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with this today, aren't I? This
is our last message in our series on how to know and do the will
of God. As we continue our study from
last week in seeking to do God's will, God's way. And so let me invite you to open
your Bibles to the book of Romans to begin with. Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. And let me call your attention
to two verses that you should know well. Romans chapter 8,
verse 28 and 29. They read, and we know that all
things work together for good. To those who love God, to those
who are the called, according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. One of the darkest
blotches in the history of the 20th century has to be the meaningless
and incredible extermination of some six million Jews by Nazi
Germany in the Second World War. We refer to this terrible and
tragic event as the Holocaust. Many Jews recognizing the tremendous
oppression which was happening in Nazi Germany fled their homeland
for their lives, leaving behind their homes, their jobs, their
possessions, in some cases their relatives, almost everything
they had. One such Jew was Abraham Poljack. As time would go on, he would
insightfully pen these words. I am one of the Jews who escaped
from Germany. I thank God for all the strokes
with which I was driven from darkness to light. It is better
that we arrive beaten and bleeding at the glorious goal than that
we decay happily and contented in darkness. As long as things
were all right with us, we did not know anything of God and
the salvation of our souls and the world beyond. Hitler's arrows
and our misery have led us to the innermost heart. We have
lost our earthly home, but found the heavenly one. We have lost
our economic support, but won the friendship of the ravens
of Elijah. On the bitter ends of immigration,
we have found Jesus Christ, the richest of all the worlds. Can you relate to all of that?
I certainly can't relate, obviously, and you can't either, to all
that transpired in World War II Nazi Germany. But we certainly
can relate to the fact that it's not better, is it not better
to arrive beaten and bleeding at the glorious cross of Jesus
Christ than to decay happily and contented in darkness? Is
it not true that when everything in our lives seems to be going
right, that we have a little concern about God and the issues
of eternity? Do you know at all what it is
to be crushed by some sorrow or adversity in life only to
find through it the perfect peace and comfort of God? And I say
that because before one is saved, they must see their need to be
saved. They will see that normally in two ways. One, they will see
that need, first of all, because they have a personal need in
their life of some kind. something in which they realize
they need divine help. Or it could be they see that
need on the pages of Scripture in which, upon seeing that God
is holy and they are sinful, that they are deserving of eternal
hell, and they say, I have a need to be saved. But regardless of
the case, When they put their faith in Christ, they're safe
forever. But even as believers, are we
not prone to go astray? When everything seems to be going
right in our life, are we not prone to disfit the Lord, and
maybe when it's convenient, if we need Him, on the big things
of life? But otherwise, we pretty much
waltz along as if we were sufficient in ourselves. And yet we all
face, during our lives, problems, pressures, difficulties, trials,
adversity, suffering, heartache, pain, discouragement, and despair. And this is true for the person
without Christ as well as for the individual who is trusted
in Jesus Christ, for believers are not exempt from problems. And though the most important
problem has been resolved in our lives, the issue of our eternal
destiny, because the moment we put our faith in Christ, we're
saved forever and we have eternal life, yet nevertheless, as believers,
we still face problems and troubles in life, and yet we face them
with the Lord. We face them with His sufficient
grace. We face them with His great and precious promises.
We face them in which we can turn to the Lord and find His
strength and comfort in those trials and be matured, or we
can react in our flesh, have our own pity parties, our own
temper tantrums, and our own adult ways. and live in absolute
misery in the process. And that's why it is essential
that we know, that we remember and we believe, that God in His
sovereign grace is working out all things together for good,
so that He can conform us into the image of His Son, so that
in everything, Jesus Christ might be preeminent. that he would receive the honor,
that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And dear friends, trials, difficulties,
and sufferings, and even failure are part of that all things that
work together for good in our lives. He specifically directs
and He permits them in order to spiritually maturus. He allows
them to try and purify our faith that we might learn to trust
Him. And that is why the overriding principle of this message today
is that you must remember that walking by faith allows the Lord
to fight your battles for you while you enjoy God's rest. Walking by faith allows the Lord
to fight your battles for you while you enjoy God's rest. Now, we saw that at salvation.
We saw that we couldn't save ourselves. We saw that Christ
did it all, and we put our faith in Him to do for us what we could
never do for ourselves. And God says, I want to duplicate
that truth every day in your Christian life as well. And that's
why Galatians 2.20 is the Christian life in a nutshell. Paul says,
I've been crucified with Christ. That's your position. It is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That's your power.
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith
in the Son of God. That's your posture. And what
is your personal motivation? You love me and gave Himself
for me. But notice again, it's a life
of faith. In Jesus Christ, motivated by
His love, in light of our position in Him. That is why Colossians
2, verses 6 and 7 says, As you have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, how did you do that? By faith in His sufficiency. So walk in Him. Here is the command
now. Walk in Him. How? The same way
you received Him. By faith in Him and His sufficiency.
Rooted is in the perfect tense. Having been rooted, This is your
position in Christ. And now presently being built
up in Him and being established in the faith, the Word of God,
as you have been taught, that's essential for your growth. And
what overflows when this is true? A bounding in it with thanksgiving.
