Knowing the Lord - Part I

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Exodus 5:1-23

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Well this morning we press on now in the book of Exodus, and we're going to do all of chapter 5 this morning and This is if you look at your bulletin, you'll notice it says part one.
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So this is a two -part focus on ways that we are meant to know the Lord and It'll be somewhat broad in a specific way this morning and the next week
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It'll be a little more particular as we look at chapter 6 verses 1 through 9
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But this is all under the umbrella knowing the Lord And as we think about knowing the
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Lord, I hope we'll pick up some Some good things that will carry us not just through chapters 5 and 6, but really all the way to chapter 15
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Especially what we're talking about this morning There are essentially two demands that Exodus 5 gives to us.
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The first demand is let the people go And the second demand is let the
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Lord judge. Those are going to be the two Polls that drive us through the text this morning.
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Let the people go and let the Lord judge So first Let the people go beginning in verse 1
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Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh thus says the Lord God of Israel Let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness and Pharaoh said
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Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go
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I do not know the Lord Nor will I let Israel go the scene begins with Moses and Aaron going into Pharaoh were reminded that Moses has essentially forfeited his right to be the main spokesman for the
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Lord between Pharaoh and Moses now we have Aaron and that's a reminder that Because of his lack of faith
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He forfeited this great privilege and now wherever he goes Aaron goes with him to speak on his behalf
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We're gonna see that again in chapter 6 We're also reminded of the boldness of Moses though He's been stepped down and is reliant on Aaron to be his mouthpiece
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He is still a very bold man, and he's going in to confront Pharaoh Just a reminder
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Pharaoh is not like a modern -day politician. He's the ruler of Egypt This is not a ruler that if he walked into some restaurant in Ohio The waiter could refuse to serve him, you know, we don't welcome you, you know rulers of the
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GOP party in our establishment Pharaoh comes into your restaurant you serve him the whole populace serves him.
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He has supreme authority He's divinized in the people's eyes. He sits in the realm of the gods as it were he himself is a living
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God and Moses and Aaron go into him to declare the true words of the true and living
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God and this Presumption this arrogance is shown in his response. Who is the
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Lord that I should obey his voice? People obey my voice Pharaoh says
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I don't obey anyone's voice. Who is this Lord? Who is Yahweh? I don't know him and I'm not going to listen to him
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It's a rhetorical question Who is the Lord? He's not asking for information. Oh, who is this
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Lord that you speak of now? Tell me more about him I've never heard of Yahweh. This is a rhetorical question and it's expressing indignation so it's not like Paul in Acts 9 when the great brightness shows up on the road to Damascus and he says who are you
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Lord? The Lord says Jesus whom you persecute No, no, this isn't that kind of encounter it's not that kind of question who is the
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Lord that I should obey him I don't recognize his authority This response is not only the response of Pharaoh to Moses This is essentially the response of everyone whether spoken or unspoken
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Who doesn't believe upon the Lord for salvation that might as well say as arrogantly as Pharaoh says it
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Who's the Lord that I should obey him? Who's the Lord that I should listen to his word Why should
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I change my way to the way of the Lord? I will not do it. I do not recognize his authority so if you find
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Pharaoh stubborn and You're not a believer in the Lord. Maybe even if you are a believer in the
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Lord take a look at the mirror very carefully in chapter 3 verse 11
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Moses says who am I that I should go into Pharaoh and Here Pharaoh says who's the
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Lord that you should come in to me. So again, we see this contest between Pharaoh and the
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Lord God of course the answer to the question is What we saw in the burning bush chapter in chapter 3 who is the
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Lord? He's the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob He's Yahweh. He's the great I am he's ah say of himself transcendent
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Self -subsisting self -existing the Creator God the God of Israel who visits the affliction of his children and by his mighty hand moves forward his people from bondage to liberty from Misery to freedom as he reveals his salvation to them.
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That's who the Lord God is a Pharaoh may not know the Lord At chapter 5, but he will know the
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Lord by chapter 15 Throughout the Exodus story Pharaoh will come to know the
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Lord and he'll come to know the Lord of the most fearful way imaginable Moses and Aaron press forward.
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They said the God of the Hebrews has met with us please Let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice to the
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Lord our God Lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. You can see some of the bargaining tactics here.
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They make it something Rational something easy to give permission toward they even give sort of a veiled threat
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But they do it in a way that they combine themselves to it Lest he fall upon us with pestilence in sorts.
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He would be in this boat together So they're trying to put themselves up on Pharaoh's level if we don't if we don't obey
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God in this matter Disaster will fall upon all of us. We don't want that for the
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Egyptians or the Hebrews Pharaoh And by the way, it's just a three -day journey to go and celebrate him
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It's something very reasonable to give permission toward it's simply three days journey
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It's not saying we want to go three days time, but rather to a place that's about three days away the point seems to be
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Not that they could make it back to Horeb in three days unless they were all like Usain Bolt or something
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The point would be to get into the desert to get out of the land of Egypt when we get to chapter 8
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Moses says one of the reasons he wants to go into the wilderness is because the way they will Sacrifice would be an offense to the
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Egyptians So he looks to remove himself and remove his offense from the Egyptians to go into the desert just a three days journey
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To sacrifice to the Lord, isn't that a reasonable request? And of course
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Hebrews as slaves whenever the Egyptians had any sort of festive occasion They would have been free from work.
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Just like their masters were free from work This is not a request that had never been granted before for many religious occasions
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Hebrew slaves were allowed to be free for a period of time and Even with the veiled thread of pestilence and sword which to a superstitious polytheist
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Would be something to hedge your bets against Well, if you're saying there's this God and it's a god of your people and there's this kind of threat on the line
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Well, then I'm not gonna risk anything with that go and feast come back and we'll smooth things over but Pharaoh refuses
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The king of Egypt, we of course know he's the king of Egypt. But again, we're giving this language to show the contrast
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The king the Lord God versus the king of Egypt Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work get back to your labor and Pharaoh said look
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The people of the land are many now and you make them rest from their labor So the same day
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Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before let them go and gather straw for themselves
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You shall lay on them the quota of bricks, which they made before you shall not reduce it
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For they are idle. Therefore they cry out. Let us go and sacrifice to our God Let more work be laid on the men that they may labor in it and let them not regard false words
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Now this response already shows Pharaoh becoming Unhinged he's already slowly moving toward this stubborn position this incalcitrant
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View toward the Hebrews and their poverty already. We see he's devising a punishment
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Perhaps as a strategy perhaps he wants to alienate Moses from the people But either way he commands at the same quota be demanded from the slaves yet without straw being provided now
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They would have to go and gather straw for themselves Straw and mud bricks. How does that work?
