God is Able

hi Matt Chandler here pastor of the village Church just want to thank you for streaming this sermon on your device I wanted to just before we get going here just lay before you a deep conviction we have that this video sermon that we've prayed really stirs up your affections for Jesus and shapes you and mold you into the image of the son would just be supplemental to your relationship with the Lord and in no way would replace the church you should be plugged into or the pastor that God has put over your life to Shepherd and care for your soul and so please enjoy the next hour or so of this message we have prayed that God would use it in a profound way in your life blessings from darkness to light this is the story we all share as the people of Ghana he draws us out to draw us in from the birth of Israel to the church today God delivers and dwells with his people he draws us out of our sin our Egypt and draws us into his presence into relationship with him well if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab those will be in Exodus chapter 4 in fact we're going to cover that entire chapter in our time together today if you don't have a Bible it should be a hardback black 1 somewhere around you if you were here a couple of weeks ago it'll look very similar to that we'll read through the entire chapter and then we'll go back and I'll kind of point some things out I have a singular kind of point today it's not kind of I have a singular point with about 40 proofs and so that that's kind of our plan here's my singular point here's the weight I believe of exodus chapter 4 that the omnipotent might of God almost always flows almost always flows through obedience rooted in faith right that's what we're gonna see in Exodus chapter 4 that God's omnipotent might his power his strength his ability to be sovereign over all almost always flows through obedience rooted in faith so that's my point now let's see if I'm right Exodus chapter 4 if you remember Exodus chapter 3 God finally speaks God shows up I am Who I am Moses does a lot of listening not a lot of talking and then finally Moses is going to respond Exodus chapter 4 starting in verse 1 this is the Word of God then Moses answered but behold they will not believe me or listen to my voice for they will say the Lord did not appear to you and the Lord said to him what is that in your hand he said a staff and he said throw it on the ground so he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it but the Lord said to Moses put out your hand and catch it by the tail you ever tried to catch a snake you probably shouldn't do it by the tail don't go well the Bible said don't catch it by the tail all right bad things happen all right put out your hand and catch it by the tail so we put out his hand and he caught it and it became a staff in his hand that they may believe that the Lord the God of their fathers the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you and again the Lord said to him put your hand inside your cloak and he put his hand inside his cloak and when he took it out behold the hand was leprous like snow then God said put your hand back inside your cloak so he put his hand back inside his cloak and when he took it out behold it was restored like the rest of his flesh if they will not believe you God said or listen to the first sign they may believe the latter and if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground but Moses said to the Lord oh my lord I am NOT eloquent either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant but I am slow of speech and of tongue then the Lord said to him who has made man's mouth who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak but he said o my lord please send someone else then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said is there not Aaron your brother the Levite I know that he can speak well behold he is coming out to meet you and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart and you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth you will teat and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do he shall speak for you to the people and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as God to him and take in your hand the staff with which you shall do the signs so Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt and see whether they are still alive and Jethro said to Moses go in peace and the Lord said to Moses in Midian go back to Egypt for all the men who are seeking your life are dead so Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey and went back to the land of II and Moses took the staff of the of God in his hand and the Lord said to Moses when you go back to Egypt see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go that's gonna become really significant next week okay then you shall say to Pharaoh thus says the Lord Israel is my firstborn and I say to you let my son go that he may serve me if you refuse to let him go behold I will kill your firstborn son at a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death then sapore took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touch Moses his feet with it and said surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me so he let him alone it was then that she said a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision I know you're eager for the application of that section verse 27 the Lord said to Aaron go into the wilderness to meet Moses so he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him 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 then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel and Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did all the signs in the sight of the people and the people believed and when they had heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their afflictions they bowed their heads and worshiped now if you remember kind of the narrative arc of our story the last time we really spent some time with Moses he was kind of