Because grace leads you to thanksgiving. You see, we walk by faith and
not by sight. We saw that at salvation, John
3, 16, how were we saved? By faith in Jesus Christ. And
therefore we knew, we knew that we had eternal life. I write these things to you,
believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know
that you have eternal life. But in the same way, by faith,
you can know that all things work together for good. But remember,
for God to get the glory, he must fight your battles for you.
If you roll up your sleeve and say, I'm going to handle this,
I'll take care of it, then you're going to get the glory if it's
accomplished. And that's why the Christian
life is lived by faith. And faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God. And that's why we need our thinking
renewed day after day, so that the Word of God can be on the
launching pad of our thinking, And we can mix the promises of
God and the principles of God's grace through faith. In fact,
years ago, what did God say to King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles
20? Beginning in verse 12, Jehoshaphat says, will you not
judge them? For we have no power against
this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we
know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Notice their focus.
It wasn't on their circumstances. It wasn't ultimately on their
enemies. Our eyes are on you. Now Judah, with their little
ones, their wives and their children, stood before the Lord, and the
Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, And he said, verse
15, listen all of you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and you King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not
be afraid nor dismayed because of the great multitude. Notice,
it was a great multitude. We acknowledge that. But why
are you not to be afraid or dismayed? For the battle is not yours but
God's. You see, when your eyes are on
the Lord, you can begin to factor Him in. You can begin to realize,
I can't, but He can. And you can remember the battle
is not yours, it's really the Lord's. Whether it's the battle
with the flesh, the world, and the devil, or even the difficulties
and trials of life. He says in verse 17, you will
not need to fight in this battle. Position yourself. Stand still. Keep this in mind. We'll see
this in Exodus and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you.
So when our eyes are on the Lord, we remember the battle is not
ours, but God. We remember He's the one who's
going to fight. What do we do? We just stand
still. We don't help Him out. We just trust Him. And we remember
He's with us. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them
for the Lord is with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Notice,
they took God at His word. They believed He was going to
come through, that He was going to fight their battle, and they
bowed down in absolute gratitude and humility and faith and worshiped
Him. And not only do they worship
him, they stood up the Korahites to praise the Lord God of Israel
with voices loud and high. Now, before you see the Lord
pull off the battle in your life, are you willing to stand still?
Are you willing to trust him? Are you willing to even stop
and bow in absolute gratitude for his promises and praise to
him and say, Lord, I don't know how you're going to do this,
but you've promised this and I trust you. In fact, I'm going
to praise you ahead of time. Because I believe that you're
going to fight the battle. Now, one of our problems is we
take that back and we try to help him out. And we try to start
fighting the battle and we screw it up. And at those points, we
just need to confess, I've sinned against the Lord. And what do
we do? Get our eyes back on the Lord. Remember, he's got to fight
the battle. Remember, he's going to pull
it off. So therefore, and the Lord is with us, and therefore
we can worship him and we can praise him in advance for who
he is and what he's done. What a wonderful, wonderful truth
to remember. Both in the Old Testament and
the New, but obviously in the New and under grace in Christ,
obviously these things are expanded and clarified in a more tremendous
way. You see, instead of God, instead
of you trying to help God out, God is trying to show you that
apart from His grace, you will fail. He wants you to admit your
failure and your self-dependence. He wants you to trust Him. In
doing so, reap from your trials great spiritual benefits towards
God. In fact, you can learn Bible doctrine here over this pulpit.
And it can be on the blackboard of your thinking, but it's trials
that move it to the blacktop of your life. It's trials that
cause those truths then to be taken by faith, embraced, and
woven into the character of your life. Those truths move from
gnosis to epignosis, from knowledge to experiential knowledge, to
intimate knowledge. You not only know all things
work together for good and you kick it out, but you know all
things work together for good because you've trusted the Lord
and you've tasted and seen He is good. And you know you can
believe His promises. And that's why in this series
on how to know and do the will of God, we started out with a
wonderful promise. a promise that I hope that you
repeatedly appropriate. Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6. We then looked at a biblical
premise in John 7, 17, and we underscored a basic principle
to know God's will always start with the known will of God. And
we're going to see it today in the life of Moses again. As we
look at the will of God, we've underscored God wants us to be
saved and spirit filled and spiritually growing, sexually pure, submissive,
suffering for Christ's sake, saying thanks and serving the
Savior in all you do. Not cranked out through your
own flesh. That's why you first have to be saved and controlled
by the spirit so that these things could happen in your life. We then began looking at how
to discern the unknown will of God. And we've said, in essence,
again, remember to always start with the known will of God. In
doing so, recognize any biblical principles that apply and any
biblical priorities that should be considered, and then rely
on the unfailing promises of God, especially his promises
for guidance. bathe this issue in specific
prayer. And remember, God leads you one
step at a time. And don't forget to factor in
the providence of God. He has to work out the circumstances,
the details, and so forth. But you don't start with seven.
You start with one. You don't start by, well, there's
an opportunity here. It must be the will of God. No.
You start with, what does God want? What does his word say?
