The Fourth Plague

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Exodus 8:20-32

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Well this morning we complete chapter 8 in the book of Exodus and so we look at the fourth plague as we're marching through plague by plague the spectacle of God's judgment upon the
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Empire of Egypt and the great work of redemption freeing his people, purchasing his people through the blood of the
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Passover lamb, drawing them out of their bondage, bringing them through the waters of death, the waters of judgment, bringing them to a land where they will dwell with him as their
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God and he will enjoy them as his people forever. We head into of course a new plague the fourth plague and also with that a new series of plagues if we divide the plagues into series of three leaving the tenth plague as the climax or standalone.
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Looking at chapter 8 beginning in verses 20 through 24 we see this plague is a swarm of flies or a perhaps a swarm of various insects various swarms of various insects verses 25 through 28 this plague results in Pharaoh making a plea for help and even though that plea is heard through the word of the mediator verses 29 through 32
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Pharaoh again hardens his heart so that's how we'll walk through these verses a swarm of flies a plea for help and a hardened heart
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Exodus 8 beginning in verse 20 and the Lord said to Moses rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out of the water then say to him thus says the
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Lord let my people go that they may serve me or else if you will not let my people go behold
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I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants on your people and into your houses the houses of the
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Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand and in that day
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I will set apart the land of Goshen in which my people dwell that no swarms of flies shall be there in order that you may know that I am the
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Lord in the midst of the land I will make a difference between my people and your people tomorrow this sign shall be so the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh resumes that was not the case with the third plague
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Aaron simply struck the ground and all of that dust turned into gnats lice ticks perhaps unlikely what have you now we have an actual showdown once again that's part of why we're structuring this series of three and this confrontation reminds us that Moses must stand before Pharaoh in order to declare the
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Word of God to this proud man and so often even in the midst of judgment we too must come before the powers that be and speak boldly as to the will of God even if it seems it will make no dent no deflection no effect whatsoever
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Moses is having to learn how to endure in this ministry that God has given him he'll have to do it with the hearted heart of Pharaoh he'll have to do it with the hardened hearts of the
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Israelites later on he'll have to stand boldly and persevere in standing boldly in order to declare
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God's will thus says the Lord he says to Pharaoh let my people go that's the constant refrain matching the constant refrain of Pharaoh's hardening heart let my people go that they may serve me again the service here servitude or enslavement is a play on words from the
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Hebrew abed also translated worship let my people go that they may worship me which is to serve him rather than serve
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Pharaoh which is to worship Pharaoh if you don't send my people out the
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Lord essentially says I will send swarms upon you if you're not going to send then
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I am going to send of course what he sends there's no answer to there's no industrial vats of off spray this is not a few flies flying and buzzing around the picnic basket everything is consumed according to Psalm 78 devoured by these flies except in the land of Goshen now we're reminded that these flies just as with the lice just as with the frogs just as with the
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Nile turned to blood are emblematic of decreation we've looked at that for the past several weeks judgment as decreation where instead of man exercising dominion and bringing order and proportionality to creation now creation is chaotic it's exercising dominion over man and bringing man to heal rather than man bringing creation to heal
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God of course is using this creative judgment to remind not only his people but confront
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Pharaoh with his power as the sovereign creator not only of the land of Egypt but of all that is therefore any aspect of creation whether sacred to the
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Egyptians or not can be put out of order by the touch of God by the finger of God his kingdom can be brought to bear in wrath upon the evil
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Empire he can use their precious resource of water he can use a teeming amount of frogs or he can use great clouds and clouds of insects but he's also confronting the idols of Egypt didn't make too much of a point of this but it is important and it wouldn't have been lost to Pharaoh and his court certainly wouldn't have been lost in the experience of the
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Egyptians as they connected nature to the various idols and so the bloody
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Nile representing emblematically the Nile blood of Isis or we saw the goddess
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Hekhet and here we have the God Kepra the swarms most likely the flying insects relating to this
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God who was signified by the scarab beetle the scarab this flying insect represented to the
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Egyptians the the God really of eternity or immortality the scarab most likely because of the way it would roll up dung reminded them of the sphere of the
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Sun which was an emblem of eternity and of the chief God of the Egyptians Ra and so most likely as we've seen successively to this point these plagues this judgment of God is exposing the fraudulence of idolatry and showing that in fact
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Yahweh has power over nature not these various gods that the Egyptians are worshiping
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John Urquhart the great Scottish commentator of a few centuries ago said the whole land would have been scattered with these sacred beetles swarming upon their grounds in their homes no movement would have been possible for these
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Egyptians without crushing this insect that they had come to adore and we can learn from this when
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God overthrows idolatry the very reverence which had been shown those idols only deepens the judgment of God so they have to themselves step on the very things they once revered that's what the judgment of God does to idolaters we might not bow down before scarab beetles in our day but you don't have to look very far to find people who under the chastising hand of God are forced to their own ruin under the very things or by the very things they once idolized a man is brought to ruin by his lust or by his addiction or by his wealth idols do not make good masters when
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God's judgment falls and in that day the Lord says
