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UNDERSTANDING GOD SERIES
UNDERSTANDING GOD PART 2
In the
last message we were talking about how Abraham and Moses had similarity and
they were in the boardroom with God. We were talking about the three realms of
prayer; how that there are some prayers that has to do with the Outer Court Holy Place Israel
Lets look on in this realm
at some of the things that Abraham did in Genesis18. We see in the first point
that Abraham gave up everything to follow God and pursue what God had been
leading him to do in his life. In chapter18 just preceding
that incident where Abraham could talk with God about Sodom
Preceding
that there was something that Abraham did that seems to win a place and a favor
with God. Gen.18: 2, “So he lifted his eyes and looked and behold 3 men were
standing by him. And when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them.
And bowed himself to the ground and said, “My Lord, if
I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass by on Your servant.”
Notice
that even before God spoke to him, as he saw the angels of God from afar, he
ran after them. There are some small indications to show that there is an extra
touch that Abraham had. In verse 3 he says, “Don’t pass me by.” He wants
to be the host. Verse 5 and I will bring a morsel of bread that You may refresh Your hearts. After that you may pass by as
much as You have come to Your servant. And they said,
“Do as you have said. So Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and quickly make ready three measures of fine flour, knead it and make
cake.
And
Abraham ran; notice he is running to serve God. He ran to the herd took a
tender and good calf gave it to a young man and he hastened to prepare it. So
he took butter and milk and the calf, which he had prepared and set it before
them. And he stood by them under the tree as they ate. Notice how eager he was
to serve God. He ran to serve God. He ran to get God in. He ran to minister to
God. This is no ordinary man. And this is the aspect that causes God to find
such favor with Abraham.
We
can summarize point no.2 as having a zeal for God. We are talking about
understanding God and relating it to prayer. If you understand God, you will be
able to understand how to pray and get into the boardroom with Him. The reason
why we are teaching this is so that we can advance in our prayers from the Outer Court Holy Place Most
Holy Place
Now
zeal has to come from our part. Zeal is not something God can impose on us. He
can impose His commandments. Like the book of Isaiah says in
chapter one, if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the
land. And one day God was dealing with Kenneth Hagin’s
life. As he was praying to God he said, “Lord, I don’t seem to be eating the
good of the land.” The Lord said, “You are obedient but you are not that
willing.” It was only after he adjusted his willingness in his obedience that Hagin said he began to eat the good of the land. However he
didn’t take long to adjust his willingness in his heart.
There
are a lot of people who are obedient. We are not talking about ordinary
Christian life. Outside in the ordinary Christian life people are already
struggling to obey God. We are talking in the realm where everybody is obeying
God and going further. Yet there are degrees of obedience. If you are obedient you
can live in the Holy Place Most Holy
Place
Our
God seems to be a kind of God who looks for this kind of zeal in His people. It
draws Him in as much as (the first point of) meekness draws Him. Zeal draws God
in our life. Rev. 3:15, “ I know your works
that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then
because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will
spill you out of my mouth.” Most of us know that verse very well. But have
you ever stop to think about this? It’s very bad to be cold also. But yet Jesus
said, He prefers cold or hot, rather than just
lukewarm. We know that He wants us to be hot for Him. But here He says if He
had to choose between cold and lukewarm and hot, lukewarm stands the last. So
He is reflecting His character here. There is something about the character of
God that shows and tells us that He just abhors lukewarmness.
He prefers that people do something and live something or apply their hearts to
whatever they are applying with all their minds, soul and strength. And He
watches for that.
If
you notice the apostle Paul when he was an unbeliever, he was a fantastic
unbeliever. When he became a believer, he also was a fantastic believer. Paul
said this statement in his epistle that he progresses above his contemporaries.
He was someone who would go the extra mile and take the extra effort. That was
his attitude. And there was something about his attitude although he was
sincerely wrong in his pursuit. But when he turned to God, he went all the way.
Paul knew nothing about being lukewarm. He was either cold or he was hot. When
he was cold he was very cold. When he was hot, he was on fire for God. There
was nothing that could stop him.
Now
these are the kind of characteristics that attract God. And it is this quality
in Abraham’s life that brought God’s Presence in his life. If Abraham had not
run after God in Genesis 18 we may never have seen that encounter. It was his
zeal that brought the extra touch. There is something about God’s character.