So I would know whether this is a wise move to go through
that door and how to perceive that circumstance or not. Now,
as we make our way back to Exodus chapter four, we have seen in our previous
study these truths being illustrated in the life of Moses. We have
seen in Hebrews chapter 11 that by faith Moses made a decision
that pleased the Lord. He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of
sin. And he wanted to do the Lord's
will, but then he miserably failed when he didn't check in with
the Lord, didn't rely on the Lord, took things in his own
hands, killed the Egyptians and buried him in the sand, and did
a bad job at that. We then looked at God's faithfulness
as he ran for his life to Midian, and there God still blessed him
with a wife and blessed him with a child and blessed him with
a time to grow spiritually and learn to walk with the Lord,
though he had more learning to do. We then saw last week that
on Mount Sinai, God calls Moses to be the one who would be the
instrument in God's hands to deliver Israel from Egypt. but that he begins to object.
And there are five objections we looked at last time, and it's
interesting to know, the first one was, who am I? He went from,
I can do it, to, who am I to do it? And the response in essence
was, God said, you have me and my promise. His second objection
was, I don't know all the answers, and the answer God gave was,
you have me, and tell them just what you know from my word. The
third objection said, in essence, they will not believe me. And
his answer was, you have me and my power. The fourth objection
was, I don't have the speaking ability. God's answer was, you
have me and I will teach you. The fifth objection was, I don't
want to go alone. In fact, I don't want to go at
all. And the answer was, you have me and your brother. You know, in talking to Scott
Johnson about this message, as he and Beth watched it last week
on a live webcast, he said to me something very insightful. He said, what more could God
have offered Moses? He offered him himself. He offered
him his power. He offered him his promises.
He offered to teach him. What more could he have offered?
And in the same way, what more could God offer you? The issue
isn't God's insufficiency. The problem is our unbelief and
our unwillingness to trust the Lord. And so God does graciously
utilize Moses with his brother and They go to Egypt to fulfill
the will of God How do the people in Egypt the Israelites respond
chapter 4 verse 31 says? so the people believed and when
they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel
and That he had looked on their affliction. They bowed their
heads and they worshiped Notice they believed Moses that he was
God's deliverer And they bowed and worshipped the Lord out of
gratitude again that God was going to deliver them. They believed
the Word of God. But keep in mind, the children
of Israel in many ways are just like us, in the sense that trusting
the Lord at this step doesn't mean we'll trust Him in the next
step, or the next one, or the next one. So they respond favorably
this first time, and in doing so, we begin to see in chapters
5 through 12, God's defeat of Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. We read in chapter 5, afterward,
Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord God
of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to
me in the wilderness. Pharaoh said Who is the Lord
that I should obey his voice to let Israel go in essence? He's saying I'm the Lord around
here Who is this Lord? I do not know the Lord nor will
I let Israel go So they said the God of the Hebrews has met
with us Please let us go three days journey into the desert
and sacrifice to the Lord our God Lest he fall upon us with
pestilence or with the sword And the king of Egypt said to
them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their
work? Get back to your labor. And Pharaoh
said, look, the people of the land are many now, and you make
them rest from their labor with all this deliverance talk. So
the same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people
and their officers saying, you shall no longer give the people
straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and gather straw
for themselves. Now, straw wasn't readily available.
This would obviously involve a lot more work, but the demands
for bricks would remain the same. In other words, the burden got
worse. Isn't it funny at times when
one steps out to do the will of God, it may create actually
a greater burden on someone else? Verse 8, And you shall lay on
them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not
reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry out, saying,
Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let more work be laid on
the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard
false words. And the taskmasters of the people
and their officers went out and thus spoke to the people, saying,
Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go get yourself
straw where you can find it, yet none of your work will be
reduced. So the people were scattered abroad. They were running around
all over, throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble
instead of straw, which Pharaoh had previously provided for them.
And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, fulfill your
work, your daily quota, as when there was straw. Also the officers
of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set
over them, so there was Pharaoh, the taskmasters, then there were
Israelite masters as well, were beaten and were asked, why have
you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and
today as before? Then the officers of the children
of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, Why are you
dealing thus with your servants? There is no straw given to your
servants. And they say to us, Make brick, and indeed your servants
are beaten. The fault is in your own people.
They're not giving us the straw we need. But he said, You are
idle, idle! Therefore you say, Let us go
and sacrifice to the Lord. Therefore go now and work, for
no straw shall be given you, yet you shall deliver the quota
of bricks. And the officers of the children
of Israel saw that they were in trouble after it was said,
You shall not reduce any bricks from your daily quota. Then as
they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron who stood
there to meet them. Now let me pause for a minute.
What do you think they said? They said, oh, we're so glad
you're here, doing the will of God. No, no. Verse 21. And they said to them,
let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made
us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of
his servants, to put a sword in their hand, to kill us. So
Moses returned to the Lord, and he said, Lord, why have you brought
trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent
me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has
done evil to this people, neither have you delivered your people
at all. He's saying, Lord, why? I don't get it. Here, I'm doing
your will your way, and the result is worse, not better. You know, sometimes people in
walking by faith think that all of a sudden, then God is going
to clear up all your circumstances and certainly everything's going
to get better. Now, sometimes people reject you more. They
think you're nuts. They don't get it. They're not
wired for sound. Remember, unbelievers aren't
wired for sound. They don't have the spirit of
God. They're not going to view things the way you do. But even
believers here. are murmuring and complaining
as well, because their eyes are where? Not on the Lord, not on
his word, but on their circumstances. And certainly our heart goes
out in the sense that who wants people's burdens to get worse?