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The best that I could come up with of course This is mud that was taken from the
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Nile banks a sort of red clay Like mud and they would chop up straw as a way not only of binding the clay together
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But once the the clay and the straw was put together as the straw began to decay
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It would basically become humic acid which would fortify and strengthen the bricks
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And so it was a necessary component for the building projects and yet it was a lot more work to gather up straw
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Already, they were as slaves working to the uttermost to get the brick production up to quota
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By the way, I came across what I think is perhaps the best
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Exposition or enlarging of the Eighth Commandment that I've ever read and I don't know where it came from Some of it is companies from a catechism
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But the rest of it I think is just ad -lib and I don't even know where I came across it But I had it in my notes
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The Eighth Commandment here applies the Eighth Commandment, of course being you shall not steal
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So you have Pharaoh saying I'm no longer going to supply you straw You have to make the same quota
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Your life's gonna be incredibly difficult now because you have to gather the straw and make the bricks lest you be beaten or worse
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Well, how does the Eighth Commandment you shall not steal apply to this? Listen to this
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You shall not steal not only prohibits the violation of our neighbors private property
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It also means we are not to willfully impede our neighbors success. We are not to restrain his progress
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We are not to restrict his development or to take advantage of any of his circumstances.
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That's the Eighth Commandment That's a beautiful exposition of the Eighth Commandment Always seeking the good of the other not putting undue burdens that would prevent your neighbor
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From succeeding or getting ahead or in any way taking advantage of their circumstances to your own benefit
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That is a violation of the Eighth Commandment It's stealing as it were their means of labor their means of provision
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And that's what we see in verse 9. Let more work be laid on the men This wasn't a nine -to -five gig.
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This wasn't 40 hours and they punch out they were slaves They were already working around the clock
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Working their fingers to the bone as it were now. It's let more work be made laid on the men
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That's a translation. The Hebrews literally let the work be heavy Make the work miserable make it intolerable
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Make them groan make them weep make them despair of life make the work heavy and don't let them back
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Force them into it drive them into it Pharaoh almost is becoming unhinged here
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But there's also a strategy if the workload of the slaves is made even more burdensome. They'll be so exhausted
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They just don't have time to daydream about Moses and the Word of the Lord John McKay points this out if they're exhausted.
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They will not be favorably impressed by what Moses or Aaron say and that's true Exhaustion has that effect on people.
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We're not just souls. We're not just attached to brains We're bodies and souls.
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That's what a human being is an exhaustion has a profound effect on our spiritual receptivity if you are
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Exhausted physically it is that much harder for you to receive the Word of the Lord or to have any hope in the
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Word of the Lord people despair of life itself When they're exhausted they become devoid of hope even the hope of living even the will to live because of that sheer profound
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Exhaustion with life and that seems to be perhaps Pharaoh's desire They're gonna have no hope in the words of Moses because I'm gonna drive out all hope from them bodily
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Let them not regard false words verse 9. Let them not regard lies.
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That would be another possible translation So here's Pharaoh saying Moses Aaron You are liars.
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I Do not recognize your God. I do not believe in your God. I do not believe this word of your
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God I do not believe your words and let all the Hebrews know not to believe these lies these false words so you have the showdown not only between the
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Lord and Pharaoh between the Word of the Lord and the Word of Pharaoh and what is the truth
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God's Word? What is the lie? Pharaoh's words they're idle. They're idle. They're idle and he refuses to give rest to the people of God So the
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Lord is going to act and give his people rest from Pharaoh You can see this is all about the contest all about the showdown
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God will come and give his people the rest that Pharaoh refuses to give his people
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Interesting case right now before the Supreme Court Gerald Graff from Pennsylvania who is a retired postal worker.
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He had been a missionary in Parts of Africa, I believe maybe some other places as well
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And when he came back, he just wanted a simple job and a simple life. And so he worked for the
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Postal Service No problem then as an evangelical Christian to have the
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Lord's Day free from work Nice cushy government job until they signed a contract with Amazon for Sunday deliveries and Gerald Graff made it clear
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I don't work on the Lord's Day. Of course every day.
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He went in for two years. He did what he could to Not make that burdensome on his co -workers taking
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Thanksgivings or other holiday shifts And he always felt like he had this sort of axe hovering above his neck
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And eventually, I don't know if he was dismissed or he just was on leave or retired
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But now there's this case by Graff going before the Supreme Court Over this very issue.
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Will there be religious accommodation? You should look into this case They they're saying it's very significant
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And I think the response to it at a cultural level is very telling of what we might be heading toward Especially in the legal realm.
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This is something that we happen to have a concert of a majority on the Supreme Court with that's a good thing but the tide the generational tide is shifting in a pretty alarming way and Really, where is our culture going?
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They're going after the way of Pharaoh. Yes Who is Gerald Graff? He's idle idle idle.
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Let him work. We all have to work seven days a week 365 days a year Pharaoh does not want to give the people rest.
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Oh, that's where we are today There used to be even in the state blue laws. This wasn't an option
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Gerald Graff wasn't in the headlines as some anomaly. This was just culturally accepted
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You couldn't go anywhere. You couldn't do anything on the Lord's Day how that has shifted now
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To this hurried rat race where the idea is we always must be working
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There cannot be rest there cannot be anything like Restoration and in fact your marriage your family your livelihood everything must be sacrificed on the altar of commerce
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So the way of God comes against this rebellion spirit. That's what it is. It's a spirit of battle reincarnate
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The Word of God comes and it says no there's a different way for life because I did not make man for labor
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I made labor for man and man is not made for the Sabbath But the Sabbath is made for man
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So the Word of God comes and it calls the world back to its rightful order back to the logic of creation
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Through redemption and it urges people to live in an entirely different way And when that way when that word of that way comes to the
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Pharaohs of our culture, what do they say? lies False words. It's just idleness
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You've got a buck up just like the rest of us and where that word is not heeded as we'll see through chapter 15 judgment follows judgment follows
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Nation that whittles itself to the bone Thinking this will be the key to economic integrity will find the surprising judgment of God imploding their economic integrity
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What does Moses do? He makes the Nile a stench before the Lord The very source of the wealth and prowess of Egypt becomes an abomination in the land
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Nevertheless the order of Pharaoh goes forth The taskmasters of the people and the officers went out spoke to the people saying thus says
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Pharaoh I will not give you straw go get yourself straw where you can find it yet. None of your work will be reduced
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So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw finding anything and everything they could
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And the taskmasters forced them to hurry saying fulfill your work your daily quota as there was when there was straw
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And now we're introduced in the text to these officers These would have been
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Representatives among the Hebrews they would have been like foremen and a construction site
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They go between the directives of the taskmasters to the people as intermediaries of the work and so these foremen have a certain position within Pharaoh's court a certain established authority and we see
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These officers now are going to carry us through the rest of chapter 5 the officers of the children of Israel Whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them.