Numbers
22-24 records the story about Balaam and Balak and
their unsuccessful attempt to curse Israel Israel Israel
Num.
25:5, So Moses said to the judges of Israel
Here
were people repenting after the rebuke from God. But in the midst of that somebody
took a Moabite woman right past those people who were repenting and praying.
Verses
7-11, Now when Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose from
among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the
man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel
and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of
Israel Israel ,
because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the
children of Israel
Notice
something here: Phinehas was among those people. He
was on the priestly line. And here is an interesting incident where Balaam
tried to curse Israel
Why
should such an incident move God in heaven? Why should such a simple incident
move the hand of God to stop the plague? The reason is God in His wrath and
judgment was touched by the action of one who loves Him so much. One who went a
step further. One who not only was obedient but
jealous towards God. And the plague stopped. Because one man had zeal.
See
zeal is doing the commandment of God. You could keep the commandment of God and
get all the blessings. But zeal is going beyond the commandments of God into
the very depth of God’s heart and feeling. We are not commanded in those extra
efforts. Yet God is pleased with those who put in the extra efforts. Anything
He commands is only the minimum. But what He doesn’t command is the extra.
Nobody tells you to do it. This is a frame of mind we have to develop. Human
beings inherently are lazy. And this is the frame of mind we have to develop.
When we do something for God we have to learn that it has to be the best. That
is an attitude. I don’t find that kind of attitude in some people who are doing
God’s work. And there is a difference between doing God’s work from the Most Holy Place Outer
Court Holy Place
When
you do something for God, everything that regards it is holy. And you will not
compromise even on second best. You will do your best. You will put in all your best knowing its from the Lord. Just like the woman who
came and washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. They
said why is this perfume wasted. But Jesus said, “She
had done it for Me. You always have the poor with you.
But this is an exceptional case.” He was pleased. See the woman regarded Jesus
so highly that she regarded that not even the cloth is worthy of wiping His
feet. She uses her hair. And that was something she was expressing to God. That
Jesus said as long as this gospel is preached, what she had done will be spoken
of as a memorial to her.
All
these little, little things are expressing God’s character that we must not
miss. Some of us don’t realize the true character of God and what He looks for.
That’s God’s character. Phinehas has a zeal for God. He touched God so much and God
said in Num.25: 12, “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of
peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him, a covenant of an
everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement
for the children of Israel.’” Now God was so pleased that He said, “I give
you an everlasting covenant.’ What a powerful blessing. All
because someone showed zeal for God. See zeal is what makes you stand up
in God.
Lets turn to Exodus and
look at the life of Moses. Exodus 32:9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have
seen these people and indeed it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let Me alone that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may
consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
Look
at what God promise Moses. “Moses I’ll destroy all these Israelites and make
you a great nation.” A lesser man would have said, “That’s good. Kill them. I
myself am already fed up with them.” Although that is a small statement, I
believe God meant it. God had such favor with Moses. Moses had already gone
through step one. He had given up everything. He had considered himself nothing
before God. So when step two began working, Moses pleaded with the Lord in
verse11, “Lord why does Your wrath turn hot against
Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt
Now
behind what Moses was saying was his great concern for God. He was more
concerned about what people will say of God than what God was promising him. He
was saying, “God Your reputation is at stake.” This is the part that has to do
with the zeal. See zeal for God is not just being angry at sin. And usually
people do it wrongly. They get angry with sinners. I know some people who got zeal for God, they are mad at everybody. But
they forget they are not God. And they are being angry with sinners instead of
being angry at sin. God cannot use them to restore the church.
How
do we define zeal besides the definition of going a step further? It is not
just being angry because God is angry. In fact when you try to be angry just
because you want to show that God is angry, you will get into trouble. The
wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. But this is zeal. This is step
two. See step one is when you have died. You have died to everything that is in
you. You live only for God and you do only His will. You have died to your own
pleasures. You have died to your own purposes. You have died to your own
vision. Like somebody once said, “Before there can be a real vision of what God
wants to do through a life, there has to be a death of a vision.” What does
this mean? Before God can work a vision
in you, you have to die to your own vision so that God’s vision can be birthed
forth. There must be a death of your vision before there is a birth of God’s
vision. So having gone into step one and you are absolutely dead in Christ.
