Impatience Leads to Sin
Key Passage: Exodus 31:18
Date: June 7, 2024
And turn to Exodus chapter number 31 tonight. Exodus chapter number 31.
It has been all three weeks since we have been on the life of Moses. We’ve been on the life of Moses for over a year and we’re going to get back to it. Brother Josh did a good job two weeks ago. Last week we changed midweek service to Tuesday and sweet service. Thanksgiving service always a blessing. I enjoyed that, always do.
And tonight we’re going to get back to the life of Moses. We’re entering in the second half of the last part of the book of Exodus. And let me give you a little outline if you would like it of the last part of the book of Exodus. Sometimes it’s hard to kind of keep up what’s going on. So maybe just a quick outline if you want to pencil it in, you can do that.
Of course, they’ve already left Egypt and entering into the wilderness of Sinai and whatnot in the desert there. Here’s just a little outline for it. Chapter 20 to 24, talking about the last part of Exodus here. Chapter 20 to 24 is the giving of the law. Chapter 25 to 31 is the tabernacle and its details. Seven chapters on that. Then 32 to 34 is breaking of the law. And it’s amazing. And then chapter 35 through chapter 40, six chapters there, is about how to put the tabernacle up. So if you, just a little outline sometimes it’s helpful for me.
Last time we left or ended up on them, the life of Moses. We were in chapter 19. We’re jumping ahead a little bit tonight. We, oh, a couple of years ago, we did a whole series on Sunday morning, 10 different Sunday mornings on the 10 commandments and whatnot. So we’re just going to kind of go over some of that or bypass that, if you would. And we’re over here, chapter number 31, the last verse of it of Exodus.
By the way, does anyone know, remember? You remember our memory verse. Our memory verse, Exodus 14:14. You might say that for us. Mr. Chisgar. Amen. Somebody else saying it back there. Who was saying it back there? Somebody else. Is that you, Brother Tim? Say that thing, man. Ms. Jennifer. Amen. Good, good, good. Good. Anybody else? Everybody else? Everybody else? Brother Bill. Come on, Brother Bill. Good.
Exodus 14:14. Let’s say it out loud together. Here we go. You ready? Exodus 14:14, “The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.” Good. That’s a great, great verse. We kind of have gotten off that. We’ve got to get back to a little bit. Just kind of keep it repetition key to learning. Amen. We’re in chapter 31. We’re going to start in verse number 18. Would you please stand tonight?
By the way, bro, Joel, Miss Jody, they have extra smiles in their faces, and I got grandbabies with them, and that’s just awesome. I know Brock, Brock, and then who’s the granddaughter? What’s the granddaughter? Brock and Liberty. Can everybody, everybody just wave at Brock? Everybody, hey, Brock, everybody. There you go, good deal, good deal. All right, good, good.
Let’s get 31:18, here we go, “And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God.”
Can you imagine the handwriting? I mean, I’m sure the handwriting that was on the prayer request cards are very similar, I’m sure of that. If you’ve ever tried to read them, you’ll understand what I’m saying there. But can you imagine? That’d just be amazing to see in the perfection, the handwriting of God. That’s pretty amazing.
Chapter 32: “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said in him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us for as for this Moses the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we walk not is become of him.” And Aaron said unto them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and of your sons and your daughters and bring them unto me.” And all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron.
Now let me just say a word there. I think we’ve mentioned before, but sometimes the Bible times in that time period, that was almost like their savings account. They didn’t have, you know, First Tennessee Bank or Third and Fifth and all the rest. And they would wear their gold somewhat. So they’re taking some of their savings, if you will, here. Breaking it off.
And verse number four is what they did with it. “And he received him at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf.” And they said, “How sad this is,” they said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” By the way, they had seen a golden calf and whatnot in Egypt. That’s where they got it from, you know. And what a sad, sad thing.
And just for a bit tonight, for the internet, Impatience Leads to Sin. That’ll be the title for tonight. Impatience leads to sin.