brash highly educated knew all the the secrets of Egypt and he had tried to start a rebellion against Egypt to save Egypt save Israel from Egypt and then we have a very different man here right we have a man that is broken that a man in his age now understands his limitations in fact if we went back to three which we don't have a ton of time to do in chapter three verse eleven Moses he talks about his inadequacy that he's not adequate for this mission that God is trying to give to him in 313 about his ability I don't have the ability to do this in for one he starts to talk about how ineffective this mission is right I am NOT going to be affected they are not going to believe me and then in 14 he just finally says look I'm incompetent this isn't happening and and so this is not kind of the brash gifted eager ferocious Moses we met back in Exodus 2 this is a man in his 80s all is ambition dried up broken content to just hang with sheep and stay away from people but this is where we find Moses and yet God despite all of his protest has this gentle determination that Moses is his man and that Moses is exactly who he wants for this job and I want to point out something because we're getting to see something here that you're gonna see as long as you read your Bible all right let someone preach the Bible to you if they're preaching it right okay and here's what I mean by that that that the what the Lord does is he gives his word before he reveals his power and then as we step into that obedience his power is revealed that's what you're seeing like God has done a lot of talking here right but where do you see his power you see his power when Moses takes the step so so we can see in these right you've got hey throw your staff on the ground he throws his staff on the ground it turns into a snake right reach down and grab the snake by the tail you don't do that ever right now here's what we know we're it's conjecture but but this is not a friendly snake and you might be thinking there are no friendly snakes right but but Moses is a shepherd and has been a shepherd for 40 years and he sees this snake and runs right which means this thing's deadly and and so he runs and the Lord goes quit running come back pick it up by the tail now that's a moment between the Lord and Moses is it not pick it up by the tail like because what do you do if you're Moses actually you're supposed to reach by the head in fact this con we don't even mess with we just get the Sheep out of here right but but what happens Moses rooted in faith steps forward in obedience and reaches out grabs the tail and then what happens to power of God becomes the staff and he picks it up right and so what we're gonna see and what God is asking to Moses both in this scene and for the rest of the book of Exodus and the rest of our lives here's what the Lord is after obedience rooted in faith and we don't like that you don't like it I don't like it Moses certainly doesn't like it and so what happens when the Lord asks us for that take this step it's risky it's dangerous it doesn't make sense but I have revealed this to you by my word I want you now to be obedient to what I have commanded you and we get nervous so we tend to justify our disobedience and that's exactly where our man Moses goes look at this in verse 1 then Moses answered but behold they will not believe me or listen to my voice for they will say the Lord did not appear to you now Moses knew himself he knew that he was the kind of guy especially as far as the Hebrews and the Egyptians were concerned that was not going to be trusted right if you remember his background he was educated and grew up in kind of Egyptian society but he was a Hebrew he was a man without a home right the Egyptians wouldn't fully own him and the Hebrews wouldn't fully own him and he's going you get you got the wrong guy they're not gonna believe what I say the I am inadequate this is in efficient I lack the ability they will not believe me and what Moses is guilty of here is something that most of us from from time to time will struggle with he is using his past as a justification to not be obedient in the present he's using his past as a justification to not be obedient in the present and this plays itself out all the time among those who God is wooing towards obedience right you know I I would do that be obedient but man people know that I've done this people know that this is my background and so somehow we feel as though we have disqualified ourselves from obedience and being used profoundly by God and when I say profoundly I don't mean like leading millions of people out of slavery I mean faithful presence at home and it work and in your neighborhood right so when I'm talking about profound I'm talking about faithful presence I don't think we got a lot of Moses's in here I think we've got a lot of men and women who've been called to be faithful at home faithful at work and faithful in their neighborhood faithful in the church what does that look like that looks like obedience rooted in faith but what happens to us and so I can use since I'm a man I can use one that I I know has happened with a lot of the men that that I kind of do life with is we really blow it and then and then we just stop trying you know we we man we snapped at our wife we weren't what we should have been for our children we weren't and then we're just like well you know if I tried now they would think I was a hypocrite look I love you you're a hypocrite does that feel good I got a lot of trouble not troubles kind of tongue-in-cheek for two weeks ago and I said hey you're just average breathe like that's good news I mean you might not know that you are your average I love you this frees us up to just go it's not in me it's in him and I and I love what the Lord gives him for this you know I can't do it I'm stuck you got the wrong guy they're gonna know they're not gonna believe me I mean that this is just isn't gonna work here's what's great the Lord never speaks to his low self-esteem he never does it