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You see these were appointed by Pharaoh's taskmasters You could put it this way.
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They were in cahoots with Pharaoh's court We'll see that in more ways than one
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The officers of the children of Israel whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them were beaten and were asked
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Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today as before? So then the officers of the children of Israel came and they cried out to Pharaoh.
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Why are you dealing this way with your servants? There's no straw given to your servants and they say make brick and indeed your servants are beaten
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But the fault's in your own people But Pharaoh again, maybe they thought it would be a sympathetic audience.
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What? My taskmasters are doing what well, that's insane. Of course, you need straw
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How else could the bricks be made? Of course, you couldn't fulfill your quota if you're gathering straw Maybe they thought he would be sympathetic to them.
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Maybe they thought there was this a big Miscommunication and if only Pharaoh could hear them Like in the
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Soviet Union people that were being rounded up to be summarily executed or at least Shoved into the gulag camps.
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They often would cry out for Stalin This is a huge misunderstanding. If only Joseph Stalin could be here.
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He would know meanwhile, what is Stalin doing? He's the one that's actually orchestrating it all Tragic, of course
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Pharaoh responds. You are idle must have been a shock Idol Let us go and sacrifice to the
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Lord you say because you're idle Therefore go now and work. No straw will be given to you and you shall deliver the quota of bricks
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And the officers of the Children of Israel saw That they were in trouble when it was said to them.
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You shall not reduce any bricks from your quota So again, we have this contrast the
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Word of the Lord and the Word of Pharaoh Moses and Aaron had said in verse 1.
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This is what the Lord says and Here we read verse 10. This is what
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Pharaoh says. That's the great showdown in the passage And by the way, there's always a contrast like this
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There's no shortage of Pharaoh's in our day There's always a contrast between the Word of the Lord and the
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Word of Pharaoh in whatever form Pharaoh may be Rarely and I mean rarely does the
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Word of the Lord and the Word of Pharaoh line up almost always throughout history the
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Word of the Lord goes against the Word of Pharaoh and Now that this contest is in motion now that there's this burdensome demand bricks without straw and not one less
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Leading to a disgruntled and worn down workforce. We're almost led to wonder who's the winner here
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What's the endgame of this? Pharaoh is seizing his power in a brutal
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Cruel way. He doesn't want to let his labor force leave his empire not even for a three -day journey to celebrate a feast in the desert and as he grasps his power with this animistic malevolence
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You can see that Pharaoh is already becoming irrational and if he was trying to preserve the power of his empire
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He's maneuvering in a way that now he's undermining it now he's maneuvering to his own ruin to put this kind of burden this kind of work and to Alienate the workforce in this way will not lead to his success or his longevity
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It will lead to his downfall and so here already in Exodus chapter 5 we see the beginning of what
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I would call civilized irrationality Civilized irrationality
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Listen this makes no sense This makes no sense Pharaoh what is your endgame?
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What is your goal? What are you doing? How is this gonna lead to your success in any way?
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How is this gonna further your power or your kingdom it might momentarily it's gonna crumble from the inside out
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The officers cry out why are you dealing this way with your servants? And they're expecting a reasonable reply
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They're expecting a reasonable response. Oh Now that you raise this concern now that I see clearly how irrational this is
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Let me deal with you in a right way in a just way Well, listen to me believers wake up That's not gonna happen
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Look very carefully here at the beginning of civilized irrationality when you go to those in power and you lay out a very just sound case and you expect a
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Reasonable response and a just treatment in response. Is that coming to the
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Hebrews? Is that coming? for Christians in Certain first world nations and in Western civilization at this time
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No Pharaoh had a hardened heart of Unbelief and the thing about a hardened heart of unbelief is that the hardening moves you not only away
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From what is righteous and good as defined by God, but in tow with that Eventually, what is sound?
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What is reasonable? What is self -evident? It becomes so irrational that evil is called good and good is called evil.
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That is civilized Irrationality and You cannot think
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Well, of course, they were so primitive so many thousands of years ago.
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You see how highly evolved we are Look at our technological sophistication These kinds of things couldn't happen now not in the age of of news media
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Spread so far and wide instant news around the world. These kinds of things could not happen.
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Just say open your eyes Germany was the leading nation heading into the 20th century
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It was premier among all first world nations among all European nations in science and engineering technology literature philosophy theology in the civilized irrationality in Germany after World War one led to the systemic murder of Holocaust that's civilized irrationality
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Evil called good good called evil Are we not in those days today?
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could we not look around and say we are living in a day when evil is called good and The most educated and sophisticated and well cultured among us
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Do things that are evil and they celebrate them as if they're good when mutilation and The dehumanization of what
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God has made is seen as a moral good affirmation We are living in these days
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I was reading there's a man that died out in Nebraska Maybe you read that this week look
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Leroy Carhart well known. He was a physician that provided late -term abortions one of the pioneering
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Physicians if he's worthy of that name to give third trimester abortions even what at least we would call partial birth abortions
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I was reading an NPR article that was sort of functioning as an obituary for Carhart at some point in the article they referenced the the animus that pro -life activists had against Carhart for obvious reasons and though Charges were never filed and the investigation was inconclusive
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They they noted that when he was receiving a lot of threatening letters his family farm was burned down We don't condone that kind of violence
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But it was said in this article in a way that really struck me remember this man was a lightning pole of controversy in this sort of pro -life pro -abortion struggle and He was notorious a target for activists because He condoned and practiced up until he could not in Nebraska Third trimester abortions and part partial birth abortions
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And this is what the NPR article said Carhart's farm burned down the fire killed 17 horses a cat and a dog
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This article was not very long and they felt it necessary To say think of how horrific and tragic this is a farm was burned down and 17 horses and a cat and a dog were lost in that fire
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To have the gall To think that is something that we should shed a tear over for a man who was butchering children as they were being born
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That is civilized Irrationality let no one deceive you with empty words
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Paul says because of these things the wrath of God comes upon sons of disobedience Pharaoh has a lot of empty words idleness idleness idleness idleness
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But no one deceive you with empty words because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience
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Here are the Hebrew foreman and they're crying out and Pharaoh in his pride in his cruelty is almost laughing
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I'm giving you no rest I'm not reducing the quota I'm not
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Relenting and the more you grovel and the more you fight against it the more I will add the more
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I will take from you He's almost laughing But as Christians were meant to see even the midst of that affliction
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It is actually the Lord who is laughing never the tyrant never the oppressor But always the
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Lord Psalm 37 you could also look at Psalm 73, but Psalm 37 I'll just begin in verse 12 the wicked plots against the just Gnashes at him with his teeth.
