July 17, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Good morning, brothers and sisters, and welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand.

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And hear God call you to worship him through his word. For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the words should not be spoken to them anymore.

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But you have come to Mount Zion, in the city of the living God, to heavenly

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Jerusalem, to the innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the

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Firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

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See that you do not refuse him who speaks, for if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.

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But now he is promised saying, yet once more a shake not only the earth, but also heaven.

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Now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as the things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

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Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve

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God acceptably in reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

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Let us pray, O Lord, you are the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise

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God. You are the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an in unapproachable light, whom to name has, whom no name has seen or can see.

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To you be honor and eternal dominion. We bless the God and Father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

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We praise the glory of your grace that chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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We thank you that in love you predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.

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We rejoice that you have been sealed in Christ, that we have been sealed in Christ, with the

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Holy Spirit of promise, who has given us as a pledge of our inheritance. We worship and adore you,

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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Open the eyes of our hearts that we may know the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of our inheritance and the surpassing greatness of your power toward us in Jesus Christ.

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All of this you have brought about in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at your right hand in the heavenly places.

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Receive our worship and praise to the glory of your grace. We ask all these things in Christ's name.

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Amen. As you're able, please kneel for our corporate confession of skit of sin.

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Let us join together in confessing our sins. Jesus, forgive my sins.

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Forgive the sins that I remember and the sins I have forgotten. Forgive my many failures in the face of temptation and those times when

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I have been stubborn in the face of correction. Forgive the times I have been proud of my own achievements and those when

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I have failed to boast anymore. Forgive the harsh judgments I have made of others and the leniency

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I have shown myself. Forgive the lies I have told to others and the truths

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I have avoided. Forgive me the pain I have caused others and the indulgence

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I have shown myself. Jesus, have mercy on me and make me whole.

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Amen. Amen. Please stand for the assurance of pardon. Who is a

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God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage?

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He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities.

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He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Brothers and sisters, rejoice that your sins have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west.

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And we pray all these things and thankful in the name of Christ. Amen. Please join me in singing by taking the trinity hymnal and turning to hymn 310,

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Rejoice, the Lord is King. Insert that is in the order of service and look for the one labeled,

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Bless the man that fears Jehovah, Psalm 128. This should be familiar to us.

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It was a Psalm of the month sometime back. I'm going to ask Alyssa to play through it once for us and then we'll join in after that.

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Alyssa? Please continue standing for the reading of God's word from Jeremiah 22.

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Thus says the Lord, go down to the house of the King of Judah and there speak this word and say,

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Hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David. You and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

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Thus says the Lord, execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor.

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Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the father or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

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For if indeed you do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house riding on horses and in chariots kings who sit on the accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.

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But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.

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For thus says the Lord to the house of the King of Judah, you are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet I surely will make you a wilderness.

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Cities which are not inhabited, I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons.

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They shall cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire. And many nations will pass by this city and everyone will say to his neighbor, why has the

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Lord done to this great city? Then he will, then they will answer because they have forsaken the covenant of the

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Lord, their God, and worshiped other gods and served them. Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him.

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Weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country. For thus says the

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Lord concerning Shalom, the son of Josiah, King of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah's father, who went from place to place.

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He shall not return here anymore, but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall see this land no more.

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Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's services without wages and gives him nothing for his work, who says

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I will build myself a house with this with spacious chambers and cut off, cut out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.

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Shall you reign because you would close yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness?

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Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy, then it was well.

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Was not this knowing me, says the Lord, yet your eyes and your heart are nothing but your covetousness, foreshadowing innocent blood and practicing oppression and violence.

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Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, King of Judah, they shall not lament for him saying, alas, my brother or alas, my sister.

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They shall not lament for him saying, alas, master, or alas, his glory. He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

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Go up to Lebanon and cry out and lift up your voice in Bashan. Cry for a cry for from Averim.

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For all your lovers are destroyed. I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said

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I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth that you did not obey my voice.

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The wind shall eat up all your rulers and your lovers shall go into captivity. Surely, then you will be ashamed and humiliated for all your wickedness.

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Oh, inhabitants of Lebanon, make yourself, make your nest in the cedars. How gracious will you be when pain has come upon you like the pain of woman and labor.

