Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet

Do You Want God to Defend You?

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2020-09-13

Synopsis: John Weaver examines Numbers 12, where Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, and God swiftly defends His faithful servant. He contrasts Moses' meekness—disciplined strength under God—with his refusal to retaliate against family, while God intervenes immediately. The central question is why God defended Moses so quickly: because Moses was faithful in all God's house. Weaver argues that God honors faithfulness, not success, and that attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God Himself. Applications urge believers to cultivate meekness and fidelity, trusting God to be their defense.

[John Weaver] Numbers chapter 12. And we're going to read the first 15 verses. Now, let me make a statement before we even begin to read these verses that are going to be very familiar to you, or at least they should be. Because only less than a month ago, I preached from these verses on a message, Remember Miriam, based from Deuteronomy chapter 24, where God said, Remember what I did to Miriam. So that message is totally different from this message. So the only thing that we have in common is the same scripture. I may mention one or two things, but it will be a totally different message. So, Numbers chapter 12, beginning with verse one. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, I have the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses. Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth.

[John Weaver] And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of a cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forth. And he said, Hear now ye my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

[John Weaver] Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterwards the people were moved from Hazaroth and pitched in the wilderness of Paran." Do you want God to defend you is the title of the message.

[John Weaver] And as I stated earlier, a short time back, I preached from this very same text on, remember, Nerium. Her chastisement from the Lord was and is certainly a warning for us today. Our Heavenly Father does not take rebellion lightly. We're not allowed to indiscriminately attack each other, and especially we're not allowed to attack his faithful servants.

[John Weaver] Now, I pointed out in the message, remember, Miriam, verse three, and I'm going to call your attention to this again today, where the Bible says that Moses was basically the meekest man on the earth. The Bible says now the man Moses was very meek. above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." So Moses now is described as the meekest man on the earth.

[John Weaver] May I point out the fact that meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not walking around with your head down. That's not meekness. That's poor posture. Okay? He was simply the meekest man on earth. But may I point out the fact that the meekest man on earth was a man who not only defended an Israelite when he was being attacked by an Egyptian, but he actually killed the Egyptian in defending the life of the Israelite. Moreover, it was Moses, the meekest man on earth, who confronted Pharaoh and all of his minions. Pharaoh perhaps was one of the strongest men, militarily at least, and powerfully as far as political setting is concerned, upon the face of the earth at that particular time. But Moses confronted him and his minions as well.

[John Weaver] And then of course you remember in Exodus chapter 32, when Aaron and the people had made that golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw them worshipping that golden calf, He had a good, what you and I would call hissy fit, because he threw down the tablets and broke them. He got that golden calf, grounded into powder, cast it in the water and made the people to drink thereof. And of course, some evidently refused to drink.

[John Weaver] And so he cried out, whoever's on the Lord's side, let him come over unto me. And the Bible tells us the tribe of Levi came over. And he said, Gergeon every man his sword and go in and out among the camp and slay every man his brother. And the Bible said there fell that day of Israel 3,000 men. And interestingly enough, it was none of the other tribes that came over. It was just the tribe of Levi. And in one passage in the Bible, God is commending the Levites because he is saying they did not regard father or mother or brother or sister. They just simply obeyed. I want to give you two quotes because in this particular passage, there were three thousand people killed. And I want to just share with you two Old Testament commentators, one of them, Colin Dalich, talking about the killing of the 3,000 said this, the severity of the punishment corresponded to the magnitude of the crime. The worship of an image being a manifest transgression of one of the fundamental laws of the covenant was a breach of the covenant and as such was a capital crime bringing the punishment of death or extermination in its train.

[John Weaver] Now, although the whole nation had been guilty of this crime, yet in this, as in every other rebellion, the guilt of all would not be the same. But many would simply follow the example of others, so that instead of punishing all alike, it was necessary that a separation should be made, if not between the innocent and the guilty. Yet between the penitent and the stiff-necked transgressors, to effect this separation, Moses called into the camp, whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come over to me. All the Levites responded to his call, and not the other tribes. And it was necessary that the refractory should be punished. Even these, however, had not all sinned to the same extent, but might be divided into tempters and tempted, as they were all mixed up together.

[John Weaver] Nothing remained but to adopt that kind of punishment, which has been resorted to in all ages in such circumstances as these." So they're just simply saying that they were killing those who were recalcitrant, who refused to repent. Old John Trapp, the Puritan, said it like this. The meaning is, slay every principal offender whom you meet without any indulgence or exception, though brother or companion or neighbor. And so that's exactly what happened in Exodus chapter 32. Now, you have to remember, since we're in Numbers chapter 12, Numbers chapter 16 has not yet happened.

[John Weaver] And that was when Dathan and Abiram and Korah and all that company arose against Moses. The reason I'm telling you all this is because Moses is classified as the meekest man on the earth. And when these people rebelled against God and against Aaron particularly, Moses, the meekest man on earth, said, Lord, let a new thing happen. Let the earth open up and let these people go alive into the pit.

[John Weaver] And that is exactly what happened. And then God sent fire from heaven and consumed the 250 princes with their censers in their hands. So here Moses is classified as the meekest man on earth. And I'm just simply pointing out the fact that meekness is not weakness and meekness is not massiness because meekness here challenged wickedness on every hand. However, when Aaron And Miriam now attacks Moses. Moses does not respond to them. And if you look back in verse one, and I'm just going to mention this because if you want to hear the message, remember Miriam, I explained it there. The Bible says that Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. If you remember, I told you that the word Ethiopian there is the word Cushite. Which meant that this woman was a grandson, a granddaughter, of Noah. She was related through Noah. Moreover, if you remember as well, Genesis 25, after Sarah died, Abraham remarried and he married a woman by the name of Keturah. And Keturah had a son by the name of Midian.

[John Weaver] Well, where did God send Moses? He sent him into the land of Midian. So, the Midianites were descendants then of Abraham and Keturah. So Moses married a woman who happened to have been from the grandson of Noah, a Cushite, and also she was a Midianite, which meant she was from Abraham and Keturah. Her father, Jethro, sometimes called Ruel, is also called the priest of Midian, and he was a worshipper of the One True and the Living God according to Exodus 18. So the point being, what Aaron and Miriam are mocking Moses for is that Zipporah was not from Abraham and Sarah like they were. She was from Abraham and Keturah.

[John Weaver] So now you have spiritual pride coming up. The point I'm trying to make right now is this. Moses had spent his life defending God and defending God's honor.

[John Weaver] Now, when he is being attacked by his own brother and sister, he does not respond. He does not respond to their gross accusations and their vile insinuations. He knows what God has done for him. He knows the providence of God in his life. So, let me point something out concerning meekness again. Meekness does not exclude all anger. There is indeed in the Bible that which is called a righteous anger or a righteous indignation. In fact, the Bible commands you in Ephesians 4 and verse 26, be ye angry and sin not.

[John Weaver] Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. So there is a righteous anger. There is a biblical anger. And I will very quickly confess that most of our anger is unbiblical and fleshly. But there is a righteous anger when someone tries to say, well, all anger is wrong. No, because if you say that, then you've got real theological problems. Because in Mark 3 and verse 5, the Bible said, and Jesus, being moved with anger, looked around upon them because of the hardness of their heart.

[John Weaver] So our Lord was angry. So there is a righteous anger. So the point I'm trying to make is this. Here you have, on the one hand, Moses standing up to all of God's enemies and confronting them. And on the other hand, now you have Aaron and Miriam, his own family, attacking him, and he does not respond.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but look in your Bibles to the book of Romans 12, and look if you would, because here I'm going to show you that meekness is really not easily provoked. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, beginning there with verse 17, look what God says. Romans 12, verse 17, recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Now, when he says recompense, no man evil or evil, if Joshua stood up and just cussed me out in front of everybody, Would that give me the right to stand up and cuss him back?

[John Weaver] And the answer is no. I'm not to render evil for evil. Just because he does wrong, doesn't mean that I have to do wrong. So he says, recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Now watch verse 18. If it be possible, as much as life in you live peaceably with all men, So notice I like what he said. If it be possible, try as hard as you can to live peaceably with all men. In other words, there's an indication there's some men you cannot live peaceably with. But as much as in you is, do it. And then he says this, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.

[John Weaver] For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So, what do you say if your enemy hungers? Feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. Please listen carefully. If he's hungry, that does not mean go out and buy him a table of steaks. If he's thirsty, that does not mean buy him a Starbucks latte. If he's hungry and I have peas, he may eat my peas. If he's thirsty, he may drink water like I drink water. In other words, all God is saying is, look, you cannot be overcome with evil.

[John Weaver] You cannot allow bitterness and anger and revenge to boil up in your heart, in your lives. And to demonstrate that that bitterness and that revenge is not there, if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink. So, he's saying that we overcome evil with good. So, I want you to understand in light of Moses now. What he has done is this, he has stood up in righteous anger against the Lord's enemies, but now when it comes to his own family, he does not even respond.

[John Weaver] You see, true meekness pays no attention to insults, sarcasms, personal affronts, and obvious ridicule. So Moses was not going to be drawn into a debate with his own family. He was not going to discuss the providence of God in his own life.

[John Weaver] Now, he knew the fact that God did call him and that God sent him to deliver his people. Now, let me just point something else about meekness. I want you to understand this. I may have told you before, but I'm going to tell you again. True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God. True meekness is being broken to yoke. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Matthew 11. Matthew 11.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse 28. Matthew 11. Look closely at verse 28. Look what our Lord says. Matthew 11, verse 28. Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now look at verse 29. "'Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'" Now He said,"'Take My yoke upon you.'"

[John Weaver] Everyone in this room has seen pictures if not real life, of oxen being yoked and plowed together. I don't know if you've ever seen some of these oxen, but they are very, very huge. And you can take a 3,000 pound animal, and you put a yoke around him, and now you can control him. All of that strength is under your control. It's the same thing as putting a bridle in a horse's mouth. And so when our Lord says, take my yoke upon you, in other words, he's saying you submit to me. You are under my control. In other words, if we're under the control of the Lord, we're not frothing at the mouth. We're not chafing at the bit. We're not trying to spit the bit out and do what we want to do. No, we have strength, but it's disciplined strength under God. That's what real genuine meekness is.

[John Weaver] And so Moses, while he was willing to confront all of God's enemies, was not willing to enter into a debate or an argument with his brother and his sister. Now, I want you to go back to Numbers 12. Let me show you something. Let me set the stage for this. Because although Moses was unwilling to hear and to fight with his brother and sister, God heard and God was more than willing.

[John Weaver] So look, if you would please, what the Bible says in verse 2. And they said, have the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Had He not also spoken by us? And the Lord heard it. Now watch verse 3. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. So we're just God's just telling us about Moses. So the Bible says in verse 2,"...and the Lord heard it." Now watch verse 4,"...and the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, unto Aaron, unto Miriam, Come out, you three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out." Now the Bible says the Lord heard it, and then the Lord spoke suddenly. Now the word suddenly is a very important word. The Hebrew word not just simply means suddenly, but it means immediately. It means instantaneously. It means straightway. So just as quickly as they got it out of their mouths and attacking Moses, God spoke to them suddenly. So the word sudden is important for at least two reasons.

[John Weaver] Number one, it shows God's great respect to Moses and also for the grace of meekness. And the second reason it's important is because it demonstrates the fact that the beginning of sedition must be taken care of, and taken care of quickly and in an efficient manner. So God divinely interposed Himself between Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and God says, like Barney, I'll nip it in the bud. And so that's exactly what he did. Now, Moses, please remember, had shown himself jealous for God because he had defended God's truth over and over. And now God shows Himself jealous for Moses and his reputation and his testimony. Now, there is a verse in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 30 that is very important. The latter part of that verse says this, God is speaking and He says, For them that honor Me will I honor, but those that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. So the principle is God's going to honor those who honor Him. Moses had been honoring Him. Now God's going to honor Moses. And so God divinely intervened and God is defending Moses.

