Desert Survival Series Pt 5- Moses the Man of God — Don Courville

Moses Identifies with Israel and Learns from His Mistakes

Exodus chapter 2 is where we're at now, building our foundation, and I don't know, maybe we'll build a foundation on this all the way through. I keep learning things and seeing things in this passage that are exciting and to me vital.

And I want to challenge you, if God speaks to your heart, to do something about it. If God speaks to you today about receiving Christ, then today you better receive Christ. And when we're done, we'll give you an invitation and a chance to come and make a decision for Christ.

I'll tell you that so you have some time to think about it and be ready. So many times, so many people have lost their lives because of not making the right decision at the right time. And with your soul, that is true too.

Now, in studying Moses in our Desert Survival series, and I think this is lesson number five, we will see how Moses identifies with Israel. Moses is a man of God and Moses also is a type of Christ. And we will see how Moses grows in his relationship with God.

We'll see how also Moses makes some mistakes and how Moses grows through those mistakes and sometimes has to suffer his own consequences, as we do too. But last week we finished up with Moses identifying with Israel.

You remember that? He went out, he saw his brethren fighting. First of all, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. And he went and he killed the guy and tried to hide him in the sand. And the word got around and when he came back the next time to try to break it up between two Hebrews, they said, you're going to kill us like you did the Egyptian?

And then Moses was afraid. And fear always follows sin. God doesn't give us the spirit of fear. And I believe Moses made a mistake. I believe actually Moses knew what God wanted, but he didn't know how God wanted to do it.

He didn't know that God would not accomplish the great means and the things that he wants to do in this world through efforts of the flesh. It has to be of the spirit. And this is where we're going to learn some things.

As a result of that action, they rejected Moses. Moses was standing up to say, I am the one that God has sent to deliver you. I will be your leader. And that was true. But timing is essential. And we left off last week with a thing on timing.

And it wasn't the time yet. God needed to do some delivering with Moses. He needed to deliver Moses from a few things in his life. So they rejected him. Does that remind you of anybody else that's been rejected?

Right. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that he came unto his own and his own received him not. His own was the Jewish people. He came unto them to deliver them, to be their Messiah. They were waiting for him.

But they denied him. And in turn, we have gotten the opportunity to receive him. But he came unto his own and his own received him not. It reminds me of this little card, and I think you can buy these still in the bookstore.

It says, if we meet and you forget me, you've lost nothing. But if you meet Jesus Christ and you forget him, you've lost everything. I like that. I like that. Now, Romans 6, 4, and 5 is the doctrinal portion from the New Testament, which we will be going through in the life of Moses.

What I'm telling you is we're studying doctrine. We're studying the crucified life. Only we're looking at the illustrations. We're getting all of the fun part, all of the razzle-dazzle, all the excitement, the action in the life of Moses and God delivering Israel.

Romans 6, 4 says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, or if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

The Cross Experience and Death to the Self-Life

Now, this is the doctrinal part of this study. It's an identity of death. Moses actually is being crucified. And we're going to see that in his life. He's actually being crucified. And when he identifies with Israel, he realizes, uh-oh, something's gone wrong.

I am done for. I'm a dead man. And he realized if he didn't get out of there, he was literally going to be a dead man because Pharaoh was waiting for him to make some kind of move where he could get him.

And this was it. It's an identity to death. But as we identify with Christ, when we become a Christian, it's an identity of death. When we're baptized, when we go into the baptistry or into the creek, and we go under the water, it's an identity with Christ.

Going under is a symbol of death. It's a picture of the death of Christ. Death to the self-life. I'm done. Christ has taken over. So it's also an identity of resurrection. So when we come up out of the water and Christ came up out of the grave, that was an identity of resurrection to a new life.

When we come up out of the water, we're saying, I want you to know that my old life is past, that I am coming up to walk in a new life. And the new life is what? Not you living a better life, but Christ living his life through you.

And this is what we're learning from Moses. Now this is Moses' cross experience. Before we get to the burning bush, which probably we will next week, Moses had to learn the cross experience. He had to be dead.

