“Drawn From the Water” – Exodus 2:1-10

At the annual family-reunion picnic, a young bride led her husband over to an old woman busily crocheting in a rocker. "Granny," she said, touching the old woman's hand affectionately, "this is my new husband." The woman eyed him critically for a long moment, then asked abruptly, "Do you desire children?" Startled by her bluntness, the young man blushed and stammered, ""Well-uh-yes, I do very much." “Well," she said, looking scornfully at the large tribe gathered around the six picnic tables, "try to control it!" (Colleen Pifer)

Who can ever forget Winston Churchill's immortal words: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills." It sounds exactly like our family vacation. (Robert Orben)

Family! They are a lot of trouble sometimes, aren’t they? Nobody gets on your nerves like family. Nobody can hurt you worse than your family. Nobody can take advantage of you like family. And those are the good families. Bad families are miserable as some of you well know. And being the father or mother in a family is especially hard. Don’t you just wish the people in your family would do what you tell them to do? Why don’t they understand that you know what is best?

I was at the grocery store the other day and saw this little toddler girl having a full-on melt down right there on the floor. Her dad was standing there looking exhausted and looking around like he was looking for somebody. I said, “Are you looking for your wife?” He said, “Nah, she’s at home. I was just hoping to find somebody more adultier than me.”

Family – kids, parents, in-laws, grandparents, uncles and aunts – they are going to be a problem. But they are also our most important and valuable resources in our lives. It’s the same with church families. We as a church spend a lot of time together and that can be wonderful and fulfilling and sometimes y’all get on my last nerve. And I know I get on yours! I know I do! Bless your hearts. It’s hard to have a family. It’s hard to be in a family but I say all the time that I don’t know how some people get through what they are going through without a church family.

Having a family is hard but it’s harder without a family and that is part of the reason that Satan has always tried so hard to do away with the family. He knows the family is God’s idea and it is the building block for all of society and it is the original place for discipleship and Satan hates it and will do anything in his limited power to destroy it.

I believe that effort to destroy the family is ramping up in these last days before Jesus comes back but it is a satanic effort that has been going on since the first family walked this earth. Satan has tried to kill the family since Cain killed Abel and he wants to kill your family as well.

Now, God has a plan for your family and God is sovereign as we saw last week but as we continue to learn who God is through our study of the book of Exodus, we also see that we have to play a part. We have to do what is best for our families and that means always always always being obedient to what God tells us to do.

We learned in our study of Philippians that knowing God better and being obedient to Him is what brings joy. When our families know God and are obedient to Him, our families bring us joy. Living out the plan God has for our lives and for the lives of our family brings great joy.

Turn to the book of Exodus and go on to chapter two. In our effort to know God better, we are looking through Exodus to find His qualities and attributes and we just want to know Him better. We saw last week how the children of Israel got to Egypt. God brought them there in his power and sovereignty and He will get them out of there through His power and sovereignty but he is going to raise up a leader to get them out. That leader is Moses.

But there is a problem. The new pharaoh doesn’t know his history and couldn’t care less how great Joseph was back in the old days. All he knows is there is getting to be way too many Hebrews in his country and he’s afraid they are going to take over and he’s going to lose power. So, he decides to enslave the Hebrews that were there and he decides he better start killing off what Hebrew boys are born to stem this population explosion.

So, he pulls a Joe Biden and makes an executive order that all Hebrew newborn baby boys are to be thrown into the Nile River. And while pharaoh may be the sovereign leader of Egypt, he is about to find out that God is sovereign over everything. Let’s pick it up in Exodus 2:1-10.

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. 7Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" 8"Yes, go," she answered. So the girl went and got the baby's mother. 9Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

I remember reading this as a little kid and thinking, “Now, what a minute! Mom puts him in the water. Then the princess finds him and then gives him back to mom AND pays her! That’s crazy! Way to go God!” Even as a kid, I could see that God was working all this out like only He could.

Can you imagine the fear that the Hebrew families lived in trying to keep their baby boys quiet? You know how difficult that is? How terrifying to know that if someone heard your little boy cry, they could rip him from your arms and go throw him into the Nile River! One pastor said about v. 22: “Here there is a full-scale assault on the covenant people of God.”

