When Obedience Backfires: A Theological Review of ‘Fire + Cloud – Week 4’

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good evening and welcome.
[00:05:15] What do you stand to your feet?

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Has everybody thought out?

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Come on, let's get warm and worship in this house today.
[00:05:33] Come on, let's get excited.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Here we go.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I believe there is one salvation, one doorway that leads to life.
[00:05:41] I believe in the name of Jesus I believe in the crucifixion By His blood I have been set free I believe in the resurrection Hallelujah, His life, His death

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
All praise to God the Father All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Lord, never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ How could I ever walk away from the One who saved my life Lord, never be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I need you, oh God, my God, I need you now, how I need you now Pour up, pour up the wages, I'm standing on your faithfulness, Jesus, on your faithfulness
[00:12:26] God, I need you now.
[00:12:38] How I need you now.
[00:12:39] Pour out, pour out, pour any days.
[00:12:40] I'm standing on your face.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
You heard Your children then You hear Your children now You are the same God You are the same God You answered prayers back then And You will answer now You believe You are the same God Come on declare You are the same

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I will not give up

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
You're the same God.
[00:16:14] You're the same God.
[00:16:16] Yes, You are.
[00:16:16] You never change, God.
[00:16:20] You're the same God.
[00:16:24] You're the same God.
[00:16:33] You freed the captives then You're freeing hearts right now You are the same God You are the same God You touched the lepers then I feel Your touch right now You are the same God You are the same God
[00:17:02] You're the same, Lord.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Oh, He's the same, God.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Jesus, I'm calling.
[00:17:34] Almighty river come and fill me again Come and fill me again Come and fill me again

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place?
[00:18:10] Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd?
[00:18:17] Who knew you'd make good of my mistakes?
[00:18:22] Nothing like I thought you were, you're better What a guy, what a guy
[00:19:06] Let us pray.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
If the highest place I reach is at you Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has saved my life Forever satisfied by you Come on sing it, everything

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Let's face our reaches at Your feet And I'm done in awe If the best thing that I've seen is Your glory
[00:21:11] and all, no treasurer
[00:22:01] If the highest place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all
[00:22:30] Let us pray.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
If this place I reach is at Your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is Your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has saved my life Forever satisfied God, You are my everything If one word is the only thing You speak

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
God, you are my everything.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
When I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, I see

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I hear the rolling thunder And I bow throughout The universe in display And sing

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
My Saviour and God to Thee
[00:26:06] My Savior God is with me

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
With a shout of affirmation And take me home What joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow

[00:29:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
In humble adoration and their full claim My God, how great Thou art

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Sing my song My Savior come to Thee How great Thou art How great Thou art Then sing my song
[00:32:17] Faithful God

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
How great you are.
[00:32:48] What a God, what a God.
[00:32:53] If you would just take a moment and tell him how great he is.
[00:33:17] Lord, I thank you for being such an incredible God in our lives, God, that we can depend upon, that we can trust in, that is here to answer our prayers, to guide us through our life, to show us what it means to truly sacrifice.
[00:33:38] to show us what hope is and joy is Lord just so many things you are great and we are so thankful Jesus that we have you in our lives Lord if there's somebody tonight that hasn't accepted you in their heart yet Lord let tonight be a night where they recognize what they've been missing
[00:34:03] and that you will come in and you will fill them up in a way that they've never ever experienced in their lives, Jesus.
[00:34:12] We thank you.
[00:34:14] We honor you and we love you and your precious and your holy name.
[00:34:18] The whole church together said loudly, Amen.
[00:34:21] Amen.
[00:34:25] What a God, Amen.
[00:34:28] Well, at this time, if you guys wanna step out of your seats and hug or high-five or give somebody anything that you feel comfortable with,

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Hey men, Chad Pyle here, Director of Men's Ministry.
[00:35:30] I want to invite you to the District Men's Retreat in Myrtle Beach.
[00:35:35] Yes, I said District Men's Retreat because it's not just for the Cornelius Campus.
[00:35:40] Mooresville and Denver, we want to see you there as well, along with other churches in our Four Square family.
[00:35:48] This year's powerful theme is going to be the authentic men.
[00:35:54] Yes, because real strength starts with being real.
[00:35:58] Check out the testimonies of these men that have attended in previous years.

[00:36:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I would just come to church on Sundays and never really branched out to any sort of other activities besides church on Sunday.
[00:36:17] The entire retreat is focused around resetting and relationship building and just encouragement.
[00:36:26] Encouragement for the next coming year.
[00:36:28] We broke out into prayer sessions where we
[00:36:31] Prayed for one another for anything that was going on in our life at that time.
[00:36:36] And in my small group, it was me, my father, who also attended, and a couple other guys.
[00:36:43] And it turns out that me and my dad, we had the same prayer requests.
[00:36:47] I had not known that my father had struggled with the same thing as I did, and it really drew us closer together.
[00:36:54] My dad started coming to the men's group, and now we attend weekly men's group together.
[00:36:59] So, really, this retreat is not just for that weekend.
[00:37:03] I mean, the relationships that you have are going to carry on through the retreat and, you know, outside of that.