[John Weaver] When it comes to defense, we want all the help that we can get. We certainly do not want to be alone. So I want to show you a passage. I want you to turn to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 4. You'll find that right after the book of Proverbs. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, chapter 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 9. Ecclesiastes 4 and verse 9. Look what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes 4, verse 9. God says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellows. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? Now watch verse 12. And if one prevail against him, that is, he's being attacked, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

[John Weaver] Now, the truth of the matter is this. If I'm in a fight for my life, I want all the help that I can get. I appreciate the fact that people would be willing to help me. But I will be absolutely honest. If I'm in a fight for my life, I want the strongest, the most flexible, the most powerful, and the most knowledgeable person to help me because I want to live. And I'm sure that you're the same way.

[John Weaver] Well, when you stop and think about God, God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He may deliver us physically or in any other way that He chooses.

[John Weaver] Now, I have a question to ask you, and that is really the thrust of this message. Here's my question. Why did God defend Moses so quickly and so readily? The Bible said that Miriam and Aaron spoke at the Lord's herding. And immediately, God said, come out you three. Get over here to the tabernacle. Why did God defend Moses so readily and so quickly? Here's another question. Why are we not defended so readily and so quickly?

[John Weaver] Why is it that there are times that our names Our testimonies, our reputations are drugged through the mud in the mire. I can assure you there have been times in my life that I have been lied about, lied against, not just by Christians, but sometimes even by fellow pastors and, of course, the wicked. And yes, there have been times when God jerked a nod in some of them. That is true.

[John Weaver] But it has not been every time. And it's the same way in your life. I mean, there are times that you endure things and you just wonder why God doesn't intervene. But He did for Moses. So why did God intervene for Moses so quickly?

[John Weaver] Now, go back to Numbers chapter 12, and let me try to answer this for you. I want you to see this. Look at Numbers chapter 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. God is speaking now to Aaron and to Miriam, and He said, Hear now My words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

[John Weaver] My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold, Now, what's this question? Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Now, Moses, like Abraham, was the friend of God. And God did not speak to Moses in dreams and in visions the way did some of the other prophets. God said, I speak to Moses face to face. I speak to Moses mouth to mouth. Moses beholds my similitude. He may not have seen God's face, but he beheld the similitude of God. But Moses was not just simply a friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God.

[John Weaver] And I want you to look closely at verse 7, because God underlines this truth. He says this, My servant Moses is not so. In other words, he's not like all those other prophets. Watch. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. Now, when you stop and think about Moses as a servant, he was obedient to his master. He faithfully delivered all of the laws, all of the statutes, all the ordinances that God gave him to Israel. He faithfully made all the instruments of the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself according to the pattern that God gave. He faithfully proclaimed all of the sacrifices, all of the offerings the way God proclaimed. In other words, Moses was not self-seeking. Moses was not looking for the praise and admiration of man. Moses was not seeking in vain. No, no, no. Whatever Moses did, he was faithful in all his house. Now, I want you to turn to two passages. I want you to turn, first of all, to the book of Exodus, and secondly, to the book of Hebrews.

[John Weaver] I want you to see this. In the book of Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Exodus chapter 40. And watch if you would please, verse 16. Then we'll go to Hebrews chapter 3. So Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Here's an interesting statement. Remember now, God has said Moses was faithful in all of his house. So in Exodus 40 verse 16, Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." So, whatever God commanded, that is exactly what Moses did. Now, if you will turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3, because in this passage, we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, but, however, He is also here referred to as obedient as was Moses. So, in Hebrews chapter 3, Look, if you would, please. Well, let's read verse one, just so you can see that Jesus Christ is in the context here.

[John Weaver] He says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our professing Christ Jesus. Now watch verse two, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all of his house. Now watch verse three. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and as much as he was built of the house, had more honor than the house." Now skip down to verse 5. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. Then if you look in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, Hebrews 8 and verse 5, The Bible says this, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for seeth he that thou make all things according to pattern showed thee. in the mount. And of course that's exactly what Moses did. So the Bible is saying over and over that Moses was faithful in all of his house.

[John Weaver] So Moses was not just simply conversant with God, he was not just simply the friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God. Now, go back to the book of Numbers chapter 12. I want you to see this. So, remember now, God has asked Aaron and Miriam, how is it that you were not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

[John Weaver] Now, watch if you would please at verse 9. In verse 8 he asks, Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Watch verse 9. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

[John Weaver] Now, there are two very important observations we need to make on verse 9. The first one is this, if you really and truly wish to anger the Lord and have him ready to chastise you. Then all you have to do is to attack his faithful servants. That's all. That's all. And when I say attack his faithful servants, I'm not just talking about attacking preachers, I know that there are many of preachers that are not faithful.

[John Weaver] All every Christian is a servant. And not every Christian is faithful, but there are some that are very, very faithful. But here's the truth of the matter. Usually when we talk about preachers. And you hear something about them. We begin to criticize them and condemn them based upon what we have heard. Or what we have been told or what we think. or what we believe, and we've never really investigated and checked out the facts for ourselves, neither have we spoken to the individual.

[John Weaver] We just simply join in an attack. What we're seeing here is this. God is asking, why then? Were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? If we really and truly want to anger God, As Aaron and Miriam did, all we have to do is attack his faithful servants. You remember that passage in Proverbs chapter 6. Where the Bible says, these six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are abomination unto them. And when you get to Proverbs 6 and verse 19, one of them is he that sows discord among the brethren. So the Bible says in verse 9, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. And it was kindled because they attacked Moses. The second thing we see in verse 9 is this, and he departed. God left Moses and Aaron. He is the one that said, come out ye three to the tabernacle. And then he separated evidently Miriam and Aaron. And he was angry with them, and then he turned and left them.

[John Weaver] You know, it's just like someone coming up to you who's full of anger and wrath and just telling you off to your face, and then just turns around and walks off. That's what God did. He departed. He left them. He not only left them, He left them in anger. In other words, at that moment, they no longer had God's manifest presence. God manifested Himself, you remember, in that cloud and in the fire?

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something. First of all, you do not want God as an enemy. Secondly, you do not want God as an angry enemy. And thirdly, you do not want God to walk off and leave you. One of the greatest judgments that can befall anyone is when God leaves us to ourselves. Let me point this out. Moses was not just simply a friend of God. He was a faithful friend of God.

[John Weaver] Do you realize you can search the Bible in vain to find a command for you and I to be successful? God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness. Just stop and think. Noah preached 120 years. Never had one convert. And yet, he's in Hebrews 11 as a hero of faith. Think about Jeremiah. Think about Isaiah. Here are men that preached and preached faithfully who were hated and despised. No one listened to them. And yet, God counts them as heroes of faith.

[John Weaver] The point I'm trying to make is this. There are many things that you and I cannot do. I tell people and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm mechanically challenged. I'm technologically challenged. There's a lot of things I can't do. But one thing I could do by God's grace and that is be faithful. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. used to have a saying. And it is so true.

[John Weaver] The greatest ability is dependability. The greatest ability is dependability. If you have someone that you can depend upon. That is wonderful ability. And that's all God asks of us. God asks of us to be faithful.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but I want you to turn, if you would, first of all, to Psalm 101. Then we'll go to Proverbs 28. But look in Psalm 101. And let me show you what the Scripture says. This may surprise you. Psalm 101. And notice, if you would please, verse 6. Psalm 101, verse 6. God says, Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me.

[John Weaver] And he that walketh in a perfect or mature and upright way, he shall serve Me. Did you hear what He said? Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land. Not going to be upon the successful, per se, but it's going to be upon the faithful of the land.

[John Weaver] Now, turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 28, and look, if you would please, at verse 20. Just over a few pages. Proverbs 28 and verse 20. Look at it.

[John Weaver] Now, I think you can understand this verse in light of what we just read, where God said, Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land. Proverbs 28 and verse 20, the Bible says, A faithful man shall abound with blessings. But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. A faithful man shall abound with blessings." Why? God's eyes are upon him. And moreover, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

[John Weaver] And each one of us is a steward. God has given us families. God has given us friends. God has given us finances. God has given us goods. God has given us property. And we are responsible to be faithful as stewards in whatever God has given unto us.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the point I want to make, and I'm going to show you with two other examples just momentarily. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be faithful. That is why God defended Moses so quickly. He Himself said, He is faithful in all mine house. You remember a man by the name of Caleb? I want you to turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 14, just a few pages from our text. Numbers, chapter 14.

[John Weaver] And look, if you would please, at verse 24. You remember Moses had sent Joshua and Caleb and ten other men to spy out the land. Well, it was Caleb and Joshua who brought back an honest report. And in Numbers 14 and verse 24, God is speaking concerning Caleb. And I want you to see what God says about Caleb. He says, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, hath followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it." So let me go back and read this again. Now watch carefully. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and he hath followed me fully, wholly, completely, faithfully, him, will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it." So God now is testifying to the faithfulness of Caleb. So, if you would turn now to the book of Joshua, just a couple of pages over, after Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, look in Joshua chapter 14. The interesting thing is, in Numbers, God testifies to Caleb's faithfulness.

[John Weaver] In Joshua 14, Caleb now testifies to God's faithfulness. I like this. Look in Joshua 14, beginning there with verse 7. Caleb is speaking. He says, 40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people to melt." You remember the way they made the heart melt?

[John Weaver] They told them the Anakins were there, the giants were there. He said,"...but I wholly," that is completely, fully, faithfully,"...followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because that thou hast wholly Faithfully, totally, completely followed the Lord my God.

[John Weaver] Now, behold, the Lord had kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Now watch. And now I am this day four score and five years old, eighty five. As yet, I am as strong this day as I was the days that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, as for thou hearest in that day how the Anacoms were there, and that their cities were great and fenced? If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.

[John Weaver] And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, Cork, and Herod's." Now notice what he said. I'm 85 years old. I'm just as strong now as I was when I was 45. For war! See, there's hope for us. What does he do? He says, God is faithful. In fact, if you will look in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 15, look at verses 13 and 14 right there. And Caleb, and unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he gave part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba, watch the father of Anak, Now it was of the giants, which city is Hebron, and Caleb drove fence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahimon, and Telamai, the children of Anak." Wow! He said, if God be with me, I can do it. And God was with him and he did it. It's just that simple. Why did God bless Caleb and help him and defend him and keep him alive and preserve him?

[John Weaver] Because he was faithful. He wholly followed the Lord. Let me show you one more. Look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. Everyone knows that the Apostle Paul was probably one of the greatest missionaries. He was a mighty man and he went through so many things. I mean, he was beaten. He was stoned. He was in the deep. Just all kinds of things happened to the Apostle Paul.

[John Weaver] But God sent him to Corinth. Corinth was a pagan city. It was a seaport town. In fact, there were three seaports in Corinth. It was so wicked and so vile. There was one temple in Corinth with a thousand prostitutes for the free use of anyone who went to that temple. And so when Paul went to Corinth, He was fearful. He was afraid. How do I know that?

[John Weaver] Well, look in Acts chapter 18 in verse 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by vision. Be not afraid. If God told Paul not to be afraid, obviously he was afraid. But God says, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city. What did God just say to Paul? You preach. I got your back. I got your front. I got your sides. I got you all the way around 360. Don't worry about it. You just preach. I can defend you. And he did.

[John Weaver] Now, what I want to do is this. I want to show you just a few verses very quickly. I have David so many times claimed God as his defense. So if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. We'll start there. And I want you to look at verse 10, Psalm 7 and verse 10. And we'll just run through the book of Psalms very quickly, just for a few verses. Watch Psalm 7 and verse 10. David said, My defense is of God who saveth the upright in heart. My defense is of God. Look in Psalm 31, verse 2. Psalm 31, verse 2. David says, Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 59 and verse 9. Psalm 59 and verse 9. He says,"...because of His strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense." Skip down to verse 16. Psalm 59, verse 16.

[John Weaver] But I will sing it by power. Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. For thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Look in verse 17. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing. For God is my defense and the God of my mercy. Look in Psalm 62 and verse 2. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense.

[John Weaver] I shall not be greatly moved. Look in v. 6. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. Look in Psalm 89 and v. 18. Psalm 89 and v. 18. He says this, For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King. One more, Psalm 94, verse 22. Psalm 94, verse 22. Again, David says, But the Lord is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge. Of course, that wonderful passage in Isaiah 33 and verse 16, the Bible says that the one that trusts in the Lord, he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of the rock, his bread shall be sure, and his water shall be sure. So obviously, God does indeed defend His people.