like he never comes over goes now Moses I don't like you talking about yourself like that Moses you know Egyptian you know how few Hebrews no Egyptian you're one of the smarter men that I've created like God does nothing to soothe his low self-esteem because the more you focus on your own self-esteem the lower it will plummet so God gives him what he needs a picture of God that transcends his low self-esteem so what the Lord gives Moses and his justification is delayed dis OPR is delayed obedience his blatant disobedience to the Lord as he gives him three signs right he gives him the sign of the snake he gives him the sign of the leprosy being cleansed and he gives them the sign of the Nile turning in to blood now here's a good way to think about signs signs aren't parlor Trix right they're not the Lord trying to do magic to make the crab a wall right that's not what he's doing when there are signs he is communicating to the world around us something of himself and so in these three signs he wants to teach Moses something the Hebrew something and the Egyptian something and the signs are significant so let's look at him again look at verse 2 then the Lord said to him what is that in your hand and he said a staff and he said throw it on the ground so he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it but the Lord said to Moses put out your hand and catch it by the tail so he put out his hand and caught it and it became a staff in his hand that they may believe that the Lord the god of their fathers the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you now let me tell you what's significant about this on Pharaohs crown right that the crown that Pharaoh would wear there was a hooded Cobra that was open facing out towards the enemies of Egypt at the Ouray as the Cobra at that's that's being represented here was a sign of Egyptian power and sovereign rule right so that the Egyptians believed and the Hebrews would have been taught that when the Pharaoh puts on that crown with the Cobra unfurled on his head he became a type of living God in fact the most powerful God in all of Egypt and so God for Moses who ran from this power and for the people of Israel had been subjected by this power and for the ones who held the power there was no real power at all other than the sovereign sway of God Almighty God says let me show you what I think of the snake grab it by the tail so what's being communicated here not afraid of your power you can't kill us it's no real power at all touch it by the tail it becomes a staff so it's important to note it's important to note this because this is the thrust of what we're doing that this sign of what will come right has not come yet but what will come the power of God is flowing through the channel of Moses's obedience which is rooted in faith that God is the I am Who I am and then it moves on not just from the snake but now into leprosy so let's go to verse six again the Lord said to him put your hand inside your cloak and he put his hand inside his cloak and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous like snow then God said put your hand back inside your cloak so he put his hand back inside his cloak and when he took it out behold it was restored like the rest of his flesh now leprosy in this period of human history is the great scourge of humankind we had no answers for leprosy and so what we find in some ancient writing is that Egypt had thrown its some of its wealth and some of its brightest minds on being able to conquer this highly contagious disease that was kind of ravaging the ancient world to no avail to no avail and so once again God says hey you know what Egypt's been unable to do with all that with all their wisdom with all their goals with all their you know what they've been unable to do go put your hand inside your cloak pull it out so that's a death sentence like that's advanced right that's stage four and white with leprosy I'm guessing that's just going to be a little moment of panic okay put your hand back in your cloak and what Egypt could not do the Lord did in seconds so I think again I want to just keep pointing this out that Moses with all of his inadequacies with his fears and with this history of failures right will overcome this dreaded disease by the power of God flowing to the channel of obedience built on faith and then lastly the Nile let's look now at verse 9 if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground now let's do just a little kind of on the Nile every year at the high water point of the Nile the Nile brings 30 feet of black soil into the Nile Basin right so think about that that's 30 feet of black soil in the middle of the desert so the wealth and power of Egypt laid in the Niles ability to create soil that produced crops that brought in fish and waterfowl almost all the power of Egypt was built around the Nile in fact in the ancient world they were synonymous so if you travel internationally and you ask friendly people people who are friendly towards the States give me one word to describe the United States they're gonna say freedom right tell me about America home of the free right in this day tell me about Egypt home of the Nile it would just be synonymous right that Egypt is the Nile the Nile is Egypt in fact they continually sang and worshiped the Nile they called the Nile the father of life the mother of all Happel the divine spirit that blessed the land unceasingly to them the Nile made Egypt Egypt and God says that they won't listen to the first sign here's what you do you take a cup and I think about this kind of faith this is gonna require you're standing in front of Pharaoh this people this guy can kill you're standing in front of the elders of Israel who do not know who you are I mean this is a little gutsy call get your cup fill it up with the Nile you guys ready like what happens if it's just water you guys think about that huh y'all ready to go now but this is what the Lord's asked him to do he's not turning the water into blood in the cop pour