And when we get to the burning bush next week in Exodus 3, we're going to begin to learn some beautiful truths. We're already learning a lot of good things, but to me it's just going to get better and better and better as we go into this study.

But Moses had his cross experience. Remember I shared some verses with you, and John chapter 12 and 24 was one about the corn of wheat. It says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. What we need to learn to do is just to die to ourselves and let God be God. Some of you are probably struggling today with what about my life. My life is empty.

My life doesn't have any meaning. What is life all about? What am I here for? Jesus Christ will answer every one of those questions, because he is the answer. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

And some of us as Christians have identified with Christ, but we're still trying to hang on to our old life and still trying to live our life and give our best to the Master and all of that, when he just wants us to die to self and let him live his life through us.

And we're squirming and kicking and hollering about this and that, and he just wants us to be quiet. A dead man, if we're dead in Christ, doesn't complain, he doesn't holler, he doesn't get entrapped in all kinds of things.

He's just dead to himself, and he just lets Christ live. Well, without this experience, that Moses goes through this experience where his whole world tumbles down on him, you realize that for 40 years, Moses was raised up, his parents gave him a godly start.

For 40 years, he had in his mind, in his heart, God has chosen me to help deliver Israel. And that was right, except that he didn't know God's timing. He got a little bit antsy, what we might say. He says, now I'm 40 years old, and I went over this with you last week about the Jewish man at age 40.

He said, now's the time. It's now or never. Well, it wasn't now, and it wasn't never. It was later. And many times I think we try to maybe push God into doing something. Without his desert experience, though, without this thing where God just had to let his world crush in on him, without his desert experience, he would have never been what God wanted him to be, and he would have never been able to deliver Israel.

Many times we think, oh, this is the most terrible thing that's happened to me. Man, this is bad. Oh, my world is caved in. This has happened to me, or that's happened to me. But if we would just let God have the situation, many times that is the greatest thing that could have ever happened to you.

And maybe if we get some time today, and we get far enough in this passage, I'll illustrate that truth to you. So without the desert experience, that's why we call this the desert survival experience.

Without your desert experience, you maybe would never be able to walk with Christ the way he wanted you to. And I wouldn't either. Let me share something with you about Joseph that's really beautiful.

Joseph’s Desert Experience and God’s Fruitfulness

You know, Joseph went through the desert experience, didn't he? His own brothers sold him as a slave. You know, maybe your brothers and sisters, you don't get along that great. But at least they haven't sold you off as a slave yet, have they?

Don't give them the idea. They might say, hey, you know, maybe we'll get some value out of you after all. But that's what his brothers did with him. They sold him as a slave. And he got down to Egypt, and the Scripture doesn't say that he lay around in the prison moping and moaning and complaining.

No, I think he kept his mind and his eyes on God. Well, God, what are you going to do now? Here we are. We're down here a slave, or we're in prison. He spent some time in prison. No, he kept his eyes on God.

He stayed strong. And you know what? While he was down there, he spent the rest of his life down there. You know what? Joseph had some children. We know he had two boys. And you know what he named his boys?

Listen. This is exciting to me. In Genesis 41, and verse 51 and 52, tells us what he named his boys. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. Now listen. For God, said he, had made me forget all my toil and all my father's house.

He learned to forget those things which are behind and to reach forth into those things which are before. If you live in the past, you'll never accomplish anything in the future. So that first son, he named him because of a spiritual truth that God taught him.

He said, God has taught me to forget the past and to reach forth into the future. The past, if he would have dwelt there, would have ruined his whole life and there would have been no future. God wouldn't have used Joseph to deliver Israel out of the famine.

By the way, God used Joseph to get Israel into Egypt, and God uses Moses to get Israel out of Egypt. Have you ever recognized that? Both of these men went through a very dry desert experience. But because God could work with them and they would respond, He was able to use them.

And the same will be with you. So don't try to run all the time. Just wait on God and see what He wants to do. Now the second one. And the name of the second called he Ephraim. Now what does Ephraim mean?

