WHY WE ARE NOT TO MESS WITH GOD
EXODUS 9:27-35

When we tell God we are going to do something, we better do it. Today, I am going to show you WHY we are not to mess around and lie to God. Let’s get started.

In Genesis 9:27-35, we find Moses coming around towards the very end of all his warnings and plagues on Egypt. After Moses called down dust to create a storm of hail, lightening and fire which killed most of the Egyptian’s servants and livestock, Pharaoh, calls for Moses and tells his this: 

"27 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's."

It was bad enough for Pharoah to confess his sins, but worst that he really never meant it; hence he lied on top of rejecting God’s commands. Thats a really bad place to be for any human being, especially a world leader.

GOD’S GRACE EXTENDED TO PHARAOH

“33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth.” 

PHARAOH SEALS HIS OWN FATE WITH A HEART EVEN MORE HARDENED

"34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.”

The moral of the story is that the worst we try to lie to God and/or not keep our word in carrying out what we said we would, the worst the judgement of God will eventually be in our own life.

Conclusion

When we tell God we are going to do something, we better do it. Today, I showed you through God’s Word WHY we are not to mess around and lie to God. And this was not the rest of the story. As all know, Pharoah lost his only son for disobeying God to the degree that he did. Let’s think about this very truth and reflect on how we can do better with honoring God and keeping our word in obedience to God in our lives.

PURPOSE OVER STAYING PUT
Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

THE CALLING (Exodus 7)
“1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land…4 Pharaoh will not listen to you…5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Exodus 7:1-5).

PURPOSE IN ACTION (Exodus 7)
"6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.”

FIRST:  
THE LORD CALLS MOSES & AARON. “1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet." 

SECOND: 
THE SPECIFIC MISSION:
The Lord calls Moses and Aaron and instructs them as to the mission of his life.

"You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land…"

THIRD: 
GOD MANAGES EXPECTATIONS REGARDING WHAT THEY WILL ENCOUNTER IN THAT THEY WILL FAIL AT FIRST.
"4 Pharaoh will not listen to you.”

FOURTH: 
THE BIG PICTURE: THE EGYPTIANS WILL KNOW THE TRUTH OF THE TRUE GOD!
"5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Exodus 7:1-5).  

God was clear that He would reach out his hand against the Egyptians, and bring the the Israelites from among them. Then God moves from calling to action.

PURPOSE IN ACTION (Exodus 7)
In verse six, Moses writes not that they contemplated, thought about, or prayed on God’s calling. Moses and Aaron simply got up and “made it happen”!

"6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them." 

NOW FOR THE KICKER: THESES GUYS WERE IN THEIR 80’s! Let’s pick it up in verse 7.

OLD MEN WITH A NEW MISSION
"7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.”

Verse 7 makes clear that Moses was 80 and Aaron 83 years of age!  They could have chilled out and golfed, taken life easy, spend time by the water, or just coasted through the rest of their lives. But NO-they went uncomfortably to complete God’s calling and spoke with Pharaoh. It had to have been intensively inconvenient, uncomfortable, and simply unpleasant to take up God’s calling at such an old(er) age. But they did. WHY? Because they put PURPOSE OVER AND ABOVE STAYING PUT.

FAITH AND WORKS (James 2:14-26)

What good is it, my brothers,  if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14).

Today, I am going to take you through a passage in the Book of James to show you the in separable relationship between FAITH and WORKS. Lets get started.

A WORKLESS FAITH IS A WORTHLESS FAITH
James tells us in Chapter Two: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food. and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:15-17).

What James is saying is that faith and works are not exclusive onto themselves; you must have both as they to have faith is to want to be found with acts of “doing” or work for our Lord. It’s a natural progression. 

James goes not to say: “But someone will say, “‘You have faith and I have works.’” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).

This passage encompasses one of the most well-known verses in the whole letter of James. And God makes clear through James that, “Just as the body without the spirit is dead, you see, so faith without works is dead” (vs.17).

On the surface, this looks the wrong way round in terms of faith and works, but if we were to use “the body and the spirit” as a picture for “faith and works,” wouldn’t we make “faith” correspond to the “spirit” and “words” to the “body”? In reality, faith happens in the spiritual dimension, and works in the bodily dimension. But James does the opposite. Let me explain.

1) FAITH is more than an intellectual belief in God. If the belief does not lead us to a holy life of righteousness and mercy, it is not a real-authentic faith to begin with (Matt. 7:21-23).

2) JAMES gives three arguments in support of this truth: 

a) FIRST: Faith without WORKS is no better than words without deeds (vv. 15-17).

b)SECOND: FAITH can be neither seen nor verified unless it shows itself in works (v.18).

c) THIRD: Even the DEMONS have an intellectual belief in God, but it does not lead to their salvation (v.19).

GENUINE FAITH ARGUMENT
Some Christians believe the faith spoken about in this passage is not genuine faith that produces eternal life. In truth, James is addressing this section to BELIEVERS (“my brethren” in v.14). Brethren are those people who have exercised genuine faith . The issue in this paragraph is not a true faith versus a false faith, but rather a faith that is alone, meaning without works (v.17).

The Greek word (GK “sozo”) is used five times in James (1:21; 2:14; 4:12; 5:15; 5:20). Each time it refers to the savings of the temporal life, not saving from the penalty of sin (5:15). In this context James is referring to being “SAVED” from the the judgement without mercy at the judgment seat of Christ (v.13), and possibly the saving of one’s life from physical death (1:21)

"WORKS” here are actions that following the “Royal Law” of LOVE (vv.8, 15, 16). James is implying in this verse that faith in Christ will demonstrate itself in love for others (see James command to His disciples in John 13:34, 35).

WHAT IS A REAL FAITH?
A real faith is a faith that seeks God deeply and seeks to help others with our actions. So, when Christians speak to empty platitudes without actually helping those in physical need, James says: “WHAT DOES IT PROFIT?" How many works fill a hungry stomach?

Simply put, an authentic faith is illustrated or made evident in great part by our physical actions in helping others; especially widows, orphans and others in true need. But logic makes clear that a dead faith must have been alive to begin with.

A FAITH THAT IS DEAD ONCE HAD TO BE ALIVE
“A faith that dead” uses the Greek word “pistis” that is now dead must have once been alive. Works keep our faith thriving (1 Peter 1:5-9). And the absence of works brings death (James 1:14-15) to faith (2:26). So what are works or “good works”?

IN CONCLUSION
In conclusion, let’s address the true value of good works as found in James 2:14-26.

For James, being “quick to hear” (1:19) meant to be prompt to obey God’s command to do good deeds that benefit others. In the time of James, the problem was that the readers had neglected doing good works as part of the authentic Christian faith. The same might be said of us today in the 21st Century. James agreed that justification before God was by faith alone. But he was abundantly clear that believers must add works to their faith to develop maturity. And once their faith is made evident through works, they will be justified (called righteous) by their works in the eyes of God and others (Mt. 5:16). In closing, the bottom line is that a person who “SAYS HE HAS FAITH” finds it easy to talk up his faith while lacking useful deeds. And that is more often-not an authentic faith.