You can turn back with me now
to Exodus chapter 18. This 18th chapter of Exodus is
the account of Israel at Sinai. That's the Mount of God referred
to as I read it to you a few moments ago. And this is where
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brings his daughter and her two
children back to Moses to be reconciled to her husband again. You recall that Moses and Zipporah
left with bad words. There was a horrible time. They were on their way down to
Egypt to do God's bidding. And God met Moses in the end
and would have killed him over the circumcision of his children.
which he made Zipporah circumcise his sons. And she threw the foreskins
down at his feet and was angry and said, thou art a bloody husband
unto me. And this in itself is a wonderful
picture of Christ and his church. Zipporah being brought to Moses
is a good representation of the church being brought to Christ
to be reconciled to God. And Zipporah was a black woman.
She was a Midianite, an Ethiopian. You can find that in Numbers
chapter 12 and verse 1. But she was a heathen from a
cursed people being brought to Christ. And she and Moses were
reconciled at the Mount of God. That's the place of divine justice. So you can see here what a type
this would have made of Christ and His church. And then Moses
was to her a husband of blood, a bloody husband. And what was
the issue? Well, they were reconciled by
the covenant blood represented in the act of circumcision. So
you see in this a wonderful type of Christ in the church, just
in this statement alone. And that's as we go through the
scriptures and we see these things, I want to point them out to you.
I'm assuming that you've seen most of these things, but just
in case you haven't, I'm going to make mention of them. Upon hearing their coming, Moses
heard of his father-in-law's coming and Zipporah's coming
and some 13 months or better had passed. You remember when
they leave Sinai, it was in the second year and the second month.
So that's two years. And so quite a bit of time had
passed by since Moses went down on God's mission down into Egypt.
And then upon hearing of the coming, Moses goes out and he
meets them and he rehearsed in the ears of his father-in-law
all that God had done for them. And Jethro rejoiced. He rejoiced. And he was excited and he was
thrilled to hear all that Moses told him about what had taken
place. And just think, think what kind
of stories this man had to tell. Think what he had to say to his
father-in-law. I'm almost ashamed when I talk
to my in-laws and I recall the days when I talked to them how
very little I had to say. Moses had some things to say. He talked to him about the plagues
of Egypt. His confrontation. Think about
what it was just for Moses who had been cast out of Egypt. Think
about what a thing that was. What a marvelous thing that was.
Just the fact that he was able to walk into Pharaoh's presence
without being executed. What a thing that was. What a
statement of God's power and presence with him that he wasn't
destroyed on the spot. His confrontations with Pharaoh
and the Passover, and the Red Sea, and the bitter waters of
Meribah, and the bread from heaven. He calls his the corn of heaven
to fall out there in that wilderness is what God called it. This manna
to fall. And then in the evening, he sent
quails in. Just thousands of quails would
come in and fed them right out in the middle of that wilderness.
And then he tells him about that battle with Amalek. And Jethro
was so moved by what he heard that he joined in the worship
of God and he offered sacrifices unto the Lord. So far, so good. So far, so good. Then it said
on the morrow, I just want talk to you about that word for just
a little bit, on the morrow. Then came the morrow. The morrow
is the day after. That's the day after. The morrow
reveals the reality of true worship. It reveals what you heard. It
reveals what took place in your heart. It reveals the convictions
of your own heart. And when God does a work in the
heart, the morrow will always evidence the work. It always
will. If you can come in here and worship
and go back out and live like you did before you come in, God
hasn't done a work in your heart. God speaks to the hearts of His
people and it affects their lives. I'm not saying you're going to
live a perfect life. You know better than that and
so do I. In fact, the scripture says if you say that, you don't
know the truth. But when God does a work in the
heart, the morrow will always evidence the work. And until
there be a change in the heart, there will never be a change
in the morrow. The morrow will be just like the day before,
and the day before that, and the day before that. The tenor
of our lives is what gives evidence to the work of God. Paul wrote
to the Philippians and he said he was confident of this very
thing. that he which had begun a good
work in you would continue to perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ." Now, if God does the work, here's what Paul said,
if God begins the work, if God does, not you, not the church,
not the pastors, not some preacher, not some Hollywood evangelist,
if God begins the work, He'll finish the work. What God starts,
He finishes. He finishes. And what believers
do is different from what natural men do. What believers think,
their thinking is different than what natural men think. Why? Because it's God who worketh
in you. That's what Paul said to those
Philippians. The same ones that he talked about God beginning
the work and finishing the work. He said, let every man work out
his own salvation for it's God who worketh in you. both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. And when God works in you, you
don't work the same as they work. You don't think the same as they
think. You don't walk the same as they walk. You're on a different
road. You've got different motives.
