søndag 9. november 2014

Exodus 8:20 – 9:35 To God be the glory

Exodus 8:20 – 9:35

I have spared you for this purpose: to show you my power and spread my fame throughout the earth.

That’s chapter 9:16.
It’s probably the key verse in Exodus because it explains what God is doing... and why.

And it’s a verse we really struggle with.

Because we crash into the central truth of the Bible: God is God, and I am not. God is the centre of the universe, not me. These verses hit us like a hammer blow. How can God do this? How can he say this? What about Pharaoh? Is he just a puppet? Am I just a puppet? How can God allow all the suffering of the Egyptians? Just for his glory? Isn’t that rather self-centred. I think God should do… this.

Oh, isn’t it revealing. I find myself standing in judgement over God. I find myself questioning his right to do what he wants with his creation. I, a mere creature, a rebel against God at that!, dare raise my puny moral code against him and say “I don’t like it”. Why? Because I’m a sinner. And the essence of sin is “I am God” “I will decide what is right and wrong”. And you are a sinner too, and so will have the same reactions.

So it is important that we allow the hammer to fall and we really grasp these verse. Let us lay aside our sinners reaction and try to understand this central truth of the Bible: That God’s plan is to glorify God. That is indeed, my first point. This is where we are going:

1. God’s plan is to glorify God

2. If we do not glorify God, God will still be glorified

3. If we obey God, God will be glorified

4. God WILL be glorified. How will you glorify God?

1. God’s plan is to glorify God

Let’s read those verses again where God reveals why he’s allowing Pharaoh to stand against him. 9:12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and just as the Lord had predicted to Moses, Pharaoh refused to listen. 13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. 14 If you don’t, I will send more plagues on you and your officials and your people. Then you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 By now I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth. 16 But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth.

Ah, the sovereignty of God. We think we’re fine with it, until we come to verses like this.

Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart, as in 9:12? Why does God allow Pharaoh to harden his own heart, as in 8:32, 9:7, and 9:34?
The answer is: For his own glory. For God’s glory.
Why the plagues and the sin and rebellion and Pharaoh’s rudeness and suffering and rescue and joy for the Israelites and raising Moses and Aaron up? It’s all for God’s glory.

Why is the world the way it is? Ultimately, it will serve God’s glory. Oh it’s more complicated than that – but at the end of the day it is all about him. Can we get it, can we grasp it? We are so good at making God small. So skilled at reducing him to a manageable size.
That’s why we have to keep coming to his Word and reading what is there. Being overawed by who He is. By what he can do.

Just look at what he does to Egypt, an area of 1 million square kilometres, a vast superpower in those days, a population of maybe 2 million people. 8:24 And the Lord did just as he had said. A thick swarm of flies filled Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his officials. The whole land of Egypt was thrown into chaos by the flies.
9: 6 And the Lord did just as he had said. The next morning all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites didn’t lose a single animal.
10 So they took soot from a brick kiln and went and stood before Pharaoh. As Pharaoh watched, Moses threw the soot into the air, and boils broke out on people and animals alike. 11 Even the magicians were unable to stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and all the Egyptians.
23 So Moses lifted his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed toward the earth. The Lord sent a tremendous hailstorm against all the land of Egypt.

Can you feel the POWER? Do you get a sense of the vastness of God? That we are as powerful as an ant compared to him – even less? That at any moment he could simply flick us off? That our rebellion against him is laughable?

Like I said last week, Pharaoh was getting ready to go a few rounds in the boxing ring to determine who was going to be the champion – but he didn’t realise that he was hopelessly – hilariously – ridiculously outclassed. I said it was a bit like me vs. Sylvester Stallone. Actually, it’s a bit like me versus a 50 tonne freight train…

God is God. He spoke and everything was. He has more power in his little finger than all the power of the sun for all eternity. Why does he bother with us? What is man that you are mindful of him?

The fact is that we exist and go about our business at his pleasure. The universe exists for him. Remember Colossians 1:16 He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
I’m not sure we really grasp that – until it we see it displayed like here in Exodus. If we’re good Christians we’re theoretically all happy with the fact that God is in control and that God’s plan is to glorify himself and that he is the most important person in the universe.