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I will set apart the land of Goshen so though no house is spared though every closet and every corner of the bedroom every cabinet when you open the microwave there's more insects clouding about except in the land of Goshen I don't know if you were driving on the highway if all of a sudden as soon as you hit that border and the great white sign said welcome to Goshen it was like leaving the air full of insects to just beautiful Goshen but that's how it's depicted here
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I will set apart the land of Goshen in which my people dwell no swarms of flies shall be there in order that you may know that I am the
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Lord in the midst of the land that was probably the only time in Goshen's existence that there had not been flies flying around everywhere but Goshen has swarms of flies you can't breathe or walk anywhere without being harassed by them in the land of Goshen there's no flies to be found must have been a great summer for God's people and of course
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God is doing this as he says to make a difference between the Egyptians and the
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Israelites I will make a difference this is not the first time or not the last time
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I should say we'll see this difference chapter 9 chapter 11 the Lord will say the same thing behold
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I make a difference between my people and your people this of course is a major theme we've already seen we began
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Genesis really from the start with God making a difference as a result of the fall singling out the seed of the serpent from the seed of the woman and that ran down through the very sons of Adam down through Abel and down through you know from Seth to Abel down through Noah through the
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Semitic line of Shem through Abraham and then within those descendants even singling out
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Jacob from Esau and so forth so we see this division this difference that God is constantly making between his people and the people of the world and it's a reminder here that Egypt this evil
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Empire is signifying the fallen world or the evil world the principles and powers the serpentine fueled
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Empire that's Egypt it's the city of man at this time
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Babylon will be 2 .0 a Syria Rome God is always making a difference between his people interestingly the word we translate as difference here could be translated as division in the
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Hebrew is more normatively translated as redemption very interesting and the
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Greek seems to you know there's a reason our translations of the Old Testament follow Hebrew because we believe that the writers as they were writing out the
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Hebrew script were inspired by God in what they wrote as they wrote it anything else any other translation may be credible and may be trustworthy but we don't hold it to be the original autograph which is inspired it's a very important point so the
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Greek translation though it's ancient what we call the Septuagint though that's often trustworthy and the
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Apostles often quote from the Septuagint rather than from the original Hebrew and yet it seems that the
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Septuagint was trying to correct this they chose a Greek word that has nothing to do with redemption it's simply division or difference diastole simply division but in the
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Hebrew the word is redemption Pehut which comes from Pahad I'll give you an example of elsewhere where this is used look at the context
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Psalm 111 verse 9 he has sent redemption he has sent division to his people he has ordained his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name
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Psalm 130 verse 7 Oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is loving kindness a covenant faithfulness and with him is abundant redemption division difference
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Isaiah 50 verse 2 why was there no man as I came when
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I called why is there none to answer is my hand so short that I cannot ransom redeem divide so everywhere we find this verb being used it's speaking of God's great redemptive act his salvation act and so it seems to be perhaps a play of words
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I'm making a difference between my people and your people and that difference amounts to the fact that I am their
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Redeemer not just the God who commands all that I have made but the God who redeems a people he has made for himself the difference between Israel and Egypt of course is not just found in the plagues but as we'll see it's found in the redemption that's really the heart of Exodus it's the
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Passover and all that God will do in bringing his people out so we don't stop at judgment we allow judgment to point us toward redemption the difference of course is made here so that Pharaoh will recognize this is who the
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Lord is this is what the Lord is capable of and yet look at the covenant faithfulness of the
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Lord Pharaoh must have been beside himself are these Israelites so precious to you are they worthy of that have you seen them have you been around them we read already at the end of Genesis that the
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Israelites were abomination to the Egyptians Pharaoh must have thought what kind of God would go to such great length for a people like this
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Moses must have thought the same thing later on what kind of God would go to such great lengths for people like this but this is who
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God is we read on verse 24 and the
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Lord did so so that a beautiful verse and the Lord did so it's a contrast between Pharaoh who keeps saying what he's going to do and never doing the things he says
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God says what he's going to do and he always does what he says thick swarms of flies come to the house of Pharaoh into the servants houses into all the land of Egypt the whole land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies so not only is the land overwhelmed it's defiled it's corrupted the verb there is often translated laid waste it's the same verb that is used to speak of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by God the land utterly consumed utterly wiped away laid waste and all of this leads secondly to Pharaoh making a plea for help beginning in verse 25 then
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Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said go sacrifice to your
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God in the land and Moses said it's not right to do so we would be sacrificing the abomination of the
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Egyptians to the Lord our God if we sacrifice the abomination of the
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Egyptians before their eyes then they will not stone us will they not stone us we will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice of the
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Lord our God as he will command us Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron we note for the first time the magicians aren't on the scene for the first time
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Pharaoh is not calling for his magicians since they now have been testifying this is the finger of God he doesn't want to hear from them and with this judgment we almost think that Pharaoh is brought to a softening of heart when we read go sacrifice to your
