Serve the Lord with Gladness
Bible Study Time 2-25-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 2-25-07
God used Israel’s exodus from Egypt as a means of proving and demonstrating His mighty power. God said to Moses:
Exodus 7:3-5 (NKJ)
3 "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 "But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5 "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them."
We are all familiar with the great stories that are associated with Israel’s exodus from Egypt. We have heard about the ten plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, and so forth, but as we look at these great miracles, we may have a tendency to overlook the primary purpose for which God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. At least seven times the Lord demands of Pharaoh “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”
As we look at the scriptures from the front to the back, we see that this is God’s primary desire for man. God wants us to love and serve Him with all of our hearts. God’s measure of success for human beings is based upon our willingness to serve the Lord with all of our emotions, with all of our intelligence and with all of our energy.
Specifically, Moses told Pharaoh that the children of Israel needed to go into the wilderness so that they could sacrifice to the Lord. But why do you suppose they would have to leave Egypt in order to sacrifice to the Lord? Couldn’t they just sacrifice to the Lord right there in Egypt?
Actually, that was Pharaoh’s question after he saw the water turned to blood and his entire nation overrun by frogs, gnats and flies. To this suggestion, Moses simply said, no, that’s not going to happen. He said that Israel would have to leave Egypt in order to serve the Lord.
You may recall that Abraham was in the same situation in Ur of the Chaldeans. God told Abraham that he would have to leave Ur of the Chaldeans to serve the Lord. Egypt and Ur of the Chaldeans picture the old sin nature. All men are born with a sin nature, and we have to deal with the old sin nature before we can serve the Lord.
I’m afraid that many people today, when they sense their need for God, they simply try to start serving the Lord without ever leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, without ever leaving Egypt, without ever dealing with the old sin nature.
As Moses told Pharaoh, that won’t work. We have to experience a change on the inside before we can serve the Lord on the outside. All of our sacrifices and all of our service will count for nothing if they flow from the corrupt sin nature.
Romans says that the wages of sin is death, and so it is that we have to put the old sin nature to death. When we put our faith in Christ, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The old man is nailed to the cross, and the New Man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness comes to life through the power of the resurrection.
The nation of Israel could not worship and serve the Lord while they were dwelling in the land of idolatry and pagan worship. They could not bring God down into Egypt with them. God would not allow that.
God lives in a beautiful world of righteousness and peace, and He refuses to be brought down into this world of hatred, jealousy, strife and discontent. God simply will not allow man to drag Him down into this fallen world.
Unfortunately, that is what much of religion is all about. Religion has a tendency to justify all of its greed and hatred on the basis of faith. That is an effort to serve the Lord without ever leaving Egypt. The long and the short of it is that this is idolatry because it creates a God of man’s on choosing.
God told the Jews that they would have to leave the idolatry of Egypt in order to serve the Lord, and today God tells us that we have to leave behind this world and its values if we are going to serve Him. He says:
I John 2:15-17 (NKJ)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-- is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
God in His mercy has provided the means by which we can leave this world. The Apostle Paul tells us that we were dead in trespasses and sins:
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NKJ)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:20 (NKJ)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God has made it possible for us to leave the land of Egypt through simple faith in Christ. By His mighty hand He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
The bondage of religious idolatry is hard to overcome. Men grow very fond of the gods they have created. As the children of Israel left Egypt and were traveling to the Promised Land, they often longed for Egypt, especially in the face of hardship. Their only hope for victory over this bondage to idolatry rested in their ability to focus on the reward that God had promised them.
Moses was the leader of the few who never looked back with a longing for Egypt. What was his secret? Hebrews 11 says:
Hebrews 11:24-26 (NKJ)
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses had a crystal clear picture in his mind of the reward that lay ahead. That’s why he never got discouraged with God’s plan and purpose. Oh, there were a few anxious moments even for Moses, but he never questioned the fact that he had made the right choice when it came to following and serving the Lord.
Moses had heard the word of God, and he believed that God could accomplish that which He had promised. At the burning bush, God said:
Exodus 3:12 (NKJ)
12 "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
Then when the children of Israel arrived back at that mountain, God appeared to all of the children of Israel on Mt. Sinai and said:
Exodus 19:5-6 (NKJ)
5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation . . .
Moses was able to visualize exactly what God was talking about here. He could see the significance of what God was saying. Israel was going to be the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and they were going to serve all of the gentile nations as a holy nation and as a kingdom of priests. This was a reward for which he was willing to suffer. He was willing to suffer affliction with the people of God because he kept his eye on the reward.