But it wasn’t just a “full-scale assault on the covenant people of God.” It was and still is a full-scale assault against the family. It started in the Garden of Eden, continued here with Pharaoh, and is raging even fiercer today. Pharaoh wasn’t just trying to weaken the Israelites as a military threat. He hoped that this horrible decree would weaken their faith in God and their commitment to Him. And Satan wants to do the same thing to us – attack our families and weaken our faith in and commitment to God. (Jon Daniels)

Do you remember watching Scooby Doo back in the day and the Scooby Doo gang would catch the bad guy? They would then say all the stuff that would have happened if they had not caught him and the bad guy would say, “Yea, and I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for these pesky kids!” You remember that?

I feel like Satan said something similar when Moses was found safe. “I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for that pesky family of Moses!” I want you to think about what his mother did for Moses. In placing him in that basket, she worked out a God-given and God-honoring plan for her child. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t fair. It required a lot of work and a lot of faith. Sound familiar moms?

She saw what was happening in her world and with God-given wisdom made a plan and worked the plan. She built a little basket because I doubt the Egyptian Walmart sold them. She knew where the princess would go to bathe and when. She placed the little ark right where it would easily be found. And then she had her little daughter just go hang around all nonchalant like and wait to see what happened.

That took great faith to be able to do all of that. It takes faith to just do what God tells you to do and believe that God’s plan will be fulfilled and will be to our benefit and to His glory. That mama had faith. In Hebrews 11:25 it says, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

Now, maybe you just have an ordinary child. You know, one you don’t really care all that much about. You can take him or leave him. He’s just ordinary. No big deal. You don’t have to be too concerned about that kid. 😊 But if your child is “no ordinary child” like Moses; if your child is no ordinary child made in God’s image; no ordinary child loved by God and who was died for by Jesus and loved by you then maybe you need to take some biblical lessons from Moses’ mom.

Everything about this situation drives Satan crazy. Notice first that Moses had one mother and one father. That in itself is sexist, racist, bigoted and anti all the lgbtq letters they can come up with and the world, inspired by Satan, wants to get rid of that kind of thinking that God designed, created and said, “That is very good.”

Notice that the father and the mother were married. Also outdated and harmful if you ask the world today. Let me ask you a question. When you buy a car, do you take it for a test drive? Of course you do. It just makes sense, right? You want to know if you and this car are going to be compatible. How does it run? Does everything on it work? How does it handle?

Well, if it makes sense with a car, it ought to make sense with a woman, right? No! There is a big difference between driving a car and living with a woman. And there are all kinds of jokes you can make right here but I won’t. Ok, just two. At least cars come with an owner’s manual. And at least you can control a car. But they are not meant to be taken for a test drive!

1 Corinthians 7:2 says, “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” Sex before marriage or outside of marriage is sexual immorality and there are dozens of places in scripture that make it clear that is sinful and that relationship will not be blessed by God.

But perhaps the most impressive thing Moses’ mother did was to have the faith that God would protect and provide. She did the best she could with the basket and I’m sure that was a lot of work, placed him in the best spot, kissed him goodbye and waited on God. Mamas, that’s all you can do sometimes.

Ephesians 6:4 says, to bring up your child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. That is not going to happen at their public school. The public school is not your child’s friend anymore and will indoctrinate them into everything worldly as soon as possible so be aware of what is going on there and get them into Christian school if at all possible. And I know that’s not easy.

But bringing your child up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord is your job, nobody else. You have to train them and bring them up in the way they should go as it says in Proverbs 22:6 and they will not depart from it. And all of that is hard and it’s not fair but it is what you are called to do as a parent and sometimes even as a grandparent.

But at some point, you have to let them go. Hopefully it’s not at three months old like Moses’ mom had to do but even if it is, you have to know God. You have to know that He is sovereign. He doesn’t ask your permission before He does anything. He is sovereign but He is also good! Look at what comes of Moses and his life. God had a plan for him all along and God could have allowed Moses to be raised in any way, in any generation, in any country but God chose then and there for a reason and we will see that reason in the coming weeks.

But lastly, look at how God uses the family of Moses. Like I said, God could have had Moses raised by any family anywhere but God could also have had Moses raised by wolves or raised by nobody at all. God could have used baby Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt if He wanted to. But God chose to use the family of Moses. Why?

