Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): The abundant graciousness of God, front and center today on Abounding Grace.

Have you ever done a study on the various prayers we find in the Bible? We can learn a lot from the prayer lives of those that have gone on before us. Today on Abounding Grace, we'll gain wonderful insights from the prayer life of Moses. Not only that, but Pastor Ed Taylor also wants to highlight how God is abundantly gracious to us. We're in Exodus chapter 34 today.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Take your Bibles open them. Exodus chapter 34 is where we are. Exodus chapter 34 and I've entitled our Bible study "The Abundant Graciousness of God." He is so abundantly gracious to us. We see this part of His character lived out in the life of Moses and the children of Israel during this season of the history of the nation.

Our focus has been and will continue to be on Moses through Exodus. Moses was an amazing man with an incredible heart. I would say as I've studied his life, you do a character study on Moses, one thing you will see is that he had a heart for the Lord. He had a heart for the Lord. He loves God. Because he loves God, he loves God's people. He serves them, gave himself for them.

Later on in his life, he'll write what's become known as the Shema prayer in Deuteronomy. You can turn there or you can jot it down. But listen to what he writes. This is how God used him to record this prayer in Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 4: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

Moses lived this before he ever wrote it. He could say with great confidence, with all of his faults and all of his failures. You listen to loving God with all your heart right now and there's so much hesitation. "But Ed, you don't understand where I'm at, or you don't know what I've been into, or you don't know what I'm struggling with." And all of the areas where I just don't know that I could love the Lord God with all my heart.

But you can. It's the love that God has given to you. You can bring all your baggage. If you're willing and open, you'll bring all your baggage to the Lord and you'll leave with much less, if not all of it, as you cast your cares upon the Lord. Moses wasn't perfect. He wasn't a man that got it all right. He lived this out, though. If you got to interview him and talk to him, maybe after a big failure, "Mo, what's going on, man? What happened?" He'd say, "But I love the Lord. I love Him with all my heart. And this was a failure, or a mistake, or a slip-up."

Over the years, we've seen Moses change and change for the good. Since we're in Exodus, just turn to chapter 2. Notice in chapter 2, pick up in verse 11. We've seen Moses change, but we've also seen him, in order to change, there's been great failure. Notice what the Bible says in verse 11: "Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and he looked that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."

I would say that's a big failure. I would say that's a great difficulty. He has this burden for the people of God, he has a great love for God, he wants to be used by God. He's desiring to do the right thing the wrong way, and it's a significant wrong way. It's going to cost him a third of his life. I'm sure if you interviewed him, he's like, "Yeah, God used it in my life, but I wish I didn't do it. I wish I would've had that change in my life. It was a dark mark in my life."

How does a man that has a heart to deliver, loves God, has a heart to deliver the nation, how does a man go from wanting to kill the enemy to then wanting to lay his life down in order to save the nation of Israel? For Moses, we're told what happened. We're not told how it happened, but we're told what happened, and that was he got 40 years in the backside of the wilderness. Time alone with God. Time of obscurity. Time of faithfulness.

"Lord, here I am. I'm going to live my life." Time of consequence. Time of difficulty. He gets times of trying and testing. But there's progress. Just like Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 12: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

The 40 years in the wilderness really worked. These were God's tools. They really worked, first of all for what God had for Moses, but second of all what Moses received from God. It's one thing to be in the wilderness, but you could be in 40 years of the wilderness right now, kicking, screaming, upset, complaining, and never let God do His work. You're in the wilderness. Just stick it out and see what God wants to do.

This is where you're at. Or you can complain about it, be upset about it, fight God, and kick against the goads, and never really find out what it is that God sees in us that He wants to develop in our lives through trials, through difficulties. It's been said that the time of trials and difficulty and hardship in our lives can either make us better or can also make us bitter. It's your response. It's the same trial. What makes the difference? You and me. Abiding in Christ or not. Allowing God to develop us or not. Embracing the process that God has in our lives or not.

Looking back on the life of Moses, Paul, when he writes to the Hebrews, says this in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24: "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." That was before the murder. That choice was pre-failure. He made a good, hard choice. "My heart is with God and therefore my heart is with His people, my people."

He chose before the failure. Notice what he says: "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." Even before the wilderness, in his heart was a love for the people of God.

As any true leader will agree, any true servant of the Lord will say that a motive in their heart is not just to please God, but because they love the people. If you have a leader in your life that doesn't love you or doesn't love the people, then you need to find yourself another leader. This is a man or a woman in tune with the Lord. They're going to make decisions, even in their own lives, some you may know about, most you'll never know. But they will make decisions of self-sacrifice because they're thinking of you.