Zeal
is an attitude to protect God’s reputation at all cost. Zeal is an attitude to
lift up God above you and to lift up God’s name. To lift up God’s glory. To
lift up God’s honor. To lift up God’s Presence above your very own. Zeal is an
attitude that makes you want to protect God. I know that God doesn’t need
protection. He protects us. But here we are like tiny little finite beings,
knowing that God is so much bigger than us and we live under the shadow of His
wings. Yet He is so pleased to see these tiny little human beings wanting to
care for Him. I know He doesn’t need us at all rather we need Him. But there is
a cuteness of human beings wanting to care for God’s glory. Just like a 2 years
old child telling his papa, “Take care when you are driving on the road.”
There’s a cuteness to it that touches the father’s heart.
Now
here is God so big, so infinite and here we are so tiny. Like one speck of dust
before Him in the universe. And Moses is saying, “Lord, I am taking care of Your glory. What will others say about You?”
See he is concerned about what people will say of Him. He is concerned about
what will happen after that. “Lord not to me but You.”
Look at it this way. Moses will benefit if the people were destroyed. Here is
the situation. If the Israelites were destroyed, Moses will be a big and mighty
nation. If they were not destroyed, Moses will still be the same. But yet Moses
evaluated the situation and it gave him some concern: if the Israelites were
destroyed, he would be a great and mighty nation. But what will people say
about God? Will God be lifted up high? Will God’s name be worshipped? Will
God’s name be honored? Will God’s name be praised? Here his own name will be
great for God said, “I will make you a great nation. “ On the other side he
says to God, “What about Your name?” He is concerned for God’s name. He is
himself one of the subjects of the blessing. Yet he could isolate himself from
the situation where either God’s name goes up or his name goes up. And when he
had the choice to choose between whether God’s name goes up or his name go up,
he says, “Lord, let Your name be exalted.”
Not
many of us are in that kind of privileged position to make that choice. But in
many other smaller ways, your zeal is proven. Occasionally, you have the
opportunity to choose to lift up God’s name or your name. You know that if you
lift up God’s name, you will be nothing. Yet you still do it. That is zeal for
God. Knowing that you can bring God glory, you would do that to the loss of
yourself. And you will still do it. That is zeal for God.
And
there is something the way Moses talked that won the heart of God. Our God is a
person. There are ways in which you could be drawn into the depths of God. Like
we were talking about last week the first point, that the humble are exalted
and the exalted are humbled. God resists the proud. There is something that God
resists directly. And we are talking about the proud falling by themselves. God actually places judgment. In James 4: 7,
“Draw near unto God and God will draw near to you.” There is something that
draws God near to you. And this is point two where in the attitude of caring for
God, of being concerned for God’s glory, of a heart that always looked out for
God’s glory, you will find God’s face turning upon you. You would get the
attention of God in your life. And you will walk into the realm like Moses
walks.
From
that time onwards, God and Moses seem to have a pact, a very close walk
together. Moses in Exodus 33 made use of his position in verse11. Now its only from that day onwards that the Bible says in verse
11, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his
friend.” I remember this incident in Numbers 13 where Aaron and Miriam went
against Moses. And God Himself defended Moses. And God says, “If there was a
prophet I will speak to them through dreams and visions. But as for My servant Moses,” He says, “It is not so; I speak to him
face to face.” That tells me something. If you are just a prophet with dreams
and vision, your maximum walk is in the Holy Place
What
is the difference He is making? Between whether they live
within the first veil or the second veil. Moses crossed into the second
veil. And there is very few that cross the second veil. When you cross into the
second veil and you go very deep in God, you may be like Enoch where you walk
with God and you go off into His presence forever. You may be like Elijah when
you walk with God and you don’t see death. You may be like Moses where even if
you die, God would send Michael the Archangel
to specially to raise you from the dead. Because Moses was
different. He had known the deep things of God. Zeal is going the extra
step and it is so important to the Lord.
In
Exodus 33 verse 11, So the Lord spoke to
Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the
camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from
the tabernacle.
It
was only from that incident onwards where Moses showed concern for God’s honor
that God confirm that He had a friend in Moses. Moses was a friend to God. He
took care of God’s glory. He was concerned for God’s glory. And God said,
“Moses, you are now My friend.” Then Moses also very
smart; he knew he had God. He wants some favor with God. He knew he had won
extra grace with God. And he knew he could ask a little bit more. God regards
Moses very highly. Next few verse in verse 13, Then
Moses said to the Lord, “See You say to me, ‘Bring up this people. But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found grace
in My sight.’