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God we're just thinking yes the confetti cannons are about to burst but then as we keep reading he says go sacrifice to your
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God in the land well that's not what God said God did not say let my people sacrifice in the land he said let my people leave the land send them out of the land that they may worship me
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Moses of course is obedient to God's command and he's already noticing a sort of feigned obedience on Pharaoh's part and so Moses is very clear notice just this interchange
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Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron when you're calling for these men you are apparently in the position of power you have the power to summon them you have the power to disperse them
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Pharaoh is always surrounded by the thought by the enterprise of his power he calls and men come he commands and men go he raises up armies he conquers other kingdoms what
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Pharaoh says is going to happen and yet he calls this man again under this delusion of power and authority as he's being covered in flies by the way and he says this go as if he has the power go sacrifice to your
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God in the land that sounds like a capitulation but it's not this is not obedience to what
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God has commanded this is Pharaoh saying here's what I'll command here's what I'll offer it will be on my terms by my authority and notice he does not say
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Yahweh go sacrifice to your God simply Elohim could be translated gods he might not he might be purposely refusing to acknowledge
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Yahweh and that's why Moses corrects him he says it's not right we would be sacrificing the abomination of the
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Egyptians to the Lord our God to Yahweh you know his name
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Pharaoh you know who has brought these things upon you you know that everything I've said has come to pass you know that you don't have authority in this situation though you keep presuming it
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Moses is essentially calling Pharaoh's bluff but he's very gracious in the way that he does it he's also
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I think it's a thorny kind of graciousness there's a few ways to understand this phrase abomination of the
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Egyptians well first of all we could look at it and say is it something that the
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Egyptians would see as an abomination as the Israelites did it the way that the Israelites sacrificed maybe even what they sacrificed was something that was an abomination to the
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Egyptians as Moses is saying to them let you know if we were to go in the land as you've commanded that the sacrifices that we'll make are going to be an abomination to your people now that seems to make some sense because he also says will they then not stone us right they see us will they not then stone us but it may also be that in fact he's calling the
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Egyptian land the sort of place of Egypt the abomination of the
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Egyptians in other words they're gonna stone us because we have rival worship that is going to confront their idolatry they're gonna see that as rival worship they're already seeing the effects of the plague and if all of a sudden the
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Israelite slaves are there making sacrifice to Yahweh they're gonna think you're only gonna further this plague you're gonna only further upset our
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God so the rival worship may be that which is an abomination to the Egyptians it's hard to say either way
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I think I lean to the former but I would like to point out this if this was true that the
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Egyptians and seeing the Israelites worship Yahweh would want to stone them we can see that even though they are under God's judgment they still will follow after their own failed gods all their priests and all their sacrifices all their rituals all their magicians all the things that they were putting their security in have failed they're all watching these plagues wash over them and the more they pray and cry out in their temples the more sacrifices they make the more they realize there's no response there's no diminishment only
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Yahweh only the God of the Israelites is the one who can both bring and take away and yet that still doesn't peel them away from their idols though they're experiencing the judgment of God they're still trusting in and serving the gods that are failing them the idols that are crushing them and I see of course that as a parallel to people today they will not relent from their idolatry though their idolatry is bringing them only further and further into the judgment of God they'll still zealously adore zealously serve those idols in their lives judgment itself the very finger of God will not peel them away
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Moses is forthright Pharaoh is serpent -like deceitful like Satan fiddling with words you can go aren't
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I obedient aren't I responsive is this enough to get away from judgment only in the land on my terms by my authority
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Moses essentially says no everyone in the land follows your command
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Pharaoh but when your command is against God's command I follow the
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Lord Moses says as much we must follow
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God's command he's implying Pharaoh you must follow
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God's command John Calvin says this is so typical for the reprobate they think that they have sufficiently done what
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God has required of them though they yield ever so little to him right they'll give
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God an ounce of the things that he commanded and they'll say that was sufficient now now
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I'm good with him now I have a right standing with him and Calvin goes on to say it arises they would do this with impunity they would be willing to rob him of all when the power of resisting fails them they so descend to submission in an attempt to defraud him of his due honor you see what
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Calvin is saying there the very least control that they can give away the very least sort of pinch of ash that's the most that an unbeliever will give to God when they're under the thumb of his judgment or discipline there's not actually a heart that is responsive to God saying
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I see my hard -heartedness I see that I'm wrong I see that I'm foolish and hopeless and I need your grace and mercy
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I asked for your forgiveness I asked for your redemption in my life there's none of that there cannot be the response
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I yield to you with my life I surrender my all to you I want my will to bend to your will
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I want my desires to be your desires I want your presence in my life do you see any of that in Pharaoh no it's the very least what's the bare minimum that I have to do so that I don't feel guilty in my conscience and I can expect some type of blessing a relief in my life what's the bare minimum be very careful
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God will often give your heart's desire in that way you want to give me the bare minimum very well your foot will slip in due time just enough to soothe your conscience not enough to change your ways just enough to get in a good direction not enough to turn around and seek the
