God's Mission

A battle of the wills. We've all had a battle of the wills. Maybe it was with you and a child. You and a spouse. You and a friend. Someone had to give in. Someone with stiff neck. I'm certain it was not you. If you're a Christian, you constantly have an internal battle of the wills. So, we still have that flesh. We still have the sinful desires that our flesh produce. We have the desires that the spirit produces from our new nature. We have an internal desire. There's a war going on and we are constantly having to choose between the sinful desires, the sinful will and the divine will of God. For Christians, we have this internal battle. We have a battle of the wills. But this morning, we're going to be looking at a battle between God and Moses. We will see a battle of the will of a battle of the eyes, as you'll see in our text. Turn with me to Exodus three as we continue to study as we continue our study in Exodus. The message this morning is this. We are called to trust God and to submit to him. We are called to trust God and to submit to him. Now that is a lot easier to say than to do. Primarily because of that flash. That sinful desire that continues to challenge us. A little background as we've been looking at Exodus. Moses is God's deliverer. God delivered Moses from the waters. He puts the deliverer himself in the house of Pharaoh. The one who's going to deliver Israel out of the house of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He puts him in the very house of Pharaoh. He's trained as a prince. He's trained with the best education. But then one day he goes out and he wants to see his people. He goes out to deliver his people. And his people reject him. He flees. He flees into the wilderness. And that's where he picked up last week. And there God in the wilderness At a burning bush, Moses goes to see what it is and there he walks into the presence of God. He has to take off his shoes. He has to stand far away. He cannot draw near yet. God is setting the parameters of this relationship. God is the holy master. Moses, the sinful servant. But God is going to use him. God has chosen him. And we're going to see how God calls him. We're going to look more into that calling. A key verse is verse 10 of chapter three, Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children out of Egypt. He's heard them, he's heard their cry, he's seen their suffering, he knows them, he loves them, he is the God who is committed to them. And here he says, I'm going to send them out of Egypt and you're the one I'm going to go send to do that job. Well, this begins five questions of Moses trying to get out of this calling this morning, we're going to look at how Moses fights against God with five questions, five statements, five doubts. So really, we're going to look at two parts. Moses is questioning God's answer. God is at action. God's an actioner. God is acting for his people. And Moses is doubting. I'm just going to run through just a few of God's actions. Verse 7, he says, I have seen, I have heard, I know. Verse 8, I have come down to deliver. I'm going to take them out of Egypt. I'm going to put them into the promised land. Verse 12, I will be with you. Verse 14, I have given you my name. I am sending you. Verse 16, I have seen your trouble. Verse 17, I promise to deliver you from slavery and into the promised land. Verse 18, they will listen to your voice. Verse 20, I will stretch out my hand. Verses 21 and 22, I will make the Egyptians give you their treasure. God is making great promises. Moses is called to trust those promises and to trust his direction. But as we'll see, Moses doubts. We'll be starting in verse 11. We're going to go back and start where we already were last week for some time. We'll be starting in verse 11 because this is the first doubt. And so we're going to briefly cover the first two doubts. What's amazing is God in his grace after calling Moses, He lets Moses ask questions. He lets Moses say or give him excuses as to why he should not go. In my Bible, I have a cue next to verse 11 of chapter 3, verse 13, chapter 4, 1, 4, 10. 413. These are the five questions of Moses. That's going to order our text. That's going to order the sermon this morning. That's how Moses has written this story. It's about his complaining, his concern, and God always giving an answer. Verse 11, verse 13, 1, 10, and 13. As we listen, listen for the great I. When God says, I am, I am with you, there's a battle of the wills. There's really a battle of the eyes. God is saying what he is going to do in the first person. I am. And Moses really says, who am I? What about my tongue? Just choose someone else, finally. Moses goes through three doubts and God continues to be patient and God continues to tell him what he's going to do. Something else repeated throughout the text. I am the God of your fathers. That's what we're saying a song that God of ages past. He's a God who has made promises in the past. He's a God who keeps them. He's a God who is fulfilling them. So you listen to the text, listen for the eyes, listen for the continual back and forth. Moses complained. Moses gives an excuse. Moses tries to get the call and God remains patient. I'll begin in verse 10, because that's where God gives the clear call. Chapter 3, verse 10. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you. that I have sent you, that you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." Second problem that Moses raises to God. Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they will listen to your voice and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him the Lord the God of the Hebrews has met with us and now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that he may sack that we may sacrifice the Lord our God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, so you shall plunder. The Egyptians. Moses answers. But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. For they will say, the Lord did not appear to you. The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? He said, a staff. And he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand, that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. Again, the Lord said to him, put your hand inside your cloak. And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside his cloak and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first son, they may believe the latter. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and poured on the dry ground and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood. on the dry ground. But Moses said to Yahweh, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak." But Moses said, Oh, my Lord, please send someone else. He's out of excuses. Just, please send someone else. Then the Lord was kindled again. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levi? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you when he sees you. He will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. And he shall speak for you to the people and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as God to him and take in your hand this staff. with which you shall do these things." Moses is given the commission to go to Pharaoh. He already begins, who am I? Who am I? This is a good question to ask. When God commissions us, we need to naturally first ask, well, who am I? Because we need to remind ourselves it really isn't anything about us. The problem with Moses is he's actually trying to use his weakness, his sin as an excuse for God not to send him. What's great about that first exchange is that he says, who am I? And God doesn't answer him because it doesn't matter who he is. All that matters is that God is with him. He sends him to go and he doesn't say, well, you're so smart, you're so eloquent. I'm with you. That's all you need. All power, all authority, all might are with you. Go. As we seek to proclaim the name of Christ, as we seek to make the name of Christ, all we have to constantly remember, it's not the power of our persuasion. It's the power of God. So the first thing we see here is that God promises to be with Moses. The second in verse 13, we covered a lot of this last week, but I want to return to it because it's so central to the story. Secondly, God gives Moses his name and his plan for redemption. So who am I? God says it doesn't matter who you are. I'm with you. Moses says, well, what if they ask you what your name is? What what am I going to tell them when I go? First of all, notice. Moses has been told he's going to Pharaoh. He's a wanted man to Pharaoh. Pharaoh wants to kill him. Moses isn't first and foremost fearful of Pharaoh. He's afraid of Israel. It's supposed to be striking here. God said go to Pharaoh and Moses is more afraid of how Israel is going to respond to him who have already rejected him once. This is like a slave in America back in the 1860s, 1850s. A runaway slave going back, being told he needs to go back and being more afraid of how the other slaves would respond to him than the slave master himself. It tells us a lot about Israel. They're stiff necked. God's people by nature reject God's leader and God himself. It's supposed to be striking. Israel constantly rejects God. Israel constantly rejects Moses. This is written for the Israelites in Exodus who were always grumbling, who were always complaining, who had their own expectations that weren't met. Their expectations weren't built upon what God said. They believed that they had a privileged position. They just didn't think it was by grace. They thought it was deserved. He's not afraid of Moses as much as he's afraid of Israel. Let's look at verse 14. How does God respond to this request? God says, I am who I am. Now, this is the first person. I am who I am. It's the to be verb. I am who I am. It's related to the word that's in all caps that I interpreted as Yahweh once or as I read as Yahweh. Lord in all casts is the Lord's covenant name. It's God's covenant name. Yahweh, that's the third person. It's the covenant name of God that says I cause. He causes. He causes Israel to be. He causes Israel to be delivered. He causes Israel to be God's nation. Here, the uniqueness of the revelation of verse 14 is that it is in the first person. As we said last week, there's a certain vagueness about this name. There's a certain mystery that's supposed to remind us that God is greater than our mind can comprehend. And all those eyes that we read, those are supposed to fill in who that I am is. I am the God of your fathers. I am the God who makes covenant with sinners. I am the God who keeps that covenant. I am the God who will deliver you. I am the God who hears you, sees you, knows you and loves you. I