It seems that many within the realm of the Christian religion have misinterpreted these words which God spoke to Israel. They think that believers today have become the kingdom of priests that God was talking about. They believe that we are the fulfillment of that prophesy.
Well, if we are a kingdom of priests today then I have to ask why is it that Christians are being tortured and killed and persecuted all over the world. God told Israel, the whole earth is mine, and I’m going to give it to you. You will become the rulers of this world.
It may be that believers here in America can fantasize about Christians having dominion over all the earth, but it might be rather difficult to convince all of the persecuted Christians around the world that this is a realistic goal. What’s more, the Apostle Paul was very clear about the fact that this world is going to get worse and worse until the Lord Jesus returns.
The truth of God’s word is that we today have not been called to be the rulers of this world. We have been called to be the John the Baptist’s of this world. We have been called to be the Peter’s of this world, and we have been called to be the Paul’s of this world. We have been called to take up the cross of Jesus Christ and share the gospel of Christ in spite of persecution and hardship.
And why are we willing to do this? What is our motivation? Like Moses, we see the reward. We know that Paul was right when he said:
Romans 8:18 (KJV)
18 . . . I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Moses was willing to leave Egypt and never look back because he knew that the kingdom was coming. Moses may have had a clear vision of the future glory of David’s kingdom and the future glory of Solomon’s kingdom, and Moses knew that his sufferings were not worthy to be compared even with the glory of Solomon’s kingdom.
But I think that Moses was looking beyond the temporary glory of Solomon’s kingdom as his reward. After all, Moses didn’t even get to experience the glory of Solomon’s kingdom because he was in the grave during that period of time. No, Moses was looking way down the line to the eternal kingdom. He knew that some day he would be raised from the dead to enjoy the glory of the eternal kingdom.
When God spoke to the people at Mt. Sinai and the people refused to hear the voice of God. God told Moses:
Deuteronomy 18:17-19 (NKJ)
17 . . . 'What they have spoken is good.
18 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
Jesus Christ was that Prophet. He came preaching, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He said:
John 5:45-47 (NKJ)
45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you (and that is) Moses, in whom you trust.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
Moses wrote about Jesus and he probably knew that Jesus would be killed and then raised from the dead. It was Moses who first wrote about the fact that Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman but that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan. This is the first prophesy of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Moses must have been astonished when he saw what was actually going to take place, but he was not at liberty to reveal the details of our redemption. Paul said in I Corinthians, Chapter 2, that the rulers of this age would not have crucified the Lord if they had known what they were really accomplishing in the plan and purpose of God. Therefore, God did not reveal the details of His plan for man’s redemption in the Old Testament scriptures.
God told Moses that the people would be held accountable if they refused to listen to the Prophet who would come. Of course, we know that when Jesus came, the Jews refused to hear His message. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
They refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah. They crucified Him on the cross, and they buried Him in a tomb. This was something that Moses may have been able to see as he looked into the future. However, he would not have been able to see the fact that the nation of Israel was going to reject the Lord Jesus even after His resurrection.
All of the prophets of the Old Testament confirm a scenario in which the rejected Christ is raised from the dead to rule and reign over the earth, but they do not reveal the rejection of the resurrected Christ.
When we come to the New Testament scriptures, we see Christ rejected, crucified and raised from the dead. Then we see the Apostles doing many miracles, wonders and signs as they present the resurrected Christ to the nation of Israel. But throughout the book of Acts, that message is steadfastly rejected by the Jews.
As a result, God set aside Israel’s program and began revealing the program for the Church of our present age through the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, the Apostle Paul no longer presents Christ as the King who will be coming back to reign over the earth. Instead, he presents Christ as the Head over all things to the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Once again, this week I heard on the History Channel that Ephesians and Colossians could not have been written by the Apostle Paul because the theology of these letters is so different from the theology of his previous epistles. They were right that the theology is different, but they had obviously failed to see that these prison epistles reveal a whole new program of God.
God called Israel up out of Egypt so that they could serve and worship the Lord. They were to serve the Lord in a glorious earthly kingdom. Today, we have the privilege of serving and worshipping the Lord as citizens of heaven. Someday, after God calls us home to actually be with the Lord in heaven, God is going to bring in the great tribulation period and during that time Israel will finally accept Jesus Christ as her Messiah, and she will serve the Lord in the great kingdom which Moses and all of the prophets looked forward to.
