Unveiling a God of Grace - Leadership Truths from Moses' Mistakes

 Unveiling a God of Grace - Leadership Truths from Moses' Mistakes

7 June 2012

Today I'm gonna share something that's gonna bless you, that's gonna help you,

but it's a leadership message. And I really believe God is calling you, so many of you, in this church, in fact, everyone, who is a believer, is a leader.

For sure you are a leader in society, amen. And especially more so at home. You are a leader at home. Don't just let things slide. Lead. Amen. Good leaders lead. They don't drive. They inspire, they encourage, they lead. Can I have a good amen? Good shepherds don't drive the flock. They lead the flock. And the Bible says this' how Jesus see people. You know one time the Bible says in Mark chapter 9 when Jesus look at the people scattered on the mountains, they were fainting, and they were scattered abroad. The Bible says Jesus had compassion on them, for He saw them as sheep, having no shepherd. What a beautiful perspective. A perspective that inspires compassion. - To see people fainting not because they are lazy. Or scattered because they are rebellious. But to see people, they are just like this, because they have no shepherd. Amen?

Now that is the perspective I choose to have of the body of Christ. You know some people have the perspective when they look at people, they say that “Wa, they're just plain lazy. They know what to do. They need more discipline.” or “They're just rebellious. They are just looking for a way to sin.”

You know I don't believe that.

I believe people are looking for a way out of bondage. They're looking for a way out of sin. That's my perspective.

Yes you always have a few people, regardless of what. And the few people, those few will always exist. But we don't preach to the, those few – those weird types – so much of love given and they are still rebelling. There's always these kind of people. But I believe that the majority of the body of Christ want to love God, they want to do what's right, they want to live lives that glorify Jesus. Amen? Praise the Lord. So that's the perspective I take, and I encourage every pastor, leader, to have the same perspective because Jesus had this perspective and that's why He had compassion on the people. Praise God. It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

Today I want to share with you something that backs an answer because the remefication is amazing – it is the sin of Moses. That one sin of Moses – that deprived him of entering into the promise land. And he committed this sin in the final year of the wandering, in the wilderness. God says they will wander for 40 years. And in the 40^th year, he committed this sin. So close! To the promise land. But when he committed this sin, God says, you will not bring the people into the land. What is this sin that is so serious? Now, I pray in Jesus' name that you'll never see me as putting down Moses. Because many a times you say that Moses represents the law, that's how John puts it, in John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Alright, but don't forget, as a type, Moses was a type of the law - God's claims, God's demands, on the people. But grace and truth – grace is God's supply, amen? The law demands righteousness, from sinfully bankrupt men, alright, but grace imparts righteousness as a gift to be received.

So the essence of the law is demand, the essence of grace is supply. And sometimes we can get into this mode of “demand-minded”. You know, you feel like your wife demands things from you, alright. Your husband demands things from you. Your children demands things from you. There's an assignment from your boss, you feel that it's been demanded of you. Instead of being supply-orientated with every fresh challenge “Praise God, I have this assignment but praise God the supply is enough” - then you are living under grace! Because when you live under demand, under law, you'll always be frustrated, and you'll be angry, and you'll be angry with yourself as well as with others. Alright? You will lash out. So be supply-orientated. Regardless of your projects, assignment or challenge might be this coming week, know this: when you step into that day, the supply will be there.

You can't feel the supply now because God gives the supply one day at a time. Like manna, one day at a time. So the supply will be there. Be supply minded. Be grace minded. But Moses, as a type is the law, but, as a man, the Bible says he's the meekest of all men. The Bible calls him “faithful” in all his house. He was faithful to God. What a man. What a leader. He's the leader of leaders. Alright, so we're not disparaging Moses, he's the meekest of all men. I remember when his sister Miriam spoke against Moses, she became a leper. So far be it from me, to put down Moses. You understand? Alright, but there was one sin that robbed Moses of the privilege of bringing God's people to the promise land. What is so drastic, a sin, that Moses was robbed of the very thing he wanted. We're gonna study that. It's gonna bless you.