[John Weaver] Now, Moses was the meekest man on earth. And yet, He was faithful and God defended Him. Let me make some applications and let me try to tie it together for you. The first one is this. Meekness and fidelity will always be honored and respected by God. When we submit to God's providence and we wait upon Him, even in our afflictions, and we continue to faithfully serve Him, inevitably, invariably, God will avenge us and defend us in His time and in His way.

[John Weaver] Here's the second thing we should learn. And it should be obvious from Numbers 12. When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God. You attack God. It is impossible to separate The one who is sent from the one who is sending. In other words, when we attack God's faithful servants, we are attacking God because we are denying His choosing, His equipping, and His sending. Let me just tell you what our Lord said in Matthew 10 and verse 10. When He sent His disciples out, He said, He that receiveth you, receiveth Me. And he that receiveth Me, receiveth him that sent Me. And then again, in John 13, in verse 20, He said, This verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth you, whomever I send receiveth me, and whosoever receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. So our Lord says, put it like this.

[John Weaver] If they receive you, they're receiving me. If they receive me, they're receiving my Father who sent me.

[John Weaver] Now, the opposite is also true. If they refuse to receive the ones whom Jesus Christ sent, they're refusing Jesus Christ. If they were refusing Jesus Christ, they were refusing the Father who sent Christ. You cannot separate the sender from the ones that are sent. So to attack God's faithful servants is to fly in the face of God. That's why when the Lord heard it in verse 2, He spake suddenly in verse 4 and said, Get here in front of the tabernacle.

[John Weaver] The third application is this. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be His faithful servants. If we want Him to honor us, we must honor Him in all of our lives. You know, there are many things that you and I cannot do. But when you stop and think about being faithful, faithfulness in one sense of the word is so simple. And yet, unhappily, most pastors are not faithful. Most Christians are not faithful. We need to learn to be faithful. We can be faithful in the attendance of the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. We can be faithful in giving. We can be faithful in praying. We can be faithful in studying the Scripture. We can be faithful in worshiping God. We can be faithful in teaching others. We can be faithful in obeying. In other words, faithfulness is something that is very simple in which most of us fail. May I remind you that one of the names of God in Scripture is He is the faithful God.

[John Weaver] Have you ever stopped to think about God's faithfulness? It is God that causes the sun to come up every morning and to set every evening. It's God who continues to give us life and health. It's God who continues to give us food. He is faithful. And I love that passage. I've quoted it so many times. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. It is the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed.

[John Weaver] Because His compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him. We should have faithful hearts and faithful lives. We may not be the wealthiest people in the world. We may not be the biggest group of believers in the world. But we can be the most faithful. And faithfulness is that which God demands. And if we want God to defend us, We have to be faithful like Moses. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You, Father, for Your Word, for Your truth, for Your love, Your grace and mercy.

[John Weaver] Lord, forgive us for our unfaithfulness. Make us more faithful, more obedient, more holy, more godly. And give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.

Do You Want God to Defend You?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	91420207341754
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2020-09-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 079: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 2 — Chapter 25
Source Timed Segments	74

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Context

Weaver introduces Numbers 12, noting he recently preached 'Remember Miriam' from the same text but this message is different. He reads verses 1–15.

Numbers chapter 12. And we're going to read the first 15 verses. Now, let me make a statement before we even begin to read these verses that are going to be very familiar to you, or at least they should be. Because only less than a month ago, I preached from these verses on a message, "Remember Miriam," based from Deuteronomy chapter 24, where God said, "Remember what I did to Miriam." So that message is totally different from this message. So the only thing that we have in common is the same scripture. I may mention one or two things, but it will be a totally different message. So, Numbers chapter 12, beginning with verse one. "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, 'Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?' And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth."

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, 'Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.' And they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of a cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forth. And he said, 'Hear now ye my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?' And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, 'Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.'" "Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb."

And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee."

And the Lord said unto Moses,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again."

And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterwards the people were moved from Hazeroth and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. "Do You Want God to Defend You?" is the title of the message.

Meekness Is Not Weakness

Moses is described as the meekest man on earth, yet he killed an Egyptian, confronted Pharaoh, and executed judgment at the golden calf. Meekness is disciplined strength under God's control.

And as I stated earlier, a short time back, I preached from this very same text on "Remember Miriam." Her chastisement from the Lord was and is certainly a warning for us today. Our Heavenly Father does not take rebellion lightly. We're not allowed to indiscriminately attack each other, and especially we're not allowed to attack his faithful servants. Now, I pointed out in the message "Remember Miriam," verse three, and I'm going to call your attention to this again today, where the Bible says that Moses was basically the meekest man on the earth. The Bible says, "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." So Moses now is described as the meekest man on the earth. May I point out the fact that meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not walking around with your head down. That's not meekness. That's poor posture. Okay? He was simply the meekest man on earth. But may I point out the fact that the meekest man on earth was a man who not only defended an Israelite when he was being attacked by an Egyptian, but he actually killed the Egyptian in defending the life of the Israelite. Moreover, it was Moses, the meekest man on earth, who confronted Pharaoh and all of his minions. Pharaoh perhaps was one of the strongest men, militarily at least, and powerfully as far as political setting is concerned, upon the face of the earth at that particular time. But Moses confronted him and his minions as well.

And then of course you remember in Exodus chapter 32, when Aaron and the people had made that golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw them worshipping that golden calf, he had a good, what you and I would call hissy fit, because he threw down the tablets and broke them. He got that golden calf, grounded into powder, cast it in the water and made the people to drink thereof. And of course, some evidently refused to drink. And so he cried out, "Whoever's on the Lord's side, let him come over unto me." And the Bible tells us the tribe of Levi came over. And he said, "Gird on every man his sword and go in and out among the camp and slay every man his brother." And the Bible said there fell that day of Israel 3,000 men. And interestingly enough, it was none of the other tribes that came over. It was just the tribe of Levi. And in one passage in the Bible, God is commending the Levites because he is saying they did not regard father or mother or brother or sister. They just simply obeyed. I want to give you two quotes because in this particular passage, there were three thousand people killed. And I want to just share with you two Old Testament commentators, one of them, Colin Dalich, talking about the killing of the 3,000 said this, "The severity of the punishment corresponded to the magnitude of the crime. The worship of an image being a manifest transgression of one of the fundamental laws of the covenant was a breach of the covenant and as such was a capital crime bringing the punishment of death or extermination in its train."

Now, although the whole nation had been guilty of this crime, yet in this, as in every other rebellion, the guilt of all would not be the same. But many would simply follow the example of others, so that instead of punishing all alike, it was necessary that a separation should be made, if not between the innocent and the guilty, yet between the penitent and the stiff-necked transgressors. To effect this separation, Moses called into the camp, "Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come over to me." All the Levites responded to his call, and not the other tribes. And it was necessary that the refractory should be punished. Even these, however, had not all sinned to the same extent, but might be divided into tempters and tempted, as they were all mixed up together.

Nothing remained but to adopt that kind of punishment, which has been resorted to in all ages in such circumstances as these. So they're just simply saying that they were killing those who were recalcitrant, who refused to repent. Old John Trapp, the Puritan, said it like this: "The meaning is, slay every principal offender whom you meet without any indulgence or exception, though brother or companion or neighbor." And so that's exactly what happened in Exodus chapter 32. Now, you have to remember, since we're in Numbers chapter 12, Numbers chapter 16 has not yet happened. And that was when Dathan and Abiram and Korah and all that company arose against Moses. The reason I'm telling you all this is because Moses is classified as the meekest man on the earth. And when these people rebelled against God and against Aaron particularly, Moses, the meekest man on earth, said, "Lord, let a new thing happen. Let the earth open up and let these people go alive into the pit."

And that is exactly what happened. And then God sent fire from heaven and consumed the 250 princes with their censers in their hands. So here Moses is classified as the meekest man on earth. And I'm just simply pointing out the fact that meekness is not weakness and meekness is not mousiness because meekness here challenged wickedness on every hand. However, when Aaron and Miriam now attacks Moses, Moses does not respond to them. And if you look back in verse one, and I'm just going to mention this because if you want to hear the message "Remember Miriam," I explained it there. The Bible says that Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. If you remember, I told you that the word Ethiopian there is the word Cushite, which meant that this woman was a grandson, a granddaughter, of Noah. She was related through Noah. Moreover, if you remember as well, Genesis 25, after Sarah died, Abraham remarried and he married a woman by the name of Keturah. And Keturah had a son by the name of Midian.

Moses' Silence Before Family

When attacked by Aaron and Miriam, Moses does not respond. True meekness pays no attention to insults and refuses to be drawn into debate.

Now, when he is being attacked by his own brother and sister, he does not respond. He does not respond to their gross accusations and their vile insinuations. He knows what God has done for him. He knows the providence of God in his life. So, let me point something out concerning meekness again. Meekness does not exclude all anger. There is indeed in the Bible that which is called a righteous anger or a righteous indignation. In fact, the Bible commands you in Ephesians 4 and verse 26, "Be ye angry and sin not."

"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." So there is a righteous anger. There is a biblical anger. And I will very quickly confess that most of our anger is unbiblical and fleshly. But there is a righteous anger when someone tries to say, "Well, all anger is wrong." No, because if you say that, then you've got real theological problems. Because in Mark 3 and verse 5, the Bible said, "And Jesus, being moved with anger, looked around upon them because of the hardness of their heart."

So our Lord was angry. So there is a righteous anger. So the point I'm trying to make is this. Here you have, on the one hand, Moses standing up to all of God's enemies and confronting them. And on the other hand, now you have Aaron and Miriam, his own family, attacking him, and he does not respond.

Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but look in your Bibles to the book of Romans 12, and look if you would, because here I'm going to show you that meekness is really not easily provoked. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, beginning there with verse 17, look what God says. Romans 12, verse 17,

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

Now, when he says recompense no man evil for evil, if Joshua stood up and just cussed me out in front of everybody, would that give me the right to stand up and cuss him back? And the answer is no. I'm not to render evil for evil. Just because he does wrong, doesn't mean that I have to do wrong. So he says,

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

Now watch verse 18.

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

So notice I like what he said. "If it be possible,

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

" try as hard as you can to live peaceably with all men. In other words, there's an indication there's some men you cannot live peaceably with. But as much as in you is, do it. And then he says this, "

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath."

"For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So, what do you say if your enemy hungers? Feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. Please listen carefully. If he's hungry, that does not mean go out and buy him a table of steaks. If he's thirsty, that does not mean buy him a Starbucks latte. If he's hungry and I have peas, he may eat my peas. If he's thirsty, he may drink water like I drink water. In other words, all God is saying is, look, you cannot be overcome with evil.

You cannot allow bitterness and anger and revenge to boil up in your heart, in your lives. And to demonstrate that that bitterness and that revenge is not there, if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink. So, he's saying that we overcome evil with good. So, I want you to understand in light of Moses now. What he has done is this, he has stood up in righteous anger against the Lord's enemies, but now when it comes to his own family, he does not even respond. You see, true meekness pays no attention to insults, sarcasms, personal affronts, and obvious ridicule. So Moses was not going to be drawn into a debate with his own family. He was not going to discuss the providence of God in his own life.

Now, he knew the fact that God did call him and that God sent him to deliver his people. Now, let me just point something else about meekness. I want you to understand this. I may have told you before, but I'm going to tell you again. True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God. True meekness is being broken to yoke. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Matthew 11. Matthew 11.

And let's begin reading there with verse 28. Matthew 11. Look closely at verse 28. Look what our Lord says. Matthew 11, verse 28.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Now look at verse 29.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

Now He said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Take My yoke upon you."

God's Sudden Intervention

God heard their words and spoke suddenly, summoning them to the tabernacle. The immediacy shows God's respect for Moses and the need to nip sedition quickly.