it out and it will be blood no no obedience by faith poured out it'll turn to blood on the ground right this is once again Moses with all his inadequacies with his stunning history of failure he has not lived up to his education he has not lived up to his potential he has failed over and over again he has made foolish choice after foolish choice after foolish choice will be used profoundly by God to over throw the most powerful force in human history at that point via obedience rooted in faith now I want to talk about this just for a second and I'll tell you while I think some of the things I have to say - they're hard things but I need to say them for our good and for my own conscience before the Lord when you think about your relationship with God when you think about your relationship with God in Jesus when you think about that is your life marked by obedience rooted in faith you need to answer that quit that's such a serious question that I wouldn't make any joke around it is your life marked by obedience rooted in faith not asking if you're perfect I'm not asking if you you don't struggle I know we struggle I know no one in here's obedience is perfect but I am asking is your relationship marked by the desire for and baby-steps in obedience marked by faith that God is who he says he is now tell you why this is such a huge question now I was asked to speak at the ethics and religious liberty commissions National Conference and they wanted me to study and then present on what it's like in the Bible Belt and here's where I'm really afraid for you and and I'm willing to say to you something you might not ever want to hear again and never come back because I'm about to say this in the Bible Belt churches are jammed filled with people who have no mark of being Christians on their lives other than the fact that they attend once a week no obedience whatsoever no desire for obedience no relationship with Christ no seriousness about God like this is it you come you check it and you'll call yourself a Christian and I want to lovingly tell you that if there's no desire for obedience and no obedience you should not count yourself a Christian you should consider yourself lost and in danger of damnation and I know you might be going well that seems a little strong Cruel would it be for me to pamper your religiosity when dam nation's at stake so you can go somewhere else they'll talk to you about how awesome you are but I need compel by the scriptures to tell you you're playing a dangerous dangerous dangerous game when you come and you sit and you listen to the things we say and you take no active steps of obedience you're hardening your heart against the King of glory what pleases God is obedience rooted in faith not perfect obedience because we can't do that and that's the point of Christ on the cross we're not going to be perfect but we will stumble forwards and if you're not even trying to stumble forward stop it you're not a Christian and I know you got baptized when you were seven and you were in Ras and your parents are Christian and you're from Texas that done of that makes you a Christian so I'm asking you because this question heaven and hell is hinging on this question is your life marked by obedience rooted in faith where are those steps of obedience that you're taking if you don't have any and in listen I'm not just talking about being good people or being a moral conservative that that's not it's not what we're talking about here right your external morality isn't even what I'm addressing do you have a heart that's after the Lord that you want the policeman you want to take those steps of obedience as the Word of God comes to you so because here's where we are where Moses is is he standing on this ground and the Word of God is coming to Moses drop your staff reach out your hand put your hand in your clothes take a cup of water from the Nile and Moses does it power of God manifests and now for you and I here is the Word of God and the Word of God says walk this way to life right that's why the psalmist says in Psalm 16:11 you have made known to me the path of life you fill me with joy in your presence so where has he made known to us the path of life it isn't what we think is life because there's a way that seems right to us and in the end it leads to death no he has made known to us the path of life via the word of God to shrug it off to say to decide for yourself I am God I decide what's good I decide what's right for me isn't a front to the holiness of God and I'm just trying to plead with you for the sake of your own soul and the sake of the name of Christ that is so belittled by those who would come to church on the weekend and have no other relationship with him look like the world but put the name of Jesus over the top of it want the same things the world wants but just kind of co-op spiritual language on top of it it's again I'm I'm not trying to offend you I promise I'm not now I know this is offensive but my heartin is not to offend but to plead to plead listen Gus this ain't horseshoes the Lord is not deceived he doesn't just check in on Sunday mornings and see that you're here and they go I guess we're great it's not how this works so here's what's interesting to note here God is really flexed for Moses I mean he really has shown himself to be really mighty so we see in this text that the Lord of lords has shown himself to be just that he's able to transform he's able to renew he's able to conquer so we're good to go right I mean he shows up to Moses shows all these powerful signs in fact I think we tend to believe men if God would show me something like that I'd be all into like I woke up my dresser was burning and the Lord began to speak I think man I'd be full-on sure whatever you want and yet the stubbornness of man's heart knows no boundaries look at look at verse 10 there is such a sad irony in verse 10 and following verse 10 but the Moses said to the Lord o my Lord and I want to stop there that o my lord that word Lord is not I am Who