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
When I was first told about the men's retreat was through the worship service and them talking about it.
[00:37:17] But then every time I would see Chad, whether that was in the men's group or whether that was in the hallway or even the bathroom, he would remind me that the men's retreat is coming up.
[00:37:26] I thought up all kinds of different excuses, so I put off committing.
[00:37:30] Not until the last minute, but it got pretty close.
[00:37:33] And then, you know, I just said, you know what, I need to do this for my own growth.
[00:37:38] We had incredible worship services.
[00:37:41] We had four or five messages from different pastors from different churches.
[00:37:47] And all I can say about those was, wow, that was incredible.
[00:37:51] It was one of the most clear messages from God that I've ever had.
[00:37:56] So all I can say is it's well worth the two days that you're going to spend to go down there.
[00:38:03] It's a very moving experience and I think everybody should experience it at least once.

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
It's obvious in these two testimonies that we see God show up in big ways in these guys' lives.
[00:38:17] So you ready to go?
[00:38:17] It all happens February 26th through the 28th.
[00:38:23] For more information, you can scan the QR code up on the screen or go to the website and click the events tab and sign up today.

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Alright, there we go.

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
We'll start over.
[00:39:27] We're a little more casual on Wednesday nights.
[00:39:31] This is effectively our rehearsal for the weekend.
[00:39:37] So how many of you, again, Wednesday night's your night?
[00:39:39] This is your service?
[00:39:42] How many of you would say, I'm here due to the impending Armageddon forecasted on Sunday?
[00:39:50] All right, keep your hands up, keep your hands up.
[00:39:53] All right, now everybody who's a regular Wednesday night, look at these folks.
[00:39:58] Look at these folks and tell them, come on over to the cool side.
[00:40:02] Come on over, the water's warm over here.
[00:40:05] Play by the creek bank a little longer.
[00:40:07] We'd love to have you.
[00:40:08] Fall in with us.
[00:40:10] Welcome to those of you who may be watching on Sunday from your home in the event that we do cancel church due to weather this weekend.
[00:40:24] I had a staff member give me static today.
[00:40:27] Hey, why haven't you made your mind up yet?
[00:40:31] I said, listen, buddy.
[00:40:34] Pharaoh used to decide on Sunday morning, okay, I'm going to take until at least Friday.
[00:40:41] Get over it.
[00:40:42] That's, yeah, man, they're tough on me sometimes.
[00:40:48] Well, hey, glad you're here.
[00:40:49] If you'd be kind enough, open your Bible tonight to Exodus 4.
[00:40:55] If you're with us on Sunday, please excuse me saying tonight.
[00:41:01] I'll probably say tonight multiple times because it's fitting for the context that I am currently standing in.
[00:41:10] But if you would turn to Exodus 4, that is where we will be.
[00:41:15] Tonight's word is,
[00:41:17] is for any and all of you who would say, you know what?
[00:41:23] I have been asked of God to do something and I obeyed the Lord's voice.
[00:41:32] I obeyed the Lord's voice.
[00:41:34] Last week was about really some folks who didn't obey the Lord's voice.
[00:41:41] Like Moses, you pushed back and talked about your limitations and what you were self-conscious of and demanded help from Aaron and that kind of thing.
[00:41:51] This week, it's about perhaps some here who have been called and were obedient to the Lord's voice.
[00:42:01] and then the stuff hit the proverbial fan.
[00:42:06] Okay?
[00:42:07] That's a possible scenario and outcome you've experienced.
[00:42:12] Maybe you made a decision to participate in a sacrificial way like you'd never done in church before for our Uncharted Generosity Initiative and then someone in your home lost their job or finances tightened
[00:42:32] Maybe you pursued purity in all of your relationships to honor the Lord and then the loneliness only grew and intensified.
[00:42:52] Maybe you stepped out into mission or into ministry and a health crisis hit.
[00:43:01] Maybe you were
[00:43:03] ushered off quickly the field because the health care was better in the United States or there was some kind of alarm that derailed God's plan.
[00:43:15] Maybe you chose to forgive or reconcile with a family member, but they are still choosing estrangement.
[00:43:25] And you're trying to figure all of this out.
[00:43:28] How could this be?
[00:43:29] Lord, I'm wrestling with this theologically.
[00:43:32] This isn't making a whole lot of sense to me.
[00:43:34] I thought obedience to you would indeed make my path smoother, not more turbulent.
[00:43:44] I thought, Lord, that things would get rosier, and it feels like the bottom has dropped out.
[00:43:55] And you're asking, Lord, why does it feel as though you're resisting me when I'm pursuing you?
[00:44:04] How is that possible?
[00:44:08] Moses, let me tell you, knows that feeling.