Now
he is making use of his privileged position. He is cashing on his board member
authority. He is a board member making use of his rights and privileges. Moses
told God that He said that He knew him by name and he has also found grace in
His sight.
In
verse13, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your
sight.” He is testing that privilege whether it really works. Like some of
you, you have joined some club. You know that you have privileges. Like I have a clergy club membership. So with that card, I
am supposed to get up to 50% discounts off hotel rates. So you know that is
your privilege. But testing it is another. So you go to the hotel and you want
to check it out. So you are testing your privileges whether they are true.
So
here Moses had some privileges with God and he is testing it out his board
membership. And he says, “If You say I have found grace in Your
sight.” God says, “My Presence will go with you. And I will give you rest.”
And Moses said, “If Your Presence does not go with us do not bring us up
from here. How then will it be known that Your people
and I have found grace in Your sight except You go with us.’ And the Lord
says in verse 17, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you
have found grace in My sight and I know you by name.”
Now
God says I will do what you have asked. This is not even the New Testament. Yet
where there are promises by Jesus Christ, which says, “Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it.” This is not the New Testament yet in
the New Testament we should go deeper. All because Moses
showed the zeal for God.
Then
Moses in verse18, “Please show me Your glory.”
Now he is tapping on his board member privileges. God said, “I will make all
My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion with. You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. Now here is a
place by Me. You shall stand on the rock. So it shall
be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in
the cleft in the rock, and I will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then
I will take away My hand and you shall see My back;
but My face shall not be seen.” And so Moses did that. (Ex 33: 19-23)
In
Exodus 34 verse 6, the Lord passed by and he saw God’s back part of His
Glory. That was the part that caused his
skin to shine like a light bulb. That was the part that when he came down his face shone like a light bulb. He was tapping on his board
member privileges. Moss is very determined to utilize to the fullest his board
member privileges.
Verses
8-9, So Moses made haste and bowed his head
toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray go among us,
(Your Presence is not enough. You come with us) even though we are a
stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, take us as Your inheritance.
Verse
10, And He said, “I will make a covenant. Before all your people I will do
marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor
in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the
Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.’
Verse
29, Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the two tablet
of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that
Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
He had
been so deep in God’s Presence. He was not aware what was taking place in body.
There is a place in the spirit where you move into where your soul and your
body become literally affected by the Spirit. There are degrees; there is a
spirit, soul and body. Let me put it on the reverse so you can understand it
from the other side. There is a place where you live in the flesh to the extent
that your mind becomes literally useless. And it becomes a very weak tool for
you to live in your life. And where your spirit is utterly
starved. There is something where you can just get into the flesh and be
sinful until it destroys your mind. And it literally destroys your spirit.
There are a lot of people whose mental capacity emotional capacity and will
power are utterly destroyed because they choose to live in the flesh. There is
something you can do in the flesh that will affect your soul and your spirit.
Any
truth of God works always both sides, negative and positive. The other side is
true. There is a place in God that you move into where your physical body and
your soul are literally changed and transformed in the Holy of Holies. When we
talk about the Holy of Holies we are talking about transcending sometimes
bypassing and sometimes nullifying the total effect of the physical
limitations. We are talking about the fullness of the board membership in the
Holy of Holies. Moses didn’t eat for 40 days and 40 nights. This is a physical
impossibility. You cannot go for a long fast without water and without food to
a certain extent only. But Moses went
without food and without water. What happen to his intestines? Don’t tell me he
doesn’t have gastric juices. He is a flesh and blood human being like you and
I. Don’t tell me he doesn’t have hunger
pangs. But there is something about getting into God’s Presence that causes
God’s Presence to affect his soul and his body. I believe not only the body of
Moses was affected. His mind was affected. His mind was enlightened to a
certain degree. The thing I want to show here is that Moses became so
accustomed to that level of life with God that if he were to do it again, there
would be no problem.
Like
today we tell people that 40 days and 40 nights of fasting you really need a
leading from God. It is because you are breaking natural laws which means you
have to lay a hold on spiritual laws that will cover up for that. But Moses was
so accustomed with this supernatural living with God that there were two times
when he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. The first time he went up, he got the 10
commandments. Then he came down and he broke it. Then he went up again for
another 40 days and then he came down. That makes 80 days of fasting. But
people forget that there was one silent not so prominent 40 days and nights
that he had when he was with his people. That’s found in the book of Deut.
