Hey, good morning, church family. Happy Lord’s Day to you, and happy Mother’s Day to all of our moms at Providence. This morning, I want us to do something just a little different, and what I want us to do, actually, is just to listen to a sermon that I preached a couple years ago. And this sermon came to mind this week, really just in light of, I think, what it means to be on the tail end of the pandemic. You know, I think we all want life to go back to normal as soon as possible, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Things aren’t totally normal yet. There’s still a lot of hurdles, probably in your life, for our state, for our country. And so, I think there are times in life when God allows tough things to happen, and we have to trust Him. But then there are times when God allows tough things, bad things to happen, and those things linger for very, very long seasons. And we wish that they would quit a lot sooner, and they don’t. So, I want us to do something just a little different. So, it’s a godly thing to trust the Lord in tough times. Much more does it require faith and endurance to trust the Lord for long seasons of pain and suffering and hardship. So, with that in mind, I want us to listen to this sermon, and it centers around the people of God on the tail end, the tail end of slavery in Egypt. So, they’ve been there so long, a lot of them have lost faith that they’re ever going to be saved. But God does a great and special work to save them according to His word and promise. So, I want us to hear this word this morning. I hope it’s encouragement to your heart. I hope it’s encouragement to your family. And again, I’m hoping, I’m praying that we’re going to be together again very, very soon. So, I’ll be contacting you this coming week about plans for the next couple Sundays. So, God bless you, and I love you, and I’m praying for you. And I hope to see you soon.

Well, good morning. We will be in Exodus chapter 12.

Turn there with me in your Bibles. Exodus chapter 12.

Verse 31 to 41.

And it says, Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone. Bless me also. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.

And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succuth, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt. It was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait. Nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. Father, this morning, we come to your word and we pray that we are hungry, but Lord, surely we are not hungry enough. Lord, would you now stir up in us desire to be changed by you? That your written word would transform anew our hearts and our minds, or that you would have your way in us. Lord, give us ears to hear this morning, we pray. It’s in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As you get older, birthdays don’t mean as much anymore, do they? They’re just kind of a painful reminder. You’re older. That’s it. I’m going to be 29 in a few months. I was thinking about this, and some of you punched me in the face.

Oh, you’re so old. But once you’re no longer 29, you’re a 30-something, not a 20-something. And it’s weird, because I think, man, I just got married yesterday, it feels like. I remember when Jessica was getting ready to graduate college. I bought her this Basset hound then, and it was so cute. Now it’s decrepit, and it stinks all the time, and it’s just old. And it’s kind of a painful reminder of time. It’s not true when you’re a kid.

Darcy, my oldest daughter, she just turned five last month. And she cannot stop asking, when’s it going to be my birthday again? When’s it going to be my birthday again? Hey, when’s my birthday? Hey, when’s my birthday? When’s my birthday? Because when you’re a kid, what you long for, what you want, it can never come quick enough, can it? It’s always so far away.

The exodus for God’s people is finally here. After longing for it, wanting it, desiring it, maybe some of them believing, no, it’s never going to come. It has finally come. It’s here. They’re leaving Egypt. But what I want us to see this morning is what’s most amazing about the story is not that it happened, though it is amazing for an entire nation to be saved out of slavery from under another nation. The most amazing thing about the story is not how it happened, though surely it strikes us with awe and wonder when we consider the many plagues that God did. What’s most amazing? What’s most amazing about the story is the who, who brought it to pass. It’s the exodus of God’s people. So go back with me to verse 31.

It says, Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent with the people. To send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we shall all be dead.