[00:44:12] He absolutely understands it.
[00:44:14] He gets it.
[00:44:15] This section of Exodus that I'm going to share with you today shows us that God is really up to something even when obedience seems to be making things worse, not better.
[00:44:32] and I hope that encourages some of you tonight here is my first point my first point and some of these are more categorical headings than they are points such as this one but it's a strange story and a salvation melody what do you mean by that well Moses has finally agreed to go back to Egypt
[00:44:58] That's where we left off last Wednesday night.
[00:45:00] He had the burning bush experience.
[00:45:03] He said, Why me, Lord?
[00:45:05] Why am I to lead these people?
[00:45:08] This is the same question the Israelites asked of him when he fled Egypt.
[00:45:13] After murdering the Egyptians, so apparently their criticism of his leadership has sunk deep into his soul.
[00:45:21] He now hears the inner critic inside his own head.
[00:45:25] And then we read this.
[00:45:27] He's on his way to Egypt yet again.
[00:45:31] 40 years in Midian, remember.
[00:45:33] 40 years tending Jethro's sheep.
[00:45:37] We're now at the end of those 40 years.
[00:45:39] He's finally been obedient.
[00:45:41] He's heading back to Egypt.
[00:45:43] To be the leader, the rescuer.
[00:45:45] We all know God is the capital R, Rescuer, but to get the people out.
[00:45:50] To tell Pharaoh, let my people go.
[00:45:54] And then God says this, verse 21.
[00:45:57] The Lord said to Moses, when you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do.
[00:46:08] But I will harden his heart.
[00:46:11] So that he will not let the people go.
[00:46:16] Now, I don't know if you noticed this, but effectively, the scripture just revealed the dynamic that I've been talking about.
[00:46:27] Because Moses is being obedient, finally.
[00:46:30] Moses is going, and God is saying, I am hardening Pharaoh's heart.
[00:46:36] Thank you very much for your obedience, but it's about to get tougher, not easier.
[00:46:41] I'm making the road ahead more perilous.
[00:46:47] It's not what we expect God to say.
[00:46:48] We expect what?
[00:46:50] When we're obedient for God to fling doors open wide, to carve a way for us to soften hearts, not harden hearts.
[00:46:58] God says, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart for you, Moses.
[00:47:01] This is going to get more difficult.
[00:47:05] Now let's look at verse 24.
[00:47:10] This is quite the tangent, so prepare yourself.
[00:47:15] At a lodging place on the way back to Egypt, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.
[00:47:24] We don't put that up on the flannel graph in Sunday school, right?
[00:47:27] When we were little.
[00:47:29] God coming down, you know, trying to chase after Moses.
[00:47:34] Boy, that's an obscure text.
[00:47:36] I don't remember that being part of the story.
[00:47:38] What's that about?
[00:47:40] Well, it only gets wilder.
[00:47:42] But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin,
[00:47:51] Touched Moses' feet with it and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
[00:48:04] Now, if I am entirely honest with you, these are the passages that Pastor Marcus and I would prefer to skip.
[00:48:17] But I know you're going to send us emails
[00:48:21] So we might as well deal with this.
[00:48:24] What on the world is happening here?
[00:48:26] So the Lord let him alone.
[00:48:29] How many of you didn't see that coming?
[00:48:33] Moses being pursued by God with a knife in his hand after Moses and then something about circumcision, right?
[00:48:42] Kind of interjected here for the average Wednesday night crowd.
[00:48:50] How many of you would say, I've been at Grace Covenant for many moons, and I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard the word foreskin read from the pulpit.
[00:49:01] Yeah, it's just new to all of us.
[00:49:06] So Moses is simply obeying.
[00:49:10] He's on the road God sent him down, and God comes to kill him.
[00:49:18] What on earth is happening?
[00:49:21] Well, to understand this, we really have to look back to the book of Genesis, chapter 17.
[00:49:26] And if you'll remember in the life of the original patriarch, Abraham, God said, this is my covenant relationship with you.
[00:49:39] You and all of your sons shall be circumcised on the eighth day.
[00:49:47] In other words, when you grow up into become young men, old men, whenever you have a sexual urge, I want you to see what happened to you at eight days of age.
[00:50:04] And I want you to remember that you are a covenant people.
[00:50:10] I want you to think about
[00:50:12] The relationship that we have before you run off and have a relationship with someone else.
[00:50:19] So God makes a promise with Abraham in the book of Genesis.
[00:50:23] God said, verse 14 of chapter 17, Any uncircumcised male will be cut off from his people.
[00:50:32] He has broken my covenant.
[00:50:36] So Moses, let's fast forward back to the book of Exodus, Moses has said yes to God's call, but what has he clearly said no to thus far?
[00:50:52] The circumcision of his clan, okay, as evidenced with Zipporah's son.