But I often think we’re happy that God is in control simply because we think he’ll do what WE want. That we’re happy to obey God as long as God is asking us to do what we already want to do!

I know that’s me! I’m all for the sovereignty of God when God is blessing me, doing things my way – but when he decides to do something different, call me to obey in an area I don’t want to, highlight some sin in my life that I happen to like thank you very much. Then suddenly I’m not so happy about the sovereignty of God. Sound familiar?

What does that reveal about us? That we’re still trying to be God. In my heart of hearts I think I know best how the world should work, and particularly how my life should go. It is when we are called to the hard paths, when we suffer, when we are put under pressure, that we see whether we really bow the knee before God, when we see who really is on the throne. When all is stripped away and we see whether we love God because we love HIM, glorious HIM – or whether we love him for what we get from him.

Because if we just love God for what we get from him, we don’t really love Him, do we? We love ourselves. We exist to glorify ourselves – and our “love” for Jesus, our “religion” will be, on the last day, revealed as a sham, a fake.

God’s plan is to glorify God.

2. If we do not glorify God, God will still be glorified

8:20 Then the Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in Pharaoh’s way as he goes down to the river. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. 21 If you refuse, then I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people, and all the houses. The Egyptian homes will be filled with flies, and the ground will be covered with them. 22 But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the Lord and that I am present even in the heart of your land.

Pharaoh was warned. IF you refuse, THEN this will happen. Three times in this passage Pharaoh is given a IF…THEN warning:
8:21 which I just read;
9:2 IF you continue to hold them and refuse to let them go, 3 (THEN) the hand of the Lord will strike all your livestock;
9:14 IF you don’t, (THEN) I will send more plagues on you…;

Pharaoh will not give God glory. He will not. He is on the throne. I used the example last week of the steward upon the throne – when he heard that the rightful king was returning to claim the throne he said “I will not bow the knee to this “king”. The rule of my kingdom is MINE, and no other.” That’s Pharaoh. That’s all too often us. “The rule of my life is mine – and no other”.

And that is a dangerous place to be. Because God’s plan is to glorify God – and Pharaoh has set himself up against that. God had promised his people that they would be set free. He had promised Abraham a land, a people, and great blessing. Pharaoh was standing in the way of that promise. What a fool.

For what happens to thieves and rebels when the rightful king returns?

If you do this, THEN this will happen. If you rebel against God, you will eventually find yourself unable to repent, and cast out into the utter darkness. Into Hell. Hell is described as fire and torment because imagine spending all eternity cut off from God. It is terrifying. We are eternal creatures, with an eternal soul. And there are only two ways to live – either with God, or without him, for all eternity.

Then you will know that I am the Lord.

There are many today who glory in their rebellion against God. Who mock him, and angrily resist his rule. When he returns, or when they die, whichever comes sooner – they will know that He is the LORD. There are many who claim to love him, but are seated firmly on the throne. Who “obey” like Pharaoh does in 8:25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “All right! Go ahead and offer sacrifices to your God,” he said. And in 9:27 Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he confessed. “The Lord is the righteous one, and my people and I are wrong. 28 Please beg the Lord to end this terrifying thunder and hail. We’ve had enough. I will let you go; you don’t need to stay any longer.”
We “obey” the Lord until we can get him off our backs and get back to what WE want to do. Just the bare minimum so that hopefully he will go away, or give us what we want. That’s not obedience – that’s rebellion. And there are many people like that sitting in churches across this country. Lord, please reveal our hearts if that is us. Please let us see our rebellion.

Because even our rebellion does not take away from God’s glory. Pharaoh cannot stop God being glorified. Did you notice how God is using Pharoah’s rebellion to glorify himself even more? 15 By now I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth. 16 But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth.

God allows Pharaoh to remain, to rebel, in order to show his great power, and so that his name, the LORD, Yahweh, is known throughout the earth.

