Faithfulness and Gentleness
Fruit of the Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Battle for the Heart
The Battle for the Heart
The battle for pure hearts must be won for the Lord. (Heb 3:7-13)
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
When we lose the battle for the heart, doctrine (teaching) has little effect.
God will not force us to follow Him. He does have powerful forces to keep us in His way if we would humbly seek Him!
The powerful forces can be defeated by a hardened heart. (Heb 3:9-11)
Moses is an example for us of a pure heart of faithfulness and gentleness. (Heb. 3:1-2; Gal. 5:22-23)
Moses is put forth as a type of Christ. Jewish Christians were urged to see the heart and faithfulness of Moses to follow the Lord. (Heb 3:1-2)
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
The faithfulness of Moses is an example to be followed and not just praised.
Consider the challenge to stay the course (faithfulness). This is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Faithfulness
Faithfulness
Faithfulness is trust in God that creates trust in each other. (Matt. 9:12; 1 Tim. 5:12; Tit. 2:10; Acts 17:31; Eph 1:1; 1 Cor 4:2)
pistis, Pistis
(1) active, as belief directed toward a person or thing confidence, faith, trust, reliance on (MT 9.2);…
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
(c) as a decision to be faithful and loyal to the Christian religion promise, pledge, commitment (1T 5.12); …
having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith.
(3) passive;
(a) of what brings trust and confidence from others faithfulness, fidelity, reliability (TI 2.10); (b) as what inspires confidence pledge, (means of) proof, guarantee (AC 17.31); .. Frieberg
not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
“The quality of reliability, trustworthiness, which makes a man a person on whom we can utterly rely and whose word we can utterly accept.” - Barclay
Faithfulness is especially hated by Satan. Persecution is directed at the faithful!
Satan wants us to distrust each other and distrust God.
How much teaching today in essence denies that faithfulness is essential for a Christian? (Eph 1:1; 1 Cor 4:2)
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
With Calvinism, you don’t have to be faithful to God! God’s already done the work, nothing is required of you! Not what they admit they believe, but it is the logical result.
Moses wanted in his heart to know God, and so was changed over time to be like God. (Ex 34:5-8; Heb 11:24-27)
Imagine seeing the glory of God and hearing these words. (Ex 34:5-8)
Now 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.”
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
Moses came to know God! This was a lifelong process. He wanted to know.
Moses had many weaknesses that God worked with. He was impetuous but through failure and trials over time learned humility. He grew!
At the start he learned that faithfulness comes at a price. (Heb 11:24-27)
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, 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.
Moses understood that faithfulness meant listening to and obeying the word of God. (Acts 7:22; Num 12:6-8)
He had the best education in the philosophy of the Egyptians. Moses never appealed to nor directed others to consider the thoughts of men! (Acts 7:22)
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
Consider what God said about Moses. (Num 12:6-8)
Then He said,
“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”
Hearing, meditating, obeying without compromise is the essence of faithfulness.
Moses opposed the rest of the world because he was faithful. He lived and taught the law of God. (Ex 16:4; 24:12; 10:24-27; Num 12)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
Opposition from Pharaoh and others was expected. Moses stood upon the word of God without compromise. He was the ultimate “legalist.” (Ex 10:24-27)
Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.”
But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.
The greatest opposition came from God’s people. How many occasions did the majority of the flock grumbled and sought to overthrow Moses?
Consider the individual opposition! Even Aaron, and Miriam! (Num 12)
Meekness (Gentleness)
Meekness (Gentleness)
Meekness is strength accommodated to the weaknesses of others. The greek word was used to describe tamed beasts (wild horses now tamed, etc.).
prauthj - as a quality of gentle friendliness gentleness, meekness (as strength that accommodates to another's weakness), consideration – Frieberg
The word used here "parus is seen in that it lies between excessive anger (Gr. origates) and exessive angerlessness (Gr. aorgisia). It is true composure, i.e., the ability to be angry at the right times and never angry at the wrong time. Rightly so, the Greeks used praus (meek) for a tamed beast (a horse once wild), but now obedient to bit and saddle).
God speaks concerning this aspect of Moses’ character. (Num 12:3 ASV) (Ex 32:10-12; Num 14:11-13; Rom 12:19-21)
American Standard Version Chapter 12
Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.
How do you respond to men who complain and murmur behind your back and at you personally? He prayed earnestly for them. (Ex 32:10-12; Num 14:11-13)
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.”
Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.
Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
And Moses said to the Lord: “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them,
Parents must find this kind of heart. It is not all about you! (Ex. Mean Mama)
Is meekness a weakness? No, it is yielding to the power of God. (Rom 12:19-21)
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The meekness of Moses in the rebellion of Korah. (Num 16:1-3)
As a faithful man Moses only delivered and stood by the word of the Lord.
Korah in pride charged Moses with pride. Moses knew this was about God and not about himself! Consider God’s words to Samuel. (1 Sam 8:7-8)
Moses tenderly pleas with Korah and his following. (Num 16:4-5, 8-10)
Korah would not listen but rather push his followers in emotion. (Jude 8, 11)
Korah and his followers learned the power behind a man meek towards God.
After Korah’s death, the seeds of bitterness still lived in opposition to the faithful, meek Moses! He knew God and still interceded for the people. (Num 16:41)
God’s Great Work in Moses
God’s Great Work in Moses
He became a Christ-type. (Acts 3:22-23; Heb 7:25; 3:1-2; Matt 11:29)
For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
He interceded for God’s people. (Heb 7:25)
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
He was faithful. (Heb 3:1-2)
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
He was meek. (Mt 11:29)
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
The work that Moses accomplished stretched far beyond his lifetime. (2 Tim 4:3-4)
What if Moses was judged by the numbers who listened and obeyed his teaching?
There was more than one generation that could profit from his words and example.
Is this how we view our work?
We need to learn how God builds! I must make faith my own and not look around me at what brethren accept! Look to God! (2 Tim 4:3-4)
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Moses was part of the conversation on the mount of transfiguration. He spoke with Jesus and Elijah about Jesus’ coming death in Jerusalem. (Lk 9:30-31)
And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Imagine what that discussion was like!
Moses was one of only two (he and Elijah) who truly understood Jesus’ suffering. Moses must have brought great comfort to Jesus in this sense.
Moses did not enter the physical promised land but did enter the heavenly one.
Jesus built on the work accomplished through Moses! (Jn 5:45-46; Lk 24:44)
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”
Conclusion: Let each of us in meekness faithfully serve and seek the invisible God!
