[0:00] Nine. Last week we had a little bit of a change because it was Mothering Sunday, so we had Exodus in the evening rather than the morning. So if you missed that, tough. So we're into chapter nine. If you want to catch it, it's on the, it'll be on the, I was going to say on the iPlayer, but on the, on the website for last Sunday evening. And we noticed there was a very important distinction made between God's people and the Egyptians. That's the main thrust of that passage that we looked at in chapter eight and beginning of chapter nine, that God distinguishes his people from those who are not his people and deals with them differently. And that's going to continue through the rest of the plagues. And we come now to the seventh plague, the plague of hail. God is again calling upon Pharaoh to set his people free. Pharaoh keeps saying, oh yes, I'll let them go and then changes his mind, hardens his heart. And so we see that things are ratcheting up, as it were. God is beginning to deal with him more severely. So we're going to read from verse 13 of Exodus chapter nine, verse 13 to the end of the chapter. Again, reminding ourselves that this is God's word. It is true. It is faithful.
[1:25] It is historical. And it is revealing to us the very nature of the living God. Verse 13 of chapter nine of Exodus. Then the Lord said to Moses, get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, this is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says, let my people go so that they may worship me. For this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I've raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
[2:21] You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. Therefore at this time tomorrow, I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt from the day it was founded till now.
[2:35] Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field and they shall die. Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand towards the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt, on men and animals, on everything growing in the fields of Egypt. When Moses stretched out his staff towards the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. Hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
[3:34] Throughout Egypt, hail struck down everything in the fields, both men and animals. It beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen where the Israelites were. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. This time I've sinned, he said to them.
[3:56] The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the Lord for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go. You don't have to stay any longer. Moses replied, when I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail. So you may know that the earth is the Lord's, but I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God. The flax and barley were destroyed since the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bloom. The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed because they ripened later.
[4:38] Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands towards the Lord. The thunder and hail stopped and the rain no longer poured down on the land. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.
[5:09] Well, if the children in Sunday school and crash would like to go out to their classes now, then they can go if they really want to. So if you have that Bible to hand and you can turn it to Exodus chapter 9, that will be a help.
[5:31] Some years ago, a university student was writing a thesis and he wanted to, in his thesis, prove that people are likely to believe irrational fears about usually harmless things. And so he set up an experiment in which he asked people to sign a petition demanding strict control or the total ban of the chemical dihydrogen monoxide. And he went around the student campus and got people to sign. He gave several good reasons why this chemical should indeed be more strictly controlled or banned. It is a major component of acid rain. It causes severe burns to the human skin when it is in its gaseous state.
[6:30] And accidental inhalation has killed many people every single year. He asked 50 different people if they supported a ban of the chemical. 43 said yes, six weren't sure. Only one knew that the chemical was H2O water. And the title of his project was, How Gullible Are We?
[6:54] Well, hardly a week goes by when we are told that either something or other, an everyday item, is bad for us. Usually it's something that we normally eat, or it's an activity that we engage in, or a practice, or whatever. Or else, one week or another, there will be a scientist, or an academic, or an institute that informs us that the world is possibly in grave danger because of destruction from an asteroid, an exploding star, some environmental catastrophe.
[7:29] We are often bombarded by these fears. And fear, of course, is very big business. People make a lot of money from fear. Fear is what motivates us to spend our money on dietary foods, and dietary books, on health programs, on treatments, on surgery, on medicines, on potions, and a myriad of other things that we're told are absolutely essential for our quality of life and longevity of life.
[7:55] And of course, there are things that we are right to fear. It's a fool who ignores those things that can do us serious harm or danger. Every parent teaches their child to have a healthy fear of fire, or a healthy fear of crossing a busy road, and so on.
[8:14] But by and large, we are a generation who are living within a climate of fear. But in all these things that we're told to fear, whether they be to do with our physical body, or our world, or to do with our health, or to do with our mental state, or whatever it may be, there is never a mention of the one real fear that we should have.
[8:40] That fear is often ignored or forgotten. But there is one particular fear that we are to have, which is especially good for us.
[8:52] In fact, if we fear this one thing, we shall be free from every other type of fear. And we are a people who have fears, aren't we? Even as believers.
[9:03] Not talking about necessarily the things that I've listed. But we have fears that do hinder us in our Christian walk and life. We have fears that haunt us and cause us to have all sorts of anxieties.
[9:20] We have fear of getting older. Fear of getting weaker. We have fear for our health. Perhaps because of the credit crunch, we have fear about our finances, or our work situation, or our investments.
[9:37] And then, of course, as we get that bit older and we have children and grandchildren, then our fears spread, don't they? We have fears for our family. Fears for our children.
[9:47] What sort of world will they grow up in? What will they be like? Will they come to know the Lord? We may have fears about our marriage. Because we're going through a rocky time. We have fears for the prospects and welfare of our loved ones.
