GOD'S SAVING POWER #3/5

#1 · August 4, 2009, 2:34 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on August 4, 2009, 2:34 pm
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
GODS SAVING POWER #3/5

GOD DOES WHAT HE SAYS HE WILL DO

August 2, 2009

Text: Exodus 11:1-10

Well, VBS has come and gone. The games have been played, the crafts have been made, the snacks have been eaten, and the stories have been told. It was a good week of fun and testimony and, even though it is over for this year, the Word of God that has been planted in the minds and hearts of those attending will continue to grow. That is certainly our prayer, and we know that our faithful God will honor it.

As the children, teens, and adults learned last week, God commissioned Moses to go before the Egyptian Pharaoh and to demand, on behalf of God, to let the Israelites go. In other words, they were to be released from their bondage in Egypt. Recall from the history of events that, beginning with the Hebrew Joseph, the Israelites were once honored in Egypt. They were a free people. They were a people who flourished, as we learn in Exodus 1:6-7: Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Over time, memory of Gods wonders made real through Joseph, and of Gods blessings on the Egyptians as well as the Hebrews faded. Instead of gratitude, the Egyptians grew resentful and fearful of the Israelites. Ultimately, they enslaved them: So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. (Exodus 1:11-14)

Naturally, the Israelites suffered under the burden of slavery. Like any people, they cried out for help. Because they were children of Abraham, they cried out to God: During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. (Exodus 2:23-25) Sometimes our respective languages ancient Hebrew and modern English do not fit tightly together. Regardless of how this passage sounds to us in our language, it is not passive. It is filled with promise and action. God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would receive a promised land, and God took action to fulfill His promise. Thus begins the sequence of events that will lead Gods people out of bondage in a foreign land and into the land that they would be given as their own. The baby Moses is saved from death, grows up in Pharaohs household, is forced to flee to Midian, is commissioned by God to return to Egypt to confront Moses, along with Aaron, and announces Gods plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt. God does what He says He will do.

After nine plagues, the Israelites are still in bondage. Pharaoh still refuses to give in completely to Gods demands. Keep in mind, as I said last week, that this is a contest between God and every other false god. In that day, the Pharaoh was considered a god. In fact, among his people, he was known as the most powerful god. After all, during that period of history, Egypt was the most powerful nation. They had it going for them at that time. So why not believe that your king is the most powerful god? Besides, not believing that could lead to some pretty serious consequences. In spite of some very harsh plagues displaying the power of God, Pharaoh refused to let Gods people go. But in this contest, there could only be one winner. Only one God had the demonstrable power to save, and it was not the king of Egypt. In fact, it was not salvation that interested the so-called god Pharaoh and the false gods he worshiped. It was bondage, enslavement, and death which held their fascination. Remember that whenever other people talk about the so-called merits of other gods and religions, including the religion of atheism. So into the lives of Pharaoh and his people came the most terrible of the plagues to visit the land, as we learn from Exodus 11.

Was this a cruel plague? Of course it was. And there are those who will immediately play the blame game with God for it. Ironically, many of those who proclaim God to be cruel because of this plague are those who claim to believe in no god at all, and since there really is no god to be blamed in their worldview, it really is a moot point. Anyway, as I pointed out last time, this contest is between the one, true, living God and all of the false gods of that day, including Pharaoh. Yes, it is clearly from the hand of God that the angel of death comes upon the land. However, the decisions of Pharaoh are the source of life and death for his people. There are plenty of clear indications in Scripture that God could and would change His intended action had this man relented and obeyed His commands. Unfortunately, blind stubbornness is frequently the undoing of many a mans plans.

In the waning days of the World War II Pacific theatre, the handwriting was on the wall. The Empire of Japan was militarily finished. But that did not mean that they did not continue to pose a deadly threat to Allied forces. In fact, the entire population of Japan, military and civilian alike, was being encouraged and trained to mobilize to repel the coming invasion. Photos of that period reveal peasant farmers and fishermen, both men and women, armed with wooden pitchforks. What kind of massacre on both sides was going to take place?

America, as we know, had a new, powerful weapon the atomic bomb. In fact, not even those few who knew of its existence could predict how powerful it would be. Well before the planned date and time to drop the weapon on Japan, warning messages were sent to the Japanese government. To avoid the visitation of this terrible weapon upon their people, Japan could have accepted the inevitable and surrendered. The government of Imperial Japan refused. After the dropping of the first bomb on Hiroshima, and before the dropping of another bomb on Nagasaki, other requests for surrender were delivered to the government of Imperial Japan. They refused again. Japanese people needlessly suffered because of the stubborn, stiff-necked, hard-hearted decision of their leadership.

Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. He refused to acknowledge the reality of Gods presence and power and to accept His command. Pharaoh refused to break before the Lord God; he refused to soften his heart and accept the wisdom of God. Remember Pharaohs answer in Exodus 5:2: Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go. Instead, after fair warning, he allowed his own people to suffer the cruel consequences of his arrogant stubbornness. No matter what it takes, though, God does what He says he will do.

