God Confuses His People

If you're new with us, we're now in the fourth week of the book of Exodus.

The story of Exodus is a story that echoes throughout the entire Bible, perhaps more than any other story.

Some have said that the book of Exodus gives us the clearest visual aid for the gospel in the entire Bible.

It's pictures that represent the story of what's going on.

And the theme of the book of Exodus, we've actually printed for you right on the front of your bulletin.

Help me out, I'll give you the first couple of words.

You give me the last one.

Exodus is all about the God who reveals himself.

He's telling us who he is.

And last week in Exodus 3, we saw the thesis statement for the entire book where God says, I am Yahweh.

I am above you and yet among you.

I am beyond you and yet beside you.

I am transcendent and I am imminent.

And he reveals himself in this blazing fire, which is such a perfect representation of that, because God is terrifying like a fire is, and yet absolutely inviting like a fire is.

Like, what happens when I start to serve God and it doesn't go very well?

Have you ever had that one?

Like, you make a commitment.

We need to get our family back in church.

And then the next five Sundays, one of your kids is sick every single time.

You decide, you know what?

We're not putting God first in our finances.

Like, we're not giving him our first and best.

And then just a little bit later, you find out that you've been furloughed from your job.

Or that there won't be raises this year.

Or that the HVAC unit goes out.

I tell you, the very first week after I was installed as the lead pastor here at Parkside, for the first and only time in my life, I got a nasty case of shingles.

Like, God, I'm trying to do what you have for me here.

It's not supposed to go this way.

Right?

That these things happen.

And so as Moses tries to obey and things don't go well, he gets confused.

And the Israelites try to obey and things don't go well and they get confused.

And when we read that section in Exodus 4 that Carrie read a second ago about circumcision, we get confused.

So the title of the sermon this week is God Confuses His People.

Because sometimes you just look around, you're like, I don't know what's going on right here.

When we're confused by God, we tend to ask a lot of questions, but there is one dominant question that I deeply want to impress upon you this morning that drives all of these questions when we're confused.

And here's the question: Who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

And why should I obey him?

It's actually Pharaoh in Exodus 5 that asks those questions.

He says the quiet part out loud.

He identifies the questions under all the questions.

And underneath that question, who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

There is a battle that every single one of us faces.

It's the battle for belief versus unbelief.

Belief and unbelief is not something that is once and for all resolved at the moment of salvation, conversion, and trusting the Lord Jesus.

It is an ongoing fight for the believer.

So the question who is the Lord brings us to a battle of belief versus unbelief.

And what I want to do briefly here is show you this pattern and this trajectory, a question, who is the Lord, and the fight for belief or not in each of the characters.

And then look at a couple of actions after that.

When I rightly answer the question, who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

What are the actions that flow out of that?

Alright, well, let's look at this in the characters.

Look at Moses.

God sends him to Egypt.

Leave Midian, where your family is, pick up and go.

Moses says, check, did that.

I went where you sent me.

Go deliver a really difficult message.

Check, did that.

Obedience.

Walk with the people of God when Pharaoh freaks out and makes life really difficult.

Look at his response now in 522.

Moses turned to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, why have you done evil to this people?

Why did you ever send me?

For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people.

And you haven't delivered your people at all.

Who is the Lord?

Belief versus unbelief.

He's grappling with fear of man versus fear of God.

You see that theme in there.

Alright, let's look at the Israelite people.

They see miraculous signs.

Moses, Aaron, they show up to do the signs.

They tell the people all the words of God, and it says the people respond in worship.

Now keep in mind when they say they heard all the words of God, look at 421, because this is included in all the words of God that the Israelite people heard.

The Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he won't let the people go.

Okay, that's part of the words of God.

And it says that Moses and Aaron told the people all the words of God, so they heard this promise that it's not gonna go well.

Now, just a moment, put a pen in that truth that they heard in their response.

You're holding that on the side?

Okay, there's a phrase that comes up here for the very first time in the book of Exodus.

