In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of solitude and retreat in the presence of God. He emphasizes that in order to truly serve God and fulfill one's purpose, it is necessary to retire into the sanctuary of God away from the distractions of the world. The speaker uses the example of Moses, who spent 40 years in the wilderness before being commissioned by God at the burning bush. He highlights the challenges and lessons Moses had to learn, including the need to confront personal issues and the importance of humility and perseverance in the face of failure. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that God's work in a person's life is ongoing and that there are valuable lessons to be learned in every stage of the journey.

I want to draw your attention to Moses as a leader, but particularly to where he got his strength to deal with problems. Chapter 5 at verse 22, And Moses returned unto the Lord. I would reckon that Moses was one of the greatest servants that God ever had. He was called to do a job that no one else had ever done. He had no precedent of any kind. Neither Abram, Isaac, Jacob or Joseph had ever been called to lead a people, lead a nation through a wilderness. Joseph may rule over a nation, he never led a nation. And because of that you find new ways and new principles in the life of Moses. Let me come back on a thing that I've been saying throughout these meetings. Moses when he grew up and heard how he had been miraculously preserved, it must have given to Moses a sense of destiny. To this he had been preserved, to this he had been called. Say you men, can you not look back in life before you were converted and see the hand of God? But things didn't work out the way Moses thought. When he was young he thought if he killed an Egyptian that all Israel would know that he was their deliverer. Things look easy when you're young. And God had to send him 40 years to the backside of the desert. That in the loneliness of the wilderness, far away from the monetary world, far away from the economic world, that there alone with God he might learn lessons. Brethren, we'll need to retire. Retire into the sanctuary of God where the crash in the monetary world is unknown, where the strife in the industrial world is never heard, where there's no lust to dim your eye. You'll never bow at the altar of the dollar, where no flattery will ever inflate you, nor rebuke disappoint you. A man is safe in the presence of God. Forty years he'll be there, till he arrives at the burning bush. Strange sight, great sight. Here he'll be commissioned. The presence of God, the holiness of God, the voice of God, that will change direction, give a man conviction to find himself with God at his back. These are big things. These are big things. I tell you you'll never play politics in this game if you've known the experience of the sanctuary of God and the voice of God giving you direction. Ah, there are strange things in the service of God, brethren. God commissioned a man and sent him and then sought to kill him. That's chapter 4. God sought to kill the man at the end. What was wrong? Why send a man and then kill him? Ah, you find this, that things weren't right in Moses' home. The child hadn't been circumcised and it's perfectly clear that Zipporah was objecting. Here's a man going out to serve God and his wife's not a hundred percent with him. Do you know that was the experience of John Wesley? You read his life story. She gave him a hell of a life. How he ever served God, I don't know. Say, have you noted from that point forward that Moses sent her back to Egypt until he had brought Israel out? If you've got the wrong wife, you'll just need to live with her. You can't send her back to her father like Moses. However, ultimately, the big day arrives. His first assignment for God. So chapter 5 opens. In they go to Pharaoh. Let my people go, says Jehovah. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? It's the roar of the lion of hell. They're idle. That's why you want to worship. So he instructs, he instructs the taskmasters to tell the officers, that's the Israelites, that we're over their own people. Take away the straw, but the total of bricks is the same. Well, it's impossible. Now watch. When the officers of the children of Israel found it was impossible to make the total, they decided to bypass Moses and Aaron and go straight to Pharaoh. My, that was a bitter pill. Eh? Say, it's bitter, brethren, when they begin to reject your leadership, albeit you've served them well. And they bypass Moses and go straight to Pharaoh. And of course, they get the answer. You're idle. Away you go. Go on with the job. No straw. Total the same. And as they come out from the presence of Pharaoh, there's Moses standing in the air. And they poured out the bitterness of their spirit upon them. Sure that's to blame. You've given straight to Pharaoh something in his hand to kill us. What do you do now? Now