The God of second chances

Sermon notes from Sunday 7 April 2019 am

Exodus 3 verses 1 – 14

In this portion we see the summons God gives to Moses.  As Moses gazed into the burning bush he met God, heard what God had to say to him and thought on the task ahead - to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.  I`m sure he thought "what a task".  God was calling him to bring his people out from under the taskmasters and oppression.  They were a people lying in the lap of the wicked one.  Men and women do not really know what they need.  Moses asked "who am I to go down."  He was the instrument and God would be the working power behind it all.  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4 verse 13)  The Lord is with us continually.  Moses had this great promise in verse 12 "certainly I will be with thee."  Moses asked in verse 11 "who am I that I should go unto Pharoah and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"  Remember David when he was sent to his brothers, he heard and seen the great Goliath.  He went down without any armour.  Even the men of valour were hiding but David didn`t.  He told Goliath "I come in the name of the Lord of hosts." (1 Samuel 17 verse 45)  We go in the name of the Lord not in our own strength or abilities.  Look at this place Moses came to.  We can come to that same place today.

A place of reconciliation for Moses.  God can only use those who are redeemed in his work.  Before we start we have a great problem - there has to be a place of reconciliation at the cross of Calvary.    God draws us to this place.  Just as Moses was curious to see why the bush did not burn away so God draws us to himself.  This was a place where God met with his wandering child.  Hagar the maid of Sarah was told to go into Abraham.  Sarah wanted her to bear Abraham`s child but she soon despised her when she became pregnant.  She ran away into the wilderness.  She said "thou God seest me." (Genesis 16 verse 13)  At the very farthest point in the desert Moses met with God.  No-one knew where he was because 40 years previously he had run away.  "There is nothing hid from the eye of him of whom we have to do."  (Hebrews 4 verse 13)  40 years earlier he had fled Egypt and no-one knew anything about him but God only.  Hebrews 11 verses 24, 25 and 26 fills in the detail of Moses` life in Egypt and life in exile.  He came to a crossroads in his life.  He had a choice to make.  Hebrews tells us about the choice he made.  "Choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."  Moses could easily have decided to ease the pain of his own people but that was not God`s plan.  God revealed the great plan he had for him.  He would be used by God.  That left him in a great dilemma.  Perhaps he was being treated as Pharaoh’s grandson but one day he would take over the rulership.  What a choice he had – to sit on the throne of this great empire or take a stand with the slaves who had nothing.  Stephen in Acts of the Apostles refers to the choice Moses made when he said in chapter 7 verse 25 “For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not.”  Moses went before God though, he tried to take matters into his own hands.  He thought he could do it in his own strength.  In his enthusiasm to rise up and do God’s work he slew an Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  40 years later God was bringing him back to the place where he had fled from God.  It was a place of reconciliation.

A place of recognition.  The place where Moses met with God was “holy ground”.  He was instructed to take off his shoes – Moses had to be prepared to stand before God.  40 years had elapsed, God was bringing him back again to do his purpose.  It is easy to get out of the will of God.  We need to be reconciled and we need to recognise that as well.  What a privilege it is to pray to God.  Imagine we have someone in heaven who spoke the word and everything came into being.  Someone who took the dust of the ground and created a man, then breathed into him and he became a living soul.  Can we take that haphazardly?  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4 verse 16) The God of heaven bends down to hear my cry.  God’s eye is constantly on me.  “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10 verse 22)  When the priest would go into the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament he could wash himself first.  He recognised the need to be clean.  Moses’ shoes represented the walk he had.  God wanted him to take them off.  When Isaiah came into the temple one day he had a vision of the glory of God and he said “woe is me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6 verse 5)  When Moses spoke with God at the burning bush he recognised who he was.  We are all sinners saved by grace.  When we come into the presence of God we are sinners saved by grace.  Perhaps Moses looked back to the day when he killed the Egyptian.  How he failed and faltered in his life.  The devil will always be bringing our failings up to us but God comes again.  Moses has to be honest and truthful before God.  It is an approach of recognition.

A place of revelation.  Caught up with the burning bush it was then that God spoke to Moses.  As we come before God and look into his word we need to approach it with real passion.  It is through the revelation of God to our hearts.  God was turning his attention back to Egypt, to a nation of people suffering.  He saw their affliction and was painting a picture for Moses.  “I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”  We all need a revelation from God.  It was a revelation to Moses – he is the God of second chances.  God gave that same second chance to Jonah and Peter.  He doesn’t rule us out because of failures in the past.  Moses would constantly think back to Egypt.  Sometimes we lose the edge for winning souls.  We should ask God to stir us up again.  That can only be done through God’s word directly to us.  God was talking to Moses about a people who were in an awful state, afflicted, oppressed.  God saw them as souls that needed to be saved.  There are still souls perishing today, going out into a lost and Christless hell for all eternity.  We need that revelation from God as we study the word of God.  God will reveal that to us, will let the Holy Spirit challenge us.  Moses was challenged – he could see his brethren and family living in Egypt who needed to be saved.

A place of reservation.  God had said “come now therefore and I will send thee” but Moses said “who am I that I should go.”  God`s reply came back “Certainly I will be with thee.”

A place of resolution.  Moses looks into the bush and says “Behold when I come unto the children of Israel”.  He wants to know what to say.  He is now resolved to do what God has asked.  He is overcoming his fears and thoughts.  He is overcoming the apathy and coldness.  He is resolved. to do what God has asked him to do.  “Them that honour me I will honour.” (1 Samuel 2 verse 30)