WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.359 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:21.039 Lord Jesus, we've come to see you and to get a bigger understanding of the price of our redemption, but also to see the Father's plan unfold. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:28.320 It unfolds most clearly in the Bible, which is why we open it up every Sunday and we find the courage to say what it says. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:33.119 And when I say to say what it says, what I mean is to say what you've said. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:36.320 Your word is a reflection of your nature and your character. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:45.200 It's not a suggestion, it's a commandment, and it has on it the authority of God because all scripture is breathed out by God. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:51.200 No prophecy has its origin in the will of man, but men spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.679 So we are going to read from your word this morning. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:55.520 It's better than the Constitution. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.960 This time of year, a lot of people like to chirp about the Constitution. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:04.000 We have the word of God, the breath of God down on paper. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:13.439 And so we come this morning to hear it and to submit to it and to watch the plan of your redemption just kind of unfold another chapter. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.680 Do that in our head and in our heart today. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.239 We pray. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:17.680 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.599 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:20.239 You can have a seat. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.000 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Exodus chapter four. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:25.280 Exodus chapter four. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.200 And if you're our guest today, let me say welcome. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:28.319 My name is Neil. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:31.680 And if you're a member of Grand Park Ray, let me reintroduce myself. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:34.159 My name is Neil, and I'm your lead pastor. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.319 I got your snarky emails. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.000 Hey, do you work here anymore? 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:40.640 If you're visiting today, you don't know what I'm talking about. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:45.359 The rest of the staff, our church is not built around the personality or the gifts of any one person. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:50.319 And so once a month somebody else preaches, but in July, the whole staff preaches. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:55.439 They all, Clyde preached, our worship pastor, Aaron, our student pastor, Wade, our missions outreach pastor. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.280 Had a friend of mine in town come and preach. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.599 Just because I want you to hear from different gifts. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:02.480 I'm working on a deal where I'm going to have an art and ideal. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:06.799 I'm working to bring in a worship leader who's also a singer-songwriter. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:14.240 And I'm just going to, he's going to lead us in worship about three songs, and he's going to sit here on a stool and just kind of preach through his instrument and through his gifts. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:22.400 And so that'll be coming in the next couple of months because I want you to hear the word of God through a bunch of different gifts and people and personalities. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:23.520 That makes sense? 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:30.719 But today you get to hear, you have to hear me, and for that I'm sorry, because I haven't preached in a couple of weeks, and so y'all gonna get it. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:31.280 All right? 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:32.560 I'm all backed up. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:36.240 We were on vacation in Boston last week, and my wife's like, Can you just preach to something? 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:40.080 So I preached to the people at Paul Revere's house, and they all rededicated their life. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:44.639 So anyway, I want to talk to you this morning about the power of obedience. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:46.240 The power of obedience. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.759 And by that, I'm gonna start reading in Exodus chapter 4, verse 18. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:57.120 When I say the power of obedience, here's what I mean: that there's a reality that gets unleashed on our culture when you and I simply obey. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:10.240 But if you and I do not obey, we don't experience that power, and our culture doesn't hear and see how good God is as compared to everything else, and how right God is. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:15.199 And so when I say the power of obedience, I want you to just kind of listen because we're gonna read the passage. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.919 Here's what we do we're gonna read the Bible, and then what I'm gonna say today is gonna come right out of the Bible. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.520 And the Bible's intended to make you think, not just make you feel. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:28.000 You will feel some things, but it's intended mostly to affect the way you think. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.960 Because as the Bible says, as a man thinketh, so is he. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.280 And so the Bible changes the way we think. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:38.879 The word of God never goes out and comes back void, but it accomplishes a purpose for which God sent it. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:44.960 And so that means that you're here for a reason, and God's word's gonna come into your head and your heart for a reason this morning. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:46.240 Are you ready for that? 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.840 Let's read God's word. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.000 Exodus chapter 4, verse 18. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:58.240 He says, This, Moses, now God has appeared to Moses and said, Here, I know you're a murderer, you killed a guy, you got you got a you got a pretty bad past. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:01.759 But God appears to Moses out in the wilderness and says, I haven't given up on you. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:03.599 My grace is greater than all your sin. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:04.639 I got a plan for you. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:05.840 Here's what I want you to do. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.919 That's where we drop in the story this morning. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:12.080 Moses is going to go back to his father-in-law and say, Hey, I can't work for you anymore. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.520 God's got a plan for my life. