Wallace, Ian: The Wonderful Call Of God ~ Exodus 3

It's good just to share in that time of, of prayer with you as well. I see you're getting the foul weather down in New Cumnock as we're getting up, eh, further, eh, up there in Skelmerly, but there's not much we can do about that. But I trust the Lord will warm our hearts and challenge us tonight, because what I want to speak to you about the call of God. God calling. God calling. Now, perhaps to, to, to start this subject and, uh, make an introduction to it, we'll look at the story of the call of, of Moses from the book of Exodus in chapter three. first of all. Some verses from Exodus chapter 3. Our subject, the wonderful call of God. Verse one of Exodus three. now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mount of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their past masters, for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the He- the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Now, to put this into its context, I want just to read some verses from Acts chapter seven. Acts chapter seven, breaking into the sermon of Stephen, and we'll read it verse thirty. Acts seven thirty. and when forty years were expired, now that's forty years in the life story of Moses, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I've heard their groaning, and I'm come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This wonderful, wonderful subject tonight of the call of God. It's very interesting that God's way of reaching a lost world has always been, always been through the channel of surrendered and willing lives. At every stage, God's method of reaching people is his people. People who are redeemed, who are in the blessing of the Lord, who know the joy of forgiveness, who know something of the grace of God in their hearts. It is these people who become the channels to communicate the wonderful blessing of the Lord. The Lord Jesus, in his wonderful prayer in John seven, says, as you have sent me, Father, into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. It's a wonderful thing. The great resources of the living Almighty God channeled through human vessels, and sometimes vessels that are flawed. There's a man called E. N. Bounds, one of the old writers. I don't know whether he was a Brethren writer or not, but it doesn't really matter because what he says is pretty wonderful. He says, God is not interested in buildings. He's not interested in methods. He's not interested in systems. He's interested in people. People saved, cleansed, filled by the Holy Spirit. It is these that God uses. Now, if you want any evidence of this, we, we see it here in the, in the call of Moses. But just to give you some other little examples of this, Acts thirteen verse one. you know where I'm going here. The church at Antioch, and there, there in the church there is Saul and Barnabas. The Holy Spirit said, separate unto me Saul and Barnabas to the work that I have called them. Galatians one fifteen through sixteen, Paul's reference to his own calling. It pleased God, um, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Acts one and eight, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, that is the apostles, the disciples. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing that God is willing to use ordinary vessels as channels and vehicles of his blessing. Now, to help us identify the time period and exact stage we're at in the life of Moses. Now, you know that Moses' life was a long one, extended over one hundred and twenty years. It's a long life. And it divides itself, as you've possibly heard, into three periods of forty. And this is what Stephen does for us in that remarkable sermon in Acts seven. He comes to focus, in the heart of this sermon, on Moses, and he makes reference to those three periods. The first forty years were the remarkable events of a divine providence. When you remember Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the basket in the River Nile, and there was a, a wonderful providence of God in the finding of the child and the bringing up of that child in the house of Pharaoh's daughter. And then there is a second period. That was a period of forty years. There's a second period of forty years where he flees into Egypt, and for forty years Moses is under the discipline of God. God is dealing with the excesses in his life. God is dealing with carnality. The son of Pharaoh's daughter becomes the shepherd in that home out there in the desert of Midian. He's under the discipline of God. But there then comes this third period, and that's where we're beginning tonight. It triggers an amazing encounter with God. He's out there in the desert looking after the sheep, and we're going to see it was just in an ordinary day when he encounters God in the bush, in the desert, and it changes the direction of his life forever. Let me say something about the call of God that I'm speaking about tonight, and to distinguish it from what I would call the gospel call. Now, if you're a Christian tonight, and I, I judge that every one of us here belong to the Lord Jesus, then that being the case, there has been a moment and time in your life when you heard the call of the gospel. You heard the call of the Lord Jesus. The gospel call, come unto me, all ye who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's the message that we need to get out to the people. Come unto me, says the Lord Jesus. If anyone thirsts, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his inward being shall flow rivers of living water. That is the gospel call, and what a blessing it is in a life when we hear the call of God to trust in Christ. But I want to put it to you tonight, this is not the gospel call. In fact, this is not even a call initially to service, although it involves that. I want to suggest that this goes deeper. This is a call to consecration. This is a call to