Listen. For God had caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. Isn't that beautiful? God has taught me to forget that which is behind and to be fruitful right where I'm at in the land of affliction.

Joseph, forget it. I'm going to take that and I'm going to use you and you're going to be fruitful. Isn't that beautiful? And even when his father Jacob was dying, the Bible tells us in Genesis 49 when his father was dying, in verse 22, and Joseph, he said, is a fruitful branch.

Even a fruitful branch by a well whose branches run over the wall. The well would symbolize life, would symbolize the water, the Word of God, the nourishment for strength. He lived and he saturated his soul in the Word of God and meditated on God and he received his strength and he became like branches went out over the wall.

Meaning that God was able to use him to reach out to other nations, other people. Joseph, God raised him up in the land of Pharaoh. Even up to the next to Pharaoh. Nobody higher than him but Pharaoh. Well, and then, you know, the greatest statement about Joseph that he ever made was in Genesis 50.

And that's just before we get into Exodus and get into the life of Moses. But he says, when he got his brothers there, his brothers were afraid because they had to come back and face the music. They were afraid now that their father had died that he was going to get revenge on them.

You know what Joseph told them? This is the most beautiful thing I think he ever said. He said, listen, but as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good. God took this desert experience of mine and he turned it into good.

God meant it into good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. A beautiful thing. He learned to live in the desert. He learned to take his desert experience and turn it into a life learning experience.

And this is what we're learning from Moses. So when we quit struggling and start resting, we die and Christ lives. We go to the Hebrews 4 principle of where we just rest. We're relaxed and we're not all uptight because something has happened now.

I know that we're going through trials and we always will. But it's not the dryness of the desert. It's not the dryness of the desert. We're not to focus, oh no, I'm out in the desert again. I've got this bad experience.

I've got this horrible experience. My dog has pneumonia. Or whatever. Or maybe it's a death experience. Maybe you've lost a loved one or a divorce experience or something. Whatever. A financial crisis.

It's not the dryness of your desert. But it's this. Will we learn how to be fruitful in the land of our affliction? Like Joseph said, I've learned to be fruitful in the land of affliction. I've learned to be fruitful in the desert.

I like John 15, 5 because I'll never forget when I was trying to memorize that verse. And Bill Stewart, the man God raised up to disciple me when I was over in Turkey. I'll never forget it because I forgot that last part.

And he would drill me on the last part of that verse until I don't forget it now. I remember riding on a bus going down the road. We were going to town or somewhere. And I was quoting that. John 15, 5 I am the vine.

Jesus says, I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me. And I in Him, the same bring forth much fruit. For without Me, you could do nothing. And without Me, you could do nothing was the part I would leave off.

And he would drill me. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. And I don't forget it. But Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. He says, I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abideth in Me. Stay very close to Christ.

Don't let the desert experience draw you away and go running wild. You know? He said, You just stay close to Me and we'll make it through the desert. You will find that you will be a fruitful branch. All everybody else is withering up and dying and you're the one that's blooming.

And they'll come and say, How come you're blooming in the desert? They'll think you're a blooming idiot. But the fact is, you're not. You're plugged in. Your roots go down like Psalms 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

And let me just read you verse 3. That's the main part of that. It says, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. If you can imagine this tree growing, and the reason it's growing is because it's planted by the rivers of water.

Who's the river of water? Well, we just had a song sang. Dr. Santos just sang a song about the living water. We stay plugged in with Christ. He's the living water. He's the word of life. And then it says, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth His fruit in His season.

Don't get excited. If there doesn't seem to be much ripe fruit on your branches right now, just stay plugged in with the source. And in time, God will let you bloom. And then you'll provide life-giving fruit to those around you.

Receiving Christ and Freedom from Sin

So as a Christian, you stay close to Christ. As a non-Christian, you make sure you find Christ. Because if you miss Christ, you've missed everything. You've missed the whole purpose for God letting you live.

