Christ Above All Earthly Powers Session 2

It is a delight to be here with you on this evening. If you have your Bibles with you, would you open them to the Book of Exodus Exodus Exodus chapter two. Let's turn our attention to the subject of God, our only hope, because God is indeed our only hope, And if we need to talk about anything in these days, it is hope, is it not. There is this sense of dread that has fallen upon not only the US but around the world, and traveling internationally right now is just a mess. From Osaka to here was in total a thirty six hour trip, and going through airports that are partially, if not mostly empty, stores inside shuttered, everyone walking around with masks and shields, and people stationed everywhere checking your papers because you know, when you're traveling internationally, you have to have a negative COVID test within seventy two hours of your trip. And so now going through the airport internationally is like passing through checkpoints in World War two Germany, and people just kind of drown on. Listening to the news the other day, and some physician was talking about the vaccine or one of the many vaccines. And it's interesting because before, before there were vaccines. That there there was a glimmer of hope because because eventually, someday we'll have a vaccine. This thing is here, and maybe we all won't die because somewhere, somewhere down the line there's going to be a vaccine. And so now there are vaccines, and we go, Okay, finally we've got a vaccine, and but we don't have enough vaccines to vaccinate everybody right now, and so okay, when do I get my vaccine? Okay, yeah, you'll get your vaccine. But then I'm listening to this doctor on the news, and this doctor says, listen, you know, we have to be clear about this. Even with the vaccine, because the vaccine is not one hundred percent effective, we're still going to have to wear masks and social distance with the vaccine. And so now where's the next glimmer of hope. Well, the good news is, our hope was never in vaccine. It was never in masks, it was never in social distancing, it was never in not seeing a novel coronavirus. Our hope was and is and always will be in God, and in God alone, everything else will fail us. We must hope in God. In addition, to all of that. Now there are people who are losing hope because of political situations and circumstances, and there's a ditch on both sides of the road. If you were if you were pro the party that lost, then you feel like there's no hope and that all hope has been lost because you put your hope in the party that lost. But if you had hope in the party that won, then you're still out of luck because our hope is not in them either. And so there is a word talked away in Exodus chapter two. I just want to read a few verses, beginning at verse twenty three. Moses has been rescued, He's found out who he is, he's gone away. He killed the Egyptian, he now finds himself and Midian, and then tucked away here in verse twenty three, the story in Egypt still goes on. During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. Amen. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord God, our only God, was Israel's only hope. They had grown under a maniacal king who was bent on the destruction of the Israelites. And we see in the previous chapter that he's instructing the midwives to kill the male children. And so you would think that after this maniacal king has died, that there would be some sense of hope. But the exact opposite is true. During those many days, by the way, which many days now, remember what else has happened here. We've learned of the presence and of the designs of this maniacal king. But we've been introduced to another character, this hopeful character, this baby who's been rescued in Moses, who's been sent away in the basket, and he goes off into Pharaoh's house, and we think that somehow there is hope in this one. But then that one in whom we were putting some hope leaves, and there can be despair because we thought, certainly, if God is going to deliver his people, we can see where this story is going. One of God's people was rescued from the murderous king and then ends up in the house of the murderous king. Certainly he will rise up in the house of the murderous king, and he will gain power in the house of the murderous king. And then when the murderous king dies, he will use the power that he has in the murderous king's house to deliver the people of God. God, you are so wise to put Moses in the wait. What Moses is gone? That king is dead. Mate, the new boss just like the old boss. And there is hopelessness in many ways. This text is a tale of two perspectives. The first verse and really the first two thirds of the first verse are about the perspective of earth. We look at the situation from the perspective of Earth. Look at verse twenty three. During those many days the king of Egypt died. I remember all the other things that happened those many days. What many days, these many days when a moniacal king wanted to destroy us, and there was one who seemed like he was going to be raised up, and then that one ends up leaving and going off to Midian. During those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel grown because of their slavery and cried out for help. From Earth's perspective, things are bad and there is no hope. The only thing worse than slavery is death. And these are slaves who were being pursued to death. But then there is a statement in the middle of the two perspectives. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And now we see the same situation. Nothing has changed on the ground Verse twenty four. Amen, nothing has In fact, nothing's going to change for a while on the ground. And God heard their groaning, remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. These four words point us to the hope that we have in God. The four words teach us something about the God of hope and of our hope in God. First, God heard their groaning. God heard their groaning. They're crying out, and God heard. There is hope in God hearing. Amen. There's a couple of things that we see in this. One thing that we see in God's hearing is that God is distinguished from the idols of Egypt. Over in Psalm one fifteen. We have a helpful word. If you'll turn your bibles there to Psalm one fifteen, Psalm one fifteen, and listen to the words of the Psalmist. Not to us, o Lord, not to us, but to your name, Give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Why should the nations say where is their God? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. And then here's the distinction. Remember God heard there. They're in the land of idols, the land of Egypt, the land of idols, Verse four of Psalm one fifteen. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands and do not feel, feet, but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them, So do all who trust in them. Because there's no hope in Iles. But Israel's God heard. Ay Amen. That's good news that God heard. This is incredibly important because when we find ourselves in situations where we lack hope, one of the things we have a tendency to do is to doubt God's care for us. We doubt that God is paying attention to us. So this statement that God heard confronts that immediate fear that we have, that fear that says we have no hope, or that fear that says we have to look around for something to hope in. We doubt God's care for us, We fear the worst. We turn from following God. We shake our fists at God all because we do not hold on to this truth, and we do not see reality from Heaven's perspective. All we look at is what we see on the ground. Moses wants us to know that even in those dark days where no one knew what God was up to, God heard. The Maible makes it clear that God hears us Psalm fifty five, seventeen evening and morning, and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice Proverbs fifteen twenty nine. The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous one John five, fourteen and fifteen. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him. Belove, it is as a privilege to be heard by God. And let me say this, if you have to read the rest of the text in order to have hope, you've missed something, because if we just stopped right there, this would be good news. Amen. It is a privilege to be heard by God. The God who upholds the universe hears us. Can you imagine, you know, one of the things that I love to do. I love looking through telescopes. I love looking at you know, at astronomy and looking at planets and looking at stars. I love looking at books about the stars and the planets and all these sorts of things. People are talking about going to Mars. I'm just you know, I've got a friend who is a NASA astronaut, and I just said, you know what, I know it could probably never happen, But what would a brother need to do? I just want to know I'm not going. I just want to know that if I did ABC and X y Z, I could somebody's going to Mars. Men have stepped foot on the moon, and that barely scratches the surface of our solar system, let alone our universe. It is fast, and God upholds it all by the word of His power. And yet he hears us. Saturn is glorious with all of its magnificent rings. But God doesn't hear Saturn. But when God's people cry out, God hears us, and I know what you're saying, then you better be careful because some of you are sitting there and you're saying, Yeah, I hear what you're saying, but you just don't know. Brother, I've been crying out to God and God hasn't heard me. Can I vary gently and as lovingly as possible say to you? Repent? Repent? Repent? Why Number one? Because you're contradicting the word of God. The Bible says God hears you, and you say he doesn't. But it's even more significant than that. How arrogant do I have to be to assume that if God heard me? I would know by now, because if he heard me, he'd have done what I said. God help us all. Who do we think we are to judge whether or not God heard us by whether or not he followed through? When we jerked his chain. You better check yourself, God hears us. And it's a privilege to be heard by God. I didn't say it's a privilege for God to do the thing that you asked him to do when he heard you. I said, the hearing in and of itself is a privilege. Through prayer, we commune with God, and there is great comfort in this. Whatever you suffering, remember two things about it. Number one, it's temporary. And number two, it's not worth comparing that which lay ahead for you, regardless of whether your circumstances change or not. Paul says in Romans eighteen, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, and it's been waiting for thousands of years. God hears us. I said, if that was all, it would be enough. But it's not all. Amen, God hears us. Number two, God remembers his covenant. Don't neglect those last two words. He remembers his covenant. In other words, God didn't remember Israel because they cried out loud enough for long enough. Amen. If that was the case, the prophetce of Bail would have had a chance. Amen. I mean, they're down there and here's a lie, and you know, and this. Is the. Offerings, and the