"My People" Exodus 9:1-12

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agopic Baptist Church in George, South Africa.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: See you here today.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll open your Bibles.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're in Exodus chapter nine this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we're looking at the plagues, the Lord brought upon the Egyptians in chapter 9.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll look this morning at the fifth and the six plagues that are introduced to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll find your place in chapter 9.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll begin reading there.

[SPEAKER_00]: to Pharaoh and speak to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thus says, Yaway, the God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me.

[SPEAKER_00]: For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, behold the hand of Yaway will come with very heavy pestilence on your livestock, which are in the field, and on the horses, and on the donkeys, and the camels, and on the herds, and on the flocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: But y'all will you make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all will also set a definite time saying, tomorrow y'all will do this thing in the land.

[SPEAKER_00]: So y'all, I did this thing on the next day,

[SPEAKER_00]: But the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Pharaoh sent him to hold there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened with firmness, and he did not let the people go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, take for yourselves, end falls of foot from a kiln, and let Moses toss it toward the sky

[SPEAKER_00]: And it will become a fun dust over all the land of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he took sit from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh and Moses tossed it towards the sky and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Egyptians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, or the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart with strength.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll end the plague that we've looked at already, we've begin to see,

[SPEAKER_00]: A pattern that emerges from these first nine plegs, there's three, you could say, sets or sequences of these plegs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we've noticed that the first of these three sets,

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord tells Moses to get up in the morning or go early in the morning and to meet Pharaoh and to speak to him, warning him of what is about to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've also noticed that with the last of the three, it would be the last of those three sets, they're done announced.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just, most God tells Moses what to do, and he just goes and brings the plague upon the people and the Pharaoh without warning.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's also notice, we notice here a progression.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the severity of these plagues.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've looked at the Nile turning to blood and frogs coming up over the land.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then also nets and then flies.

[SPEAKER_00]: These first four plagues would have been greatly troubling, as you can imagine, if you just kind of think about what it would be, they have been like and what it would be like for us today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that would be a great cause of discomfort of trouble, but it's not that devastating, really.

[SPEAKER_00]: It would be, it would be bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now we see with this plague that God is bringing, he's now bringing destruction to their income,

[SPEAKER_00]: would have been devastating, all the animals that were in the field died, and the first plugs, they would have been emotionally devastating, but with this fifth plug, it would come

[SPEAKER_00]: as in many agrarian societies, you count somebody's wealth by their livestock, by how much livestock they had, which is a good indication of their wealth and how well they're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so,

[SPEAKER_00]: God is touching them where, you know, we would say in their wallets.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's touching them where their finances are and it would be a great cost to them because it really touched every part of their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see God is also,

[SPEAKER_00]: He's striking against their false worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were a number of gods and goddesses in their mind that are associated with livestock, especially with bulls and cows.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God is bringing these flags upon these various aspects of their false worship and false ideas about God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but the six-plag, he's also touching their health, their own bodies.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he brings that in the form of boils, and it's kind of hard to imagine what that would be like.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was thought about Job, you remember when Satan

[SPEAKER_00]: wanted to challenge God concerning Job's faith and God allows Satan to not only take everything he had but now he's given permission to touch him physically and so Satan chooses this kind

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the same kind, but it's slightly or possible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Texas and Joe, that terrible boils from the soul of his foot to the top of his head.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this this plague, that this fourth plague that we were told about

[SPEAKER_00]: with his magicians to duplicate the miracles that God was bringing upon Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: But evidently, they're still trying.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're still there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in verse 11, we read, chapter 9, verse 11, we're told that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're kind of paying a picture in your mind, you could think, you know, Aaron and Moses have gone presented themselves before, Fero, and the magicians are there with him, with Fero.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Moses takes this suit and throws it up into the air and God takes that and just spreads it like dust

[SPEAKER_00]: and immediately they break out in these boils, and before the magicians could even try to duplicate that, they're running for cover.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're not able to even stand before Moses and the pronouncement of God's judgment.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we see God discrediting their