God lets us live so that we will find Him and come to know Him. The Bible says eternal life is knowing Jesus Christ. It's not going to church. It's not being baptized, doing good deeds. All these things follow because we love Him.

But knowing Him, coming to find Him. And when you find Him, invite Him in. Invite Him in to be your Savior, to be your sin-bearer, to be your substitute. Just invite Him in. Like you would invite me into your house.

Invite Him into your life. And you know He'll come in. And when He comes into a house, He likes to cleanse it. And oh, how good it feels to have all your sins forgiven. To have habits broken. To have the freedom.

You see, the devil says you're free when you serve me, but the fact is we're not free when we serve him. We're a slave. We're a slave to sin. We're a slave to his dictates. But when we know Christ, He frees us.

There's no freedom like the freedom in Christ. Well, so it's not the dryness of the desert, but will we learn to be fruitful? Let's get a couple principles before we go today. The first principle is this.

Moses as Mediator and Christ as the Ultimate Mediator

In the life of Moses, in verse 13, Moses took out to be a mediator. He took out to be a mediator. You know, he says, I'm going to stand between you and God. God's going to use me to help deliver you. Well, that was true, but it wasn't the right time.

You know, Moses had to do something first. You know what it was? Now, this lesson, this lesson, you might have to stick with it, but it's this. Before you can be a mediator, you must earn the right. Now, I say that because he made the effort in the flesh, and Moses is a type of Christ.

Remember? He's a type of Christ. Moses needed something before he could mediate. He needed to go to the cross. He needed to die. He actually needed 40 years and a burning bush experience before he could be the goat between.

Now, I'm bringing this out about Moses to point out something to you. When Christ died on the cross, He was the mediator between God and men. He earned the right to be your Savior. He deserves to be your Savior.

He's the only one that's ever gone through the cross and come off and was buried. He was killed. He was dead. They put Him in the grave and He came back alive. He says, I did all of that to die for your sins.

I have earned the right to be your mediator. I went through this desert of the cross for you. Will you accept me? You know, there's a great preacher by the name of George W. Truett. And there's a story about him that I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it is.

The story is this, that he and a friend, his best friend, went out hunting. And while they were out hunting, there was an accident. He accidentally shot his best friend and killed him. And there were two things in the story that come out of that.

Number one, they said that George W. Truett never smiled again. I don't know if that's true or not. But I would tend to believe the second thing they said about him. They said that he never preached again the same because of that experience.

They said that his preaching had so much more power and the touch of God on it after that experience. You know, George W. Truett went through a very trying desert. I don't know what it would do to me if I killed my best friend by accident, do you?

But because of that, he was able to touch God even closer and touch man even better. Because of what Christ did, he could do it. Because of what Moses goes through, he could do it. He went through a desert and came out fruitful.

Now, God, I believe, is allowing you and I to go through some trials and things so that we will be more effective go-betweens between God and man. Actually, our term is not a mediator, but we are ambassadors for Christ.

Christ is really the ultimate mediator. He's the only mediator because he laid down his life as a ransom. But we can be better ambassadors when we learn how to die to self. You know, I was thinking about that last night.

I don't know how this will get into the sermon or whatever, but I thought if I had to go to another country and be an ambassador, and I've been in several countries, lived in Turkey, as I told you, an ambassador from this country would be no good over in another country unless he really loved this country.

Unless he was really loyal and faithful to America, he wouldn't be much good out there representing us. And we, as ambassadors for Christ, are weak and fickle and will not speak for our Lord because our love has been watered down because of the things of this world, the cares of this life.

And this is why we maybe need the desert experience to wean us from some of this trash around us, drawing off our allegiance, drawing off our money, drawing off our time so that we can love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind as it's been directed to us.

Persevering Through Trials and Becoming Fruitful

Well, it's not how you enter your trial then. It's not how we go into the desert. It's how you come out. When we go into the desert, we'll either learn to survive or it will crush us and destroy us. So it's not how you enter your trial, but it's how you come out.

Did you ever see an old person? Their face was all scratched up and they looked like a prune. They maybe even talked like one. You ever seen somebody who's all bitter? Don't walk on my grass!