So look, if you would please, what the Bible says in verse 2. "And they said, 'Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not also spoken by us?' And the Lord heard it." Now watch verse 3. "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." So we're just—God's just telling us about Moses. So the Bible says in verse 2, "...and the Lord heard it." Now watch verse 4, "...and the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, unto Aaron, unto Miriam, 'Come out, you three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.' And they three came out." Now the Bible says the Lord heard it, and then the Lord spoke suddenly. Now the word suddenly is a very important word. The Hebrew word not just simply means suddenly, but it means immediately. It means instantaneously. It means straightway. So just as quickly as they got it out of their mouths and attacking Moses, God spoke to them suddenly. So the word sudden is important for at least two reasons.

Number one, it shows God's great respect to Moses and also for the grace of meekness. And the second reason it's important is because it demonstrates the fact that the beginning of sedition must be taken care of, and taken care of quickly and in an efficient manner. So God divinely interposed Himself between Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and God says, like Barney, "I'll nip it in the bud." And so that's exactly what he did. Now, Moses, please remember, had shown himself jealous for God because he had defended God's truth over and over. And now God shows Himself jealous for Moses and his reputation and his testimony. Now, there is a verse in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 30 that is very important. The latter part of that verse says this, God is speaking and He says, "For them that honor Me will I honor, but those that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." So the principle is God's going to honor those who honor Him. Moses had been honoring Him. Now God's going to honor Moses. And so God divinely intervened and God is defending Moses.

Why God Defended Moses

God declares Moses is not like other prophets; He speaks to him mouth to mouth. Moses was faithful in all God's house, and God honors those who honor Him.

Now, go back to Numbers chapter 12, and let me try to answer this for you. I want you to see this. Look at Numbers chapter 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. God is speaking now to Aaron and to Miriam, and He said, "Hear now My words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." Now, what's this question? "Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Now, Moses, like Abraham, was the friend of God. And God did not speak to Moses in dreams and in visions the way did some of the other prophets. God said, "I speak to Moses face to face. I speak to Moses mouth to mouth. Moses beholds my similitude." He may not have seen God's face, but he beheld the similitude of God. But Moses was not just simply a friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God.

And I want you to look closely at verse 7, because God underlines this truth. He says this, "My servant Moses is not so." In other words, he's not like all those other prophets. Watch. "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house." Now, when you stop and think about Moses as a servant, he was obedient to his master. He faithfully delivered all of the laws, all of the statutes, all the ordinances that God gave him to Israel. He faithfully made all the instruments of the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself according to the pattern that God gave. He faithfully proclaimed all of the sacrifices, all of the offerings the way God proclaimed. In other words, Moses was not self-seeking. Moses was not looking for the praise and admiration of man. Moses was not seeking in vain. No, no, no. Whatever Moses did, he was faithful in all his house. Now, I want you to turn to two passages. I want you to turn, first of all, to the book of Exodus, and secondly, to the book of Hebrews.

I want you to see this. In the book of Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Exodus chapter 40. And watch if you would please, verse 16. Then we'll go to Hebrews chapter 3. So Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Here's an interesting statement. Remember now, God has said Moses was faithful in all of his house. So in Exodus 40 verse 16,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 40:16

"Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he."

So, whatever God commanded, that is exactly what Moses did. Now, if you will turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3, because in this passage, we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, but, however, He is also here referred to as obedient as was Moses. So, in Hebrews chapter 3, look, if you would, please. Well, let's read verse one, just so you can see that Jesus Christ is in the context here.

He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

Now watch verse two,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all of his house."

Now watch verse three.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house."

Now skip down to verse 5.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after."

Then if you look in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, Hebrews 8 and verse 5, the Bible says this, "who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for 'See,' saith he, 'that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount.'" And of course that's exactly what Moses did. So the Bible is saying over and over that Moses was faithful in all of his house.

So Moses was not just simply conversant with God, he was not just simply the friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God. Now, go back to the book of Numbers chapter 12. I want you to see this. So, remember now, God has asked Aaron and Miriam, "How is it that you were not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

The Danger of Attacking God's Faithful Servants

God's anger was kindled against Miriam and Aaron, and He departed. Attacking faithful servants angers God and risks His manifest presence leaving.

Now, watch if you would please at verse 9. In verse 8 he asks, "Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Watch verse 9. "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed." Now, there are two very important observations we need to make on verse 9. The first one is this, if you really and truly wish to anger the Lord and have him ready to chastise you, then all you have to do is to attack his faithful servants. That's all. That's all. And when I say attack his faithful servants, I'm not just talking about attacking preachers, I know that there are many of preachers that are not faithful.

All every Christian is a servant. And not every Christian is faithful, but there are some that are very, very faithful. But here's the truth of the matter. Usually when we talk about preachers, and you hear something about them, we begin to criticize them and condemn them based upon what we have heard, or what we have been told, or what we think, or what we believe, and we've never really investigated and checked out the facts for ourselves, neither have we spoken to the individual. We just simply join in an attack. What we're seeing here is this. God is asking, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" If we really and truly want to anger God, as Aaron and Miriam did, all we have to do is attack his faithful servants. You remember that passage in Proverbs chapter 6, where the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:16-19

"These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him."

And when you get to Proverbs 6 and verse 19, one of them is

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:16-19

"he that soweth discord among the brethren."

So the Bible says in verse 9, "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them." And it was kindled because they attacked Moses. The second thing we see in verse 9 is this, "and he departed." God left Moses and Aaron. He is the one that said, "Come out ye three to the tabernacle." And then he separated evidently Miriam and Aaron. And he was angry with them, and then he turned and left them.

You know, it's just like someone coming up to you who's full of anger and wrath and just telling you off to your face, and then just turns around and walks off. That's what God did. He departed. He left them. He not only left them, He left them in anger. In other words, at that moment, they no longer had God's manifest presence. God manifested Himself, you remember, in that cloud and in the fire?

Let me tell you something. First of all, you do not want God as an enemy. Secondly, you do not want God as an angry enemy. And thirdly, you do not want God to walk off and leave you. One of the greatest judgments that can befall anyone is when God leaves us to ourselves. Let me point this out. Moses was not just simply a friend of God. He was a faithful friend of God.

Faithfulness, Not Success

God demands faithfulness, not success. Examples of Noah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah show that faithful service is what God honors. The greatest ability is dependability.

Do you realize you can search the Bible in vain to find a command for you and I to be successful? God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness. Just stop and think. Noah preached 120 years. Never had one convert. And yet, he's in Hebrews 11 as a hero of faith. Think about Jeremiah. Think about Isaiah. Here are men that preached and preached faithfully who were hated and despised. No one listened to them. And yet, God counts them as heroes of faith.

The point I'm trying to make is this. There are many things that you and I cannot do. I tell people and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm mechanically challenged. I'm technologically challenged. There's a lot of things I can't do. But one thing I could do by God's grace and that is be faithful. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. used to have a saying. And it is so true.

The greatest ability is dependability. The greatest ability is dependability. If you have someone that you can depend upon, that is wonderful ability. And that's all God asks of us. God asks of us to be faithful.

Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but I want you to turn, if you would, first of all, to Psalm 101. Then we'll go to Proverbs 28. But look in Psalm 101. And let me show you what the Scripture says. This may surprise you. Psalm 101. And notice, if you would please, verse 6. Psalm 101, verse 6. God says, "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me."

"And he that walketh in a perfect" or mature and upright way, "he shall serve Me." Did you hear what He said? "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land." Not going to be upon the successful, per se, but it's going to be upon the faithful of the land. Now, turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 28, and look, if you would please, at verse 20. Just over a few pages. Proverbs 28 and verse 20. Look at it.

Now, I think you can understand this verse in light of what we just read, where God said, "Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land." Proverbs 28 and verse 20, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 28:20

"A faithful man shall abound with blessings. But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." "A faithful man shall abound with blessings."

Why? God's eyes are upon him. And moreover, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, "Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." And each one of us is a steward. God has given us families. God has given us friends. God has given us finances. God has given us goods. God has given us property. And we are responsible to be faithful as stewards in whatever God has given unto us.

Examples of Faithfulness: Caleb and Paul

Caleb wholly followed the Lord and was defended and blessed. Paul was told not to fear in Corinth because God was with him. Faithfulness invites God's defense.

Now, here's the point I want to make, and I'm going to show you with two other examples just momentarily. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be faithful. That is why God defended Moses so quickly. He Himself said, "He is faithful in all mine house." You remember a man by the name of Caleb? I want you to turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 14, just a few pages from our text. Numbers, chapter 14. And look, if you would please, at verse 24. You remember Moses had sent Joshua and Caleb and ten other men to spy out the land. Well, it was Caleb and Joshua who brought back an honest report. And in Numbers 14 and verse 24, God is speaking concerning Caleb. And I want you to see what God says about Caleb. He says,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, hath followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it."

So let me go back and read this again. Now watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and he hath followed me fully,"

wholly, completely, faithfully,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it."

So God now is testifying to the faithfulness of Caleb. So, if you would turn now to the book of Joshua, just a couple of pages over, after Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, look in Joshua chapter 14. The interesting thing is, in Numbers, God testifies to Caleb's faithfulness.

In Joshua 14, Caleb now testifies to God's faithfulness. I like this. Look in Joshua 14, beginning there with verse 7. Caleb is speaking. He says, "Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people to melt." You remember the way they made the heart melt?

They told them the Anakims were there, the giants were there. He said, "...but I wholly," that is completely, fully, faithfully, "followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because that thou hast wholly'" faithfully, totally, completely "'followed the Lord my God.'" "Now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness." Now watch. "And now I am this day fourscore and five years old," eighty-five. "As yet, I am as strong this day as I was the days that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, as for thou hearest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that their cities were great and fenced? If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said."

And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, Kirjath-arba. Now notice what he said. "I'm 85 years old. I'm just as strong now as I was when I was 45. For war!" See, there's hope for us. What does he do? He says, "God is faithful." In fact, if you will look in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 15, look at verses 13 and 14 right there. "And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba, the father of Anak," now it was of the giants, "which city is Hebron, and Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak." Wow! He said, "If God be with me, I can do it." And God was with him and he did it. It's just that simple. Why did God bless Caleb and help him and defend him and keep him alive and preserve him?

Because he was faithful. He wholly followed the Lord. Let me show you one more. Look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. Everyone knows that the Apostle Paul was probably one of the greatest missionaries. He was a mighty man and he went through so many things. I mean, he was beaten. He was stoned. He was in the deep. Just all kinds of things happened to the Apostle Paul.

But God sent him to Corinth. Corinth was a pagan city. It was a seaport town. In fact, there were three seaports in Corinth. It was so wicked and so vile. There was one temple in Corinth with a thousand prostitutes for the free use of anyone who went to that temple. And so when Paul went to Corinth, he was fearful. He was afraid. How do I know that?

Well, look in Acts chapter 18 in verse 9. "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by vision. Be not afraid." If God told Paul not to be afraid, obviously he was afraid. But God says, "Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city." What did God just say to Paul? "You preach. I got your back. I got your front. I got your sides. I got you all the way around 360. Don't worry about it. You just preach. I can defend you." And he did.

Now, what I want to do is this. I want to show you just a few verses very quickly. I have David so many times claimed God as his defense. So if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. We'll start there. And I want you to look at verse 10, Psalm 7 and verse 10. And we'll just run through the book of Psalms very quickly, just for a few verses. Watch Psalm 7 and verse 10. David said, "My defense is of God who saveth the upright in heart." "My defense is of God." Look in Psalm 31, verse 2. Psalm 31, verse 2. David says, "Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me." Turn, if you would, to Psalm 59 and verse 9. Psalm 59 and verse 9. He says, "Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense." Skip down to verse 16. Psalm 59, verse 16.

"But I will sing of thy power. Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. For thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble." Look in verse 17. "Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing. For God is my defense and the God of my mercy." Look in Psalm 62 and verse 2. "He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense."

David's Testimony of God as Defense

Multiple Psalms declare God as David's defense. God defends the upright and faithful.