Let's go to that sin that was committed that deprived him of the privilege of seeing the promise land – Numbers 20: “Then the children of Isreal,”, now by the way, this is the very first month of the 40^th year, the final year of their wandering. Isn't it sad? The final year. You are so close to the promise land, and he committed this sin. The Bible says in the wilderness of Zin in the first month, the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there. Miriam was the sister of Moses. Now there's no water for the congregation so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke saying: “If only we had died when our brethen died before the Lord. Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grains, of figs, of vines or promegrenades, nor is there any water to drink. Forty years! of murmuring. And they have not improved.

You think about it, this is the 40^th year of their wandering. And they are still murmuring. It's the first recourse of the flesh, it's always to murmur. Amen. Why pray when you can murmur right? Alright, the first recourse of the flesh is always to murmur. Alright, you murmur against your spouse, you murmur against your parents, you murmur against your colleague, your boss. You murmur against everything alright because you don't believe God! The first recourse of faith! is always to draw near to God. To tell God what you need. To trust God, that in His time, He makes all things beautiful. Amen?

So the people are murmuring. In verse 6 it tells us “Moses and Aaron went from the presense of the assembly and to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.” Next verse: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying “Take the rod, you and your brother Aaron” So Aaron is here as well. Aaron is the first high priest of Isreal. “Gather the congregation together” The third thing you need to know is the congregation. The congregation or in Hebrew, the kahal, kahelat they call it. It's always the term used in Isreal, when the messianic believers get together they call it the assembly, the congregation.

So three things to remember, no 1: The rod, no 2: Aaron the first high priest, no 3: The assembly or congregation. It always speaks of the Lord's people, the assembly, the church, the congregation. Today, made of Jew and Gentile. Back then it was all Isreal. But there's a truth for our times.

Then God says this to Moses: “Speak to the rock, before their eyes,” Whose eyes? The assembly's eyes, the congregation's eyes. “Speak before their eyes”. Alright let me establish right here, the rock is Christ. It's a type of Christ. We find this in the new testament in 1 Corinthians 10 “They all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that same spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ” Who is that rock? Christ. So the people are murmuring because there was no water and sometimes God bring us to the end of ourselves, so that we can know what is in our hearts. Full of complaining, full of murmuring, alright, full of unbelief. So He brings us to that place so that we can know what is in His heart, full of love, full of compassion and full of resources and supply. If we're not brought to that place, we'll never know what's in our hearts and we'll never know what is in His heart. That's the purpose for the wilderness.

Are you in a wilderness journey right now? Alright stop looking into your heart, stop murmuring and start looking into what is God's heart.

So here, the Bible tells us the rock was Christ. And what God wanted Moses and Aaron to do was to speak to the rock – which is Christ. And God says: Numbers: what's gonna happen: it will yield it's water. I love the Hebrew, the Hebrew says: “He will give you His water” Isn't that cool? “He will give you His water” as if it's a person. And we know the rock is Christ!

Speak to the rock! And He will give you His water. Speak to Him.

So he's supposed to speak to the rock before them. Before their eyes. Mark that down okay. And the Bible says “Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals”.

So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered their assembly together before the rock. So they gathered all the assembly together before the rock and Moses said to them: “HEAR NOW YOU REBELS!” I think he's mad(angry). I think he's angry. Now you would think after 40 years of hearing the murmuring of the people of Isreal, he's entitled to some anger.

He said “HEAR NOW YOU REBELS, must we bring water for you out of the rock?”

