Why God Chooses the Weak: Lessons from Moses and the Cross

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And good afternoon. Good to have everybody back with us again, and it just thrills our heart to see so many come together for an afternoon like this. And again, we want to welcome our television audience, and if any of you out there would ever like to come in and be a part of this taping session, it's no secret that we tape four programs on a Wednesday afternoon once a month. And if you can get off work or if you can come in, just call us on our 800 number and we'll give you the date and the time that we'll be taping again. We'd love to have you. All right. Now, for those of you here in the studio audience, as well as those of you watching television, we trust you'll take your Bible and turn with me now to Exodus chapter 4. We're going to continue right on where we left off with our last program. And you remember that Moses now has been commissioned by God to go and confront Pharaoh for the distinct purpose of bringing Israel out of bondage. But, he's going to have some difficulty. And the first difficulty, of course, is overcoming his own timidity. And if you'll go down with me to Exodus chapter 4, and let's just start with verse 10 where we left off, and you'll find that Moses is still claiming he can't do it. Now, remember I gave you the reason last time. He's been 40 years on the backside of the desert herding sheep. He's had almost no contact with public or with populated areas, and he has consequently gotten to the place where he is insecure. He does not feel that he can approach Pharaoh. And after 40 years, I think we can all identify with that. He had lost his polish, which he, of course, had when he went out to deliver the children of Israel the first time, and they rejected him. He had been 40 years in Pharaoh's palace. No doubt he had all the wisdom of Egypt at his disposal. He had, like I've already said, he had the polish, he had the charisma, he had the power, but Israel rejected him. But, of course, God wasn't in that, and God couldn't use him that way, because God can't use somebody who is self-prepared or has been prepared by the world. Now, if you'll follow with me, then, in Exodus 4, as Moses continues to debate the issue with the Lord, he says, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hilt to fore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. Now, I think it's interesting to notice that God has already used the signs to convince Moses that he indeed was going to be led of God by virtue of, you remember, throwing the rod down, and it became a serpent, picked it up, and again became a rod. And then, you remember, the next one he used was to place his hand in his bosom, and it became leprous, took it out, and put it back, and it was whole. Well, these were all signs, of course, to prove to Moses that God indeed meant what he said. So now, as we go to the New Testament and look at some of the references that have a direct connection with this, I'd like to look at the fact that the Jews, beginning right here with Moses, all the way up through their history, have had to have signs in order to be convinced of what God was saying and what he was doing. Now, I'm kind of betwixt and between. I think before we look at the sign aspect, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 for just a second and see why God had to put this man Moses back on the backside of the desert for 40 years in order to prepare him from God's point of view in order to be an instrument that God could use. First Corinthians chapter 1, where Paul again is laying out the wisdom that can come only from God and not from men. Now, come down to verse 26, where the apostle writes, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the what? Oh, he's chosen the foolish things of the world, that is, from the world's viewpoint. He has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Now put that right back in perspective with Moses. Isn't that exactly what God did with a man? Oh, when he was mighty, when he had power, when he had clout, God couldn't use him. He went out there in the energy of the flesh and thought he could deliver the children of Israel. So, God by, I think, a sovereign act, gets Moses where he can prepare him to be the kind of a man he can use, and of all places, that's the last place you and I would have sent him, he goes out to become a sheepherder for 40 years, out in the wilderness where he has almost no contact with, like I said, the public or people of stature. And so Moses now is what in his own eyes? He's nothing. He's a nobody. But in God's eyes, he's now what? He's everything. And you see, that's the requirement for service even today. That's why Paul refers to it here in Corinthians. If you want to be a Sunday school teacher, if you want to be a missionary, if you want to be anything in God's service, the first place we have to come to is to understand that in ourselves we are nothing. You can bring nothing of this world's education. You can bring nothing of this world's talents. You can bring nothing of what you may have inherited. God can't use any of that. But we all have to come to the place where Moses was, and as even Paul was brought, educated as he was at the feet of Gamaliel, yet Paul had to understand that when it came to be a servant of God's grace, especially to the Gentiles, he had to begin as a nobody. And this is what he says all the way through his writing. Look at chapter 2. You're in Corinthians 1, just across the page in chapter 2, where he says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech. He didn't come as a smooth orator. He was not an apollos. And he says, I didn't come with wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God's. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear. You know, a lot of times we look at Paul and all of his journeys and all of his preachings, and we think the guy had, well, excuse the expression, but we like to think he had a lot of guts, don't we? But oh, he didn't. He didn't. He was very commonplace. He shook in his boots as he would enter some of these strange places, just as you and I would. And then verse 4, he says, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words. See, that's what a lot of people think it takes in order to get people that, no, it doesn't. You don't have to have ten degrees behind your name in order to be something for God. Thank goodness that's true or I wouldn't be here. But anyway, we have to realize that God uses the things that the world looks and scoffs at and says, hey, who does he, who does she think they are anyway? Hey, that's the person God can use. You know, I'm always reminded years ago, I had a young man who had been attending one of our great Bible schools in preparation for the ministry. And one of the young gentlemen in his class just seemed to have everything. He had personality, he had the looks, he had the voice, he had the intelligence. And so his fellow classmates, before they graduated, had voted that this young man was most likely to succeed in the ministry. And they all thought he really would, because he had everything going for him. He got a little church, and within six months he was out of the ministry. He couldn't cut it. Why? Because see, he was relying on the things of the flesh and not on the real call of God. So whatever the case may be, if you intend or want to be a Sunday school teacher or any kind of God's service, always remember, the only thing God can start with is nothing. All right, now then I said we would also look in the New Testament with regard to the beginning of the signs as Moses experienced them, even before he goes to Pharaoh. And then, of course, we're going to see in chapter 5, I think it is, where he puts those signs to use in front of the old pagan king of Egypt. So the sign gifts, as we see them begin, I'd like to have you turn with me now to Matthew, if you would. Gospel of Matthew, and I think it was chapter 12, no, it was chapter 11, I'm sorry. Matthew chapter 11. Now, most of us who know anything about our Bible at all realize that when Jesus began his earthly ministry, how did he, in our own vernacular, how did he kick it off? How did his earthly ministry begin? Oh, with miracles. All right, now you know that all through that three years of his earthly sojourn there in the land of Israel, he performed miracle after miracle after miracle, didn't he? Now why? Well, here's the reason. Come down to Matthew chapter 11, verse 2. Now, when John, that is, John the Baptist, had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, that is, through the disciples, he said to Jesus, Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another? Now, can you imagine a man like John the Baptist, having fulfilled the ministry that he had, comes to the place where he questions, but he does. And again, it just shows that even John, even though his birth was miraculous, he too, you know, came from parents that were really past age, much like Isaac did, but nevertheless, where is John? Well, he's in prison. And what does John know about this Jesus out there? He's got the power to just simply take him right out of the hands of the authorities and set him free, but he's not doing it. And so from the human standpoint, what do you suppose John is beginning to wonder? Well, is he who he says he is? Is he who I said he is? And so he sends two of his friends to seek Jesus out, somewheres up and down the land of Israel, and so they came and they found Jesus. And they said, hey, our friend John wants to know, are you the Christ, or are we still looking for another one? Now look at the answer. Verse 4, Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show, or tell, John again. Oh, reinforce, reinforce his knowledge. Go and tell John again those things which you do hear and see. And what did they hear and see? The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor are having the gospel preached to them. And whenever I read this, especially in a class, I'm always followed up with a question. So why, basically, did Jesus perform all these miracles to the nation of Israel? To prove who he was. The Jews, 1 Corinthians 1 says, require a sign. They did all the way up through the Old Testament. Jesus comes on the scene, and we're going to see it, if not in this half hour, in one of the next ones, how that, again, they came to him at one point in his ministry, and they said, show us a sign, see? Show us a sign. They were always looking for signs. It was just their very nature, and that's why Paul has it. By inspiration, then, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, that the Jews desire a sign. Now then, let me give you another instance. In Acts chapter 10, in Acts chapter 10, now here, of course, we have the account of Cornelius up there at Caesarea, being prompted by God to send for Peter, who is down the coast 80-90 miles in the city of Joppa, and Peter, by the urging and the miraculous working again of God, finally gets to the house of Cornelius. But you see, Peter was still a good law-keeping Jew, and he had a lot of trepidation about going up to a Jewish household, and so I imagine, for this