Why them? Psalm 127 says children are a gift from the Lord. I know. I know. They don’t always feel like a gift but they are and God gave you those gifts for the same reason He gave Moses to his mother. God loves you and wants to bless you.

Make no mistake, God doesn’t need your help to get His will accomplished. But He allows us to be part of His plan so that He can bless us. Think about all the great miracles God did in the Bible. Some of them He did completely by Himself with man playing no part. He spoke the universe into existence for instance. But so many times God used men and women to accomplish His will. Even stories like parting the Red Sea, He allowed Moses to play a part. All he had to do was lift up his hands but God used him and blessed him.

God could have had Jesus just show up to earth as a full-grown man like He did with the angels sometimes but He used Mary and Joseph and their family to bring about His greatest work. God doesn’t need your help to accomplish His will but He allows us to be in certain circumstances through His sovereign power to be able to use us so He can bless us.

So many times those circumstances are difficult and painful circumstances too. So many times God allows us to go through difficult times so He can use us to help somebody else and we get blessed for doing it. Sometimes it’s even in this life that we are blessed but we will always be blessed for eternity. And all we have to do is always always always be obedient to what God tells us to do.

It’s hard work raising kids. The world wants to kill them or at least pervert them. The internet is just waiting for them. Schools and colleges are waiting like hungry wolves to destroy them. The TV will ruin them if you let it. I know letting them watch videos is easier than trying to teach them something but they are learning every second of every day and you have to be the one to teach them.

Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “Repeat [God’s commands] again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

Your child is no ordinary child. But it’s going to take a lot of work from you and while all-powerful and sovereign God could make that child to be whatever He wants that kid to be, He has put you in this position as a parent or a grandparent for such a time as this, as Mordecai would say. (Esther 4:14) And He is using you so He can bless you because He loves you.

I don’t know how people get through this life with no church family. We aren’t perfect. We love each other and want to help each other but sometimes we – I – make mistakes and even make things worse. But we’re family, God’s family and so we ask for and give forgiveness and move on, growing in the Lord.

Do you have that? If today you don’t have a church family, this would be a good day to join us. We don’t have any rules and a bunch of us are downright hoodlums but we love each other and care for each other. All we ask is for you to be a true believer and follower of Jesus.

Ask God today for forgiveness of all your many sins and then repent or turn away from those sins and that lifestyle. Allow Him to come into your life and change you from the inside out. Do it right now as the music plays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Exodus Starts in Genesis" - Genesis 50

Somebody tell me of a time when a wise person gave you good advice. The best advice my dad ever gave me was, “Just act like you know what you’re doing.” I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m doing right now. It has been good advice.

The Apostle Paul was one of the wisest men who ever lived and he gave us some great advice in the book of Philippians. We have finished up our sermon series on Philippians and I learned a lot from Paul but I think if Paul were to give us just one piece of advice it would be to get closer to God. Get to know Him better.

He said in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” He wanted more than anything in the world to know Jesus better and more intimately because he knew that everything in this life and the next was better the more you know Jesus. And we know that Jesus is God. We know the Holy Spirit is God and we know the Father is God. But who is God?

Have you ever really thought about it? Who is God? What is He really like? If God handed you His business card, how would the card read? I want to pursue that thought for a while and one of the best places to see who God really is is in the book of Exodus. We have been studying Jesus for a while now in several places in the New Testament. We have seen what Jesus has done for us and His sacrifice but Paul encouraged us to get to know Him better and that means to be able to appreciate Him just for who He is, not just for what He has done and is going to do for us.

Jesus taught the disciples – and us – to pray by starting out acknowledging God just for who He is. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9) So, let’s spend some time getting to know God better and, like I said, one of the best places to do that is in Exodus. In Genesis, we see Him as the Creator but as we go through Exodus for the next few weeks, I want you to start to look for the attributes of God and one of the most amazing attributes of God is His sovereignty.

What does it mean to be sovereign? The dictionary says it means “possessing supreme or ultimate power.” To me it means that God doesn’t have to ask anybody’s permission to do anything. He does everything and anything He wants. His overall will is always going to be done. Sometimes it doesn’t look like it. When people sin, we think, “Well, there goes God’s plan. It’s all messed up now.” Right? But because God is sovereign, He can factor in our sin and our stupidity and our stubbornness and still get His will done, like only He can.