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As I live, says the Lord, though Kaniah, the son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, were the signet of my right hand, yet I would pluck you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those whose face you fear.

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The hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the hand of the Chaldeans. So I will cast you out and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born and there you shall die.

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But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.

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Is this man, Kaniah, a despised broken idol, a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, and cast into a land which they do not know?

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Oh earth, earth, earth. Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days.

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For none of his descendants shall prosper sitting on the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah.

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This is the reading of the word. Thanks be to God. Let us join together in confessing our common

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Christian faith by the singing of the Apostle's Creed. Let's once again pick up the

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Trinity hymnal and turn to hymn number 44. Great is thy faith.

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I'm, sorry. How great thou art. Hymn 44. After this manner, therefore pray.

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Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come.

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Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

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And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

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Amen Pray that we may glorify God in all that we do

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As we live and work in the creation that displays his power And be pleased to dispose all things to his own glory

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Lord hear our prayers Pray that satan's kingdom may be destroyed and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced

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Ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it and the kingdom of glory hastened

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Lord hear our prayers We ask that you would be with us today as your people as we gather to worship you

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And we ask that As your people gather throughout the world that you would use your people to bring

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Those who are lost and hurting unto yourself that your kingdom would grow And that the kingdom of satan would be diminished

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Father we pray that you'd be glorified Pray that those who are around the world who live in countries or places where they may be persecuted for their faith

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Lord, we pray that you would give them strength that they would be alive and do that. We pray this as jesus

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Pray that god for christ's sake would freely pardon all our sins And we are encouraged to ask this because by his grace we are able from the heart to forgive others

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Lord hear our prayers Lord god as they all come from a lack of faith and a lack of ascribing glory

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Pray that god would either keep us from being tempted to sin or support and deliver us when we are tempted

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Our father

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Taking encouragement and prayer from you alone in our prayers We praise you ascribing kingdom power and glory to you

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And to testify of our desire and assurance to be heard. We say together amen

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Please stand and once again take the insert For the singing of our psalm of the month.

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Let israel now say in thankfulness psalm 124 Great standing in the exodus for this is

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God's holy end. So moses went and returned to jethro his father -in -law and said to him

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Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in egypt And see whether they are still alive

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And jethro said to moses go in peace Now the lord said to moses and midian go return to egypt for all the men who sought your life are dead

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Then moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey and he returned to the land of egypt

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And moses took the rod of god in his hand and the lord said to moses when you go back to egypt

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See that you do all those wonders before pharaoh, which I have put in your hand But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go

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Then you shall say to pharaoh Thus says the lord israel is my son my firstborn

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So I say to you let my son go that he may serve me But if you refuse to let him go indeed

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I will kill your son your firstborn And it came to pass on the way at the encampment

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That the lord met him and sought to kill him Then zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at moses feet

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And said surely you are a husband of blood to me So he let him go

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Then she said you are a husband of blood because of the circumcision

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And the lord said to aaron go into the wilderness to meet moses So he went and met him on the mountain of god and kissed him

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So moses told aaron all the words of the lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him

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And moses and aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of israel

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And aaron spoke all the words which the lord had spoken to moses Then he did the signs in the sight of the people

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So the people believed and when they heard that the lord had visited the children of israel

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That he had looked on their affliction They bowed their heads and worshipped

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May the lord be pleased with our study of his most holy word today Please pray with me

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Oh lord, we thank you for the testimony of your scripture We thank you that you have clearly spoken to us through your word

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We thank you for the life of moses and zipporah and for this great act

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That you have performed in redeeming a man who broke covenant

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Who would lead the people as an instrument in your hand out of pharaoh's tight grip?

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And in all of this we pray that we would see more and more of the glory of christ

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And it's in jesus name that we pray amen Please be seated

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The title of the message today is covenantal obedience covenantal obedience

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I preached genesis 22 last week because I had exodus 4 on my mind

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You say well, how does that follow well? There is perplexing things that happen in exodus 4 in the same way.