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Lord very well very well the
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Lord says Pharaoh still seems sincere intercede for me notice he gives these terms
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I will let you go aren't I responsive aren't I obedient I'm letting you go isn't that what you asked
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I'm letting you go you may sacrifice to the Lord Yahweh your
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God in the wilderness I'll even come to terms I'll use his name only he can't help but have that could only not far away it always has to be on his terms he will not yield authority to the
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Lord but he still says intercede for me and I don't think that's insincere I think it was hard for him to ask something like that but he's covered in flies his whole empire all but the land of Goshen is covered in flies is he really broken is he really contrite no he just wants relief from the consequences of his stubbornness and so we see him thirdly hardening his heart
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Moses said indeed I am going out from you I will entreat the Lord and the swarms of flies made the part tomorrow from fear
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I love Moses he's like you have to sit it out for the night I'll pray for you
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Pharaoh yeah you finally relent but not very far okay well then I will intercede for you tomorrow we can go back and forth all day long but let
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Pharaoh not deal deceitfully anymore and not letting the people go to sacrifice to the
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Lord and Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord we talked about that word that idea of intercession or mediation last week notice the the eager humility of Moses he's willing to intercede though Pharaoh has maltreated him though he's insulted the
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God of the Israelites though he's rejected the word of this mediator when he says plead for me
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Moses is willing to plead for him Moses is shown to be merciful and gracious and compassionate and he's only that way because he serves a
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God who is merciful slow to anger quick to show mercy but though Moses is all of these wonderful qualities qualities that Christians need by the way especially in days like this be careful that you don't get sucked into a vortex of sort of conservative rhetoric we're happy to see some pushback on some of the the leftist agenda and the leftist depravity but be careful with what choruses you join among I would say we should never have something degrading or biting we don't want to join our song which is the lamb song with a song of mockers and back biters so be very careful especially with foolish joking you know
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I'm saying this to myself as much I collect memes on making fun of the left we have to be careful we really have to be careful lest we have a heart more like Pharaoh and less like Moses we should be those who are pleading and interceding rather than mocking and laughing at those who are depraved and hardened in their rebellion against God now well -placed humor is well -placed humor
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Paul uses that against the Judaizers that there is a place to make a strong point or to be bold or to point out the utter foolishness and depravity of the abominations of our society but not at the expense of desiring
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God's mercy to fall upon them that's the key not at that expense I will make a difference between my people and your people that's what
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I'd like to focus on of course we leave off the text Pharaoh is once again hardened his heart ripening himself for further judgment in the fifth plague next week but I want to camp out in the time we have left simply on this beautiful statement from the
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Lord I will make a difference between my people and your people
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God says to Pharaoh from this point forward I want you to be very thoughtful about what kind of power
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I have not only power to throw chaos over nature to raise up every aspect of creation and topple your empire with it but power also to spare and preserve my people if I have power to bring your people to ruin
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I also have power to preserve and save my people and Pharaoh you don't have power to destroy my people and you don't even have power to save and preserve your people that's the difference between you and me
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God of course and we're gonna look at this more intensely next week God of course has the power to save his own that'll be our big focus next week the power to preserve his own but first in order to do that and as he does that God makes a difference so three things and I'm gonna elaborate a little bit and in some ways
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I'd like to maybe glimpse a preview of the logic of Exodus in an abbreviated way but first just the big picture of how
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God has made a difference three aspects putting it all down into a few thoughts
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God has made a difference first from eternity past God has made a difference secondly in the fullness of time at the cross and then thirdly
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God has made a difference moving us by his spirit toward consummation so from eternity past in the fullness of time at the cross and by his
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Holy Spirit toward consummation that's how God makes a difference among his people please notice just at the outset all of this is of God all of this is of God it says as much
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I will make a difference between my people and your people my people God says don't make a difference by themselves they don't make a difference of themselves in fact they would not be different if it weren't for me
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I am the one that makes my people different it is what I have done what I am doing and what
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I will do that makes my people different from any other people and that begins in eternity past we've already said we've been tracing this theme of difference or separation all the way back to Genesis but we know even in the logic of Genesis this difference the separation was in the mind of God before he made the foundations of the world this division is as old as eternity if we could put it that way in the divine mind of the
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Lord in the purpose and decree of the Godhead the Father had chosen in Christ from all eternity those that would be made different unto him those that he in the fullness of time would come to save and move them by his spirit through time toward the consummation in a new heavens and a new earth you should come to SLVC tonight we're gonna be talking about chapter 8 we're just starting chapter 8 which is all about Christ the mediator we'll spend a little bit of time talking about this counsel and covenant that existed before creation this covenant made between the father and the son so come tonight and share in that discussion we have a lot more we're going to talk about also about Christ as our prophet priest and king and what that means for us and the church as well well
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God has made a difference in eternity past that's the only reason that there is any difference at all everything that happens in time and everything that will happen in redemption complete is a result of what
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God had purposed before he created anything the difference was made before anything was made it was made in the purpose of God's decree that means if you're a believer here this morning