[00:51:03] So Moses is walking in what we might call partial disobedience.
[00:51:11] How many of you know partial disobedience, let's call it, is really disobedience?
[00:51:20] Yeah.
[00:51:21] How many of you know that delayed obedience is really disobedience?
[00:51:28] Yeah, so Moses has been partially obedient to what God asked of him.
[00:51:34] Clearly, God takes obedience very seriously and full obedience because he's about to kill Moses, to manually stop Moses' heart.
[00:51:51] So Zipporah steps in and she obeys in Moses' place.
[00:51:57] She circumcises their son.
[00:51:59] She touches is the word that the Old Testament uses.
[00:52:05] It really means paints, paints on Moses with the blood of this son and then the wrath of God is appeased toward Moses.
[00:52:26] God's anger is turned away.
[00:52:29] That little word, touched, we don't like that word in today's day and age.
[00:52:38] It's very intentional.
[00:52:40] It's the same verb used later in Exodus 12 when the Israelites touch or paint the doorframe of their homes
[00:52:53] During the tenth and last plague to get out of Egypt when God's death angel passes over.
[00:53:01] The author is drawing a pattern for us of what is to come.
[00:53:11] The pattern being God will always call for full obedience from his people.
[00:53:17] His people will always fail him.
[00:53:20] Always, another will step in, as Zipporah has done here, and obey in your place, and blood will be applied for you.
[00:53:37] Judgment will then pass over you.
[00:53:41] So that melody, I'm calling it, if you'll remember the point title, will play again and again and again through the book of Exodus.
[00:53:48] It finds its full expression, of course, in Jesus Christ.
[00:53:55] He is the one who obeys where we didn't.
[00:53:59] He is the one who intercedes in our place.
[00:54:01] He is the one who touches or paints His blood on us.
[00:54:07] So when you see strange, bloody scenes like this in the Old Testament, I just want you to know it's not random.
[00:54:17] It's not just some weird manner and custom.
[00:54:22] of the OT.
[00:54:24] It's God teaching us the pattern of substitutionary rescue.
[00:54:31] Someone will take your place for your misdeeds, for your partial obedience, for your delayed obedience, for all your disobedience.
[00:54:44] Number two.
[00:54:47] I'll call this section of scripture Obedience and the Backfire.
[00:54:53] Obedience and the Backfire.
[00:54:55] You may have experienced this.
[00:54:56] Verse 1 of chapter 5.
[00:54:58] You can turn the page in all likelihood.
[00:55:03] We're going to tackle about three chapters tonight, by the way.
[00:55:05] Verse 1.
[00:55:09] Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.
[00:55:15] Let my people go.
[00:55:18] Now, if you were here last week, we pointed out that Moses is slow of speech.
[00:55:23] Most scholars believe that he was a stutterer.
[00:55:27] So you can imagine how this actually played out.
[00:55:32] You can imagine Moses making a fool of himself in the court of Pharaoh.
[00:55:40] You can imagine the Egyptians snickering under their breaths.
[00:55:45] At him being inadequate to express what God was telling him to say.
[00:55:53] Yet he said, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, let my people go so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.
[00:56:03] Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go?
[00:56:13] I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.
[00:56:17] That question, by the way, who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go?
[00:56:23] That question will become the theme of all the plagues.
[00:56:31] The theme of the 10 plagues.
[00:56:33] God is going to answer that question himself.
[00:56:37] Who is the Lord?
[00:56:38] In a way no Egyptian can ignore.
[00:56:44] in a miraculous way, in a dumbfounding way, in something unmatched by even David Copperfield and David Blaine.
[00:56:58] God would do something absolutely stunning in the days to come.
[00:57:05] But before we get to the plagues, Moses' obedience appears to backfire.
[00:57:11] Verse 7.
[00:57:15] Pharaoh says, you are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks.
[00:57:21] Let them go gather their own straw, but require them to make the same number of bricks as before.
[00:57:29] Don't reduce their quota.
[00:57:31] So as you may remember, the Israelites are in a period of brutal oppression, slavery.
[00:57:37] Now Pharaoh says, same quota, but no straw.
[00:57:42] Go find your own finders keepers.
[00:57:46] Good luck with that!
[00:57:50] This task now becomes effectively impossible.
[00:57:55] Their suffering increases, doesn't decrease.
[00:58:00] Moses obeys, mind you, and life gets worse for him.
[00:58:05] Because the people come and complain to him.
[00:58:08] Naturally, the people confront him.
[00:58:11] They said, may the Lord look upon you and judge you.
[00:58:15] Can you imagine you parishioners saying this to me?
[00:58:21] Can you hear yourself saying, I hope not.
[00:58:25] May the Lord look upon you and judge you.
[00:58:28] I mean, that's gotta be pretty hard to take as a leader.
[00:58:34] You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials.
[00:58:38] You've put a sword in their hand to kill us.