reason, he took several of his fellow Jewish believers with him from Joppa to Caesarea. Now, the Scripture doesn't, I don't believe, tell us exactly how many, but it just says some of them, brethren, that came with him. And so, if you wonder about Peter's trepidation, as I called it, come all the way into chapter 10 and verse 28. And now remember, this is about 10 years after Pentecost, 10 years after the crucifixion, and if any of you think that the law had long since been set aside, and that as soon as you get into Matthew, you're in the Christian economy, you better think again, because look at what Peter says when he gets to the house of Cornelius. In fact, I guess I should even show you the other one with that regard. That would be in chapter 10, verse 14, where Peter sees this vision, and in the vision the Lord says, "'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'" Well, what was in that sheet? Well, a lot of unclean animals, according to the Jewish diet. Now, if you think Peter has been set free from the law, then you haven't read your Bible. Look what the next portion says, verse 14, "'But Peter said, Not so, Lord, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.'" Common or unclean according to what? The Jewish law. Ten years after Pentecost, and Peter is still sticking to the law. He's not going to eat pork. He's not going to eat something that was not in the list of clean animals. All right, now if you think I'm making too much of a point of that, now come across to verse 28. "'And he said unto them,' that is Peter, as he approaches the door of Cornelius' home, "'And he said to them,'' the house of Cornelius, "'You know how that it is an,'' what's the next word? "'Unlawful.'" See? "'It's an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or to come unto a place of another nation,'' a Gentile, "'but,'' see, "'but God hath showed me that I should call any man common or unclean.'" But you see, he was never convinced before this. Now then, he begins his preaching to the house of Cornelius, and he's moving right along with his message. Now pick it up, if you will, in verse 44, Acts 10, verse 44, "'While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them who heard the word.'" Now remember, all these that are in the house of Cornelius are Gentiles, with the exception of a few Jews that came with Peter up from Joppa. And I imagine that was moral support. Now verse 45, "'And they of the circumcision,'' who, what? "'Believed.'" See, these weren't unbelieving Jews that Jesus had to put up with all the time. These were Jews who, along with Peter, had recognized who Jesus was, and so these men who came from Joppa up to Caesarea in fellowship with Peter were, what's the next word, astonished. Astonished! Ten years after Pentecost, and they're astonished that Gentiles could be saved? Yeah, they were. Now most people never see that word. Why were they astonished? It had never happened before. They'd never seen Gentiles come to a knowledge of salvation. Oh, there were some proselytes, I know that, but I think most proselytes never really had salvation. They had religion, but they didn't have salvation. Witness the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Oh, he was religious. He'd been to Jerusalem to worship at one of the feast days, but on his way back to Ethiopia, what does Philip do? Leads him to the place of salvation. He hadn't been saved. He was a proselyte, but he didn't have salvation. All right. Now these Jews were believers. They had come with Peter from Joppa, and they were astonished because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. How did these Jews know? Next verse, for they, the Jewish believers, heard them, the believers now in the house of Cornelius, Gentiles, heard these Gentiles speak with tongues and magnify God. Now what did that do to those Jews? It proved that God was doing something that they didn't think was possible, and that was what? Well, save a Gentile without becoming a proselyte of Israel. So here again, the sign was particularly used to convince these Jews because where are the Jews going to go from Cornelius' house? Right back to Jerusalem. And what should they have done? Why they should have just spread the word that God is now ready to turn to the Gentiles without Israel. But did they? No. Now you go back to Acts chapter 15, and you'll find out that Peter and these who evidently went with him had never said a word for another eight or ten years. Not one word did they cast among the children of Israel that God was now dealing with the Gentiles on His own ground and not on the basis of using the nation of Israel. So you see all the way through. Now I guess you can go back to 1 Corinthians. I want you to see the verse with your own eyes so that you don't take my word for anything. Now if you'll move again to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And again we have to, for sake of content, start with verse 18. I think most of you have been in my class, my teaching, long enough to know I just detest using one verse, if I can help it, because you've got to use the whole context if at all possible. All right. Now beginning with verse 18 then, Paul states, again by inspiration, for the preaching of the cross. Now at some point in the next two or three programs, we're going to come back again to the New Testament and show that so much of what we're hearing today is leaving out the cross, and we can't do that. Nobody can be saved by just simply believing in Jesus. It has to be the work of the cross. And so Paul states that here. It's