Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.
Speaker 2:Alright, guys, this week we're looking at Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7, where God describes his own attributes. So let's go ahead and read Exodus 34, 6 and 7 from the NASB 1995 edition. Then the Lord passed by in front of him, moses, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. Yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on their children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. So, guys, in these two verses God describes seven distinct attributes of himself, and so far this week we've discussed the first six. God is compassionate, god is gracious, god is slow to anger. God's loving kindness, god is faithful and God is gracious. God is slow to anger. God's loving kindness. God is faithful and God is forgiving. And today we're going to focus on the last one God is just. So my pastor, dr Mark Hitchcock of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, oklahoma, he was nice enough to share his sermon notes with me, so I'm just going to read his short notes here about how God is just. God doesn't want us to think he's all grace and compassion. God doesn't show mercy and grace by ignoring or overlooking sins or compromising his justice and righteousness. Right, and also, I'll break away from the notes here just a little bit. There are plenty of examples of this.
Speaker 2:So go back to the fall of Adam and Eve, right in Genesis 3, in verses 23 and 24. Therefore, the Lord God, sent him out from the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So he drove that man out and at the east of the garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Okay, so, adam and Eve. They displayed God's command and he pronounced judgment. Right, it was with mercy, but this shows that sin does have consequences.
Speaker 2:Then we see the flood right, that happened in Noah's day. We see this in Genesis 6 through 9, but I'll read Genesis 6, verses 5 through 7 here. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. The Lord said I will blot out man, whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them right. So humanity was super corrupt and God provided judgment, right, just judgment. But then we also see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah right. We see that in Genesis 18 and 19.
Speaker 2:Genesis 18, verse 25, says shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just and then go to the 10 plagues of Egypt that we see in Exodus 7 through 12. And I'll read Exodus 12, 12 here, for I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. I mean, look, god judged Pharaoh and Egypt for oppressing Israel and he's showing that he defends the oppressed and executes righteous judgment. So I'm going to go back to Dr Hitchcock's notes here.
Speaker 2:God's justice demands for the penalty for sin to be paid, and also God can forgive sinners and extend mercy to us because the penalty for our sins has been fully, forever paid by Jesus. And guys, we see this throughout all of the New Testament right. So, romans 5, 8,. But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, christ died for us Ephesians 2, verses 4 and 5,. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you have been saved. Titus 3, 5. He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2.24,. He himself bore our sins on his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live in righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Hebrews 2.17,. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect and again, a little bit later, to make propitiation right. For the sins of the people.
Speaker 2:Propitiation is a payment that satisfies, and so, as I was going through all of my notes for this one, I was just reminded of the lyrics from one of my favorite Shane and Shane songs, before the Throne of God. So I'll just read through the rest of the song, but I'll start about halfway in. Because the sinless Savior died. My sinful soul is counted free For God, the just is satisfied. To look on him and pardon me. To look on him and pardon me.
Speaker 2:Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the one risen son of God. Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect, spotless righteousness, the great, unchangeable. I am the king of glory and of grace, one in himself. I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with christ on high, with christ my savior and my god, with christ, my savior and my god, fellas, all of us have a sin debt that has to be paid.
Speaker 2:And guess what? There's not enough old ladies that you can walk across the street, or 20 bills you can give to people in need. That's going to get you what you need in order to pay the sin debt that you owe a righteous and just father God. But he provided a way to himself by himself, by giving us his son on this planet to die in our place for our sins, and all we have to do is accept that, put our faith in it and repent of our lives of sin. So, guys, if you want to know the attributes of God, let's take him at his word. God is compassionate. God is gracious. God is slow to anger. God is full of loving kindness, god is faithful, god is forgiving and God is just. Amen and amen. Come back next week.
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