It's a very important phrase, where God promises that he will harden Pharaoh's heart.

It's important to think through this.

Sometimes we we read that and we think like Pharaoh kind of wants to worship God, but God is over here like bending him the other way.

Like he's got an Alan Brench just twisting him away from God.

That's not what it means when it says that God will harden Pharaoh's heart.

That word harden is also translated in the Old Testament as strengthen.

So Pharaoh is bent away from God as every human being is before God intervenes in grace.

And God says, I'm not bending him away from me, he's already running away from me, but I am strengthening what is already in his own heart.

It's as if his heart is as hard as Indiana clay, and God is saying, I'm gonna let the heat of the sun bake the hardness of your heart even harder.

I will strengthen your heart as you go.

It's important that we understand how that works.

It's important to get.

Now, I asked you to put a pin just a second ago in this thing where the Israelites heard all the words of the Lord, they saw his miraculous signs, they responded in worship, but then when things get sideways for them, they revert like Moses away from belief into unbelief.

Look at chapter 5 and verse 20, and we're gonna see what the how they do this.

They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh, and they said to them, The Lord look on you, and the Lord judge you, because you've made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and they have put a sword in their hand to kill us.

They're confused by God.

And let's be honest, lots of life is confusing before God.

What are you doing here?

They have lots of questions.

Who is the Lord?

And the battle for belief versus unbelief rages.

So you see it in Moses' life, you see it in the Israelites' life.

You actually see this resounding throughout Pharaoh as well.

He's the one asking, Who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

Why should I obey him?

It's as if Pharaoh is sitting in his palace and he sees the host of Egyptian gods, the Egyptian pantheon, as it were.

And he looks around and the Lord shows up, he's like, Who are you?

Look, look at 5, 1 and 2.

Here's what he says.

Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.

Now catch this.

He doesn't just reject the Lord.

You go down to 5.9, and he ups the ante on the accusation he's making.

This is really important.

5-9.

He says, Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to, what's the last two words there?

Lying words.

Not only do I reject Yahweh, he is deceitful, dishonest, and bringing lies to me.

And here we're getting a foretaste of this one versus one monstrous throwdown that's about to take place over the next about eight chapters of Exodus.

Pastor Rob next week will be explaining more of this as we get into the plagues, so I don't want to steal too much of his thunder, but it's almost like you're at an Indians game and they got that fast pitch thing in the back, and the kids throw, and then the dads are like, I can one up this.

Start to get the shoulder going, I got the scar tissue in there.

Yeah, back in my day.

And there's gonna be a throwdown.

Like, who is it that can crack 84 miles an hour on this thing?

And we're about to see.

And God is setting this up between the gods of Egypt and the Lord Himself, this throwdown to see who is it that is actually supreme.

And we get to look forward to that over the coming weeks as it comes up.

But here's the thing about all the gods, whether true or false, they all demand service.

And the difference is the false gods will demand service that leads to more enslavement, more oppression, more destruction in your life.

And if you've given any amount of time to serving the false gods of this world, you can attest to this that the harder I run after them, the more I give the service they demand, the less free I am, the less joyful I am, even though it looks like it's gonna be a good thing on the front end.

They don't keep the promises.

And what happens with the God of the universe is he also demands service.

And yet, as you give yourself in service to him, you may be tired, but you will find true joy and true satisfaction.

What's very fascinating is Pharaoh doesn't even know the words he's using because in chapter 5 and verse 5, what does he say to Moses and Aaron?

He says, You guys are offering rest.

And they're like, Yeah, of course we are.

You will find rest when you worship God, even though you'll still be tired doing it.

Now, that's not how Pharaoh means it, right?

He's like, Well, you're not working anymore.

You're taking a three-day journey out into the wilderness.

How restful.

Which, if we can just pause for a second, is like one of the most ironic things to ever read.

Anyone ever imagine a three-day journey with your kids and all your animals into the wilderness?

Now, there's a lot of things you could describe that journey with.