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What is the Lord doing? What does Pharaoh think the Lord's doing?
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He doesn't even recognize the Lord's authority Who's the Lord I'm the one who has the power
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I'm the one who gets to laugh I'm the one who does what I want to do What does
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Psalm 37 say the Lord is the one who's laughing The Lord laughs at him why he sees his day is coming
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Pharaoh Thinks he has all this power and His cruelty is almost unrestrained.
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Why is the Lord laughing because he sees his day is coming verse 16
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This is a good reminder. I think these are the things that we need to remind our children of in this sort of climate today
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Where there's just a time. It's funny I was getting a haircut and the hairdresser was going on about her 22 year old son
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And she was just saying oh, you know He's just mopes around and he's full of despair and I just can't figure out what it is.
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And I said, you know, I Think we live in a day of instant gratification
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We just want everything now we expect to have everything now and if we can't have it now It's not worth doing anything to obtain it
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And so this 22 year old boy everything's Instantaneous and given to him and he looks around at other people and you know
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They just record themselves on tic -tac and make a hundred thousand dollars. It's like instant gratification Did I say tic -tac?
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I meant tic -tac My white hair is showing yet so we look at that and we say we live in this day of instant gratification and I think we need to warn our children
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But the things that the culture says are worth aspiring for are not worth aspiring for The things that you ought to labor long and hard for the things that often are worth laboring long and hard for and I love this wisdom from Psalm 37 a
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Little that a righteous man has is better than many riches of the wicked That's wisdom
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The little that a righteous man has is better Than the many riches of the wicked why?
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The arms of the wicked will be broken But the Lord will uphold the righteous He knows the days of the upright their inheritance is forever.
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That's wisdom So secondly beginning in verse 20, we we go from let the let the people go to now let the
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Lord judge verse 20 We're still looking with these Hebrew officers these foremen as They came out from Pharaoh.
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They met Moses and Aaron who stood there to meet them and they said to them What the
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Lord look on you and judge You've made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants
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You put a sword in their hand to kill us You see how defeated These four men are they thought they would gain a rational hearing they got the opposite Sent away dejected they see
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Moses and Aaron and though it's Pharaoh who's made of the burden intolerable It's the foreman who say not to Pharaoh but to Moses and Aaron Let the
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Lord look on you and judge I find this to be the height of irony
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Let the Lord look on you and judge Moses. Let the Lord judge. Who do you think sent us?
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Let the Lord judge. Why do you think we're here? Why do you think in the last chapter you were bowing down and worshiping when we share with you the
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Word of God? Did you forget that already? The Israelites are the ones speaking here like they don't know the
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Lord either Pharaoh doesn't know the Lord He doesn't receive his word and now the Israelites these four men.
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They don't know the Lord Let the Lord look and judge. How could this be happening? They don't even recognize their own
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Irrationality they're going after Moses and Aaron instead of Pharaoh who's causing all of their misery. They were so concerned
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They wanted just to grovel back to the way things were and that's always the temptation, isn't it?
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To go slinking back to the way things were. Oh It was nice when we had that little daydream about liberation and God moving in a mighty way
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Well, we got a taste of what that might cost us and no, thank you. We'll go back to slavery, please these officers again are basically four men in the court of Pharaoh and As such
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I think they were very concerned about their position in their rank before Pharaoh It's kind of that sad phenomenon.
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You see it if you ever seen Schindler's List Certain attendants in the work camps or in the
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Polish ghettos Even though they were sort of the off scouring to the Nazis or to the
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SS They held this position of authority and they basically lorded it over their fellow Captives and I wonder if these four men were something like that and now their position is threatened and they feel
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The heat of Pharaoh's anger and it enrages them against Moses and Aaron it shows who they're actually giving deference to Pharaoh not
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Moses Pharaoh That's why they go to Pharaoh to beg and not to the
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Lord and prayer Chapter 4 ended with this beautiful reception.
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We read there the people believed and When they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he looked upon their affliction
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They bowed their heads and they worshipped But now what are they doing?
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They're not bowing their heads. They're not worshiping. They're murmuring. They're complaining They're saying to Moses and Aaron the
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Lord judge you let the Lord judge you And so chapter 5 opens with not only discouragement but ultimately rejection
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It's the first foretaste of them rejecting the leadership of Moses Remember pliable and Pilgrim's Progress Right early on in Pilgrim's Progress when
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Christian is Alarmed by what he has read and he flees from the city of destruction and he goes out with such a haste and alarm calling for them to flee from the city that two neighbors come out after him remember obstinate and pliable and Pliable of course unlike obstinate pliable is actually quite pleased with what he hears
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Oh, well, what is this land like that you're going to and how will you get there? And oh, this all sounds so wonderful I guess
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I'll go with you and what happens as soon as they hit the slow of despond It's just like the
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Hebrews here at the end of chapter 5 As soon as the difficulty comes this is what pliable says
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It says pliable began to be offended and he angrily said to his fellow. Is this what you told me of all this while?
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If we have such ill speed at our first time out What can we expect between now and our journeys end and we read he went away
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Christians saw him no more. I wonder if Bunyan in the 17th century met a lot of men that could have been called pliable
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You know here I am in the security of the Anglican Church But what you're preaching and what you're saying is true and I I guess yeah
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I guess I just need to go with you and I need to stand out for my faith and as soon as that difficulty comes This isn't for me
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That's what the Hebrew foremen are like you and Moses like genuine Christians had to press on He had to bear that sense of rejection
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It was one thing for Moses to be rejected by Pharaoh He knew that he was going to be rejected by Pharaoh.