Jesus allowed Judas to betray him, allowed Pilate to sentence him to death, allowed the priests to rebel against him – all so that he could go to the cross and achieve a great and glorious rescue that his name, Jesus, would be known throughout the earth.

God will glorify himself, and if we refuse to give him glory – he will still be glorified, even as we are judged and condemned.

God will be glorified.

3. If we obey God, God will be glorified

A short point, but an important one. Moses and Aaron obey God and are part of God’s huge salvation plan.

God is moving to glorify himself, to show all the world his power, and that he keeps his promises. So why does he need Moses and Aaron? He could have spoken to Pharaoh in a dream. Or appeared in a pillar of fire as he does later on. Or whatever!
But he chooses to call Moses and Aaron. And they get to be part of the greatest rescue the world has seen before the Cross of Christ. Remarkable.

God does not need them! This is only something you notice when you’re preparing for a sermon, reading the passage very carefully, but did you notice WHO is doing the bringing of the plagues? At first he tells Moses to tell Aaron to raise his staff and say… blood, frogs, gnats; then the next two, the flies and the plague of livestock, just happen. God says it will happen and then it happens. No human being is waving a staff or speaking words.
God doesn’t need Moses or Aaron. But he chooses to use them.
For the next plagues it’s then Moses who gets to do the actions: throwing soot for the boils, lifting his staff to the sky for the hail, raising his hand for the locusts and the darkness. But the final judgement, the judgement of death, that is the Lord who does it, by his word.

The point is, is that God will do what He will do – but if you or I are obedient and willing, like Moses and Aaron, we can be part of his saving work (and judging work) in the world. We can glorify God in our obedience.

Mia was sharing the other night about how all the patients in the ward were asking for her to come and help them with this or that – they wanted her. Why? Because something about her, about the way she saw them and treated them was different. She was exhausted, overworked – but something of Christ was still rubbing off. She was glorifying God in her work.

If we obey God, God will be glorified.

4. God WILL be glorified: how will you glorify him?

God is mighty, glorious, wild, powerful beyond measure – infinitely dangerous to those who oppose him – and infinitely safe for those whom he loves.

In the end, there are only two ways to live. One ends in death and destruction. The other, eternal life.

Because along with divine sovereignty (God’s authority) the Bible also teaches human responisibility. That our choices matter. That frighteningly, our lives echo into eternity. We are not mere puppets but human beings made in God’s image. And somehow our choices and God’s sovereignty work together to achieve His purposes.

So what are you going to do with God?

One way is Pharaoh’s way. He rebelled, he manipulated, he did not fear the word of the Lord. He set himself up in opposition to God, and God allowed Pharaoh to oppose him – for a time. Until he had served his purpose in glorifying God – and then darkness and death overtook him, and his rebellion was crushed, giving glory to God and salvation to the Israelites. Praise the Lord!

That’s one way to live.

The other is to accept the lordship of God. Accept that he is the ruler of the whole universe, including over me. It is to fear the word of the Lord – to listen to him, obey him. And to listen to God is not just intellectual assent “yes, I believe in God”: it will involve a change in lifestyle. It will be visible, something we seem to want to avoid. Think about those Egyptian officials who ran out to bring in their livestock and servants before the hailstorm. It was quite clear that they had listened to God. Their belief led to a changed lifestyle. And you can imagine the dirty looks they would have got from their fellow Egyptians. “Hmm listening to the slaves’ god, eh? Are you going to become a slave too?” Or think about Moses and Aaron being sent before Pharaoh “Go and tell Pharaoh…” seriously? Knees probably knocking – but they went – and are praised as saviours of God’s people, being caught up into God’s glory for all eternity.

See him! See his glory and his power! See his beauty and his majesty! And lay aside your rule, get off your throne, and say Lord take your place in my life. You are my king. I will follow you through whatever path you choose, through darkness and through light, through suffering and joy, because you are the Lord, you are my God, you are my saviour and my life. I love you because you are the Lord God Almighty, and through Christ I can call you my Father. Abba, Father. Daddy.

There are only two ways to live... and God will be glorified.

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