Now, if we are going to fully appreciate God’s sovereignty in Exodus, we need to be reminded how and why the exodus came about. Exodus just means to leave. It means to depart from a place and go somewhere else. But how did the Hebrew people get to a place they needed to leave? What were those circumstances? Well, we are going to get there but we have to start at the end of Genesis. The exodus of the Hebrew people started in Genesis so let’s read part of the last chapter of Genesis before we get to Exodus.

As you turn to Genesis 50, I want to remind you of how this story got to where it is very quickly. You know the story, so I’ll put it in a nutshell. The old patriarch Jacob had twelve sons but he doted on Joseph. You remember he gave Joseph the fancy schmancy coat of many colors and Joseph was kind of cocky about it and made his brothers mad so they threw him in a well, then sold him into slavery hoping to never see him again.

And they wouldn’t have ever seen him again if God was not sovereign but God arranged for them to meet again when there was a horrible famine in Israel. Because there was no food in Israel, they went to Egypt to buy some only to find dear old brother Joe was the big king kahuna there in Egypt. It’s a fascinating story and if you haven’t read it lately, go back and read chapters 37-50 of Genesis. Yes, it is that long. Joseph’s story is fascinating for several reasons. It is fascinating just for the fact that it takes up so much room in scripture. God uses less than one chapter to describe the creation of the entire universe but for the story of Joseph, he uses fourteen chapters! But it’s a good, entertaining read but we also learn a lot about God, which is our goal.

So, let’s start this journey of knowing God better by reading Genesis 50, verses 15-21. 15When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" 16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: 17'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 18His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said. 19But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

I know that almost every week I say, “Oh, that’s one of the most beautiful passages in all of scripture” but it sure is true of this one! It puts the difference between us and God in such sharp contrast. What I mean is, have you ever watched an old western movie and the good guy and the bad guy have a shootout with their six-shooters? So many times you see the bad guy finally get shot and wounded pretty bad and as he lay in the dirt of the street dying, you see the good guy come over and stand over him with his gun cocked and pointed right at him. The bad guy has shot the other man’s mom. He stole his woman. He kicked his dog! Then they have this long, stupid conversation about what is right and what is wrong and finally the good guy drops his gun into his gun belt. And the whole time, what are you screaming at the TV? If you are like me you are screaming, “Shoot him. Shoot him! Just do it and quit talking!” Right?

That’s sort of the situation we are in with Joseph and his brothers. He has them dead to rights and has the gun pointed at them with his finger on the trigger and then puts it away. How is he able to do that? Because Joseph knew God. Joseph knew God was sovereign and he knew God was good!

Oh, I have a lot of questions. Why did God create a world He knew would start being evil? Why did God allow that ol’ serpent into the garden? Why did He allow sin to keep going? Why does God allow sin and suffering? I don’t know but what we learn in Genesis 50 about God is that what we intend for evil, God uses for good.

So, here we have Joseph, in control of all Egypt, with his family in front of him, with the promise of Almighty God upon him, with the hand of All-Knowing God guiding him, the sovereignty of God paving his way, the presence of God giving him peace and the provision of God making it possible. With all that we see Joseph make a choice to forgive and to protect and provide for his family.

Now I want to ask, “Why?” Why would Joseph forgive them? They had done nothing to deserve it. They had done nothing in the past to deserve it for sure but look what they did even now. It says that they sent a note to Joseph that was supposedly from their father asking him to forgive the brothers. All of you that believe this was really a note from dad, please stand on your head. They were trying to deceive him even now to save their own hides. Joseph knew and I think that is why he cried. He was disappointed in them even at this point.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day that he got a call from his son’s school. His son is in the third or fourth grade or so. He got the call and he knew it wasn’t going to be good. It never is from the school. But the nice teacher that called said she assumed that the father had not received his son’s latest report card. The man said he had not. How did you know? The teacher said the little boy brought the report card back and it was signed, “Daddy.”

That’s kind of what we see with Joseph’s brothers right here. But none of that mattered to Joseph. He was determined to forgive them. Why do you think he forgave them if they didn’t deserve it? What was in it for Joseph? They had no money and besides Joseph was rich beyond all they could have imagined. They had no power especially to the second most powerful man in the land. They had proven they didn’t deserve it. Was it just because they were family?

