Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Could we turn to Acts chapter 6, Chapter 7? I should say Acts Chapter 7, verse 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him.
And avenged him that was oppressed and smoked the Egyptians.
For he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that the Lord by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself under them as they strolled, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sir, ye are brethren, why do we wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who may be a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst?
Yesterday then fled Moses at this thing and was a stranger in the land of Median.
Where he begat two sons.
Well, our brother has just been bringing before us some beautiful thought in connection with the school of God in the lives of these different ones, Peter and John, and also with Martha and Mary. And I was thinking how we also have some similar lessons in the life of Moses. And what I was thinking specially to was in spite of the fact that Moses didn't always act in a way that was.
According to the mind of God, yet God's faithfulness in connection with his people.
His desire to bless them. And I was thinking of these different instances that come in the life of Moses in this occasion and later in the wilderness, But this one. Here we find that Moses had gone along in the first part of his life and learned to be a great man in Egypt. Says he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
We surely would have thought at this point in his life.
That he would have been most useful because he was fully accomplished later on, as we know, and God was going to use them. He even said he couldn't speak. But at this time he had no such feeling in his heart. He was very confident. He was mighty in words and deeds. He had, shall I say, the ability to lead and guide. And he thought that God could use all this that He had naturally.
And so it all began with a good motive, and I believe it shows us that we can do a right thing, at least desire to do a right thing, and not realize that there is much of the energy of the flesh in what we do.
It tells us here in the 23rd verse, when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. Wasn't this a good thing?
That he had a desire for the blessing of the people of God, a desire for their deliverance.
He saw them oppressed under the burdens in Egypt, and he wanted to be a help. And so it tells us that when he saw one of them suffer wrong, instead of acting in the Spirit of God, in the Spirit of Christ, we see him rashly taking and killing the Egyptians, undertaking to deliver in a way that he thought was the best, but it wasn't ordered of God.
And so it tells us that he flew the Egyptian in the desire to deliver his brethren. And it says he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And how often this has been so in our lives too. Something has turned up, something that we saw a person suffer wrong, something that we saw another, and we thought we should act to help.
That person to defend them. And perhaps we did the same thing as we find here with Moses.
And we thought others would understand and see that it was a right desire, but his brethren didn't understand. Well, how was this that his brethren didn't understand? Well, no doubt God had lessons for Moses to learn. Then after he had done this, he tried a second time. He wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to be easily frustrated because he did love the people of God. He did love them and hate to see them oppressed.
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And so he tried a second time, and this time he he tried to set his brethren, he saw him quarreling among themselves, and he said, notice what he said.
The next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sir, ye are brethren.
Why do we wrong one to another? Here He undertakes to try and settle a quarrel between the people of God. And he tried to do it, as I say, out of love for the people of God, but they still didn't understand. And so he said, as it were, it's no use. It's no use. And so it says. He flared at that saying, and he went to the backside of the desert. He, so to speak, gave up any desire to help the people.
God, what was the use? They didn't appreciate Him, they didn't understand Him, They didn't see that He wanted to be a help. They didn't look at His heart, but God did. Nevertheless, God had His eye upon Moses and He had, as our brother has been bringing before us, lessons to learn in the school of God and brethren, I believe these are lessons for us too.
Lessons that we sometimes might have a right desire.
And go about it in the wrong way. And then because our efforts are unappreciated.
We do just what Moses did, we run away. As our brother remarked, when the disciples saw some others going away, the Lord turned and said, will he also go away? Peter said, to whom shall we go? Well, this was a great thing in the life of Moses and he he went away. He spent 40 years. That was a long time, wasn't it, in the school of God.
And all brethren, we are slow learners.
Everyone of us have to acknowledge that we learn so slowly. It takes so much to teach us our own nothingness, but also the wonderful fact that God is everything and that He does care for his people because Moses had forsaken them and gone to the backside of the desert and taken up the ordinary occupation of keeping sheep.
Why had God forgotten his people? Was he without a resource because Moses had forsaken them? Oh no.
The Lord loves his people. And that lovely verse that our brother read to us this morning was really what brought some of these thoughts before me. He read that verse having loved his own, which were in the world. He loved them under the end. And I was noticing that Mister Darby has a little footnote there which our brother intimated when he read it, that under the end doesn't have reference to time, but that he he loves them through every circumstance.