And yet we know that all them that desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, even as a believer today. So,
in light of this, we see God's defeat of Pharaoh and the gods
of Egypt. And there's the beginning of
these curses, these plagues that are placed upon Egypt. Now, as we think of these plagues,
they're very interesting to observe. We don't have time to examine
them closely, but there are 10 of them. And each one is a personal
challenge to a god of Egypt that the Egyptians worshipped. in
order to prove that the true and living God is the only real
God. Furthermore, as we think of the
first plague turning water into blood, this was a challenge to
three gods of the Egyptians. But what is interesting is that
the magicians of Pharaoh were able to duplicate this same miracle. And the result was dead fish
and a putrid smell everywhere. Now we know the names of two
of those magicians, according to 2 Timothy 3. They're Janus
and Jambres, and they withstood Moses. And we're reminding him
this, that Satan is the master deceiver and he has his own religious
magicians that at times can do what appears to be the miraculous
and duplicate the miracles of God and yet be contrary to the
true and living God. That's why you must exercise
biblical discernment. Everyone who claims to be from
God and does a miracle from God isn't really from God. On the
heels of the plague of blood became the plague of frogs. Now,
I don't know how many of you like frogs. Nothing wrong with
frogs, but how would you like billions of frogs? Everywhere,
as it were. And again, this was a challenge
to two of the Egyptian gods who were involved with frogs and
fertility. This again was duplicated by
the Egyptians. to a degree which shows you again
Satan has power. It's just that he is not omnipotent
like God is. On the heels of the plague of
frog came the plagues of lice and gnats. I don't know if you've
ever had lice or your kids have had lice. Not fun. How would you like to have lice
and gnats everywhere? Everywhere. And this, again, was a challenge
to the earth god of Egypt. This was not duplicated by the
Egyptians, though. Fourth was the plague of flies.
Now, if you think army worms are bad, and I heard they may
be back this summer, when you look at blood frogs, lice gnats,
and flies, army worms, praise the Lord. They're nothing compared
to what they went through here. And again, this was a challenge
to the fly god of Egypt. I can't pronounce his name. But
what is interesting is at this point, the plagues no longer
affect the children of Israel in Goshen. They only affect the
Egyptians, as it were. There then was the plague of
pestilence. This involved a disease on cattle
and again was a challenge to two of the Egyptian gods associated
with bulls and cows, affecting property and death of livestock. So there was carnage everywhere. Following that was the plague
of boils. Boils, which obviously affects
your body. In fact, it was so bad that Pharaoh's
magicians did not even appear in court because they were hurting
so bad in light of these boils. Which again was a challenge to
three of the gods of Egypt, including the god of healing. Oh, you worship
the god of healing? Let's see if he can heal these
boils. And they were everywhere. Number
seven was the plague of Hell. Now, you know, Egypt is not used
to receiving hail. We are, Egypt's not. And again,
this was a challenge to three gods, including the god called
Nut, or Nut, depending on how you pronounce it. And you know,
to get hail in Egypt is nuts. I mean, they just don't get hail
like this. And here is when Pharaoh admits,
I have sinned. You can go, and then he changes
his mind. And the plague of hail was followed by the plague of
locusts. And again, this was a challenge to an Egyptian deity
who was supposedly the protector of the fields from locusts, Serapia. And here, Pharaoh offers a compromise,
but it is rejected. And Pharaoh again admits he has
sinned, but he's not willing to yield to the Lord and let
his people go. Thus, the plague of locusts is
followed by the plague of darkness. And here, this again was a challenge
to the Egyptian sun gods, and there were two of them. Darkness
in Egypt at midday obviously was a miracle of God, especially
as apparently there was light still provided for the Israelites
in the land of Goshen. We know that the 10th plague
was the death of the firstborn. This was a judgment on all the
Egyptian gods, including Pharaoh himself. with great ramifications
that would transpire in the land. And to see this, I want you to
turn now to chapter 12 of Exodus, verse 1. How could they escape the death
of the firstborn? Verse 1, Now the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall
be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak to all the congregation
of Israel, saying, On the tenth of the month, every man shall
take for himself, number one, a lamb. According to the house
of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small
for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take
it according to the number of the persons. According to each
man's need, you shall make your count for, number one, the lamb. Number two, your lamb shall be
without blemish. Number three, a male of the first
year. You shall take it from the sheep
or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the
14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. So it had to be a lamb, a male
lamb of the first year without blemish, and it had to be sacrificed. Verse 7, and they shall take
some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the
lintel of the houses where they eat it. That blood had to be
applied. Verse 8, then they shall eat
the flesh on that night, roast in fire with unleavened bread
and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat
it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roast it in fire,
its head, its legs, and entrails. You shall let none of it remain
until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall
burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your
waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand,
ready to leave Egypt. So shall you eat it in haste.