[00:58:42] So Moses takes this confusion to God.
[00:58:46] Verse 22.
[00:58:48] Moses returned to the Lord and said, Why, Lord?
[00:58:51] Have you brought trouble on this people?
[00:58:54] Is this why you sent me?
[00:58:57] Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has brought trouble on this people and you have not rescued your people at all.
[00:59:10] There it is.
[00:59:10] There's the attitude that all of us sometimes resort to.
[00:59:21] God, I did what you said.
[00:59:25] I did what you said, Lord.
[00:59:26] You have not come through the way that I expected you to come through.
[00:59:34] It feels like obedience made everything worse, Lord.
[00:59:38] If you have ever felt like that, Exodus is a great book for you.
[00:59:48] Number three, God's big why.
[00:59:54] Listen to how God answers.
[00:59:57] Chapter 6, verse 1.
[01:00:00] The Lord then said to Moses, Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh.
[01:00:08] Because of my mighty hand, he will let them go.
[01:00:12] Because of my mighty hand, he will drive them out of his country.
[01:00:18] Then verse 6.
[01:00:19] Therefore say to the Israelites, I am the Lord.
[01:00:25] And I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
[01:00:30] I will free you from being slaves to them.
[01:00:33] I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
[01:00:40] I will take you as my own people.
[01:00:45] And I will be your God.
[01:00:49] Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
[01:00:59] Here's the big idea on those verses we just read.
[01:01:02] God is not just pulling yanking people out of a difficult place.
[01:01:13] God is in the process revealing who he is.
[01:01:20] to a people with whom a lot of trust has been broken.
[01:01:28] God wants Moses, of course, to know him.
[01:01:32] God wants Israel to know him, trust him, love him, worship him.
[01:01:38] God wants, how many of you know, Pharaoh and Egypt to know him.
[01:01:44] God wants them to crush their idols.
[01:01:49] The surrounding nations, ultimately the world, God wants to know him.
[01:01:55] Some of you know and could quote by heart John 3.16.
[01:02:00] For God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only begotten Son, that how many people, that whosoever believes, shall not perish but will have everlasting life.
[01:02:16] Pharaoh says, who is the Lord that I should obey him?
[01:02:22] God says, well, watch what I'm going to do in history, Pharaoh.
[01:02:29] I will set this rescue up so clearly, so beautifully that you will not be able to deny that I am the Lord.
[01:02:39] Part of that plan does involve letting Moses' first efforts appear at least to fail.
[01:02:46] Part of that plan does involve initially the people suffering, intensifying, and their complaining to intensify, and Pharaoh's heart to harden.
[01:02:58] I just want to reassure you if you've been there, God is not not in control.
[01:03:07] Okay, if you felt those things, if you've waded through that muck, those seasons, God is not losing control, God is setting a stage.
[01:03:20] God's not losing a control, God is setting a stage.
[01:03:25] What might that stage be?
[01:03:26] Well, we'll see momentarily, but if I could kind of give you a spoiler,
[01:03:35] He wants to make this so ludicrously impossible that His glory is magnified, is unchallenged, is unquestionably accepted.
[01:03:55] Let me move on to number four.
[01:03:57] What God wants us to know then about Himself.
[01:04:01] There are a few truths I think God is trying to show us in this passage.
[01:04:06] The first is this, He's the only God who can rescue.
[01:04:12] The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the only God that can rescue you and I.
[01:04:19] God wants it to be unmistakable that deliverance is His work and not any
[01:04:30] Working of ours.
[01:04:34] Not Moses' brilliance.
[01:04:37] Not Moses' elbow grease and grit.
[01:04:40] Not Israel's goodness.
[01:04:45] He's the only one who can rescue.
[01:04:47] So he lets Moses fail a few times.
[01:04:50] How many of you would say, yeah, looking back, he's let me fail a few times.
[01:04:55] Yet do we have enough hands?
[01:04:59] The Lord's let us fail a few times.
[01:05:02] Deliverance is his work.
[01:05:04] He lets Pharaoh say no again and again and again.
[01:05:09] He lets Israel feel the weight of its own helplessness.
[01:05:20] Pharaoh's ruthless.
[01:05:23] He just said no again.
[01:05:27] Moses, what are you doing to us?
[01:05:31] They'll actually say that after they get out of Egypt.
[01:05:34] Isn't that amazing?
[01:05:36] Like God rescues them and they say, we would rather still be making bricks than starving out here in the wilderness, midway to the promised land, right?
[01:05:46] God is the only one who can rescue us.
[01:05:50] So Moses fails.
[01:05:52] Pharaoh says no.
[01:05:53] Israel feels the weight of helplessness.
[01:05:55] That way, when he finally brings them out, nobody can say, you know what?
[01:06:00] Moses did that.
[01:06:04] Egypt just ran out of bad luck.
[01:06:07] The dynasty was already kind of going downhill.
[01:06:12] It's obvious that it would be the Lord.