the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, to the unbelieving world, it's what? Foolishness. It doesn't amount to anything. But, now you remember I'm always telling you to look for that little three-lettered word makes all the difference in the world. The world may think the preaching of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are saved, it, the preaching of the cross is what? The power of God. Now we're going to see that again when we get back to Exodus, so I'm getting you ready for some great things I think that are coming. It takes the power of God to save us, to set us free from the shackles of sin, and that power can never be released from God until we believe the gospel that Christ died, shed His blood, was buried, and rose again. I may say it again before these next four programs are over, and I always tell people, even because I'm getting senile, I repeat a lot of these things purposely for emphasis. The Scripture does. I suppose my kids would probably be prone to say, Dad, you're getting old, now you're starting to repeat yourself, but no, sometimes we have to. But anyway, what we have to understand is that today, even amongst evangelical Christians, there is too much use of what I call clichés. Now, you know what a cliché is. It's just a little coin statement that we've learned to use at the proper places. And I think too much of Christianity is using clichés, which, if the person fully understands the whole gospel picture, that cliché may say it all, but too many don't. Now you say, what are you talking about? You've all heard the expression, I've used it, and I imagine you've used it, well, I've accepted the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but what is it? It's a coin. It's not in the book. You show me one verse where it says, if you will take Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior, thou shalt be saved. It doesn't say that, but you see, we've coined it. Now, if you take the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior based on the fact that he, the very Son of God, became flesh, went to the cross, shed his blood, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you put that whole body of truth into your cliché, then I've got no problems. But how many people can do that? Another one we like to use, well, if you just believe in Jesus, well, what Jesus are you believing in? Are you believing in the Jesus of the three years that he ministered to Israel? Or are you putting your faith in that Jesus who went to the cross and rose from the dead? See what I'm saying? How many times haven't you heard the expression, well, if you'll just take Jesus into your heart? Again, there's nothing basically wrong with that, except that unless the person who is doing that, taking him into his heart, understands that the only reason you can have Christ in your heart is because of what he did on that cross, hey, I'm afraid it's all for nothing. And this is what worries me, it scares me, that people are being led into a false security by simply taking clichés without knowing the full truth of the matter. All right, now that's so much for that, I'll probably come back to it again. So we're saved by the power of God from the preaching of the cross, verse 19, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Isn't that so true? Oh, the Jewish scholars, they studied the Torah, they still do, but they don't know God. I wish I'd have brought along the clipping out of the last Jerusalem Post, I read it to my class last night and I just shared with a few here this afternoon of what was in it, and I'll tell you what, to be written by one of the chief rabbis in the land of Israel, you can't believe what you're reading. In so many words, he says, concerning the coming of the Messiah, and all of Israel now is aware that we're about at the time for the coming of their Messiah, and he says in plain English that after all, the Messiah that Israel is looking for will be a man, he will come in with political clout, he will have military power behind him, and he's going to be able to set Israel up, destroy your enemies, and then from that power base bring peace to the whole world. Well, now those of you with me who know your Bible, what man are they looking for? The Antichrist. The Antichrist, a perfect description of him, see? And he wasn't thinking in terms of the Antichrist, he was thinking in terms of Israel's Messiah, see? But anyway, that's the wisdom of this world. But old Paul wants us to have the wisdom of God, and how do we get it? By the foolishness of preaching, see? Through the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe, and what else? Nothing. See? Here we have it again, faith plus nothing. Now here's the verse I was headed for, verse 22, took me a long time to get there, I'm sorry. For the Jews require, what, a sign. Now we're going to see that, we're not going to have time again in this half hour, it's already gone. But we're going to see, we go back to Exodus, just as soon as Moses approaches the children of Israel, he does what God told him to do. He throws down the rod, and it becomes a serpent. He performs another miracle, and then it says in the next verse, we'll see it in the next half hour, and they believed. Why? Because they saw the signs. And it's been all the way up through Israel's history, and like I've already said, this is what I want. Now, if nothing else is remembered from this half hour, the reason Jesus spent three years performing signs and miracles up and down the land of Israel, was to prove to those Jews who he really was. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.