You ever see somebody like that? You know? Get out of here, you little kids! You know? You walk by and you say, Good morning, a great day! And they say, What's good about it? You know? Old prune face.

You know? Weaned on a dill pickle. How come they're like that? Huh? Because they didn't survive the desert. The desert dried them up. The desert turned them into an old dill pickle. And I grew up next door to one.

Our ball would go across the fence and man, it took an act of Congress to get it back. We had to go knock on the door, Can I please get my ball? And they'd follow us. We had to walk through the house and they'd follow us through, walk out there, pick it up, they'd watch us, every step we made.

They couldn't climb the fence and my dad built the fence. You know? It was our fence. Then she grew roses on it, I told you about it, you know? Then she'd come over in the morning and get the roses on our side so we wouldn't get them.

You know, we didn't want them anyway.

But why? That person didn't learn life, didn't learn what it's about.

And we won't either if we watch out. 1 Peter 1, 7, listen to this. That the trowel of your faith, your desert experience, that the trowel of your faith being more precious than that of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

When Christ comes back, how'd you make it in your desert experience? Oh, I made it wonderful, Lord. I turned out sour.

No, you didn't make it wonderful. You wasn't found unto praise. You were found unto self-living. You were selfish. God says, I custom-designed that desert for you. I don't have time today to get into it.

Maybe I will anyway. Let me go on through here. Because here's why we've got to watch it. Here's why. Let me skip on down real quick. We say, Lord, I turned out like a dill pickle. And He'll say, because you just responded wrong to my love to you.

I sent that down to wean you from some things, to get some things out of your life. But you responded wrong and then you were no fruit. I couldn't use you. I wanted to use you and there was no fruit. I couldn't use you.

I had to get somebody else. Wouldn't that be bad at the appearing of Jesus Christ? Well, Moses had to go through the desert training before he could be used to Israel. Just like Christ had to go to that cross.

But listen, the motives of Moses were good. And our motives will be pure too. Here's another principle. You know, the motives of Moses, if you look at his actions in chapter 2, 12, 13, his actions were all from a heart that wanted to do right.

You know, helping to intercede for that Egyptian killing, he had good motives. And then to intercede for the Hebrew, he had good motives. And then as we go on down in the passage in chapter 2, he had good actions when he interceded for the girls from the priest of Midian.

He had good actions and good intentions and he had good motives. There's just something missing. It was just the Spirit of God needed to direct him instead of the flesh. And I want to say this on the motives.

It's difficult to know your own motives. It's difficult to know your own motives, but it's extremely dangerous and difficult to question the motives of others. And we're not attacking Moses. I want you to know that.

Moses did a lot. But we're learning from him. We're learning from him. And it's this. What did you see when you saw Moses? We see him making some mistakes. What do you see when you look at me, when you look at yourself?

Human Viewpoint Versus Divine Viewpoint

You see us making some mistakes. Now, human viewpoint. Here's what human viewpoint was. It was this. What a tragedy. All the gossips in town, they got together, poor old Moses, what a tragedy. All that training.

He could have been the pharaoh. Turned it down three times. And now he had to run off and live in a desert. He was a good man. But it's just such a tragedy. His life, it's down the drain. His career, it's down the drain.

All that training, it's down the drain. What a waste. That's human viewpoint. And they say, poor old Moses, he's never going to mount anything out in that desert. You know, this is what your friends might say to you.

This is what the devil might slip up and try to say. What a shame. It's all over. Your life's just... scratch it. You know. Your situation, it's so bad, it's so hopeless. And I wonder if Moses didn't even think that.

Because in verse 22, when he had a son, he named him Gershom. For he said, I've been a stranger in a strange land. And I wonder if Moses just started to say, boy, I really thought that God was going to do something.

Well, I'm just going to settle out here and take care of sheep the rest of my life. I really think that Moses thought it was all over. He had blown it. You want to know something? God hadn't even begun in His life.

