Dakota Community Church
May 8, 2011
The Gospel of His Great Mercy - 2
Communion Sunday
Exodus 12:12-13
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Isaiah 49:13-15
Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
Was your mother fit for the task? Learn to walk in grace!
See others in light of your need of the cross.
Ephesians 2:4-6
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:12
REMEMBER that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
The more I study this topic, the more I am forced to believe two things:
Human thinking cannot comprehend the seriousness of sin
We do not get it; in our fallen state we just do not see the horror of sin in the eyes of a Holy God. This inability to see is what allows us to declare ourselves, “Not that bad” or someone else a “good person”. These are blind fallacies.
Human thinking cannot grasp God’s definition of justice
I have mentioned a couple of examples of God’s wrath numerous times over the last couple of months as I have been trying to enlighten us as to what we have been saved from.
The man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath:
Uzzah the priest reaching out to keep the ark from falling:
Even the fate of humanity for Adam’s transgression
Achan, his family, the animals and 36 soldiers
David, the census and 70,000 deaths
Leviticus 10:1-2
Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
Deuteronomy 20:10-18
When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
Human thinking cannot comprehend the seriousness of sin
Human thinking cannot grasp God’s definition of justice
How does any of this reconcile with:
Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…
And with this:
John 14:9
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Prosperity Gospel Explanation:
For years these issues were brought to me by people in the prosperity camp. Has God changed? I know He wants me to have my best life now; but what about all this Bible stuff? My answer would be that the Bible is true in the sense that it’s true that the authors saw the events in this way
The authors believed it was God ordering them to kill every man woman child –
The authors believed God was telling them to stone the Sabbath breaker –
The authors believed that God consumed Aaron’s sons –
The authors believed that 70,000 died at God’s hand for David’s census -
But He really wouldn’t do that - but that they were misunderstanding the true nature of God
The problem with this answer is that the TEXT CLEARLY SAYS OTHERWISE!
In this answer we make the text subjective – we change it to line up with our beliefs.
To be continued
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