One thing I would not describe that journey as rest.

Now, imagine our whole church goes on a three-day journey with all the kids and all the animals.

And we're trying to stay together and manage bathroom breaks, and what time everybody wants to eat dinner, and when we go to bed, when we wake up, like might be a lot of things, not restful.

And yet they say, of course it will be rest because we're going to worship our God.

Listen, one of the things I've observed in more than a decade of pastoral ministry now, the happiest people that I know, the most joyful people that I know are confident and happy and fully committed in their answer to this question.

Who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

Is he worthy of my service?

Because the people that are most all in on serving the Lord find the most joy in it.

Not the easiest life, but the most satisfied life.

And you see this being sort of foreshadowed here early in the book of Exodus.

So as we look at this question, who is the Lord?

Who is Yahweh?

What does it look like to respond in belief instead of unbelief?

I think there are three actions that we're going to see from this text emerging that can help to guide us.

I said a little bit of this last week, but I want to repeat it this week because it's important you get who is the Lord?

It is the one who is both thunderous above and tender among us.

It is the one who is terrifying above and yet inviting among us.

His presence demands our worship.

And sometimes, if I can just tell you a quick illustration here, I don't think we think of the Lord as terrifying and inviting at the same time.

We sometimes see him a little bit like that scene in Monty Python.

You know the one when King Arthur and his assistant Patsy go running or riding and they're juggling the coconuts, pretending like they've been riding for miles, and they get to the castle, and the guy says, Halt, who goes there?

How many of you know this?

Okay, this is good.

And they put forth this case.

We've been riding for miles.

And the guy's like, No, you haven't, you're just shaking some coconuts.

And they end up arguing about where the coconuts came from and a swallow carried them, and was an African swallow, and could it be strong enough to carry them?

And like, they get all sidetracked over mistaken identity.

Now, in that case, are they right to question whether or not the guy's been riding for miles?

Yes.

But if you treat the Lord of all the universe like someone to interrogate and ask about his purposes and why he's doing these things, like they do in Monty Python, we're going to end up sidetracked and arguing about silly things like African swallows instead of the obedience that the Lord commands of us.

So let's not make that mistake this morning.

Three actions from this text that flow when I rightly respond to the question, who is the Lord?

Action number one, you go where you're sent.

Go where you're sent.

Here I am at the back of the beginning of the passage, Exodus 4, 18.

Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they're still alive.

And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

Now there's a lot that happens in this passage, but this might be one of the most remarkable parts because you think about Moses.

He has a good life in Midian.

He's raising a family.

He has godly, wise in-laws.

He's got a family business to inherit.

Everything in human wisdom says, stay put, buddy.

Further, Egypt just happens to be the riskiest place on the face of the earth for him.

In fact, he says, let me go back and see if everybody I know has been murdered there.

Like there's a good chance every single Israelite is dead.

And Jethro, his father-in-law, models a godly response to a risky proposition for the sake of God's name.

He encourages Moses to go.

He says, go in peace.

Like, parents, what a challenge for us.

Do you encourage your kids to take risks, big risks with their lives for the sake of the God of the universe?

Or is the main thing to keep them within 50 miles of you?

Jethro's response comes from a deep and a core conviction that Yahweh has revealed himself so that all the nations will know who he is.

This is exactly what we read in chapter 9, verse 16.

I think I've read that each of the last three weeks where God says to Pharaoh, Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

And how does God intend to get his name into all the earth?

You take the whole of the Bible, second core conviction here, that every Christian has received a commission from the Lord Jesus to go and make disciples, and he has promised his presence will be with you as you go.

This is Matthew 28.

Right?

We get to the end, go there for make disciples of all nations.

You know that part.

But Matthew 28, 18, go back one verse.

What does it say?

All authority on heaven and in earth has been given to me, and on that authority I commission you and promise to be with you as you go.

And on top of that, maybe a third core conviction here from Jethro and ought to be shared by us, the local church is the vehicle designed by God to take his name to the nations.