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God had made you different before he made the foundations of the world it was from eternity past that God made this difference it was not of your own doing not of your own choosing not of some radio message you heard in the back seat of your 87
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Camry and you just decided it's really time I take this thing seriously I'm gonna give my life to the Lord and isn't it great that I chose to make myself different no might have felt that way but that's not the reality of how salvation works
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God's eternal decree corresponds to the fullness of time that phrase by Paul which is used to describe what we would call the
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Christ event the incarnation and the life and the sacrificial atoning death and the resurrection and ascension of the
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Lord Jesus in the fullness of time and yet in a unique way the separation was made at the cross at the cross the cross corresponds to all of that from eternity and all that was weaving its way toward that fullness of time and yet singularly we could say the cross in a unique way made that difference the difference was only in the decree of God until it was fully realized at the cross when
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Jesus Christ expired breathing out his last saying it is finished and that wasn't just the crucifixion wasn't just that sacrifice it was all that had been worked out from eternity past to the very fullness of time in that purpose of redemption through Christ's blood the forgiveness of sins so the cross of Jesus is everything for a
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Christian when we were powerless to save ourselves when we were no different such were some of us running in the same flood of dissipation
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God made us different not only by his decree but by sending his son in the world to die in our stead to receive the wrath that was due us so that in him way that we might become the righteousness of God that's why we're different and by that act we have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to us we're different if we're
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Christians because of the cross the cross stands like a sentinel between the church of the redeemed in the world which rejects with Pharaoh like stubbornness the will and the wisdom of God the cross stands like a refuge from the great gulf of death its jaws wide open to consume
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God has made a difference first and foremost by singling us out in eternity past but then in the fullness of time by securing our redemption through the blood of his
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Son upon the cross and thereafter not patting us on the back and say
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I got you halfway can you go the rest but in that same covenant made between the
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Father and the Son that corresponds to this covenant of grace the blood of the Son in which we stand he said the
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Son said of the Father those that he has given me I will lose none and for that reason it's better that I go because I'll send the helper who's not the kind of help that we typically experience have you ever gone to a customer service desk aren't you thankful the
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Holy Spirit is not like most customer service at most businesses the runaround the rolling of the eyes next you know well we can't do anything about that your passage like this has been very helpful 18 different calls constant you know you get how many times have you been on the phone and they say all right we need to connect you to a different department you're like I've been on 45 minutes this is the third person
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I've been connected to and they're like yeah well this is the right one they connect you and no one picks up you have to call and start all over again aren't you thankful that the helper is actually present in you not just to supplement the
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Christian life but to ensure that the good work that has begun in you is completed unto the day of Christ because Christ will lose none that the
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Father has given him and so it's a difference that is empowered and secured by the guarantee of the
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Holy Spirit it's wrought out in the daily means of grace which are themselves stirred and compelled by the
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Holy Spirit it's the Spirit who convicts sends the waves as it were of grief when we're walking in ways that are unbecoming of our calling when we're not separating ourselves from the way of the world he reminds us the blood of the
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Sun has made you different and so though we often hinder often grieve often quench often stumble the
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Spirit of God abides and perseveres with his people not because we have done anything to merit his presence but because God has chosen to make a difference
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God has made a difference one of the things that the
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Spirit draws us to is one of the great fruits of redemption and it carries the logic of the narrative of Exodus so this isn't the first time we'll look at these things in fact when we get to Exodus 20 we're gonna spend a lot of time considering this very thing but I'd like you to just keep in front of you the logic of the narrative of Exodus God redeeming rescuing his people out of bondage and slavery already saying they're my people we've already known that through the storyline of Genesis they're my people
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I have made them different I am going to redeem them and bring them out of their misery bring them out of their bondage and that redemption is going to be by the blood of the
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Passover sacrifice so the sacrificial atonement the cost of redemption comes as a result of God having made his people different in bringing them out of bondage but then what then they're guided to the foot of Sinai and they're made different not only by redemption but by receiving the law of God and so again see the logic please
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Israel is redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and then in the very place where God is their
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God and they are his people he gives them his law we're going to spend a lot of time looking at that two -step maneuver and what it means for the promise of the new covenant what that means for us as Christians so this is just a glimpse a preview an appetizer barely even that it's when you hover your mouse over a link and it gives you this little thumbnail and you can't even see anything in it but I want to at least get us thinking about the logic of being redeemed from the law for the law okay redeemed from the law for the law one of the ways that God makes his people different of course is not just from eternity signally and centrally at the cross and then by the
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Holy Spirit but one of the effects of the Holy Spirit according to the promise of the new covenant is that the law would now be written on our hearts no longer will a man say to his neighbor know the
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Lord by extension know the will of the Lord know the commandments of the Lord these things you're doing wrong
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Fred don't you know what God has commanded no in this covenant which is in the blood of the sacrifice from the least to the greatest they all know me they all have my presence by my spirit in their lives and what does that correspond to my law now written on their hearts now we've already established from past SLBC the law the moral demands of God is written on every heart but it's repressed in unrighteousness it's effaced by the depravity and hardness of man by the blindness of a darkened mind this is a different kind of writing of the law on the heart it's a writing for the sake of doing for being able to do by the