surrender. This is God sanctifying him, separating him, bringing him into the secret of God's heart, and making him a channel of blessing to others. And I want to say this, this must be the greatest blessing, the greatest blessing and honor that a man or woman can experience. There was a great London preacher by the name of Doctor Martin Lloyd-Jones. He was a great physician and would have made his name as a surgeon down there in one of the top hospitals in London. And at one stage in his life he was asked, is there not a sense in which you are sorry to have given up a career in medicine like what you had to be a servant of God and a preacher of the gospel? To which he said, the greatest honor in my life and the greatest blessing that God has given to me is that I might be his servant and that I might serve the Lord. There's a glory and there's an awesomeness in this that, folks, tonight we cannot afford to miss. What is it then that made this call of God so special to Moses? I want to suggest to you, first of all, it was the way in which God came to him. Let's look at verses two to five. The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. It is the amazing fact that the Almighty God of heaven has descended and made his presence and glory known in a common desert bush. You know, it was Solomon, King Solomon, who said when he built the temple, Lord, the heaven of heavens can't contain you. How much less this temple that I have built? But this is not even a temple, grand and great and ornate. This is a ordinary desert bush that is ablaze with the fire and the glory and the majesty of God, and it's coming to Moses out there in the desert. This was different from anything else. Sometimes God spoke in visions. Sometimes he came to people through dreams. Sometimes it was with an audible voice or an inaudible voice. To Abraham, he came as a heavenly visitor, but never like this. Now, let's be clear about it. It was a common thing for a desert bush to catch fire in the heat of the eastern sun, but this was not an ordinary fire. This was not Moses looking on even the greatness and the splendor of the Egyptian world. This is not Moses being transported to a mountain and seeing all the greatness of the kingdoms of the world. Folks, this is Moses gazing upon the majesty, the glory, the holiness, the awesomeness of the eternal God in a desert bush. It's awesome. He's catching the sight of another world. He's seeing the power of a greater kingdom than the kingdom of Egypt. He's got a vision here of a more worthy sovereign. He's engaging with the living. And I say to you tonight, this is a wonderful call of God, by the way in which God comes. But here's something else I want you to notice, and I want this to be an encouragement to you folks tonight. This call of God came to Moses when he was still a shepherd, an ordinary guy out there in the wilderness. Now, I know that he was once a prince, but all that was in the distant past. He's now an ordinary shepherd. It's been his occupation for forty years. It was an ordinary, mundane job. The bright lights of Egypt had faded. It was just an ordinary day. I don't know how many days there are in forty years. Maybe the boys can help me here. Forty years, three hundred and sixty five days in a year, and three hundred and sixty six in a leap year. Times all that by forty, and you've got a lot of days. Ordinary days, picking up his staff, saying farewell to his wife, going out into the desert, looking after, tending the sheep, finding the place for them to feed and for them to drink. Another ordinary day in a very ordinary life when this incredible call of God comes. Now, can I say this for your encouragement tonight? I don't think that New Cumnock is, like Skelmersley, it's not, it's not the centre of the kingdom, is it? It's not the capital city of Scotland. It's an ordinary place, and you and I tonight are ordinary folks in ordinary settings of life. Can I say this? There is nothing insignificant and ordinary about God and where he has placed us. Every day is packed with promise, and every day is full of potential. And this ordinary day became the greatest day of this man's life. Now here's something else about God's call, the timing of the thing. Now let's not, you know, see, when it comes to the call of God, let's not, let's not worry as to when, as to how it happens. It will happen in God's way and in God's time, just at the right moment. Now let me prove that to you. It came to Moses at a time when so many different things were coming together. Now the first in- indication of this you actually find in chapter two and verse twenty three, where it says, and it came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. In process of time, certain things were changing. The old Pharaoh had died, a new Pharaoh had come to the throne. Acts chapter seven also helps us, helps us. When forty years had expired, there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord. This wasn't an immediate thing. There was a process going on in Moses' life as well, and God's timing was perfect in his dealings with his servant. Something else. The misery of the people had reached the crisis point. We read that in verse twenty three b. They cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage. God was measuring this. God was assessing it. God was timing it, if you like. And all this is coming together. But there's something even more wonderful in this that fixes the time of this call. This call is related to God's promise to Abraham four hundred years before. Chapter two, verse twenty four: and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. This call was as the result of a covenant promise that God had made to Abraham four hundred years previously, that he would bring his people out with great spoil. But it was all to do with what he was doing in the nations, and in particular among the Amorites. Can you see