[SPEAKER_00]: their faults, idols, their gods, and goddesses, and the magicians that would lead them and all of this superstition and faults' worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And with the plague, we see how the boils, God specifically, we were told that he hardened

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's significant as these towards the end of these plagues, as they get worse and worse.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see this emphasis in several times that God hardens Pharaoh's heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so no doubt, without the Lord's intervention, Pharaoh would probably have given up much sooner and let the people go.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord has determined to bring this judgment upon Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we would see this as a judicial hardening.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's God through this hardening of Pharaoh's heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is bringing judgment on a scale upon Egypt that everyone who hears about it is going to be amazed.

[SPEAKER_00]: at the power of the God of the Hebrews.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's important lessons for us as we think about what God did there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in this matter of hardening Pharaoh's heart, there's a, there's a important warning there for us, and especially for those who the Lord may be

[SPEAKER_00]: concerning your need to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ or Salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if the Lord has been working in your heart and is working in your heart in that way, the Scripture says today is the day of salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do not have a promise of tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even if tomorrow comes, we do not have a promise that the Lord would continue to convict our hearts and give us grace to believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today is indeed the day of salvation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not think that you can later just decide at some point you will turn to Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: If God has opened your hearts and calls you to see the truth of Christ, turn to Him immediately.

[SPEAKER_00]: give you a heart fully to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not think that you have the power to at some point later, make that decision.

[SPEAKER_00]: The writer of Hebrews warns his audience, these Jewish people who have part of the church, there, and probably in Jerusalem,

[SPEAKER_00]: of the audience, but we can tell he's writing to Jewish believers, or at least those that have professed faith in Christ, and he says in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12 and 13, see to it brothers that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:12

[SPEAKER_00]: But encourage one another day after day, as long as it's still called today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gives a similar kind of warning in chapter 12 and verse 15.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we think about what God's doing with Pharaoh, don't let it pass by an application to our own hearts, whether we're believers who need to submit to God in every aspect of our life, and not withhold from Him, our total allegiance and obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or whether it's an unbeliever who needs to come to the Lord in saving faith today, God calls us to obey him and to serve him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we've looked at many aspects over the last few weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we looked at these flags, we looked at different aspects and purposes of God in these flags and things that he was teaching his

[SPEAKER_00]: On people, the children of Israel and by extension would teach us as we learn from these things and things that God is doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But one of the truths I want to highlight this morning is repeated several times is the phrase, my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you've no doubt noticed it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every time when Moses comes to give a warning to Pharaoh,

[SPEAKER_00]: He got his words in his mouth to say, let my people go that they may serve me.

[SPEAKER_00]: We saw that in chapter 9 verse 1 again, let my people go.

[SPEAKER_00]: God calls the children of Israel, my people, some 220 times in the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: And here in Exodus is where that phrase is first used.

[SPEAKER_00]: When God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and tells him that he sees the affliction of my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's in Exodus chapter 3, verse 7.

Exodus 3:7

[SPEAKER_00]: And then again in Burst 10 he says so now come and I will send you to Pharaoh so you shall bring my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt and this phrase he just repeats again and again and it continues as you move into the Old Testament history we see this phrase being used many times

[SPEAKER_00]: That's an interesting thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you use the phrase, my people, you're talking about your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're talking about your father, your mother, your children, your grandchildren.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're talking about people that you identify with.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I find it amazing thing that God calls Israel, his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: To go back to Exodus 4, we're God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It tells Moses, and verse 22, and verse 23, he says, then you shall say to Pharaoh, that says, Yaway, Israel is my son, my firstborn.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I said to you, let my son go that he may serve me, but you have refused to let him go, behold I will kill your son, your firstborn.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see that that does happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't at the end of the last plague, the tenth plague.

[SPEAKER_00]: God does bring the death of the first born over all of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see, Pharaoh, he thought that he was the son of the gods and that his first born held this favored position.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God is declaring the Pharaoh

[SPEAKER_00]: holds this favored position as the first born son to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: God tells Moses, you remember, and also in that context, he says that he is yaw way, the I am who I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that he is the God of their fathers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he reminds Moses of this covenant promise to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.