And what believers do is different from what natural men do because
it's God that worketh in them. You say, well, wait a minute,
preacher, we're saved by grace. That's exactly what Paul said.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For, were his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto what? Good works, which God hath before
ordained that we walk in them. And we will walk in them. In the company of true worship.
And in the excitement of Moses' testimony, Jethro said and did
some good things. He blessed God. He heard who
wouldn't, hearing the stories that Moses had to tell. My soul,
I mean, if this just happened recently, like last year, and
the rumors were voiced abroad about these things, and you come
out to meet him, and here was an eyewitness, here was the man
who had the staff in his hand and held it out, and the sea
parted, I could say, bless God too, couldn't you? He said, you
bless God for all these things. And in the company of true worshippers
and in the excitement of Moses' testimony, Jethro said and did
some good things. But the day after worship revealed
him for what he truly was. He was a heathen idolater who
was ignorant of God. He's ignorant of God. He's the
priest. How many things did I read to
you there in Exodus chapter 18 where God identified His father-in-law? He's a Midianite priest. That's
what he is. He's a heathen idolater. He's
a priest who worships another god. And when Moses told him
all these things that God did, you know what he did? He took
Moses as God and put him right alongside all them other gods,
and he said he's the greatest one of all the gods. But he didn't
denounce these other gods, did he? Huh? He tells us who he is. God tells us who he is right
up front. And the day after revealed him for what he was. And because
this man Jethro was Moses' father-in-law, Moses did obeisance. Now what
in the world does that mean? That word means reverence. He
did reverence to his father-in-law. He bowed before him and reverenced
him. And there's nothing wrong with
honoring your in-laws, and there's nothing wrong with humility,
which puts others above yourself, but not in spiritual matters.
In earthly matters, as far as how things are in earthly matters,
I want to bow and be submissive to my Father-in-law. I want to
listen to Him. He was older than I was. He's been around longer
than I have. And if He's got some things to
tell me about my job and things, I want to hear what He's got
to say. I'm going to reverence Him for who He is and the time
He's spent and He raised this family. And we're taught to do
that in the Word of God, but not in spiritual matters. I'm
not to take that same reverence, that same honor, and put my arm
around him and say, okay, now I got a problem down here at
the church, maybe you can give me some advice. Uh-uh. Don't
do that. Don't do that. Not in spiritual
things. And the lesson tonight is about
another attack of Satan. Satan had just attacked them
through Amalek, and then quite a few months had went by. They
journeyed from there all the way to Sinai, and they'd spent
some time at Sinai. And you have to kind of read
through the book of Exodus realizing that the testimony that is given
is given in generalities. It can cover months at a time.
And here Moses is, I'll just give you an example. Moses is,
his father-in-law comes out to see what Moses does. Well, what
was Moses doing? He was teaching them laws and
precepts. What laws? You see what I'm saying? This thing of the law giving
had already taken place at Sinai before they left Sinai. But it
doesn't even mention that in the book of Exodus. He's just
talking in generalities here and he's telling this story about
Moses. And you've got to go over to Numbers and you have to go
over to Deuteronomy and you have to go over in these other books
to kind of fill in the blanks of the time. And I don't have
time to do all that tonight. But if you'll just read through
there, I think you'll see what I'm saying is true. He's explaining. He's teaching them the statutes
of God. You can't teach what hasn't been
given you. And God had given him these statutes. But this is about another attack
of Satan. And this time, it was an enemy that you'd never
expect. I pray as we go through the lesson
tonight that God the Holy Ghost will teach us the truth about
our earthly families and about our spiritual families and about
our friends that we have, that we respect. We've all got friends
that we have. And that we're not to mix those
friends and their advice and their counsel in spiritual things. Don't make that mistake. Satan
will use any means. He'll use any man. He'll use
any group of men. He'll exploit any weakness, any
ignorance, anything he can find to bring shame and slander against
the name of the Lord. The primary army is worldly religion. And this is how he rallies the
multitudes. He does that through religion.
