Untitled Sermon (2)

Yahweh

7 Mins -

o Introduction -

Exciting to be hear. Let me introduce you to two friends of mine. This one is Vashti, this one is Xerxes. These were my dogs. As you can see, they are sizeable creatures. We asked Brittany’s parents to look after them and they love them so much, they won’t give them back. Vashti is the most well-behaved Dog on the planet. There is patio at Brittany’s parent’s house, right by the back door. Vashti sits at the door and looks in hoping to come inside, if you open the door and let her in, she gently comes in, and then sits as soon as you tell her to, and then she doesn’t move. She just stays put and look at you. Xerxes on the other hand is a naughty dog. He’s been like that ever since we picked him up. He also sits at the back door and looks in, but if you open up the back door, you open up a can of chaos. He will run in, chase the cats, jump on the bed, raid the cupboard, if he can do it, he will do it!

One thing I know about Xerxes, is that he doesn’t listen. One fine day, Brittany and I decided to go for a walk down the beach with Xerxes. Now, when he was a puppy, this was no big deal because he didn’t have a whole lot of size to him, so if he decided to try and run off to play with a dog, or chase a ball or whatever, well we could easily hold him back.

But, when he grew and started to become strong, then the ball game changed. I remember one particular occasion. We are walking Xerxes down the beach and my wife is holding the reins. Well, guess what, along comes another Dog. Xerxes, decides that it’s play time and that he will run down the beach for a game. My wife feel’s Xerxes taking off and tells him to stop, but Xerxes, you will remember, doesn’t listen! He just takes off!

Brittany tried to hold onto him, and tried to hold onto him, and tried to hold onto him, but.. before you know it she was face flat in the sand and Xerxes was off!!

The poor Dog owner who seen him coming thought his life was about to end, but don’t worry it all ended well! Xerxes was a happy camper playing with another Dog, and Brittany managed to get the sand out of her teeth.

Xerxes, is not a good listener. Have you ever met someone that’s not a good listener? Xerxes is not a good listener! Have you ever wondered if God is a good listener? You know, you have things you are struggling with in your life and you pray about them, and wonder if God has heard you, or if God is leading you, if God is even there? Is God a good listener?

o Listens –

Let’s have a look in the Bible. I want to introduce you to a passage of scripture and then we are going to have a chat about it.

. Old-Testament. Second book of the Bible. sets the context for today’s story.

· – describes a group of people. This group is known as the “the sons of Israel” or the “nation of Israel.” They are the descendants of three key characters in the Bible, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob’s other name was Israel, hence why the people were called the sons of Israel.

· Now, in a previous story, found in Genesis, Jacob’s son Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt. Through a series of miraculous events, Joseph ends up becoming the Prime-minister of Egypt and then eventually his people, the sons of Israel move down to Egypt.

· After a little while, however, the Egyptians noticed that there were more Israelites than Egyptians and they wanted to do something about it. Notice the text, I will read it for you.

· .

· The group is getting big. Let’s deal with them says the Egyptians leaders.

· Now, if you read the rest of the chapter you will notice that the Egyptians forced the Israelites into slavery and treated them terribly, and they even went as far as to attempt to kill the male babies as soon as they were born. The Egyptians oppressed the Israelites.

· Now, notice what the text says in –

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So, God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

The text tells us that God heard their cry and was concerned about them. Did you catch that? The text tells us that God is a good listener. He’s not like Xerxes. He’s interested. Now..here comes the bit I want you to catch.

Today’s theme is Yahweh. Don’t miss this.

In as the story progresses, we are introduced to this guy by the name of Moses. You’ve probably heard of him before. The Bible tells us here that God calls Moses to rescue the Israelite people from slavery. God’s heard them. Now he calls Moses to save them from their oppression.

In verse 13 Moses says – but when I get there what shall I say Your name is? So, he speaks to God and says, hey God, what shall I say your name is when I go to Egypt to rescue the people.

Here is how God responds –

“God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

Do you know what that word Lord in Hebrew is? Yahweh. It’s Yahweh.

“The Lord [Yahweh], the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

Yahweh. I am who I am, I am Yahweh.

When I was going through College, my Old Testament professor told me that at scholarly conventions, Jewish scholars in our time won’t say the word Yahweh out loud. They will use other names to refer to God, but they won’t say Yahweh out loud. Why? This is the name God gave himself. They revere it, its sacred to them.

Yahweh.

What have we learnt about Yahweh so far? Yahweh listens.

The people cried out in affliction, and Yahweh listened. He called Moses to rescue the people. Now, we are going to come back to that. But for now -

Discussion time – Groups of 3-5 – 7 mins

1. In your experience, is God a good listener? Why? Why not?

2. Do you think its possible that God has heard our prayers and given us an answer, but we haven’t listened for that answer?

3. In order to help others, how can you become a better listener?

1. Yahweh Listens

2. Yahweh Calls

o Calls -

– 7 mins

“Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Yahweh calls. Here we see Yahweh call Moses to rescue the Israelite people from slavery. Yahweh does that! God does that. God puts callings on people’s lives. The thing we need to note is, God’s callings are always part of the bigger plan to rescue humanity.

My story –

o Grew Up Adventist.

o Left

o Called

o Spirit Never left

o Local Church

o Chaplain

o Youth Pastor

o Studies

o Local Church Pastor

o Associate Youth Director

o GSC Youth Director

o I’m here today to tell you about the God who calls, His name is Yahweh.

o I’m here today to tell you that God is calling you to be part of his plan to rescue humanity.