[SPEAKER_00]: We shall also from the fourth plague, if we go back and remember that time, God makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that becomes, in this chapter highlighted, in chapter 9, we remember that the livestock of the Israelites were not affected by this pestilence, by this plague and not one died.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even Pharaoh in verse 7, he sends his man to go and see if it really is true.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as he goes, and they look and not one of the livestock of the Israelites have died.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what's God doing, he's not only demonstrating his power in that this is a miracle that's from his hand, but he's showing this distinction between the Egyptians and his people

[SPEAKER_00]: And since they belong to Him, they were to represent Him to the other nations.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the truth that will be developed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Moses is going to teach the children of Israel as God instructs Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a passage in Deuteronomy 7, verse 6 and 8,

Deuteronomy 7:6

[SPEAKER_00]: the ones that are now going to go into the promised land.

[SPEAKER_00]: And do you remember seven Moses is reminding them of who they are and how that God had called them.

[SPEAKER_00]: These people would have, many of them would have been children seeing the Exodus first

[SPEAKER_00]: And he says in verse, beginning of verse six, for you are a holy people to yaway your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And remember the word holy speaks of this distinction that we are set apart unto God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The word holy and the words to be separate, to be sanctified.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's your all coming from the same root word,

[SPEAKER_00]: And it means that we belong to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, Yaway, your God has chosen you to be a people for his own treasured possession out of all the peoples who were on the face of the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yaway did not set his affection on you and or choose you because you were more and number than any of the peoples, or you were the fewest of the peoples.

[SPEAKER_00]: But because Yahweh loved you and kept the oath which he had sworn to your fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery and from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we know the history of the nation of Israel, and that as a nation they failed

[SPEAKER_00]: As a nation, they fail to represent God to the other nations as the Lord's.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that both the northern tribes of Israel and also southern Judah would come under judgment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Israel first being taken away captive and then later

[SPEAKER_00]: Judah also going into captivity in judgment because of their, their idolatry and turning away from God and following him and going after the other false ideas and gods of the people around them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I finished up a class for the FTI students this past week.

[SPEAKER_00]: and we were finishing up with the prophets, and when I was surveying the book of Hosea, I was reminded of how it fits into this passage and officially this theme as we think about the people of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because in Hosea for the first time,

[SPEAKER_00]: out of all of that history of God calling Israel his people, and Hosea, they are called not my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I thought it would be good for us to just do a quick survey of the book of Hosea.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to turn there as we look at some of the passages that be helpful to you,

[SPEAKER_00]: Jose is just after Daniel, so Daniel's a big book, it's easier to find in your Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jose lived in Judah, but he was called to be the God's voice, God's prophet to Israel, in the north, in the northern tribes, and has taken place shortly just before

[SPEAKER_00]: The Assyrians will come and win the battle against Israel and take away captives and they would be scattered among various peoples to never really come back to their homeland.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hosea, like most of the prophets, has a strong message of judgment that's coming, but in Hosea, he and his family would become an object lesson, visible object lesson of the

[SPEAKER_00]: See, Oceo was sent to marry a woman named Gomor.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she would become unfaithful in the marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: She would, she was called a, an harlot or prostitute.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't know if she was already engaged in this kind of lifestyle or if God is speaking

[SPEAKER_00]: But in any case, God is going to use His marriage as an objectless into Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jose is going to represent God in His faithfulness to the people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Gomar is going to represent Israel and their unfaithfulness to the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when the first child is born,

[SPEAKER_00]: God tells us, say it, to name this on Jesus' real.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus' real, I mean God scatters because and God names this first child that to teach Israel that God is going to scatter them in judgment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then the second child, a girl is born and God tells the prophet to name her

[SPEAKER_00]: Low, Ruhama, which means no mercy or no compassion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, in verse 6, chapter 1, in verse 6 and 7, there he says, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: God used him as well as an object lesson, but the naming of the child is to speak to Israel concerning the fact that God is going to bring judgment upon them.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's no longer going to have compassion on them, but bring this judgment upon them.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're

[SPEAKER_00]: We're told in Chapter 2, verse 4 to 5, that Israel, he calls them children of Hallotry.