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:14.719 Here's what it sounds like. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:21.920 Verse 18, Moses went back to Jethro's father-in-law and said to him, Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:24.240 And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:29.920 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men who are seeking your life are dead. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:35.120 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey and went back to the land of Egypt. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.759 And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:47.279 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:55.120 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:59.120 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.199 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.839 And then Zipprah, Moses' wife. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.439 Zippara took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:14.560 So he let him alone. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:18.720 It was then that she said, A bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.600 The Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.319 So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:31.360 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.199 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.560 And Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:48.879 And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel, and he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.079 When I say the power of obedience, again, let me tell you what I mean. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:11.920 I don't have time to go into this. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.120 But let me just say this. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:19.680 Just because you've heard from God, and you can't use the will of God to justify treating people badly. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.040 I mean, Moses didn't go back and say, I've heard from God, I'm out of here. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:24.240 This is beneath me. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:25.920 I'm not gonna do this anymore. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.759 I've got a new job, they're gonna pay me more, and they got dental insurance. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:31.759 No, he's heard from God. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.079 I just I'm just gonna tell you, here's what I'm saying. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:40.160 If you're the only person that believes what you're fixing to do is God's will, you need to listen carefully. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.120 Because it wasn't just Moses that heard from God. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.000 He goes to his father-in-law, and his father-in-law says, Go in peace. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:51.759 And so the first thing we see that gets unleashed in the power of obedience, number one, is the power of sovereignty. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.040 The power of sovereignty. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:54.240 Look at verse 21. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:05.040 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I put in your power, but I will harden his heart that we not that he will not let the people go. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:06.399 Now get that for a second. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:10.160 God gives He gives Moses the power to do miracles. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:12.160 Don't you wish he gave you that as well? 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:15.040 You ever ask yourself what you'd do with it if you had that? 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.759 Here's why God doesn't give me the power to do miracles. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:20.480 Because when people at a red light, here's how shallow I am. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:27.199 When people at a red light in front of me don't go and the light turns green, if I had power, boom, they're done right there. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:37.600 I give them a little friendly honk, and then I'm kind of like, oh Lord, I'm gonna have to call down fire on some fools here that can't pay attention, especially if they're doing this and looking at their phone. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.120 I just pull up beside them and just stare at them. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.800 And my wife, who thinks she has to fix me, kind of says, What do you think that's doing anything? 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.040 It feels good to me, hush woman. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.160 But God gives him, I mean, get this. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.319 God gives Moses the power to do these miracles and he goes and does them, but God says this. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:58.319 Hey, I'm not sending you on fools, Aaron. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:03.600 I just want you to know you're gonna say, let my people go, and he's not gonna do it because I'm gonna harden his heart. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:04.160 Why? 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.279 Because God is demonstrating the power of his sovereignty. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:13.040 Now what I mean when I say sovereignty, sovereignty is simply this: it's supreme power or authority. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:24.480 The people in Exodus, they lived in a day, that the children of Israel back in this time of Exodus, they they they lived in a day when everyone thought of human rulers what they were created to think about God. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.519 Let me say that again, and I'm gonna bring it to the modern day. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:35.919 People back then thought about human rulers what they were created to think about God, like some of you think Donald Trump is the answer to your problems. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:39.279 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:44.320 Some of you think Hillary Clinton, I mean, you're in worse shape if you think Hillary Clinton's the answer to your problems. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:48.399 Uh and I don't I don't get into Democrat, Republican, this, that, and the other. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:49.440 I'm just saying this. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.960 People back in the Bible, let's get back in the Bible where it's safe, okay? 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.919 People back in the Bible, not nowadays, okay? 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:02.159 That people back in the Bible believed, oh man, they thought about people the way they were created to think about God. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:03.279 And so what does God do? 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.679 He doesn't get mad, he doesn't get jealous. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:11.279 God declares himself by establishing what all and who all he has control over. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:12.639 Let me say that again. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:19.759 God declares himself by establishing what all and who over, who all he has authority over. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.480 Everyone thought that Pharaoh was the most powerful man on the earth. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.159 Oh man, don't mess with Pharaoh. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:26.960 And God says, okay, I'll start with him. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:27.919 You say, why? 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:35.360 Because God reveals what he's like by revealing the scope of his influence, what he's in charge of, what he has dominion over. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:36.320 We do the same thing. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:40.960 You're at a dinner party and people chat with you, and then they say, Oh, tell me about you, Bill, what do you do? 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.279 And you tell them what you do, don't you? 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:53.200 That's why I try to think of an intelligent way to tell people I'm a pastor, because then when people find I'm a pastor, they go, oh, and they're thinking, have I said bad words in this conversation? 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:58.399 Uh uh uh so I just say crazy stuff like I'm a relationship consultant. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:01.679 They go, oh, what do you do? 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:06.000 Uh I consult people on how to develop and maintain the most significant relationship in their life. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:08.159 Oh, so you're like a financial advisor. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:16.159 No, if that was the most if that was the most important relationship, then the word bankruptcy would have no definition, but it does, so that can't be the most important relationship. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:21.120 And besides, the relationship I consult people about transcends this life. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.240 And then they're like, I just I just want to stop. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.559 Let's just but God's that way. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:28.879 I mean, you but here's the thing, here's what you don't do. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:36.879 People ask you, see, we we gotta get out of the habit of trying to describe God and define God to people by telling people just how God feels about them. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:47.840 The reason some of you in this room don't respect God or the things of God, or you're here because your friends invited you, or your wife nagged you, whatever, is you've been told your whole life God loves you and thinks you're swell. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:52.639 And God would appreciate your vote. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:56.320 And somewhere, if you're honest, you're kind of like, I'm not really impressed with that guy. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:02.960 No one's looked at you and said, Hey, God's doing okay without you, and God will be glorified in your life, or God will be glorified in your death. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.200 But either way, God's gonna get glorified. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.639 You'll be like, Oh, what you're talking about, Willis? 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:09.039 What? 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:10.799 See, but that's what God does. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.480 God doesn't start, no one says to you, hey, what do you do for a living, Tim? 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:16.159 You go, I love you. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.480 Dude, this just got creepy all of a sudden, okay? 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.159 No, you tell them, hey, I'm assistant principal at a high school right up the road, or I teach tenth grade or whatever. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:30.399 And they're like, hey, God says, hey, I want to demonstrate my sovereignty. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:31.679 And you say, What do you mean? 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.600 If you're in chapter four and you want to follow along, turn to the right, to chapter nine of Exodus. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:36.639 I want to show you something. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:48.399 I want to show you the extent of God's sovereignty because a lot of times in church, when we talk about God's sovereignty, he sounds like this crusty old curmudgeon, this cold-hearted, and doesn't care about anybody or anything. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:49.440 That's not true. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:53.279 So if that's you, just keep your head open, keep your mind open for a minute. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.399 Let me just read from Exodus chapter 9, verse 13. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:04.000 This is what what we mean when God says, Hey, I you're gonna go tell Pharaoh, let my people go, but he's not, because I'm gonna harden his heart. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:04.799 What does that mean? 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:06.559 Exodus 9, 13. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:08.080 Things have already happened. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:15.360 God has sent six different plagues to introduce himself, to say, hey, this is the realm of which things I have control over. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:17.039 Verse 13 of Exodus 9. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:26.879 Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.840 That word service, worship, is a better translation. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:38.399 For this time I will send all my plagues on yourself and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:45.120 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:51.919 But for this purpose I've raised you up to show my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.200 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:02.480 See, one of the reasons we don't like the sovereignty of God is that we like to think of ourselves as sovereign. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:11.440 Your issue is not with the people in Africa who's never heard, or the are the really religious person, or the person is not religious, but is a good person. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.000 I mean, how does a loving God send that person to hell? 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.480 Your issue is not with the sovereignty of God. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.639 Your issue is that you want to be sovereign. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:20.879 And my issue is that I want to be sovereign. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:26.240 That's what Pharaoh, he God said, You're still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:31.039 You're leading people to think, Pharaoh, that you're in charge of the world. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:39.440 Verse 18, Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hell to fall, such as never been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:44.639 Now, therefore, send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:50.559 For every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.639 And then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh, no is that. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:56.159 The Bible's so subtle. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:00.879 Whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh, these are these are the Egyptians. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:07.519 These are people like, but they had this sense of Pharaoh is not the biggest thing in the world. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:13.840 Whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:19.279 But whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:20.559 We'll stop right there. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:21.519 Why do we read that? 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:29.200 Because I want to give you a fuller dimensional understanding of what we mean when the Bible talks about that God is sovereign. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:34.159 There's four things to keep in mind about God's sovereignty from this short little story in Exodus 9. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.759 Number one, God's sovereignty is never subjected to our circumstances. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.799 God's sovereignty is never subjected to our circumstances. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.080 Translation, we can't say things didn't go the way I wanted. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:45.759 God must not be in control. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.559 We're all gonna be faced with that. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:53.919 There are things that happen in my life that I just kind of think, man, if I was in charge, I'd die. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:57.200 I mean, how could a good God let this happen? 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.039 Are you are you kidding me? 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:00.480 I mean, come on, man. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:04.720 And and yet the reality is at the core of that, I want to be in charge. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:10.960 Second thing we take away about sovereignty is God's sovereignty is expressed in what he does and what he doesn't do. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.759 It's expressed in what he does and what he doesn't do. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:16.720 I wasn't here on Tuesday, I was on vacation with my family. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:19.440 Um, but I hear we had a bad storm on Tuesday night. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:20.080 Was that true? 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:20.960 Yeah. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.519 Would any of you say it was the worst storm you've ever seen in your life? 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:29.519 Did you run in your kids' bedroom, wake your kids up and go, quick, get some gopher wood, build the ark, this is the end. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.519 No, you wouldn't. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:32.799 Why do I say that? 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:45.200 Because God says to them, and it's very subtle, but he says early on in this section, verse 15, he says, For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.799 See, sovereignty is expressed in what God does, but it's also expressed in what he doesn't do. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:55.519 Most of you, your beliefs about sovereignty are based on what you know God has done. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:01.039 What you need to confess today is that the best part of God's sovereignty is in what he doesn't do. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:03.279 God says to them, Hey, here's the deal. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.399 I could have stretched out my hand and wiped you off the face of the earth, but I haven't. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:11.200 And you understand this more than you give yourself credit for. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:12.480 Allow me to demonstrate. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:30.960 How many of you in this room have ever gone out and you knew it was wrong before you did it, but you got dressed up and you made plans and you went out and did it anyway, and when you got back, the thought went through your mind, maybe not this raw or this authentic, but somewhere in you, the thought went through your mind, Lord, thank you for not killing me for what I just did. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:32.320 Can I see your hand? 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.000 Hold it up real high, you wretched wicked people. 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:40.480 You understand sovereignty more than you give yourself credit for. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:44.960 See, God's sovereignty is expressed in what he does, but also in what he doesn't do. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.720 Third thing is God's is sovereign and he's merciful. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:51.519 He's sovereign, but he's merciful. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:56.720 Let me say this the attributes of God they exist in harmony with one another. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.000 That God is sovereign doesn't mean he's not loving. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.480 What do you mean? 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:07.680 God says, hey, this time tomorrow I'm gonna send a storm, a hail storm, the which the likes of which you've never seen before. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:09.200 You have no frame of reference. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:10.880 You think Tuesday night was bad. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:15.359 I got so much more than that that I could bring on you, but I'm not here to destroy you. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.319 I'm here to convince you that I am sovereign. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:29.599 You should feel about me the way you feel about no one else in the world, which is why the first commandment is you shall have no other gods before me, be it Pharaoh or Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or Hillary Clinton or whoever. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.119 Save your highest allegiance for me, God says. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:34.480 But here's the mercy of God. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:36.640 He says, Hey, this is gonna come about this time tomorrow. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:41.680 So get your servants and your animals out of the field, because if you leave them out there, I'm gonna crush them. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:44.480 He's merciful. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:51.200 Don't think that God's this cold, unfeeling deity up in the heavens who just kind of gets his jollies by wrecking people's life. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.599 Fourth thing I want you to understand about sovereignty is the purpose of sovereignty is worship. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.720 The purpose of sovereignty is worship. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:02.079 That's what God says back in in Exodus chapter 4. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:11.039 When God says, And the Lord said, When you go back to Egypt, see you perform before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart so they will not let the people go. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.799 Over and over in Exodus, Pharaoh hardens his heart, he and his people harden their heart, God hardens his heart. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:17.680 Why is that? 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:23.680 Because God is weaning his people off of thinking of anybody else what they were created to think about him. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.119 Let me ask you a question to think about before you go to sleep tonight. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:30.480 Who has a place of prominence in your life that they shouldn't have? 