So it happened as God said it would happen, as we saw last week. At midnight, the Lord struck down the firstborn of the Pharaoh. He struck down the firstborn of all the Egyptians down to their captives, even the livestock. It happened as God said it would happen. And it says all rose up. There was a great cry. Wouldn’t you think there would be in Egypt? Because it said there wasn’t one house. Where someone wasn’t dead. Everyone’s awake. And it says that the Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron. It says, hey, up, you, the people of Israel. He’s recognizing them as a nation now. You and what belongs to all of you. Get out. Don’t wait for the morning light. Right now in the dead of night. You must leave you and yours and what belongs to you. Get out. Previously in chapter 10, the Pharaoh wanted to bargain. He wanted to negotiate. Well, your men can go. You can’t all go. He’s. He’s not feeling so diplomatic anymore. He’s not wanting to strike a deal anymore. Is he? And he even says, bless me also. This is Pharaoh saying, let your God have a kind disposition towards me. Once you stop the place.

This arrogant, prideful, hard hearted man is brought to nothing before the people of God whom he enslaved so harshly for so long. He cannot even stand to be in their presence. For fear of them. It’s not just him. It’s all the Egyptians. It says the Egyptians urged them to leave in haste. It means literally they pressured them. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Or they exclaimed, we’ll all be dead. So what’s happened to Pharaoh and what’s happened to the Egyptians, it’s one in the same. And the psalmist tells us in Psalm 105, verse 38. It says Egypt was glad when they departed for dread of them had fallen upon it. Dread of them had fallen upon it. So here in the dead of night, the once great demigod who held the world in the palm of his hands and the proud Egyptian people. They’re overwhelmed and humiliating, devastating destruction. They’re God’s dismantled, shown to be nothing more than imaginary creations of their minds. They’re once prosperous. Economy ruined and their first born children dead. They dread the people of God. Question. And the answer to the question seems obvious because it is obvious. But why?

Why do they dread the people? What would invoke fear? Considering these people, these are refugee turned slaves. Remember centuries ago. They came to. Egypt because there was famine in Canaan, so they had to flee. The only reason they found refuge was because of their connection with Joseph. When the Pharaoh further in history forgot about that connection, he enslaved them earlier in Chapter 12. God starts to refer to Israel as his host or the NIV translated his divisions. This is God referring to them with hosts of my army divisions of my army. So we have an army of refugees turned slaves with no military training to speak of no seasoned. This is God referring to them as a man of faith. This is what they’re fearing. Why? You usually fear that which has a perceived power in itself. You fear something that has innate ability in itself to do you harm to disrupt your life. I saw a video a couple weeks ago of a man on a safari in Africa. He’s in one of those open top SUVs and a cheetah jumped in the back seat. Maybe you saw this. And the man does. He doesn’t move a muscle. His hands on the steering wheel and you can see it in his face. He is afraid. Why? Because a cheetah can eat your face off, right? You don’t move. It’s scary.

Look back at Genesis Chapter 15 with me in verse 12.

It says, As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve. And afterward, they shall come out with great possessions. And again, speaking to Moses this time in Exodus Chapter 3, verse 19. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. And so I will stretch out my. Hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. So I hope this obvious answer surely is on the tip of your tongue and you want to scream it out. The obvious answer is nothing, right? There’s nothing about these people to fear or to invoke dread. The people are frail. They’re poor. They’re impoverished. They’re afraid. They’re hopeless. There’s nothing about them to dread or fear. It’s apparent they cannot help themselves. The obvious answer is always and only God for them. God is the one who told their father Abraham that he was going to throw him into slavery. God is the one who chose to fight for them by bringing the swift destruction upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It was God. God was their power. God was their strength. God was their wisdom. God was their strategy. It was always and only God alone.

Obvious. Yes. But would you perhaps be honest? Enough with me this morning to admit what is most obvious is at the exact same time. What’s most forgettable?

What the Israelites will soon forget and what you and I struggled to remember on a day to day basis is one in the same thing. Our battles belong to the Lord alone. Our battles belong to the Lord alone. And it’s foolishness to the world. But it’s truth. It’s power. We’re God’s people. Only in our weakness are we strong. Only in our folly do we have a true wisdom and knowledge. Why? Because it’s not a strength native to my soul and body. It’s not a wisdom, a knowledge that naturally flows out of my heart, your heart, and mine. It’s that of God’s, the one true God. Hear how Paul says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26.