[01:06:16] The Apostle Paul described a similar pattern in his own life.
[01:06:20] We don't want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in Asia.
[01:06:25] We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
[01:06:33] Hard to imagine an apostle thinking of self-harm or wishing himself dead.
[01:06:39] Maybe it'd be better out but that way.
[01:06:42] Indeed, we have felt
[01:06:44] that we've received the sentence of death but this happens so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
[01:06:55] He's delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us again.
[01:06:59] On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.
[01:07:03] Why did God allow pressure far beyond Paul's ability
[01:07:07] to endure so that he might not rely on himself.
[01:07:20] God will sometimes let your obedience lead you into situations where your strength is absolutely sapped.
[01:07:34] You ever heard the phrase, put a fork in him, he's done?
[01:07:38] It's often set on a baseball diamond where your plans fail, where your resources run out.
[01:07:47] So you learn at a deeper level than ever before that He alone is your rescuer.
[01:07:57] Turn to your neighbor and say this, will you?
[01:08:00] God is not after your comfort.
[01:08:04] Will you turn to your neighbor and say that?
[01:08:09] Now follow it with this.
[01:08:11] God is after your trust.
[01:08:15] He's not interested in your comfort.
[01:08:18] He's interested in your trust in Him.
[01:08:22] He's teaching you to say, my hope is in God, not in me.
[01:08:26] My hope is in not my talent, not my money, not my gym membership, not my cosmetic routine of nails, facials, and Botox, not in people I'm close to.
[01:08:44] My hope is in the living God and in the living God alone.
[01:08:53] My hope's not in what I drive.
[01:08:59] My hope's not in the material of my countertop.
[01:09:11] What else does God want us to know about himself?
[01:09:13] Well, that he's the God of true freedom.
[01:09:18] The plagues are not random magic tricks to impress Pharaoh.
[01:09:22] They are ordered acts of what we might call de-creation.
[01:09:28] Think about it.
[01:09:29] Genesis 1, creation.
[01:09:31] God created everything.
[01:09:34] In Exodus, God effectively de-creates.
[01:09:37] The Nile turns into blood.
[01:09:40] Frogs overwhelm the land.
[01:09:43] I'm summarizing this because every plague is like this much scripture.
[01:09:49] Okay, so just take me a long time to read it to you.
[01:09:51] I hope you read at home, but I'll summarize.
[01:09:54] Gnats, flies swarm, livestock die, darkness falls.
[01:09:59] In Genesis, God brings order out of chaos.
[01:10:04] In Exodus, God brings absolute chaos out of order.
[01:10:08] Out of an orderly society, it starts to break down.
[01:10:13] People start to panic.
[01:10:16] You think what is happening in Minneapolis is unruly?
[01:10:21] You ought to have seen the nation of Egypt during these plagues.
[01:10:31] Everything unravels.
[01:10:33] He's showing Egypt and Israel what happens when a nation resists the living God.
[01:10:44] It gets ugly.
[01:10:47] You ever heard UGLY?
[01:10:50] UGLY is like an upgrade in ugly.
[01:10:55] It gets UGLY.
[01:10:58] We arrived from Wisconsin and this is a cute story.
[01:11:03] Four years ago it's almost been.
[01:11:06] And our kids started school and Levi at the time was going into sixth grade.
[01:11:11] One of his first assignments
[01:11:13] His sixth grade teacher asked him to memorize the ten plagues from the book of Exodus.
[01:11:20] Now, Levi is our firstborn.
[01:11:24] He's a beloved child.
[01:11:26] He loves the Lord.
[01:11:28] And he decided that to help him memorize the ten plagues, he would write a song.
[01:11:37] And the song was so stinking cute and hilarious.
[01:11:44] that we memorized it and still sing it to this day.
[01:11:50] So when he gets to his class and he's charged with reciting the Ten Commandments, he says to his teacher, it would be easier if I sing it because I wrote a song that tells the Ten Commandments.
[01:12:07] So she has him walk down in front of the whole class
[01:12:10] and to sing his song.
[01:12:13] And this is what he sang.
[01:12:18] If you know Levi, he's like a little monotonous and dry.
[01:12:21] He's a lot like his daddy.
[01:12:27] Blood, frogs, gnats, flies, dead livestock.
[01:12:36] boils hail locust darkness dead firstborn sons and much like you the class like didn't know how to react to that is this appropriate um and the teacher's like
[01:13:04] Okay, you know, thank you, Levi.
[01:13:08] Why don't you sit down?
[01:13:09] In a middle school classroom, there was little more than a quirky song and an awkward moment.
[01:13:21] I just want you to understand in Egypt, these were not lyrics.
[01:13:28] This was a lived reality.
[01:13:31] Every word in Levi's little chorus was a nightmare that families woke up to in that nation.
[01:13:43] The stench of blood, the roar of hail destroying everything, that the sky black with locusts, the
[01:14:02] Terrified finally, disbelieving faces of mothers holding their dead firstborn.
[01:14:13] Levi sang a little jingle to aid in memorization.
[01:14:19] For the entire nation of Egypt, this was no jingle.