"I shall not be greatly moved." Look in verse 6. "He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved." Look in Psalm 89 and verse 18. Psalm 89 and verse 18. He says this, "For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King." One more, Psalm 94, verse 22. Psalm 94, verse 22. Again, David says, "But the Lord is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge." Of course, that wonderful passage in Isaiah 33 and verse 16, the Bible says that the one that trusts in the Lord, "he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of the rock, his bread shall be sure, and his water shall be sure." So obviously, God does indeed defend His people.

Applications and Conclusion

Meekness and fidelity are honored by God. Attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God. To have God defend us, we must be faithful. God is the faithful God; His children should reflect His character.

Now, Moses was the meekest man on earth. And yet, He was faithful and God defended Him. Let me make some applications and let me try to tie it together for you. The first one is this. Meekness and fidelity will always be honored and respected by God. When we submit to God's providence and we wait upon Him, even in our afflictions, and we continue to faithfully serve Him, inevitably, invariably, God will avenge us and defend us in His time and in His way. Here's the second thing we should learn. And it should be obvious from Numbers 12. When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God. You attack God. It is impossible to separate the one who is sent from the one who is sending. In other words, when we attack God's faithful servants, we are attacking God because we are denying His choosing, His equipping, and His sending. Let me just tell you what our Lord said in Matthew 10 and verse 10. When He sent His disciples out, He said, "He that receiveth you, receiveth Me. And he that receiveth Me, receiveth him that sent Me." And then again, in John 13, in verse 20, He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth you, whomever I send receiveth me, and whosoever receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." So our Lord says, put it like this.

"If they receive you, they're receiving me. If they receive me, they're receiving my Father who sent me." Now, the opposite is also true. If they refuse to receive the ones whom Jesus Christ sent, they're refusing Jesus Christ. If they were refusing Jesus Christ, they were refusing the Father who sent Christ. You cannot separate the sender from the ones that are sent. So to attack God's faithful servants is to fly in the face of God. That's why when the Lord heard it in verse 2, He spake suddenly in verse 4 and said, "Get here in front of the tabernacle."

The third application is this. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be His faithful servants. If we want Him to honor us, we must honor Him in all of our lives. You know, there are many things that you and I cannot do. But when you stop and think about being faithful, faithfulness in one sense of the word is so simple. And yet, unhappily, most pastors are not faithful. Most Christians are not faithful. We need to learn to be faithful. We can be faithful in the attendance of the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. We can be faithful in giving. We can be faithful in praying. We can be faithful in studying the Scripture. We can be faithful in worshiping God. We can be faithful in teaching others. We can be faithful in obeying. In other words, faithfulness is something that is very simple in which most of us fail. May I remind you that one of the names of God in Scripture is He is the faithful God.

Have you ever stopped to think about God's faithfulness? It is God that causes the sun to come up every morning and to set every evening. It's God who continues to give us life and health. It's God who continues to give us food. He is faithful. And I love that passage. I've quoted it so many times. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed."

"Because His compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him. We should have faithful hearts and faithful lives. We may not be the wealthiest people in the world. We may not be the biggest group of believers in the world. But we can be the most faithful. And faithfulness is that which God demands. And if we want God to defend us, we have to be faithful like Moses. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You, Father, for Your Word, for Your truth, for Your love, Your grace and mercy.

Lord, forgive us for our unfaithfulness. Make us more faithful, more obedient, more holy, more godly. And give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Meekness as Disciplined Strength

Summary: True meekness is not weakness but strength under God's control, demonstrated by Moses confronting enemies yet refusing to retaliate against family.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness... True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God.' He cites Moses killing the Egyptian, confronting Pharaoh, and executing judgment at the golden calf.

God Defends His Faithful Servants

Summary: God swiftly defended Moses because Moses was faithful in all God's house. Faithfulness invites God's protection and honor.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Why did God defend Moses so quickly and so readily?' and answers by quoting God's words: 'My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.' He also cites Caleb and Paul as examples.

The Danger of Attacking God's Servants

Summary: To attack God's faithful servants is to attack God Himself, provoking His anger and risking His departure.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If we really and truly wish to anger the Lord... all we have to do is to attack his faithful servants.' He notes God's anger was kindled and He departed in Numbers 12:9.

Faithfulness Over Success

Summary: God requires faithfulness, not worldly success. Examples like Noah and Jeremiah show that faithful service is what God honors.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness.' He references Noah preaching 120 years without converts, yet being a hero of faith.

God as Our Defense

Summary: Believers can trust God to be their defense when they are faithful, as David repeatedly testified in the Psalms.

Evidence: Weaver quotes multiple Psalms where David calls God his defense, e.g., Psalm 7:10, 'My defense is of God who saveth the upright in heart.'

Key Arguments

Moses' meekness was not passivity but controlled strength

Summary: Moses, the meekest man, actively defended God's honor against enemies but refused to defend himself against family, showing meekness is strength under discipline.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Moses killing the Egyptian and confronting Pharaoh with his silence when Aaron and Miriam attacked him, citing Numbers 12:3 and Romans 12:17-21.

God intervened suddenly because Moses was faithful

Summary: The immediacy of God's response in Numbers 12:4 demonstrates His respect for Moses' faithfulness and His intolerance of sedition.

Evidence: Weaver emphasizes the Hebrew word for 'suddenly' means immediately, and links it to God's declaration in verse 7 that Moses was faithful in all His house.

Attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God

Summary: Because God sends and equips His servants, to reject or attack them is to reject God Himself, as Jesus taught in Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God... you cannot separate the sender from the ones that are sent.'

Faithfulness is the key to God's defense

Summary: If we want God to defend us as He did Moses, we must be faithful stewards in all areas of life, as God's eyes are on the faithful.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 101:6, Proverbs 28:20, and 1 Corinthians 4:2, and concludes, 'If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be faithful.'

Scripture References

Numbers 12:1-15

Context: The primary text: Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses; God defends Moses and strikes Miriam with leprosy.

Deuteronomy 24:9

Context: Referenced as the basis for Weaver's previous sermon 'Remember Miriam.'

Exodus 32

Context: Moses' righteous anger at the golden calf, where he broke the tablets and the Levites killed 3,000.

Numbers 16

Context: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, where Moses called for the earth to swallow them.

Genesis 25

Context: Abraham's marriage to Keturah and the birth of Midian, explaining Zipporah's lineage.

Exodus 18

Context: Jethro, priest of Midian, worshipped the true God, showing Zipporah's family was godly.

Ephesians 4:26

Context: Commands believers to be angry and sin not, supporting the concept of righteous anger.

Mark 3:5

Context: Jesus was moved with anger at the hardness of heart, showing righteous anger exists.

Romans 12:17-21

Context: Instructions not to avenge ourselves but to overcome evil with good, applied to Moses' silence.

Matthew 11:28-30

Context: Jesus' invitation to take His yoke, illustrating meekness as submission to God's control.

1 Samuel 2:30

Context: God honors those who honor Him, explaining why God defended Moses.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Context: Two are better than one; a threefold cord is not quickly broken, illustrating the value of God's defense.

Exodus 40:16

Context: Moses did all that the Lord commanded, demonstrating his faithfulness.

Hebrews 3:1-5

Context: Christ was faithful as Moses was faithful in all God's house.

Hebrews 8:5

Context: Moses was admonished to make all things according to the pattern, which he did faithfully.

Proverbs 6:16-19

Context: God hates those who sow discord among brethren, relevant to Miriam and Aaron's attack.

Psalm 101:6

Context: God's eyes are on the faithful of the land.

Proverbs 28:20

Context: A faithful man shall abound with blessings.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Context: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

Numbers 14:24

Context: God testifies that Caleb had another spirit and followed Him fully.

Historical References

Colin Dalich (Old Testament commentator)

Context: Quoted regarding the severity of the punishment of the 3,000 at the golden calf, explaining it as a capital crime of covenant breach.

John Trapp (Puritan commentator)

Context: Quoted on Exodus 32, saying the Levites were to slay every principal offender without exception.

Dr. Bob Jones Sr.

Context: Cited for the saying, 'The greatest ability is dependability,' emphasizing faithfulness.

Important Quotes

Meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not walking around with your head down. That's not meekness. That's poor posture.

Significance: Defines biblical meekness against common misconceptions, setting up the contrast with Moses' actions.

True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God.

Significance: Succinct definition of meekness as strength under control, illustrated by the yoke of Christ.

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

Significance: God's own testimony to Moses' faithfulness, the key reason God defended him.

God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness.

Significance: Central thesis that faithfulness, not worldly success, is what God requires and honors.

The greatest ability is dependability.

Significance: Quoting Dr. Bob Jones Sr. to underscore the value of faithfulness.

When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God.

Significance: Emphasizes the inseparable link between God and His sent servants.

If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him.

Significance: Application that believers should reflect God's faithfulness in their own lives.

Discussion Questions

How does the biblical definition of meekness as 'disciplined strength under God' challenge common cultural views of meekness as weakness?

Context: Weaver contrasts Moses' confrontations with enemies and his silence before family, defining meekness as strength under control.

Why do you think Moses chose not to defend himself against Aaron and Miriam, and what does this teach us about handling personal attacks?

Context: Moses did not respond to his siblings' accusations, demonstrating trust in God's defense.

In what ways does attacking a faithful servant of God equate to attacking God Himself, and how should this affect our speech about church leaders?

Context: Weaver explains that to reject the sent is to reject the sender, citing Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20.

What does it mean to be 'faithful in all God's house' in our contemporary context, and how can we cultivate such faithfulness?

Context: Moses was commended for complete obedience; Weaver applies this to areas like attendance, giving, prayer, and study.

How does the example of Caleb encourage you to remain faithful even when others around you are not?

Context: Caleb wholly followed the Lord despite the negative report of the other spies, and God preserved and blessed him.

Why is faithfulness more important than success in God's eyes, and how does this perspective free us from worldly pressure?

Context: Weaver states God does not demand success but faithfulness, using Noah and Jeremiah as examples.

What practical steps can you take to trust God as your defense rather than seeking revenge or self-justification?

Context: Romans 12:17-21 instructs believers to leave vengeance to God and overcome evil with good.

How does God's faithfulness to us serve as a model for our faithfulness to Him and to others?

Context: Weaver points to Lamentations 3:22-23 and God's daily provisions as evidence of His faithfulness.

Applications

Cultivate biblical meekness

Summary: Learn to submit your strength to God's control, refusing to retaliate when personally attacked, while remaining bold against sin and error.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God,' and points to Moses' example.

Trust God to defend you

Summary: Instead of avenging yourself, wait on God to vindicate you in His time and way, as He did for Moses.

Evidence: Weaver cites Romans 12:19, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,' and notes God's sudden intervention for Moses.

Be faithful in all areas of life

Summary: Strive to be faithful in attendance, giving, prayer, Scripture study, worship, teaching, and obedience, knowing God's eyes are on the faithful.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We can be faithful in the attendance of the preaching... in giving... in praying... in studying the Scripture... in worshiping God... in teaching others... in obeying.'

Avoid attacking God's servants

Summary: Refuse to join in criticism or slander against faithful ministers or believers, recognizing that such attacks provoke God's anger.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'If we really and truly wish to anger the Lord... all we have to do is to attack his faithful servants.'

Honor God to be honored by Him

Summary: Live in a way that honors God, trusting His promise to honor those who honor Him, as seen in 1 Samuel 2:30.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If we want Him to honor us, we must honor Him in all of our lives.'

Reflect God's faithfulness

Summary: Since God is the faithful God, His children should imitate His faithfulness in their character and conduct.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:49:10Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T05:48:52Z

Clean Transcript

Do You Want God to Defend You?