There's untold thousands every day in our day. that he rallies
into an army against God in false religion. Just literally thousands. And this is how he gathers his
armies. But Satan is subtle and he knows
how to get in close. He knows how to get right in
there where you live. He knows how to come up from
behind like he did with Amalek and attack the feeble and the
weak. and attack from behind where
he can't be seen. And he does the same thing, except
this time he does it with subtlety. He does it with subtlety. He
does it through friends and family. Now, I'm going to tell you this
again. Love your families. Love them. It's not wrong to
love your families. I know they're heathen idolaters.
I know that. I know that they're lost men
and women. I know that. But love them. Love them. Love
your enemies. That's what Christ said, isn't
it? Then it's okay to love my family. Love your families. Help your families. Do what you
can for your families. Pray for them. Witness to them.
Invite them to join in worship. Moses didn't even hesitate to
invite him to worship, did he? But do not listen to their counsel
concerning the things of God. Old Jethro was a Midianite priest. He was a heathen idolater. He
knew nothing whatsoever about God. Nothing. This man was worshipping
images. He worshipped little fat Buddhas
or whatever it was that his religion had as an image to worship. Whatever
these gods, evidently there were several gods. Or at least he
acknowledged the fact that there were other gods. And he was a
heathen idolater. He didn't know anything about
God. He knew nothing of Christ and nothing of God's eternal
purpose of grace. But because of his relationship
to Moses and Moses' weakness, his family had been gone for
13 or 14 months. This man had been out there all
by himself doing the work that God gave him to do. And now his
father-in-law comes, and his father-in-law is rejoicing, and
he's listening to Moses, and Moses is giving him some respect.
And all of a sudden, he's counseling Moses. He's counseling Moses. Moses gave ear to his counsel. And Moses suffered not only himself,
but also those over which he was appointed. Now, I'm going
to give you three or four things tonight concerning what took
place here in Sinai and try to draw some lines as I go. I'm
trying to move quickly because I've got a lot of ground to cover
here. First of all, I want us to look at the work which God
called Moses to do. It was a great work. It was a
great work. This work concerned the whole
house of Israel. Now it makes mention here in
the book of Exodus that there were 600,000 footmen. What in the world is he talking
about? What's a footman? That's a man who's of the age
and healthy enough to go to war. That's what that's talking about.
So if you take that 600,000 and you factor in wives, the elderly,
the children, You factor in all those things, conservative, very
conservatively speaking, you're looking at four million people
of which God appointed him to be shepherd. It was a great work. But the greatness of this work
did not hinder God. God, you remember all the arguments
Moses had when he was sending him down to Egypt? You remember
he couldn't talk, and he was weak, and he couldn't go down
there, and who was he to stand before Pharaoh? And you remember
what God told him? He said, I ain't sending you
by yourself. I'm not expecting you to go.
You didn't really think I meant for you to go down there and
deliver Israel. What are you going to do? They
already run you out. You remember where I found you?
I found you out here in the desert. Surely I go with you. I'm going
down. I'm going to do the work. And
the greatness of the work, when we look at it, and we think about
Moses, and we think about four million people, and we think
about them going through the wilderness, we think, you know,
it's just mind-boggling. You reckon that's too hard for
God? You reckon He had any difficulty? Huh? Causing manna to rain down
on them, causing quail to come up? You reckon God had some difficulty
with that? The greatness of the work did
not hinder God. God delivered them single-handedly
out of the bondage of Egypt. Ain't nobody left a hand. God
did it single-handedly. Without drawing a sword or a
bow, without a chariot or a horse, God brought Egypt to its knees. Brought them to their knees.
Caused them to hand over their wealth willingly. Say, here,
here, take it all. Take it all, just leave, just
get out of here. And then as they marched out,
God forbid even their dogs to bark a protest at them as they
marched out of Egypt. God did that single-handedly.
Those people didn't fear Moses, they feared God. And then they come upon the sea
and God opened a way through an impassable sea, walls of water. He put them up in a heap on both
sides of them and caused His wind to blow through there and
dry the very ground they'd walk on. They didn't cross that sea
in the muck, they crossed it in dry ground. And then as they
stood on the bank in terror looking down on Pharaoh and his army
riding full speed to destroy it, God closed in the water upon
them It brought them to nothing. And then He sustained them, now
going on two years in the wilderness, showing them how to sweeten its
bitter waters and giving them bread in the morning and quail
in the evening, causing a virtual river of water to supply all
their needs from the smitten rock. He went out and fought
with them in battle. The greatness of this work did
not hinder God. God wasn't hindered in the least.