this? Folks, this is our God. This is awesome. Our God is an awesome God. And this call of God to Moses, while relating to Israel, is also all related in a bigger way even to what God is doing in the nations, and also what God is doing in the life of Moses. I want you to notice the way in which Moses responds. Look at verse two and three. Let me quote these to you. The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why this bush is not burned. This was something that Moses could not ignore. He was fixed by it, he was drawn by it. There was something in this call, in this sight of this bush that Moses could not ignore. You see, when the call of God comes to someone, you can try and bury it, you can try and dismiss it, you can try and turn your mind to something else. I'll tell you, it will remain with you. It's something you cannot ignore because you're encountering the reality of a living God. Moses calls it a great sight, but that was interesting. He turned aside to see this great sight. Can I say that greatness is one of those words in our language that is associated with the presence of God and the acts of God. Something is really only great when God is in it. It was a great moment for Moses, a great sight for Moses, because God was in it. Just as it was for the shepherds in Bethlehem. That night the angels came and the skyline was filled with the glory of heaven. It was a great sight, just as it was for the wise men as they followed the star. They saw many stars, but it was his star they saw. It was a great sight. And there are many other examples of this. What about the disciples on the holy mountain, seeing the Lord Jesus transfigured before them, his face, eh, white, uh, radiant as the sun, and his garments white as light. It was a great sight. Greatness associated with the presence of God. That's why the psalmist captures this when he says, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. For the Lord is great, says the psalmist, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Brothers and sisters, I invite you tonight to magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. For our God is great. How then was this greatness revealed to Moses? How did this greatness break over his soul and so change his life? Three thoughts for you here. I better keep an eye on this, this clock, this watch. Here's the first. Moses witnessed the greatness of God's indestructible presence. Look at verse three b at the end of verse three again. Why the bush is not burned? The bush was not being consumed by the fire. Now, those of you who have studied a little science, these boys at the front would even know this, I'm sure you would, that in order for fire to burn, you need fuel, whether it's coal or whether it's wood or, or whatever. Fire needs fuel. Can I say this tonight with deep reverence? The holy fire of God needs nothing for that fire to sustain him. This was a phenomena that went beyond the natural laws of science and physics. This is our God awesome in his self-sufficiency, independent of everyone and everything. You and I need family, you and I need friends, but he doesn't. He is the maker of heaven and earth. He is transcendent above all. He's the source of everything this world needs, but he in himself needs no one. He is the everlasting, the indestructible God. His name embraces eternity. He's the everlasting, indestructible God. Listen to these words. I, I think they were written by F. W. Faber. If they're not, they're very, very like the kind of writings, the verses that he writes. Fountain of being, source of God, immutable thou dost remain. This is our God. Nor can the shadow of a change obscure the glories of thy reign. Earth may with all her powers dissolve, if such the great creator will, but thou forever are the same. I am is thy memorial still. Moses was confronted with the greatness of the indestructible and eternal God. Secondly, he was confronted with the greatness of God's awesome holiness. Verse four and five, He said, draw not thy hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Tell me, what is it we are confronted with in a fallen world every day? Is it not sin, injustice, wickedness? And Moses had seen that down in Egypt. Christian friend tonight, what is it we're confronted with daily in our own hearts and our own lives? The power of the flesh, temptations to sin. Moses knew this, but here he is now gazing upon the holiness of God. Now we've got to ask a question here. How is that possible? How is it possible for sinful man to gaze upon the holiness of God and live? Think about this. This same fiery presence of God was seen in the Garden of Eden, when those cherubims guarded the way to the tree of life, and it kept man out. That same fire of God came down later upon Mount Sinai, and the mountain shook, and Moses trembled before the sight. There's a verse in Isaiah thirty three that asks the question, the sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings. How is it possible? How was it possible for Isaiah, in the vision that he got, to stand before such the majesty of holiness? Well, here's the reason. Because there was an altar, a place of reconciliation, a place of acceptance. I want to suggest to you tonight that this bush to Moses was a place of reconciliation. It was a place of meeting. For there is in the heart of God an altar, a place of sacrifice and forgiveness. And there is always in the thought of God, Calvary, where men can be made right. Now this links very nicely into the final thought of God's greatness. We've thought about the greatness of God's indestructible presence. We've thought about the greatness of God's holiness. But how is it that a man can gaze upon this holiness? And here, I suggest, is the answer. It is because of the mystery of God's grace and the greatness of God's love. That is the wonder of the gospel, isn't it? That a holy God, absolutely righteous, who does not