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There are perplexing things in genesis 22 You'll recall from last week the son of promise isaac uh the one through whom the the promises are to be executed and realized given to abraham that his descendants would be

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More numerous than the stars in the heavens or the sands of the seashore Isaac was called to be offered god called abraham to offer isaac on the altar

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As an offering a burnt offering to god As you remember god graciously provided a substitute with the ram caught in the thicket and we were struck in some measure how abraham would be called to to bring his son isaac to this place and how submissive isaac was to Take this challenge of being a sacrifice and being offered there on the altar

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Today we have another perplexing story the promise of covenantal blessing from god demands covenantal obedience from us abraham was called to be the father of many nations

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And god challenged him to be obedient to the command to offer his son and abraham exhibited

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Covenantal obedience he was willing to offer isaac on the altar

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Moses is the man called of god to lead the people out of egyptian bondage

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And yet he Faces the wrath and judgment of god and death because he failed to keep covenant a striking warning encouragement for us today

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I've got a few points of outline for those of you who are taking notes should help you with your Following along first is the calling of moses.

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We'll very briefly just read through some of exodus 3 the calling of moses second

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Moses questions god moses questions god third moses leaves midian with his family on this trek to deliver israel moses leaves midian with his family

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And fourth probably the central point of the message where we'll spend most of our time zipporah circumcises moses's son zipporah circumcises moses's son

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And fifth the promise of deliverance The promise of deliverance i'm gonna read through that one time quickly

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And hopefully you'll be able to catch it on the way through first is the calling of moses second moses questions god third moses leaves midian with his family fourth zipporah circumcises moses's son and fifth the promise

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Of deliverance turn back with me to exodus chapter 3 i'm going to read some of this quickly

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It's important to remember some of the history of moses By when he was 40 years old he killed a man

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And he was had to flee for fear of punishment And he finds himself in midian and there he meets a faithful woman

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Named zipporah who is tending to her father's flocks And he gets integrated into the family of jethro by virtue of his marriage to zipporah consider exodus chapter 3 verse 1

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Now moses was tending the flock of jethro his father -in -law the priest of midian

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And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to horeb the mountain of god

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And the angel of the lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush

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So he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed

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Then moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn

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So when the lord saw that he turned aside to look god called to him from the midst of the bush and said moses moses

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And he said here I am And he said do not draw near this place.

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Take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground Moreover, he said

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I am the god of your father the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob And moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon god

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And the lord said I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in egypt

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And have heard their cry because of their taskmasters For I know their sorrows

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So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the egyptians And to bring them up from that land

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To a good and large land to a land flowing with milk and honey To the place of the canaanites and the hittites and the amorites and the perizzites and the hivites and the jebusites

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Now therefore behold the cry of the children of israel has come to me And I have also seen the oppression with which the egyptians oppressed them

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Come now therefore and I will send you to pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of israel out of egypt and you can say that this is part of Point two moses begins to question god

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But moses says to god who am I that I should go to pharaoh and that I should bring the children of israel out of egypt

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Moses is known to be the meekest man the most humble man in scripture among the most humble men in scripture

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And so he looks at himself in a self -deprecating way. We can say this is probably virtuous at this point.

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Who am I? To do this great thing Verse 12 God says to him

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I will certainly be with you And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you when you have brought the people out of egypt

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You shall serve god on this mountain Then moses said to god indeed when

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I come to the children of israel and say to them The god of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me what is his name

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What shall I say to them? God said to moses.

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I am who I am. I want to pause and just say just how much I love that I am who

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I am I am the one living and true god And he said thus you shall say to the children of israel

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I am has sent me to you I should point out to you in john 8 jesus refuting error

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Speaking in the presence of the scribes and pharisees in john 8 58. He says Before abraham was

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I am When he said that every jewish person knew exactly what jesus was claiming to be he was saying that he was this god

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And they took up stones to kill him because of his

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They they perceive it to be blasphemy for him to speak in this way So the words jesus saying

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I am Before abraham was I am he's he's saying I am the god of exodus 3 very powerful

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Statement by our lord continue on in verse 15 Moreover god said to moses thus shall you say to the children of israel the lord god of your fathers the god of Abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob has sent me to you

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This is my name forever. And this is my memorial to all generations

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Go and gather the elders of israel together and say to them the lord god of your fathers the god of abraham of isaac and of jacob

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Appeared to me saying I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in egypt