Number 1, Moses, it's not you that bring the water. Alright. He called them rebels. He never calls the people of God rebels before. Now, he calls them you rebels, he was angry. What did God say to do to the rock? Speak. Then Moses lifted His hand and struck the rock. Twice! With His rod. And water came out abundantly. Stop here, and let me just tell you this – sometimes, even a ministry that condemns, a mixture, a ministry that is anti-grace, alright, at the end, there's still some results. The result does not mean that the sermon was right. Doesn't mean that message is from God. But God still send the supply because He loves the people. Are you listening? Sometimes people are still healed, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3 “Even the ministry of condemnation had glory. You know those past revival that preach alot on sin, and make you feel the fires of hell (on your backsides), you know when they preach, I mean, those ministries, they still have glory. But the Bible says, the ministry of righteousness that is coming EXCEEDS in glory. Amen. You ain't see nothing yet. Amen. Alright, so results does not mean it's of God. Okay. No one knew! that Moses rebelled. No one knew that God told Moses to speak to the rock. Except God. And Aaron. No one else knew. And the Bible says “and the congregation and the animals drank”. Now watch this: next verse: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 'Because you did not believe me, to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel,'” Now your new King James say Hallow, your old King James say to sanctify, that means what? Make holy. Hallow means make holy.

You know a young boy was asked in his sunday school class: What is God's name in the Old Testament. He answered “Hellowed,” So you say Why? “My mummy always pray 'Father in heaven, hellowed be your name.'” Alright so Hallowed means what? Make holy. Seperate unto. God says to Moses and Aaron, you did not make me appear holy. Before the people. And because of this, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Wow. So why is this sin so major? So drastic. That Moses was not allowed to bring the people into the land. Now I've heard preaching that says that 'beware of the sin of anger. ANGER robbed Moses, the great leader of the promise land.” Now, you must remember that there was another time Moses was angry. Remember he came down the mountain he saw the golden calf and the people dancing around the calf? *sings* Tonight, we are young... You know. And what did Moses do? He was Angry, alright. He took the two tablets and he broke all ten yo! He broke all the ten! He was angry! And God did not rebuke Moses. You know why? Because at that time he was in sync with God. God was also angry. Are you listening. Anger itself is not wrong. The Bible itself in the book of Ephesians, written to Ephesus, it says “Be you angry but do not sin in your anger.” Alright. We need to get angry at sin, we need to get angry at injustice – bullying tactics. People who put down others Amen! I mean Jesus was angry at the Pharisees but notice He wasn't angry at the prostitutes. He wasn't angry at the tax-collectors. He wasn't angry at the social outcasts. If you study the life of Jesus and He's the same yesterday today and forever. He was angry, at the ruler of the synagogue when the guy was seeing whether Jesus would heal on the sabbath. We learned that. You'll be surprised how many religious people would be shocked to know that Jesus is not angry at the social outcasts! There's no record! That he's angry at them. All his strong words are reserved for the Pharisees. Those who are self righteous. “Don't come near me, I'm holier than you” His strongest words. He never calls a prostitute “You brood of snake,”, He never calls a social outcast “You whitewash” He never calls them that. He calls the Pharisee that. What makes Jesus angry?

So the answer is that, it's not anger per se that robbed Moses of the promise land because he was angry at other times and God allowed it. God approved of it actually in an earlier case. So what's the problem here? Ok watch this, this happened in the 40^th year. This wasn't the first time the rock was struck. Forty years earlier, when they just came out of Egypt, God made a way when there was no way. God brought people through the Red Sea, unto the other side. And they experienced God's provision at the bitter waters of Marah, and then the next chapter, God rained bread from heaven, manna from heaven. Now remember this, they were not yet at Mount Sinai. They have not yet received the Ten Commandments, and then they had no water, in a place called Rephidim. They were just close to the receiving of the Ten Commandments. They are close to receiving the law. But before the law, God gave them water out of the rock.