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Spirit because of the blood so God makes a difference in what we classically call as Calvinist the third use of the law the third use of the law which is sometimes called the didactic use of the law teaches us how to live teaches us the will of God it reveals to us what is pleasing to God that shows us why and what it looks like for the law to be holy just and good the law guides us to walk in the paths of blessing not as the law but because of the blood of Christ and what
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Christ's blood has done with our relationship to the law it's very important we're gonna spend a lot of time conquering that when we get to Exodus 20 the law apart from the blood of Christ is a yoke that neither we nor our fathers can bear it's a ministry of condemnation from which there is no escape but through the blood of Christ we are freed from the guilt and condemnation of the law so that we can actually understand how the law is holy just and good and be enabled by the
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Spirit to walk in accordance with the law as the Spirit sanctifies us from degree of glory to the next and that is why whether Old Testament or new those who knew the grace of God delighted in the law of God because they recognized this very law reflects the character of my gracious Creator the perfections and the beauties of His virtues they understood if we cannot delight in the law for what it reflects and we cannot delight in God would your current view of God's law lead you to pray like this with my whole heart
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I've sought you let me not wander from your commandments your word
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I've hidden in my heart so that I might not sin against you blessed are you O Lord teach me your statutes with my lips
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I've declared all the judgments of your mouth I've rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in every rich riches
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I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways I will delight myself in your statutes
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I will never forget your word give me understanding I shall keep your law indeed
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I'll observe it with my whole heart make me walk in the path of your commandments I delight in them oh how
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I love your law it's my meditation all the day you through your commandments make me wiser than my enemies and they are ever with me
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I have more understanding than my teachers your testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts and I've restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep your word
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I've not departed from your judgments you yourself have taught me how sweet these words are to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth through your precepts
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I get understanding therefore I hate every false way do you pray like this if you are always scathing against God's law as a
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Christian but enjoying your thoughts of God and enjoying your devotional quiet time with God it may be that you have not actually correctly reflected on God but created a
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God of your own imagination and pleasure the psalmist understands
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God is to be known according to his word he makes his people different it's no different between Exodus or the gospel he makes his people different by his own grace he brings them through the blood through judgment and then he says
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I am your God and you will be my people and here's the reflection of who
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I am and what you should be like if I am your God and you are my people I've made you different now he's removed condemnation he has fully for us he did even for the
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Israelites and giving them a sacrificial system but of course the blood of bulls and goats couldn't take away their sin it was always pointing to the
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Lord Jesus Christ and we don't for a moment get away from that gospel law distinction but we understand the gospel has freed us from the law the condemnation of the law so that we might live according to the law and delight in the law just like someone in 119 says we ought to delight in the law and you cannot delight in the law unless you've been rescued from the condemnation of the law by the blood of the sacrifice so we hold these two things together let me give you a little warning about I don't know a phrase for this
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I guess I would say satisfactory failing satisfactory failing what
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I mean by that is I think for a host of reasons we walk in a certain pattern of sin and we think because we've acknowledged that it's wrong and it's something that shouldn't be and we should change it we think oh well at least
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I see it I'm satisfied with that we think we kind of get the first use of the law sort of the schoolmaster we yeah
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I agree yeah I see that it's wrong and we're satisfied with that sometimes we're satisfied by a misunderstanding of the gospel we end up going against what
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Paul warns about in Romans 6 I see that it's wrong whoo I'm so glad that I'm not judged according to God's law seeing that it's wrong is not if you're satisfied with just acknowledging that it's wrong does that make you any different God does not give us the law in making us his own people for us to rest in our failure to keep it now we all stumble in many ways
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James says as much but notice I'm using a emphatic word here to rest in our failure to acquiesce and say well
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I know that it's wrong it shouldn't be this way but it's this way and the fact that I've acknowledged it means you really can't say anything to me are you gonna tell me it's wrong huh
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I know it's wrong that's a problem have you repented of it have you gone to the
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Lord have you claimed the blood have you begged of the Spirit have you found accountability have you used means of grace are you addressing that sin or resting in the failure acquiescing to the defeat do you see it's a repudiation of how
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God allows the blood of Christ to free us from guilt and condemnation not so that we can rest in failure but so that we can be free though often stumbling and often quenching and grieving we can be free by his grace to pursue a life that pleases him
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God does not give us his law in order for us to rest in our failure he transforms us by the power of the gospel to be freed from the curse of the law and delight in doing the work of the law the deeds of the law so Martin Lloyd -Jones and as we get to Exodus 20 we'll be using a lot from Martin Lloyd -Jones and his studies on the
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Sermon on the Mount quoting from Romans 7 1 the law is holy the commandment holy and just and good do not dismiss the law
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Lloyd -Jones says the law of God is perfect we're to keep it we are not under it there is no condemnation it's not a way of salvation but that doesn't mean we have no interest in it thank
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God we're no longer under the law as a way of salvation genuinely thank
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God for that that is no way of salvation that's condemnation but we are to keep it we're to practice it in our daily life
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I've enjoyed every other Wednesday going through 1st John with with Kenny jr.