9:10-11, “Then the Lord delivered to me two tables of stone written with the
finger of God, and on them were all the words, which the Lord had spoken to you
on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it
came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights that the Lord gave me the 2
tablets of stone, the tablets of covenant. Then the Lord said to me, “Arise
quickly, go down from here for your people whom you
have brought out of Egypt
And
that was when in verse17, “Then I took the two tablets and threw them out
from my two hands and broke them before your eyes.” That was his first
time.
In
Deut. 10:1, “At that time the Lord said to me, “Hew for yourself two tablets
of stone like the first and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an
ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets, the words that were on the first
tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.
In
verse10 “As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain 40 days and 40
nights; that is the second well known incident when Moses fasted 40 days
and 40 nights. So there were two incidents.
But
here is where people missed out the middle one, which was nothing to do with
getting the commandments.
Between
the first and the second while he was with the children of Israel
And
in verse 20, it says, “And the Lord was angry with Aaron too and would have
destroyed him; so I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
Sometimes
those who read Exodus say Aaron was guilty, why didn’t God destroy him? God
wanted to. But Moses said, `Lord, please pardon Aaron.’ And God listened to
Moses. Aaron was guilty. How can he say he helped the people shape the calf and
he told Moses, `I threw the gold in and out came this thing.’
He was guilty of compromise. Aaron didn’t know how to stand firm on what is
right. He yielded just because he was in the minority. No doubt all the people
did want to worship idols. He could have stood firm. If he were to die then at
least die for God. That’s the type of Christianity we should have.
It’s
very easy to compromise when you are in the minority. When everybody seems to
be in the wrong and you are the only one who knows it is wrong. As far as the
Bible is concerned, you shouldn’t compromise. It is very hard to stand firm on
godly ways and principles because sometimes you lose your friends. But there is
a difference. If you go through that kind of thing and you honor God above
yourself, that’s when God comes near. See if you ever stood alone with God and
you lose all your friends, God’s friendship will replace all of those things. I
know what it’s like to stand in what is truth. I know what its like to stand
alone on what you know and you are firmly convicted its scriptural and everyone
says you are wrong. It’s not easy. You will give everything in the world to
have human companionship and friendship. But because you reached that stage
that you love God and you have a zeal for God, you will not compromise because
you weigh between your own name and God’s own name. God comes first even if
yours is crushed to the ground. If you have gone through that, you will know
what it means to stand firm. Sometimes you lose all your friends. You get
misunderstood, you get blamed, and you are called names. And it hurts. Your
human emotion is hurt but because the spirit sustains the soul, the soul could
rise again. But these are where the test is.
And
Aaron should have known better. I mean if you stand on the thing that is right
some people would tell me to compromise but there are some things that are not
“compromisable.” But once you have stood and you know
what it is, something happens. God replaces every friendship you lose because
of truth. And Aaron should have known better. And he nearly died. Moses said to
God to spare Aaron and God listened to him because Moses had the position of a
board member with God.
But
in Deut 9 verse18 is the hidden third fast. Actually what Moses did was when he
came down, he broke the tablet and he fell on his face in front of all the
people before God. He never got up for
40 days. You can’t do that in the natural. But something has transformed Moses’
body until he could stand something that normal human being cannot stand. We
are talking about walking into that realm of God, where literally your soul and
your body get affected and transformed. Why because Moses had the extra touch
with God. He sought after God’s glory with all his heart. Even at the cost of his own name. He sought with all his heart after God’s glory.
Zeal is defined as seeking after God’s glory with all our heart, mind and soul
and strength even at the cost of our own life, our own reputation, and our own
name. And that will draw you into the depth of God’s Presence.
Let’s
turn back to Exodus 34. We are talking about Moses coming down with his face
shiny. And that was a physical transformation. And there was no physical
transformation before a soul transformation. God works from spirit, soul and
body. Exodus 34:30, So when Aaron and all
the children of Israel
Lets tie it back to 2 Cor. 3:13, Unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so
that the children of Israel
Now
look at Exodus 34: 35, And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of
Moses, that the skin on Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his
face again. That tells us that when Moses left God’s Presence his face
shone like a new torchlight. Then slowly it would fade off. Whenever the face
of Moses shone he will put that veil and that happens all his life from that
time onwards.
That’s
the second point that we touch on. Just having the extra
touch and zeal for God. Let’s go to God in prayer.
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