So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. Those who read my words are in many different situations: May I repeat what I just said: He has not brought us this far to cause us to fail. Thats where the judgment will come from. They make a joke out of those who dare to not submit to them. In the words of a 19th century writer, hatred, treachery and deceit will not prevail against the church of God. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. Remember my imprisonment. He had great trust in the truth of God. Why did a holy God allow such evil to continue? But now, the grief of the Egyptians had subsided and was replaced with anger and regret. I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. As a place to begin, consider three verses dealing with Judas. When we do that we become His instruments to accomplish His sovereign will. WebThe one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. The Prophet Habakkuk wrote during the troubled times before Judahs captivity. Embrace your weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon you to reveal Gods surpassing greatness (2 Corinthians 12:9). 16:30), when he uses you or others, delivering you from your trials, be sure to praise, thank, and give Him all the glory for sovereignly using sinners. WebAnd then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will. That leads me to ask a simple question: Are you a professor or a possessor? They all come for violence; Their faces are set like the east wind. Sign up to join over 20,000 subscribers receiving our weekly sermon email. We know from the sowing and reaping principle that t here will be degrees of torment in the lake of fire. Paul also made this clear in Romans 9-11. The Lord can never be blamed for evil, but evil does not take p. God never does evil Himself. They had been in Egypt under Egyptian task masters for 400 years. Strategically, this appeared to be a very unwise move, unless you are God. Yet both declare His awesome glory. For who resists His will?, For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.. Were they to voluntarily all drown? But sometimes we forget that when God ordains a particular end, he also ordains the means to that end. (Video #2), Lesson 2: Gods Use of the Ungodly Habakkuk 1:5-11. A third reason God had Moses raise his staff and hands before dividing the Red Sea is that God delights to use sinners to accomplish His sovereign will. God sovereignly saves sinners, yet, He often uses sinners to accomplish His sovereign will. They sweep through like the strong winds from the East gathering up captives that number like the grains of sand. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice. For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.. We need to be reminded again and again that we are like grass disposable, temporary, fleeting, momentary. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. His plan in doing so was to bless all people. He dealt with his doubts and confusion in the right way, he turned to God, not to his own understanding. We see this all the way through the Bible. 14:11). I have not written a New York Times Bestseller, and no one has publicly endorsed, recommended, or vouched for me. Remember my imprisonment. WebThe one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. Get your Bible. Do not lament your insufficiency. ", Writing & Teaching Inductive Bible Studies. Fourth, Gods command seemed impossible to obey. Remember my imprisonment. God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. He stands behind it indirectly, but He directly stands behind good. Click here. God doesnt need men, but God chooses to use men at times to accomplish His sovereign will. God is unimpressed by our collection of readers, likes, retweets, friends, connections, or admirers. We live most of our days in Good Fridayenduring confusion, opposition, disappointment and the many tragedies of life. Amen. For this reason God purposefully led the wondering multitude to a place where there was no possible way of escape from Pharaoh and his army, humanly speaking. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. Nothing is ever left to chance with God. I am the trustee of nothing more than my personal belongings. In Jeremiah 13:20 it said, Lift up your eyes and see Those who come from the north . Jeremiah 25:32 says, Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth., Habakkuk 1:6, For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.. shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation., Truth Of God Is denied by Unbelievers, the Truth of God Is denied by Unbelievers, Unbelievers Are blinded by the God of this world, Unbelievers Will be classed with outbreaking sinners in eternity, Unbelievers Their lifetime spent in vanity, Unbelievers Shall be judged by God's word in the last day, Will be classed with outbreaking sinners in eternity, Shall be judged by God's word in the last day. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. I believe that t he Lord is here suggesting that the eternal torment that unbelievers will experience will be on a scale from more tolerable to less tolerable. As Christians, we have nothing to fear or worry about because we know that God is in control. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse, gave the parable of the sheep and the goats. In Acts 13:41 he said, Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! God wants to use those who look away from their self-sufficiency to his all-sufficiency. Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough! 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. There he said in 1 Corinthians 14:21, With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me, says the Lord. He directly quoted the covenant warning of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Deuteronomy. They have no respect for the leaders of other nations. His silence spoke more loudly than the foolish claims of his lying accusers. Gods plan even extended to having Jesus buried in a borrowed tomb (see Isaiah 53:9). 1:8). Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. When we dont see the ungodly punished immediately, or when they seem to be successful in their evil ways, we should not assume that God is beaten or is pleased to turn His head. God often reveals himself in most unexpected ways. Until that man turns from his sinwhich in his case means acknowledging his behavior as sinand runs to the Cross of Christ he cannot be saved. God uses all those who humble themselves before the cross, boasting only in him his strength, his wisdom, his righteousness, his accomplishment. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. (Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.). We pray because we believe God, because we want to trust in God, praise God, ask God for things we cant do ourselves. Moses was an instrument, a tool, a vessel for Gods use, and so are we all. 28:36, The LORD will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods wood and stone. The fact that God ordains both the means and the ends should surely encourage us as we face our own trials. Unbelievers Are blinded by the God of this world 2 Corinthians 4:4 Verse Concepts And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12: 3). If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake. In the providence of God, the betrayal by Judas actually advanced Gods purpose in the world. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. In heaven, each mans praise will come to him from God, and God will be glorified for sovereignly using sinners for His good purposes (I Cor. This seems to be one of the reasons God had Moses lift up his staff and hands to divide the Red Sea. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. We concluded that the Bible doesnt give us a final answer regarding why Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. Although God was at work in the betrayal, you couldnt see it that night. The gospels writers emphasize that although the Jewish leaders earnestly sought for witnesses who could testify against Christ, they found no one willing to come forward. Jesus said the unbelievers failed to give him food, drink, nurse him in His sickness, or visit Him in prison. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.. One final point is in order. But we learn that over time a new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph or respect what Joseph had done (Ex. At the beginning of their sojourn, Joseph was ruler of Egypt, a son of Jacob, and watched over his own. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die. As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. Judas didnt know itand doesnt get any credit for itbut his dastardly deed actually fulfilled predictions given by the Holy Spirit hundreds of years before he was born. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne ( Psalm 47:8 ). The unbeliever has made an exchangethe truth for a lieand the devil is happy to facilitate the swap by presenting the sinner with a wide array of lies from which to choose. Even today there are those who are arrogant and have no honor for God as He reveals Himself in Scripture. All of it happened according to Gods plan. It was the tech team, the web master, the secretary, or whoever posted my sermon on line. When God does something completely different and unexpected (Numb. Gods plan even extended to having Jesus buried in a borrowed tomb (see Isaiah 53:9). He didnt accept evil apathetically, he was appalled by it. Its okay to be a nobody, if in all you do, you serve Somebody. Peter told the early Christians that the Scripture had to be fulfilled. He meant that the betrayal had to happen the way it did. All of these people are unlikely choices to be used by God since they didnt truly know or believe in Him. Verse Concepts. I might preach to 100 people on Sunday morning in my own little church, but I preach to thousands over the internet. I am not a rising star in any field, industry, or arena. Lest he misunderstand, I also told him that going to Calvary Memorial Church cannot save anyoneor help save anyone. When God determines where we will end up, he also determines how we will get there. 55:8-9). 1:22). His betrayal proved that the Jewish leaders were far from innocent bystanders in the death of Christ. It even included the price Judas would receive for his act of treachery30 pieces of silver. But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. The purpose of www.drivennails.com is to help train expository preachers in sermon construction and delivery, to train inductive Bible study writers and teachers, and to edify the saints with the Word of God. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Causing a sacrifice to take place that would open salvation up to all people. 14:16, God, who is all powerful and infinitely sovereign, tells Moses, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. Why didnt God just part the Red Sea?