I am remember that what we did with when God said I am Who I am that really that's gonna that's going to translate throughout the rest of the Old Testament as the Lord in all caps well Moses doesn't use that name here he uses the word Adonai alright so he says oh my Adonai which translates Lord sovereign master right so that's what the Lord there means your Lord your sovereign you are my master I am your servant but Moses said to the Lord oh my lord I am NOT eloquent either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant but I am slow of speech and of tongue and then the Lord said to him who has made man's mouth who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak but he said o my lord again oh my I don't I please send someone else then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said is there not Aaron your brother believe it-- I know that he can speak well behold he is coming out to meet you and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart you shall speak to him and put words in his mouth and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do he shall speak for you to the people and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as God to him and taking your hand the staff with which you shall do signs now here's the sad irony of this text Moses says oh I don't I Oh sovereign Oh master Oh Lord Oh powerful and you can do whatever you want you can accomplish anything you will there's nothing that could stay your hand you are almighty all-knowing can do it all and then Moses makes his own inadequacies Trump the power of God send someone else you see the irony in that there's nothing that you can't do and yet my foolishness my brokenness sir plans your omnipotence and so I put in my notes here it's his omnipotence that matters not our incompetence it is his power that matters not our lack of it it is his might that accomplishes purposes and will not ours so you got it and this is where you can see the Lord getting really angry with Moses fact the text says it is anger was kindled right so it's good Society of there is wood there and all of a sudden he's like I don't speak up fire lit right it's kind of that thing you were you're you know you talk with your daddy his head turns and you stop that's what just happened in this text his anger was kindled and and why you see the Lord can I hit the ball to him back like this he's like well I don't speak well and he's like you just called me out and I don't I make the mouth you you really think your speech is an issue here don't I make the mouth don't I I I'm a done' you got my name right but he betrayed if kind of what you believed about my name and now you actually trusted and live we're kind of one right he's speaking to this um fracture in Moses's words an intellectual understanding and his willingness to submit his life to what he understands is true about God and if that doesn't apply to us I don't know what does by now all of us are in some shade of this right there's anybody in this room it's like well you know I'm hoping people are listening today you know all of us have some of this all of us have areas of delayed obedience we're just really honest about obedience there are some things the Lord commands us to that are no problem at all like just with a happy heart will be fully obedient then sometimes he asked us take these steps up that are terrifying so this might not make sense to the rest of the campuses but like what Carl Brown and his family are doing right now is they're stepping out of what is known what is safe what is secure and they're stepping into some risk what is that that's obedience rooted in faith Carl talked to our staff this past week one of the things that he was saying to the staff is even a year and a half two years ago he would have said I'm gonna grow old here with these men and women and I'm gonna you know sit on the back porch we'll talk about all that God did with our you know our dumb young days and how he grew us up and how people were patient with us and how and and then what happened the Lord said hey it's a beautiful vision and dream but I've got something for you over here he had to wrestle with the Lord and now he's taken that step faith it pleases the Lord and so what's happening now in this conversation is the anger of the Lord has been kindled against Moses is the Lord is pushing on Moses to shrink the gap between what he would say to the Lord you are Adonai but my weaknesses are more powerful than your power so the way we talk about that usually here at the village church is navel-gazing like when you're always just kind of looking at yourself and like well gosh I can't you know I surely the Lord can't use me I mean look at this this is gross and and yeah the reason we're always saying and we even wrote a song about it like lift your eyes like look up because in that the way the Lord is addressing Moses is low self-esteem now but going come on buddy you can do it no no he said I'm able you're right you are a terrible speaker I can't listen to you but I'll flow through you I'm able I'll be the power you think I need your skillset it's my power that accomplishes my will not your power your role is obedience through faith and then I'll unleash it and as we'll see it usually unleashes differently than we think it's going to if you remember too even what we covered week 1 right that God is working a plan that plan will almost always play out differently than we think so I think you've got to make the decision is he the Lord of your life or do you consider him your Butler hmm you in glad submission to the sovereign rule of God or do you more have the picture that you ring a bell and he goes get you a pillow brings you a snack now the reason I'm weighing on you today is because this is serious stuff and that takes us to that really strange part of the text look back in verse 24 maybe you were like ah there's no way he's gonna touch that and you would be wrong 24 let's look at it at a lodging place on the way to Egypt the Lord met him