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And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of egypt to the land of the canaanites and the hittites and The amorites and the perizzites and the hivites and the jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey

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Then they will heed your voice and you shall come you and the elders of israel to the king of egypt and he

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You shall say to him the lord god of the hebrews has met with us and now please let us go three j's journey into the wilderness

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That we may sacrifice to the lord our god But I am sure that the king of egypt will not let you go

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Not even by a mighty hand So I will stretch out my hand and strike egypt with all my wonders which

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I will do in its midst And after that he will let you go and I will give this people favor in the sight of the egyptians and it shall be when

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You go That you shall not go empty -handed But every woman shall ask of her neighbor namely of her who dwells near her house articles of silver articles of gold

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And clothing and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So shall you ponder the egyptians

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Moses questions god for his fitness for the task

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When god says in verse 12 I will surely be with you moses is questioning should cease

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His fears about his inability his slowness of speech and tongue which we'll hear about a little bit later

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All of these things should have gone away when he says I will be with you So that leads us now down to chapter 4 and the continuing questions that moses begins

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To ask the lord chapter 4 verse 1 moses answered and said but suppose they will not believe me

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Or listen to my voice Suppose they say the lord has not appeared to you.

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So the lord said to him. What is that in your hand? Moses doesn't have the ability and lord gives him three signs to perform

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His fears should be allayed by the lord's provision of these three. What's in your hand?

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He says a rod Cast it on the ground. So he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent

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And moses fled from it Then the lord said to moses reach out your hand and take it by the tail and he reached out his hand and caught it

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And it became a rod in his hand That they may believe that the lord god of their fathers the god of abraham

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The god of isaac and the god of jacob has appeared to you There's a second sign

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For sixth furthermore the lord said to him now put your hand in your bosom He put his hand in his bosom when he took it out.

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Behold. It was leprous Like snow and he said put your hand in your bosom again

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So he put his hand in his bosom again and drew it out of his bosom behold it was restored like his other flesh he

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Puts it in his bosom takes it out. It's leprous drying wilting diseased destroyed

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He puts it back into his bosom and takes it out. His hand is whole and pure and restored again

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Verse 8 Then it will be if they do not believe you nor heed the message of the first sign that they may believe the latter sign

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And it shall be if they do not believe even those two signs or listen to your voice that you shall take water from the river

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And pour it on the dry land The water which you take from the river will become blood

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On the dry land the lord provides abundantly signs

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Authenticating signs that moses would be able to use to convince the people that he is the lord's prophet

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But he continues to question the lord Oh my lord, he says

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I am not eloquent neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue the nobility of Moses's meekness and humility is now overshadowed by his unbelief

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And that's true for us. Sometimes we in our humility don't believe the promises of god we

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Think that it's not possible that god could deal with us in this way And the lord said to him who has made man's mouth verse 11 or who makes the mute the deaf the seeing or the blind

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Have not I the lord? Now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say

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And moses says oh my lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send

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The lord's promising to be with him. The lord has provided authenticating miraculous signs

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The lord says he's going to allow him to be the one to communicate these things And moses says

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I can't do it Send someone else for this job

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Look at verse 14 So the anger of the lord was kindled against moses

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And he said is not aaron the levite your brother. I know that he can speak well and look he is also coming out to meet you

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When he sees you he will be glad in his heart Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth

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And I will teach you what you shall do so he shall be your spokesman to the people and he himself shall be as a mouth for you and I and you shall

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Be as god to him You shall take his rod in your hand with which you shall do the signs

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Now the focus of our text in our time today point three moses now leaves midian

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So moses went and returned to jethro his father -in -law and said to him Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in egypt

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And see whether they are still alive. Why does moses not? Articulate to jethro the real reason we're going we don't know

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Moses has worked and served faithfully managing jethro's flocks for 40 years

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He's married to his daughter and jethro sends him out with his blessing

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Go in peace he says go back to egypt and see how your family's doing verse 19

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And the lord said to moses and midian Go return to egypt for all the men who sought your life are dead

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And moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey And he returned to the land of egypt and moses took the rod of god in his hand

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The lord said to moses when you get back to egypt see that you do all these wonders before pharaoh

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Which I have put in your hand But I will harden his heart that he will not let the people go