It is the Lord's Passover." Now, why do they call it the Passover? Verse 12, for I will pass through
the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the
gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign
for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood,
I will what? Pass over you. And the plague
shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of
Egypt. Verse 29. And it came to pass at midnight
that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the
firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the
firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night,
he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there
was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there
was not one dead." You see, when this plague finally affected
Pharaoh personally, not the people around him, but him personally
by way of the death of his oldest child, finally he caved in. Finally he was willing to say,
okay, you can go. But keep in mind as we think
of the Passover, that the Passover involved a male lamb without
blemish who must be sacrificed and whose blood must be applied. Now, the Egyptians could have
got in on this, and I'm sure as they heard of the Israelites
doing this, they've wondered, and there were people who asked
questions, but they didn't believe the Lord, they didn't believe
His word, they didn't have the blood applied, and thus when
the angel of death came to their house, he did not pass over it. but he struck the firstborn dead. Now, what can you learn from
this conflict? I want to point out four things
that Dr. Thomas Constable underscores
in his excellent notes. Number one, in this conflict,
God displayed his superior power and sovereignty over Pharaoh
and the gods of Egypt. You must remember that we see
through this, God is the all-powerful one. God is the sovereign one. All other gods are merely idols
with demonic forces behind them, but not of superior power or
sovereignty. And that through this, God would
show that he alone was the true and living God. Number two, God strengthened
the faith of his people so that they would trust and obey him
and thereby realize all of his gracious purposes for them as
a nation. In the trials of life, God seeks
to strengthen our faith and to teach us that he is a reliable
object of faith so that we might trust and obey, for there's no
other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey, like the
song says. and here to realize all of his gracious purposes
for them as a nation, that they were his chosen people, that
God had not forgotten them, that God would keep his covenants
with them, even though they had been disobedient, that there
came a time when God would deliver them just as he said. Now they
would falter in their faith, time and time again. But it's
not because God gave them reason to not trust Him. Number three,
God used these events to heighten anticipation of and appreciation
for the redemption He would provide. You see, it was due to the slavery
and the bondage and then the plagues that their anticipation
and appreciation for the redemption that he would provide would grow.
And the Israelites would forever after look back on the Exodus
as the greatest demonstration of God's love at work for them.
That's why to this day, the Jews celebrate Passover. When they
think of the power of God, when they think of the redemption
of God, they go back and look at the Passover and how God delivered
them from the death of the firstborn and opened the Red Sea so they
walked on dry land. But as believers in Jesus Christ,
we don't look back to the Passover, though we appreciate it. We look
back to Calvary. We look back at the blood that
was shed, the work that was done, the price that was paid at Calvary,
and the power that was demonstrated on the third day when God raised
Him from the dead. Thus, we celebrate the Lord's
Supper. as a means of remembering the
great work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. In fact, this demonstration
of God's power was so great that 40 years later when the reconnaissance
team would go into the promised land and come to Jericho and
meet a prostitute, former prostitute, by the name of Rahab, She would
tell them that she believed in the true and living God of Israel
because she heard what God had done 40 years earlier. In the Passover and in the Red
Sea. Dr. Constable says, number four,
these conflicts show how divine sovereignty works with human
freedom. God exercises his sovereignty
by allowing people a measure of freedom to make choices for
which he holds them responsible. And this is worthy of some comment.
You know, if you follow closely the Exodus account, you will
see that Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart,
Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened
his heart, God hardened his heart, God hardened his heart, God hardened
his heart, God hardened his heart, God hardened his heart. In fact,
the same amount of times it says Pharaoh hardened his heart, it
also says God hardened his heart. So who hardened Pharaoh's heart? Well, directly, Pharaoh did,
and indirectly, God did. You say, well, how does that
happen? It's not by God jumping in and pushing the harden button,
as if He wants you to harden your heart. But when you hear
His word, you either say yes or no. Every time you say no,
your heart gets harder. Every time you say, in essence,
yes, your heart gets softer. This is not only true with Pharaoh,
this was true in Acts 19 when Paul preached in the synagogue,
some hardened their hearts and they did not believe. And he
took those who believed and separated them to the school of Tyrannus
where he taught them for the space of three years. In Hebrews
chapter three, believers are also told, don't harden your
heart. Because as you hear the word of God, you either say yes
or no. But we see here a wonderful balance that though God knew
Pharaoh would harden his heart, God did give him that option.
Pharaoh chose to harden his heart and God held him responsible
for it. And that's why God is not responsible
for the condemnation of any person on this planet. because He's
not willing any should perish. He wants all to be saved. Christ
died for all. The Spirit of God has been given
to convict the world. We're to go and preach the gospel
to every creature. Every person has some truth.
The question is, what do they do with the truth they have?
And if they say no, they harden their heart. If they say yes,
they're given more truth. And that truth ultimately leads
them to the gospel of Jesus Christ. which they are responsible to
believe, which leads me to what can you learn from the Passover?