And then the second thing I want you to see is that God chose
Moses on purpose. I'm going to go straight to 2
Corinthians 3 and I'm going to read you something that Paul
said. Paul tells the church at Corinth that he didn't need letters
of acceptance or recommendation from them or to them, either
one, because they themselves were the living proof of his
calling and authority, the same as Israel was to Moses. Moses
shouldn't have to have any papers. Moses shouldn't have to have
any counsel. Here's the counsel. They're camped
all around him. God had already done the work.
God had already blessed this man. And then Paul gives his
reasoning down here in verse 5 for what he said in the previous
verses. He said, not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. You see what I'm getting at?
The sufficiency of Moses was not Moses. It wasn't the elders
of Israel. It wasn't the lack of a plan.
It wasn't the lack of good counsel. His sufficiency was of God. If
God wanted Moses to divide the company of Israel up into rulers
of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens, He'd have told
him so. But God didn't tell him that. Paul told these same people in
his first letter to them, to the Corinthians, to remember
their calling. He said, now I want you to just
think about your own calling. Everybody in here, you think
about your calling. Not many wise men after the flesh. Not many mighty. Not many noble
are called. What am I saying? I'm saying
God chose Moses on purpose. He chose him on purpose. And
it wasn't Moses' greatness that brought about his calling. It
was his weakness. It was the very things that he
pleaded to God that he couldn't do. That's why God chose him. Actually, if Moses had taken
inventory of all that God did with him and by him, he'd know
that he could not of himself have contributed anything to
the work. Nothing. Now remember, we're talking about
a type. We're talking about a picture. And brethren, I'm telling you
this. I believe myself to be a pastor. I believe myself to
be a preacher of the sin of God. But I can't raise the dead. Should
I get upset because men aren't born again? No. I don't have
any power over it. I don't have any power over it.
I can't reconcile an enemy to God. Not a single one. I can
stand and argue with them for days on end. Doesn't make a bit
of difference. They go right on back to doing
what they did before. I can't change a man's nature. I can't
cause the spiritual bread to appear before him. I can't unravel
divine mysteries or teach spiritual things to natural men. Only God
can do these things. Our sufficiency, Paul said, is
of God. Therefore, my weakness ought
not to be a hindrance to me, but a necessity to yield to God
the glory due His name." I ought to realize that. I ought to realize
that I'm nothing and that's That's why God chose me to do the work
and just take my place there and do what I can do. It's the
greatness of the work and the weakness of the vessel that shows
the true work of God in us. He said He has put this treasure
in earthen vessels. Why in the world would He do
that? That the excellency of the power might be of God and
not of us. That's why He did it. So God
chose Moses to do this work on purpose, and all those over which
He made Him shepherd and overseer. And then thirdly, what God gave
Moses to do was work. It was work. You think about
what that man did. It was work. It was demanding
work. It consumed his life. It ate
up his days and evening. Moses didn't have any free time.
Now evidently a lot of the people did, because they had time to
sit around and think up evil to do, and think up things to
do, and decide on different things that they were going to do. But
Moses didn't have any free time. If he did, it was very little.
The people had needs, they had questions, they had disputes,
they had disagreements. And Moses spent long hours, it
said, from sunup to sundown. He sat there dealing with the
people. I spent long hours seeking God's counsel and direction.
It was demanding work and it was sacrificial work. A man who
serves God must sacrifice himself. He's got to give himself to the
work. If you're not willing to give yourself to the work, I
can guarantee you're not called of God to minister to his people. And I'll tell you this, if the
congregation don't see to the simple needs, just the simple
needs, just little things that you don't even think about, cutting
the grass, wiping down the wall, just the simplest thing, it hinders
his ministry. Because you know what he's got
to do instead of thinking about what he's going to say next Sunday,
he's got to think about how he's going to find time to get that
dust off them walls. Or I'm going to have to call somebody and
try to get them appointed so they can come out and get the
dust off the wall. And then I've got to call somebody and find
out if we've got enough money to pay the man for coming out
and washing the dust. You see what I'm saying? I'm
just using a simple example here. And I'm not complaining by any
means. I'm just trying to explain what I'm trying to teach. Simple
things, little things you don't even think about. Just little
things you don't even think about. And then I'll tell you this.