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Numbers chapter 12. And we're going to read the first 15 verses. Now, let me make a statement before we even begin to read these verses that are going to be very familiar to you, or at least they should be. Because only less than a month ago, I preached from these verses on a message, "Remember Miriam," based from Deuteronomy chapter 24, where God said, "Remember what I did to Miriam." So that message is totally different from this message. So the only thing that we have in common is the same scripture. I may mention one or two things, but it will be a totally different message. So, Numbers chapter 12, beginning with verse one. "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, 'Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?' And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth."
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"And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, 'Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.' And they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of a cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forth. And he said, 'Hear now ye my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?' And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, 'Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.'"
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"Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb." And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, "Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee." And the Lord said unto Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again." And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterwards the people were moved from Hazeroth and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. "Do You Want God to Defend You?" is the title of the message.
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And as I stated earlier, a short time back, I preached from this very same text on "Remember Miriam." Her chastisement from the Lord was and is certainly a warning for us today. Our Heavenly Father does not take rebellion lightly. We're not allowed to indiscriminately attack each other, and especially we're not allowed to attack his faithful servants.
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Now, I pointed out in the message "Remember Miriam," verse three, and I'm going to call your attention to this again today, where the Bible says that Moses was basically the meekest man on the earth. The Bible says, "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." So Moses now is described as the meekest man on the earth.
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May I point out the fact that meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not walking around with your head down. That's not meekness. That's poor posture. Okay? He was simply the meekest man on earth. But may I point out the fact that the meekest man on earth was a man who not only defended an Israelite when he was being attacked by an Egyptian, but he actually killed the Egyptian in defending the life of the Israelite. Moreover, it was Moses, the meekest man on earth, who confronted Pharaoh and all of his minions. Pharaoh perhaps was one of the strongest men, militarily at least, and powerfully as far as political setting is concerned, upon the face of the earth at that particular time. But Moses confronted him and his minions as well.
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And then of course you remember in Exodus chapter 32, when Aaron and the people had made that golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw them worshipping that golden calf, he had a good, what you and I would call hissy fit, because he threw down the tablets and broke them. He got that golden calf, grounded into powder, cast it in the water and made the people to drink thereof. And of course, some evidently refused to drink.
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And so he cried out, "Whoever's on the Lord's side, let him come over unto me." And the Bible tells us the tribe of Levi came over. And he said, "Gird on every man his sword and go in and out among the camp and slay every man his brother." And the Bible said there fell that day of Israel 3,000 men. And interestingly enough, it was none of the other tribes that came over. It was just the tribe of Levi. And in one passage in the Bible, God is commending the Levites because he is saying they did not regard father or mother or brother or sister. They just simply obeyed. I want to give you two quotes because in this particular passage, there were three thousand people killed. And I want to just share with you two Old Testament commentators, one of them, Colin Dalich, talking about the killing of the 3,000 said this, "The severity of the punishment corresponded to the magnitude of the crime. The worship of an image being a manifest transgression of one of the fundamental laws of the covenant was a breach of the covenant and as such was a capital crime bringing the punishment of death or extermination in its train."
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Now, although the whole nation had been guilty of this crime, yet in this, as in every other rebellion, the guilt of all would not be the same. But many would simply follow the example of others, so that instead of punishing all alike, it was necessary that a separation should be made, if not between the innocent and the guilty, yet between the penitent and the stiff-necked transgressors. To effect this separation, Moses called into the camp, "Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come over to me." All the Levites responded to his call, and not the other tribes. And it was necessary that the refractory should be punished. Even these, however, had not all sinned to the same extent, but might be divided into tempters and tempted, as they were all mixed up together.
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Nothing remained but to adopt that kind of punishment, which has been resorted to in all ages in such circumstances as these. So they're just simply saying that they were killing those who were recalcitrant, who refused to repent. Old John Trapp, the Puritan, said it like this: "The meaning is, slay every principal offender whom you meet without any indulgence or exception, though brother or companion or neighbor." And so that's exactly what happened in Exodus chapter 32. Now, you have to remember, since we're in Numbers chapter 12, Numbers chapter 16 has not yet happened.
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And that was when Dathan and Abiram and Korah and all that company arose against Moses. The reason I'm telling you all this is because Moses is classified as the meekest man on the earth. And when these people rebelled against God and against Aaron particularly, Moses, the meekest man on earth, said, "Lord, let a new thing happen. Let the earth open up and let these people go alive into the pit."
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And that is exactly what happened. And then God sent fire from heaven and consumed the 250 princes with their censers in their hands. So here Moses is classified as the meekest man on earth. And I'm just simply pointing out the fact that meekness is not weakness and meekness is not mousiness because meekness here challenged wickedness on every hand. However, when Aaron and Miriam now attacks Moses, Moses does not respond to them. And if you look back in verse one, and I'm just going to mention this because if you want to hear the message "Remember Miriam," I explained it there. The Bible says that Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. If you remember, I told you that the word Ethiopian there is the word Cushite, which meant that this woman was a grandson, a granddaughter, of Noah. She was related through Noah. Moreover, if you remember as well, Genesis 25, after Sarah died, Abraham remarried and he married a woman by the name of Keturah. And Keturah had a son by the name of Midian.
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Well, where did God send Moses? He sent him into the land of Midian. So, the Midianites were descendants then of Abraham and Keturah. So Moses married a woman who happened to have been from the grandson of Noah, a Cushite, and also she was a Midianite, which meant she was from Abraham and Keturah. Her father, Jethro, sometimes called Reuel, is also called the priest of Midian, and he was a worshipper of the One True and the Living God according to Exodus 18. So the point being, what Aaron and Miriam are mocking Moses for is that Zipporah was not from Abraham and Sarah like they were. She was from Abraham and Keturah.
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So now you have spiritual pride coming up. The point I'm trying to make right now is this. Moses had spent his life defending God and defending God's honor.
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Now, when he is being attacked by his own brother and sister, he does not respond. He does not respond to their gross accusations and their vile insinuations. He knows what God has done for him. He knows the providence of God in his life. So, let me point something out concerning meekness again. Meekness does not exclude all anger. There is indeed in the Bible that which is called a righteous anger or a righteous indignation. In fact, the Bible commands you in Ephesians 4 and verse 26, "Be ye angry and sin not."
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"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." So there is a righteous anger. There is a biblical anger. And I will very quickly confess that most of our anger is unbiblical and fleshly. But there is a righteous anger when someone tries to say, "Well, all anger is wrong." No, because if you say that, then you've got real theological problems. Because in Mark 3 and verse 5, the Bible said, "And Jesus, being moved with anger, looked around upon them because of the hardness of their heart."
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So our Lord was angry. So there is a righteous anger. So the point I'm trying to make is this. Here you have, on the one hand, Moses standing up to all of God's enemies and confronting them. And on the other hand, now you have Aaron and Miriam, his own family, attacking him, and he does not respond.
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Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but look in your Bibles to the book of Romans 12, and look if you would, because here I'm going to show you that meekness is really not easily provoked. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, beginning there with verse 17, look what God says. Romans 12, verse 17, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men." Now, when he says recompense no man evil for evil, if Joshua stood up and just cussed me out in front of everybody, would that give me the right to stand up and cuss him back?
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And the answer is no. I'm not to render evil for evil. Just because he does wrong, doesn't mean that I have to do wrong. So he says, "Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men." Now watch verse 18. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." So notice I like what he said. "If it be possible," try as hard as you can to live peaceably with all men. In other words, there's an indication there's some men you cannot live peaceably with. But as much as in you is, do it. And then he says this, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath."
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"For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So, what do you say if your enemy hungers? Feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. Please listen carefully. If he's hungry, that does not mean go out and buy him a table of steaks. If he's thirsty, that does not mean buy him a Starbucks latte. If he's hungry and I have peas, he may eat my peas. If he's thirsty, he may drink water like I drink water. In other words, all God is saying is, look, you cannot be overcome with evil.
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You cannot allow bitterness and anger and revenge to boil up in your heart, in your lives. And to demonstrate that that bitterness and that revenge is not there, if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink. So, he's saying that we overcome evil with good. So, I want you to understand in light of Moses now. What he has done is this, he has stood up in righteous anger against the Lord's enemies, but now when it comes to his own family, he does not even respond.
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You see, true meekness pays no attention to insults, sarcasms, personal affronts, and obvious ridicule. So Moses was not going to be drawn into a debate with his own family. He was not going to discuss the providence of God in his own life.
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Now, he knew the fact that God did call him and that God sent him to deliver his people. Now, let me just point something else about meekness. I want you to understand this. I may have told you before, but I'm going to tell you again. True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God. True meekness is being broken to yoke. If you would turn in your Bibles very quickly to Matthew 11. Matthew 11.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 28. Matthew 11. Look closely at verse 28. Look what our Lord says. Matthew 11, verse 28. "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now look at verse 29. "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Now He said, "Take My yoke upon you."
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Everyone in this room has seen pictures if not real life, of oxen being yoked and plowed together. I don't know if you've ever seen some of these oxen, but they are very, very huge. And you can take a 3,000 pound animal, and you put a yoke around him, and now you can control him. All of that strength is under your control. It's the same thing as putting a bridle in a horse's mouth. And so when our Lord says, "Take my yoke upon you," in other words, he's saying you submit to me. You are under my control. In other words, if we're under the control of the Lord, we're not frothing at the mouth. We're not chafing at the bit. We're not trying to spit the bit out and do what we want to do. No, we have strength, but it's disciplined strength under God. That's what real genuine meekness is.
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And so Moses, while he was willing to confront all of God's enemies, was not willing to enter into a debate or an argument with his brother and his sister. Now, I want you to go back to Numbers 12. Let me show you something. Let me set the stage for this. Because although Moses was unwilling to hear and to fight with his brother and sister, God heard and God was more than willing.
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So look, if you would please, what the Bible says in verse 2. "And they said, 'Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not also spoken by us?' And the Lord heard it." Now watch verse 3. "Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." So we're just—God's just telling us about Moses. So the Bible says in verse 2, "...and the Lord heard it." Now watch verse 4, "...and the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, unto Aaron, unto Miriam, 'Come out, you three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.' And they three came out." Now the Bible says the Lord heard it, and then the Lord spoke suddenly. Now the word suddenly is a very important word. The Hebrew word not just simply means suddenly, but it means immediately. It means instantaneously. It means straightway. So just as quickly as they got it out of their mouths and attacking Moses, God spoke to them suddenly. So the word sudden is important for at least two reasons.
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Number one, it shows God's great respect to Moses and also for the grace of meekness. And the second reason it's important is because it demonstrates the fact that the beginning of sedition must be taken care of, and taken care of quickly and in an efficient manner. So God divinely interposed Himself between Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and God says, like Barney, "I'll nip it in the bud." And so that's exactly what he did. Now, Moses, please remember, had shown himself jealous for God because he had defended God's truth over and over. And now God shows Himself jealous for Moses and his reputation and his testimony. Now, there is a verse in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 30 that is very important. The latter part of that verse says this, God is speaking and He says, "For them that honor Me will I honor, but those that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." So the principle is God's going to honor those who honor Him. Moses had been honoring Him. Now God's going to honor Moses. And so God divinely intervened and God is defending Moses.
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When it comes to defense, we want all the help that we can get. We certainly do not want to be alone. So I want to show you a passage. I want you to turn to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 4. You'll find that right after the book of Proverbs. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, chapter 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 9. Ecclesiastes 4 and verse 9. Look what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes 4, verse 9. God says, "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellows. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone?" Now watch verse 12. "And if one prevail against him," that is, he's being attacked, "two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
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Now, the truth of the matter is this. If I'm in a fight for my life, I want all the help that I can get. I appreciate the fact that people would be willing to help me. But I will be absolutely honest. If I'm in a fight for my life, I want the strongest, the most flexible, the most powerful, and the most knowledgeable person to help me because I want to live. And I'm sure that you're the same way.
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Well, when you stop and think about God, God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He may deliver us physically or in any other way that He chooses.
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Now, I have a question to ask you, and that is really the thrust of this message. Here's my question. Why did God defend Moses so quickly and so readily? The Bible said that Miriam and Aaron spoke at the Lord's hearing. And immediately, God said, "Come out you three. Get over here to the tabernacle." Why did God defend Moses so readily and so quickly? Here's another question. Why are we not defended so readily and so quickly?
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Why is it that there are times that our names, our testimonies, our reputations are drugged through the mud in the mire? I can assure you there have been times in my life that I have been lied about, lied against, not just by Christians, but sometimes even by fellow pastors and, of course, the wicked. And yes, there have been times when God jerked a nod in some of them. That is true.
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But it has not been every time. And it's the same way in your life. I mean, there are times that you endure things and you just wonder why God doesn't intervene. But He did for Moses. So why did God intervene for Moses so quickly?
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Now, go back to Numbers chapter 12, and let me try to answer this for you. I want you to see this. Look at Numbers chapter 12, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. God is speaking now to Aaron and to Miriam, and He said, "Hear now My words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream."
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"My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." Now, what's this question? "Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Now, Moses, like Abraham, was the friend of God. And God did not speak to Moses in dreams and in visions the way did some of the other prophets. God said, "I speak to Moses face to face. I speak to Moses mouth to mouth. Moses beholds my similitude." He may not have seen God's face, but he beheld the similitude of God. But Moses was not just simply a friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God.