am the God Who is your deliverer? The entire book of Exodus is declaring who this I am is. He is a God who is committed to his people. He is a God who delivers them. Now, we have hindsight. We can look back. We can look back and see how great God is. We can look back and say, Moses, quit fighting against God. Trust him. We can look back and we can see what God has done and tell Israel quit rejecting, quit being stiff necked. We can look back and see God's promises and we can tell them you should have trusted. After we do that and say, do I trust him now? Can I look back at all those fulfillment of promises? Can I look back and see how steadfast he was? And can I say I will trust him today because I see in the past how faithful he was. What's even greater about this name, I am who I am. I am the God of your fathers. Is that Jesus identifies himself as that I am. Eight times he says I am. I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection. Before Abraham was, I am. Jesus is saying I am that covenant God. I am. That name upon which you can call upon and be saved. There's another covenant name in Scripture, Emmanuel. That name doesn't actually show up clearly in Exodus. It's central to the Exodus theme. God is with us. God is with us in Jesus Christ because he has made his abode with us. He has taken on flesh for us. As we think about Moses and being called to this work, all of our work is Emmanuel work. All of our work is God with us work. All that we do, we are to do because God is with us as our power, as our motivation and as our proclamation. Just like Moses is called to Emmanuel work, God with us, we are called to it. Now look at the plan. Moses, I have listened. You will go to Pharaoh. He's going to deny you, and then I'm going to bring down my mighty right hand of deliverance. And you're not just going to go out free, you're going to go out rich. That's the mighty power of God. He tells Moses what to say to the elders. He tells Moses what he's going to do. He lays it out before him. And all Moses has to do is trust him. All Moses has to do is trust him. But let's look at chapter four, verse one. Moses answered. But behold. They will not believe me. Or listen to my voice, for they will say the Lord did not appear to me. Moses is doubting God. Look at verse 18 and they will listen to your voice. God tells him. They will listen to your voice and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to them. Now, at some level, God's promise. Is is true because they do listen to his voice. They they see these signs and they believe as we'll see at the end of Chapter 4 next week. But Israel is always going to be stiff necked. God promised him they will listen to his voice and then Moses. Responds, but they will not listen to my voice. He's he's having a hard time believing in the promises of God. And so God, in response, gives him some signs. Chapter four, verse two, the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? Now, God knows it's a staff. He's not wondering what that is. He's drawing Moses' attention to it. This is a way of asking a question to let him see, draw Moses' attention. Well, it's a staff. God says, throw it on the ground. So I threw him on the ground and well, like any good shepherd would, whenever it turns into a snake, he runs. He's afraid of it. Moses says, take out your hand and grab it by the tail. Moses does his crocodile hunter impersonation. He grabs it by the tail and it becomes a staff again. He gave him this sign so that he would have assurance. He gave him the sign so that he would have assurance to go and fulfill his mission. Now, the staff and the serpent, I believe, represent one thing. God is sovereign over every power. A shepherd has a staff, and that is a symbol of power. Kings would have staffs like shepherds. A shepherd is a metaphor for kings from the ancient Near Eastern world. Because shepherds, they rule their sheep. Yes, they protect them, but they rule over them. A shepherd was a symbol of might and of power. Sheep follow them. So the shepherd is a symbol of power and of might. And his staff, well, that was his tool. That was his symbol. And so by using the staff, God is saying, I am sovereign over the powers. And the fact that it turns into a snake, well, it's possible that this is representing the snake goddess of the South Asian, the cobra goddess. They would have worshipped the cobra and seen that as a great royal metaphor. And so here God is saying, I am sovereign over the powers. The second sign. His hand becomes leprous like snow. Verse six, again, the Lord said, put your hand inside your cloak and he put his hand inside his cloak and when he took it out, Behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside and he took it out. Behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you or listen to the first sign, show them the second sign. These signs are meant to help them believe. These signs are meant to accompany you so that you build up your authority. Here, I think the second sign shows that God is sovereign over disease and pestilence, which is going to be very important during the plagues. When the boils come, when pestilence is is is part of the plagues region. We see that the third sign, if they would, I believe these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and poured on the dry ground