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.480 For some of you, it's a person you date right now. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.759 I'm not I'm not a woman, so I don't understand this. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:38.960 I'm not making light of this. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.079 I'm not a young woman. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:46.720 I I just see a lot of, you know, 16 to 20 to 25 year olds that are kind of like, oh, my boyfriend broke up with me. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:47.920 I don't know what I'd do. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:48.880 Party. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:50.079 That's what you should do. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:56.000 I just I just don't get giving somebody that much power over your affections. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:56.480 I don't. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:57.839 I know I'm an old man. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:18:59.839 You're like, hey, dude, you don't understand. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:06.720 I I I get that, but I just, at some point, your emotions would be better served if you had a good theology of sovereignty. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:12.880 That I don't have to put up with this because God made more people and they're all not this stupid. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.319 Let's stand for the benediction. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:19.119 I think we could be done right there. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:24.799 See, see, the power of obedience, the first thing that's unleashed is the power of uh of sovereignty. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:26.480 Secondly, the power of sonship. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:28.720 Look in Exodus chapter 4, verse 22. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:29.759 You still with me? 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:38.160 He says, Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:42.640 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:45.759 See, it it this is the heart of Exodus right here. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:55.599 The book of Exodus doesn't make sense unless you see it through the lens, not of God emancipating slaves, but a father claiming back his son. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:57.680 See, see, this is the heart of it. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.759 Israel is the son of God's choice. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.920 And the Exodus story is about sonship. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:05.519 It's about a father's love for his only son. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:15.440 Again, not the emancipation of slaves, the not emancipation, the release of slaves, but but it's repatriation, the return of a son. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.720 Now, let me just get down to where we live. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:20.319 Uh don't raise your hand. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:29.359 But if you're in this room and you've had a kid that's gotten off the reservation as they got a little older, maybe they went off to college uh and and and they just went crazy and you're kind of like, what? 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.799 You don't know, you think everything's going well because they call you, hey mom, dad, it's awesome. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:33.359 How you doing? 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:34.160 Good, good, good. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.720 And then you get that first grade report. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:41.200 And you're on the phone, you get it in the mail, you're like, clearly, our son's discovered tequila. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.240 What's going on up there? 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:49.519 And so you ring up the phone and you're just kind of like, but if you've ever had a child that's gotten off the reservation, and I'm not making light of this, it breaks your heart. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:51.680 You're kind of like, are you kidding me? 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:57.599 And you threaten them and you cut the money off, and you say, if you ever do this again, we're not gonna help you out. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:00.079 You are on your own, you're old enough to know better. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:02.000 And two months later, guess what? 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.000 They do the same thing again. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.839 And guess what you do? 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.680 You bail them out. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:09.200 Don't you? 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:11.599 I couldn't hear you. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.160 I know you're kind of like, we don't want everybody to know. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:15.519 You know why you do that? 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:17.359 Because they're your son or daughter. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.720 I had a friend's daughter went to Baylor, and they they're very fluent. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:22.799 This is back in the back a long time ago. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:31.599 We wrote these things called checks, little rectangular pieces of paper, and one month she bounced 17 checks. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.240 $35 a whack service fee. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:37.359 He gave her a stern talking to, and he's like, I don't know what I'm gonna do with her. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:42.079 And at the time I didn't have kids, and I was just kind of like, child, please cut that kid off. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.880 Two months later, she bounced 15 checks. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:47.680 He looked at her and he's like, What are you doing? 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:49.279 She goes, Dad, I just like to shop. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.400 And I don't I she never bounced a checkbook in her life. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:55.119 She goes, I just know my my mom and dad. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.000 This is my favorite part. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.359 My mom and dad have enough money to cover it, so why should I have to figure out how much is in there? 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.559 Help me, help you. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:11.599 And I'm looking at the guy kind of like, I'll tell you what my kid. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:16.480 And he just looked up with tears in his eyes and said, You don't have kids, so don't go there. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:24.880 I'm telling you, if you've had kids that go off the reservation, may I be off the reservation right now, you understand the book of Exodus more than the rest of us. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.079 Because it is a father saying, Give me back my son. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.759 Long before Mel Gibson said it in a movie called Ransom. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:34.799 God says, Give me back my son. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:36.720 Israel's my firstborn. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:43.839 And if you fail to see this, then you fail to understand the big picture, the sweeping narrative of the gospel. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.920 Because if you miss the Exodus story, then you miss the heart of the gospel story. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:48.880 What do you mean? 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:54.079 Because God says, Hey, give it back my son, and then say Israel will go out and sin. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:55.599 And then God would forgive them. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:57.039 And they'd say, We're not going to do it anymore. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:00.880 And then they'd go out and sin, and God would forgive them and take them back. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:02.960 And then they'd say, We're not going to do it anymore. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.799 We promised, and they'd go out and sin. 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.799 I'm about at one point, God's like, I just want to wipe these people out. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:11.599 I'm sick of these people. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:14.319 Why do I tell you that? 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:21.839 Because Israel, God's firstborn son, couldn't live up to their position as the son. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:32.480 But it's not without accident that shortly after Jesus was born, remember he and his Mary and Joseph went down to Egypt to flee from Herod. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.119 When Herod died, this is what the Bible says. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:37.519 He says, out of Egypt I'd called my son. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:43.200 And at this time it wasn't Israel, it was the perfect son, Jesus, who did what Israel never could. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.960 And so when I say that, hey, this is the power of sonship. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.000 That's what you see. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:58.079 If you understand the even now, all the leaders, somebody asked Carly Fiorina in an interview last week, you know, what are you going to do on your first day in the White House if you're elected? 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:04.160 She said, Well, I'm going to call my good friend Benjamin Net and Netanyahu, and I'm going to remind him that we stand with Israel. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.519 And I was sitting in a room with some people, and I'm like, What's the big deal about Israel? 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:09.759 And I'm like, How much time you got? 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.720 And it's not a political thing. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.279 God set his affection on Israel. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:17.920 And it's not that God hates all the other nations around Israel. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:18.559 He doesn't. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:24.960 But God said, Hey, you're this little speck of dust on the scales of the world, and I'm going to glorify myself. 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:28.720 I'm not choosing you because you're strong, because you got a good military, all this stuff. 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.920 You are not a people, but I'm going to make you the people of God. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:32.240 Why? 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:35.119 Because I'm your father and you're going to be my son. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:43.680 And what you see all through Exodus is the power of sonship is just kind of borne out over and over and over. 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:46.799 Third thing we see in the passage this morning is the power of the blood. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:54.480 Now, starting in verse 24, verses 24, 25, and 26, it's one of those sections of the Bible that we preachers never talk about. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.000 You read about it and you just skip down to verse 27 and keep going. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:05.599 And y'all come up afterwards and kind of go, hey, you skipped that part about that woman taking a flint knife and cutting off her son's foreskin. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:06.640 What was that about? 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:07.839 Well, it's not important. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:09.440 Just just keep going. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:12.000 God be with you, go in peace. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:15.359 Third thing you see is the power of the blood. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:16.480 Look at verse 24. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.960 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met with him and sought to put him to death. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:31.599 And then Zippara, that's Moses' wife, took a flint, which is a sharp rock, and she cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:32.960 So he let him alone. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:36.640 It was then that she said, A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:45.279 Now, when I say the power of the blood, to understand this section, you need to get your mind, get in your mind how seriously God takes himself and his commands. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.200 Does that make sense what I just said? 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:53.680 To understand what just happened, you have to get in your mind how seriously God takes himself. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:56.000 And so I want to help us understand that. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:58.559 I want to read you a quote from a man named John Piper. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:00.000 He was a pastor for years. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:06.240 He went to one church, stayed there for 20-something years, and then he retired, gave it over to some younger guy. 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:08.400 Now he writes books and leads a seminary. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:20.640 But John says this: He says the foundation of our justification, our acquittal, our forgiveness is not a flimsy sentimentality in God, nor is it a shallow claim of human worth. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:32.160 It is a massive rock of God's unswerving commitment to uphold the worth of his own glory, to promote the praise of his holy name, and to vindicate his righteousness. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:37.200 The God-centeredness of God is the foundation of his grace to the ungodly. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:47.519 If God were not committed first to vindicate the worth of his own glory, there would be no gospel and no hope, for there would be no glorious God. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:56.400 You see, but because God is glorious and he is going to vindicate his righteousness, he doesn't let Moses slide. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:12.559 Which, what the Bible tells us, is that while they were on their way, get this in your mind, Moses, the man who God selected to lead the Exodus, to lead his people out of bondage, God comes and God is going to kill Moses because Moses has been living in disobedience. 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:14.720