listen to me. Moses returned unto the Lord. Now you good men, listen to me. If you're a leader, the first thing you'll need to learn is this. That when things go wrong, you'll get the blame. Now you got that. And you'll find this. That as a leader, you'll need to be prepared to get the minimum of credit and the maximum of blame. When things go well, you'll get the minimum of credit. When they're going wrong, you get the maximum of blame. Isn't that right? So don't be in the business if you want to be popular. Again, you'll need to learn this as a leader. That when they begin to reject your leadership and give you all the blame, there's no use trying to reason with them. Their ears are closed. Your only hope is to get into the presence of God. Moses returned unto the Lord. When the problems arise, make for God, never mind to justify yourself before the brethren. Did you ever read the last two verses of the chapter? Watch how daring the man is. Listen to him praying. He says, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil and treated this people? My, that's easy, isn't it? The people blame Moses and Moses blamed God. It's heeding all over again. Just a minute now, read on. Why is it that thou hast sent me? And he raised the whole question of his commission. Why send me if the thing's a failure? It was his first big assignment. He wanted it to be a great success. Isn't that right? There he is. And he's got the vision of a popular leader. And things are going his way all right. And he thought that Pharaoh would crumble before him to find. But Pharaoh didn't. And his brethren turned against him. And now he goes in and he raises the whole question of his commission. And he says to God, since I came to Pharaoh in thy name, thou hast done evil to this people. You haven't delivered the people. Lord, he says, since you and I went into partnership, I've done my bit, but you haven't done yours. Now that's big talk. Just a minute. Just a minute. You see, even today they've got this idea, if you're sent of God, the thing must always be successful. Isn't that right? I've known preachers who are busy preaching and decided to go out full-time as a preacher. I've got to watch myself here. I tell you why. When you talk in this country about preachers, you're referring to full-time men. In our country, when we're talking about preachers, we mean anybody that preaches. You know. Follow. Now, I've known men. And then they've decided, now, I'll have a mission over here. And if God blesses, then I'll take that as the reason why I should go out full-time. Now, how they do things is their business, please. I'm only telling you the facts. Well, Moses has his first big assignment, and he wants it to be a big success and a great success, and it's a failure. There he is, lying in the presence of God, dying to the glory of popular leadership. There he is, he's down, and burning words are coming from him. And he's pouring out his soul to God. And he's dying in the presence of God. Oh, the agony of Moses. Brethren, I want to... He'll need to learn. He'll need to learn the success of failure. He'll need to learn the discipline of disappointment. Hmm? My, these are hard lessons to learn. Hmm? Hard to learn, brethren, that the way to go up is to go down. The way to be exalted is to be humbled. The way to win is to lose. The way to triumph is seeming defeat. Can't you see the lesson? That God had to deal with Moses before he could deal with Pharaoh. You might have thought that all God's work was done in him when he taught him about his home. That's not true. That's not only so. Of course he taught him about his home. When you read about elders, it's about their home and ruling their home. For your assemblies are only as strong as your homes. Ah, but God's to deal with a man as well. Brethren, you've got to be dealt with. And you've got to be humbled. And you've got to see that things just don't go the way that you want them to go. And Moses returned unto the Lord. Would you learn the lessons? Chapter 32. Chapter 32. What's wrong this time? Oh, it's a lot worse. Things never get easier, brethren. Things never get easier. That was true with Paul. The longer he went on, the harder it became. You see, we're getting, when we get two-thirds of our life over, we're thinking about retiring. Have you noticed that Moses began his greatest work at 80 years of age? 