Hear, then, some of the vitally important lessons from passages of Scripture like this: God does not judge and punish without fair notice, and God does not desire to punish at all. He desires His creation to honor and obey Him. Never in the history of Israel were they punished for their sins without hearing the call for repentance from Gods designated prophets. Only after ignoring repeated calls to turn from their disobedience did the predicted calamity strike. Were there innocent Hebrews caught up in the violence of Gods judgment? No doubt, but that is a reality of the consequence of sin. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for there to be innocent victims caught in the consequence of sinful behavior. If that bothers people, then the solution is really simple: stop the sin!

So here we are, thousands of years removed from this event called the Exodus. It has happened long ago. Pharaoh was warned; he ignored the warnings; and Egyptians perished as a result of disobeying God. What does that have to do with us? Quite a bit, actually.

The Bible makes it clear that God does what He says He will do. Just as Pharaoh decided that he could take on God and stubbornly refuse to turn his life over to Him, so are there many, many people today who have decided that they need not pay any attention to God at all. Some have even decided that they can openly defy God. They grow in the belief that they can get away with it, because nothing appears to be happening to them. As troubling as this is, it is nothing new. Consider 2 Peter 3:8-9: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. This is Gods warning and Gods grace. Imagine it: in spite of the sin that keeps hurting the Creator of everything, He holds divine judgment in check for our sake! He holds divine judgment in check for the sake of those who need to come to repentance.

This is a gift not to be treated lightly. God does what He says He will do. Peter continues, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10) Pharaoh had his warnings; we have ours. This may or may not come to pass in my lifetime or the lifetime of anyone living now. The time is not important, but the promise is. No one can say that they have not been warned. No one can say that they have not been offered Gods grace. He has offered it, but, sadly, some have rejected it. God has made clear that He is with us and that He is powerful. He has made clear that He has defeated every false, man-made god imaginable. He has made clear that He does what he says He will do.

I would say that this applies to us still today, wouldnt you? The Exodus is not some set of ancient stories that should be ignored and forgotten by us today. It is as meaningful for us as it was for Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, Pharaoh, and the Egyptians. Who is the Lord, that I should obey him? The Lord is the living God who does what He says he will do.

Now the Lord had said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. (Exodus 11:1) Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lords patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. (2 Peter 3:11-15) God does what He says He will do.

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

GODS SAVING POWER #3/5

GOD DOES WHAT HE SAYS HE WILL DO

August 2, 2009

Text: Exodus 11:1-10

Well, VBS has come and gone. The games have been played, the crafts have been made, the snacks have been eaten, and the stories have been told. It was a good week of fun and testimony and, even though it is over for this year, the Word of God that has been planted in the minds and hearts of those attending will continue to grow. That is certainly our prayer, and we know that our faithful God will honor it.

As the children, teens, and adults learned last week, God commissioned Moses to go before the Egyptian Pharaoh and to demand, on behalf of God, to let the Israelites go. In other words, they were to be released from their bondage in Egypt. Recall from the history of events that, beginning with the Hebrew Joseph, the Israelites were once honored in Egypt. They were a free people. They were a people who flourished, as we learn in Exodus 1:6-7: Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Over time, memory of Gods wonders made real through Joseph, and of Gods blessings on the Egyptians as well as the Hebrews faded. Instead of gratitude, the Egyptians grew resentful and fearful of the Israelites. Ultimately, they enslaved them: So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. (Exodus 1:11-14)

Naturally, the Israelites suffered under the burden of slavery. Like any people, they cried out for help. Because they were children of Abraham, they cried out to God: During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. (Exodus 2:23-25) Sometimes our respective languages ancient Hebrew and modern English do not fit tightly together. Regardless of how this passage sounds to us in our language, it is not passive. It is filled with promise and action. God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would receive a promised land, and God took action to fulfill His promise. Thus begins the sequence of events that will lead Gods people out of bondage in a foreign land and into the land that they would be given as their own. The baby Moses is saved from death, grows up in Pharaohs household, is forced to flee to Midian, is commissioned by God to return to Egypt to confront Moses, along with Aaron, and announces Gods plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt. God does what He says He will do.

After nine plagues, the Israelites are still in bondage. Pharaoh still refuses to give in completely to Gods demands. Keep in mind, as I said last week, that this is a contest between God and every other false god. In that day, the Pharaoh was considered a god. In fact, among his people, he was known as the most powerful god. After all, during that period of history, Egypt was the most powerful nation. They had it going for them at that time. So why not believe that your king is the most powerful god? Besides, not believing that could lead to some pretty serious consequences. In spite of some very harsh plagues displaying the power of God, Pharaoh refused to let Gods people go. But in this contest, there could only be one winner. Only one God had the demonstrable power to save, and it was not the king of Egypt. In fact, it was not salvation that interested the so-called god Pharaoh and the false gods he worshiped. It was bondage, enslavement, and death which held their fascination. Remember that whenever other people talk about the so-called merits of other gods and religions, including the religion of atheism. So into the lives of Pharaoh and his people came the most terrible of the plagues to visit the land, as we learn from Exodus 11.