For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble status. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing. Things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Our boast has to be in the Lord alone because it is the Lord alone who has the power and the wisdom to save us. And much more than that. He has pledged himself to us. What use would it be if God was powerful enough, wise enough to save, yet he was indifferent towards us? Conversely, what if God loved us, yet he had no power to save? We would have no boast. We rejoice because God is both powerful and wise to save. And he has called us his own. He has called us his beloved. So we rejoice in the God who actually is. But the God who actually is. We tend to forget, don’t we? We pass over. We don’t dwell on the things that God has made very plain to us in his word. We dwell, we fixate on the inferior enemies that God in Christ Jesus has already defeated. The plagues that Israel witnessed firsthand. The Nile to blood, the locusts, the boils, the death of the firstborn. These are going to be very soon like fairy tales to the people. It’s going to be like they never even happened. When it comes time to take possession of the land, they’re going to doubt more than anything. God’s power and wisdom to overcome the Canaanites. They don’t do what they should do.

Dwell on God’s supremacy over all, which he has made very plain to them up to this point. Has he not? Rather, they’ll dwell on their own inferiorities, their own insufficiencies, the inferiority of their enemy. They do what you and I do best.

Doubt God’s very plain word to us. In the place of weakness, we should rejoice in God because he’s our strength and wisdom. They doubt God’s plain word to us. That’s what we do. What is God’s plain word to us?

Well, it’s the same thing it was to them. Only actually, it’s more explicit for you and I because we’re on this side of the cross.

If God is for us, who can be against us? God is our father through the Lord Jesus Christ. We his dearly beloved children. Jesus is our shepherd king who leads God’s procession. Protects, governs us through every adversity of life. He won’t leave. He won’t forsake. He’ll abide until the very end. He plainly said so in his word. The spirit will comfort and strengthen and convict. And with the written word, arm us accordingly for every battle we’ll fight. What else could we plainly need to hear from God’s word?

There is this. Just as God foreknew and ordained the suffering, the battle of the Israelites under the Egyptians. He’s done that same thing in your life and mine. Hear what Philip. I’m right. And says there’s a growing movement among some evangelicals to advocate the openness of God or open theism. It is, of course, questionable whether it’s still legitimate for them to clay lay claim to the title evangelical. The new evangelical deity is a risk taker whose will is sometimes thwarted and whose plans often change in response to the actions of human beings. This doctrine of God purports to be faithful to Scripture. However, it is a radical departure. From biblically orthodox teaching about divine foreknowledge. The true God is all knowing and quoting the prophet Isaiah. He says, I am God. There is no other. I am God. There is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning from ancient times. What is still to come?

God is not a reactionary God swooping down at the last minute to save you when disaster strikes. You ought to believe. God foreknows and God ordains the disaster. He decides both my good and my evil. He decides the peace. He decides the adversity that we experience in life. He ordains the battle, exposes my weakness, your weakness, my infirmities, your infirmities. And so then shows himself strong, wise to save, deepens my love for him, brings my dependency to a whole new level on him. The very one we were always created to love. The one we were always created to depend upon. He’s working to bring that to pass more and more. He’s strong to save. He’s wise to save. And God wants to save you. And he loves you. Our battles belong to the Lord. Is that something we really believe?

In the psalmist. Chapter 18, verse 17. He said, he rescued me from my strong enemy. From those who hated me. For they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity. But the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place. He rescued me. And catch this, please.

Because he delighted in me.

Will you take God at his plain word? Or are we prideful enough to disagree with God about who God says he is? That’s the question.

Charles Spurgeon once said, I usually find that the greatest doubters are the people who do not read the Bible.