1 Timothy 3.16.

The local church is the pillar and buttress of the truth.

Ephesians 3.10, the manifold wisdom of God is displayed in the church.

It's as if the gospel of Jesus Christ is the diamond on the ring, and the local church is the wedding band that holds it up and displays it and protects it so that the watching world will see this is who Yahweh is.

And far too often in our lives, we sit around waiting for a special voice from God saying, go over here or go do that thing, when we should be taking as the starting point, you have been commissioned, you have been sent.

Now get going.

You've heard me say this before.

If you sit around and look at your Cheerios all morning long and you wait for God to move those Cheerios around to give you a special message, all they're ever gonna say back to you is, ooh, it's not gonna happen.

Don't wait for a special voice from God.

You've already got Bible verses all over the place telling you what your mission and co-mission from God is.

Now look, Moses was called to Egypt, right?

It's a long way away.

Scary place, risky place.

Some of you may be called to Brownsburg.

Some of you may be called to cross an ocean for the sake of the gospel and take the message of Jesus to somebody far, far away.

Some of you may be called to step out from this church and be part of the church plant that's happening next year.

Right?

That place conversation is one we need to hold an open hand on.

In my experience, it's very hard to hold an open hand on the place conversation.

Because there's a reason you've established and built a life in this place.

Hold that with an open hand.

Ask the Lord, would you have me go somewhere else?

I'm thankful that Moses and Jethro were holding that with an open hand.

But here's the thing: you can live in the place that God has you, and that's not quite the same as going where you're sent.

You can exist in the place where God has you without living as a sent one there.

Like for some of you, that's just a recognition that, like, I'm confident God has sent me to Brownsburg, but there's a person across the street that I don't think has ever been invited to read the Bible with anyone.

And that is exactly where I'm sent.

And I might be in Brownsburg, but I'm not living as a sent one in Brownsburg.

Right?

To go where you're sent means to leverage your time, your talent, your treasure, everything the Lord has given you for the sake of the gospel.

There are some of you here who are confident, Justin, I know the Lord wants me in Brownsburg.

Great, I want you in Brownsburg.

Or in Avon or Pittsburgh or Plainfield or wherever God has you.

But for some of you, your giving does not reflect that you're living as a sent one here.

Not leveraging all your time, talent, treasure for the sake of the gospel to go forward.

Here's the point: when you ask the question, who is Yahweh?

He is the Lord of all, worthy of all.

I withhold nothing from him.

And all of my life is dedicated to seeing his name made known among the nations, as I'm sent to make disciples wherever I am, to start and strengthen healthy churches wherever God would have me.

That's what it means to go where you're sent.

And in seed form, we see that in Moses' life and the ways he took risky steps for the gospel.

Second action in this passage, when we respond rightly to who Yahweh is, you turn from secret sin.

Turn from secret sin.

Now, if there are some of You here this morning that haven't been to church in a little while, don't read the Bible a whole bunch.

I just want to let you know, this thing I'm about to read is one of the weirdest parts of the whole Bible.

And for the longest time before we started Exodus, I read it and said, I have no idea what I'm gonna say from this little section.

And I also want you to know, this past week, I had an amazing, like, not not vision in the weird sense of vision from God.

Just like, I stopped being stupid.

Like I started to see things more clearly from this section that I've been really excited to tell you in a non-creepy way.

Alright.

424.

We should read this again.

At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.

So he let him alone.

It was then she said, a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision.

Alright, so like I said, the first time you read that, it's like the ultimate head scratcher.

And one principle of Bible study is like, well, if it doesn't make sense the first time, like slow down, read it again a second time, and maybe on the second reading that helps out.

So, just kidding, I'm not gonna read that again.

But the second time, it didn't help me a whole lot either.

I'm still like, I don't know what's going on here.

Um and look, we're not gonna spend forever using the weird words.

Let me just tell you this.

The Hebrew word for cutting off that part of the body is called the Orla.

