Sermon Tone Analysis

In the bad times as well as the good times

“Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw” (Exodus 5:14).

When everything seems to be going from bad to worse, we must pray that God will give us the strength that we need to keep on loving Him, trusting Him and serving Him.

Our circumstances may have changed.

Nothing seems to be going right.

We didn’t think it would turn out this way.

Has our Saviour changed?

Has He gone away and left us?

No!

He hasn’t.

He’s still with us.

Are we still with Him? or Do we opt out when the going gets tough?

Lord, You are faithful to us.

Keep us faithful to You.

"God will surely visit you" (Exodus 13:19).

Sometimes, when we’re reading the Scriptures, there are some words that just jump out at us.

We say to ourselves, “That was just what I needed to read.”

We say to God, “Thank You, Lord for that Word.

You’ve spoken Your Word to me.

It was just the right Word – for me, for right now.” Here’s a great word of encouragement – “God will surely visit you” (Exodus 13:19).

What a great privilege this is – God visits us!

Are we ready for His visit?

Do we pretend that we’re not in when He comes knocking on our door?

or Are we so pleased to get a visit from Him? Often, we’re so busy with small things – things that don’t really matter that much in the light of eternity – that we fail to give the Lord an enthusiastic welcome.

As I thought about these words of encouragement – “God will surely visit you”, I looked at the rest of the verse and read these words, “the bones of Joseph”!

Here, we see the realism of God’s Word.

It lifts us up to the eternal God, but it also keeps our feet on the ground – with a reminder of our mortality!

Do we need to hear about “the bones of Joseph”? – Of course, we do!

We’re not going to go on forever.

“The bones of Joseph” – there’s more than this.

There are the heavenly “mansions” (John 14:2).

Then, we’ll be going to “visit” the Lord.

We’ll be more than visitors.

We’ll “dwell in the House of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).

That’s our glorious future.

This is what we have to look forward to!

Here-and-now, we must settle for something less than that.

We’re not quite ready for the fullness of His glory.

He’s preparing us for glory.

He’s giving us His visitations.

He’s giving us ” a foretaste of glory divine.”

How well prepared will be for the full revelation of God’s glory?

We’ll never be fully prepared.

We’ll always be sinners.

We can, however, draw encouragement from God’s precious promise – “God will surely visit you.”

Here-and-now, we must learn to appreciate God’s visitations.

They’re preparing us for something better – “Eye has not seen.

Ear has not heard.

Neither has it entered into the heart what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

"showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:6).

In there, among the Ten Commandments, there's the word, "mercy" - what a wonderful word!

What a wonderful thought - God is merciful.

He does not look upon us in our sin.

He looks upon us in His Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He looks at Jesus - dying on the Cross.

He sees Jesus, bearing our sin - and He sees us, receiving Jesus' salvation.

"In my place, condemned He stood.

Hallelujah!

What a Saviour!" - This is mercy, and it's right here in the Ten Commandments.

How wonderful is this!

God's Word speaks here of our love for the Lord and our obedience to His commandments.

Where does this come from?

It comes from the Lord - from the God of love, grace and mercy.

Before we come to the Ten Commandments, we have the great declaration of God's salvation: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:2).

Real love for the Lord and true obedience to his Word can never be reduced to legalism.

It's always much more than that.

His love for us inspires our love for Him.

Our obedience to His Word is grounded in gratitude for His love.

Thousands came out of Egypt.

They had been redeemed by the Lord.

They weren't taken straight into the Promised Land.

They had to spend many years in the wilderness.

Is that not the story of our life?

We want to love Him more truly and obey Him more fully - but our sin keeps on holding us back.

We're not the finished article.

We're a work in progress.

Thousands - this is not just about the spiritual leaders, people like Moses and Joshua.

This is about ordinary people, people with a story tell: "This is what the Lord has done for me."

My story is not your story.

Your story is not my story.

Each one tells their own story - in their own way.

All of us tell the same story - "Amazing grace!

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me ... " This is mercy - and it's reached so many different people: different names, different faces, different places, one Saviour - Jesus.

How does God's mercy lead us in the pathway of loving him more truly and obeying Him more fully?

"May your Spirit make us look at the commandments not as a set of observances.

May they move us to serve you not in a slavish way but as your sons and daughters who love you and whom you have set free.

May we thus fulfil more than the law and serve you as your sons and daughters, in whom you recognize Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord forever."

"As grateful children of God, let us put our hearts into seeking in the commandments not our will but the will of God, so that we do not ask what God orders us to do but simply how we can respond to his love and show that love to the people around us."

"Commandments are not just observances that guarantee our salvation.

they are a response to all God has given us.

We ask God not what we are obliged to do, but what He expects us to do to respond to his love."

"May we learn from Jesus that love is the heart of the law and that true love knows how to serve" (Camilo J. Marivoet, "Liturgy Alive - Models of Celebration: Weekdays", pp.

314-316)

We've read about "thousands", receiving God's mercy, "thousands", learning to love God and obey Him.

God's Word describes, for us, the glory of heaven.

It says that there will be "a great multitude, which no man could number" (Revelation 7:9).

How amazing is this!

We'll come from different nations, different languages, different cultures and different centuries.

Each of us will come with a different story to tell - our own unique story of what the Lord has done for us.

There will be so many differences, but they will mean nothing to us.

We will all be singing the same song.