somebody spoke to you, and because of the words, did something to your heart and you don't have any zeal to do the will of God again.

Because of how somebody treated you or how somebody spoke, I felt strongly that we're going to pray for people who are going through that.

And if you are like that and you want to raise your hand, or if your your faith is going through a challenge and you want somebody to just pray with you, I just want you to raise your hand and we will pray this morning.

Yes, thank you, Jesus.

Yes.

There are hands raised up right now, and we want to pray in the mighty name of Jesus.

The Lord knows the trial, the Lord knows the hurt, the Lord knows those words that were spoken that were eating us up like leprosy.

God is going to heal it in the mighty name of Jesus.

Heavenly Father, we come before you broken before you, Lord.

As your word said, that a broken and a contrite heart you will not despise.

Lord, I pray for all the hands that are lifted up and even the hands that are not raised right now.

It's going through trials and going through the heat.

Lord, I ask for special grace, oh God.

A healing grace that will heal our hearts in the mighty name of Jesus.

Grace, oh Lord, to go through whatever trial that we may be going through.

Lord, I ask that you cause your face to shine upon us.

Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus as Moses prayed, satisfy us with your mercies that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Lord, satisfy your people with your mercies and give us joy.

Give us beauty for ashes.

Increase our faith, oh God.

May our faith continue to trust you.

May we continue to remain persuaded, oh God.

May this faith that you've given us endure to the day that we see our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.