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Then you shall say to pharaoh thus says the lord israel is my son my firstborn

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So I say to you let my son go That he may serve me, but if you refuse to let him go to deed

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I will kill your son your firstborn. This of course is the context and sets the stage for the great event of passover exodus 12 the following but now we get to The part that's so hard and puzzling

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Israel is the nation of first rank among all the nations of the world

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They are under the heavy tyranny of egyptian bondage pharaoh like satan holds the people of god under bondage until they're delivered

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Israel god says is my firstborn It should be noted that israel as a nation is the firstborn

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Among the nations that all the nations of the earth would be blessed according to the abrahamic covenant and promise

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And as we know that god himself has sent his firstborn to be the idyllic

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Exemplary israel christ himself is the firstborn over all of creation the preeminent one over all things all of this is being put together pieced together in the redemptive narrative of god's word

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He says Let my son go for the purpose that he may serve me

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If you refuse to let him go, I will kill your son your firstborn son

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So moses is god's man moses is Going to be the instrument in god's hand to deliver israel out of egypt moses is going to be

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The mediator between god and men as it concerns the law of god given at sinai

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There's something to consider before that our fourth point

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Body probably most important of our text and it came to pass on the way

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At the encampment That the lord met him and sought to kill him

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As moses travels from midian to egypt they stop for the night at this encampment

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No doubt. They need to get refreshment for themselves and their animals and they need a place to see to sleep

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But we now see a dramatic turn of events How could god ask abraham to kill isaac the son of promise?

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And how could god now be on the cusp on the precipice of killing? moses the man of god the promise of covenantal blessing from god

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Demands covenantal obedience from us Moses has failed to keep covenant with his god

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Why is god's wrath kindled against the man he called to be the instrument of his great deliverance

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Moses failed to keep covenant. He did not circumcise His son as god required, please turn with me

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All of you who are able to genesis chapter 17 genesis 17

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When abraham was 99 years old the lord appeared to abram and said to him. I am almighty god walk before me and be blameless

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And I will make my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly

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Then abram fell on his face and god talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you

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And you shall be a father of many nations No longer shall your name be called abram

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But your name shall be abraham for I have made you a father of many nations

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And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you

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I want you to listen carefully to verse 7 Very important verse in scripture a very important principle laid down here

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And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant

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To be god to you and your descendants after you A promise that we hold dear here

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I will be your god. You will be my people Your children will be part of my family

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Covenant promises Stipulation covenant obedience I'll give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger all the land of canaan as an everlasting

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Possession and I will be their god And god said to abraham as for you

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Listen carefully everyone. You shall keep my covenant You and your descendants after you throughout their generations

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This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male child among you shall be circumcised

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And You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you the covenant sign circumcision moses knows the covenant sign moses had been circumcised

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Verse 10.

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This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you And your descendants after you every male child among you shall be circumcised

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Let's get down to verse 14. This is the part that the judgment that falls upon moses

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And exodus 4 and the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin

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That person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant

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Moses is going to lead the covenant keeping people of god He's going to convey and confer upon the people the very law of god

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But he himself has not kept covenant I believe that when moses had god appeared to him in the burning bush

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He needed to be reminded that his god was alive And the promises and the requirements of covenantal faithfulness must be upheld

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But he doesn't turn back to exodus 4

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Now there's some other factors in this Moses is this great man to lead israel out of egypt

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Reminiscent of isaac last week the promises run through him God himself we learned is going to deliver israel from the bondage of egypt

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Moses as his appointed leader must follow the covenant stipulations handed down through the patriarchs originating with abraham

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He must circumcise his son There's some other color that helps us understand what happened here

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The midianites who? Jethro was a priest of and zipporah was

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Of by lineage these people of jethro and zipporah they practiced circumcision

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But not on the eighth day the hebrew circumcision The midianites had a circumcision right that preceded

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Marriage, they would circumcise the groom to be allow him to be healed and he would

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Proceed with the marriage to his wife The midi midianites you may remember were descendants of midian

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Who was the son of abraham? from his second wife katora

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They were relatives of the hebrews, but outside of the covenant Interestingly moses would command later their destruction in exodus

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As they came against god and his people They are numbered earlier in the text of genesis with the slave traders in the incident with joseph