[SPEAKER_00]: And evidently, we're not totally sure, but evidently, this second and third child of Gomars,

[SPEAKER_00]: where children of her heartotry, those they were not, who say is children.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that picture serves to warn Israel and to admonish them, to rebuke them for their immorality and chapter eight in the verse six,

[SPEAKER_00]: interesting statement here, he says surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters for they sow the wind and reap the world wind, calf of Samaria.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the region where Israel was, that's the region of Samaria and they were bail worshippers for the most part.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were engaged in many other kinds of

[SPEAKER_00]: adultery, but Bell worship was the primary worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Bell is often represented as sitting up on a bull or a calf.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the image you take you right back to Israel's first idol that they made, if you remember.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it takes us back to this plague that God brings

[SPEAKER_00]: And in discrediting their ideas about the power of these demons or idols and images they were using to represent this idol worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God names this first child, Lou Ruhama, no compassion.

[SPEAKER_00]: God says, name him, lo, amy, lo, amy, which means not my people, verse 8 and 9 chapter 1, and he says, in verse 9, I will not be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now that that should have been a devastating statement to Israel, to a people that

[SPEAKER_00]: The other life is to go back to the history of Israel, I've been told that they are the people of God and God is called them my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he says, you're not my people and I will not be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Literally I will not be your God is I will not be I am to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which takes us again right back to this call.

[SPEAKER_00]: of Moses to go and tell the people that I am who I am, that is the God that's going to deliver you out of Egypt.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now he says, I will not be I am to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will not be your God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, but in the midst of this judgment, this statement of God's rejection of them as a

[SPEAKER_00]: very next statement is a reversal of that judgment and God's mercy.

[SPEAKER_00]: God will not cast off his people forever, but he has a plan for their redemption.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse T chapter 1 verse T says, yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the son of the sea, which cannot be measured

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the promise to Abraham, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's this imagery of the sand of the sea, and an unneumerable host that's going to come from Abraham.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say, and it will be that in the place where it is said, you are not my people, it will be said to them, you are the sons of the living God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God is looking beyond

[SPEAKER_00]: The day of judgment, he's bringing up on them, and he's going to later bring up on Judah as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he sees a day when God is going again, bless them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to fulfill and finish his plan concerning the nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says in verse 11, and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they will set for themselves with one head,

[SPEAKER_00]: And they will go up from the land for great will be the day of Jesrille.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look up again in chapter two, verse 22 and 23.

[SPEAKER_00]: This this time, the day of Jesrille is still has the same word.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God scatters, but this time he's scattering them like you scatter seeds and planting.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a day of blessing that's coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he says in chapter 2 verse 1, say to your brothers, Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And to your sisters, Ruhama, the words he's going again.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are going to again be his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God is going to have mercy upon them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God's going to show mercy on the combined Israel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they will again be called my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is partially, you can see a partial fulfillment in the return of Judah.

[SPEAKER_00]: There would have been remnants of the northern tribes that were incorporated into Judah.

[SPEAKER_00]: When the labor allowed to come back to the land of Israel after the captivity.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you look at chapter three of our four and five, you see that the Lord is thinking beyond beyond this near fulfillment to a future day, waits for a future fulfillment in the, we've called the millennial kingdom, the reign of Christ on the earth, when Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so God is looking ahead to a day

[SPEAKER_00]: the nation again.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so to complete this illustration through the family and the marriage of Joseah and God's unfailing love, chapter 3 and verse 1, God sends Joseah to go and love this woman again.