It’s a weird thing to say anything positive or compliment the enemy. It’s not what I’m trying to do. But I guess I’m doing it in some weird way. If we have to have an enemy, he’s the best, isn’t he? I mean, Satan knows better than anyone else how to be crafty. He knows how to prowl around like a roaring lion. He knows our weaknesses. He knows how to attack us. Satan is too strong for us. And we in the church, we don’t have some. We don’t have some holy war to wage. We don’t accept those spiritual battles against us from the enemy and our own sinful flesh. And here’s the thing. When you and I fail to regularly go to God’s word, be reminded about who God plainly says he is, be reaffirmed time and time again about this God who’s strong and wise and loves us, what we’re doing is we’re allowing the woes of life, we’re allowing the enemy to seem so much greater than he is. We have literally, the power of heaven at our fingertips, yet we so often approach battles with weak, empty, trembling hands. It is a cliche, I understand,

stereotypical thing to say, especially coming from a pastor, but I believe it is a blessed thing to hear and hear again. You have to, you have to, you must read, study, meditate on God’s word. It is your lifeline. Especially the Psalms for what we’re talking about. If you’re not reading the Psalms, you’re hurting yourself. The Psalms are replete with language of God’s fortress, deliverer, help, keeper, portion, rock, shield, shepherd, stronghold, tower of strength, sustainer of my soul, judge of the wicked, one who strikes down my enemies, breaks the teeth of the wicked. And I think part of me wants to say, well, I don’t mean to make us all paranoid this morning, like the devil’s out to get you and he’s around the corner. But actually I need to say the opposite because it’s true. The devil is around the corner. They’re trying to get you. The devil’s, he’s walking behind you. He’s trying to get your children. He wants to drag their soul to hell. He wants to drag their souls into the world. He wants you to be apathetic towards the things of God. He wants you to see him as so much worse than he is. He doesn’t want you to see the power of the cross. That’s what he’s doing every day, all day. And he doesn’t sleep.

So hear me say this then. If you choose to misuse or ignore the weapons of spiritual warfare, please be sure of it. He’s not going to, he’s not going to make that same mistake.

So you have got to hear, believe, obey who God is in you through you to you and for you for his glory. You’ve got to, we’ve got to.

Exodus of God’s people. Okay, go back to 34.

It says, so the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.

The people of Israel had, also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the people had given, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened, cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. So understand the Passover. It wasn’t last month. It wasn’t last week. It wasn’t yesterday. The Passover has just happened to the Egyptians. It is a open, fresh wound. Additionally, the people of Israel plunder the Egyptians. And they don’t have to lift a finger to do it. Uh, this is a very long overdue paycheck, if you will, with interest to the Israelites, the Egyptians who so harshly cruelly held them down and forced labor are making good on it. One commentator noted they’re acquiring more wealth in this moment than they could have in their entire lives. And note also back in chapter three, God told the people when you get these spoils, dress your children with them. So you’ve got 600,000 men plus women and children. This is probably around 2 million people.

So all Israelites make it out. Everyone goes, no one’s left behind. No one’s wounded. Everyone’s leaving well and healthy. And it says also that they left with very much livestock. Now, previously, Pharaoh said, no, you all can go, but you can’t take your livestock. Well, they’re going out with very much. Livestock again. Notice with me, what is Israel’s contribution to any of this?

Nothing. It says they hadn’t even prepared anything for themselves.

So let’s get the picture. You’ve got 2 million healthy, filthy, rich Israelites, their children, especially their firstborns, healthy clothing, the wealth and riches of Egypt. While the Egyptians suffer the loss of their children and their newfound poverty. And they don’t have any cattle because the plague and the Passover killed practically all of them. While the Israelites go out with very much cattle. I’m not a military expert, but I’m pretty sure this is what you call a decisive victory, isn’t it? And the Israelites have nothing to do with it. It came from God’s hand back in chapter six. It said, the people couldn’t even hear. Moses because of their harsh slavery, their spirits were broken.

Yet God single handedly has given them a victory. It came God’s way. It came in God’s timing and it came from God’s hand alone. Second thing, the Israelites will soon forget. And we are quick to forget as well. Our victory comes from his hand alone.

Victory. God’s victory is sure. And I think with that, we should always celebrate. It’s God’s people. No one can defeat our God. He’s always victorious, but there’s a recognition God’s methods for accomplishing victory. Oftentimes they’re very strange. They’re very confusing. Sometimes what God does seems like a great evil to us. We’re all very familiar with the prophet Isaiah is very famous passage 55. Eight. He says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways.