Family Schmamily! They never wanted Joseph to be part of their family. They had not treated him like family. They treated him like their worst enemy. Besides they hadn’t even seen each other in decades. But look at what Joseph tells them. This is one of the most beautiful and powerful verses in all of scripture. If we could wrap our minds around this, it would change everything about us.

He tells them in verses 19-20. "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.” At some point in Joseph’s life, and we are not told where, but at some point, he came to have a life-changing relationship with God. He knew God. He had an experience with God, probably somewhere between slavery and imprisonment, he had come to understand that God had a plan for him, a plan as God said in Jeremiah 29:11 to prosper him and not harm him and because he had been forgiven by God and could see that God had allowed or even caused all this to happen for his good and the good of his family, he could forgive his brothers that had once tried to kill him.

This is sort of the Old Testament version of Romans 8:28 that says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” This does not mean that bad things won’t happen. God may allow or even cause you to go through great poverty or sickness or extremely unfair situations. Yes, you are loved and highly favored but you will often go through great difficulties in this life that you won’t understand.

Joseph was blessed to be able to see in his lifetime how all the horrible things that happened to him was not the world falling apart but God’s plan falling into place. You may or may not be blessed like that to be able to see it but whether or not you can see it or not, it is still true. Yes, it takes faith to be able to see it in the midst of your tragedy but without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Notice that Joseph never downplayed his pain or what happened to him. He never said, “Oh, don’t worry about it. It didn’t bother me. It didn’t hurt. It’s okay.” No. In fact, I think that is why he said in verse 19, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?” Because if he was in the place of God, he probably would have thumped them off the planet and straight into the pits of hell. They had tried to ruin his whole life and Joseph was aware of that but he was also aware that God was and is in control and had used even their wickedness and meanness to bring about a promise He had made hundreds of years ago to Joseph’s great grandfather, Abraham.

They had intended to harm Joseph but God used that situation for Joseph’s good and for the good of their whole family and, more than that, to bring about and continue and fulfill His promise to Abraham. It was just going to take a while to see it.

On May 11, 1996, Demingo Pacheco had a major problem. He was on a tight schedule to catch his plane out of Miami when the left rear tire of his Cadillac blew out on the Palmetto Expressway. For more than hour he sweated under that broiling Florida sun changing that tire. Just as he finished changing the tire, he got a call on his portable phone. It was his mother. She said, "Where are you?" He said, "I’m stuck on the freeway, having just changed a flat tire, and I have missed my flight." She shouted, "Turn on your radio and thank God. The plane you were supposed to be on just crashed!” (sermoncentral.com)

In stories like that it is easy to see that God provides and protects and sometimes allows us to go through difficulties for our own good. But sometimes it takes a little longer than the hour that Pacheco spent changing his tire. Sometimes it takes years and the circumstances are much worse than a flat tire and a messed-up schedule. Sometimes we never see how any good comes out of it at all and we won’t see it until we see Jesus face to face in Heaven.

Why do some people have to spend their lives in a wheelchair? Why do some people get cancer or lose a child or come down with the virus? You know what I would like to ask God when I see Him? I would like to ask what good came out of the Holocaust? God allowed millions of His special, chosen people, the Jews, to be tortured and murdered and I don’t get it. I really don’t. I don’t understand. But I don’t have to understand!

Am I in the place of God? Thank God I am not and since I am not, I don’t have to understand His ways. I don’t have to know His thoughts. I don’t have to even believe it is true that all things work together for the good of those who know God. All I have to do is know God!  The whole point of this sermon series is for us to know God better and all I have to know is that God is sovereign. He is just. He is creative. He is faithful to provide. He wants to reveal Himself to you and to me and His presence is enough.

When I know God, I don’t have to understand everything He does or causes or allows. All I have to do is believe it. All I have to do is believe His Word and either God’s Word is true when it says “all things” or it’s not true and if it is true then it is true in the darkest days. It is true when I have a flat. It is true when the doctor gives me a bad report. It is true in death, in hardship, in sickness and in divorce and if you can’t believe it when those times come, and they will come, then keep your mouth shut in the good times because you don’t really believe it.