Let’s pray for just a bit that God working our hearts. Father, would you give us wisdom tonight? Lord, to the workings of the devil. And Lord, the way he’s working in our individual lives, Lord, to give us victory over that, help us to grow. Lord, increase our faith just to wait and rest in and on you, Lord. And have us be alert and hungry for you to speak to our hearts tonight. And we’ll thank you for what you do, Father. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
It ended amazing. God said, and look, I’ll give you a law. In fact, God had Moses go up to the Mount. I mentioned this a couple Wednesdays ago, but we think sometimes Moses went up to the Mount once or twice. It looks like all together he went up to the Mount seven to eight times, most would say eight times. And he went up there and God said, look, I want to give them a covenant, a law, if they would like to enter into it.
Look back over in chapter number 19, chapter number 19 of Exodus. And I want you to see their answer to this when God kind of proposes this thing to them. And look at 19, Exodus 19. Look in verse number eight right there. 19:8. Are you there? Amen? Good deal. “And all the people”—notice that, not some of them, but all the people—“answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.
Actually, they didn’t even have the law yet. They didn’t know what God was going to say. It’s no, it doesn’t matter what all God says, we’re going to do it. Maybe just turn it down just a touch by the team, if you will. I feel like if it would get loud, it’s going to be too loud, you know. And it’s just amazing. What I added to this. Oh, we’re ready to do it. God says, we’re going to do it.
And it’s a sad thing from that to them making this golden calf. Now what happened? How did they get here? I will say this: sometimes we don’t realize how long it had been. Remember the reason they left. They left Egypt and they crossed over the Red Sea. And remember we spent a whole week of the night talking about, showing you maps of it. They could have taken the way of the Philistines. It had been a whole lot quicker. It would be more of a straight shot that had got there a whole lot quicker. But God said, hey, you can’t handle the battles that way. And so I’m going to take you around the long route down to the wilderness, the desert there. It’s going to be a longer route, but it’s more sure route besides you’ve got to grow in the meantime.
And so maybe they came out of Egypt and thinking, man, we’re going to get there, you know, in a couple days or weeks. And that was possible the other way. But now they’re going down around the Sinai Peninsula and there in the wilderness of Mount Sinai and all that, and so they’ve been waiting. Now it’s been three months until they came to the mount there, since they came to the mount or to get to that point, three months. And now they’ve actually been at the mount for a good while. Many think around 11 months they were there altogether at Mount Sinai.
At this point, there have been six times that Moses had been up on the Mount. We talked about, we discussed that one Wednesday night. To go up to Mount Sinai, we don’t realize what that means. I read a testimony of blog, if you will, of a guy that went up. And, of course, nowadays they have trails and they have guides and all that. And he said, we got up in the middle of the night. And we traveled four hours. He said, it’s a steep climb, it’s hard travel, even with the trails. And he said, a lot of people turned around and went back, said, uh-uh, there’s too strenuous for me. But he said, man, they missed it because we got up the top in the morning and saw the sunrise and it’s amazing. And he said, I can understand why God met with him on the top of that mount there. Just amazing view. But four hours. And they’ve got trails now and walkways and all that. Well, Moses, he didn’t have all that. And Moses is 80-plus years old.
So you imagine every time he’s been up, we think, wow, he just went up there and said, hey, you know, and had a little prayer of me, that’s it, and all this, this is a big journey, you know. And he’s already been up, so we got time with that. And so they’ve been here for a while. What I’m trying to say, it wasn’t just a boom, boom, boom. Now, this time Moses has been up on the Mount 40 days and 40 nights, at least. We know at least 40 days. So I’m talking about there’s been time. And it’s been a long kind of, just a slow process. And they’re kind of, I can see where some might say, well, we’re stuck here at this mount. We ought to be, we’re supposed to go to the promised land. We’re stuck here for months now. And…
Notice their attitude in that first verse of chapter number 32. Notice their attitude here. Look at that first verse there, would you please? That first 32:1. “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount.” So where in the world is Moses? You know, I mean, come on. Come on, dude. Come on. We’ve got to get going here. We’re going to get to the promised land. Where are you at?