And I think we all say, well, amen to that. Yeah, that’s very true. We agree with that passage. But we’re also, aren’t we quick to question God? God, why? Why did you accomplish the longed for, hoped for in that way? It’s not what I wanted. Why? Why did Canaan have to have famine? Why did they have to go to Egypt? Why did they have to stay so long? Why did slavery have to be so harsh? Why did he have to use so many plagues? Why couldn’t they have been an army centuries before that just wiped the Egyptians out? Why, why, why, why? But we have to let it be a sufficient answer for us. And so they did as well because it was God’s chosen way. And if it was God’s chosen way, there is no different, better way. We’re always glad for the Lord’s chosen means and manners because they are perfect. Even when it doesn’t seem so to us. So we have to be sure of this. God’s hand only ever moves in accordance with God’s will. His own mind. The only way his hand ever moves. It’s why prayer matters. It’s not a sermon on prayer, but it’s relevant. Prayer is not me getting from God what I think I need or want. Prayer is God bringing me into an agreement about what he says I need in my life. That’s prayer. That’s why time and time again, we have to go back to Jesus in the garden. Jesus as a man, his will as a man, he didn’t want to drink the bitter cup, but he says what father, not my will be done. Your will be done. So the moment God gives you what you think you need and want, he gives you your victory, your way. God has ceased to be the God he is. And he becomes your version of God. And when God is your version of God and not the God he is, that becomes more like a benevolent deity. He exists for your every, every desire and when, which that sounds more to me like a slave master relationship. Don’t we maybe have those roles flipped? So I think in our hyper narcissistic society, we need to hear in here some more. God is no one’s slave, but everyone’s master. That’s what’s true. That’s the truth I’m living under. Again, the psalmist 135 verse six. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does. Did you hear that? Is that plain enough? Whatever the Lord pleases, he does. In heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from storehouses. He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast, who in your midst, so Egypt sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants. Who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, Sion, king of the Amorites and all king of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people. God’s victory comes God’s way and God’s timing by his hand for the maximum benefit of his people and the maximum amount of glory for himself. Do we have the humility, faith, patience to believe if, if, if God is strong and wise to fight his victory coming his way, his timing is sure and there’s nothing better. I got to believe both of those things. Both of them. I’m not happy about pain. The Bible doesn’t say like pain, but I rejoice in suffering because I know victory is coming from God for me, for the one who endures until the very end. You’ve probably heard of, John Newton. If you haven’t, you have John Newton wrote the very famous hymn, amazing grace, all her amazing grace. Lesser known. You probably haven’t heard of William Cooper who wrote a hymn called, uh, God moves in a mysterious way. It’s one of my favorite songs and hymns. Um, at age six, William Cooper lost his mother. He had a strange relationship with his father. His father sent him off to boarding school. Uh, he dealt with horrible bouts of depression throughout his life. He tried to commit suicide. He tried to commit suicide many, many times throughout his life. He spent some time in an insane asylum. He was recluse. He stayed practically in the same place his entire life. He eventually died literally of depression, but later in life, he became a good friends with John Newton and was pastored by John Newton and John Newton, knowing that William Cooper struggled with depression, but also that he had a love for poetry and was very good at that. He, he asked him to collaborate on hymns. And so John Newton of course wrote amazing grace and William Cooper wrote the hymn. God moves in a mysterious way. And I want to say that about him, because I want to read a few stanzas from the hymn, but I think that there’s so much more breadth and depth to the hymn when you understand the man behind the hymn who did not have an immediate victory for him. A victory was not inevitable. It was always on the other side, uh, with the mysterious God who was working in ways he couldn’t understand. Presently.

So it says God moves in a mysterious way.

His wonders to perform.

He plants his footsteps in the sea and he rides upon the storm.

You fearful saints, fresh courage, take the clouds. You so much dread are big with mercy and shall break and blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning Providence, he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to air and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it play.