prophets are there and they're crying out. They're making all kind of noise, cutting themselves, doing everything they could they could think of, and and the and the and the lie. Just like maybe maybe y'all just make a little more noise, but maybe if maybe, if you get a few more of your friends to join you. God didn't remember Israel because they were the good guys. They were not There are no good guys. All have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. Stop reading your Bible like that. We read our Bibles like it's like it's like we're reading a Western like you can tell and whenever you're reading about the Israelites, you're reading about the guy in the white hat who comes And make no absolutely not all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Israel is rescued and redeemed in spite of the fact that they are sinners. In fact, they're redeemed from their sin. They were neither innocent nor sinless, and God did not owe them deliverance. Consider how we come to God when we feel hopeless. One of the reasons we feel hopeless because we say, listen, listen, I am a good person. Why am I going through this? I go to church? Why am I going through this? I don't do bad things? Why am I going through this? I am this, I am not that. Therefore, why am I going through this again? As though this is our theology, our theology is as long as I am better by some margin then the worst people I know, things ought to go well for me. In other words, my hope rests in my own relative goodness. But what God remembered was his covenant. He remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. And by the way, God remembering his covenant is not like you remembering something. Amen. Somebody, you ever you ever had this, You ever had this situation where you know, as a parent and you we got nine kids. I've had this situation so many times. I'm ripping and running and doing whatever I'm doing, and a kid is standing in front of me looking at me with that look, that look that immediately communicates to me, you know, what I'm supposed to remember something right now. I have no idea what it is, but I know this one does. And then the child says, whatever that thing is, and all of a sudden that thing comes back to your remembrance. No, God is not like that. Amen. When it says here that God remembered his covenant, what's being referred to here is not a God who is so busy upholding the universe by the word of his power that somehow he has to go back over here and say, oh, wait a minute, you guys are suffering. I'm sorry. Can somebody spin that? While I no, that is not what the text means here. The very nature of God militates against that. That's not who our God is. All things, past, present, and future are open and exposed before God, and nothing nothing can be hidden from God. When we talk about God remembering his covenant, what we're referring to is God's providence. God is actively working out. He's working out all things in accordance with his will and with his covenant. Now, for Israel, this is wonderful, and the content here here's Israel, and they are in bondage and Egypt, and for their immediate context, God remembering this covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and getting them eventually out of Egypt into a land of promise. That's good news for Israel in a temporal sense. But God remembering his covenant is about far more than getting them from one land to another. I'm glad God remembers his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob. But I'm more glad that God remembers his covenant with God. I'm glad that God remembers the Covenant of Redemption. Amen. You see, because in the Covenant of Redemption, the God who created the world and all things in the world has existed eternally before the world. This God existing eternally and perfectly in three persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. But the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son. Amen. One God, three persons existing in perfect unity and perfect harmony within the Godhead, needing absolutely nothing. Please don't miss that. If God needs something, that that means he's deficient. And if he's deficient, he's not God. God needs nothing, and the unity and the Godhead, the harmony in the Godhead, the love in the Godhead is perfect, and that love within the Godhead spilled over and creation and redem And in the Covenant of Redemption, the Father, out of love for the Son, bequeaths to the Son of people. You can read about it in John chapter seventeen when Jesus talks to the Father about the people you gave me. He bequeaths a people to the Son, and the Son, out of his love for the Father, actually wraps himself in flesh, lives a perfect sinful life, dies the death that sinners oh, so that he can, out of love for the Father, redeem the people whom the Father bequeathed to him before the world began in the Covenant of Grace. But wait, it's not over yet, because the Spirit, who is not the Father or the Son, but as a perfect expression of the love between the Father and the Son, because of the love between the Father and the Son, does it his work of applying redemption to all those for whom the Son died because the Father gave. That's the Covenant of Redemption. So whatever it is that you're going through, know this God remembers his covenant, and God redeems his people. That's why the text doesn't say, you know, when God finally got around to it, he sent his son. No, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born of the law, to redeem those who were under the law. In other words, God remembered his covenant. There's