So we're just gonna say that, and you've never been so thankful for a Hebrew word in all your life.

You can avoid those other terminologies.

You should know if you have questions about this.

I did send out an internal memo to our Sunday school teachers, our community group leaders this week, and uh they will be ready to answer all your questions.

Right?

They will um they will cut right to the chase, they will not mince any words.

I'm telling you, these guys are sharp.

They are a cut above.

All right.

What's going on here?

In Midian, it seems that Moses has assimilated to the culture.

How do I know that?

He's supposed to circumcise his son, and he has not done that.

This was a clear command going back to God's promises to Abraham, and Moses is well aware of those.

And so God shows up and there is sin in the camp.

Moses has not obeyed the clear commands of God.

And what do we know about sin in our own lives?

It always brings death, it always brings judgment, it always brings destruction.

And God says, No, I'm gonna bring judgment because of your sin.

He sought to put him to death.

And by God's grace, Moses has a godly wife, Zipporah, who sees what's going on.

She immediately knows and she takes action and she models repentance to turn from secret sin.

No, we're not supposed to do this.

So repentance is a bit of a Bible word, and I to turn or to change your mind is the definition.

I used to be going this way, I repent, I changed my mind and my action, and I now go this way.

So Zipporah models repentance, she grabs the kitchen scissors, says a little, and they keep going.

Now, here is a bit of a reminder for us: repentance, turning in your life, will always cost you something.

You feel that acutely in this one.

But it'll always cost you something.

And it forces you to reckon with this reality.

I can take the short-term pain of repentance with the long-term joy and life and satisfaction from following God.

Or, option two, I can have short-term joy in my sin, and it will be short-term.

And a long-term heartache, sorrow, death, and destruction that comes from that.

The choice is yours.

And in the moment, it's exceedingly hard.

And you need to remember that one of these things brings short-term joy, and one of them brings long-term joy.

Repentance is the way.

Praise God for Zipporh's godly action as a mother and a wife.

One of the things I've been telling you throughout this series, and it's on the cover of your bulletin, is that the cross or the shadow of the cross falls across the book of Exodus.

And I actually think we see that in a really amazing way right here in this odd little section.

There's a pattern of sinful things being redeemed by blood.

So in 425, where it says that Zipporah touched Moses, do you know that word touch where it shows up again in the book of Exodus?

Exodus 12, the Passover, the blood touches the doorposts.

Sinful things redeemed by blood.

And if you fast forward like a couple thousand years to John 13, all throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus has been telling his disciples, I am the bridegroom.

And so they sit down for the Last Supper and they take off their shoes, and Jesus says, I'm gonna wash your feet.

Take this water, and I will touch you with this water, symbolically of the blood he's about to shed, because when my blood touches you and you fall under that, you will be redeemed and you will be cleansed and saved from death.

Continuing this theme right here of unholy things, touched and redeemed by the blood, and made clean, holy, and pure going forward.

And these disciples are sitting around the Last Supper saying, You are a bridegroom of blood to us.

And Hebrews 9 says, Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Shadow of the cross falling across Exodus 4 in really, really amazing ways.

Now, we take those principles and ask Justin that that makes sense, but could we get kind of practical for my life?

Because I'm pretty sure what they did is not what I'm supposed to do.

If that's your impulse, you're right.

That's not the action step, but there is one for you here.

Moses had a secret sin.

I mean, it's very secret.

Nobody was going to see that or know about that.

And yet he had to turn from it.

And I just wonder right now, as you're kind of running a self-audit, like, what is that area of secret sin in your life that nobody sees and nobody knows, but you know you need to turn from it.

Maybe you're not being fully truthful with your spouse in one way or another.

Maybe there's an anger issue in your life that you can hide from your community group, but you can't hide from the Lord Jesus.

Maybe there's a drinking problem where you started out having one drink a week and it's become three a night.

And you don't drive drunk, but you need that thing to escape from your life.

