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 hen we step out in faith, things don't always go the way we planned. But that doesn't mean God isn't with us. Knowing in advance that there will be two battles can help us. When this happens, we must "return to the Lord" in order to win the battle of faith first, then the battle of flesh will follow. (Message: Eric Elder; Worship Song: "I Walk By Faith" written by Chris Falson, led by Eric Elder; Running time: 30:21) Lesson 6 - The Battle Of Faith And FleshWatch The Video
Read The Transcript ERIC: Hi. This is Eric Elder, and welcome to The Ranch. Tonight we're going to take a look at Exodus Chapter 5. And what I love about this chapter is that so many times what happens to Moses happens to me. I'll step out in faith -- and maybe this has happened to you before too, where you'll step out in faith; you'll say God is definitely with me; I'm sure of it; I'm going to go; I'm going to go do this thing; and you step out, and all of a sudden you drop off the cliff and things start to go south and everything goes haywire and you start to wonder what in the world is happening. Well, tonight we're going to learn this lesson that I've learned over and over again, that God actually is with us in these times. And if we're not surprised by this dropping off the cliff, then we'll do a lot better and we'll be able to recover a lot faster and continue on with what God wants us to do. At the end of Chapter 5 there's a key that Moses does, that I think we can do as well, for how we can get back on track and make sure that we're still in God's will. So that's what we're going to share tonight. If you want to read along with us or just listen to us as we read in the room, we're going to read Exodus Chapter 5, starting with Verse 1 through 23, and we're going to take a look at Moses. He has just gotten his call from God, he's had his burning bush experience, he's gone off and gotten with Aaron, and he's got all his signs that's he's going to go and show the people. All the Israelites watched Moses come into town and he showed them the signs and they all ended in Chapter 4. It said, "When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, that they bowed down and worshiped." So all the Israelites are thrilled that Moses has come, God has sent a savior, a deliverer to come rescue them. Everybody’s happy, and the story should end right there, shouldn't it? But it doesn't. And so many times with us it doesn't as well. But this is life, and this is the way that we can press on and continue on with what God wants us to do by learning this lesson, tonight. If we can start, if anyone has the first few verses, and then we'll head around the room here reading.
ERIC: Great. Someone else want to pick up?
ERIC: Great. Someone else?
ERIC: Someone else?
ERIC: Great. So just to summarize this passage, tell me a couple things that happened in here. You can look back. What are a couple things that happened that didn't seem to go according to plan? God said, I'll be with you; I'm going to go rescue them; I want to send them; now, go, I'm sending you. GREG: Pharaoh, says, "No, go back to work." ERIC: That's good. The king says no, buddy. ROB: He also took away the straw and said make bricks without the straw, so he's making the work harder than what -- ERIC: So it's not even just that you get a no; it's that the labor increases. DALE: That was the last straw. ERIC: That's right, that was the last straw. All right. What else? How did the Israelites feel about this situation? What did they think about what was happening? ROB: They weren't liking the fact that they had to scatter everywhere to find their straw to make bricks and the fact that the quota had increased. ERIC: Yeah, that sort of ticked them off, didn’t it? DALE R.: They kind of felt they were hung out to dry, too, because they didn't really -- they knew they couldn't do the work that the Pharaoh wanted them to do. ERIC: Right. It was a setup from the beginning. DALE: And didn't they ask for permission to go three days into the wilderness to worship? ERIC: Right. That's a key. DALE: And they were refused? ERIC: Right. As we're studying in the whole book, this is what they're being set free for, and this is what Moses reiterates here. That's a good point to bring up, Dale, that Moses does exactly what God told him to. He says tell Pharaoh we want to go out and hold a festival to the Lord; we'll go worship him. So being set free really is about worshiping God. Yeah, look here in Verse 19, 20, 21. Look what the Israelites say in Verse 21 to Moses and Aaron. GREG: 21 I think is really kind of -- I mean, in this version it says "odious," but a smell. He's making a stench before, you know, the Pharaoh. I mean, it's as if they're saying -- they're looking back towards the king and saying you're making a stink in front of this guy or something. ROB: It also says that he put a sword in their hand to kill us. So it's like there's no way they'll be able to keep this up; they'll just keep beating us. This is going to kill us; it's going to break our back. ERIC: And it did. It says they were being beaten here a few verses earlier. They were physically paying a price, weren't they, in the flesh? ROB: Yeah. They were called lazy. ERIC: They were abused verbally, and they were physically beaten. They would have died. In Verse 21 it says -- the Israelites say, "May the Lord look upon you and judge you." Now, of course, who becomes the judge? Moses eventually becomes the judge, that’s right. He gets the Ten