[SPEAKER_00]: And eventually, still talking about Gomar, otherwise the

[SPEAKER_00]: is not, it's not accurate or not right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he sends, he sends Jose to go and find her and bring her back, and love her again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though she's a harlot and involved in adulterous relationships.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now her condition has such that she is in slavery.

[SPEAKER_00]: in her adultery.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so he must go and buy her out of slavery to bring her back to establish a new relationship with her.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this picture that God gives is the picture of God's grace is a bounding grace to sinners.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've spent a good bit of time talking about Israel

[SPEAKER_00]: And you may be wondering, well, what does that really mean for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are the implications for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm glad you asked.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God today, in His church, has a people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Paul is going to use the same truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: to Jews and Gentiles that make up the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to call them to himself, making these people his people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to, in chapter nine of Romans, Paul is going to use chapter one of verse 10 and also chapter two of verse 23 to make this the same point the same message concerning that we,

[SPEAKER_00]: Like Israel, our undeserving guilty, unfaithful, and yet God in His love has called us His people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 9 verse 24 in the context of a passage where

Romans 9:24

[SPEAKER_00]: He's teaching that God is sovereign and free in His choice of people in His saving work.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, even us, verse 24, who may also call not from among Jews only, but also among Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: As he says in Osea, I will call those who were not my people, my people, and her who

[SPEAKER_00]: And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They shall be called sons of the living God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so today, for us who have turned to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we like Israel, who are a strange from God because of our sin, are brought into God's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: God says,

[SPEAKER_00]: that He demonstrates His own love towards us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that while we were still sinners Christ died for us, much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's two significant truths here for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: This morning, God has,

[SPEAKER_00]: made us under this new covenant in Lord Jesus Christ, His people.

[SPEAKER_00]: We belong to Him, He has taken our sins away and He's put to our account the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and adopted us into His family.

[SPEAKER_00]: And since we belong to Him, secondly, since we belong to Him,

[SPEAKER_00]: We are His people.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are also called to represent Him to the nations, to those around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has called us to serve Him, to live for Him, Peter in one Peter chapter 2.

[SPEAKER_00]: He uses the same verses from Hosea to make His point to this point about who we are as

[SPEAKER_00]: and how we should be set apart from him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one Peter chapter two verse 90 says, but you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those are languages, language, it comes out of the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: People of God, how God had chosen them as a special people for his purposes and for his glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God's saying, you are like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are also my people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You also been called with a special calling and chosen.

[SPEAKER_00]: A people for God's own possession, he says, as he quotes, again, from the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that you may proclaim the excellent seas of Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: who is called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

[SPEAKER_00]: For, and here's where he picks up Hosea, for you, once we're not a people, but now you are the people of God, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he continues to beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul, by keeping your conduct excellent among the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when God says about Israel, let my people go that they may serve me,

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he has even greater expectations of us as the church, as those that are on this side of the cross, in the new covenant of God's promises to us in the end-welling presence of God within us and the person of the Spirit of God, we have the completed revelation of

[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe God would have us to go and live like we are his people and to go out and serve him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's thing that word in the Old Testament when God says, let my people go, that they may serve me, that same word is the word for worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's to be true that we in our minds,

[SPEAKER_00]: don't just come to church on Sunday morning thinking, I'm going to worship God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or that just when we sing courses, we're worshiping God.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, our life is to be a life of worship, of service.

[SPEAKER_00]: Those words go hand in hand in God's mind to serve and worship God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so let us go out today and in this week ahead of us,

[SPEAKER_00]: and let us serve him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: For these truths this morning and the challenge to us is your children, your people, your sons, and your daughters that you've called out all of our sin out of the bondage that we were under to this world, to our own sin, to death,

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, you've said us free, you've delivered us, and you brought us into your kingdom through the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, Lord, Lord, we thank you and we praise you for your grace to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, help us to go forth in that mindset that attitude that we belong to you

[SPEAKER_00]: and that we rejoice in the privilege that we have to serve you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray you help us, I pray you'll change us, and cause us to love you in a greater way because we understand these things and get a better glimpse into your mercy for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you in Jesus name, amen.