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God told him that he was going to be rejected by Pharaoh Remember that wasn't really his concern his concern back in chapter 3 was what if the people don't receive me?
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What if they don't believe that you sent me and then we read at the end of chapter 4 when he came and he said the
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Words of the Lord to them and he did the signs of the Lord to them They all believed and they all worshipped. He was on a spiritual high
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Let Moses reject me. I'm here with my people and we're waiting on the Lord But now look at Moses Now the people have rejected him now.
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He's on his own And this directly affects him verse 22 and 23
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Moses returned to the Lord and said Lord Why have you brought trouble on this people?
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Why have you sent me? Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name.
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He's done evil to this people Neither. Have you delivered your people at all?
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Moses now is filled with doubt And that's not a good look on a leader
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Moses is filled with doubt and it's not a good look You almost want to jump back into the page and you know,
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Charlie horse his shoulder and say you of little faith Did you forget what God said he would do
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But Even though doubt is not a good look on a leader. We can at least appreciate this.
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He takes his doubt to the right place We read Moses returned to the
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Lord so he's filled with doubt, but he takes that doubt to the
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Lord Doubt is not a good look on a Christian But it's a good thing when a
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Christian takes his doubt or takes her doubt to the Lord I love what G Campbell Morgan says
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Happy is the man Who when he cannot understand the movement of God's hand
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Still has enough faith in God himself to tell him of his doubt Those who have to face men and say to them thus says the
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Lord Also have a right to go to the Lord and expose their own doubts and fears to him that's well said
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The Lord welcomes us To return to him notice when we get to chapter 6 the
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Lord never rebukes Moses for this Doesn't say I can't believe you're filled with discouragement and doubting.
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He just encourages Moses Oh, you've come to me heavy laden way down with anxiety
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Let me encourage you and remind you of who I am and what I'm going to do I think you can expect that same reception from God If you allow your anxiety and your doubt to take you everywhere
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But God you'll only find more anxiety in doubt or worse a hardening of your heart in unbelief
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When you're wrestling when you're struggling Why would the Lord allow this? Who is the
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Lord that I should surrender my life to him you take those doubts to him look at Moses Lord Why have you brought this about?
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And why have you sent me and you have not delivered he gets more and more bold as he goes on You have not delivered.
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This is the first shot and already he recognizes he's impatient and Christians cannot be impatient
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Obedience does not always come with immediate success and Certainly we're never to Try to evaluate
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God's judgment by looking at his immediate response to our obedience Just because we've been a bit obedient and there hasn't been blessing added to that obedience
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Doesn't mean somehow that God is angry or he's ignorant or that we haven't actually tried to please the
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Lord with our obedience It means we have to be patient again. We're living in days of instant gratification
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We obey one time we make one change and when we don't find blessing we say well that was a waste of time
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Well, that was useless. Why did I even ever bother obeying? Why did I change my life and make my life harder if I wouldn't be blessed automatically and instantly?
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Well, that's not how the Christian life works brothers and sisters. We need a patient persistent faith
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Just like with Moses though It's all the harder to trust the Lord and meet with those setbacks and when those afflictions
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When you have the Hebrew foreman saying let the Lord judge you we reject you and the sad thing is
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We live in a day where there are many Hebrew foreman in the evangelical church. We live in a day when there are many leaders in the evangelical church
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That are more interested in gaining the favor of Pharaoh They're more interested in Somehow going back slinking back to their former slavery rather than pressing on through the difficulty
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Toward faithfulness toward God's revelation. The church is saturated with Hebrew foreman today and Those Hebrew foreman become a discouragement to the faithful that do see the word of the
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Lord and they do trust the Lord and When even the leaders of the evangelical church begin to slink away and say let the
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Lord judge we fear more Pharaoh's hatred than the despising of the
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Lord We see Hebrew foreman unwilling to face the cost of faithfulness to pay the price to have a clear conscience
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We don't just have these men these leaders in the church Putting their hand to the plow and looking back.
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We have them plowing backwards literally plowing backwards making more and more
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Compromises more and more capitulations to a godless culture to gain favor from a
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Pharaoh that will never show them favor And they're uninterested in the favor of God That's a problem and it's a discouragement to many people in the church and God will judge them
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Not in the way they think God will judge them. They would rather be a stench before the
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Lord and find Pharaoh's approval Than to be a stench to the gods of this age and be approved by God that can never be for a
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Christian Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name
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He has done evil. Just notice that notice the progression Things were relatively going well
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Not perfectly they were crying out in misery But as far as the Hebrew foreman are concerned now, if only we could go back to that if only we could go back to Exodus 2 and And Moses says since I came to speak in your name
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He has done evil Speaking in God's name often results in the evil of others
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What is off the table as an option for the Christian is to no longer speak in the name of God So, what are your alternatives?
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Do you speak in the name of God as others do evil in response to that or Do you not speak in the name of God so that evil actions aren't brought against you those are the options those are the pathways
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Do you see why we have evangelical? Foreman in Pharaoh's court as it were
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Because they would rather not speak in the Lord's name and let evil be done and they camouflage that and say this is 1st
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Corinthians 9 this is us becoming all things to all people that by all means we might win some you see
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This is why we show pronoun hospitality This is why we we wouldn't say we don't speak in the
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Lord's name But we just try to make it very appealing and persuasive You live in a day of instant gratification for this very reason part of having a patient persistent faith
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Is being willing to endure evil for the sake of representing God's Word faithfully
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That is patient persistent faith. The early church would have gone nowhere if the leaders hadn't taught their people that Do not weary in doing good do not be overcome by evil
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Overcome evil with good the evils there Why is the evil there because you're speaking in the name of the
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Lord and I would also point out God is still pruning
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Moses Wouldn't you think 40 years of tending sheep and Midian would have been enough pruning?
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God is still pruning. Oh, I learned my lesson. Whoo. I'm a sanctified man now
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I'm ready to just climb the hill and God's like and not quite He pulls everything away from him again
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God is still pruning Moses He takes him out of that Spiritual high when he had all the enthusiasm of the people behind him and he had
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God's signs right in front of him We're gonna see it again that first sign wait till you see what I do with my rod
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And then Pharaoh's magicians come out and they do the same thing and Pharaoh's like go away It's just like Moses is constantly being pruned
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Listen to me God's providence often appears to contradict his promise.