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And later in judges chapter 6 they would be vanquished by gideon

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They are often put in connection in close proximity to the ishmaelites the other descendants of abraham

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They were at that time sent to the land of the east genesis 25 Involved in the sale of joseph genesis 37

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Jethro, moses's father -in -law was a midianite priest living in that land of midian

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So the practice of jethro in zipporah was we do circumcision

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Before our sons get married and apparently moses acquiesced

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And Moses abdicated his responsibility to circumcise his son on the eighth day in favor

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Of the cultural practices the religious practices of his family his extended family this is a colossal failure on moses's part

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And the lord can you imagine the lord speaks to him through a burning bush He reassures him of all of his doubts and tells him he's going to be with him and provide all of these things for him

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He's going to do mighty things for him And then he approaches and lay holds lays hold of moses and grabs him

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Seeking to kill him now we have the faithfulness of zipporah

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And she doesn't do it without resentment but she knew something of The covenant promises and she took a flint stone and circumcised

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Cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it At moses's feet and this heroic impulsive act

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Can you imagine the howling and the screaming of the child however old he is gershom?

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Getting circumcised in this instant your mother grabs a flint stone flint rock knife kind of thing

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Takes off your clothes and circumcises you extremely extraordinarily painful to turn away the wrath of god it says in verse 25

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I should say verse 26 so he let him go the act of circumcision by zipporah

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But moses's son Propitiates in some way satisfies the wrath of god and the wrath is turned away from moses

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And he lives in verse 25 zipporah says

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Surely you are a husband of blood to me zipporah calls moses a husband of blood because She redeemed the life of moses through the loss of her child's blood

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She had to cut her own son in a very delicate part of his body that moses might live a husband of blood a husband of blood and this

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Causes god to relent in mercy upon moses I should point out to you that this points us to christ

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You say well, how does christ fit into this? I want you to see if you can determine look at the the passage the blood of the son

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Makes this atonement For moses God himself will redeem us through the loss of his son's blood

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She's angry at moses moses. Why were you not faithful? Why have I had to perform this very painful surgery on my son because of your unfaithfulness a husband

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Of blood to me she would say because of the circumcision

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And I think one thing that's important for us to consider We are all joyfully

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Under this incredible covenant of grace I'm, so thankful for that.

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Aren't you? But notice the character of god the holy precision of god

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Moses has been unfaithful in keeping covenant moses

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Is threatened with death? zipporah Doesn't practice this kind of circumcision, but she comes to her senses.

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I think this is a divine grace upon zipporah She sees what happens in the language of this in the hebrew

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It sounds as if that moses is gripped in some way that he's not even able to perform it

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Performs the right of circumcision that moses might not be Cast out and her son cast out from the promises of god covenant blessings require

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Our Covenantal obedience and faithfulness Our redemption would come through the shedding of the son's blood just like moses's

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Miniature redemption happens here the blood of the son saves him continue on verse 27

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And the lord said to aaron go into the wilderness to meet moses So he went and met him on the mountain of god and kissed him

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So moses told aaron all the words of the lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him then moses

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And aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of israel

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And aaron spoke all the words which the lord had spoken to moses Then he did the signs in the sight of the people the rod the hand no doubt the water turned to blood

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So the people believed And when they heard that the lord had visited the children of israel and that he looked on their affliction then they bowed their heads

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And worshiped him the promise of deliverance Causes the people to believe

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When they heard that the lord had visited the children of israel and he looked upon their affliction they

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They bowed down their heads and they worshiped him You and I also have a promise of deliverance in christ

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And not only a promise but a realization of that promise because of the perfect Covenantal obedience of our elder brother and savior christ, so we believe

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So we bow our heads in worship because of the realization the fulfillment of promise of deliverance of salvation has come in christ

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We must also now fulfill all our covenant obligations with unwavering faith and obedience

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Do you know that the lord promises blessings to christian marriage?

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But you know what husbands still have to love their wives for those blessings to be realized

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Wives still have to respect their husbands The promises are theirs.

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They're ours for the taking. They're they come by grace But they require something of us children obey your parents

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There's a lot of promise attached to that Right parents train up your children in the way that they should go

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He promises to be god to us and our children But we have to train up our children in the way.