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the backside of the desert. Called to his greatest work when two-thirds of his life was over. That's how God does things. For there's no substitute for maturity. Ah, but it's different here. You know the story, don't you? The nation's well-nigh an apostasy. Moses is up on the mount, and the people are restless down below. And they come to Aaron, as I said to you the other day. They'll say things to Aaron. They would say and make suggestions to Aaron they never would make to Moses. Up make us gods. We don't know what's happened to this fellow. And they made the golden calf. There they're dancing naked around it. And up in the mountain, God's talking to Moses. He says, listen, Moses, away you go. Get down. Now I'm down now, please. Roundabout verses 11 to 13. Do you remember that God said to Moses, now listen, Moses, there are stiff-necked people. I tell you what to do. Just you stand aside. I'll destroy the lot of them. And I'll make a great nation out of you. Oh, brethren. How would you react to that? Now you'll have noticed in your Bible that God will make suggestions to test a man. Just to see where he is. If he's the wrong type of man, he'll want that. He'll want to take Abram's place. Moses prays. Verse 11. Verse 11. He prays to God on the ground of his grace. He says, Lord, you can't do it. You can't do it. You can't destroy this people. Remember your grace. You brought them out of Egypt by a great hand. Lord, your grace won't allow you to do it. Verse 11. Verse 12. Lord, you can't do it on the ground of your glory. If you destroy them in the mountains, they'll say he brought them out to murder them. Your glory is at stake. Lord, verse 13. You can't do it on the ground of your faithfulness for you covenanted to Abram and Isaac and Israel. That's great, isn't it? Before ever he get down. He's praying for the people that had sinned. He's reminding God of grace and faithfulness and glory. So down he comes. He's got the tables in his hand. And as he comes into within sight of the camp. Now I'm passing by a lot of detail. As he comes in within sight of the camp, there's the golden carpet and there are the people all around it. You remember at the sight of it, he took the two tables of stone and he threw them from him. And as they splintered from crag to crag, he marched into the camp. And that day Moses faced 600,000 men on his own. Isn't that right? Numbers 1 and 2. Israel had 600,000 fighting men. One man against 600,000. And he smashed the calf. Burned it. One man. Oh, the courage of this man. Oh, the burning passion and loyalty to God to maintain God's honor when everybody was turning away. One man against 600,000. What a man. We can hardly get one to stand against six. He stood alone. Now please, I'm down about verse 21. Now here's a difficult thing. He's got to face Aaron, his brother now. I want to tell you, brethren, it's bad enough when trouble comes in, but when the trouble's brought in by somebody in your own family, it's a lot worse. Isn't that right? He's to face his brother now. He was left in charge. So he turns to Moses. He says to Moses, what did the people do to you, Moses, Aaron, that this has happened? Now do you get the import of that? What did the people do to you, Moses, Aaron, that this has happened? What he's trying to go over to Aaron is this, that a leader is never influenced by the people. You must never allow the people to influence you. You're there to influence the people. Oh, says Aaron, Moses, you know what they're like. When they're like this, they're difficult. And they came and they wanted to make a God. And he says, ask them for their gold. Listen to this one. And he says, I threw it into the fire and out walked this calf. Oh, brethren. To tell a brother not so long ago when he said a thing to me, I said, listen, brother, it sounds very weak now. I don't know what like it'll sound at the judgment seat. That was the day that the call went out. Who will consecrate himself this day to the Lord and take a sword and stand against everybody, even his own brother? Do you remember the tribe of Levi swung in behind him and qualified for the priesthood? I'm down now, please. Right away down near where we're at. Three thousand people died that day. And the following day, while the graves were still freshly dug, verse 30 came to pass on the morrow that Moses said to the people, you have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up unto the Lord. Peradventure, I shall make an atonement for your sin. Well, that's big. Now we know he couldn't make an atonement, but we know what he means. Now just stop. Now gather up a few things here. When he faced the people, he says, you've sinned a great sin. And he says, I'm going up to the Lord. I'm going to have dealings with God about it. Peradventure, I shall be able to make an atonement for your sin. But he never told them what he was going to do. Is that right? He never told them what he was going to suggest to God out there. Listen again. When he stood before the people and brought their sin before them, he never told them that upon the mount he had prayed for them and saved them from destruction. Never told them that. We would have told them. We would have said, listen, you're only here because I prayed for you. He never told them, never mentioned that. Just a minute. Now you've got to read carefully for these things. When he faced Aaron about the sin, he never told Aaron that he had prayed to God for him. Deuteronomy 9 verse 20 tells us