That's a pretty amazing thing to consider how God would put people in our lives that would think of us more than they think of themselves. That's the work of God. That's the church. Can you imagine with your holy imagination if the whole church lived like that and we're all thinking of each other more than we think of ourselves? We're just like, "No, you first." Nothing ever gets done because we're always wanting you first. But what a sweetness that God can do in your heart to love people.

It wasn't just the lovely that Moses loved. That would be too easy, just the good ones, just the easy ones, just the ones that do and walk and are no. Moses, you'll see it throughout his life, he also loved the unlovely. He also loved the difficult. He also loved the murmurers and complainers because there's another 40 years of his life yet to take place that is still yet in the future where he'll be in the wilderness again, but not because of his sin.

He's in the wilderness again because of the unfaithfulness and unbelief of the people. What does he do? He loves them, intercedes for them. Again, not perfectly. Let's not paint a picture like he was a perfect leader. He was in no way a perfect leader, but he loved. He loved deep. He loved those that perhaps were more difficult to love at times. He stuck it out with these guys and didn't give up.

Yes, he did let his anger get to him and he suffered great loss because of his anger. He misrepresented all these years, he represented God well until the end and it finally got him. He struck the rock twice. He disobeyed God. He misrepresented God to the people and he didn't get to enter into the Promised Land with the nation, with the second generation. But even then, God was so gracious to give him the opportunity to be with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. So he did get in, in a physical way, by the grace of God. He did take him all the way. So encouraging.

Now, in chapter 34, we gain a little bit greater insight into the prayer life of Moses. How he prayed for them. How he had them close to his heart. Like the priest, he wasn't a priest, but like the priest would carry the nation in stones, the names of the tribes on their breastplate near their heart. We can learn a lot from the prayer lives of people. Prayer, that time of baring our heart before the Lord, opening the windows into the very heart of the matter in our own lives.

If you were to record your prayers and listen to them later, you would be able to tell how you were feeling on that day just by your prayers. Let's say you had a prayer from 1986 and you have a cassette tape. You've kind of forgotten what that day was like, but if you listen to the prayer of that day, it would tell you a lot about that day. The Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. How much more when you're speaking to God?

In Luke 6:45, it says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." I quote that all the time, but here's the address: Luke 6:45, so you can memorize it. As we're praying, our hearts are exposed. Our prayers will reveal whether we're selfish or selfless. Whether I'm laying my life down or I'm rising up. My prayers reflect whether I'm walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. It's so good to talk with the Lord.

Notice verse 1 of chapter 34. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'" Isn't that great? This is God. He doesn't waste His words and He says, "Oh, by the way, I'm going to redo the tablets, the ones you broke." Who else is going to break them? It was just him and Moses.

Verse 2: "So be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." So, carve some more stones, come back with them, I'll write the law over again, and be careful, nobody can be there, nobody can feed there.

Verse 4: "So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.'"

This is powerful stuff. This is in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant. Powerful stuff. This is the nature and the heart of God, of Yahweh. This is Jehovah saying, "This is who I am. This is how you relate to Me." The name, we don't know the exact pronunciation, but generally, vowels are added to it so it is either Yahweh or Jehovah. That's one you see if you're looking closely in your New King James Version Bibles is what I'm using. You'll notice in verse 5 there, "then the Lord," you might see all the letters capitalized. That's the translator's way of trying to show you this specific Hebrew word: Y-H-V-H. It's trying to show you the reality of that word Yahweh. It speaks of His character and His nature. It's His name.

So notice, what does His name mean? What is He trying to reveal to us about Him? Notice first of all it says that the Lord God is merciful. He's merciful toward us. How does that live out? We don't get what we deserve. Can I get an amen on that? Don't be praying for justice. I know you're always looking for justice, but the justice that we deserve is eternity apart from Him. He says, "No, I don't want you to experience justice. Jesus taking the full wrath and pain of My justice upon Himself and you can experience it by faith."

He's not only merciful, but notice He's also gracious. Gracious is getting what we don't deserve. And that's what God be gracious to us. Merciful, He is. As you're praying for that, He will answer that prayer because this is who He is. He can't be anything other than who He is. I remember the verse in my life that comes up over and over again, God put it in the Bible for me, perhaps He put it in for you too. But He put it in for me: If we are faithless, He remains faithful. And then what does it say? He can't deny Himself.

So when you pray according to His character and His nature, "God, be merciful to us. Be merciful," He will answer that. It's who He is. "Be gracious," He will be gracious. Notice next, He's longsuffering. You don't even need me to prove that to you. God is patient with you. He is patient with me. Many times God is so patient with us that we misinterpret it as approval. We misinterpret His patience with us like He let us get away with something. I think of so many Christians, "Well, I did something five years ago, but I got away with it." No, you didn't. God's being patient with you.

