Who is the Lord, That I Should Obey Him?
Notes
Transcript
Last week we looked at the questions, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?” We learned that God holds every nation accountable for their actions and will judge them unless they repent and place their faith in Christ. Today we are going to look at the next logical question, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” This is the question Pharaoh asked and it is the question that may in our society are asking, perhaps even you. To begin, let us look at the passage where this question is found. Please turn with me to Exodus 5:1-9:
Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
I want to answer this question by looking at three passages of Scripture. The first is found in Isaiah 45:12:
I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
Here we learn that...
God is Our Creator
God is Our Creator
Our relationship with God is different than with any other person. All other creators, be they human or angelic are but creatures. Angels are glorious beings. If you saw one, you would be tempted to worship them. When John saw an angel, he fell down at his feet to worship him, but the angel said to him, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you.” (Rev 19:10) Behind the pagan gods of this world are fallen angels who have deceived people into thinking that they are gods.
This illustrates just how great and glorious God is. What we imagine as great and glorious falls short of what the angels possess, how much more so with God Himself!
Psalm 19 says that the heavens declare the glory of God. The vastness of the universe speaks of the greatness of God. The Apostle Paul says that because of this every person knows in their heart of hearts that there is a God and that they are without excuses for not worshiping and obeying Him as they should. He goes on to say that the reason we do not worship and obey God as we should is because we suppress the truth (Romans 1:18-21).
It is because of this fact, that theologian R. C. Sproul use to say that sin is nothing short of cosmic rebellion. This week we witness the rebellion of the anarchist in the city of Seattle. Most Americans are appalled by what they see, but our rebellion against God is even more brazen!
It is because of this that we face Judgement. The second text I want to look at today in answer to Pharaoh’s question is Hebrews 4:13.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
God is Our Judge
God is Our Judge
Pharaoh doubted God’s authority and the consequences were devastating for himself and the nation of Egypt. After the Exodus, Egypt was so weakened, they were overrun by foreign invaders. It took Egypt over a century to recover!
Earlier in the service we sang of the “chariots of God’s wrath.” In His mercy, God withholds His wrath against us in order to give us time to repent, but at death all mercy will end and each of us will have to give an account to God.
It has been amazing to see the great lengths people have gone to to protect themselves from the coronavirus. They were masks, they whip down everything with Clorox wipes and the care hand sanitizer wherever they go, but no one is talking about protecting themselves from God’s judgement with repentance and faith!
How foolish we are. Are you protected by the blood of Jesus? If not, do so today!
This brings us to our final point:
God is Our Redeemer
God is Our Redeemer
The Ten Commandments begin with these words...
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Throughout Scripture, not just the New Testament, the call to obedience is grounded in the love of God. It is no accident that God reveals Himself to us as a loving father. Sadly there are many examples of harsh, abusive fathers in this world, but everyone knows this is not the idea. We all know in our hearts of hearts that a father should be kind and loving. Thankfully there are many examples of such fathers. Next Sunday, our nation will observe Father’s Day and on that day we celebrate the idea of good fatherhood.
The Apostle John writes, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:18-19) It is the love of God demonstrated to us on the Cross of Jesus that writes God’s Law upon our hearts.
John goes on to write:
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
If you want to obey God more faithfully, think long and hard about what God the Father and God the Son did for you at the Cross. Bask in His love and willing, joyful obedience will flow naturally from you.
Pharaoh missed a great opportunity that day, if he would have been obedient to God’s command he and his people would have been blessed. Centuries before, God promised Abraham that He would bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. Moreover, He promised that through Abraham and his descendants, all the nations of the world would be blessed. Pharaoh and Egypt could have been blessed that day. They could have known the love of God, but Pharaoh chose another path—the path of plagues and judgement.
What of you? Which path will you chose? Will you chose to defy your Creator? Will you scoff at God’s authority? Will you reject God’s love? If so, what is left for you? The author of Hebrews tells us:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
As I close this message, I urge you to obey the Lord. He is your creator, judge and redeemer. Let us pray.