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And I want you to look closely at verse 7, because God underlines this truth. He says this, "My servant Moses is not so." In other words, he's not like all those other prophets. Watch. "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house." Now, when you stop and think about Moses as a servant, he was obedient to his master. He faithfully delivered all of the laws, all of the statutes, all the ordinances that God gave him to Israel. He faithfully made all the instruments of the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself according to the pattern that God gave. He faithfully proclaimed all of the sacrifices, all of the offerings the way God proclaimed. In other words, Moses was not self-seeking. Moses was not looking for the praise and admiration of man. Moses was not seeking in vain. No, no, no. Whatever Moses did, he was faithful in all his house. Now, I want you to turn to two passages. I want you to turn, first of all, to the book of Exodus, and secondly, to the book of Hebrews.
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I want you to see this. In the book of Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Exodus chapter 40. And watch if you would please, verse 16. Then we'll go to Hebrews chapter 3. So Exodus chapter 40 and verse 16. Here's an interesting statement. Remember now, God has said Moses was faithful in all of his house. So in Exodus 40 verse 16, "Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." So, whatever God commanded, that is exactly what Moses did. Now, if you will turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3, because in this passage, we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, but, however, He is also here referred to as obedient as was Moses. So, in Hebrews chapter 3, look, if you would, please. Well, let's read verse one, just so you can see that Jesus Christ is in the context here.
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He says, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." Now watch verse two, "who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all of his house." Now watch verse three. "For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house." Now skip down to verse 5. "And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after." Then if you look in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, Hebrews 8 and verse 5, the Bible says this, "who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for 'See,' saith he, 'that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the mount.'" And of course that's exactly what Moses did. So the Bible is saying over and over that Moses was faithful in all of his house.
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So Moses was not just simply conversant with God, he was not just simply the friend of God, he was a faithful friend of God. Now, go back to the book of Numbers chapter 12. I want you to see this. So, remember now, God has asked Aaron and Miriam, "How is it that you were not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
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Now, watch if you would please at verse 9. In verse 8 he asks, "Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Watch verse 9. "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed."
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Now, there are two very important observations we need to make on verse 9. The first one is this, if you really and truly wish to anger the Lord and have him ready to chastise you, then all you have to do is to attack his faithful servants. That's all. That's all. And when I say attack his faithful servants, I'm not just talking about attacking preachers, I know that there are many of preachers that are not faithful.
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All every Christian is a servant. And not every Christian is faithful, but there are some that are very, very faithful. But here's the truth of the matter. Usually when we talk about preachers, and you hear something about them, we begin to criticize them and condemn them based upon what we have heard, or what we have been told, or what we think, or what we believe, and we've never really investigated and checked out the facts for ourselves, neither have we spoken to the individual.
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We just simply join in an attack. What we're seeing here is this. God is asking, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" If we really and truly want to anger God, as Aaron and Miriam did, all we have to do is attack his faithful servants. You remember that passage in Proverbs chapter 6, where the Bible says, "These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him." And when you get to Proverbs 6 and verse 19, one of them is "he that soweth discord among the brethren." So the Bible says in verse 9, "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them." And it was kindled because they attacked Moses. The second thing we see in verse 9 is this, "and he departed." God left Moses and Aaron. He is the one that said, "Come out ye three to the tabernacle." And then he separated evidently Miriam and Aaron. And he was angry with them, and then he turned and left them.
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You know, it's just like someone coming up to you who's full of anger and wrath and just telling you off to your face, and then just turns around and walks off. That's what God did. He departed. He left them. He not only left them, He left them in anger. In other words, at that moment, they no longer had God's manifest presence. God manifested Himself, you remember, in that cloud and in the fire?
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Let me tell you something. First of all, you do not want God as an enemy. Secondly, you do not want God as an angry enemy. And thirdly, you do not want God to walk off and leave you. One of the greatest judgments that can befall anyone is when God leaves us to ourselves. Let me point this out. Moses was not just simply a friend of God. He was a faithful friend of God.
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Do you realize you can search the Bible in vain to find a command for you and I to be successful? God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness. Just stop and think. Noah preached 120 years. Never had one convert. And yet, he's in Hebrews 11 as a hero of faith. Think about Jeremiah. Think about Isaiah. Here are men that preached and preached faithfully who were hated and despised. No one listened to them. And yet, God counts them as heroes of faith.
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The point I'm trying to make is this. There are many things that you and I cannot do. I tell people and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm mechanically challenged. I'm technologically challenged. There's a lot of things I can't do. But one thing I could do by God's grace and that is be faithful. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. used to have a saying. And it is so true.
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The greatest ability is dependability. The greatest ability is dependability. If you have someone that you can depend upon, that is wonderful ability. And that's all God asks of us. God asks of us to be faithful.
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Now, I want you to hold Numbers 12, but I want you to turn, if you would, first of all, to Psalm 101. Then we'll go to Proverbs 28. But look in Psalm 101. And let me show you what the Scripture says. This may surprise you. Psalm 101. And notice, if you would please, verse 6. Psalm 101, verse 6. God says, "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me."
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"And he that walketh in a perfect" or mature and upright way, "he shall serve Me." Did you hear what He said? "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land." Not going to be upon the successful, per se, but it's going to be upon the faithful of the land.
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Now, turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 28, and look, if you would please, at verse 20. Just over a few pages. Proverbs 28 and verse 20. Look at it.
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Now, I think you can understand this verse in light of what we just read, where God said, "Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land." Proverbs 28 and verse 20, the Bible says, "A faithful man shall abound with blessings. But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." "A faithful man shall abound with blessings." Why? God's eyes are upon him. And moreover, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, "Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful."
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And each one of us is a steward. God has given us families. God has given us friends. God has given us finances. God has given us goods. God has given us property. And we are responsible to be faithful as stewards in whatever God has given unto us.
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Now, here's the point I want to make, and I'm going to show you with two other examples just momentarily. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be faithful. That is why God defended Moses so quickly. He Himself said, "He is faithful in all mine house." You remember a man by the name of Caleb? I want you to turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 14, just a few pages from our text. Numbers, chapter 14.
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And look, if you would please, at verse 24. You remember Moses had sent Joshua and Caleb and ten other men to spy out the land. Well, it was Caleb and Joshua who brought back an honest report. And in Numbers 14 and verse 24, God is speaking concerning Caleb. And I want you to see what God says about Caleb. He says, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, hath followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it." So let me go back and read this again. Now watch carefully. "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and he hath followed me fully," wholly, completely, faithfully, "him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it." So God now is testifying to the faithfulness of Caleb. So, if you would turn now to the book of Joshua, just a couple of pages over, after Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, look in Joshua chapter 14. The interesting thing is, in Numbers, God testifies to Caleb's faithfulness.
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In Joshua 14, Caleb now testifies to God's faithfulness. I like this. Look in Joshua 14, beginning there with verse 7. Caleb is speaking. He says, "Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as was in mine heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people to melt." You remember the way they made the heart melt?
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They told them the Anakims were there, the giants were there. He said, "...but I wholly," that is completely, fully, faithfully, "followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because that thou hast wholly'" faithfully, totally, completely "'followed the Lord my God.'"
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"Now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness." Now watch. "And now I am this day fourscore and five years old," eighty-five. "As yet, I am as strong this day as I was the days that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in. Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, as for thou hearest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that their cities were great and fenced? If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said."
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And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron, Kirjath-arba. Now notice what he said. "I'm 85 years old. I'm just as strong now as I was when I was 45. For war!" See, there's hope for us. What does he do? He says, "God is faithful." In fact, if you will look in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 15, look at verses 13 and 14 right there. "And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba, the father of Anak," now it was of the giants, "which city is Hebron, and Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak." Wow! He said, "If God be with me, I can do it." And God was with him and he did it. It's just that simple. Why did God bless Caleb and help him and defend him and keep him alive and preserve him?
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Because he was faithful. He wholly followed the Lord. Let me show you one more. Look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18. Everyone knows that the Apostle Paul was probably one of the greatest missionaries. He was a mighty man and he went through so many things. I mean, he was beaten. He was stoned. He was in the deep. Just all kinds of things happened to the Apostle Paul.
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But God sent him to Corinth. Corinth was a pagan city. It was a seaport town. In fact, there were three seaports in Corinth. It was so wicked and so vile. There was one temple in Corinth with a thousand prostitutes for the free use of anyone who went to that temple. And so when Paul went to Corinth, he was fearful. He was afraid. How do I know that?
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Well, look in Acts chapter 18 in verse 9. "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by vision. Be not afraid." If God told Paul not to be afraid, obviously he was afraid. But God says, "Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have much people in this city." What did God just say to Paul? "You preach. I got your back. I got your front. I got your sides. I got you all the way around 360. Don't worry about it. You just preach. I can defend you." And he did.
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Now, what I want to do is this. I want to show you just a few verses very quickly. I have David so many times claimed God as his defense. So if you will turn in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. We'll start there. And I want you to look at verse 10, Psalm 7 and verse 10. And we'll just run through the book of Psalms very quickly, just for a few verses. Watch Psalm 7 and verse 10. David said, "My defense is of God who saveth the upright in heart." "My defense is of God." Look in Psalm 31, verse 2. Psalm 31, verse 2. David says, "Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me." Turn, if you would, to Psalm 59 and verse 9. Psalm 59 and verse 9. He says, "Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense." Skip down to verse 16. Psalm 59, verse 16.
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"But I will sing of thy power. Yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. For thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble." Look in verse 17. "Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing. For God is my defense and the God of my mercy." Look in Psalm 62 and verse 2. "He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense."
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"I shall not be greatly moved." Look in verse 6. "He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved." Look in Psalm 89 and verse 18. Psalm 89 and verse 18. He says this, "For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King." One more, Psalm 94, verse 22. Psalm 94, verse 22. Again, David says, "But the Lord is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge." Of course, that wonderful passage in Isaiah 33 and verse 16, the Bible says that the one that trusts in the Lord, "he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of the rock, his bread shall be sure, and his water shall be sure." So obviously, God does indeed defend His people.
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Now, Moses was the meekest man on earth. And yet, He was faithful and God defended Him. Let me make some applications and let me try to tie it together for you. The first one is this. Meekness and fidelity will always be honored and respected by God. When we submit to God's providence and we wait upon Him, even in our afflictions, and we continue to faithfully serve Him, inevitably, invariably, God will avenge us and defend us in His time and in His way.
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Here's the second thing we should learn. And it should be obvious from Numbers 12. When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God. You attack God. It is impossible to separate the one who is sent from the one who is sending. In other words, when we attack God's faithful servants, we are attacking God because we are denying His choosing, His equipping, and His sending. Let me just tell you what our Lord said in Matthew 10 and verse 10. When He sent His disciples out, He said, "He that receiveth you, receiveth Me. And he that receiveth Me, receiveth him that sent Me." And then again, in John 13, in verse 20, He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth you, whomever I send receiveth me, and whosoever receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." So our Lord says, put it like this.
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"If they receive you, they're receiving me. If they receive me, they're receiving my Father who sent me."
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Now, the opposite is also true. If they refuse to receive the ones whom Jesus Christ sent, they're refusing Jesus Christ. If they were refusing Jesus Christ, they were refusing the Father who sent Christ. You cannot separate the sender from the ones that are sent. So to attack God's faithful servants is to fly in the face of God. That's why when the Lord heard it in verse 2, He spake suddenly in verse 4 and said, "Get here in front of the tabernacle."
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The third application is this. If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be His faithful servants. If we want Him to honor us, we must honor Him in all of our lives. You know, there are many things that you and I cannot do. But when you stop and think about being faithful, faithfulness in one sense of the word is so simple. And yet, unhappily, most pastors are not faithful. Most Christians are not faithful. We need to learn to be faithful. We can be faithful in the attendance of the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. We can be faithful in giving. We can be faithful in praying. We can be faithful in studying the Scripture. We can be faithful in worshiping God. We can be faithful in teaching others. We can be faithful in obeying. In other words, faithfulness is something that is very simple in which most of us fail. May I remind you that one of the names of God in Scripture is He is the faithful God.
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Have you ever stopped to think about God's faithfulness? It is God that causes the sun to come up every morning and to set every evening. It's God who continues to give us life and health. It's God who continues to give us food. He is faithful. And I love that passage. I've quoted it so many times. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed."
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"Because His compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him. We should have faithful hearts and faithful lives. We may not be the wealthiest people in the world. We may not be the biggest group of believers in the world. But we can be the most faithful. And faithfulness is that which God demands. And if we want God to defend us, we have to be faithful like Moses. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You, Father, for Your Word, for Your truth, for Your love, Your grace and mercy.
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Lord, forgive us for our unfaithfulness. Make us more faithful, more obedient, more holy, more godly. And give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we ask and pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:49:10Z