and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground. This is really a preview of the first plague. The entire Nile turning into blood. It's also symbolic. The Nile is the source of life. The Nile is also where the infant children of Israel were to be killed. The Nile represents life and death. Blood represents life and death. God is declaring He is sovereign over life and death. Not only is He giving a preview to the first plague, I believe He's giving a preview to the last plague. He is going to deliver his people into life through death, which is clearly pointing us to Jesus Christ. In his death, we have life. God demonstrates his sovereignty to give Moses assurance of who he is and to help Moses have assurance to tell Israel who he is. He's sovereign over every nation. He rules the rulers. He's sovereign over health and humanity. He's sovereign over life and death. The thing about these signs, we see Jesus come. And he's not afraid to speak like Moses is afraid. When Moses speaks, he speaks with absolute authority. They're always amazed, even when Jesus was a small child, of what kind of authority he spoke with. Because he spoke as the son of God. He spoke with absolute authority and then he performed signs and the people gathered and they loved Jesus in the way he taught and the signs he did and the healings until he started saying, I am the resurrection. So they started making divine claims. Until he started saying, you have to believe in me to be forgiven. So we look at Jesus and we see that he's the one who has given us The great sign, the great demonstration of God's love, he died on the cross so that we can live again. He rose again so that we have assurance and confidence in God's promises. He has the power over sin and death. The fourth thing we see here, God is sovereign over our weaknesses. God is sovereign over our weaknesses. Verse 10, after getting after saying, who am I? I am with you. What is your name? This is my name. This is the plan. I'm with you. They won't listen to me. Here's the signs. Moses says to Yahweh. Oh, my Lord. I am not eloquent, even in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." Now there's a clear word change. Our translation of Yahweh to LORD in all caps doesn't really help us see that as clearly as I think we should. Verse 10, Moses says to Yahweh, the covenant name, and he responds, Oh my Adonai. This is supposed to jump off the page. I believe Moses may becoming embarrassed. He realized he keeps trying to get under the will of God. He can't call upon the personal covenant name. He calls him master, but he's not addressing him in the personal covenant name anymore. Now, remember back in verse six, Moses, chapter three, verse six, Moses was so afraid of God, he couldn't look at him. But here he has the The guts to question him over and over again after God calls him. He's afraid to look at God, but he's more afraid of Pharaoh and he's more afraid of the people of Israel. So he questions God. Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech. Now, we're not sure if Moses has a speech impediment. Maybe he has a stutter. Maybe he has a lisp. Maybe he's forgotten Egyptian. We don't know exactly what his speech problem was. God again doesn't correct him. Oh no, you're so eloquent. You're perfect for the job. We don't know what Moses problem was. He probably had a real speech problem. But his real problem is he's not trusting God. He may actually have a speech problem, but that's not his real problem. His real problem is he's not trusting. He lacks faith. He keeps doubting God. Let's God respond. Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind, is it not I? Therefore, go, I will be with your mouth. It doesn't matter how weak you are. What matters is how strong I am and that I am with you. Now, I'm glad Moses is aware of his problem. But again, The physical problem isn't the real problem, it's his lack of faith. We have to remember, God uses weak people. God uses sinful people. God uses evil for good. God is mighty and whoever he is with, he is able to use them. He uses even Satan to fulfill his plans. God is mighty. He's not threatened by our weakness. He's not threatened by our sin. He is the fix. He is a great fixer of our sin. He's our Savior. We have to remember what Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 4. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure. in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God, not us. It's good to be aware of how weak and unable we are. We need to know that we're weak because then we'll never be so prideful to think we've actually accomplished anything. We didn't realize it's the power of God, not ours. If there's anything we're accomplishing for the glory of God, it's God who's doing it through us. Being aware of our weaknesses is good. Trusting in God's power is what we're called to do. Second Corinthians 12 9, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. We have to remember. God saves sinners. You're not called to God because you were good enough. You didn't qualify because of your moral upstanding character. You qualified because Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and declared you forgiven and declared you his son, declared you innocent. He saves sinners. He uses our weaknesses. He honors the humble. He rewards those who have faith. As Moses needs to trust Him, we need