And still, I think hearing that maybe you think I appreciate the neat sermon. I appreciate the depressed Englishman. I appreciate the nice him, but you don’t know where I’ve been. You don’t know what I’m dealing with. You don’t know what the people in my life are doing with. Please don’t try to identify with me and I’m not trying to identify with anyone. I think it’s very difficult for one person to totally identify with another person. And I think sometimes it’s hurtful when we try to do that. Oh, I get where you’ve been. I get what you’re going. Through very rarely true. So I’m not going to say that. I say this, the God who placed you in your valley, he identifies with you. And if you can hold your confidence to the end, as the Hebrew writer encourages to do, he will make it plain and he will bring a victory sweeter and better than you ever could have imagined. That’s what I’m sure of.

Exodus of God’s people. Go back to verse 40.

The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

So finally free the people of God. They’re headed to the long awaited promised land. No more to bear the yoke of slavery in Egypt. No more. No more to experience the cruel tyranny of the Pharaoh. They walk away as victors, not because of anything they’ve done, not because of who they are,

because of who God is because of what God has done.

The Exodus is not about the people of God. It’s about the God of the people, the God of the promise. That’s what it’s about. So it’s about Galatians chapter three. Verse 16. Paul says, now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say into offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ. This is what I mean. The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God. So as to make the promise void, God fought their battle, God won the victory for them. Why? Because he promised he would. He promised it to their father, Abraham. But this salvation in Egypt, we have to understand this. It’s a shadow. It’s a pale shadow of a far greater,

a far more glorious victory and triumph.

You and I, we’re weak.

And we’re frail. And we’re afraid.

And we’re hopeless. In relation to God’s holiness, we’re impoverished. We can’t fight our battles. The taskmaster sin, he would champion over us. We are crushed by God’s great ancient foe, the serpent. We cannot bear the backbreaking yoke of God’s law. We cannot secure a victory for ourselves. We are helpless to do that. And if we don’t think so, we haven’t spent enough time, I’m thinking about how hopeless our own situation is. Cause it’s that bad. Let me say it again. But God made a promise. God made a promise according to his own grace and mercy that Abraham’s true seed, the Lord Jesus Christ would come and he would fight a battle for us. Jesus would fight the fight. We cannot fight on Calvary’s hill on the cross. He dealt with sin. He dealt with Satan. He dealt with our shame. Jesus, single-handedly secured the victory over sin, over Satan, over the grave. Once for all, deliver us out of the Egypt of sin and to him and himself and his father and to a truer and better Canaan. That’s God’s promise. That’s God’s promise. If we can believe that, we’ll have a share in Christ’s victory. It’s a very good promise. So just one question. I just want to read Romans.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherence of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith, of Abraham, who is father of us all. Can you take God at his very plain and simple word that he promised to save you in Jesus Christ? He promised Christ would fight your battle. Christ would secure your victory. Can you believe that? That’s the question. Take God at his word. Let’s pray.

Father, this morning, I know that we all come from

very different walks of life. And Lord, we come in here, with different baggage.

But Lord, I pray that we would all know together that Christ understands us and Christ knows us. And in Jesus, we’re loved. And whatever we feel,

whatever we think in our hearts may be true, it pales to the truth of your written word. So Lord, I pray that you would give us what we need to believe your word, to trust your word, to trust your promises,

that whatever life feels like right now, we are loved and we have already been cared for. We have already been provided for. We will be kept for eternity in Jesus. And that is truth for us as the people of God. Lord, I pray that if someone doesn’t really know that, Lord, I pray that that would be,

Lord, the thing that, Lord, they believe today with all their heart,

that we have a trustworthy God who loves us.

And Lord, I pray that you would bolster our faith.

Lord, while we don’t always understand what you have us walk through,

Lord, we pray that it would be enough to know that you understand and you’re with us and you bear us up in your spirit.

So Lord, I just pray that your spirit would just bring a wave of freedom, a wave of peace that can only be brought in Christ Jesus this morning as we look to you, see, believe, trust in your promises to us. Amen.