Well, I see our time is gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’ been a pleasure being with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Exodus 7:3-5 (NKJ)
3 "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 "But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5 "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them."
We are all familiar with the great stories that are associated with Israel’s exodus from Egypt. We have heard about the ten plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, and so forth, but as we look at these great miracles, we may have a tendency to overlook the primary purpose for which God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. At least seven times the Lord demands of Pharaoh “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”
As we look at the scriptures from the front to the back, we see that this is God’s primary desire for man. God wants us to love and serve Him with all of our hearts. God’s measure of success for human beings is based upon our willingness to serve the Lord with all of our emotions, with all of our intelligence and with all of our energy.
Specifically, Moses told Pharaoh that the children of Israel needed to go into the wilderness so that they could sacrifice to the Lord. But why do you suppose they would have to leave Egypt in order to sacrifice to the Lord? Couldn’t they just sacrifice to the Lord right there in Egypt?
Actually, that was Pharaoh’s question after he saw the water turned to blood and his entire nation overrun by frogs, gnats and flies. To this suggestion, Moses simply said, no, that’s not going to happen. He said that Israel would have to leave Egypt in order to serve the Lord.
You may recall that Abraham was in the same situation in Ur of the Chaldeans. God told Abraham that he would have to leave Ur of the Chaldeans to serve the Lord. Egypt and Ur of the Chaldeans picture the old sin nature. All men are born with a sin nature, and we have to deal with the old sin nature before we can serve the Lord.
I’m afraid that many people today, when they sense their need for God, they simply try to start serving the Lord without ever leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, without ever leaving Egypt, without ever dealing with the old sin nature.
As Moses told Pharaoh, that won’t work. We have to experience a change on the inside before we can serve the Lord on the outside. All of our sacrifices and all of our service will count for nothing if they flow from the corrupt sin nature.
Romans says that the wages of sin is death, and so it is that we have to put the old sin nature to death. When we put our faith in Christ, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The old man is nailed to the cross, and the New Man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness comes to life through the power of the resurrection.
The nation of Israel could not worship and serve the Lord while they were dwelling in the land of idolatry and pagan worship. They could not bring God down into Egypt with them. God would not allow that.
God lives in a beautiful world of righteousness and peace, and He refuses to be brought down into this world of hatred, jealousy, strife and discontent. God simply will not allow man to drag Him down into this fallen world.
Unfortunately, that is what much of religion is all about. Religion has a tendency to justify all of its greed and hatred on the basis of faith. That is an effort to serve the Lord without ever leaving Egypt. The long and the short of it is that this is idolatry because it creates a God of man’s on choosing.
God told the Jews that they would have to leave the idolatry of Egypt in order to serve the Lord, and today God tells us that we have to leave behind this world and its values if we are going to serve Him. He says:
I John 2:15-17 (NKJ)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-- is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
God in His mercy has provided the means by which we can leave this world. The Apostle Paul tells us that we were dead in trespasses and sins:
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NKJ)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:20 (NKJ)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God has made it possible for us to leave the land of Egypt through simple faith in Christ. By His mighty hand He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
The bondage of religious idolatry is hard to overcome. Men grow very fond of the gods they have created. As the children of Israel left Egypt and were traveling to the Promised Land, they often longed for Egypt, especially in the face of hardship. Their only hope for victory over this bondage to idolatry rested in their ability to focus on the reward that God had promised them.
Moses was the leader of the few who never looked back with a longing for Egypt. What was his secret? Hebrews 11 says:
Hebrews 11:24-26 (NKJ)
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses had a crystal clear picture in his mind of the reward that lay ahead. That’s why he never got discouraged with God’s plan and purpose. Oh, there were a few anxious moments even for Moses, but he never questioned the fact that he had made the right choice when it came to following and serving the Lord.
Moses had heard the word of God, and he believed that God could accomplish that which He had promised. At the burning bush, God said:
Exodus 3:12 (NKJ)
12 "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
Then when the children of Israel arrived back at that mountain, God appeared to all of the children of Israel on Mt. Sinai and said:
Exodus 19:5-6 (NKJ)
5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation . . .
Moses was able to visualize exactly what God was talking about here. He could see the significance of what God was saying. Israel was going to be the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and they were going to serve all of the gentile nations as a holy nation and as a kingdom of priests. This was a reward for which he was willing to suffer. He was willing to suffer affliction with the people of God because he kept his eye on the reward.