[01:14:23] This was utter horror.
[01:14:27] The ten plagues weren't about construction but about deconstruction.
[01:14:32] To the Egyptian nation, this was their 9-11.
[01:14:35] There was deep grief, tragic loss.
[01:14:39] Their lives fell apart.
[01:14:42] Why?
[01:14:42] Why?
[01:14:44] Because obedience to God leads ultimately to life and freedom.
[01:14:55] But disobedience or rebellion against God leads ultimately to chaos and bondage.
[01:15:16] What else does God want us to know about himself?
[01:15:19] He's greater than all other gods.
[01:15:23] and he says it outright verse 14 for by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth in other words I didn't need ten of these suckers I could have done it with one but I have raised you up for this very purpose that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth
[01:15:53] What do you think would have made a better story from a grandmother to her grandchild?
[01:16:00] Telling of the Exodus.
[01:16:03] One plague or ten?
[01:16:05] Ten.
[01:16:07] Then there were locusts, you see.
[01:16:17] Notice how each plague systematically exposes Egypt's idols.
[01:16:21] They worship the Nile River.
[01:16:24] God turns it to blood.
[01:16:27] They revere of all amphibians, frogs.
[01:16:34] God covers the land with frogs.
[01:16:38] Egypt honors cattle.
[01:16:40] Cattle's like a big deal.
[01:16:43] It's a big deal for Pharaoh to say to Joseph, bring your family here.
[01:16:49] I'm going to give you Goshen.
[01:16:53] They love their cattle.
[01:16:56] God strikes all their cattle dead.
[01:16:58] They love, they prize the sun.
[01:17:01] God turns it to darkness.
[01:17:03] They treat Pharaoh as divine.
[01:17:08] God takes the life of his firstborn son and shows therein that Pharaoh is no God at all.
[01:17:18] At the beginning in Exodus 7, when Moses throws his staff down and it becomes a snake, Pharaoh's magicians mimic the sign, but then in verse 12, each magician threw down a staff, it became a snake, but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
[01:17:35] It's not just a random detail.
[01:17:38] Pharaoh's crown had a cobra on it.
[01:17:43] Symbolizing divine authority in Egypt.
[01:17:48] God is saying your power, your gods, your magic ain't nothing compared to what I got.
[01:18:00] God allows opposition and hardness so he can show in unmistakable ways that he alone is God.
[01:18:13] And that every rival God will ultimately be swallowed up.
[01:18:19] I'm going to skip one of my points tonight.
[01:18:22] I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Pharaoh's hard heart, but I'm going to jump to my last one.
[01:18:30] God's ultimate goal is His glory and our joy.
[01:18:36] Underneath all of this, Moses' apparent failure, Pharaoh's hardness, plagues, rescue, is one great beautiful purpose.
[01:18:45] The glory of God.
[01:18:48] Scripture by glory means weight, the weight of who God really is.
[01:18:53] His character, His power, His beauty, His worth, immense worth that is seen, that is known, and of course that which is unseen and unknown.
[01:19:05] Again and again the Bible tells us this is what God is after.
[01:19:09] Bring my sons from afar, Isaiah wrote, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, whom I created for my, what?
[01:19:18] Glory.
[01:19:19] He created you and I for His glory.
[01:19:25] That's the purpose of this whole thing.
[01:19:31] Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the what of God.
[01:19:36] The glory of God.
[01:19:38] The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
[01:19:42] Psalm 106.
[01:19:43] When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles.
[01:19:48] They did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
[01:19:53] Yet you saved them for his name's sake, to make his glory known.
[01:20:03] Ephesians talks about us existing for the glory of God.
[01:20:06] Psalms talks about us existing for the glory of God.
[01:20:10] So let me bring this down practically for the last minute or two.
[01:20:17] Where are you obeying God and it feels like, darn it, that you're a failure?
[01:20:27] You're doing marriage His way, but it's still painful.
[01:20:33] Your spouse is lost.
[01:20:37] You're parenting with faith, but the results aren't what you pictured.
[01:20:47] I expect an amen from you, honey, on that point.
[01:20:54] You are giving generously, and you have no financial margin.
[01:21:00] You stepped in the ministry and opposition flared up.
[01:21:06] Your fighting sin and temptation only seems to grow stronger.
[01:21:13] What might God be doing?
[01:21:18] Might I posit gently tonight that He may just be weaning you off of your own self-reliance?
[01:21:29] He may be teaching you to lean fully on Him.
[01:21:36] He may be prying your fingers off of your false saviors and rival little g-gods that you didn't even know you were trusting in.
[01:21:52] Your popularity through social media,
[01:21:57] Your success in the marketplace?
[01:22:02] The question is, will you trust Him when His rescue of you doesn't quite line up with your plan?
[01:22:18] It doesn't take much faith to say, God, rescue me, and then dictate how that rescue ought to look.