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and I tell him every every time we meet I'm like ah we got a I got to preach 1st John this is so good and I love 1st
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John even in chapter 2 he has just presented you know we write these things so that you do not sin little children
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I write these things that you do not sin someone 19 I delight in your law so that I keep my steps from evil
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John John saying exactly and I'm writing this to you receive it in this way so that you don't sin but if you do sin we have an advocate with the
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Father Jesus Christ the righteous whose blood atones for our sins he's constantly putting the blood of the sacrifice that the freedom from condemnation right next to the need to obey and he says don't separate these two things don't say you can have one without the other don't keep them far apart put them next to each other look at Exodus the
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Passover blood and the giving of the law this is how I've set you apart and so right after he presents
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Jesus Christ as the atonement for our sins he says by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments he who says
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I know him does not keep his commandments as a liar the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him when you have a genitive in a phrase like love of God it's very hard to understand what the how the genitive is expressed how to understand it could be a subject of gender of an object of gender it could be
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God's love is perfected in him or that person's love of God is being perfected and sometimes when prepositional phrases aren't used the ambiguity is intentional in other words we're meant to say maybe it's a little bit of both and that's how
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I like to understand that if we keep his commandments it shows that we know him right by this we know that we know him don't you love that how do
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Hebrew thinkers emphasize repetition by this we know that we know this is how we know that we know that we've known him we keep his commandments the one who says
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I know him and does not keep the commandments is a liar but whoever keeps his word that's what his commandments are that's what his law is it's his word truly
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John says the Apostle John the Apostle of love says truly the love of God is perfected in him and I think that's intentionally ambiguous
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God's love is being perfected in him we live in a climate where God's love is being put over against his law the culture and cultural liberal
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Christians notice scarequotes please Christians say you can either have God's love or God's law but you can't have both and so when you point out from Leviticus why homosexuality is an abomination
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I'm gonna quote Jesus about your need to love because we know that there's either law or love and you can't have both
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I'm sorry have you been reading first John when you keep his law
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God's love is being perfected in you and what does that correspond to also your love of God that's psalm 119 delight because I keep these things and I refrain my feet from these ways
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I'm seeing more of you I'm delighting more in you I'm becoming wiser than my enemies even wiser than forebears it's because I love you and know you that I'm keeping it and because I'm keeping it in this way your love is being perfected in me and my love for you is being perfected as well the problem is we often grate on a curve we often give pass -fails and we call that grace we say that's even loving but it's not just John it's what
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Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments and most likely that is exactly what
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John is implying here he's quoting or paraphrasing
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Jesus who said if you love me keep my commandments and he says when you keep his word that love is being perfected in you you say you love him you want that love to be matured to be perfected keep his commandments the third use of the law you cannot do it unless you know him as the
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Passover sacrifice he already said as much a few verses earlier that is how God makes a difference so the last question we have to ask turning that statement
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God has made a difference into a question has
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God made a difference for you God makes a difference for his people has
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God made a difference in you one of the things that Puritans often had to wrestle with was having churches full of cultural
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Christians people that would go through the motions and read the catechisms and live decent lives but seem to have no evidence of real saving knowledge and so they were constantly you know we someone shows up we think they're all they're probably already a believer just to show you came of your own free will all right you're probably in the kingdom we just assume the
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Puritans were like everyone shows up and everyone looks halfway decent so we sometimes fault them for being so precise straining at gnats we see them as sort of you know almost horrifically you know self indulgent in examining themselves when in fact they were just being very careful because they know how deceptive the heart of man is and how clear the division needs to be between those who actually have found the grace of God in Christ and those who only claim to and one of the most terrifying books along these lines is by the
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Puritan Matthew Meade called the almost Christian and he rehearses chapter -by -chapter all of the things that you can have in your life and in your thinking and in your heart that persuade you that you're a
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Christian and yet be almost a Christian and if you can make it through that book and you have assurance from God I think you are a
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Christian and the point of course is you can search over the word you can mourn over your sins you can labor and labor unto the
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Lord and all of those things may only amount to being an almost Christian as John Owen would say elsewhere indeed
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I might endlessly bewail the foolish labor of poor souls who being convicted of sin and yet not able to stand against the power of that conviction set themselves up to keep down sin by countless ways and duties the sort of Catholic guilt solution just keep rubbing rosary beads and going to confession and running soup kitchens and donating blood have
