THESE PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE REVEAL THAT THE PEOPLE WERE IN A STATE OF APOSTACY/FALLING AWAY. THEIR ALLEGIENCE TO GOD HAD BEEN SEVERED AND THEIR HEARTS HAD GROWN COLD, STALE, AND CALLUSED. THEY SERVED GOD TO PLEASE THE PROPHETS AND SERVED BAAL TO PLEASE THE KING. BUT MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THERE IS NO STRATTLING THE FENCE WITH GOD. EITHER WE SERVE HIM OR WE DON’T. REVELATIONS 3:15-16 RECORDS THE INSIGHTFUL, ILLUMINATING WORDS OF JESUS, “I KNOW THY WORKS, THAT THOU ART NEIRTHER COLD NOR HOT: I WOULD THOU WERT COLD OR HOT. SO THEN BECAUSE THOU ART LUKEWARM, AND NEITHER COLD NOR HOT, I WILL SPUE THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH.”
THE PEOPLE WERE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE. PEOPLE WHO ARE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE ARE A DANGEROUS PEOPLE, ONE BECAUSE THEY CAN’T BE TRUSTED, TWO, THEY WILL BELIEVE ALMOST ANYTHING, AND THREE, THEY SERVE GOD ONLY WHEN IT’S CONVENIENT. JOSHUA 24:15 TEACHES US TO CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO WE WILL SERVE.
II. EXTREMES
MAN’S ETREMITIES IS GOD’S OPPORTUNITY. GOD GOES TO THE EXTREME NOT FOR HIS SAKE BUT FOR OUR SAKE. THEY ARE NOT HIS EXTREMES BUT OURS. BECAUSE GOD MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS, HIS METHODS OFTEN APPEAR EXTREME, FOR INSTANCE, WHEN HE PERSERVED JONAH IN THE BELLY OF THE FISH; IT WAS NOT A PUNISHMENT, BUT A DELIVERANCE FROM DROWNING. GOD HAS A WAY OF DOING THINGS THAT ARE UNMATCHED BY ANYONE ELSE.
WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD. DR. TONY EVANS IN HIS BOOK, OUR GOD IS AWESOME, STATES “THAT BECAUSE GOD IS INFINITE, SO IS HIS POWER.” HIS NAME ALONE SUGGEST POWER:
§ ELOHIM- THE TRANSCENDANT GOD.
§ ADONAI- LORD AND MASTER.
§ YAHWEH-JEHOVAH GOD.
§ EL- SHADDAI- THE ALMIGHTY GOD.
§ EL-ELYON- GOD MOST HIGH.
§ EL-OLAM- THE EVERLASTING GOD.
III. CONCLUSION
GOD GOES TO THE EXTREME FOR SEVERAL REASONS. ONE, TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE. EXODUS 14:16 GOD TELLS MOSES, “BUT LIFT THOU UP THY ROD, AND STRETCH OUT THINE HAND OVER THE SEA AND DIVIDE IT: AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL GO ON DRY GROUND THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE SEA.” TWO, TO BRING JUDGMENT. EXODUS 12:12 TEACHES, “FOR I WILL PASSTHROUGH THE LAND OF EGYPT THIS NIGHT, AND WILL SMITE ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, BOTH MAN AND BEAST; AND AGAINST ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENT: I AM THE LORD.” THREE, TO BRING PEOPLE TO THE POINT OF REPENTANCE. ACTS 9 RECORDS HOW GOD THROUGH JESUS BLINDS PAUL, BRINGING HIM TO REPENTANCE.
FOUR, TO PROVE THAT HE IS GOD,AS IN OUR TEXT.