His children often get neglected. His wife gets neglected. His
grandchildren, his family gets neglected. And he's often not
a pleasure to talk to because his mind's on other things. His
mind and heart's on the Word of God and on the people of God.
And most of the time where God puts him, he has to sacrifice
things to be there. Moses had been here 13 months
or more without his wife and children. This work is a sacrificial
work. That just is. And more often than not, it's
an unappreciated work. I found out in my time in the
ministry that people wouldn't think twice about having a preacher
drive halfway across this country, 2,000 miles, get in your car
and come up. But if I was preaching two hours
away, do you think they'd come and hear me? No. We can't be
inconvenienced. We don't want to do that. That
church is three and a half hours away from here. We can't go over
there. Huh? I'm going to tell you something.
Preachers don't grow on trees. And you can't manufacture preachers
in these preacher factories. God chooses them, He sends them,
He anoints them, and He equips them, and it's work. It's work. Henry told me a long time ago,
he said, son, he said, I hope you're not coming into the ministry
to get out of work. Because he said, that work out
there ain't nothing compared to what you're going to have
to do here. This is work. And it's sacrificial work, and
more often than not, it's unappreciated work. But I'm going to tell you
this, it's honorable work. It's honorable work. God has given us a great honor
right here, right here in this place. What a privilege. What an honor to bear his name in the wilderness. Think about that. These people,
all they can think about is what they're going to eat, what they're
going to drink, and what's going to happen next week. We got manner
today, but what are we going to eat next week? What about
when I ain't able to go get manner? Then what? Then what? You see,
we're always looking way down. Oh, what an honor to bear His
name in the wilderness. What an honor. To be called His
children. The Apostle John said, Behold
what manner of love. The Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. My soul. What a privilege to be led of
God. Think about that while the rest of humanity walks the course
of this world. Walks according to the prince
of the power of the air. We're led of God. Led of God. Oh, Paul said, as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And think
about this privilege. We're talking about what an honorable
work. I'm not just talking about my work up here. I'm talking
about your work supporting me up here. You see how this lesson
goes all around? There's a lesson here to be learned. To hope in His covenant. Do you
know most religious people don't know what a covenant is? I've had people ask me, why do
they call that the Ark of the Covenant? What's a covenant? They don't even know what a covenant
is. God has given us an understanding
and we hope in His covenant. David's very last words, what
was his words? You remember? Although it be
not so with my house, yet hath He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and We have hope in His covenant. We have His daily provision. God provides. God provides. Boy, I sure was lucky. Was you? Boy, I wasn't. I wasn't lucky
at all. God provided for me, whatever
it is. He provided it. To have His daily provision. and to see and experience the
evidence of his presence and power. This work is an honorable
work, and it's a great privilege given to those of God. Now, here's where the danger
lies, right here. The danger lies in how we view
the work. If you look at the work as work, boy, you opened a door. You opened
a door. Moses, he never thought twice. When Jethro came, he was so full
of God and so full of the work of God, that's all he could think
about. Jethro, let me tell you. And he started telling him all
these things. Then he went to work. He just went and did what
he'd been doing every day. He never thought twice about
it. Until Jethro said, boy, you working. Huh? You making things
hard on yourself. You don't have to do that. You
don't have to do that. If I dwell on the work as a burden,
and I dwell on what I do as a great sacrifice, and dwell on the fact
that it's often unappreciated, then I open the door for Satan
to exploit my weakness, and I assure you he's ready to come through
the door. Open it up, he'll walk right
through. I don't care what it is. It could
be the simplest matter, he'll walk right through the door.
How does he do this? Family and friends. Family and
friends. We're to love our fathers and
mothers, and that goes for our father-in-laws and mother-in-laws.
We're to love our children and grandchildren. Abraham, at great
cost, took his nephew Lot into his care and raised him like
a son. And if they're in need, we ought to do what we can to
help them. We ought to honor our parents for the very symbolism
they stand for and the authority of God He's vested in them. But
we're never to confuse our spiritual walk and our duties with our
fleshly relationships of family and friends. There's a difference
between believers and unbelievers. Believers are new creatures in
Christ. They're new creatures. They're
not what they were. They've got a new understanding,
a new nature, a new principle, new goals. They know God. They're submissive. Rather than
unregenerated, men are not submissive to anything. You couldn't make
one pick up a broom. You can't make them do anything.