that God wanted to kill Aaron and Moses prayed for him. He never told Aaron that. Oh, he's a big man, isn't he? He's utterly selfless. He's not trying to project himself as the man that saved the situation. All he's out is to do something for the people that sinned. He's more concerned with his dealings with God for them than boast about success in his prayer life and preserving his brethren. And so it says, Moses returned unto the Lord. And notice, please, he used the same words to the Lord as he did to his brethren. He says, Lord, this people have sinned a great sin. They've made themselves gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive. He stops. It's an unfinished sentence. You'll see the dash in your Bible. Unfinished sentence. Oh, could God forgive? Would it be possible? God's looking at it. God's looking at it. He says, Lord, if you can't forgive, just take my life. Lord, I'll go to the wall for them. Lord, I know they've sinned, but they've suffered enough. Lord, take it out on me. Oh, what a shepherd's heart. Oh, what a leader. My, when people sin with us and go against our mind, far less sinning. We're out to destroy them. It's not right. Sacrifice our life for them, never. We'll destroy theirs, but we'll certainly hold on to ours. And when people sin, we become hard against them. Not right. We take up an attitude. You've let God down and you let Christ down. You've let the assembly down. You've let us down. There's a hardness comes in. I'm not saying you shouldn't deal with it, but you should love the folks despite their sin. That's why they don't come back. Oh, if you could just give them a sense. Listen, we love you and we love you deeply, but you have grieved God and you have grieved us. We'll need to do this, but it's for your own good. We still love you. God looked at Moses and he saw a picture of Calvary, a man prepared to sacrifice himself for others. Well, I know he couldn't make an atonement. You know that. But here was the very spirit of Christ and Moses. Brethren, listen, I would like to think if ever I did wrong, that the man that stood against me was the man that prayed for me most. Hey, come on, brethren. Would that be right now? And if you were to ever stand against anyone, will you make sure that you're the man that's prayed for the most and you're the man that loves them most? Come on now. Paul's writing 2 Corinthians. Do you know he tells us, chapter 2? He's talking about the first epistle. And mind you, you read it, brethren. It sounds a wee bit hard. You know, making all these corrections and adjustments and putting down, laying down the law. 2 Corinthians 2, he says this. Out of much affliction and anguish of heart, with many tears I wrote unto you. The tears were staining the page. I want to ask you something. Would you carry in your service a ministry of tears? Now, don't nod your head too quickly. Have you never shed tears? Christ carried a ministry of tears. Isn't that right? Paul had a ministry of tears. He remembered Timothy's tears. Brethren, honestly, before God, have you a ministry of tears? Have there been times when your heart is broken? Oh God, it's big business. It's big business. This man loved the people with all his heart. Oh, maybe you think they weren't worthy of it. But here's a man prepared to die even for a people that had sinned. Far less that were going on well. You know, we talk about Moses as the public man of God. That's right. I want you to note, please, have you ever noted that Moses was the man that was hidden? Because it's the hidden thing that was the strength for the public thing. Now listen carefully. One, he was hidden in his father's house for three months. Isn't that right? Two, he was hidden in the ark in the Nile. Three, he was hidden for forty years in the backside of the desert. Four, he was hidden for forty days and forty nights on the mount. Five, he was hidden for forty days and forty nights on the mount the second time. Six, he was hidden in the cleft of the rock. And finally, finally he was hidden when God buried him. And no man knows his sepulcher to this day. The man that was hidden. Listen to this and I'll sit down. He was the child of a slave, but the son of a princess. He was born in a hut, but lived in a palace. He inherited poverty, yet enjoyed unlimited wealth. He was a leader of armies, yet a keeper of flocks. He was the mightiest of warriors, yet the meekest of men. He was educated at court, but dwelt in the desert. He had the wisdom of Egypt, but the faith of a child. He was fitted for the city, but wandered in the desert. He was tempted with the pleasures of sin, but endured the hardness of virtue. He was backward in speech, yet he talked with God. He held the rod of a shepherd, yet wielded the power of the eternal. He was a fugitive from Pharaoh, yet the ambassador of heaven. He died on Mount Nebo, yet appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. No man at his burial, yet God buried him.