You're running there instead of running to the Lord.

Maybe it's a spirit of religious superiority where you look out and you see people not as committed as you.

They miss a few weeks when they're on the setup and teardown crew.

Like they're not as bought in as I am here.

And over time, that spirit of self-righteous judgment creeps up.

And you don't say anything to anybody, but you know it's not a God-honoring spirit.

Look, I don't know what the secret sin is.

That's the that's by definition what secret sin is.

But it must be brought under the cleansing power of the blood.

You must confess it.

That means to tell the truth to God about what that sin is.

And you must repent.

You must turn from it.

And it's hard to bring it to the light.

I get that.

It's hard to go tell a brother or a sister, yeah, I gotta turn from this thing.

But it's not nearly as hard as the shedding of blood that Jesus shed so that that could be forgiven.

And one of the ways I know that we as a church, that we're beginning to walk in grace and be more centered on the gospel, is when confession is free and when it comes quickly.

Because when I confess, here's the secret sin that I'm turning from.

What I'm saying in that moment, I'm no longer standing on the ground of my own righteousness, but I'm standing on the ground of Christ's righteousness, his grace and his blood applied to my life.

And when I hang on to that, I can't tell you that.

What it tells me when I cannot confess that is my own righteousness and keeping up appearances is the main thing.

Walking in grace, centered on the gospel, means that confession is free and it is fast, and we turn and we repent.

This is how I'm rightly responding to Yahweh, who demands holiness.

I have to do something, but also makes atonement by his blood.

He's not only above, he's among.

And when I get he's above demanding holiness and abut among offering atonement, then I can boldly approach the throne with confidence, knowing that I will find mercy and grace and help in the time of need.

Action number two, you turn from secret sin.

Do not practice delayed obedience.

Immediate obedience is the key this morning, brothers and sisters.

Third action.

In this text, when you rightly answer the question, who is Yahweh?

You're gonna remember that suffering is purposeful.

Remember that suffering is purposeful.

Here I'm thankful for Pastor Jake leading us in a prayer of lament.

Thankful for Lincoln leading us in songs of lament.

Because the process through suffering and remembering that it is purposeful is always one that involves lament.

It's been a little while since we've looked at the suffering in this text, so let's go back and read it.

We're gonna pick up in chapter five and verse six.

The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as in the past.

Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

But the number of bricks they made in the past you shall impose on them.

You shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle.

Therefore they cry, let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.

Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor at it, and pay no regard to lying words.

Here the Israelites, they tried to obey God.

They tried to take that difficult step of obedience, and things got worse.

Their prayer life was saying, God, we're trying to do the right thing.

Why is this going so badly?

Let me offer a reminder and an encouragement, a reminder.

A world that is opposed to God is usually opposed to God.

So living for Jesus in bold ways that upset the status quo in your neighborhood, in your workplace, and in your youth sports world will probably be difficult.

That should be our base level expectation.

We should ask ourselves: am I willing to upset the status quo in a graceful and kind way?

That's the reminder.

The encouragement, then, when you choose to follow God, it will often make life harder.

Now that may not sound like an encouragement, but I promise you it is, because to rightly calibrate my expectations on the front end helps me to walk in obedience with an appropriate expectation of what's to follow.

Let's pick up in chapter 5 and verse 20, next section.

They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh.

And they said to them, The Lord look on you and judge, because you've made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and you've put a sword in their hand to kill us.

Here's the interesting thing.

You remember they heard earlier all the words of the Lord, they heard that this was not gonna go well.

God told them on the front end, it's gonna get harder.

And yet, here's my Justin reading between the lines on this.

Here's my interpretation.

They saw the good news that God was on the move.

Yes, God's doing something.

Let's go, let's take the hill.

And they missed God's word that he also gave about promised difficulty.

And so God in his kindness, catch this, God in his kindness uses suffering to show them they are more interested in God's blessings than God himself.

Let that sink in for a second.

God in his kindness uses suffering to show them they're more interested in God's blessings than God himself.