A mother's tears won't affect the child in its rebellion. And
there's enough mothers here to prove what I'm saying. They're natural men. And these
believers, they know God. They know Christ. They know themselves.
They know their history. They know what they are. They
know where God found them. And unbelievers are yet in their
sins. They walk in darkness. They're
pagans. They're idolaters. They're ignorant
of God and God's ways. And there's a danger when we're
weak and focusing all of our attention in the wrong direction
for them to come along and get our ear. Just get your ear for
a minute. Moses had no home life to speak
of. His family had been separated
from him. Now come this demanding time
to teach and instruct Israel to settle their disputes and
settle matters of contention and seek the Lord's direction.
And as his heathen father-in-law looked on, he said, you're not doing things the way
you ought to. You're not doing things the way
you ought to. He said, now if you'll permit me to kind of read
between the lines here, no wonder you don't get along with my daughter.
No wonder y'all have problems. No wonder she's angry when she
came home. Why Moses, you'll never have
a good relationship at home because you're never home. This is no
good. You're wearing yourself out and
you're wearing the people out. Look here at the people standing
in a big long line just waiting to see you. Some of them out
there don't even have much to settle at all. Some of them got
big things to settle. You're wearing them out, wearing
yourself out, and you got no relationship at home. This work
is too heavy for you. It's too much for you to carry.
What was he carrying? God was doing the work, wasn't
he? God was doing the work. All Moses
ever did was take the complaints of the people to God, and then
God would tell Moses what to tell the people. Moses wasn't
doing anything except a spokesman for God. And what an honor He had given
him! What an honor! What a privilege He had given
him! Father-in-law said, now, listen
to me. Listen to me. I'm going to give
you some good advice. Oh, I tell you, this man made
Moses a cake. He put the filling between the
layers and iced it all around. I tell you, he said how to teach
them ordinances and laws and how to instruct them in their
walk and divide among them equally the work that they need to do.
Now, here's what we're going to do. We're going to pick out
some able men, wise men, good men, upstanding men. We're going
to get these men and we're going to put them out here, and the
really good ones, the really good ones. Now, who's going to
pick out the good ones? Who's standard is he going to
use? But we're going to get these good ones and we're going to
make them captains over thousands. But even thousands is too much
work for them, so we're going to put some sub-captains down
here over the hundreds. And then they're going to have
some people under them, and they're going to do 50s, and then they're
going to have a few under them that does 10s. And that's how
we're going to do this thing. And then all you got to do is
come up here and sit down in your chair, and the really hard
matters, they're going to come to you. The rest of it, these
other guys will take care of. We're going to get us a chain
of command, and they'll do the work for you. And all you're
going to have to do is the important stuff. Exodus 18 verse 24. So Moses hearkened to the voice
of his father-in-law. This Midianite priest that he
not even had that much relationship with him his whole life. And he hadn't seen him now nearly
two years, and this man comes on the scene after all that God
had done through Moses, and now he's gonna straighten Moses out.
And straighten God out. Let me tell you something. Every false religion in this
world that exists today had its beginning this very way. Right here. I think it'd be better
if... Huh? Ain't that how it got started?
I think it'd be easier on the church and easier on you if we
did this or that. You know, I've been watching
and looking and I think we all do things a little different
than what you do. Huh? Now, I'm telling you, every
false religion that exists today had its beginning right here.
Right here on these things. An ungodly man using worldly
wisdom and counseling somebody that was close to him and he
got his ear. He got his ear. Solomon said, there's a way that
seemeth right unto a man. You think he wasn't approached
by his family? There was no other reason for
him to say this. He had close friends and family who tried
to counsel him as the king to do such and such this way and
that way and some other way. And there's a way that seemeth
right unto men, but the end thereof are the ways of death. It was
the dividing of Israel that brought about the challenge of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram, and the destruction of their families, the opening
up of the earth to swallow them up. They had a taste of power. in that they were elders appointed
over people. And they got a taste of that
power, and they said, we want some more. We want some more
power. He's still got too much on him.