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You need to know that as a Christian God's promise often appears to contradict
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His promise his providence often appears to contradict his promise. Did we not see that in the book of Genesis with a life of Joseph?
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Hey Joseph, what has the Lord shown you? I'm going to be the leader of the family.
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I'm going to be used to save you my brothers. Oh, that's wonderful It's wonderful that God has promised you blessing in this position of authority and that you would be used to save your family
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Oh what a blessed man you are and then what happens as he's ripped away from that family in slavery as he's cast into The pit into the dungeon as he's falsely accused and imprisoned you see
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God's promise Often seems at odds with his providence and this is why we need patient persistent faith
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Neither have you delivered your people at all? It's the final cry of desperation
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So, how do you handle this feeling if you ever felt like Moses and if you haven't you will if you're a
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Christian and you're Speaking the Lord's name and because you're speaking in the Lord's name evils being done against you.
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You will eventually feel like Moses When the Hebrew foremen of our culture people who named the name of Christ and they like to have their little
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Christian life and semblance But it's a risk averse Christian life. I don't want to get in any hot water.
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I don't want any sideways glances I don't want to put my skin in the game for the Lord And so we're discouraged from without we're discouraged from within.
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How do you handle that feeling of powerlessness and desperation? Well the patient answer
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Not only here not only the next ten chapters But really the answer for the whole
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Christian life is simply this Let the Lord judge
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How will Moses handle the feeling of powerlessness and desperation? over the next ten chapters
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He will have to let the Lord judge How will you in your life as a believer handle evil that comes against you when you're speaking in the name of the
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Lord? how will you handle desperation a feeling of God's absence a feeling of being exhausted and whittled down to the bone so that you can't even receive the
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Sort of warmth and light of God's Word into your dry husk of a life How will you be able to endure and persevere with a patient persistent faith?
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You need to let the Lord judge Now, let me spell that out a little bit three applications as we come to a close
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When the people of God attempt to devote their full service to the Lord When they speak in the name of the
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Lord evil comes against them When they seek to serve the Lord ultimately and fully
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They will receive opposition from the world. Woe to you when all men speak well of you no servants above his master
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If they mistreated me will they not mistreat you Jesus says Woe to you when all men speak well of you
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You will have trouble in this world Jesus says we have
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Hebrew foremen that are doing everything they can to not have trouble rather than finding instantaneous blessings and security by slinking back into slavery
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We Find conflict and when we find conflict, how do we persevere? We let the Lord judge now letting the
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Lord judge is very difficult. How can we do it three points?
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First we love the Lord for his righteous judgment. Let's start there
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Love the Lord for his righteous judgment The main thing here is we need to recover the goodness of the
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Lord being a righteous judge I Say recover because I think it's something that's been lost on Christians It's something that's come from our anti authoritarian age
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The sort of hatred for anyone that imposes as a judge as it were you see that in the headlines
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So easily so readily you see that on the streets and in households. There's this hatred for authority
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There's this hatred for authority Immediately above and over and over all the way up on to God.
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God loves order and he loves authority and In this sort of wash whether we realize it or not
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We too have been negatively affected and we begin to have this icky feeling about thinking about the
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Lord as judge That's not what people need to hear. That's not how people should think of God.
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No, no, no, no. No. No, he's your friend He's your grandfather. He winks at you. He's not a judge.
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No, no, no We need to recover why it is good that God is a righteous judge
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That part of his glory and part of why we praise him is because he's a righteous judge
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And if you don't recover this everything I've said so far from Exodus 5 will be meaningless to you
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Love the Lord for his righteous judgment You want to spend some time thinking about how Moses reflects on this go to Deuteronomy 32 later today read the song of Moses Start around verse 35 and just read how
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Moses thinks about the Lord being the judge And why that's a good thing why that's a song for Moses Moses, of course is quoted
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Deuteronomy 32 is quoted by Paul in Romans 12 Vengeance is mine says the
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Lord I will repay And Paul quotes this very thing brothers. Don't take vengeance into your own hands.
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The Lord is the righteous judge that frees you up to serve him with boldness and confidence that gives you endurance and Perseverance that allows you to overcome evil with good.
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He will repay So take heart This is the only place where let go and let
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God applies rightly I think People use that wrongly in sanctification Oh the problem was saying, you know bill
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The reason you're not growing as a Christian is you got to let go and let God no bill. You gotta try harder, man
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You got a buck up bill That's why work out your salvation of fear and trembling.
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No, don't let go and let God That's called the Keswick error famously
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Plunged by JC Ryle, but if there's any place that let go and let God fits
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It's with his righteous judgment. Don't take it into your own hands. Paul says you overcome evil with good
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That's how you occupy your time and your work in this life But you know that God will have his just judgment in the end
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Psalm 9 beginning in verse 7 The Lord shall endure forever
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He has prepared his throne for judgment He shall judge the world in righteousness
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He shall administer judgment for the people's in uprightness the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble and Those who know your name will put their trust in you
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For you Lord have not forsaken those who seek you Sing praises to the
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Lord who dwells in Zion Declare his deeds among the people when he avenges blood.
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He remembers them He does not forget the cry of the humble Have mercy on me.
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Oh Lord consider my trouble and those who hate me You who lifts me up from the gates of death.
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I will tell of your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion I will rejoice in your salvation
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The nations they've sunk down into a pit which they have made the very net which they hid their own foot is caught in it
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The Lord is known by the judgment. He executes Let me say that again
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The Lord is known By the judgment he executes But the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands
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Meditation that's Haggaian and in Hebrew most likely an instrumental note, but it's it's there we have it interestingly
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Haggaian Salah, you know meditation Salah Salah a pause could be for the musicians
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Could be also an opportunity to reflect on what was said when you put Haggaian with that I think it's saying camp out here and don't move on too quickly
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And what's that attached with? The Lord is known by the judgment.
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He executes How is the Lord known According to Psalm 9.
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Well, we have it in two places First those who know your name will put their trust in you
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So we have that way of knowing Those who know the Lord's name the great I am the
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God of his people the God who visits their affliction they have trusted in him that found refuge in him their cry is heard by him and Then how else is he known the
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Lord is known by the judgment he executes Do you see either way the
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Lord is known whether as a refuge or as the one who condemns either way he is known
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That's a warning To men and women who say who's the Lord that I should heed his word.