lower that righteousness, who does not lower his standards, can invite and receive fallen people into his presence. Folks, he's a God of grace. Listen to these words. The Lord said to to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. I suppose this is possibly the nearest event, the coming down of God in this bush, to what we have when the Lord Jesus came down into this world to be our savior. Grace, by very definition, means God coming down. It is God responding to the cry of the broken and lifting the burden of the weary. By coming down, God not only came to deliver, but God came to indwell. God's grace, first of all, touched the curse of this world. And what I would suggest here is that the man of sorrows, crowned with thorns, is a wonderful demonstration of God's grace. The journey of the man of sorrows tells me that my God is a God of grace. Calvary tells me that God is a God of grace. And in going to the cross, he bore the curse of that broken law that I might go free. But here's a final thought as we bring this to a conclusion tonight, folks. God's grace is not only seen in the fact that he comes down and he touches a fallen world through that thorn bush, if you like, in the wilderness. God is saying more. God's grace is seen in the fact that he has come down to indwell his people. God in a bush, God indwelling the bush symbolizes God's desire to indwell human lives. And Israel was to discover that this was also part of God's promise. Let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. There I will meet with them, and there I will commune with them. The abiding blessing of this nation was God living among them. Now you take that into the New Testament, and that truth is wonderfully explored. Christ in you, the hope of glory. If a man love me, says the Lord Jesus, keeps my word, my Father will love him, and I will love him, and we will come into him and abide with him. Folks, this is grace upon grace. God not only saving us, lifting us, forgiving us, cleansing us, but having done all that, indwelling us and filling us with his glorious presence. Our God is a God of matchless, indescribable grace. Now, let me just summarize what we've covered tonight, because it's been quite a lot, but here are the lessons in a short summary. There has to be a contentment in the divine arrangements of our lives. Let us not be overanxious about God's delays and God's ways with us. Have a contentment, cultivate a contentment in the divine will. Live your life not out of restlessness, not out of reacting, but in reposing and resting your heart and your spirit in the perfect will of God. Have that contentment. And if you haven't got that tonight, if your heart is restless, go home, seek the Lord, and ask him to give you the peace of God that passes all understanding. The greatest blessing in life. Secondly, there is the need for a yielding to the divine discipline. You know, God chastens those that he loves. Never interpret the chastening and the discipline of the Lord as if he is indifferent to your needs, as if he has gone cold in heart towards you. He loves you, and he's dealing with issues in your life as he was in Moses' life. Thirdly, have an ear to hear the voice of God. You know, say what Samuel said, speak, Lord, for your servant heareth. Turn away from lesser things. The dread asbestos of earthly things, as an old writer once said. Seek the things that are above, where Christ is. Recognize that life's greatest prize is the knowledge of the Holy One and to worship in his presence. Fourthly, let us ask the Lord to give us his heart of love and tender compassion for a lost world, and at the call of God to go into the world with the message of life and salvation. You know what the Lord was saying to Moses? He says, Moses, I want you to know my heart. I want you to enjoy my love, and then in turn, I want you to tell them that I love them. I long to bless them. I want to indwell them. I want to be their God, and I want you to be my servant. And here's the last, and it's related to that last comment I've made. Moses, in spite of all that you think about yourself, in spite of all that you've done and your past history of failure and defeat, Moses, I want you to know it is you that I sent. Verse ten of chapter three, and with this we finish. Come now therefore, and I will send you unto Pharaoh. The amazing call of God. The one word of warning. Let's not leave this in the text of the Old Testament and in the history of the Bible. Let's ask God tonight to make this r- fresh and real in our hearts. You know, I believe tonight that some of these lads, these youngsters in this meeting, could hear the call of God. The voice of God could speak to a child. He did it to Samuel as a boy in the temple. He heard the call of God, had to wait God's time, but he became the great prophet in Israel. Or maybe it's some of you older folks, and God's calling you in a fresh way to live the remaining years of your life as you've never done before. And maybe it's some of you young guys there as well. Lovely to hear you praying tonight, some of you. The call of God could come to anyone in a meeting like this, and my prayer as we come, and later on as we leave, would be that we would hear and respond to the call of God. Let's pray. Father, wilt thou be pleased tonight just to take these few stammering words and bring them into our hearts in the power of thy Holy Spirit, so that deep down in these hearts of ours tonight, we might hear the awesome call of God. Let us see the divine majesty. Let us see the divine glory. Let us see the divine holiness. Let us see God's eternity, his indestructibility. Let us see his grace and love and tenderness, his heart for a lost and broken world. And let us believe, Lord, that your way in reaching out to that lost world could be through the channel of our surrendered lives. Grant it, we pray, for the glory of the Lord Jesus. Amen.