Through everything that might come up. And oh, how wonderful this is. Yes, the Lord loves his people through every circumstance that may come up. And so when this circumstance came up, did God give up his people because Moses forsook them and went to the backside of the desert? No, He had his eye upon them. And while the people were oppressed under these burdens and cried out to the Lord, the Lord heard their cry. He heard them.
And later on, after Moses had learned something in the school of God.
And perhaps there's a little thought, brethren, here in the fact that it says he begat two sons. I believe perhaps the thought is God teaches us in our own families certain lessons, lessons that he intends us to profit by so that we would have a better understanding of his people, because as we go through things and as Moses went through things.
In his family life, this was part of the school of God teaching him.
And fearing him so that he would be useful later on. And so after the 40 years had passed by and Moses had learned something of his own nothingness was emptied of himself was not going to try and set things right in his own wisdom or strength. Was not going to slay an Egyptian or try and settle something that he couldn't settle. He comes back and of God. But when the Lord appeared to him to send him back.
It's lovely what he said.
He said to Moses like this, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them to me. It's as if the Lord said to Moses, Moses, you didn't think that I was paying any attention to what was happening under.
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Among my afflicted people, you thought that you were the only one that could set them right. But I have seen all about it. I know everything that's going on.
And now, when you have learned that I am the only one who can come in and deliver, now I can use you. Now I can send you. But my eye has been on my people all the time. Having loved his own, which were in the world, He loved them under the end.
And so Moses that one, it tells us that they thrust away, saying, who made the ruler and a judge?
The Lord sent to be a ruler and a deliverer. Quite a difference. Isn't there a great difference between being a ruler and a judge and a ruler and a deliverer? It's very easy for us when a situation arises to try and judge the situation, and we often judge it wrongly because but we only have human wisdom. The Lord always judges rightly. But it's another thing to be a deliverer, another thing to be so before the Lord.
Looking to him and conscious of his love and care for his people, that when a circumstance arises that he can use us when we can't speak. For when Moses was about to be used, he was so humbled by the experiences that he said, I can't even speak. And the Lord had to say, Who made man's mouth? And he said, I'll be with thee and teach thee what to say.
What a difference had taken place.
And how wonderfully God used this man Moses, the same person as a ruler and a deliverer. And he goes back and.
Appears before Pharaoh and God uses them to deliver his people out of that land.
And it's lovely to see what it tells us in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews, that it comes down into personal thing to Moses when they leave Egypt. And it says by faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them. Moses had to realize that he was no better than the rest of the people. He needed to be under the shelter of the blood. And his first born was only sheltered through that blood, just the same as the others and.
Subjects of grace. We've all been saved by the same blessed Savior and by the same blessed work that was accomplished at Calvary. Without that, we would never be in the family of God, and without knowing Him as our Savior, surely we could never be used at all. Well, perhaps in some measure Moses learned of that lesson, that God was not going to use him in an energy of the flash as one who would try to set things right.
But as one who became conscious of the fact that the Lord knew everything, and that the Lord could use him when he was thoroughly and completely emptied of himself.
Now I'd like to turn to another circumstance in the life of Moses, and that's in Exodus chapter 3332. I should say Exodus chapter 32 and verse 31. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said.
All these people have been the great sin, and have made them gods of goals. Yet now if thou will forgive their sin, and if not blot me, I pray the out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now gold, lead the people onto the place which I have spoken unto thee. Behold mine Angel.
Before thee, nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And now in the next chapter, the 33rd chapter, and the 12Th verse. And Moses said unto the Lord, See that thou singest unto me, Bring up these people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou will send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight now.
I pray thee, if I have found grace in my sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in my sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hands.
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And now in the 34th chapter.
And the 29th verse. And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai.
Where the two tables of testimony in Moses hand when he came down from the mount, that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone.
While he talked with him, and when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone.
And they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him.
And Moses talked with them.
Well, here we find an entirely different attitude, surely in the heart of Moses not now trying to set things right and looking so harshly upon the people. And know what a different attitude. Surely we can say Moses had profited much in the school of God, and isn't it lovely when the people had sinned?