Let me close by saying that one of the things I love about the story of Joseph is that he is a type or a picture of Jesus. I’m not saying he is God or that we should worship him or anything like that. It’s just that there are a lot of parallels between Joseph and Jesus. Both were loved by their fathers. Both were rejected by their brothers. Both were tempted. Both suffered innocently. Both forgave those who hurt them and both were put in glorified positions. There may be more parallels but that’s enough for now.

Why did Joseph forgive his brothers when they did not deserve it? Why didn’t he kill them? Why did he protect them and provide for them and their families? It’s the same reason that God forgives us and protects and provides for us and our families. He loves us. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We don’t deserve it. We have all proven over and over again that we don’t deserve His grace or His mercy or His forgiveness, let alone His generosity and favor. But He loves us and that is how people will know that we are followers of Jesus when we act like Him and love others.  Jesus said Himself in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." How do you prove you love somebody? Is it love when you love the folks that are lovely? No. You prove your love by loving and forgiving and protecting and providing for them when they are the most unlovely. We know that’s what God does and we know God and are His followers so now we have to act like Him.

For those of you that are true Christians, who is God calling you to love today? Who is He telling you to forgive or protect or provide for? Now, for those of you that are not true believers, don’t worry. God doesn’t expect you to love like that. You can’t. That is only done through the power of God living inside of you through the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you aren’t a Christian today but you want to be. Maybe you want to be able to love like that. Maybe you want the kind of peace that scripture says is beyond all of our understanding (Philippians 4:7). Maybe you want to know God and live forever with Him in Heaven for eternity instead being alone in Hell. All you have to do is go to Him and honestly say just what Joseph’s brothers said to Him. They said, “We are your slaves.”

Now, let me just tell you that if being a slave to God doesn’t sound like what you want, I understand. But you are going to be a slave to something. That’s just how we were created. You will either be a slave to God or a slave to sin. There are no other choices. Some people think they want just part of God. They want just enough to keep from going to Hell but they don’t really want to give everything they have. They think of Christianity as a nice buffet where they can pick and choose. They want peace here and provision over there and maybe throw in a little worship when it’s convenient but that whole being a slave to God thing is a hard pass.

But it doesn’t work that way. Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). Give it all to God today. Admit you are a sinner. Ask Him to forgive you and He will. Then allow Him to change your life. It is a process that will take all of your life in every way. Do it right now as the music plays.

“What If…?” – 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

I have some questions for you this morning. Some of them are ridiculous questions but I am asking them for a reason. I want you to think through the ramifications of these. What if we kept growing all through our lives? What would be the ramifications of that? Really old people would be really tall people. Now they sell clothes based on how old you are. Doorways and ceilings would be much higher. Cars would have to be different; much bigger. I know it’s ridiculous to think of but, again, I have a reason for asking.

What if animals could talk? That might be fun in some ways and helpful when they have to go to the vet but could also be pretty embarrassing, right? I can just hear Bo saying, “Have ya seen how fat this guy is?” Or here’s one for you. What if I actually caught a fish and what if that fish could talk? I’d pull him out of the water and he’s cussing me out. But maybe I could make a deal with him if he would tell me where the big fish are, I’d let him go. Pretty ridiculous.

Here’s a better one. What if it was impossible to lie? Uh-oh. Guys, now what are you going to say when she asks if this dress makes her look fat? But just think. We would have no use for lawyers or judges or courts at all. The cops would just politely ask, “Excuse me sir, did you just kill that lady?” “Well, yes I did.” “Okay, off to jail you go.” And think about what would happen to Washington D.C. Nobody would want to be a politician anymore. No more cheating on tests at school. No more passwords to get online. There would just be a question pop up. “Is this really Todd Blair?” Okay, go ahead.

Alright, I asked those questions to ask you one more serious question and I want you to think about the ramifications of this question as well. What if Jesus died but never rose again? What if God sent His Son Jesus to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life and die on a cross and that was the end of Him? What would change? Before you answer, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 and we will see that I am not the first to ask this question. Paul asked it a long time ago and also answered the question better than I ever could as well. In his letters to the Corinthian church, Paul was writing to Christians but Corinth was a Greek city and most Greeks had a real problem believing in any kind of resurrection.