His longsuffering, the Bible says, is for what? Salvation. He wants to save you. He's not letting me get away with anything. He's not overlooking those things. He will bring to light everything that's hidden, Jesus said. Now what you're experiencing is patience. God says, "I'm not impatient with you. I'm not ungracious. I'm not unmerciful. I don't get exasperated by you. I'm patient with you."

Not only that, notice it says He's abounding in goodness. He's not just good, He's abounding. It overflows. That word "abounding" in the Hebrew speaks of overflowing. He's overflowing in goodness. His cup of goodness never runs empty, always overflowing. Not only that, notice He's abounding in goodness and truth. Jesus came in grace and truth. He's abounding in truth. You can trust God to share the truth with you every single time. You will only get the truth from God. He will only reveal that which is right, just, and true to you.

Not only that, notice what He says in verse 7. He's the Lord God, the Lord. He keeps mercy for thousands and He forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. He's the God who forgives all our trespasses and sins. No longer covering them like in the Old Covenant. In Jesus, the Lamb of God, He takes away the sins of the world. He doesn't just cover them every year you have to offer a new sacrifice. The Bible declares Jesus, once for all, was delivered for the saints. He takes away our sins and He casts them away.

Here's the thing. This is an important aspect I want to share with you before we move into the next verses here. This section of scripture is so beautiful and so glorious and so wonderful. If you just came here on a bad day, you'd be encouraged by the goodness of God. Your heart would melt. And it's all lost because of a fake doctrine that's created right here. Now everybody wants to argue about the fake doctrine. Everybody's worried about the fake doctrine. Everybody's concerned that they're never going to get out of their sin because of somebody taking these verses after the true character of God and misinterpreting them and misteaching them.

We go, "What is that, Ed?" Well, right here. He visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. Verse 7 has been twisted and contorted to say something that it really doesn't say. Listen carefully, please. I beg you. This will set some of you free, whether you're in the sanctuary right now, listening online, watching online, listening on the radio. You could be in the middle of Delaware and God will set you free with this truth right here from Colorado because it came from heaven and from God Himself. Ready? Are you listening? There is no such thing as generational curses.

That's not what this verse teaches. No such thing. It is not true or biblically accurate to say or to teach or to lay some heavy trip on someone that there are generational curses and that you are bound by the sins of your father, mother, grandmother, grandfather for generations. There's no such thing. It's man-made teaching. Reject it. That's not what this teaches.

What this teaches is that God will always visit iniquity on the fathers and the children's children to the third and fourth generation in their sin. Of course He will. The Bible explicitly teaches, I'm going to show you in a moment. You don't even have to figure it out, you don't even need a dictionary, you don't need to know the Greek or the Hebrew. The Bible is so clear on this that God will hold you responsible for your sin and hold me responsible for my sin. And my children, my grandchildren will not pay for my sin by living it out the rest of their lives.

Now, they may suffer the consequences of my sin, for sure. They may learn bad habits from me that will hurt them in the future, for sure. For some of you, you've had a father that has abandoned you and left you. And now you are wounded with a father-heart wound in your life of abandonment. So you kind of see things through abandonment. You are hurt because of what your dad did. But that is not a generational curse. It's the consequences of sin. You are not bound by it. You can be set free. God can heal that heart that's hurt from abandonment. God can heal that heart that you watched your dad drink and be violent. God can heal that heart where you heard or saw things in your home that no child should ever hear or no child ever experience. God can heal that. The blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient.

Guest (Male): This is Abounding Grace, and you're listening to a message from Pastor and Bible teacher Ed Taylor. Catch a replay when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Here in the month of May, we've picked out an excellent book written by Chuck Smith called *When the Storm Hits*. If you're struggling with life's burdens, this is a must-read. From the ability to discern spiritual warfare and how it can affect our emotions, to the realization that God is intimately aware of everything we are going through, this book will restore hope and peace to the weariest of believers. God may not always deliver us from the storms of life, but He is faithful to be with us as we go through them.

We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Please remember, it is through your financial support that we're able to come to you day by day on stations all across the nation. Your gift, whatever the size, would be greatly appreciated and put to good use. Request your book today by calling us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. Again, 877-30-GRACE. You can also order the book online at calvaryco.store. And if you'd rather not have the book, but still want to make a donation, that can be done rather easily at aboundinggraceradio.com.

And we'd like to connect with you before the day is done. Say hello, tell us what God is up to in your life when you visit aboundinggraceradio.com, and then click on "contact us." Don't miss our next study in Exodus with Pastor Ed tomorrow on Abounding Grace. And may God richly bless you with His abounding grace.