What do we find him doing in this case? How do we find him telling them that they shouldn't quarrel? Do we find him here killing an Egyptian? No, he says, I'll go up and I'll intercede for you with the Lord. What a lovely attitude we see here. How beautiful this very man. Surely we can see as our brother brought before us, that John was once a son of Thunder. But the grace of God rod in his heart and.
Calls us now the very man who had acted so rashly before. Isn't this lovely? He said, I'll go up and I'll intercede for you. And he was went Even so far as to say to the Lord that the people were not only dear to the heart of the Lord, but they had become dear to his heart. And he said, let me, I pray thee out of thy book and take this people. What a heart he had for the people of God.
What an intercession.
On their behalf, all brethren, this, I believe is so touching to each one of us. And had the people changed? Had they improved? Were things better? Oh no, He went up because they had failed. He didn't look for a change among the people of God that he looked to the one who changes not.
He looks to the one who loves his own to the end, the one who could say in Jeremiah, yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. The one who could say in remnant days in Malachi the burden of the word of the Lord. By Malachi I have loved you, sayeth the Lord. Yes, Moses now had the thoughts of God about his people, and he went up to Interstate for them.
But when the Lord said Moses.
Now you go and lead the people, and I'll send my Angel.
All Moses fell his own utter incompetency, and as our brother brought before us, we never, can, never should come to the point where we think we have learned our lessons, or that now we're capable of doing something because we have learned certain things. Moses here, in spite of all that he had learned, we find him quite sensible of the fact that he couldn't do anything of himself.
And so he said to the Lord.
He said, You have said that I have found grace in thy sight, and you told me to lead the people, and how can I do it? You haven't told me how I'll be able to do it. And how lovely the Lord's answer. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And then he said, if thy presence go not with me.
Carry us not a pen, he said. I can't do anything of myself. May we ever have the sense of this in our souls, brethren.
We can't do anything of ourselves. There's no man of us. No matter whether we're learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians or not, no matter whether we've had 40 years in the school of God, we still can't do anything of ourselves. We still are utterly dependent for every step and every move upon the one who has promised this. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
Until we find Moses there in the presence of God.
He receives the 10 commandments and this I believe is instructive to God hadn't changed his standard because He went on and grace with the people and grace never overlooks and grace never looks lightly upon sin. And the tables of stone the second time were the very same words as were on the 1St tables that were broken. God hadn't changed his standard, I say.
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Not those tables of stone were to be put inside the Ark and the mercy seat was on top of the ark.
And so the eye of God could rest upon the blood that was sprinkled on the mercy seat and go on with an earring. People. Oh, how lovely this was. And this is what made Moses face shine. This is why when he came down the first time with the tables of stone, his face wasn't shining. No, the people were worshipping the golden calf. He broke the tables of stone, but now he went up. He interceded for them.
He received the promise that the Lord would go with him. He received the instructions in connection with the building of the Tabernacle and the mercy seat. And now he comes down with the same tables of stone, but they were placed in the ark, and there the Lord provided a place outside the camp, far off from the camp, where he could meet with the people.
And so Moses face shine, and his face shone so much that the children of Israel.
Asked him to put a veil over his face. Yes. And I believe if you and I are really in his presence, it'll make our face shine too. It'll make us conscious of the grace that is in his heart that can go on with his people. For I say again, he never changes his love to his people. He loves them through every circumstance, everything that's ever happened in your life or mine, or whether it's in the assembly where we are.
Among God's assemblies, nothing changes his heart toward his people. He loves them through it all. And if we're going to represent Him, we need to have his heart toward his people in order to go on in the place that he would have us. And so this is how Moses was being used of God. Now let us turn over to Numbers, to the 10th chapter, and we see a third circumstance in Moses.
I'm sorry, it's the 20th of Numbers, the 20th chapter of Numbers.
And the sixth verse.
The people had been complaining against God, and says in the sixth verse. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly under the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, And they fell upon their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and thy bra ere and thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water.
And thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rocks, so that thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts thirst a drink. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them, Here now, you rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his rod.
And with his rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly.
And the congregation drank, and their beasts also, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because he believed not me, not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore ye shall not bring his congregation into the land which I have given them. So here we find something also. There is a sad note about this.
And yet there is also a very blessed side to it also.