In Acts 17, Paul was preaching in Athens and declared the fact of Christ’s resurrection and some of his listeners actually laughed at him. So, the truth of the resurrection of Jesus was too important to allow incorrect attitudes to creep into the church and Paul addresses this head-on in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.  If you didn’t bring a Bible, you can use the one in the pew there in front of you and you can even take it home if you need it. We would love for you to have it. 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 says, “But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

It’s funny to me that some people have a hard time believing that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. They have no problem with God creating the universe with His voice. No problem believing that He parted the sea, caused a great flood and made a donkey speak. Sure, Jesus was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life but no way He died and came back to life. That’s scientifically impossible! That’s right. It is scientifically impossible. But we aren’t talking about science. We are talking about Almighty God, the inventor of science. We are not talking about natural power but supernatural power and God has made it plain in His Word that Jesus died on a cross and then three days later, came back to life.

He died. He was dead. No brainwaves, no heartbeat, dead. He didn’t faint. He didn’t swoon. He didn’t pass out and then get His second wind. He was DRT – dead right there. But we know from passages like Lois read this morning; passages found in all four Gospels that Jesus rose again and if that were not the case, Paul tells us some things that would happen. He answers the question of what if Jesus had NOT risen from the grave. In fact, in verses 13-19 he gives us seven disastrous consequences that would result. Look at verse 14. If Christ had not been raised then our preaching is useless and some of you have had those two words running through your head for a while now, “useless preaching.” I heard a preacher say one time, “I understand that it's my job to talk to you. Your job is to listen. If you quit before I do, I hope you'll let me know." (Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, p. 13) I have found that there are always going to be people that think all preaching is always useless. And some preachers aren’t too sure of it themselves. But without the resurrection, the Gospel (the Good News) would be bad news. There would be nothing worth preaching. Without the resurrection, the Gospel would be an empty, hopeless message of meaningless nonsense. Unless our Lord conquered sin and death making a way for men to follow in that victory, there is no Gospel to proclaim. (MacArthur, pg. 411)

Paul goes on. He says if Jesus had not risen, our preaching would be useless and so is our faith. If we had faith in a risen Savior that had not risen, then what good is our faith? Our faith is only as good as the object of our faith. A dead Savior can’t bring life. If Jesus had not risen, then Hebrews 11, the faith chapter would be the fool’s chapter and I would have to say, “Well, thanks for the effort, Jesus, but what good did you really do for me?”

Not only is our preaching useless and our faith worthless but Paul says we are also a bunch of liars. All of us who believe in the resurrection of Jesus are now liars as well as all the people in the Bible that saw Him as well. In 1 Corinthians 15 it says that after His resurrection, Jesus appeared several times to the disciples as a group but also to Peter and James and then 500 folks at one time, then even to Paul years later. But if Jesus didn’t rise again then all of them are liars as well as us who believe today. We’re all a bunch of liars. Including Jesus Himself. And if we are lying about that, then nobody should listen to us about anything.

So, the theological problems of Jesus being dead are at least that our preaching is worthless, our faith is useless and we are a bunch of liars but there are some personal problems that come with that as well. If Jesus has not been risen then Paul tells us in verse 17 that we are all still lost in our sins. What does it mean to be lost in our sins? Well, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin (what we deserve for our sins) is death, meaning eternal death in Hell. The purpose of trusting Christ is for forgiveness of our sins because it is from our sins that we need to be saved. Paul said earlier in this chapter that Christ died for our sins, was buried and raised on the third day. If Christ has not really been risen then His death was in vain and our sins are still counted against us. And Paul is the biggest liar of all because he said in Romans 4 that God “raised Jesus our LORD from the dead. 25He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” which means to be justified before God. Acts 5 says, “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead…that he might bring us to repentance and forgive our sins.”

If Jesus is still dead then that’s bad news for us and bad news for all of our loved ones that have died believing in Jesus as well. Paul continues with the bad news in verse 18. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. They are right now in Hell forever. Paul, Peter, James and John; Martin Luther, John Wesley, Spurgeon, Moody; my mother, your mother all rotting in Hell if Jesus didn’t take off those grave clothes, fold them up and lay them there in the tomb and walk out.