[01:22:26] It takes a lot of faith to say, God, I trust you.
[01:22:30] Rescue me however the heaven you want.
[01:22:37] Use this however you want, Lord.
[01:22:41] I'm here.
[01:22:42] Glorify yourself in me.
[01:22:51] Stand with me, will you?
[01:22:56] So to all of you who are here tonight and to those of you who are at home in the event that you're watching this on Sunday, two quick invitations.
[01:23:07] One is for believers who are here who are in weary, weary obedience.
[01:23:15] You've been obeying and no mountains are moving.
[01:23:19] The rescuer hasn't shown up yet.
[01:23:22] You're trying to do what you think God is asking and it's backfiring.
[01:23:26] Can you just say to him tonight, Lord, I don't understand this season, but I believe you are good.
[01:23:34] Could you repeat just that sentence with me?
[01:23:37] Lord, I don't understand this season, but I believe you are good.
[01:23:44] I believe you're wise, Lord.
[01:23:49] I believe you're smarter than I am.
[01:23:55] I believe you're the God who raises the dead.
[01:24:00] I surrender my expectations to you, Jesus.
[01:24:05] Glorify yourself in me, Lord, no matter how painful.
[01:24:13] Teach me to rely not on me, but on you.
[01:24:22] And for those here who may have hardened hearts, maybe you either don't know the Lord or you keep pushing back defiantly like Pharaoh.
[01:24:39] You sense God speaking to you.
[01:24:42] He's trying to get through, through His Word, through circumstances, through your mother.
[01:24:53] There are believers around you that you know and you've been saying, not now, not that, not there.
[01:25:02] Pharaoh reminds us, you can say no to God so long that eventually he will confirm that no.
[01:25:10] You will find yourself at the bottom of a Red Sea called hell.
[01:25:21] God will ratify your no one day.
[01:25:25] If you keep telling him no, it's because he's just.
[01:25:34] To not do that would be unjust.
[01:25:39] But if you say yes to him tonight, friend, you will experience his great mercy
[01:25:47] which is that in spite of all that you have done he will love you and give you his glory and his home that he's preparing for you in perpetuity forever.
[01:26:01] No more Botox.
[01:26:08] No more pain.
[01:26:12] No more sickness.
[01:26:14] is there anybody here who just with boldness you will never find a more affirming group of people nobody will celebrate you more than this bunch here they would just say I want to become a Christian tonight I want to give my life to Christ tonight I just want to pray a simple prayer with you anybody here at all want to become a Christian tonight give you just another moment
[01:26:42] All of heaven rejoices more when one person raises their hand than when 150 righteous people sit here all sanctified.
[01:26:55] Anybody at all?
[01:26:57] Well, here's my prayer and I'll dismiss you.
[01:27:01] Lord, I pray that you would continue to draw us closer to yourself.
[01:27:10] I pray that everybody here would recognize the voice of their shepherd.
[01:27:18] Ranging from mature in the faith, Jesus lover, to outright defiant, wanting nothing to do with it.
[01:27:29] Lord, might we hear your voice coaxing us, lulling us into obedience, into trust,
[01:27:41] Into joy.
[01:27:42] In the name of Jesus, we pray tonight.
[01:27:46] Amen.
[01:27:49] Hey, you are loved.
[01:27:50] We appreciate you.
[01:27:51] Thank you for coming out on a Wednesday night.
[01:27:53] If you need prayer tonight, please come forward.
[01:27:56] We'd love to pray with you.
[01:27:57] Otherwise, pick up your kids ASAP so I don't get in trouble.

[01:28:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]:
In my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious song in
[01:28:46] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[01:29:01] Amen.
[01:29:33] Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger
[01:31:49] Every blessing Tune my heart to sing my grace Streams of mercy never cease me Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious song in

[01:32:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Some by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of God's unchanging love

[01:33:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Jesus Christ the Lord our God.
[01:33:42] Come on.

[01:33:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
God's thunders roar a shout for me
[01:34:59] God bless the end of days I'll lift your name higher and higher I'll sing your praise louder and louder Your love goes deeper and deeper You reign forever

[01:37:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I lift your name higher and higher

[01:37:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I sing Your praise louder and louder Your love goes deeper and deeper You reign forever and ever I lift Your name higher and higher

[01:38:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
and Recompense.

[01:42:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
Thank you for watching!

[01:44:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
My God isn't finished yet If he did it before he can do it again So I'll trust him with what comes next

[01:44:55] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!