When they saw he delayed. “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gather themselves together in there.” Well, Moses, the leader, God’s got appointed here, you know, he’s not been around for so long. We just have to take things in our own hands. We’re just tired of his waiting stuff.
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mountain, the people gathered themselves together and there and sat in him.” Now notice this, this is interesting. You know when you get impatient, you know what you do when you get impatient? You get demanding. And notice what they do. They don’t say, hey, Aaron, what do you think about this, you know? Just watch how they just started off. Just the first word, watch what they say right there. That first verse right there is, “Oh! Get up, you lazy hell dog,” you know. It just, you just turn off up. “Make us gods.” You call that end page? You call that demanding? You just, we got to have something happen right now.
It’s interesting. Then they, notice what else they do. “Make us gods, which shall go before us.” Watch how they do this. “For as for this Moses.” This Moses? Come on now. Moses, the guy’s been leading him. Moses is one that stuck his neck out on the line. Moses was spending from sunrise to sundown. You know, sunlight. Is that a sun night? Praise Lord, I’m in Tennessee, amen. I mean, but from sunrise to sundown and Moses was judging him the whole day. I mean, he’s spending his life for these people. And his wife and his sons hadn’t been with him. And now there’s, well, this Moses, like they didn’t even know who he was or didn’t know him. Wow. Just when you just, you get impatient. Where’s this Moses at?
Well, they knew where he was. He’s up on the mount. They’ve seen the thunder and the lightning. At one point they said, we’ll let you talk to God. We don’t want to talk to him. We’re fearful of him. I mean, they knew where he was. But just sometimes you get so impatient. I’ve got to have it now. And they get demanding. And you start, the people you love and they love you, you start treating him bad. “As for this Moses.” Wow. What a way to treat this man.
Let’s keep going. “The man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not is become of him.” They knew he was. By the way, they knew it wasn’t Moses. Yes, God used Moses, but they knew Moses couldn’t split a Red Sea. Moses couldn’t make the manna fall every morning. Moses couldn’t put the pillar of fire there by night in the cloud. They knew it was God.
You get impatient, you get demanding, and you treat people you love, you get disrespectful of them, and you get sinful. Did you know, what do they say? “Up! Make us what?” Gods. Well, they just got in chapter 20 in the preceding chapters, they just got the law. What’s the very first one of the Ten Commandments? “Thou shalt have no other gods.” Now let us up make us gods. You’re not careful. You just get, get, God, where is he at? Come on, Moses, we got to go here, you know. You just, you get sinful. They just broke the first of the Ten Commandments. They’ll break in the second, once the second, with no graven images. They’re already breaking them. And it seems much of it is just, just, where are you at? We’re ready to go. It just, where is this Moses at?
And I’m saying, and I feel like Lord just want me to get here a little bit tonight. If you’re not careful, impatience, that’s no big deal. But you know, God values greatly patience, the God of all patience.
It just seems from chapter 19 over there, well, whatever God says we want to do it till now, and it’s been some time. I understand, you know, sometimes we get tired of waiting, but they just said, well, we don’t know where he is, and he’s delayed him’s coming down. And they just couldn’t take that. And just in patience for just a little bit. Let’s just, I just feel like Lord happens. Just talk about overcoming impatience. We all battle that from time to bedtime. And let me just try to, just focus on that because it seemed like that’s a big part of them from where they were. We want to obey whatever you say, Lord, to now they’re like, make us some gods here, and you know. And they’re making this calf. It’s just a little bit. It’s about time.
And so let me give you a couple of things, a couple of thoughts about this thing real quickly tonight. We’re going to go home after that and stop by McDonald’s and get a hamburger Sunday on the way out. Anybody say amen to that right there? How many? Someone just said on the way in. Somebody said on the way in, I was coming up there. They said holiday season, that’s when you set your scales back 10 pounds before you even start. Amen. That’s a good preaching. I can’t remember who said that to me, but it’s right before it came up tonight. Anyway, so we can get some of that Sundays, you know.