The only way to escape death is through the death of a blood
sacrifice or substitute. That was the only way. They could
have put oil on that doorpost and they would have died. They
could have scrubbed the windows and said, isn't this nice and
clean? Look at what we're doing. And they would have died. They
could have put a bowl of chocolate chips out front and they would
have died. Why? Because the penalty for sin is
death. And only death could satisfy
the angel of death. But not your death, but the death
of a substitute. That Lamb of God who ultimately
would come to take away the sin of the world. The Lord Jesus
Christ was without blemish and without sin. And thus the only
way to escape death was not merely through the death of a blood
sacrifice, but the application of the blood of the Lamb by faith
to you. If you sacrifice that lamb but
did not apply that blood, you would still die. And in the same
way, Christ died for all to be saved, but only those who in
essence apply that blood by faith are saved. That blood does not
get personally applied to you, as it were, unless you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved. So we see a wonderful
picture of redemption in the Passover. But does God keep his
word? Will he deliver Israel? Well,
this is what we see in chapters 13 and 14. And I ask that you
would turn to verse 20 of Exodus 13. Buckle up. Verse 20, so they took their
journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness,
and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to
lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the
pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from
before the people. There are two and a half million
or so people that come out of Egypt, these Israelites. Two
and a half million. And God is there with a pillar
of light and a pillar of cloud to lead them each step of the
way. And one of the things I said to you at the beginning of the
series is that God has always wanted to lead his people into
his perfect will. And this is the way God did it
on this occasion. So when it comes to God's leading,
where should you always start? Chapter 14, verse one. Now the
Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel that
they turn and camp before Pihathoroth between Migdal and the sea opposite
Baal Ziphon. You shall camp before it by the
sea. You see, when it comes to God's
leading, you always start with the known will of God. God is telling them very specifically
here exactly where they are to go. And He is going to lead them
one step at a time. And so where do you always start?
With the known will of God. But don't expect the unsaved
to pat you on the back, applaud you, clap and say, way to go,
your trust in the Lord. Verse three says, for Pharaoh
will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land.
The wilderness has closed them in. He's going to not understand
the leading of God as God is going to lead them to a strategic
situation in which from a human standpoint, it's absolutely impossible
to be delivered. And this is going to be interpreted
by Pharaoh as, we got him! And God says, oh, you do? Watch
what I will do. Now, if you follow God's leading,
does this mean you'll escape all trials? Well, not at all,
verse 4. Then I will harden Pharaoh's
heart so that he will pursue them. Well, that sounds fun.
And I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." And they did so. So
he leads them to the Red Sea. The mountains will be on the
side. The chariots are at the back. The Red Sea is before.
They are stuck. This is a serious, serious trial
in their life. Unless God intervenes, they are
dead meat. They are going to die. But then
again, it's better to die with your boots on, trusting the Lord
and doing His will, than dying of, you know, gout in the hospital.
And if you're afraid of what's going on in your life, and if
you're going to cry, who should you cry to? Well, verse 5 tells
us, Now it was told the king of Egypt, that the people had
fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against
the people. And they said, why have we done
this? What were we thinking? That we
have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him. And he took 600 choice chariots
and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one
of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of
Egypt. Remember, he's saying no again. And he pursued the
children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with boldness,
so that the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and the
chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them,
camping by the sea beside Pyhothorath before Baal-ziphon." Which was
exactly the place God told them to go. They were stepping out
on the known will of God. God was leading them one step
at a time. And he's going to bring them
through this trial. Verse 10, And when Pharaoh drew
near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes. And behold,
the Egyptians marched after them, so they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried
out to the Lord. Notice, where did they get their
eyes? They lifted their eyes and they looked at the Egyptians.
And they became afraid. They lost sight of the Lord.
And they cried. But if you're going to cry, you
need to at least cry out to the Lord. Which they did. You see,
God was leading them each step of the way. The Lord knew Pharaoh's
responses was the worst strategic move that the Hebrews could have
made from a human viewpoint. The more difficult the situation
God would lead you into, the greater the deliverance. The
greater the glory. the greater the honor for the
Lord he will receive, and the greater spiritual development
you will receive. There is no victory without conflict. There is no growth without trials. There is no comfort without grief.
There is no appropriation of grace without need. There is
no claiming of God's promises without faith. And if you're
going to cry, you need to cry to the Lord. So when they took their eyes
off the Lord, who did they say led them out of Egypt? Verse
11, then they said to Moses, because there were no graves
in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Boy,
that's a real pat on the back at the door after the message,
huh? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt?