Discussion time – Groups of 3-5 – 7 mins

1. Do you think God has a calling for you? If so, what do you think it might be?

2. In order to see what God is calling us to, what are some practical things we can do to get closer to Him?

3. How can we help others to see what God is calling them to?

1. Yahweh Listens

2. Yahweh Calls

3. Yahweh Protects

o Protects –

We are going to move a few chapters along now. To cut the long story short. Moses, after being called by God, goes into Egypt and under God’s leading delivers the people out of Egypt. It took a while, the Pharaoh (the King of Egypt) was stubborn, He didn’t want to let the people go, he wanted to continually afflict them and oppress them, he wanted them as slaves. So, God responded. “Ok, you won’t let the people go. You want to continue to treat them with contempt. I will have to soften your heart. I’ll send plagues upon the land so that you will realise you are doing wrong, and that I am God, and that you need to let my people go. So, God starts to send some plagues.

*By the way, this is an act of Love on God’s behalf. God sends plagues because He wants to wake Pharaoh up. Because He loves him and his people and he wants to turn them from living a life they weren’t called to live.

So -

· 1. Yahweh turned the Water to blood – Pharaoh’s sorcerers did the same trick and so he decided to keep the people.

· 2. Yahweh Plagued the land with Frogs – This time, Pharaoh said ok make the frogs go away and I will let the people go. God made the frogs go away. Pharaoh kept the people.

· 3. Yahweh Plagued the land with Insects – Pharaoh, more or less, said ok make the insects go away and I will let the people go. God made the insects go away. Pharaoh kept the people.

· 4. Now Yahweh steps it up, He caused the Egyptian Cattle to die – Pharaoh’s response. The Bible just says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. He wouldn’t budge, he wanted his slaves, and beyond that, he wanted to be like God.

· 5. Then came the boils, then the hail, then the locusts, darkness, but Pharaoh wouldn’t budge. After he received all these judgements on his sinful actions, Pharaoh still wouldn’t budge. His heart was too hard!

· 6. So, along came the final judgment. And that final judgment was death. God finally took the lives of all the firstborn children from the Egyptian families.

This Got Pharaoh’s attention. Finally, he let the people go. But, once they had left, he had a change of heart.

- “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

Pharaoh changed his mind and with his soldiers chased the Israelites.

They caught up to them by the sea and it seemed like all was lost. But, notice what happened.

-

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord [l]swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel [m]went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the [n]army of the Egyptians [o]through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the [p]army of the Egyptians into confusion. He [q]caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let [r]us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”

What do we learn here? Yahweh protects.

o Yahweh Listens

o Yahweh Calls

o Yahweh Protects

But, this also raises some questions.

Discussion time – Groups of 3-5 – 7 mins

1. Yahweh protected Israel, but then took the lives of the first-born children in Egypt? How do we make sense of this behaviour?

I know it sounds rough. It’s a tough judgment. But there are a few things to consider.

1. The judgements were an act of love. God wanted to get the attention of Pharaoh to turn him from his wicked life.

2. God tried every-thing else, before he took the lives of the first born. Water to blood, frogs, insects, cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness over the land. God tried everything He could to get Pharaoh’s attention. He tried everything to show Pharaoh that what he was doing was wrong. That’s 1.

3. The third thing to consider - is that God needed Pharaoh, and in fact all those who aligned with him, to know that to continually pull away from God only leads to one thing. Death. God is the author of life, so to live a life without Him, ultimately only has one ending – death. After trying everything else, God had to let Pharaoh know where His actions were going take him and his nation.

4. The story tells us that God commanded the Israelites to put the blood of a lamb on their doorpost. When God took the lives of all the firstborn in Egypt, He promised to spare those who had the blood of a lamb painted on their doorpost. This is a direct reference to Jesus Christ. In - John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In the bible blows this up when it says the Wages of Sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. Jesus is the lamb who saves us from the punishment of sin – death. Jesus truly is what says – the way the truth and the life.

5. Here’s the big one – it seems a little unfair on those who lost their life right? Especially the first-born kids. The Pharaoh is a poor leader and the firstborn of each family lose their life. From a human perspective, this does seem unfair. But what if there is a different perspective from God’s view of the world. While taking a life is not something God rejoices in, in fact it’s a strange act to the creator, we need to remember that God has the power to give life, take life, and restore life. If in the process of God brining judgment upon a nation, if in the process of God waking up a nation there were innocent people that lost their life, we have to remember that God has the power to restore that life. True, they may have missed out on this life. But what is this life compared to the next. 80-120 years in a world full of pain, suffering and sorrow, or eternity in a world of peace and joy. Just because God took their lives in this world, doesn’t mean he took them for eternity. In fact, notice what the scripture says about eternity.

–

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

People may have missed out on this life, but the next one is far better. No crying, no pain, no sorrow and heart ache, the former things have passed away.

o Yahweh Listens

o Yahweh Calls

o Yahweh Protects

o Yahweh Saves

Redeems –

Let me show you one more awesome thing:

Do you remember back at the start of the story when Moses said – Hey when I go to Egypt, you know who do I say sent me?

“God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord [Yahweh], the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

Now, come to . In Jesus is having a discussion with some Jews. In verse 53 the Jews say to Jesus – “Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus says a few words and then wraps up his thoughts with this statement.

– “Truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was born, I am”.

Verse 59 – notice how they respond. “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

Why did they pick up stones to throw at Jesus? Because Jesus just told them that He is the Great I am. Jesus just told them that He and Yahweh are one and the same.

What does that tell us about Yahweh?

Well, let’s let Him speak for himself.

–

“…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Yahweh, Jesus, came to give his life as a ransom for many.