a third one here. God sees his people. God hears God remembers his covenant, and God sees God sees. This answers our burning question because in the midst of our hopelessness, in the midst of our hopelessness, when we forget God, our only hope and begin to look other places, many times it's because we forget this reality, this reality that God sees. And there are some of us who don't want to believe this. There's some of us who are not comforted by this. In fact, there are some of us who have gone through things that were so hopeless and so painful that the only way we think that we can deal with that and the reality of God is to somehow shield God from the responsibility of having seen that and not having done something to stop it. Some one won't let you think that I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out, And you're coming in from this time forth and forevermore. When that cancer diagnosis came, God was watching when that child went astray. God was watching when you were maligned and mistreated. God saw when that loved one died. God saw that too. When your family was broken and shattered into a million pieces, God saw that too. And I know, I hear you. I hear you. That doesn't sound very hopeful, brother. That's because you haven't considered the alternative. The alternative is we serve and worship a God who misses things, as opposed to a God who works all things to our good and for his glory. Alternative is absolutely unbearable. The idea that somehow there are moments in my life where God does not see the idea that there are somehow moments in my life when God is not able to be my hope and therefore I have to trust in something or someone else to be my hope. Because here's the sad reality. If God can't intervene, who else have I? When Israel was in bundage, God saw, And when your darkest day came, God saw. Finally, God knows, God knows, God knows what. Yes, God knows. There's a picture here, And in this knowing, there is a picture of love and pity. God knows, He loves and he pities. God knows. Why is God our only hope? Because God is the only one who hears and who remembers, and who sees, and who knows. He knows. Intimately, God knows which circumstances will maximize his glory. God knows how much you can bear. God knows what you really need. And God knows and your deliverer is coming, because the God who knows is the God who delivers. So where was God? Where was God? For hundreds of years while Israel suffered in Egypt, while they suffered as slaves, while they suffered in dignity, and at times suffered slaughter. Where was God? Where was God on your darkest day, in your darkest hour? Where was God? And the answer is he was in the same place that he was in when he crushed and killed his only son to make that thing right. He was where he always is, being our only hope, Peter writes, and second Peter three, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. Goodbye Saturn, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. God is our only hope. There is no other hope but our God who hears, Our God who remembers his covenant, Our God who sees, and our God who knows. And so back in Psalm one fifteen, we left off at verse eight, where those who make these idols become like them, and so do all who trust in them. And by the way, anything that you are trusting in other than God is an idol, because God is our only hope. And the moment you are trusting in something else, you are saying that God is not who God is. God is not our only hope. And whatever this thing is, and whoever this person is, this is now that which God says, He and he alone is Verse nine, Psalm one fifteen. Oh Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Oh house of Erran, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord has remembered us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the House of Erin. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. Because he hears, he remembers his covenant, He sees. And he knows. Now. What I find is that sometimes even all of this together is not seen as enough. I get all of that, brother, But you just don't know. You just don't know how bad it is. You just don't know how bad it was. You just don't know what God a lives. Okay, stop for a moment, just let's put that on the shelf for a moment, and let's do a little mental exercise, and instead of thinking about your circumstances, can I remind you of your sin? God hears, God remembers, Yes, he does, God sees, and God knows, and yet He has been merciful to you. And you have not gotten what your sin desert. And the only reason you haven't because of this that we just put on the shelf over here. God hears, he remembers, his covenant, he sees, and he knows. And the culmination of all of this was the person and work of Christ. When Israel groaned to God, they had no idea that their deliverance was already on the way. Years would pass for their deliverer would come, And what they thought every day was he has forgotten us. But as new Covenant believers, we have the benefit of hindsight, and we know the rest of the story that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, Amen, so that whosoever believes in him so not perish, but you'll have ever lasting life. That is our hope. And because that is our hope, we need look nowhere else. Let's bring, Oh, our good and gracious God, how we love and adore, and thank and praise you for hearing, for remembering your covenant, for seeing and for knowing. Grant by your grace that we might rest in the hope that that truth brings. For we ask it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.