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I atoned for anything yet all in vain Owen says they combat without victory they have war without peace they're in slavery all their days they spend their strength for that which is not bread their labor never brings profit why they didn't begin with the blood of the sacrifice they're trying to atone for themselves they're looking at the law as a way of salvation and when you look to the law as a way of salvation your condemnation is sure if you have not found salvation in Christ if you presently this morning are outside of Christ you are accountable for every word every jot every tittle of the law that you always have and continue to this day to break and that same law which you may attempt to walk after may try to bring into your life will offer you no hope of escaping his wrath if it's true that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ the opposite is equally true there is nothing but condemnation for those who are outside of Christ but our faith the reason that we are different is because Jesus Christ who manifested in flesh the very perfections of the law keeping them flawlessly and fully in every detail not by word but by spirit from the very heart and all sincerity and all constancy with full depth and sincerity of devotion never never swaying even to the slightest degree but to every measure fulfilling all that God required of him and then in that very same flesh having kept every point of the law and therefore meriting what with what no human being could ever hope to merit the eternal everlasting inheritance the blessing of God and though he never broke a single jot or a single tittle we broke and broke and broke and broke every righteous requirement of the law but he gave himself to be condemned in his body on the tree so that his perfect obedience to the law would become that clothing that atoning covering for us that is why there is no condemnation for those who are in him the whole world is divided between lawbreakers and law keepers that's the difference
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God has made but those law keepers are not Christians who are trying to do better they're
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Christians who are law keepers in the book of God because they're united to Christ by faith and he alone fulfilled the law on their behalf and when we look at it in this way as Martin Lloyd Jones said we understand the whole purpose of salvation is to enable us to keep the law of God is that surprising for you to hear then look at Exodus very carefully why did
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God bring his different people out through the blood and through the sea of judgment and made him his there his own at the mount why did he do that so that they would keep his law saved from the law as a
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Christian for the law we were brought forth in sin and yet we are law keepers we continually fall short of what
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God has required and yet he looks upon us and sees his beloved son and he says justified justified however distant you've wandered however far you've fallen whatever offenses you have even now mounting up on your account if you have faith in the
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Lord Jesus Christ you have fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law through his blood that's the gospel so the question is has that blood has that atonement made a difference for you did he shed his precious blood for me to be no different one of the ways you'll know that this love of God is being perfected in you is that as you're trying to keep the law unto this glory and delight in God you'll see just how hard it is and how deep it goes and how impossibly far you are from keeping it and what is the love of God being perfected it's not it's a lot more than psalm 119 it's not just a delight in the statutes it's a delight in the the
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Savior who bled and died for you so the motivation is not the law itself it's not the wisdom of the law it's not the righteousness or the justice or the goodness or the holiness of the law what motivates you to it is the precious blood of Christ of course
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I want to keep the law of course I want to do your will you were the one who rescued me and saved me and has given me every promise and every blessing surrounded as I'm seated with you in the heavenly places and so we asked the question not have
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I been holy have I been just have I been good am I following through am I different because of the law we asked this question as Christians did he shed that precious blood so that I would be living like this
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I would be thinking like this acting like this looking at others like this behaving like this struggling with this did he shed his blood so that I would be no difference behold behold the
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Lamb of God for he shed his precious blood Oh hear his all -important cry
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Eli lama sabachthan I draw near see the Savior die behold his arms extended wide behold his bleeding hands his side the
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Sun withholds its rays of light the heavens are clothed in shades of night while Jesus wins his glorious fight by faith we see him lifted up he drinks for us the bitter cup the rocks rend the mountains quake while Jesus all our sins does take while Jesus suffers for our sake and now the mighty deed is done the battle fought the victory won to heaven he turns with triumphant eyes tis finished now the conqueror cries then bows his sacred head and dies
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I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer
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I who live but Christ lives in me so the life I now live in the flesh
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me gave himself for me did he shed that precious blood so that I would be no different he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sin atonement might live for righteousness that's
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Exodus that's Christianity that is why Martin Lloyd Jones could say the whole design of salvation is so that we would be able to keep the law that has everything to do with our justification and everything to do with our sanctification and everything to do with our glorification everything to do with our enjoyment in a new heavens in a new earth if you could not keep the law of God fully the new heavens in the new earth would be a hell to you if you were struggling and backsliding and fumbling as you do this day in the days of glory the presence of Christ would be a terror to you the fact that he has redeemed you through his blood and is bringing you progressively to a land where you will dwell with him forever and in that consummated glory you will keep his law perfectly by what he has done not what you have done is what makes heaven heaven and what makes glory glory and what makes our eternal joy eternal joy you will never again struggle with the righteous requirement of the law not only in justification has it been fulfilled on your behalf but in glorification as you see
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Christ and are made like him you yourself will spend eternity walking in perfect accordance and delight with the law that is something that someone 19 could not even imagine this side of glory has
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God made a difference for you did Jesus shed his blood so that you would be the same let's pray father comfort those who are afflicted and fiery darts of the accuser are ringing in their consciences if they're under the blood
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Lord let them see they're under the blood and rejoice in their justification where hearts are hardened and stubborn and resistant and proud pierce them with your arrows of grace show them their lost estate show them that they now must answer for every requirement of your law unless one answers on their behalf bring them conviction lead them to repentance save them by your grace make a difference