But anyway, a couple faults, couple of faults. Here’s number one: Remember, when you start to get impatient about something, remember God knows your number, and we’ll call you when he’s ready. He got your number. He knows where you’re at. He knows how to pick up the phone, if you will. His timing is always perfect. After all these thousands of years, he has a perfect record. He’s never been late one time. We had jail minister, prayer, meet before service. Brother Bill Johan Sr. was there on time. A couple of votes other guys, we were late. God’s never been late. He’s never one time, friend. You check it out through all of this trip, and there’s never been a time God has been late. He was always right on time. He’s got a good record.
I mean, it’s a trustworthy record where I don’t have to get off bad. He said, God! You got to do something now. God can do it when he’s ready. He knows when. He knows your number. You know, sometimes it takes time to find out God’s will. Now, God could tell you, boom, if he wanted to, but he’s got some lessons for us to learn and faith for us to exercise. But sometimes it takes time. I wish you, Lord, what do we do here? Boom, God tells you. Typically, every once in a while that will happen, but typically, you know, all right, you’ve got to seek the Lord a little bit. And it’s a little bit of a process. Often part of that process is God purifying our hearts. But just waiting on the Lord, you know, if my timetable and God’s timetable is two different things, who do you think ought to get their way? Don’t you think it’s God that he has the right to get his timetable instead of mine? Let us so.
And I’ve been there so many times just, Lord, we need it now! And, you know, let me ask you, and you twisting God’s arm trying to make me do it on your timetable, how’s that work for you so far? So we might as well just wait. If we’re not careful, we’ll get bent all out of shape, we’ll get demanding, and we’ll get where we’re disrespectful, and we even go to the sinful side, and we forget about God the whole equation, and we just blame people for this stuff. That’s what’s happening here.
I’ve mentioned this often, but when we first got out of Bible college and went to the ministry, we were there for a bit and a great place, but we felt like we needed to leave and didn’t cause any trouble. We just left, and part of that we got out of the full-time Christian ministry. Everybody’s in the ministry, but the full-time. You understand what I’m saying to that. And I thought, well, we’ll be out for a couple months, you know, and we’ll get back in the ministry, full-time ministry. But it didn’t happen like that. And several years, actually altogether, four years went by. So good for us, by the way. I say that now, what, I don’t know, 28 years later, 30 years later, you know, so good for us.
But in the middle of that, you know, and the last maybe year of that, you know what was happening in my life? Some of it, maybe even the last two years. If you put me on the shelf and God said, no, I want you to do something right where you’re at. So I started a Bible study at my job. Praise Lord God used that. Our very first Sunday, eight of those guys came down. Surprise us came down to their very first service, you know, from Indiana, from the Bible study. But this is part of the equation for me.
But then it got, all right, Lord, if you don’t give me an answer, something, nothing happens by this time. I was kind of drawing lines in the sand. If something don’t happen by here, Lord, I’m going to go start a church in Atlanta, Georgia. And God said, all right, every time God stepped across the line, you know. And it’s kind of like, what are you going to do now? And I’m like, well, okay, I’m just going to keep serving. Well, something don’t happen by now. You know, we’re going to do this, you know. And nothing happened by then. I don’t know how many times that happened. And finally, God got it through my thick skull. Stop drawing lines in the sand. Just forget about your timetable, work on God’s timetable. It’s good for me. It’s growth for me. And I can remember during that time, I can remember God knows my phone number. He can call me when he’s ready. And he did.