We're going to take some more power away from him. Moses was never alone. Jethro
said, you're doing this all by yourself. Moses was never alone. Moses had Aaron with him, number
one. And he had God with him. Every
weakness Moses said he had, God gave him something to take care
of. He gave Aaron to go with him, to be his voice. And I'll tell you this, the work
wasn't work when he first related it to Jethro. It was all about
what God had done. And I've seen in a short time
in the ministry assemblies fall into confusion and weakness and
division because of ungodly counsel and worldly reasoning. Some dear
friend, some relative, somebody wise, the wise and prudent, somebody
loved and respected, they get the ear of God's service. and
they listen to the reasoning. Let me read this verse to you
in Colossians chapter 2 and I'll try to quote. In Colossians chapter
2 verse 8, it said, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. Philosophy, man's philosophy,
worldly philosophy. What seems right, what men say
is right, what seems reasonable to men. Don't let them spoil
you through philosophy and vain deceit, that's what God calls
it, after the tradition of men and after the rudiments. That
word rudiment means rudimentary or basic principles of the world
and not after Christ. And what makes their counsel
so dangerous is that it makes sense. Everything Jethro told
Moses makes sense, don't it? You're sitting out here and you've
got all this. Here's what you need to do. It's
reasonable. Isn't it reasonable to think
if you're going to send preachers out, that's God's will to send
preachers out, that we ought to build a seminary, and anybody
feels like they want to preach, we can send them down to the
seminary and train them, and then the churches know we have
a seminary, so when they need a preacher, they just call us
and we go get one down here that we manufactured and we send him
out. Isn't that reasonable? Everything that false religion
does and stands for had a place when it sounded reasonable, what
they were talking about. Reaching the multitude. That's
reasonable, isn't it? That's what makes their counsel
so dangerous. It makes sense to the flesh.
It sounds good and reasonable. It seems right and fair. The
problem is God's not in it. That's the problem. Nothing God
does is reasonable to the flesh. Nothing. If I was going to save the world
and I was God, I wouldn't send preachers, would you? I'd just
say the word. Huh? That's because I'm not God. That's the problem. It's not
God's way. It's not honoring to Christ. And it considers men
above God. There's a strong lesson here
for myself and for other pastors. But there's an application here
for every one of us. What you do for this ministry
and how you look at it is just as important as it is for me
how I look at it and the work that I have to do. It's just
as important. And if we begin to focus on our
giving and on our attendance and on our sacrifices, and we
begin to look on these things as a burden. You know, at great
expense, I drive. Some of you all drive an hour
and 15 minutes over here, an hour and 20 minutes. Some of
them from El Dorado. That's a long ways to go. You
get to looking at that. Get thinking about that, you
know. Well, here's this person. They
live a whole lot closer. They don't tend as much as I
do. So, you get to looking at it. All of a sudden, it gets
to be a job, don't it? It's a job. I got to come in
tonight, and I got to get ready, and I've been working all day,
and I got to get off. Well, all of a sudden, it's a
job. Boy, it ain't a job when you're lost and you need to hear
the gospel though, is it? Huh? It's all in how you look
at it. All in how you look at it. If
we begin to focus on our giving and on our attendance and on
our sacrifices as a burden, it won't be long until Satan will
take away the privilege God has given you. Somebody gets you
here and they say, well, why don't you just come over here
and go with us? Go one night over here. And I tell you, perhaps the saddest
verse in this whole chapter is the last verse, Exodus 18, verse
27. And Moses let his father-in-law
depart, and he went his way into his own land. This man had no
love for the people. He had no respect for their God.
He had no hope in their inheritance. and no interest in their Savior.
And he came in and he counseled them on how to do it. And he
went right back to the religion that he came from. I can't count on both hands,
just since I've been here, the people that have come here to
visit that give me counsel just like that. This man was no more
than a pawn of Satan used to do damage to God's children.
May God give us the wisdom to be on our guard for these enemies. Our Lord said, your enemies shall
be those of your own household. He said, don't you think I come
to make peace in your family and among your friends? He said,
I ain't why I come. But he said, I tell you, rather
a division. There's going to be a division here over spiritual
things. Now, we're to strive to keep from having divisions
over physical things and provide for them and love them and care
for them. But over spiritual things, I part with them in a
heartbeat. I part with my own kids. And I'll part with yours
over spiritual things. But not over earthly things.
If it's just something earthly, you can have it. If you want
my coat, here, take my coat. I'm not going to force you. But
not over these spiritual things. Over these spiritual things,
I'll divide. I'll divide. And that's what the Lord said.
He said, I'm going to make a division. A division. And I think he illustrates
it right here with my.