Commandments from God. He becomes the ultimate decision-maker and all that. Here, he’s being attacked at his very core of who God called him to be. And the Israelites just said, "Who made you judge? Let God judge between us and you who's right." And that's got to take its toll on Moses too, don't you think? And Moses says here in Verse 22 -- ROB: Well, he's got to be confused. ERIC: -- "ever since you told me to do this, God, it's gotten worse. You’ve not rescued the people. In fact, you made it worse for them." GREG: In here, it says "Why did you ever send me?" ERIC: "Why did you ever send me?" Right. The lesson here is that there are two battles, two battles that happen when we step out in faith. The first is the battle of the flesh, and the second is the battle of the faith. And I have been faced with this time and time again where I'll step out in faith and there's this battle of the flesh that comes up where physically in the flesh it costs me, it hurts, it's hard on me. You know, like these Israelites, they get beaten. Of course, we don't have near the kind of situation that’s going on in other parts of the world when they step out in their faith and they're physically beaten. But there is this battle of the flesh that goes on where things get worse for us in the physical realm. But then there's also this battle of the faith, where I'm sure Moses, like you say, Rob, is having these doubts, he's got to be confused, where he's going, "Man, did you call me to do this or not call me to do this? Are you going to rescue them or not rescue them? Am I on track here or not on track here?" So he's fighting both fronts here. And, Rob, you're facing this situation right now in your life. You're fighting a physical battle; you're fighting a spiritual battle. We could go around the room, but I don't want to share people’s personal stuff here, but if you want to share, you can. But, you know, there's physical stuff you've got to pay in the flesh, things you've got to do; then there's the whole spiritual stuff, the mental stuff where you’ve got to say is this right or is this wrong; is this going right, or is it going wrong. ROB: If goes through my head about every day. ERIC: About every day. 17 hours a day maybe? ROB: Maybe not 17. It was about 23 and a half before, but now it's not as overwhelming. ERIC: Cut down to 21 or 22, yeah. DALE: Can I ask a question? I was king of struggling with the concept of two battles versus one battle. In Galatians 5:16 it says, “This I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." So I'm just wondering if it's the same battle -- I hope I'm not out of order and taking us a different direction. ERIC: No, that's great. The same battle. DALE: The same battle. But if we are in the spirit, then we're not in the flesh, ERIC: That's a good point. And that's how we're going to get out of these battles. And a lot of times we try to battle the flesh part because it's the part that is hurting worse. And my advice and my recommendation, what God has been speaking to me is, it's a battle for faith first. And when you win the battle for faith, the battle for the flesh can take care of itself, the same as in Galatians. When you can win that battle in your faith, then the flesh has to give way. Is that the way you read it in Galatians?
DALE: Yeah, I guess. I'm just asking the question. ERIC: Yeah, I would say so. DALE: If you find yourself going in this direction, okay, if you're in faith and then you slip, okay -- let's be honest, we make a mistake and we blow it, in whatever we're doing. And you go back and look at it, and then if you're back in the spirit you say, okay, I blew it, and it's okay, because I'm not perfect but I'm forgiven, First John 1:9 says come back and start back over again, if you're in faith first. I'm asking a question. I'm not really trying to -- ERIC: No, that's fine. DALE: But if you're in faith, then you've got something of substance to stand on. But if you're battling the flesh and you lose, you've got no place to go. ERIC: Right, right. ROB: Except for back to faith. You've got to get up and go back again. PAUL: Amen. ERIC: So you may as well start with the faith. ROB: And stick to it again. That makes sense. ERIC: Stick to it, right, stick to it. DALE R.: Well, where does Paul say in the Bible -- in one of his letters; I think it might have been in Romans, that it's not a battle of flesh and blood but a battle of spirit -- GREG: Ephesians 6:10-12. ERIC: Right, right. That's good, Dale. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. DALE R.: I remember reading that, but I couldn’t remember where it was. ROB: Well, we get focused a lot of times on flesh and blood, and we're forgetting about this battle that's going on that you don't see with our eyes. ERIC: And you can bet these Israelites were getting focused on that. Moses comes walking in and says "I'm going to rescue you; God sent me." They all bow down and worship, "Hallelujah, great for Moses!" Within 23 verses they're all ready to kill the guy, because they're like, "Man, I'm paying a price for you coming to town, Bud, and I don't think you're rescuing us at all; and I don't know if God’s around here, and you've actually made us a stench in Pharaoh’s nostrils." So they get really caught up in a battle, because they're in the battle. But they're going to have to battle for their faith as well and remember the promises of God. How do we get out of this? You guys tell me. Look in Verse 22. What does Moses do there in Verse 22? It's going to turn the corner, and we'll look at it next week in Chapter 6, but he does something in Verse 22. ROB: He returns to the Lord. ERIC: Moses returns to the Lord. Moses returned to the Lord. Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Oh, Lord, why have you brought trouble upon these people." He probably said it in a different tone of voice than that. "Lord, why on earth have you brought trouble on the people?" But he returned to the Lord. He returned to the Lord. ROB: And I think one of the things that God honored about him returning to the Lord is when he came back to him he didn't dance around what it was he was feeling. He went directly with -- David was that way as well -- spoke what was on his heart and on his mind right then and there and let it all out. And I think God honored that, the fact that they weren’t trying to pray a certain way or talk to him a certain way or use certain words. It was a matter of why have you done this. ERIC: That's good, just a total honest expression to God. But the point is to come back to God. In reading the Psalms, you can pick most any of the Psalms and you'll see David just crying out to God. But he comes back to God with his crying out. He doesn't look down at the ground and cry out woe is me. He looks to God and says, "God, what am I going to do? God, they're attacking me; they're oppressing me." He comes back to God. He returns to the Lord. And that's the key for keeping forward in your faith, because we'll see next time in Chapter 6 where God does come and answers Moses and continues to reaffirm the faith, reaffirm his promises, continues to fight both battles, both the battle of the flesh for him and the battle of the faith for him. But it's dependent upon our returning to God. Moses easily could have walked out of town. He could have gotten run out on a rail, and he could have been happy to jump on the next train out of Egypt. They didn't have a train, so I don’t know. GREG: Camel trains. DALE: You know, when you think about it, the Israelites had -- they could talk to each other. But Moses, other than Aaron, who else could he talk to? ROB: Miriam. ERIC: And they weren't always on his side. DALE: And Aaron wasn't there all the time. ERIC: And it's almost better for Moses that he only had God to turn to. He was carrying a lot of weight. But a lot of times we turn to our friends and cry on their shoulders, and that's okay. We need friends to talk to. But if we're turning to our friends for the sake of turning to the Lord, that's even better, and that's where we'll find our strength is back in the Lord. I was sending some E-mails to a guy out in Colorado this week who’s going through a struggle, a divorce. Been about a year that his wife has separated from him. He was so eager to get back with her, but she had no desire for it. Finally a year later she’s saying, "Maybe we should try to get back together." And now he's saying, "You know what, I'm a little tired right now; I'm a little tired of the battle; it's been going on too long, and I'm about ready to give up and I’m not sure that’s even what I want any more." You know what I wrote back to him? I said, "Frankly you're married, you're still married to her, and God wants you to stay with her; and as far as it's possible with you, be reconciled to all people." And just went through some scriptures with him, went through various things. He wrote back later and said he reread my note, read it and reread it, took some long walks with it, had a conversation with his wife, read it again, talked to her some more. And he said, "I'm really thinking about it." I’m really thinking about it. What I'm trying to do is help him win that battle for his faith and say this is the right thing. Yes, there's stuff you need to work through with her; yes, there's stuff you may want to talk through and make sure that she's wanting to get back for the right reasons and you want to get back for the right reasons, which is to honor God. And when you do that, you can't lose. But if you're getting back for different reasons and going through it like that, but go back to the scriptures to return to the Lord, and to help him return to the Lord and say, yeah, even though it's been a long battle, let's win this battle of faith first that says your marriage matters to God. Once you learn that, that battle of the flesh is going to go and you’ll be able to keep going, keep pressing on. DALE: Can I ask a question? ERIC: Sure. DALE: When David came back after a battle, he was really discouraged. ERIC: After a big victory? DALE: After a loss. And it said he encouraged himself in the Lord. The question I had was: What do you think he was doing? ERIC: To encourage himself in the Lord? DALE: Because people talk about, you know, they're down. I hear of people being depressed or people being down. What did David do you feel? We don't really know. ERIC: It's not recorded, so I don't know, although he produced -- DALE: What would you do? I mean, would you pray? ERIC: He produced a good portion of Psalms, and a lot of that came out of those times, after his sin with Bathsheba, after various times when his enemies were coming against him. So even though it doesn't tell us what happened, we can see what he was doing, was worshiping God. He was coming back, he was writing down his words, he was singing songs to God, he was crying out with his voice and saying, "God, I am at the bottom here and I need to get out. And, of course, he played the harp. I can picture him in the cave playing a couple strings and encouraging himself in the