Number one, just remember, he knows your number. Number two, number two, good things come to those that wait. Look over, we’re going to look at a couple of verses. Look over in Second Corinthians here real quickly. Second Corinthians chapter 6, and God is using Paul to write here to the church of Corinth, and he’s telling them, he’s giving them a list of ten things, and if you have these ten things, it proves to people around you, the world and everybody that you’re a true servant of God. And he lists these 10 things to be in. Now, later on he lists other things that buy. You do these, buy this. But 10 things to be in if you’re in these things and let everybody know you’re a minister, you’re a servant of the Lord. And 10 things, but I want you to notice the first thing on the list that people will know if you’re a true servant of the Lord. Look at the first thing of this. We’re in 2nd Corinthians chapter number 6, and we’re in verse number four. Second Corinthians 6 and verse number 4. And he’s about to list off 10 things. We won’t read them all. I want you to notice the first thing he says. Second Corinthians 6:4. “But on all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,” here’s a list of 10 things to be in. “In much…” What’s the next word? The first thing God lists. There’s 10 of them. And the first thing he says, look, if you want to prove or prove that you’re a true servant of the Lord, the first thing he said, “in much patience.” Well, now you can finish the list out of affliction, necessity, and stresses, and so on, but the first thing.
Look, if you go over the book of James, the book of James, James, James Chapter 5, if you would please. The book of James over here, right after Hebrews, Hebrews, Hebrews, James. James chapter 5, we’re just going to, a couple scriptures about good things come to those that wait, waiting on the Lord. Look at James chapter number 5. Would you look at verse number 7 tonight? James 5 and verse number 7 tonight. And when you find that, would you say amen right there? Good, good deal. Look at verse number 7. He says, “Be patient.” I understand. It’s not my funnest thing in the world to do either, but it’s biblical. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.”
And you kind of stop and just say a word about that. Sometimes we get impatient about the Lord coming back. And if we’re not careful, we get stuck on that, and we’re just enduring until the Lord comes on, and God doesn’t want you enduring. We’re more than conquerors, through him that loved us, amen. I mean, we’re on the wedding side. We’re supposed to be on the goal for the Lord Jesus. We’re supposed to occupy till he can’t see soul saved and life’s changing people baptized. And that’s our commission, but if I’m not careful, I’m not even patient about the Lord coming back. And I lose the focus of it all. So even in that area, he said, be patient.
“Therefore, brethren, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” It’s coming. It’s coming. “Grudge not one against another, brother.” That’s to be condemned, by the way, and you get impatient. Well, you do you start getting disrespectful going at each other. “Grudge not one against another, brother. Let’s not one another, brother. Let’s be condemned. Behold the judge standeth before the door.”
Take my brother the prophets. Oh, wow. What about Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. You talk about patient. My goodness. What a man. “Take my brother the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.” Who was it, Isaiah, tradition says. He was put in a hollow tree and the tree was swollen in half. Wow. Ezekiel, you’re going to rebellious people. But I’ll make your forehead harder than their forehead, amen. What about these patient prophets?
Let’s talk about. Look at verse number 11. “Behold, we count them happy which endure.” You have heard of the patience of Job. By the Joe, what all he went through losing his sons and his daughters and his finances and his health. That didn’t happen just boom. Yes, it’s the initial a day and two. But the whole process about a year, maybe a year and a half, they say. Judges 1 and judges 42, you know. “You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and have tender mercies.” At the end of the day, Job was blessed twice as much. But patience. Scripture is very clear. God is for you and I being patient.
Look over in Hebrews chapter number six, Hebrews chapter six. You’re right there at him. And just a book before it, Hebrews chapter six. And he’s talking about one of our great patriarchs of the faith, Abraham. Look at Hebrew 6 and verse number 15. Hebrew 6 and verse number 15, what does he say there? “And so after he”—that’s Abraham—“had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”
Friend, I wish there was a way to detour patience, but there’s not. If you want God’s blessings, if you want his victory, if you want to see him move and work, friend, there’s just no way around this thing of patience. Well, I’ve been praying for something for a day or two. Well, it may take a year or two. I don’t know for him. It may take 30 years. But patience. Waiting on the Lord. Never get this. Don’t get this. Gotta have it now syndrome. Don’t get that.
I think about a young couple years and years ago that I had the privilege of marrying and God had changed both their lives. I think maybe I baptized both. I can’t remember in just a young couple years ago. And they got married, I married them. And the second storefront building, we married them on a Wednesday night during the middle of church service. Amen. We’re just, hey, they’re getting things right. We had planned it, whatnot. But it was a special type of service and storefront building, just a unique thing. But it was just exciting. It’s God working their life.