Lastly, Paul says that if Jesus never rose again then we who are believers are to be pitied more than all other men. And he says that because, make no mistake, living the Christian life is not easy. There are sacrifices to make and there is suffering to endure when you become a follower of Jesus. As true believers we give up a lot of things that the world enjoys but we have peace and joy even in the difficult times of life and we have that peace and joy because we serve a risen Savior. BUT if Jesus is still dead, good grief, everybody ought to feel so sorry for us. We are delusional. We are addicted to the opiate of the masses (as Karl Marx described religion). We have no hope. We have no forgiveness, no Savior, no life here or in the afterlife. And our lives are a joke and a charade and we should be pitied. Oh, woe is me!

If that’s true then let’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. (1 Cor. 15:32) There is nothing to look forward to. Let’s just live our best lives now as my “buddy” Joel says. If Jesus is dead then God is a liar and a fool and nothing makes any sense anymore. We might as well get all we can in this life since there is no other. I’m heading off to the bar to get drunk. Anybody want to go with me?

Okay, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Maybe we ought to think about this for a second. I started off by asking the question of what if Jesus had not risen from the grave. Let me ask another question. What if He has? What if it’s true? What if Jesus really did die on that cross but was laid in a tomb and the power of Almighty God brought Him back to life three days later? What if He laid there dead and then opened His eyes early that Sunday morning, sat up, took off the grave clothes, folded them neatly, told an angel to roll away the stone over the door and walked out of that tomb like a Boss? What if that happened?

What if scripture is right? What if the wise men were right? What if the angels told the shepherds the truth? What if the angel sent to Mary wasn’t lying? What if Simeon was telling the truth? What if Paul really did see Jesus and have his life changed? What if it’s true what Paul said in verse 20 that Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead? What if Jesus is alive and He is still changing lives today like He has yours and mine?  If Jesus is alive then our preaching and our faith is not useless. If Jesus is alive then we are not liars. If Jesus is alive then – hallelujah! – we are not dead in our sins and we have been forgiven and we have hope that when this life is over we will see not only our loved ones who were also Jesus-followers but we will also see Jesus Himself!

What if we really can have peace and joy in this life even when the doctor gives us bad news? Even when there is no money in the bank and the kids are acting crazy and the spouse leaves us for another? Following Jesus can be hard sometimes but not following Him can be hard too. This life is hard and I would rather struggle to be more like Jesus and have peace and joy than to do what I think is best and be miserable in this life.

Not to mention the promise of eternal life in Heaven when we die! That’s kind of a big deal. John 3:16 says that God loved us so much He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and all we have to do is believe in Him and we will have eternal life in Heaven when we die. Now, that belief will manifest itself in a changed life. It is more than just a head knowledge about Jesus. It is a complete surrender to the risen Savior of all our hopes and dreams and rights and allowing Him to change us to look and act more like Him every day. It won’t always be easy but nothing worth doing in this life is.

And as Heaven is more wonderful and beautiful and colorful and perfect than we could ever imagine, Hell is more awful. There is a real Heaven and a real Hell and Hell is being completely separated from God and everybody else for all eternity in constant torment. And it’s what we deserve but Jesus paid the price we could never pay so we don’t have to go there. Yea, I hear ya. “Oh, Todd, that kind of talk is no way to build a church, especially on Easter.” Well, I’m not trying to build a church. Jesus said He would do that and since we know He is alive and not a liar, I will let Him do that. I’m trying to fill up Heaven and I love you too much to not tell you the whole story. I won’t sugarcoat it, especially on Easter. You’ll probably have enough sugar today anyway.

What if today you said, “Well, I don’t understand everything there is to know about this whole Jesus and Christianity thing but I will step out on faith and try it. I will ask God to forgive me of my many sins.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “All unrighteousness” means everything you have ever done that is displeasing to God, even that thing you did that is so awful. Jesus died for that sin too. What if today you allowed the Holy Spirit of God to come into your life and take control of your life, guiding you to make wise decisions? I know it’s hard to give up control but how has that worked out for you so far anyway? When we truly believe in Jesus, His Spirit is now that voice inside of us that says, “This is the right way. Walk in this way.” (Isaiah 30:21)

He wants good things for you. He wants you to have peace and joy in this life and He wants you to have all the treasures that Heaven holds. It won’t always be easy. Ask the Apostle Paul or any of the disciples or even Jesus Himself. He is alive today and asking you to believe. What if you answered “yes” today? Do it right now as the music plays.