Lord. DALE: Well -- ERIC: I don't know what else he did, but I'm sure he produced a volume of Psalms. I know he at least did that. DALE: In Psalms 34:4 it says that "I sought the Lord and that the Lord heard me and delivered me from all my fears," kind of what we had before, a couple weeks ago, talking about the fear of man, deliver me from "all" my fears. And I'm looking at that word "all." That's quite a bit. I mean, that's pretty inclusive. ERIC: That's a lot. DALE: But I think the key word for me was "sought." ERIC: He sought the Lord. DALE: And in order to seek the Lord, you said you prayed. ERIC: Yeah. I'll tell you what I do most often is pull out this book [the Bible], and I just start reading. I just read and I read. I'll be up in the middle of the night, and I'll just be reading and I'll just be praying through this. You know, it might be what I'm reading for the day, it might be in a devotional, but it might just be opening the book and start reading, because these are words of life. This is how I encourage myself in the Lord. DALE: Have you ever been so frustrated you felt like you couldn't pray? ERIC: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You can read my journal from this morning. "Lord, I'm pulling my hair out here." I used those words. I said, "God, I want to scream," it said in my journal. I'm so frustrated. I'm trying to redesign my web site. I’m trying to go through and I'm in technical territory that I have never been in before. This is new software that's being developed overseas, and guys are just putting it together and building it as they go and writing the documentation as they go. It is so cool and so exciting to work on, but I am just at the edge of the cliff every day. I’m at the edge of my boundaries of what I know and what I can even grasp of what they're saying. I’m like, "This looks really good," and I feel like God has said to use this software. It's awesome. But I'll be pulling my hair out and saying, "God, I just want to scream," I just want to throw something is what I need to do. But I'll go outside; I'll take a walk. I'll tell you what's been funny. We're having our porch redone on our house, which you've probably seen as you drive by. This is a good analogy as well for this. Because here we've got some bricks that are falling down, they’ve been falling down for quite a while on the front steps of our house. And we've got some guys that are coming to work on that. And if you've been driving by our house, it looks a lot worse now than it did before. I mean, there's bricks and junk all over the yard; there's piles of sand. We've got cement trucks driving in there and bulldozers and little things. It's just a mess, is just totally torn up. Here we're trying to fix some bricks that took up about this space, and now our whole yard is all messed up. But isn't that the way it is when we try and fix something and get something back in shape? Sometimes you've got to go down to the foundation -- PAUL: It sure is. The worse it looks is better. ERIC: Exactly. You've got to dig down and dig deep, several feet down, pour concrete down there, put a new foundation in so it doesn't all crack and break up again. Well, when I get frustrated down in the basement and I'm working on my computer -- that's where my office is -- and I'm typing and pulling my hair out, I go outside and I just look. I say, "This is all going to look beautiful some day, and this is going to come out, this is going to work out, and it gets worse before it gets better." Any projects, any time you do remodeling, any time you work on really something in your life, a lot of times you'll say, "All right, I want to fix this." Then Boom! That's not what I wanted to do! And you get nailed and you get discouraged and you think, "I want to turn away." But God wants to rework from the foundation and get it all built back up. ERIC: I want to summarize, and I’d like to spend just a little time worshiping God, which is what we’re called to do, so we may as well worship Him today. We don't have to wait until we get out of the bondage. We can start worshiping Him now. That's the way David can get out of it and that's the way we can get out of things. In summary, there are two battles that are going to come against us when we step out in faith, the battle of the flesh and the battle of faith. And if we'll return to the Lord and fight that battle of the faith first and ask God "Am I really in your will?" Because, of course, there are times when you may not be in God's will and that's why things are falling apart, and you need to be careful about that, too. And that's why I was up at 2 in the morning on my knees with my Bible in front of me, saying, "Okay, God, you make it clear; I'll do whatever you want; just tell me what to do." There are some days I'd be glad to check out, but a lot of times I just say, "God, I want to press on, but I don't know how unless you're in it with me." And that's what we'll find out next time, because when we seek God, He does come and answer us, and He'll say whatever He wants to say to us. Because He promises when we seek Him, we will find Him, when we seek Him with all our heart. We're going to worship God. We're going to sing I Walk by Faith. So if you guys want to stand up, we’re just going to rearrange a little bit and you can join us here and sing I Walk by Faith. If you're in your office at home or you're at home or you're at work or you're on the road, on the Internet watching this, just belt it out. Go ahead and belt it out. Feel free to wors |