And there was issues, but here’s one thing that I saw as their pastor and the preacher that married and whatnot their counselor: they just had to have that furniture. And they just had to have that car. And they just had to have that house. And before long, they were working both of them from, what did they say earlier, sun up to, how did I put it? Sun night. From sun up to sundown, you know. And then every early, they saw each other, they’re kind of passing each other. There was already a child from before. And so they’re just so busy. They had no time for each other. They had no time to enjoy their life. They had no time to enjoy all the things that went in debt to get. Amen. And they were miserable. And I’m divorced. I don’t know that it’s all of. One of them is already in heaven. I don’t know that was all of it. I sure think that’s part of it.
Friend, don’t get that. I got to have it right now. No, you don’t have to have it right now. You know, people made it for years and years without having two cars. They even made, can you believe it? People even made it without having a car at all. Wow. Yeah. Isn’t that amazing? You don’t have to have. I know, I know. You can see the play better on a, you know, 50, 60, 70, 80 inch screen. I understand that. But back in the day, friend, I mean, you know, you didn’t even have this to change. Yeah, that little black and white thing, you turned those two knobs. And you had the child up there the whole band 10 to be able to see anything. And had tin foil wrapped all over. You understand what I’m talking about. Before that, they didn’t even have one of those boxes, you know.
I’m just saying, don’t get caught in that. Satan loves to get God, heaven, now! Satan loves to get couples to spend all what married people enjoy it, to spend it up before you get married. That way you don’t have as much to enjoy after you’re married. You know what I’m talking about. Satan’s good at that. And it just gets so in a hurry.
I think of a man. Now I’ve told this story before I think of a man. He’s a good man. He got saved. He was already saved. He was already saved. But he got right with the Lord in the first building, the little daycare building. He became one of our first ushers. And he was a little bit of a grumpy kind of guy. Small guy, little, he’s in heaven. I can’t, well, couldn’t say some of these things unless they’re in heaven. He had been in the military, but he had been in the military and he’d worked at security in embassies across the world. A little bit of a guy, probably do about a thousand different ways to kill you, you know, just. But he wouldn’t think of it, you know, but it’s just a grumpy kind of a guy. And yet he got in that church, and I had the privilege of marrying him and his wife, too. Very interesting. He, of course, was America, whatnot, and he can speak some Spanish. His wife was Spanish from Columbia, I think it is. She could speak some English, and I thought, well, they can’t fight too much because they can’t communicate real well, you know.
And first person ever married. They stayed married until he passed. But I remember the first time he was one of our first ushers in her church. Maybe the first, we maybe had two at the first. He was one of the first ones. And he was smiling. I thought, wow. Look at that brother so-and-so has a smile on his face. He wasn’t like that. He never smiled, you know. I mean, and he was smiling. He was so happy, and he got in church, and God was kind of giving him a second chance on living for the Lord, and not as excited about all that. And him and his wife both were doing so good. And he had a car that he had a payment on. And he said, I’m going to pay this thing off. Now I’m for paying off debt. But I’m not for paying off debt when you put things of money before the things of God.
And he got a second job where he’s working 12 to 12. And he got on this kid. He’s going to be intense about paying his debt off. And he’s working 12 hours Saturday and Sunday. I may be sitting in church once or twice after that. And I’ve seen his wife in the grocery store. Spanish lady. You’ll see her show up every once in a while. Anyway, Spanish lady. And I’ll never forget seeing her in the grocery store and she started crying. And she was talking about her husband. And she’d just say, James, he’s not happy. He’s not happy. And she’s just crying. A friend of him, just, all right, I’m for paying off the debt, but hey, it may take a little while. It takes you a little while to get in the hole. It might take a little while to get in the hole. I don’t have to have anything paid off today. You know, I’m going to give this extra job and work, you know, 160 hours and three days, you know, type thing. But just got out of church because of that. And I’m saying, be careful of that. God, I’ve got to have it right now. We don’t have to have it right now. By getting that mode, it can just get me where I’m out of whack with the Lord.