to trust Him. Finally, as we conclude looking at our text, let's look at verse 13. Moses is out of excuses, but he said, Oh my Adonai, please send someone else. You've got the wrong guy. Moses is done. He can't fight anymore. He just comes out and says, I don't want to do it. I'm out of excuses. I don't want to do it. Send someone else. He refuses to trust God. He refuses to obey. Verse 14, then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. Now, what is this anger? I believe this is the wrath of God that comes down upon every sinner. This is referred to a frustration and an annoyance. An anger that he will not trust that no matter how many promises God makes, no matter how God continues to say, trust me, I'm with you, I'm going to do this for you. He continues to say no. Then look what God does. Is there not Aaron, your brother? I know he can speak. He's coming out to meet you now. Moses in the wilderness. Aaron's in Egypt. We can look back to we can look forward in Chapter 4 verse 27. God actually appears to Aaron. He says, go see your brother. He needs you. Also, as we look forward to the story, Moses does most of the talking. Aaron really becomes more of a problem in the future rather than a solution. By doubting God, Moses isn't getting anyone who's going to share the burden anymore. Aaron is going to share the glory. Moses is losing the reward here, the reward that faith brings. By having continually doubted and refused God, he's not getting someone who's going to work alongside of him necessarily. He's actually getting someone who's going to be a problem alongside of him. But ultimately, he's getting someone who's not going to share in the workload, but sharing the reward of what he's done. As we conclude, let's focus on a few things here that this text teaches about God. Here's some that I'm not going to go in depth on. God is faithful. God is steadfast in his love. God is merciful. God is powerful. God is sovereign. We talked about those last week. We'll talk about those for the rest of Exodus. One that I want to focus in on is God is for us. God is for us. This is one of those great theological categories that summarizes so much. There's still lots of categories. There's God who is there. He exists. He's there. There's God who speaks. He tells us about Himself. There's God who is with us. He's there to comfort us and empower us. And in this category, it's God who is for us. Everything He does is for us. Us. He's the God who comes to save us. Every blessing in Christ that we get from the cross. He's the God who is for us to redeem us, to reconcile us, to forgive us, to give us an imperishable inheritance, to give us eternal life, to give us hope and peace and rest. And so much more. If you ever thought about the fact that the God who is there, the Almighty Holy God, He is for you? His ears are bent in towards you? His eyes are focused in on you? His love is manifested to you? Do you question if God is for you? Because if God is for you, nothing can stand against you? If God is for you, nothing, nothing can keep you from His love? So we need to be certain of God's for us. We need to be certain of it. If you're looking for that certainty, just look at the cross. God sent his only son, the innocent one, to die for you. What will he hold back if he gives you a son? If you ever question if God is for you, what else could he possibly give you? What would he possibly hold back from you if he's given you his own son to die to give you life? The next thing we see here is that God is patient. God is patient. He is patiently letting Moses come up with excuses. He's patiently letting God, Moses, try to work his way out of this using excuses rather than really facing the fact that he lacks faith. He is patient as God trying to care for his people. Now for us, we need to realize that Moses, he's sinning constantly. Because ultimately the sin here is he's not trusting God. He's not hearing God's Word and not believing it and not taking it as the sure foundation for his life. God is patient. God is patient as we grow as Christians. God is patient with us as we falter in faith. God is patient with us with our particular sins. You know that sin that continues to entangle you? That sin that you're embarrassed of because it regularly hinders you. It steals your joy. You're afraid to confess anyone because you don't know what they're going to think of. God is patient with you. If he's given you a son, he's not going to abandon you. He's patient with us in our particular sins. When we return to our sins like a dog returns to his vomit, God is patient. Calling us to repentance. God is patient with our forgetfulness. How much do we forget to pray? How much do we forget to read his word? How much do we forget to rely upon him? How much do we forget about God throughout the week? Praise God, he's patient with us in our forgetfulness. He doesn't forget us. He remembers us. If you're not a Christian this morning, he's patient with sinners. If you're not a Christian this morning, He's patient with you, hoping you're going to stop battling. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish. If you're not a Christian this morning, it doesn't mean you have every day in your future. If God is calling you, stop fighting. Stop fighting the call of God. To be his child, stop fighting the call of God to have forgiveness and peace. The third thing we see about God is that God listens. God listens to his people crying, but God listens to Moses. This is really another part of his mercy. He bends his ear in mercy. He wants us. to talk to him about the real problems that we are burdened with. He wants us to cry out, how long, oh Lord? He invites us to ask, how long will I have to bear this burden? How long will I suffer? He wants us to ask questions like, why me? Why am I the one that has to carry this burden? Why am I the one that has to do this suffering? Why am I the one that has this call? He wants us to ask questions like, why not me? Why didn't I get that job? Why didn't I get that spouse? Why do I not have children? God wants us to take these very difficult questions to him. And he wants us to ask them wholeheartedly, because when we plea with God, when we ask God those questions, it will always end with prayer, with praise. Because we ask, how God? Why God? He always answers us, and it always gives us praise. From this sequence, we do not just learn something about God, but we learn something about ourselves. First, we're selfish. God says, I. We say, me. Moses is worried about his own neck. He's worried about how his people are going to respond. He's got a fear of man. He's got a fear of Pharaoh. He's got a fear of failure. He's worried about himself. He's selfish. He's also just as stiff necked as the people of Israel. He's refusing God over and over and over again, just like the people of God will. We have to realize we're sinners. We're dead in our sin. We're naturally opposed to God, but by His grace and by His Spirit, we can submit to Him. We have to pray for faith. As we look at Moses, we wish you'd have had more faith, Moses. You should have had more faith. We need to pray for more faith ourselves. We have to keep something always in the forefront of our mind, and that is we're sinners. We're completely dependent upon God for every blessing. We're completely dependent upon God for every breath. We're completely dependent upon God for every blessing in Christ. We need to realize that we are always in need of grace. And so is the person next to us. So is the person preaching to you. So that's what makes the church unique. We all come here. Confessing we're sinners. Confessing our need for grace from God. Confessing our need for grace from one another. That's the key to church unity. That we sin against each other and we don't hold it against each other. That we realize that we've been shown grace and therefore we show grace. Further, I think what we see in this text is a doubt that God uses people. Moses doubts that God can use him. Israel doubts that God can use Moses. And there's two ways that we can we can doubt, just like Israel doubts if God can use Moses and Moses doubts if God can use him. We doubt if God can use other people. We doubt if God can use us. If you doubt God can use you, it's not about you. That's the beauty of the gospel work. It's about being faithful. It's about being obedient, it's about trusting God to use you. It's about being proactive and seeking him. But the beauty of gospel work is that it's not our power, it's his. If you question that God can use others. Friends, all the scriptures about God using others. The only way we can truly experience Christ in all his fullness is that God would use others in our lives. We are dependent upon one another for grace. As we conclude, let's look to the battle of the wills. If you are not a Christian this morning. I pray there's a battle going on in your heart and I pray you lose. Because I'm losing again, I pray Christ conquers you, has a victory over you. He loves you. He has sent his son to Jesus God, his father has sent his son to die for you. If that move is within you, do not leave this place today without talking to somebody about it. If there's a battle going on, surrender. I pray for the rest of us who are sinners under grace, if God has confronted you. Don't leave without talking to another Christian about that. Do not leave without talking to God about that. If you're wondering if God can really use you, don't build up self-confidence, build up a confidence in Him by reading His Word and working with others. Pray for God to use you for His glory. I pray that we as a church are challenged by God. We are sent on a mission like Moses is sent. We are sent to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ to one another within these walls and wherever we meet. Commissioned to proclaim the name of Jesus in all our neighborhood and throughout the world. We must do it trusting the authority of Christ. Let's pray. Father, give us faith. Increase. Our faith. As we look to Moses, we can only identify with him in doubting who you have said you are and what you've said you're going to do and how you will even use us to accomplish it. How you use others to accomplish it. Help us to stop being critical and skeptical of your grace and your power to use sinners. Help us, Lord, to stop doubting. But to step out in faith and proclaim you as our God. To proclaim that we are sinners in need of you, to proclaim that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and grace. To proclaim that you are the one Lord and Savior. Help us as a church arise, hear your call and follow you as our captain. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.