and sought to put him to death now lot we don't know right we don't know who the Lord's trying to kill here we know it's either mosasaurs firstborn son but we don't know which one that's a weird turn can we just address that what just happened well I'm glad you add let's keep going at a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death then sapore took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses his feet with it and said surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me so he let him alone it was then that she said a bridegroom of blood because of circumcision now there's a lot we don't know about this text but there's plenty that we do know about this text and and again this is me trying to love us well as a community of faith what we know is that the sign of the covenant given to Abram when he was given the name Abraham in Genesis 17 so if you are in one of our Bible study classes that's walking through Genesis right now the women meet on Tuesdays the men meet on Wednesday mornings about Carl brower's actually been teaching that Genesis study for us and here at flowerin so if you're in one of those classes where Genesis you're not quite there yet but you're going to get there and here's the sign of the Covenant that God gives Abraham Genesis 17 9 through 11 and God said to Abraham as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your offspring after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you every male among you shall be circumcised you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins then it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and you so God makes the sign of this covenant relationship you understand covenant so covenant relationship is what happens in a wedding when the bride and groom turn and face one another in exchange vows that's covenant 'el language right we turn and we face one another we say crazy stuff for a wedding day right most romantic day of our lives were saying for better for like we're acknowledging hey this could go bad but it doesn't matter if it goes better if it goes worse I'm with you in sickness and in health that's coming in a language if everything I loved about your vibrancy energy and physical ability vanishes tomorrow I'm not going anywhere I'm with you you're with me rich or poor if we're sharing a yacht or sharing a doctor Thunder I'm doing it with you right this is coven in a language we turn and face one another there's never contractual language at a wedding it's all covenant 'el we're entering into a covenant and what's the sign of the covenant of marriage it's the exchange in those vows it's wedding rings it's that we we have these signs of the Covenant what's the sign of the covenant between God and His people circumcision the shedding of blood because God is serious about us knowing the weight of sin the cost of sin a very sensitive part of the body and some blood to help his people understand the weight of sin and the beauty of his forgiveness now here's what here's why I'm pressing today he's oh I'm a little amped up God just showed up to kill either Moses or his firstborn son the line that God has drawn is stark in the Covenant there is life and forgiveness outside of the Covenant there is judgment and death for everyone Moses has chosen to raise his son outside of the Covenant he is raising a son either as a Midian or an Egyptian and the Lord has shown up to kill outside of the Covenant and and so what what happens support knows exactly what it is I just see how fast she worked so the Lord has shown up to kill SWA SWA SWA foreskin down and then it stopped that I probably shouldn't have done that I was a waiting moment I ruined it I will not do that in the 11:15 we will not podcast this service so now in that moment so here's where I want you to feel the weight I think so many of us want to we want to castrate the line of Judah and pull his teeth out God didn't play around with sin God doesn't play around outside the Covenant inside the Covenant life forgiveness fullness of life outside the covenant judgment and death even for Moses and Moses his firstborn son so I'm pressing you this morning did not play a game I say all of them Church is just the lamest hobby in the world I don't know what in the world you're doing if this is the extent of it for you you have not tricked God you are not walking in the joy of what it means to be a believer I don't know what you're doing get a boat yo get out on the lake don't if you're trying to kind of calm your own conscience there's a marked joy when we follow the Lord and we walk in obedience we get to see the power of God in our lives like you share the gospel is someone they become a believer that's stunning because you can't save anybody God just kind of used you right when you serve like some of the happiest people I know are those who are rung out in glad service to God via the body or via other places where they might serve the most miserable people I know are all about themselves so I've tried to tell you the more you're into you the more miserable of a human being you're gonna be so if you're thinking oh my gosh I you know what do you I don't know what to do with this circumcision thing well I mean let me just bring Jesus into it to calm you down Colossians 2:11 through 12 says there's in Jesus also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ so now the shed blood of Christ becomes our circumcision having been buried with him in Baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power power working of God who raised him from the dead so if you were here last weekend we did celebration services and people got in our Baptists trees and more than likely you're buried with Christ and his death raised to walk in the newness of life now this is what we're talking about that the sign of the Covenant in in our day is baptism that we are baptized as a public profession so everyone you saw got baptized said this to the community of faith I'm following Jesus I'm in hold me accountable encourage