Notice, for dealt with us to bring us up
out of Egypt. Is this not the word that we
told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the
Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the
Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." Really? Isn't it funny at times we forget
the bondage we were in, the slavery we had? Sometimes as believers,
when believers go carnal, sometimes they say, I wish I was never
saved. Oh, really? You really did want
to go to hell after? Well, of course not. But you're
not responding to the Lord. So they took their eyes off the
Lord and they said it was Moses that led them out. No, no, no,
no. It was the Lord through Moses that were leading them. But they
forgot the Lord and they put the blame somewhere else. You know, wouldn't it be great
if right now we read here that the children of Israel said,
Thank you, our Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. Thank
you for leading us into this trial so that we could better
know you and trust you, and by your grace be conformed into
the image of your Son. It's painful, Lord. I feel very
stretched, and at worst times I want to die, and at better
times I want to faint. But you are with me, and your
grace is sufficient for me, and your strength is made perfect
in my weakness. Thank you, God, that you have
saved me and led me in this direction. Thank you that the Egyptians
are coming after us, and we thank you that the Red Sea is before
us. We thank you. that the mountains
are all around us so that you could glorify yourself greatly
through all this. We just want to praise you right
now and thank you. No, they didn't respond that
way and we don't normally either. We think, I hope you're having
fun, you cosmic killjoy God. Why did you leave us here so
we could die, you know? Which looms bigger in your thinking,
God or your circumstances? They could have had rest and
peace had they believed God's promises. But God is gracious. Because there was a man who was
looking to Him. And that man's name was Moses. And because Moses
was looking by faith to the Lord, what instructions were the people
given? Verse 13, and Moses said to the people, do not be afraid,
stand still, just like the prophet said to Jehoshaphat, and see
the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall again see no
more forever. He says, stand still, don't try
to help me out. Just get your eyes on me and
trust me. You know, have you ever heard,
God helps those who help themselves? Wrong answer. God helps those
who admit they are helpless and put their faith in Him. And He
tells them to stand still. Well, I don't feel like this
is going to happen. It doesn't matter what you feel
like. This is what God says. Now mix it with faith, and if
you do, you can find rest for your soul. So when you stand
still and trust the Lord, who then fights your battle for you?
Verse 14, the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your
peace. They didn't say, man the lifeboats,
bring in the Israeli Air Force, obtain the Israeli Corps of Engineers.
Let's design a pontoon bridge. We got to do something. Oh no. The Lord can't fight for you
when you're fighting your own problems. Are you letting the
Lord take care of your problems? After Moses checks in vertically,
though, what was he now to do horizontally? Notice, when you're
walking by faith, it doesn't mean you never do anything. It
means you go vertical, trust him, you step out horizontally.
Verse 15. And the Lord said to Moses, why
do you cry to me? Now, that's a nice way of saying,
shut up. I'm tired of your crying. Tell
the children of Israel to go forward, but lift up your rod
and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. You've
checked in with me, quit crying to me. Now trust me and step
all by faith and do what I tell you to do." Exactly what he's
communicating in essence here. And instead of going around your
problems, what does God many times have you do? Verse 16,
and the children of Israel shall go on dry land through the midst
of the sea. You see, we're prone to want
to go around it. God says, no, I'm going to bring
you through this trial, but I don't want to go through it. No, I'm
going to bring you through it. That's the way your faith will
be fine. That's how I will be honored. That's how you will
grow. You're going to go through the trial. See, we really like
trials to end, and end quickly. We don't like going through trials.
Now, it's true that sometimes we delay going through a trial.
You know, we in essence have a little hissy fit, and as a
result, we at times prolong the trial. But what is the ultimate purpose
of this trial? Not only for them, but for you.
And I indeed will harden the hearts of Egyptians, verse 17,
they shall follow them. I will gain honor over Pharaoh
and over all the armies, his chariots and his horsemen. Then
the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained
honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.
You see, the ultimate objective in your trial isn't even to refine
your faith. It's to bring honor and glory
to the Lord. And if you're thinking, Lord,
this is a difficult trial, but I just want you to be honored
in it. I want you to be glorified in it. I don't want to take it
into my own hands. I want to trust you and your
promises in it. Oh, how the Lord is delighted
when we're thinking that way. So what did the Egyptians even
recognize as all this transpired? Verse 19, and the angel of God,
who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. And
the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind
them. So he came between the camp of the Egyptians and the
camp of Israel. Thus there was a cloud and a darkness to the
one and gave light by night to the other, so that one did not
come near the other all that night. Then Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea. And the Lord caused the sea to
go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the
sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children
of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and
the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on their
left." Wouldn't you have liked to have seen that? Now, you know,
there are some liberals and even some conservative Bible scholars
who have embraced the false thinking that the children of Israel really
didn't go through the Red Sea, they went through the Reed Sea.
And the Reed Sea is only about four feet high. And this does
not line up with what we know from the Bible. But then again,
if we believe the Bible, we'd have to believe in a supernatural
miracle. And God forbid we'd ever do that
with our rationalistic mind, is what some of them think. But
this is exactly what the Lord did. Verse 23, and the Egyptians
pursued and went after them in the midst of the sea, all Theros'
horses, his chariots and his horsemen. I'm sure they said,
hey, this land is dry. They made it through. We can
do it too. Now it came to pass in the morning, watch that the
Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the
pillar of fire and cloud, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians. And he took off their chariot
wheels so that they drove them with difficulty. And the Egyptians
said, let us flee from the face of Israel. For what did they
recognize? For the Lord fights for them
against the Egyptians." Now that has to be scary. After those
ten plagues, to think, we thought the Israelites were dead meat.
We're dead meat. The Lord fights for them. And
that is why with underwater cameras, they have actually found crystallized
images of chariot wheels in the Gulf of Aqaba, which is probably
the far more likely place where they crossed the, quote, Red
Sea. Did God keep his word and deliver
Israel's plan? The answer is yes. And when the
Lord fights your battles for you, what should he cause in
your heart? Verse 30, so the Lord saved Israel that day out
of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians
dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work
which the Lord had done in Egypt. So the people feared the Lord.