Here we find the children of Israel murmuring. The wilderness was a wearisome thing to them. They have been 40 years and 10. It was no doubt a difficult and hard journey all through the wilderness, and they were beginning to get tired of it. And perhaps as we approached the time of the Lord's return, we feel increasing problems and difficulties. We feel that as the end draws nearer, it's not.
Easier, it seems to get more difficult and so it was here. So the people murmured and the Moses and Aaron went in before the Lord, and the Lord said as it were, and there is provision for everything that takes place. I still love my people. And I might say that this rod, when he says take the rod, that was the priestly rod.
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You remember God gave that rod that budded.
Figure of the priesthood that could carry the people through the wilderness. And Moses took this rod and the Lord said, you take that rod in your hand and you go to the rock and you'll just have to speak to the rock and the water will come out. The Lord Jesus was smitten once at Calvary. He bore the wrath and judgment of God. He exhausted it and the rock doesn't need to be smitten again. He has borne the judgment.
And blessing has been thoroughly and fully and completely opened up through what Christ has done.
That he only needed to speak to the rock. And brethren, we can go and speak to the rock ourselves. We can talk to the one who died for us on Calvary. He's living for us. There's our great high priest and our advocate. And so Moses and Aaron started out watching. All their spirits became a little bit stirred. And when they came to the rock, it tells us that Moses had another rod in his hand. Not the rod.
God said, God said take thee rod. But Moses did something different. He took his rod, He took his rod. The rod I suppose that he used to smite the river. He took that and with that rod he smoked the rock twice and he turned to the people and he said, must we fetch you water out of this rocky rebels? He lost his patience with the people of God. They tried his spirit so much that it tells us he spake unadvisedly.
With his lips. And God was grieved. Why? Well, because He didn't sanctify him among the people. God's heart hadn't changed toward his people. All her murmurings and all are complaining, and all the things they did hadn't changed His heart. He had laid a basis by which he could bless them. And that basis was the work that Christ has done. And because of this, He had a way that in spite of all their failure, they could.
Blessed, fully blessed. But Moses is a servant here. He failed to get hold of this. And brethren, what an easy thing for us to do. Do you and I get stirred? Do we speak unadvisedly with our lips because someone has said or done something? Well, certainly the people were wrong here. And certainly you say, well, it was pretty hard for Moses not to lose his patience, and I'm sure it was. I would have probably done worse.
But Moses lost his patience just once. And God said Moses, you can't lead the people into the land. You can't. You just lost your patience once with the people because God doesn't lose his patience with his people. He loves them. He loves them through everything. He loves them under the end. But there's a lovely side to it, that alone Moses did lose his patience and smite the rock twice and call the people.
It didn't change the heart of God and the water flowed out abundantly.
God didn't say, well, Moses, because you failed. Now that you've spoiled it for all the people, Oh no, isn't this lovely? Brethren, we fail. We fail those who seek to perhaps help the people of God, but he never fails. There's a great high priest that's sitting there at God's right hand. There's an advocate to restore. There's one who threw everything, loves his people. He has lessons to teach us, but he's the same.
Yesterday and today and forever. And so in the circumstances that arise.
Perhaps these three things are lessons for us. First of all, we see trying to set a situation right in the flesh, and it failed the second time. We see one who went up and interceded for the people of God, willing to have his own name blotted out, that those people might be blessed, and God used him to give all the instructions for the Tabernacle. God said that He would be the one to lead them through the wilderness.
He did, and he came down with a shining face in this occasion. But when these things troubled him and he lost his patience by the Lord said you can't lead them into the land, Moses, you can, because you haven't sanctified me. But still he brought his people in, He cared for them, He loved them. And brethren, He'll bless his people through us if we keep looking to Him, and without us if we don't.
He loves his people, I say, having loved his own, which were in the world. He loved them under the end. May these lessons that our brother brought before us and these two from the life of Moses and their practical effect with us, we can expect, as the wilderness journey draws to a close, that things will not be easier. There will be things to try, our patients, the whole world moving at such a pace as it is.
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As that's our nerves on edge as people say.
And how can you help it? Yes, we can help. But we have a great high priest, we have an advocate, we have one who loves us and who loves each one of His own in our hearts and her more. And to his thoughts toward His people, so that we may be given grace to continue in the past till He comes.