You know, most bad decisions are decisions made in a hurry. Or in the, I want it now mode. I think about years ago, and I wouldn’t plan on telling this, and you heard about the fellow who was talking more than you should, and somebody said, what’s wrong with you? He said, I don’t know, I think I got my wife’s false teeth in today, you know. Made some of you happy, some of you mad at me there. I’m sorry about that, you know. But anyway, maybe I got my wife’s false teeth in. I just made somebody mad at me right now, you know.
We were a young couple. We lived in a trailer as a youth director. We lived in a little bit of trailer, a little bitty single-wide trailer, just a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little thing in the trailer park in Alabama. And the trailer didn’t have that much carpeted in it, just single-wide. And a vacuum cleaner salesman. It wasn’t Kirby, it was Electrolux. Man, he saw us a mile away. He saw us coming, you know. He went in there and gave us that, we thought, well, we’re going to get our carpets clean for free. That’s what they advertised. Well, hey, man, my name is Jimmy. I’ll take what you give me free, you know. Come on now. Come on over, clean them carpets, you know. He knew what he was doing. You know, I had his vacuum over that spot a couple times, and then show you what all it picked up. Oh, and you see, oh, man, that’s in our carpet. Well, the trailer was about 140 years old. No, you know, nothing. He’s going to pick up all that, you know. And then they get your pillows. You know how they get the pillow. They put the thing around your pillow, and they pull up all the dead cells, you know. You don’t know what to talk about it. You’re sleeping on this stuff here. Oh, my goodness, you know. And all the mites in there and all the way. They went through the whole spill. Man, he had us. He had us. And he was just, he had just, boom, you know, and he was just reeling this in, you know, just pulling us right in, you know. And the honest simple truth is that vacuum cleaner costs more than probably our whole trailer, you know. I mean, the thing wasn’t worth that much, you know. But we were hooked, man. We ought to have this thing. You know, last for the whole life of your marriage and all those things. He had it all down, you know. And the only thing that saved is, praise the Lord. So, well, you know, we have a principle. We sleep on a big decision. He knew, he knew if he leaves there. So, you know, if you don’t buy it today, you know, this rate’s going to go up and all that. He tried all, but you’ve heard them all. And we said, well, we’re sure we’re going to get it. And we were on it. We’re sure we’re going to get it, but we just want to, we got to keep this, we’re going to sleep on it. We woke up the next morning and looked at each other and said, what the world are we thinking, man? Three words, dumb, dumb, dumb, you know. And I’m saying the only thing that saved us, it wasn’t our, it wasn’t my intelligence for sure. Hers maybe not mine, but we just, we just, we don’t have to make a decision right now. We’ll wait a little bit. Be careful of just getting that. Moses, get down here. What are you doing? We got to do something. Be careful of getting all that. Good things come to those that wait.
Abraham and Sarah, you know, they just had to have that child. Abraham, why don’t you go into Handmaid and Hagar, all right, sound like we’ve got to have a child. God said we’re going to have a son, and from that a nation, we’ve got to have it. And you know, from that, Ishmael and wars going on today from that very thing, just impatience. Oh, Satan loves to get God’s people just impatient. Just hang on. And God in his time, Bob John Sr. used to say this: “Never sacrifice the future on the altar of the immediate.” Good quote.
Our second building, we were remodeling it, and I wanted to be done yesterday. You know how it is? And we were remodeling that thing. A man of our church, Clay, we mentioned him earlier. My wife and I tonight, and Clay said, “Pastor, Rome wasn’t built in a day.” And I said, Clay, you know what, you’re right. It’s good for me to hear that. It’s going to happen. That’s time. And it’s so good.
