Moses had great faith! His covenant is always enforced. In their very act of oppression, they unknowingly serve the glory of the Creator. They were in an impossible situation with no way out. One swing of his sword whacked off the ear of Malchus, servant to the High Priest. In Acts 2 God poured out His Holy Spirit on the disciples who spoke on the streets of Jerusalem in the languages of the Gentiles who were present. Email Jack. WebGod never does evil Himself. WebGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. All rights reserved. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die. As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. Why? WebGod never does evil Himself. Because God does miracles by His own power. Jesus point is clear, The King will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.. It was the tech team, the web master, the secretary, or whoever posted my sermon on line. We are here and gone again. 10 people that God used to accomplish his purposes I. Paul: The one with a shameful past and challenging present (4:18) Colossians 4:18 - I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Covenant judgment was about to be poured out upon Israel. Everything fits into Gods plan. Fourth, Gods command seemed impossible to obey. They heap judgment on themselves. God is unimpressed by our collection of readers, likes, retweets, friends, connections, or admirers. But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now., but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the. The phrase all this refers to the betrayal, the circumstances surrounding it, and the circumstances flowing from it. It is a warning to Israel that if they should break Gods covenant, calamity will come upon them revealing the wrath of the offended God. Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? The Pharisees believed they were serving God but in reality, they didnt even know Him. I was not a cum laude graduate. The unbeliever has made an exchangethe truth for a lieand the devil is happy to facilitate the swap by presenting the sinner with a wide array of lies from which to choose. They were evil cowards who hated the Son of God but feared a popular uprising if they tried to arrest him. Visit Justins personal website Here. That is what moving forward would require, or so it seemed. Remember my imprisonment. God will surely judge all rebellion, secret and open. In those moments we often feel alone in the chaos of circumstances as life tumbles in around us. There are so many amazing things in these few verses. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. WebGod will never set man's will aside and use him for a good purpose without his being willing to be used. 1 John 5:14. As we saw in the first four verses of this book, Habakkuk was confused. Gods plan even extended to having Jesus buried in a borrowed tomb (see Isaiah 53:9). It forces us to live by faith, which is how He wants us to live all the time because it gives Him glory. Why tell Moses to lift up his staff and stretch out his hand over the see and be the instrument God would use to divide the sea? 10:17 Paul writes, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. When we preach the gospel to someone and they come to saving faith, we dont boast that we have saved them but that God has saved them, though we were the instruments of Gods saving work. Often in the confusion of life, we cant see the ends, much less the means God intends for us. Get your Bible. God uses all those who humble themselves before the cross, boasting only in him his strength, his wisdom, his righteousness, his accomplishment. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven, will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Because they did not believe in GodAnd did not trust in His salvation. Though used by God for his purposes, the ungodly are still evil. As a place to begin, consider three verses dealing with Judas. Verse Concepts. While not all became believers, many felt a strong attraction to his message. He has many means to accomplish that holy purposeincluding some that are difficult to understand. Jesus said the unbelievers failed to give him food, drink, nurse him in His sickness, or visit Him in prison. God knew that Pharaoh would change his mind about letting the people of Israel go and that he would pursue them to bring them back to Egypt. This is the grace of God as revealed in His merciful covenant. They mock authority and law, and believe that might makes right. They still look to their own strength and ability as if they were divine and answer to no authority above their own. Often in the confusion of life, we cant see the ends, much less the means God intends for us. The unbeliever has made an exchangethe truth for a lieand the devil is happy to facilitate the swap by presenting the sinner with a wide array of lies from which to choose. Finally, they suborned perjury by putting forward false witnesses who produced contradictory testimony. But if anyone says to you, This is meat sacrificed to idols, do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other mans; for why is my freedom judged by anothers conscience? 4:5). Unbelievers Are blinded by the God of this world 2 Corinthians 4:4 Verse Concepts More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! WebGod will never set man's will aside and use him for a good purpose without his being willing to be used. In heaven, each mans praise will come to him from God, and God will be glorified for sovereignly using sinners for His good purposes (I Cor. We see this all the way through the Bible. I sit on no boards. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. We need to be reminded again and again that we are like grass disposable, temporary, fleeting, momentary. I am not a rising star in any field, industry, or arena. To say it another way, there is a man in hell today who has been there for 2000 years even though what he did advanced Gods plan to save the world. In the process, we will also find an answer to a third question, Who are the sons of God in Gen. 6? If you like solving mysteries, you will love this, "Churches are going apostate inside their comfortable church buildings! We have one life to use, and the usefulness of that one life depends not on our rsum or even how much we know. But all of them come from the hand of the Lord. Lest he misunderstand, I also told him that going to Calvary Memorial Church cannot save anyoneor help save anyone. Nothing will ever be able to affect Gods will. But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all;read more.the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. If we lack wisdom, we should ask God for it (James 1:5). Really, its just fine. Psalm 69:25Reputation destroyed forever. In the words of a 19th century writer, hatred, treachery and deceit will not prevail against the church of God. Recent events may not have gone how you hoped and the signs may seem bleak. This week I ate lunch with a man who has recently become an acquaintance through an e-mail correspondence. Here is my answer: He allowed Judas to betray Jesus so that Jesus could become the Savior of the world. During our conversationwhich lasted two hours and was both cordial and very frankI told him that his religion could not save him. God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. God is not the author of sin, but He can use sinful men to attain an objective. The trials that were meant to establish his guilt ended up establishing his innocence for all the world to see. God sees. God calls the autistic man to give the most profound articulation of his simple faith. This week were looking at the other side of the equation. He stands behind it indirectly, but He directly stands behind good. Those who read my words are in many different situations: May I repeat what I just said: He has not brought us this far to cause us to fail. WebThe one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. They thank me for posting my sermons on the internet. When God does something completely different and unexpected (Numb. Zechariah 11:13Judas would give the money back. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. Thus they plundered the Egyptians ( Exodus 12:36 ). The sheep representing believers who did Gods will and the goats representing unbelievers who do not do Gods will. Moses didnt have any power to bring the ten plagues upon Egypt either. When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. By his treachery he established the very cause he set out to destroy. No, its a mystery. Suggestions? The very first verse my daughter ever memorized was Isaiah 40:8, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. It seemed like an odd one to begin with, but now in retrospect it might have been the best one. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice. It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say. . But what they do is not going to bring them true blessing. From the earliest days of Jesus life we find the Jewish leaders conspiring against him. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Every evil in the world must somehow serve Gods purpose. He may for a time use the ungodly to bring deserved chastising upon the hypocrites among His own people, and to show his uncompromising wrath upon those left to what we all deserve aside from the work of his grace. Then God, in His sovereign power and will, takes our weak and fallible service, and accomplishes His will, like parting the Red Sea. Summary Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers. In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. 1:8). Amen. He could have just caused them to drop dead. Are we becoming more like Jesus by the power of the Spirit? It doesnt mean everything will also go perfectly or the way we hope. In the eyes of the Jews, Saul would be seen as a warrior of the faith. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; Immediately the boys father cried out and said, I do believe; help my unbelief.. God is still using unlikely people to accomplish His will on earth today. Causing a sacrifice to take place that would open salvation up to all people. Anyone who resists God risks falling into spiritual deception (2 In Acts 2 God poured out His Holy Spirit on the disciples who spoke on the streets of Jerusalem in the languages of the Gentiles who were present. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. WebAnd then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will. But our God is mightier than any office or country. In this period of Judahs last kings, the Prophets warned of the fulfillment of this covenant promise. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Then the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to Me? Romans 8:28 says, For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. All things includes both good and bad things. Which caused the church to grow rapidly. But if anyone says to you, This is meat sacrificed to idols, do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other mans; for why is my freedom judged by anothers conscience? Grace be with you. Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? They were afraid. When we reach a dead end in our own resources, God can part the sea of the impossible and get us through, but I digress. They probably said things like, See, God isnt doing anything no body ever gets punished, it cant be very serious. They had forgotten the longsuffering of the True God who made all things, and who rules as King over all kings. God doesnt need men, but God chooses to use men at times to accomplish His sovereign will. For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.. 6:10). But they feared to do it during the Feast of Unleavened Bread because of the crowds that thronged Jerusalem. WebGod Can Use Unbelievers part 1: Cyrus 1. 10:14-15). Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? so that they might escape from the devil's snare, even though they've been held captive by him to do his will. Able to do exceedingly and abundantly using unlikely people to further His plans. But it does mean everything will happen as God sees fit. 4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philippians 3:4-7 - although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. Grace be with you. Gods sign of judgment was that they would hear foreign language on the streets of Jerusalem, speaking in a language they did not understand. It only made sense on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the dead. Those who were rebelling against God had become apathetic. WebGod also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. Even those who have a very low view of Gods sovereignty, if they pray, pray because God is perfectly sovereign, otherwise prayer would be an exercise in futility. In fact, in one place in scripture, God said that what He was doing could not be understood even if He explained it. But we can find hope in knowing that God is in control, He works all things for our God, and no suffering we face know will even be able to cast a shadow on the glory we will receive in Heaven. Questions? In Acts 2 God poured out His Holy Spirit on the disciples who spoke on the streets of Jerusalem in the languages of the Gentiles who were present. God chooses the custodian with a heavy accent to share the gospel and save lives. He stands behind it indirectly, but He directly stands behind good. He had great trust in the truth of God. Because God is utterly unimpressed by my rsum. Be encouraged, child of God. Wisdom alone, though, is insufficient. 21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man. All of these people are unlikely choices to be used by God since they didnt truly know or believe in Him. If your rsum is sparse, your intellect feeble, your skills unimpressive, and your wisdom just average, fret not. Until that man turns from his sinwhich in his case means acknowledging his behavior as sinand runs to the Cross of Christ he cannot be saved. But through the lens of the New Testament, he is seen as a wicked man. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, Why does this generation seek for a sign? If God did the miracles without Moses, amazing things would have happened, but the people would not have known what was going on or what to do. When Judas actually betrayed Jesus in the Garden, Peter immediately sprang to his defense. 28:49, The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand. When you find yourself in a tight spot and you cant see any way of deliverance, have faith in God, obey His Word, and wait for the salvation of the Lord. I didnt attend an Ivy League school. Its something we can clearly see within the pages of our Bible. The fact that we cant conceive of free choice coexisting with Gods predestination simply reminds us once again that he is God and we are not. God strengthened Cyrus so that he could conquer nations and overcome opposition Thus says the Lord God to His 2. The fact that God ordains both the means and the ends should surely encourage us as we face our own trials. But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. God could by-pass us and do everything himself, but He does not. Comments? A man who lived in a time in which only Jews served the one true God. Then his mind changes, and he transgresses; He commits offense, Ascribing this power to his god.. Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? God has sinners pray and answers the prayers of sinners that are according to His will, getting glory for himself. God uses pathetic people for his glorious purposes to show his superior power. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. He could have rained fire and brimstone down on them. Even today there are those who are arrogant and have no honor for God as He reveals Himself in Scripture. At times, God enlisted non-believers to help His people through the ages.