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I don't know the Lord. Oh, you will know the Lord Everyone will know the Lord either as a refuge or As the judge
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So we recover the goodness of the Lord who is righteous Recover the goodness of the Lord who judges
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Righteously look at Psalm 9. What is it that the afflicted do? Remember, these are the afflicted.
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These are the groaning. These are the miserable. These are the needy and what do they do? They sing praises to the
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Lord. They declare his deeds among the people this calls back to verses 1 & 2 We open the service with it.
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I Will praise you with my whole heart. I'll tell of all your marvelous works. I'm glad I rejoice in you
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I sing praise to your name Most High Why? Why is that the psalmist heart?
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Why? well because verse 9 and 10 right a Refuge in times of trouble you are those who know your name put their trust in you you
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Lord have not Forsaken those who seek you you don't forget the cry of the humble. Is that a reason to praise the
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Lord? Amen, is that a reason for Christians to be glad in the Lord? Of course it is
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But what else? Why else do we praise God? Why else do we take heart?
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He has prepared his throne for judgment He shall judge the world in righteousness
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For the psalmist that is a reason to praise and enjoy and magnify the
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Lord Now that is something that I don't think many Christians today Find as a reason to praise and enjoy
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God that he is a righteous judge We're called to meditate on this very thing.
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The Lord is known by the judgment. He executes. Listen to me. Do you believe that?
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Even the wrath of man will praise him and If even the wrath of man will praise him should we not praise him for being a righteous judge?
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Psalm 9 says this is one of the reasons we enjoy him He is on his throne and will judge the world in righteousness
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What's our standard of righteousness justice? It's the same word in Hebrew and Greek mishpat de chaos same word justice righteousness what's what's the best standard we have in this nation in this fallen world a
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Blind woman holding a scale, right? That's as good as it gets 12 men a circuit of appeals
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Blind justice. I can't see I can only weigh with evidence being established and then heard by a jury of peers
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That's as good as justice gets is the Lord's justice Blindfolded does he weigh by a scale and by the opinion of 12 peers?
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No There's no blindfold. He sees Everything he judges the world in righteousness.
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There's no bias. There's no grading on a curve. There's no Lawyer that's able to pluck on the heartstrings as an advocate
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The Lord sees through it all this is the reason we love the
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Lord for his righteous judgment Secondly, so first we love the
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Lord for his righteous judgment. We need to recover that as a good thing worthy of praise and joy Especially when we're afflicted and persecuted for evil secondly, we live for the
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Lord unto his righteous judgment Live for the Lord unto his righteous judgment when you recover the goodness of the
01:01:08
Lord being a righteous judge Part of that recovery will be your life now is pointed in the direction of God being your righteous judge
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The Hebrew foreman said let the Lord look on you and judge they meant that as an insult They meant that as sort of a rebuke.
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Well, I'm saying it as an encouragement to you. Let the Lord look on your life and judge That's a right way for you to live
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Every day as a Christian you want to be able to say Lord Here are the things that I've done today
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Here are the things that I still need yet to do Please look on me and let me live in a way that I know you will judge me and yet seek your mercy
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Lord look on me and judge yet in your judgment show mercy to me Let me find your grace and favor through my
01:01:54
Savior the Lord Jesus Christ But Lord, let me live in a way that I'm conscious and aware and my eyes are open to the fact that I must give an account to you
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That's a right way for a Christian to live So what happens when the church has dispensed with the idea of God being a righteous judge?
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Or speaking of God as a judge or speaking of the judgment to come? Well that has now affected the church's sanctification the holiness of her members
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Why because they no longer think of having to give an account to God you know, he's the grandfather that always shows mercy and Weeks months years go by before they start to think
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Lord. I have to give an account of this to you That's a problem You're not gonna have too many
01:02:37
Gerald Goff's in a world of Pharaoh's if you don't have that kind of awareness Listen ultimately,
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I'm not giving an account to the postmaster general. I'm giving an account to the Lord God So it requires you to live with an eye to his service rather than anyone else's service including your own
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I Have to give an account Not just to everyone else but even of myself to the
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Lord He means you have to live with an ear to his will How do you know how to live with the prospect of that judgment of that?
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Accounting unless you understand his will and what he desires for your life And then you must also have a heart for his judgment
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That means you're humbled by the prospect of that judgment and yet zealous for it like the psalmist judge the world in righteousness
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Lord It was the early Christians who understood the Lord is the righteous judge His enemies are now being made his footstool
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Psalm 110 the most quoted in the New Testament. Why? Because their hope was built on the one who was coming in righteousness to judge the world
01:03:41
Maranatha Lord and how could they cry come Lord come judge of all the earth?
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Unless they were living every day With this reality of Lord look on me and judge look at Paul in 1st
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Corinthians 4. I Love this Paul says with me
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It's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court Remember the context of 1st
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Corinthians 1 through 4 the sort of splintering church and they have many sort of high -profile
01:04:18
Speakers coming through the sort of competing mission there in Corinth and now the Corinthians though They were birthed by Paul say hey
01:04:27
Paul you kind of need to refresh your CV Why don't you send us a copy of your resume remind us why we should go with you and not someone else and Paul laying out how he would not jump through their hoops.
01:04:40
He would not come in speech with eloquence He would rather preach nothing but Christ in him crucified and here in chapter 4 to continue on with the rebuke
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He says it's a very small thing for me to be judged by you You think I'm laboring with you because I'm afraid of your judgment
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Corinthians You think I'm an apostle trying to appease your sense in your judgment
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No, no, it's a very small thing for me to be judged by you by any human court
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In fact, I don't even judge myself For I know of nothing that is against myself
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You see I'm living in such a way that there's nothing that I can find to judge in myself. Not that I'm justified by this
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But he who judges me is the Lord Do you see how Paul is speaking to these
01:05:28
Corinthian Christians I live my whole life with respect to one judge the
01:05:36
Lord Lord look on me and judge and Show me if there's any wicked way within me and in your judgment show mercy
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Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will bring light to hidden things of darkness
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Reveal the counsel of hearts then each one's praise will come from God Paul has a singular eye to God as judge and Desires only praise to come from God not from the
01:06:04
Corinthian Church. Not from any other human arena He wants praise from God there he for he lives according to the judgment of God.
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Where do you want praise from? Do you want praise to come from the
01:06:17
Lord? Do you want to hear well done good and faithful servant
01:06:27
Or do you want the godless God hating culture to pat you on the back and say well done well done
01:06:36
You compromised you lived your life lukewarm You hedged every risk
01:06:43
You never spoke in the name of the Lord and see how it has gone well with you What difference would it make if we could say with Paul?