And He may not have even begun in yours. He gets you down to the bottom of the well where there's nothing to do but look up. And then, there is the human viewpoint. But what about divine viewpoint? And this is what I wanted you to catch.

Divine viewpoint was this. God released Moses from all the distractions of Egypt so He could have His heart and have His time and have His devotion. And you know what? Moses, out in that desert, he grew to love God.

He grew to know God. He spent time with God, like David. Who else spent time out in the desert? David spent a lot of time out taking care of sheep and then running from Saul and all that. But God separated Moses from Egypt.

Moses, I've got you out here. The world says it's all over. I say, I'm just starting with you. And maybe that's where you need to be. You think, my life's ruined. I've gone through this desert. But God just released him.

You know? We just, by the way, we just found out that the house deal that we had fell through. We're still back to making our payments, you know? One more month and we'd put out $3 ,000 since last June on this thing.

We're just praising God. We're going to ask more money for it then. I don't know. God, whatever you want. You know, it's a drain on us. We're in this desert. I'm just going to get my strength from you and see what you want.

I want your time and your price on this, Lord. This must not have been your time. But, you know, here's the principle. And we're going to close down. We're going to circle in the field. We're going to come in from Lannon.

Not Returning to What God Has Released

Here's the principle. Be careful about going back either mentally or physically to that which God has released us from. Many times, the thing that we're complaining about, oh, this desert. Boy, I had this experience or whatever.

You spend the rest of your life dwelling on that thing. And God wanted to release you from it. And you're always looking back. He says, look ahead. God released Moses from it so he could have his time, so he could have his heart and teach him.

And teach him some things he needed. So I think we need to be careful about going back either mentally or physically to that which God has released us from. And this is one of the devastating things in the Christian life.

When a Christian who's been released from the power of sin and the penalty of sin will turn and go back again. You dig yourself a hole and go jump in it again. Well, that was Moses. You know, there's going to be those that don't like him.

That don't understand. And it's not the dryness of the desert. Remember? But will you learn to be fruitful in the desert? You know, we mentioned Charles Haddon Spurgeon this morning in same school. Let me tell you something else about him.

At one point, this great preacher over in England made a break from the other preachers. He wouldn't go along with them. They were wanting to go a different path. A path that was away from the Bible. And Brother Spurgeon said, No, I'm not going to go with you.

I'm going to go with God. And they say, You'll be forgotten. You won't make it. You better go with us. You better join us in our ecumenical movement. He says, No, I'm going to go with the Word of God and with the Bible.

You'll never be heard of again. You'll just fade away in obscurity. You go over there in England, and I haven't seen it, but I hear, if you go over there in England today and you go into England's Hall of Fame, you want to know whose picture and name is in that Hall of Fame?

Charles Adam Spurgeon. You want to know who those other guys are? Who knows? There's going to be those that are going to say, You're going to die in your desert. And what are you going to say? No, I'm not going to die in my desert because my God is able to deliver me.

You'll die in that den, Daniel. Daniel, I don't care if I die in the den. If I die in the den with the lions, I'm in the will of God. They couldn't push old Daniel around. And they won't be able to push you and I if we'll just stay plugged in and keep loving the Lord.

He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Let's bow and close in prayer. Before we close, I want you to make a decision right now if you're not saved. Do you want Jesus Christ? Do you want to go to heaven when you die?

Do you want to have your sins forgiven? If the answer is yes and you haven't received Christ, then why don't you make a decision right now to receive Christ? And I tell you about making the decision is you're going to make a decision one way or the other.

If you turn from Christ, you'll make the decision to reject Him. This is why I'm encouraging you to make the decision to receive Him. We're going to have an invitation and it won't be a long invitation.

But if you want Christ, when we have the invitation, you just slip right out and come up here and sit on the front row. And then we'll close in prayer and you and I will pray. I'll show you from the Scriptures how to be saved and you can trust Christ.

Maybe as a Christian you've been struggling in your desert. You haven't been sinking your roots into the Word of God. You've been struggling and flopping around and complaining and bitter, mad, angry, worrying.