me speak life into me I'm with you in the mission of God to the ends of the earth pray for me and like a wedding that God in the water and testified I'm with him and therefore I'm with you let's go church so circumcised uncircumcised in the physical body is no longer a sign of the Covenant Christ shed blood covers that our sign of covenant is belief and baptism belief in baptism so two questions to conclude our time together right the first is this and and I want to just ask it and if you think about your heart in your life right now think about how you relate to God what it looks like when you say you're a Christian what do you mean by that what does that look like I want to just ask are you inside the Covenant where there's forgiveness and life or you outside of the Covenant where there is death and judgment I mean maybe you're in that space you're like gosh man I'm not sure listen I don't ever want you to leave here with legalistic leanings or some sort of checklist to to check up I just want to ask you a simple question is your relationship with God marked by a desire for obedience a desire to know and follow him and it is imperfect as that is if it's there then I think you should have some confidence that you belong to the Lord right but at the same time if there's nothing but this right here I don't think you're a Christian if there's nothing but I come to church on the weekend wants and no other area my life my marriage how I spend my money how I interact with people how other people know me none of that would prove provide any objective evidence that I'm actually a Christian I'm just a moral conservative who's grown up in the south whose parents made him go to church every weekend when you know and when he was growing up anytime the doors were open but I don't have any real relationship with Jesus Christ I would just not count myself a Christian and be anxious there's a good kind of anxiety about the state of our souls right and so that's the first question are you in the coven are you outside of the Covenant and then the second thing I want to ask is if you are a Christian what are those areas of your life where there's either disobedience or there's delayed obedience where is it that you clearly know what the Lord has asked of you and and it's just one of those seasons for whatever reason like gosh if I take that step there are these ramifications if I do what the Lord's asked me I'll be seen as this if I take this and and you're hears that just one of the more sad ironies of the Christians that I know is they really want the power of God in their life and really don't want to be obedient to get it like I'd really love to see my neighbors and co-workers love Christ and surrender to him be transformed they're walking in such darkness we ought to tell him about Jesus I am and I couldn't do that you know my past kind of you know how if you knew what they know about me you'd probably throw me a discipline or something you you don't want to that well what's happened there well your past is now defining your present and you're walking in disobedience while being hungry to see the power of God so I think the most consistent places that we see this play out is if hands ilysm giving and nobody sweat when I pass on a plate right but if you really you know what Jesus says you want to know what's going on in your heart look at your checkbook I don't think we have checkbooks anymore look at your budget Oh most of us don't have budgets look at how you spend your money are you want to know what you really worship what you really value what really drives your life look at how you spend your money that's what Jesus said right and he didn't take an offering after that sermon and then the third thing is around service god help us man we live in a part of the world that says it's all about us and so churches should be all about us they should be catering to us that they should be fully staffed with volunteers we shouldn't have to do that other people should have to do that for us so these are three areas that I think we see all the time where we want the power of God we want to see God work and do mighty things as long as we don't have to do anything well God says no no grab the tail well you know if I grab the tail I mean I could get bit on the hand or maybe you won't get bit on the hand I mean you're right maybe you will but maybe you won't won't you reach out your hand and grab it let's see oh man I'm looking at this Cup Lord and it's still water mm-hmm because I'm gonna turn it to blood as it hits the ground support out everyone's watching I'm gonna look like a real idiot if I pour this out it's just water on the ground so got the speech of plan in my head follow me now and if it just ends up being water on the ground I'm gonna look like a fool yeah maybe or maybe you're trusting me and faith will lead you to see my power in your day there's a joy and gladness to be found in radical submission to the lordship of Christ and there is a dry crusty externally religious boring way to do this where you defame the name of Christ I know just enough about the joy of Christ to be miserable I'm pleading with you today to consider where your heart is let's pray father thank you for your mercy thank you that you've given us your word thank you that you've called us into obedience rooted in faith pray now that you would give us clarity on our hearts clarity on where we stand in regards to the Covenant are we in are we out we thank you for how your grace covers our imperfect execute of obedience we also praise you that that does not take away from your seriousness about sin your divine hatred for it and your plan ultimately to either discipline or judge it out of existence we cry out to you a don't I help us live like we believe it and it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 66,068

Rating: 4.8277779 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church

Id: 1rbWx88iLJo

Length: 48min 25sec (2905 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 17 2016