It seems that many within the realm of the Christian religion have misinterpreted these words which God spoke to Israel. They think that believers today have become the kingdom of priests that God was talking about. They believe that we are the fulfillment of that prophesy.
Well, if we are a kingdom of priests today then I have to ask why is it that Christians are being tortured and killed and persecuted all over the world. God told Israel, the whole earth is mine, and I’m going to give it to you. You will become the rulers of this world.
It may be that believers here in America can fantasize about Christians having dominion over all the earth, but it might be rather difficult to convince all of the persecuted Christians around the world that this is a realistic goal. What’s more, the Apostle Paul was very clear about the fact that this world is going to get worse and worse until the Lord Jesus returns.
The truth of God’s word is that we today have not been called to be the rulers of this world. We have been called to be the John the Baptist’s of this world. We have been called to be the Peter’s of this world, and we have been called to be the Paul’s of this world. We have been called to take up the cross of Jesus Christ and share the gospel of Christ in spite of persecution and hardship.
And why are we willing to do this? What is our motivation? Like Moses, we see the reward. We know that Paul was right when he said:
Romans 8:18 (KJV)
18 . . . I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Moses was willing to leave Egypt and never look back because he knew that the kingdom was coming. Moses may have had a clear vision of the future glory of David’s kingdom and the future glory of Solomon’s kingdom, and Moses knew that his sufferings were not worthy to be compared even with the glory of Solomon’s kingdom.
But I think that Moses was looking beyond the temporary glory of Solomon’s kingdom as his reward. After all, Moses didn’t even get to experience the glory of Solomon’s kingdom because he was in the grave during that period of time. No, Moses was looking way down the line to the eternal kingdom. He knew that some day he would be raised from the dead to enjoy the glory of the eternal kingdom.
When God spoke to the people at Mt. Sinai and the people refused to hear the voice of God. God told Moses:
Deuteronomy 18:17-19 (NKJ)
17 . . . 'What they have spoken is good.
18 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
Jesus Christ was that Prophet. He came preaching, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He said:
John 5:45-47 (NKJ)
45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you (and that is) Moses, in whom you trust.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
Moses wrote about Jesus and he probably knew that Jesus would be killed and then raised from the dead. It was Moses who first wrote about the fact that Satan would bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman but that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan. This is the first prophesy of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Moses must have been astonished when he saw what was actually going to take place, but he was not at liberty to reveal the details of our redemption. Paul said in I Corinthians, Chapter 2, that the rulers of this age would not have crucified the Lord if they had known what they were really accomplishing in the plan and purpose of God. Therefore, God did not reveal the details of His plan for man’s redemption in the Old Testament scriptures.
God told Moses that the people would be held accountable if they refused to listen to the Prophet who would come. Of course, we know that when Jesus came, the Jews refused to hear His message. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
They refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah. They crucified Him on the cross, and they buried Him in a tomb. This was something that Moses may have been able to see as he looked into the future. However, he would not have been able to see the fact that the nation of Israel was going to reject the Lord Jesus even after His resurrection.
All of the prophets of the Old Testament confirm a scenario in which the rejected Christ is raised from the dead to rule and reign over the earth, but they do not reveal the rejection of the resurrected Christ.
When we come to the New Testament scriptures, we see Christ rejected, crucified and raised from the dead. Then we see the Apostles doing many miracles, wonders and signs as they present the resurrected Christ to the nation of Israel. But throughout the book of Acts, that message is steadfastly rejected by the Jews.
As a result, God set aside Israel’s program and began revealing the program for the Church of our present age through the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, the Apostle Paul no longer presents Christ as the King who will be coming back to reign over the earth. Instead, he presents Christ as the Head over all things to the Church which is the Body of Christ.
Once again, this week I heard on the History Channel that Ephesians and Colossians could not have been written by the Apostle Paul because the theology of these letters is so different from the theology of his previous epistles. They were right that the theology is different, but they had obviously failed to see that these prison epistles reveal a whole new program of God.
God called Israel up out of Egypt so that they could serve and worship the Lord. They were to serve the Lord in a glorious earthly kingdom. Today, we have the privilege of serving and worshipping the Lord as citizens of heaven. Someday, after God calls us home to actually be with the Lord in heaven, God is going to bring in the great tribulation period and during that time Israel will finally accept Jesus Christ as her Messiah, and she will serve the Lord in the great kingdom which Moses and all of the prophets looked forward to.
Well, I see our time is gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’ been a pleasure being with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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