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They should we have to just discipline them disciple them.

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We have to make sure that our Discipline does not exasperate them. There's something else.

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I think about this story. That's so fitting They often say that you really can't preach a sermon until you've lived it or believed it very deeply yourself

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I don't think at any point in the future. Moses is going to be cavalier about obeying the law of god

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Moses now because of this is ready To take on the covenantal obligation of being this prophet and king and a priest in some way for the people of israel

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He's painfully aware of the demands of god For complete obedience so today

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I ask you we regularly claim and rejoice in the covenant promises of god

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Do we recognize and appreciate and live as though god demands? Covenantal obedience from us.

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We have to do our faithful part. This is not works This is the result of faith

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This comes from us believing We take god at his word and we walk in righteousness

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Isn't it something? That's something that seems as simple as circumcision would be

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A failure to perform that would be enough to kill moses the man of god These things are important to our lord and they matter and they are sobering for us to consider

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As we enter into our time of communion, I want you to think about the covenant faithfulness of our lord jesus christ

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We don't have a righteousness to offer our god and he has supplied it

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God is on the precipice on the cusp of vengeful wrath against sinners like you and me

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But that wrath falls upon christ instead The gospel it seems fitting that we too should believe and fall on our faces and worship him and revel and delight and give thanks

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For this salvation that's been provided by christ the promise of covenantal blessing

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From god Demands covenantal obedience from us and thanks be to god.

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We have a mediator who has fulfilled all righteousness amen Let's pray together.

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Oh lord.

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We are desperate to be faithful people we are quick to run to your promises, but sometimes slack to Be obedient Lord, I pray that you would not punish us according to our sins or chasten us according to our sins

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But that you would as you have promised see christ in us And your wrath would be turned

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And that great love that you have for us is rooted in your love for christ And this would be winsome to us and motivate us to turn from our sin

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And to walk in newness of life again Oh lord, if there be any way in us that is not fitting of the people of god

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Conduct that's not worthy of the gospel of jesus christ. I pray that we would repent

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And that you would restore us to the full blessing of covenant faithfulness

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And ask all these things in jesus name Let's continue our time of worship through the presentation of the tithes and offerings

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Please stand And let's pray together Oh lord, we thank you for the work

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That you've given us to do the stewardship of our life and our time our abilities

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Lord, I pray that we would grow in our ability to manage all of these elements of our life

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Well in a way that pleases you we thank you for these offerings That are used to support the mission and work of the church

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And pray that they would be used faithfully to advance your kingdom. We ask this in jesus name

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Let us now with great joy Sing the gloria patria Is right in a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you

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Holy lord father almighty everlasting god because you sent your beloved son to redeem us from sin and death

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And to make us heirs in him of everlasting life That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world

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We may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven

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We praise and magnify your glorious name evermore praising you and singing

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Recognizing our creatureliness The substance the materials the earthiness the tastefulness of bread and wine

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And we ask that in the power of your spirit that we would receive in the

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Partaking of bread and wine the body and blood of christ crucified for us

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And that in this We would be nourished spiritually And have a greater sense of our union with christ

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And all of his people that he has taken us to be his own and we have responded with love and Taken him to be our own

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And that this would be a great sign and symbol of our union with christ in each other and we ask all this in jesus name our lord jesus

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Is Let's approach the table by not from just a rote memorization

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But a thoughtful contemplation Of our approach to the table. Let's pray together in unison

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We do not presume to come to this your table. Oh merciful lord

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Trusting in our own righteousness But in your manifold and great mercies

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We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table

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But you are the same lord who always shows mercy Grant us therefore gracious lord so to eat the flesh of your dear son.

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Jesus And to drink of his blood That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body

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And our souls wash through his most precious blood and that we may evermore dwell in him and he and us amen

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Christ our passover was sacrificed for us Therefore, let us keep the peace the gifts of god for the people of god.

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Thanks be to the lord Amen Of the most precious body and blood of your son our savior jesus christ

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Of your eternal kingdom and will the lord grant us his other benefit that you will never allow us

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To love and serve you as faithful witnesses of christ our lord to him to you

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Lord jesus christ from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep

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Through the blood of the everlasting covenant Make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you