Sunday Sermon Recap | Divine Reassurance
This post is based on CJ Mahaney's sermon, Divine Reassurance, given on November 25, 2018.
In this Sunday's sermon, CJ helpfully applied Exodus 6:28-7:7 by encouraging us towards greater confidence in God’s sovereignty and to further faithfulness to the gospel.
Redemption is a work of God alone through the gospel alone. God reissued his call to Moses when he was 80 years old--despite his previous failures to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go. Moses' age and inadequacies remind us that a successful exodus from Egypt could not come from Moses working in his own strength, but must come from the merciful, gracious, and sovereign hand of God. God saves his people. God alone. This is no less true for us than it was for Israel in Egypt. We too were once enslaved. We too were unable to rescue ourselves. And we too were graciously and miraculously delivered by God. What God did for the children of Israel, God has done for us to an even greater degree, not through the prophet Moses, but through his Son and with his gospel.
Older saints in our church were encouraged towards continued faithfulness to the gospel in the later years of their lives. Surprisingly, everything Moses had experienced until he turned 80 was only preparation for his most significant years of ministry. In light of this, we were then encouraged towards "maximum zeal" as we finish our race here on earth; perhaps the most fruitful years of service to God are not behind us, but lie ahead. Perhaps, just like Moses, everything we've experienced in the past was only preparation, and God's most significant work is just beginning.
CJ then drew our attention to a second way this text serves to bolster our confidence in the gospel. God encourages Moses by letting him know what Pharaoh's response will be: God will harden Pharaoh's heart and Pharaoh will refuse to let Israel go. Why would this have encouraged Moses? Because it clarifies that Pharaoh's rejection of God's message was ultimately a part of God's plan. God wasn't calling Moses to a ministry of persuasion and manipulation, but to faithful proclamation. The outcome was in God's hands, not Moses'. The same is true for us when we share the gospel: evangelism is the faithful proclamation of the gospel. That's it. The results are in God's hands. We aren't called to be innovative. We aren't called to justify people. We can’t manufacture another’s sorrow for sins. We are called to be faithful. Success in evangelism isn't measured by the number of people we see converted, but in faithfulness to proclaiming the gospel message.
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