Was this a cruel plague? Of course it was. And there are those who will immediately play the blame game with God for it. Ironically, many of those who proclaim God to be cruel because of this plague are those who claim to believe in no god at all, and since there really is no god to be blamed in their worldview, it really is a moot point. Anyway, as I pointed out last time, this contest is between the one, true, living God and all of the false gods of that day, including Pharaoh. Yes, it is clearly from the hand of God that the angel of death comes upon the land. However, the decisions of Pharaoh are the source of life and death for his people. There are plenty of clear indications in Scripture that God could and would change His intended action had this man relented and obeyed His commands. Unfortunately, blind stubbornness is frequently the undoing of many a mans plans.

In the waning days of the World War II Pacific theatre, the handwriting was on the wall. The Empire of Japan was militarily finished. But that did not mean that they did not continue to pose a deadly threat to Allied forces. In fact, the entire population of Japan, military and civilian alike, was being encouraged and trained to mobilize to repel the coming invasion. Photos of that period reveal peasant farmers and fishermen, both men and women, armed with wooden pitchforks. What kind of massacre on both sides was going to take place?

America, as we know, had a new, powerful weapon the atomic bomb. In fact, not even those few who knew of its existence could predict how powerful it would be. Well before the planned date and time to drop the weapon on Japan, warning messages were sent to the Japanese government. To avoid the visitation of this terrible weapon upon their people, Japan could have accepted the inevitable and surrendered. The government of Imperial Japan refused. After the dropping of the first bomb on Hiroshima, and before the dropping of another bomb on Nagasaki, other requests for surrender were delivered to the government of Imperial Japan. They refused again. Japanese people needlessly suffered because of the stubborn, stiff-necked, hard-hearted decision of their leadership.

Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. He refused to acknowledge the reality of Gods presence and power and to accept His command. Pharaoh refused to break before the Lord God; he refused to soften his heart and accept the wisdom of God. Remember Pharaohs answer in Exodus 5:2: Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go. Instead, after fair warning, he allowed his own people to suffer the cruel consequences of his arrogant stubbornness. No matter what it takes, though, God does what He says he will do.

Hear, then, some of the vitally important lessons from passages of Scripture like this: God does not judge and punish without fair notice, and God does not desire to punish at all. He desires His creation to honor and obey Him. Never in the history of Israel were they punished for their sins without hearing the call for repentance from Gods designated prophets. Only after ignoring repeated calls to turn from their disobedience did the predicted calamity strike. Were there innocent Hebrews caught up in the violence of Gods judgment? No doubt, but that is a reality of the consequence of sin. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for there to be innocent victims caught in the consequence of sinful behavior. If that bothers people, then the solution is really simple: stop the sin!

So here we are, thousands of years removed from this event called the Exodus. It has happened long ago. Pharaoh was warned; he ignored the warnings; and Egyptians perished as a result of disobeying God. What does that have to do with us? Quite a bit, actually.

The Bible makes it clear that God does what He says He will do. Just as Pharaoh decided that he could take on God and stubbornly refuse to turn his life over to Him, so are there many, many people today who have decided that they need not pay any attention to God at all. Some have even decided that they can openly defy God. They grow in the belief that they can get away with it, because nothing appears to be happening to them. As troubling as this is, it is nothing new. Consider 2 Peter 3:8-9: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. This is Gods warning and Gods grace. Imagine it: in spite of the sin that keeps hurting the Creator of everything, He holds divine judgment in check for our sake! He holds divine judgment in check for the sake of those who need to come to repentance.

This is a gift not to be treated lightly. God does what He says He will do. Peter continues, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10) Pharaoh had his warnings; we have ours. This may or may not come to pass in my lifetime or the lifetime of anyone living now. The time is not important, but the promise is. No one can say that they have not been warned. No one can say that they have not been offered Gods grace. He has offered it, but, sadly, some have rejected it. God has made clear that He is with us and that He is powerful. He has made clear that He has defeated every false, man-made god imaginable. He has made clear that He does what he says He will do.

I would say that this applies to us still today, wouldnt you? The Exodus is not some set of ancient stories that should be ignored and forgotten by us today. It is as meaningful for us as it was for Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, Pharaoh, and the Egyptians. Who is the Lord, that I should obey him? The Lord is the living God who does what He says he will do.

Now the Lord had said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. (Exodus 11:1) Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lords patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. (2 Peter 3:11-15) God does what He says He will do.

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

http://www.bhfirstbaptist.com

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org