It comes back to the question: who is Yahweh?

Is he a divine pinyata, a religious Santa Claus who brings me all the things on my wish list?

Or is he the thunderous, terrifying, yet tenderful, merciful one, the sovereign ruler and judge over all the earth that demands and is worthy of all of my worship and no less.

And it doesn't take very long reading the rest of your Bible to see that the promises of suffering specifically to the Israelites are not contained only by the Israelites, they come to the rest of us.

1 Thessalonians 3.3, Paul says to the Thessalonians, we were destined for affliction.

1 Peter 4.12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial, as if something strange were happening.

You know, that's the norm.

James 1.2, count in all joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of various kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces all kinds of good things in your life.

Steadfastness, endurance.

Romans 5 would say hope and character.

Or maybe most clearly for us here, 1 Peter 1.6.

Peter writes, I know you've been grieved by trials of various kinds, so that the tested genuineness of your faith may result in praise and honor and glory at the revealing of the Lord Jesus.

The Yahweh would be seen for all He is, for all of His glory through your life, because the suffering is the refining fire that is awful to go through and always purposeful.

Brothers and sisters, suffering, testing, trials are God's appointed way to make you look more like Jesus.

It might be physical, it might be financial, it might be relational, but there's certainly an emotional and a spiritual toll that comes with all of it.

When sleep feels like a distant memory and you can't remember the last time you got to sleep peacefully.

Listen, some of you are here this morning with like low grade difficulty, and you're not sure how to apply a passage like this one, because the Israelites had like top-of-the-line suffering, and you know a bunch of people in your life that have top-of-the-line suffering as well.

For those of you that are in like low to mid-grain, mid-grade trials and tribulations, do not miss the refining benefit because you think you can kind of white knuckle your way through it.

Let the low, slow fire that you're facing refine you into the image of Christ.

And don't let your perceived strength keep you from learning what Christ wants you to learn.

Take it to him, even though you know somebody who has it worse.

And there are some of you here who have off-the-charts kind of trials going on right now.

Like you have been through the absolute ringer.

You never imagined life could be this hard.

Don't miss God's purposes in your suffering because you feel so weak.

He is with you.

He is working for his glory and for your good.

And he draws near to the brokenhearted.

He binds up the brokenhearted.

He's a father to the fatherless widows.

He comes alongside you and carries you and says, I'll be with you in a special and a unique way.

I see you.

And if you only get that he's beside you and not that he's beyond you, what's going to happen is you never trust his purposes that could go beyond you.

You end up demanding explanations that we shouldn't demand.

He says, My ways are higher than your ways, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

He never promises this side of eternity to fully explain himself.

He says, I will be with you, and my grace will be sufficient so that in your weakness my power is made perfect.

But if I only get that he's beyond me and I miss that he's beside me, then I forget that his purposes are good, that his presence is real, that he was tempted in every single way that you are.

And I am with you.

It's the wicked King Pharaoh who is actually asking the right question.

He says, Who is the Lord?

And why should I obey him?

He is the sovereign ruler.

He is the mighty warrior.

All of these ways he's above us, and yet he's among us as the sympathetic servant, as the word became flesh, he's closer than you would dare to believe.

And he's further and more above than you could ever comprehend.

Thunderous and tender, terrifying and inviting.

And the question for all of us this morning is simply: will you respond to Yahweh in belief, in faith, and obedience?

So we're gonna move in a minute here to the Lord's Supper, where we remember the thunder at the cross, where the whole world went dark, where the earthquake shattered the rocks, and yet the sinless Son of God came near and shed his own blood.

I want you to uphold the above and the among, the transcendent and the imminent at the exact same time as you pray.

And as you consider this and ask the Lord, what does it look like today for me to respond in obedience, in belief?

Father God, we need your help this morning.

Would you work in our hearts?

Would you work in our spirits?

Would you help us to see you for who you really are?

And would you help us to respond in obedience?

I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.