I thought about Daniel over there in Daniel chapter number 10. And Daniel had fasted, 21 days of Daniel fasted, 21 days. And finally, the angel of the Lord came to him. He was fasting and praying. Lord, would you give me understanding what’s going to be the end of the nation of Israel? And the angel came after 21 days. They said, look, Daniel, I’ll tell you what. From the first day you started praying until now, we left. I left to come give you the message. But Satan, he battled against me. And he didn’t want me to come. So God, God sent Michael, one of the chief princes, one of the leaders, high angels, and he fought with me. And what about if Daniel said, well, 21 days. Come on now, God. Oh, it takes time.
And, oh, I’m just saying, be careful. Good things happen to those that wait. Now number three, we’re going home. Or either we can go to McDonald’s and get a hamburger Sunday on the way home, amen, you know. Number one, remember God knows your number. He’ll call you when he’s ready. Number two, good things come to those that wait. Number three, number three, while you’re waiting, keep your eyes on the Lord. You know the verse over there, “Looking unto Jesus,” that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee. You know, they knew where Moses was. They had seen that one way’s never talked about the thick cloud. They had seen all that. They knew he’s up there meet with the Lord.
You know, God wasn’t even, when they’re over there complaining in chapter number 32, we’re reading that first verse, we’ve already read it. They didn’t mention God. They mentioned, “Let up, make us gods.” But they didn’t mention God. God’s out of the picture. They just, where’s Moses at now? Make us some gods. They forgot all about God when you’re waiting. Keep your eyes on the Lord. You said, well, that’s my boss that’s so late on this, whatever it is. Well, who’s over your boss? God is. Whose kingdom rules overall according to Psalm 103? God does. So keep your eyes on the Lord.
A couple more thoughts. We’re going to go home. You know, impatient people, they’re not happy people. Well, where are they at? Sure not happy people. One of the frustration. We’ve been waiting forever around here. You know, they’re not just impatient people aren’t happy. They’re physically mad, mean, rude, disrespectful. If I don’t learn some patience, I’m not going to be happy a lot of my life. Just in God’s time.
There’s a mom. She said they were at a summer camp with youth, and they were all going to think out of the service. And they were trying to go, the husband and wife and their daughter, just a little old, I won’t say 15, 18-month-old little girl. And they said she kept just stopping. They’re trying to get out of there. And she was stopping. And she lay down, she just look up, you know. And the mom goes, “Come on, let’s go,” you know, and she got up. And it just kept happening. Finally, the mom said, you know what? She just sat down with the little girl, and she said, I looked up, and she said it was the most beautiful night I’d ever, one of the most that I’d ever seen, more stars out that night that I’d ever saw on purpose of my life. And sometimes you just said, I got to just, let’s patiently wait.
There’s a verse of limitation. “The Lord is good unto him that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” Just wait. Lord’s good to them. You just wait on the Lord.
Last little thing here. Last little fault. Waiting, it’s all a matter of faith. It really is. It takes faith to wait. And faith pleases God. You know the verse, as well as I do, Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith, it is impossible to please him.” So there’s got to be in there. But when you’re waiting in faith, if you look up and you keep your eyes on the Lord, you’ll see he’s pleased. He’s smiling. Well, my service down there, they’re just trusting me. They know I’ve got a timetable and my time I’m going to make it happen. They’re ready to go whenever I say go, but they’re just waiting on me and God’s pleased with that. He’s smiling. When you’re waiting and say, you know what, this is, I’ve got an opportunity to please God right now. I don’t necessarily like all this wait and stuff. But that’s all right. God’s got a plan. And I trust him. And God smiles. He said, boy, I got a good son, a good daughter down there.
By the way, wouldn’t have been wonderful if old Aaron would have said, hey, instead of him just he wasn’t a leader. Wouldn’t have been wonderful, Aaron, would have said, hey, folks, hey, hey, just wait a little bit longer. Moses is up there with the Lord. God’s going to send him down when he’s ready. But no, Aaron just followed. Be careful. Satan always trying to get you impatient. And God makes it happen his time.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Impatience Leads to Sin - Wednesday PM 11292023