Do You Want God to Defend You?

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines Numbers 12, where Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, and God swiftly defends His faithful servant. He contrasts Moses' meekness—disciplined strength under God—with his refusal to retaliate against family, while God intervenes immediately. The central question is why God defended Moses so quickly: because Moses was faithful in all God's house. Weaver argues that God honors faithfulness, not success, and that attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God Himself. Applications urge believers to cultivate meekness and fidelity, trusting God to be their defense.

Introduction and Context

Weaver introduces Numbers 12, noting he recently preached 'Remember Miriam' from the same text but this message is different. He reads verses 1–15.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, 'Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.' And they three came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of a cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forth. And he said, 'Hear now ye my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?' And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, 'Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.'" "Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb."

And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee."

And the Lord said unto Moses,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 12:1-15

"If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again."

Meekness Is Not Weakness

Moses is described as the meekest man on earth, yet he killed an Egyptian, confronted Pharaoh, and executed judgment at the golden calf. Meekness is disciplined strength under God's control.

Moses' Silence Before Family

When attacked by Aaron and Miriam, Moses does not respond. True meekness pays no attention to insults and refuses to be drawn into debate.

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

Now watch verse 18.

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

So notice I like what he said. "If it be possible,

Scripture Reading — Romans 12:17-21

" try as hard as you can to live peaceably with all men. In other words, there's an indication there's some men you cannot live peaceably with. But as much as in you is, do it. And then he says this, "

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath."

And let's begin reading there with verse 28. Matthew 11. Look closely at verse 28. Look what our Lord says. Matthew 11, verse 28.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Now look at verse 29.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

Now He said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 11:28-30

"Take My yoke upon you."

God's Sudden Intervention

God heard their words and spoke suddenly, summoning them to the tabernacle. The immediacy shows God's respect for Moses and the need to nip sedition quickly.

Why God Defended Moses

God declares Moses is not like other prophets; He speaks to him mouth to mouth. Moses was faithful in all God's house, and God honors those who honor Him.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 40:16

"Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him, so did he."

He says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."

Now watch verse two,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all of his house."

Now watch verse three.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house."

Now skip down to verse 5.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 3:1-5

"And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after."

The Danger of Attacking God's Faithful Servants

God's anger was kindled against Miriam and Aaron, and He departed. Attacking faithful servants angers God and risks His manifest presence leaving.

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:16-19

"These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him."

And when you get to Proverbs 6 and verse 19, one of them is

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:16-19

"he that soweth discord among the brethren."

Faithfulness, Not Success

God demands faithfulness, not success. Examples of Noah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah show that faithful service is what God honors. The greatest ability is dependability.

Now, I think you can understand this verse in light of what we just read, where God said, "Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land." Proverbs 28 and verse 20, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 28:20

"A faithful man shall abound with blessings. But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." "A faithful man shall abound with blessings."

Examples of Faithfulness: Caleb and Paul

Caleb wholly followed the Lord and was defended and blessed. Paul was told not to fear in Corinth because God was with him. Faithfulness invites God's defense.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, hath followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it."

So let me go back and read this again. Now watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and he hath followed me fully,"

wholly, completely, faithfully,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 14:24

"him will I bring into the land wherein he went, and his seed shall possess it."

David's Testimony of God as Defense

Multiple Psalms declare God as David's defense. God defends the upright and faithful.

Applications and Conclusion

Do You Want God to Defend You?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	91420207341754
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2020-09-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 079: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 2 — Chapter 25
Source Timed Segments	74

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Context: Weaver introduces Numbers 12, noting he recently preached 'Remember Miriam' from the same text but this message is different. He reads verses 1–15.
Meekness Is Not Weakness: Moses is described as the meekest man on earth, yet he killed an Egyptian, confronted Pharaoh, and executed judgment at the golden calf. Meekness is disciplined strength under God's control.
Moses' Silence Before Family: When attacked by Aaron and Miriam, Moses does not respond. True meekness pays no attention to insults and refuses to be drawn into debate.
God's Sudden Intervention: God heard their words and spoke suddenly, summoning them to the tabernacle. The immediacy shows God's respect for Moses and the need to nip sedition quickly.
Why God Defended Moses: God declares Moses is not like other prophets; He speaks to him mouth to mouth. Moses was faithful in all God's house, and God honors those who honor Him.
The Danger of Attacking God's Faithful Servants: God's anger was kindled against Miriam and Aaron, and He departed. Attacking faithful servants angers God and risks His manifest presence leaving.
Faithfulness, Not Success: God demands faithfulness, not success. Examples of Noah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah show that faithful service is what God honors. The greatest ability is dependability.
Examples of Faithfulness: Caleb and Paul: Caleb wholly followed the Lord and was defended and blessed. Paul was told not to fear in Corinth because God was with him. Faithfulness invites God's defense.
David's Testimony of God as Defense: Multiple Psalms declare God as David's defense. God defends the upright and faithful.
Applications and Conclusion: Meekness and fidelity are honored by God. Attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God. To have God defend us, we must be faithful. God is the faithful God; His children should reflect His character.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Moses' meekness was not passivity but controlled strength

Moses, the meekest man, actively defended God's honor against enemies but refused to defend himself against family, showing meekness is strength under discipline.

Weaver contrasts Moses killing the Egyptian and confronting Pharaoh with his silence when Aaron and Miriam attacked him, citing Numbers 12:3 and Romans 12:17-21.

God intervened suddenly because Moses was faithful

The immediacy of God's response in Numbers 12:4 demonstrates His respect for Moses' faithfulness and His intolerance of sedition.

Weaver emphasizes the Hebrew word for 'suddenly' means immediately, and links it to God's declaration in verse 7 that Moses was faithful in all His house.

Attacking God's faithful servants is attacking God

Because God sends and equips His servants, to reject or attack them is to reject God Himself, as Jesus taught in Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20.

Weaver states, 'When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God... you cannot separate the sender from the ones that are sent.'

Faithfulness is the key to God's defense

If we want God to defend us as He did Moses, we must be faithful stewards in all areas of life, as God's eyes are on the faithful.

Weaver cites Psalm 101:6, Proverbs 28:20, and 1 Corinthians 4:2, and concludes, 'If we want God to defend us, we need to learn to be faithful.'

Scripture References

Numbers 12:1-15: The primary text: Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses; God defends Moses and strikes Miriam with leprosy.
Deuteronomy 24:9: Referenced as the basis for Weaver's previous sermon 'Remember Miriam.'
Exodus 32: Moses' righteous anger at the golden calf, where he broke the tablets and the Levites killed 3,000.
Numbers 16: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, where Moses called for the earth to swallow them.
Genesis 25: Abraham's marriage to Keturah and the birth of Midian, explaining Zipporah's lineage.
Exodus 18: Jethro, priest of Midian, worshipped the true God, showing Zipporah's family was godly.
Ephesians 4:26: Commands believers to be angry and sin not, supporting the concept of righteous anger.
Mark 3:5: Jesus was moved with anger at the hardness of heart, showing righteous anger exists.
Romans 12:17-21: Instructions not to avenge ourselves but to overcome evil with good, applied to Moses' silence.
Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus' invitation to take His yoke, illustrating meekness as submission to God's control.
1 Samuel 2:30: God honors those who honor Him, explaining why God defended Moses.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: Two are better than one; a threefold cord is not quickly broken, illustrating the value of God's defense.
Exodus 40:16: Moses did all that the Lord commanded, demonstrating his faithfulness.
Hebrews 3:1-5: Christ was faithful as Moses was faithful in all God's house.
Hebrews 8:5: Moses was admonished to make all things according to the pattern, which he did faithfully.
Proverbs 6:16-19: God hates those who sow discord among brethren, relevant to Miriam and Aaron's attack.
Psalm 101:6: God's eyes are on the faithful of the land.
Proverbs 28:20: A faithful man shall abound with blessings.
1 Corinthians 4:2: It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
Numbers 14:24: God testifies that Caleb had another spirit and followed Him fully.

Historical References

Colin Dalich (Old Testament commentator): Quoted regarding the severity of the punishment of the 3,000 at the golden calf, explaining it as a capital crime of covenant breach.
John Trapp (Puritan commentator): Quoted on Exodus 32, saying the Levites were to slay every principal offender without exception.
Dr. Bob Jones Sr.: Cited for the saying, 'The greatest ability is dependability,' emphasizing faithfulness.

Important Quotes

Meekness is not mousiness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not walking around with your head down. That's not meekness. That's poor posture.

Defines biblical meekness against common misconceptions, setting up the contrast with Moses' actions.

True meekness is nothing more than disciplined strength under God.

Succinct definition of meekness as strength under control, illustrated by the yoke of Christ.

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

God's own testimony to Moses' faithfulness, the key reason God defended him.

God does not demand success. He demands faithfulness.

Central thesis that faithfulness, not worldly success, is what God requires and honors.

The greatest ability is dependability.

Quoting Dr. Bob Jones Sr. to underscore the value of faithfulness.

When you attack God's faithful servants, you attack God.

Emphasizes the inseparable link between God and His sent servants.

If our Heavenly Father is the faithful God, His children should take after Him.

Application that believers should reflect God's faithfulness in their own lives.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the biblical definition of meekness as 'disciplined strength under God' challenge common cultural views of meekness as weakness?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts Moses' confrontations with enemies and his silence before family, defining meekness as strength under control.

[Question]

Why do you think Moses chose not to defend himself against Aaron and Miriam, and what does this teach us about handling personal attacks?

[Context]

Moses did not respond to his siblings' accusations, demonstrating trust in God's defense.

[Question]

In what ways does attacking a faithful servant of God equate to attacking God Himself, and how should this affect our speech about church leaders?

[Context]

Weaver explains that to reject the sent is to reject the sender, citing Matthew 10:40 and John 13:20.

[Question]

What does it mean to be 'faithful in all God's house' in our contemporary context, and how can we cultivate such faithfulness?

[Context]

Moses was commended for complete obedience; Weaver applies this to areas like attendance, giving, prayer, and study.

[Question]

How does the example of Caleb encourage you to remain faithful even when others around you are not?

[Context]

Caleb wholly followed the Lord despite the negative report of the other spies, and God preserved and blessed him.

[Question]

Why is faithfulness more important than success in God's eyes, and how does this perspective free us from worldly pressure?

[Context]

Weaver states God does not demand success but faithfulness, using Noah and Jeremiah as examples.

[Question]

What practical steps can you take to trust God as your defense rather than seeking revenge or self-justification?

[Context]

Romans 12:17-21 instructs believers to leave vengeance to God and overcome evil with good.

[Question]

How does God's faithfulness to us serve as a model for our faithfulness to Him and to others?

[Context]

Weaver points to Lamentations 3:22-23 and God's daily provisions as evidence of His faithfulness.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T05:48:52Z