01:06:53
It's a very small thing for me to be judged by anyone. My judgment is with the Lord My praise comes from the
01:07:00
Lord My life is for the Lord not in the blissful ignorance of the now.
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Oh, he'll he always shows mercy. He'll show mercy But in the sobering surety of the coming day, that's what
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Paul says on that day on that day It's a constant refrain in Paul's letters
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It's an eyes open reality of the judgment of God because only the judgment of God is sure righteous and everlasting
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Please hear me especially younger people Because more so that at any other time in your life you're at this sort of pivotal place when the praise of men will either make you or break you and The opinion of the culture toward how you live and how you appear and what your values are
01:07:49
That means more to you than perhaps any other time in your life It will mean you won't have as much weight or influence as it does now
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And so if you're counting and countenancing their judgment if you're seeking after their praise
01:08:04
You will be slinking back into slavery and misery and a hardness of heart But if you look to the praise of God and to the judgment of God You will remember only
01:08:13
God's judgment is sure only God's judgment is righteous. Only God's judgment is everlasting
01:08:19
Jump through hoops and do gymnastics to make yourself more appealing to a culture that hates God Dress yourself up as best you can it will last three years and you'll have to do it all over again
01:08:29
It will never stop. But when you live with an eye towards God's judgment
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God who is rich in mercy You'll find that everlasting Surety that belongs to those who live unto him.
01:08:42
So that's the second point. We live for the Lord unto his judgment and then third and last
01:08:49
We know the Lord By his righteous judgment. I'll be quick here We know the
01:08:55
Lord by his righteous judgment 2nd Peter 3 says that scoffers will come no surprise who the scoffers are
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He says scoffers will come walking according to their own lusts. Who are those that scoff at the Lord's Word?
01:09:10
People that walk in their own lusts. Why else would you scoff at the Lord's Word? You're trying to protect your lust you're walking in uncleanness.
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Of course, you can't hear that word Of course, you need to find reasons to reject that word Scoffers will come walking in their own lusts saying where's the promise of his coming?
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There's no judgment. It's just like Exodus 5 Moses then must be convinced of the righteous judgment to come.
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He must love the Lord for being a righteous judge He must live his life unto that righteous judgment and he must continually know the
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Lord by that Righteous judgment the Lord is known in the judgment. He executes
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So Paul in Romans 2 begins to Elaborate on this talking about the righteous judgment of God that comes upon both
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Jew in Greek showing no Partiality between them then in Romans 3 5 he says if our unrighteousness
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Demonstrates the righteousness of God. What shall we say is God unjust to afflicts wrath?
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I'm speaking as a man Certainly not. How else could God judge the world? You see nothing was clearer for Paul than this fact that The day of judgment was appointed and God would come in a perfect righteous judgment to execute his wrath
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That was clear for Paul It motivated his ministry not just to save those that were lost
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But also to live his life in a way that was righteous unto the Lord Nothing is clearer for Paul than the fact that God would judge the world in righteousness
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That ought to be the thing that is central to us as Christians Someone sent me this is years ago a picture of a botched tattoo and I always got a kick out of this
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It was some poor sap on his back It was a whole back tattoo and it was it was like a grim reaper or something and then it was the words
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Only God can judge me, but they misspelled judge j -u -g -e
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Like only God can juke me or judge me, you know, it's kind of like ooh
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Mistake But the sentiment there I'm like I'm going to venture that the man who got this tattoo on his back
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Would actually not find the judgment of God to be as readily welcome as he thinks
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Only God can judge me. Yeah, that's a terrifying prospect for you It's a terrifying prospect for you a lot of people say that flippantly
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Yeah, I'll let people think whether only God can judge me It's like yeah, if God were to judge you you are you are ruined you are lost
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God has a perfectly righteous judgment. It motivates everything in the Christians life
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When Paul wants to charge Timothy to preach the word What does he say does he say I charge you? Therefore before God and the
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Lord Jesus Christ who loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life No Does he say
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I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will carry you? Whenever you only see one set of footprints behind you because he gets you.
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What does he say? I charge you therefore Before God and the
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Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word
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That's your motivation Timothy There's a righteous judgment that is to come so don't be swayed by empty words.
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Don't be cheated by philosophies Don't be put aside by the pressures and the persecutions
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Preach the word in and out of season why because the day has been appointed.
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God will judge the world in righteousness the prospect of that To those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness
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They receive indignation and wrath tribulation anguish on every soul who does evil the prospect of that Ought to drive every aspect of our lives as Christians So have you known that righteous judgment, you know the
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Lord by his judgment consider what James 2 10 says Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point
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He's guilty of all every time you sin you break the entirety of God's law one little sin one little white
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Sin over here one little sin that we wink at over here and James says every sin tens thousands of sin 10 ,000s of times you have broken the entirety of God's law and he's fixed a day to judge that in righteousness so then
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If we know that by the law no flesh is justified, how can it be said The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed how is that possible with the righteous judge?
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Well, it's only possible Because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us
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He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us
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This is where we meditate on Psalm 9. The Lord is known by the judgment.
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He executes for the Pharaoh for the obstinate for the unbeliever for the atheist
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God is known by that judgment on that day that is fixed when his righteous condemnation is poured out as wrath upon them
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Then the Lord is known but for the believer The Lord is known by the judgment
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He executes when we look back upon the cross at Golgotha and we see a crucified
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Savior Being made sin for us and that righteous judgment is poured out on him
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And that is how he becomes a refuge for the needy and the oppressed
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Amen Christ bore the curse of the wrath of God The righteous judgment of the righteous judge that by his blood all united to him by faith would be made righteousness
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Having a righteousness not as that is not their own being clothed with the righteousness from the imputed righteousness of Christ Who died upon the cross?
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That's why we sing. I will praise you a Lord with my whole heart I tell of your marvelous works.
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That is why the Lord is known by his judgment That is why we can say those who know your name will put their trust in you you
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Oh Lord Have not forsaken those who seek you forsaken never By the blood of his
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Son he brought them near and so Christ suffered once for sins the just for the unjust the righteous for the unrighteous
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To bring us to God Love the Lord for his righteous judgment
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Live for the Lord unto his righteous judgment Know the Lord by his righteous judgment.
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Amen Let's pray Father Bury this into our hearts and minds.