The Lord of Hosts is Here to Save

Introduction

Matthew 9:35–38 KJV 1900

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Pray - Be Seated

Body

Old Testament Examples

Starting in the book of Exodus, we find the story of how God worked through Moses to deliver His people from the country of Egypt.

Exodus 4:1–5 KJV 1900

1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

It’s a very powerful account of God’s salvation [Expound]

God absolutely destroys the gods of Egypt

1st plague - Turned the river Nile into blood

Judged Apis, the god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the NIle; Khnum, guardian of the Nile.

2nd plague - plague of frogs

Judged Heqet, the frog-headed goddess of birth

Frogs were thought to be sacred, but they had to heap up piles of their stinking bodies throughout the land

3rd plague - plague of gnats

Judged Set, god of the desert

4th plague - swarm of flies

Only affected the Egyptians. The Israelites were protected

Judged Uatchit, the fly god

5th plague - death of livestock

God’s people again unaffected

Judged Hathor and Apis, both depicted as cattle

6th plague - boils

God’s people protected

Judged Sekhmet, Sunu, and Isis, who were suppose to be able to prevent diseases

7th plague - Thunder, hail and lightning

Judged Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, the crop fertility god; and Set, the storm god

Nothing in Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt

8th plague - plague of locusts

Israel unaffected

Judged Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, the crop fertility god; and Set, the storm god (again)

9th plague - three days of darkness

Not in Goshen

Judged Ra, the sun god; and Pharoah, who symbolized Ra

10th plague - death of the firstborn

Anyone protected if obeyed the commandment of God

Judged Isis, the protector of children

The ultimate disaster for an Egyptian as a father’s plans and dreams were bound up in his firstborn

God defeats and humiliates Pharoah

At the beginning of the confrontation, Pharoah is condescending, and extremely arrogant.

At the end, Egypt is destroyed and a very humbled Pharoah is telling Moses to take everything and everyone and just get out!

This all leads to Israel walking out a free people

Why did God deliver Egypt this way? Why didn’t He just cause Pharoah to say “okay they can go now.” Why the big show? Why all the theatrics?

God is exampling something very powerful, very profound to us.

This is how salvation is achieved. Through battle. Through war.

Not war with people. With spirits, principalities, powers. God didn’t fight against the Egyptians, but against their false gods.

Not by begging people to “give Jesus a try”, Not with superior programs or financial strength.

Moses and the Israelites had none of these things. They were slaves!!

By destroying the enemy, the false gods people serve.

When God sought to deliver His people from Egypt, He first destroyed the gods of the Egyptians.

Even in the Old Testament, God engaged in spiritual warfare on behalf of His people.

Although the war had very physical manifestations, the effects were very spiritual in nature, demonstrating the utter powerlessness of the Egyptians gods, and the powerlessness of Pharoah, who was worshipped as a god.

In I Samuel 5 we read the account of God’s judgment against a false god named Dagon, one of the gods of the Philistines

In I Kings 18 we read the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

God through the prophet basically challenges the false god to a duel. A contest.

God seems to delight in humiliating the false gods in people’s lives

But for the purpose of demonstrating to us and to them only God is real. Only God is potent. Only God can save.

New Testament Examples

Matthew 4:23–25 KJV 1900

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

Matthew 5:1–2 KJV 1900

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

The pattern is this:

Miracles, signs and great wonders

Ministers to their immediate needs

Crowds gather around Him

Teaching

After their needs have been met, they are now ready to receive from God’s Word, and to obey the gospel

After salvation, we disciple people unto spiritual maturity

Miracles don’t follow people. Miracles follow the gospel.

This has always been, and will continue to be, a joint operation between God and us

We need to have God working with us, going before us, following after us, walking alongside us, confirming the words we speak with signs following.

This is how the gospel is preached!!!

Acts 4:29–31 KJV 1900

29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Again, the pattern of evangelism as determined by the Apostles is the same as Jesus demonstrated to them. A partnership between them and God.

Matthew 10:1 KJV 1900

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Matthew 10:7–8 KJV 1900

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

This picks up where our scripture text left off

Jesus, after having exampled this to His disciples, commissions them to go out and do exactly as He did.

Jesus gave them power over unclean spirits, and to heal anyone of anything

Jesus commanded His disciples to preach, to heal, to raise the dead, to cast out devils

In other words, He gave them power to minister to any spiritual need they would encounter

Conclusion

God has commissioned us the exact same way He commissioned His disciples.

Mark 16:15–20 KJV 1900

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

The salvation of the lost cannot happen by physical means, but only through us engaging in spiritual war on their behalf

As Moses was used by God to judge the gods of Egypt, so God will use us to judge the principalities of La Crosse City, La Crosse County, the state of Wisconsin.

As we go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must expect God to work with us.