They believed the Lord and his servant Moses. To fear the Lord
means you stood in awe of the Lord. You took him seriously.
You stood back and say, wow, what a God we have. And they believed the Lord as
well. At least on this occasion. They
would later falter with several trials that would be forthcoming.
As again, our Christian life, per se, is lived moment by moment. So, let me leave you with five
truths as we bring our message and series to a close. Number
one, it takes trials to refine your faith and the Word of God
to fuel it. If you're going to live by faith,
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. But again, those
truths, unless you have trials, will not be refined in your life. Number two, when you censure
insufficiency, reckon by faith upon God's sufficiency. Upon God's sufficiency. We're not sufficient of ourselves
to think anything of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God. It's not God, make me stronger. It's God, cause me to sense my
insufficiency, that I might rely upon your sufficiency. For our
sufficiency is from God. Number three, if the Lord is
going to get the glory, then he must fight your battles. You
see, if the Lord's gonna get you the glory, then He has to
fight the battle for you. You're helping Him out, you know
what? He's not glorified at all. You're no different than an unbeliever,
if that's the case, because that's what He's trying to do to you.
And remember, we walk by faith and not by sight. Number four,
Red Seas open and close at the Lord's command and timing, not
yours. That Red Sea did not open until the Lord says it's gonna
open. It was at His command and it
was in His timing He opened the Red Sea, not at the children
of Israel's timing. And in your trials, the same
is true. God does not open that Red Sea until it's His time.
And the timing element is one of the most difficult factors
of the trial. Because we want God to have done
it yesterday. Number five. If you're going
to do the will of God, and that's what this series is all about,
you must learn to walk by faith in God's plan and promises and
be led one step at a time, even through trials. Are you learning
to walk by faith? Are you applying the promises,
plan of God to your life? Are you desiring to glorify God
in what you do, believer? Are you going to soon forget
this series on how to know and do the will of God, or will it
be mixed by faith into your life? And by the way, if you're here
today and you've never been saved, the blood of the Lamb has already
been sacrificed. Jesus Christ has already died
for your sins and rose again. But it needs to be applied to
your life, and it can be applied. the very moment you transfer
your faith from your church, your rituals, and your works
that cannot save you, and you trust in the blood of Jesus Christ
to save you, to forgive you, to give you eternal life through
faith in Him alone. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for this series in How to Know and Do Your Will. O Lord, may
we review our notes, may we study these passages, may we take this
by faith, may we incorporate this into our lives. And thank
you for the demonstration of your great grace and your great
power in delivering Israel from Egypt. And thank you for the
great lesson with the Passover lamb, reminding us of how we
are personally saved from the angel of death, as it were, through
faith in Jesus Christ. And He has shed blood on the
cross. And thank you for the food we're about to eat and the
fellowship we are about to enjoy. May it be a time in which we
edify one another and encourage one another and fellowship around
Jesus Christ with one another. So we thank you for all of these
things now, and may in our trials we be thinking, in our decisions
may we be pondering, that we want to bring honor and glory
to you. For it's in Jesus' name we pray,
and Amen. Before Tom comes up and gives
a closing song, we went a little late today, but you're going
to eat here, right? The instructions are basically
this. When you're done, if you want to, you can leave your Bible,
your things in here. You're going to go out this door
and take a left. Now, if you have children, you're
going to want to find them. And if you have kids in the nursery,
you're going to want to go there. In fact, we'll let the mothers
with kids in the nursery, you can leave right now, if you would
like. And what we're going to do is
we're going to go out this door and you're going to take a left
and go down those stairs. You're gonna go past the bathrooms,
back to the nursery area, come up the stairs that way, and there's
two tables, four lines, everyone here will be served in a half
an hour or less. So it'll be quick, there are
rooms, a number of rooms where you can eat and enjoy some fellowship
with one another. You gotta eat somewhere. Miles
will join us today. In fact, this will be the fastest
meal you can get. So, Tom, would you come on up
and lead us in our closing song? Encamped along the hills of light,
ye Christian soldiers rise, and press the battle ere the night
shall veil the glowing skies. Against the foe in bales below,
let all our strength be Faith is the victory we know that overcomes
the world. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory that overcomes
the world. Verse 2 is our last. His banner
over us, his love, our sword, the word of God. We tread the
road, the saints above, with shouts of triumph drawn. By faith they, like the whirlwind's
breath, swept on o'er every field. By faith by which they conquered
death. is still our shining shield. Faith is the victory, faith is
the victory, O glorious victory that overcomes the world.
11 - Seeking To Do God's Will, God's Way Pt 2
Series Know And Do The Will Of God
Pastor Dennis Rokser concludes this series on How To Know And Do The Will Of God by using the illustration of Moses' and Israelites' trials in Exodus to show the importance of seeking to do God's will, God's way.
| Sermon ID | 551311133810 |
| Duration | 1:09:13 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Exodus 5 |
| Language | English |
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