So let's go to the forty years ago incident first. To understand this passage. Let's go to Exodus 17, “And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said 'Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestocks with thirst?'” So Moses cried out to the Lord saying “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!” Next verse, the Lord said to Moses, “go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel.” Just now, at the end of forty years, when God said to Moses to speak to the rock, it is before the congregation. Elders of Israel is not mentioned. Here you have the elders of Israel, very significant. Right at the last line, “and Moses did so at the sight of the elders of Israel”. Alright, the last line there, can you see that? Also take in your hand your rod, Moses' rod, with which you struck the river and go. The river Nile, remember that? He struck the river with his rod. Moses' rod is a rod of judgement. Moses rod is a rod of Judgement. The law. The first miracle of the law, the first miracle of judgement is to turn water into blood. Resulting in death. The first miracle of grace, is to turn water into wine, resulting in celebration and life. So the rod of Moses is the rod of judgement. God says take that rod, your rod, behold... When God revealed this to me, I was very touched. Deeply touched. When God opened this up to me. Look at this, look at what the Lord said:. And I believe Jesus in His preincarnate appearance was speaking to Moses, look, behold, Hinneh, Behold in Hebrew. I will stand before you on the rock in Horab and you shall strike the rock. You know the word I will stand, alright, on the rock, is the preposition that says, on, at, in. I will stand in the rock, don't forget the rock is Christ. And the Lord says the people are hungry, they have needs, but because there are people who have sin, they are murmurers, complainers, they are people of unbelief, I don't want God's righteous smiteing to come on them. Smite me. And the waters will flow to the people. Smite me. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. It was done before the elders of Israel. Moses did so at the sight of the elders of Israel. Amen. Notice the side, the elders of Israel. So we have the phrase 'elders of Israel' again. Alright. Now, strike the rock, so that the waters may flow so that the people may drink. So God's heart is for you. You are thirsty spiritually. And that's why you are looking for love in all the wrong places. There is a thirst, for fame, for recognition, there is a thirst, for fulfilment, there is a thirst for better things in life. The Lord understands that, but the Lord doesn't want you to pursue it in an illegitamate way. He says when you come to me, I will give you water. Remember the woman at the well? Jesus talks to her about water. What was the problem? She had 5 husbands. But Jesus talk to her about water. You understand water yo? Some people are not satisfied, with all the water they have. Why? They are looking for true water. Living water. Jesus says you've been drinking at the wrong well. But if you drink the water that I give you, you will never thirst again.

So whatever the need may be, the answer is at the water. You are thirsty for something. And you are thirsty for that water that only Jesus can give. Are you listening? But in order for you to receive that water, somebody has to pay for sin. See, God is holy, though God is love and God loves you, with an infinite love, an unconditional love, strong, strong love. But the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so sin must be paid. Somebody has to pay for sin. You know when we do wrong, something inside us say “Somebody must pay.”,”Somebody must pay” And the thing is this, I've said this before, our DNA is so intelligent, that when you do something wrong, inside you it says “Somebody must pay”, “Somebody must pay”, “Somebody must pay.” And what you do sometimes is that you make your family pay. Sometimes you make your children pay. Sometimes you make yourself pay. But you feel like the justice needs to be done, justice needs to be done, your selves are so intelligent, that your DNA will send a message saying “He wants to punish himself, let's create a disease”.

Now doctors cannot explain autoimmune disorders. They only say things like your body is fighting against itself. Doctors can give you medications for the symptom but they cannot cure autoimmune disorders. They don't understand why somebody's body is fighting against itself. It's almost like your body is punishing itself. It's attacking itself. Are you listening? Cancer is a case in point. It's yourself attacking yourself. So the thing is this, like I said, when you sin, when you do wrong, you don't revert back to the cross. You must look to the cross! When you look to the cross, there is my punishment, there is my beating, there is my smiting, there is my judgement. Everything inside you say Peace. And your DNA says “Boys, hold it! All is well. It has been, Paid. Do you understand? And that's how wholeness comes through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is finished. Amen. You see, even those who disputes the gospel, they know in their hearts, somebody has to pay. Somebody has to pay.

Alright so Jesus stood down there, and all the claims of God's holy on your life, all the claims of God's holiness and righteousness on your life and my life, Jesus met IN FULL. All the divine claims, can only be met, in a divine manner. It wasn't me who paid God. If it was me who paid God, I can question the payment, and the satisfaction of the recipient. But if it was God! The Son who paid on my behalf, it is paid. It is finished. So for all, for your conscience to be at rest, you must know this. For you to have a happy heart, you must know this. All the divine claims of God on your life, has been divinely met.Through Christ. All of it. Met in full. And much more left over. Hallelujah.

So Jesus stood there. And Jesus say 'Smite me'. And the water will flow, for the people to drink

All typed out by me, source taken from Joseph Prince Resources. Sermon.