[10:03] Maybe it's the fear of death that we know. Fear of being on our own. Bereft.
[10:15] So many fears. Yet all of these fears can be dispelled by fearing the one who is greatest of all. Who is greater than everything that we fear.
[10:28] We've just sang in our hymn books in that last verse. Fear him, you saints, and you will have nothing else to fear. Jesus taught us that fearing the Lord our God was the antidote to every other type of fear.
[10:45] Particularly the fear of men and women and the fear of death. In Matthew, in chapter 10 and verse 28, Jesus says to his disciples, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
[11:03] Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. We don't hear much of the phrase, God-fearing man or a God-fearing woman.
[11:17] But certainly that is something that the Bible strongly urges and teaches and something that we should seek after to be for ourselves, people who fear the Lord.
[11:31] Perhaps you picked up, as we read through Exodus 9, that this phrase, fearing of the Lord, cropped up on two occasions. Because the very purpose of the plagues that God sent upon Pharaoh and Egypt was so that they should fear him.
[11:48] And for some, that result did occur. Have it there in verse 20. The officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and livestock inside.
[12:01] But of course, Pharaoh and many of his officials did not fear the Lord. There in verse 30, as Moses says, I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord.
[12:15] Now, Pharaoh was a man full of fear. There's no doubt about that. When you see how he responds to Moses and calls Moses in verse 27, it's clear he's afraid. He's afraid, of course, of what will happen to him and what will happen to the land.
[12:30] And it's a selfish fear, a self-centered fear, but it's not a genuine or real fear of the Lord, even though it loses all sorts of very good Bible language.
[12:44] But perhaps, as I'm talking about these things, perhaps in your own mind there's that question cropping up, does God really want us to fear him? Surely the whole purpose of the Bible, and surely the purpose of Jesus Christ coming in the world, was that we should love God.
[13:02] And that's true. Does God really want us to fear him? I'm sure you've either seen, read, or heard the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
[13:17] There's one scene early on in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Susan and Lucy, the two sisters, are preparing to meet Aslan the Lion. He, in the story which C.S. Lewis put together, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[13:30] He represents him in that way. Lucy and Susan are staying with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. Keep with me.
[13:41] Okay, and they tell the children to get ready to meet the great lion. Oh, says Susan, I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe?
[13:53] I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. That you will, dearie, said Mr. Beaver. Make no mistake. If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just silly.
[14:10] Then isn't he safe, said Lucy. Safe, said Mr. Beaver. Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe.
[14:23] But he's good. He's the king, I tell you. God is not safe. One of the reasons that many people have no interest in the living God is because he's, in one sense, been sanitized by the world around about us and by the church.
[14:42] God is not someone who is harmless. God is not someone who is impotent. He is not somebody who is a grandfatherly figure or a Father Christmas figure.
[14:53] No, he is fearful and greatly to be feared. But not in the sense of terror. Not in the sense of being scared out of your wits.
[15:06] Not being feared simply as a dictator or potentate so that we keep the line for fear of reprisals. Fear is the ground of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[15:31] Fear of the Lord is to be the characteristic of every Christian. Fear of the Lord. The apostle Paul, as he writes in 2 Corinthians 5, about the coming of the Lord Jesus and judgment and about his mission to proclaim the gospel, says, we know what it is to fear the Lord.
[15:49] It's the same man who speaks in Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord, I say to you, rejoice. Earlier in his letter in Romans 3, he shows and teaches that the absence of fear is the hallmark and the characteristic of a sinful heart.
[16:12] For he writes, Romans 3, verse 18, Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin, for as it is written, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
[16:25] So fear is the characteristic of the believer. No fear of God is the characteristic of the unbeliever. To fear God is right and good. And actually as we come to this seventh plague in chapter 9 of Exodus and the events surrounding it, we learn and see what real fear of God is, and the blessings that come from that fear compared to false fear and how it brings to us benefits and blessings and help to have a healthy fear of the Lord.
[16:59] So what is it? What are we talking about? If we're not talking about terror, if we're not talking about being scared out of our wits, if we're not talking about a trembling in the sense of horror, what does it mean to fear the Lord?
[17:11] Well, we see, first of all, in verse 20, that the fear of the Lord is belief in His Word. Believing His Word is true.
[17:23] There in verse 20, the officials of Pharaoh who feared the Word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and livestock inside. Now these men didn't worship the Lord, they didn't turn from their false gods, the gods of Egypt, but they believed that what God said was true and that was the beginning of them having a right fear of the Lord.
[17:48] Fear means I take God's Word seriously and what He says I believe is true. So that's the first question again, isn't it, to ask.
[17:58] Do I believe what God has said is true? I mean, do I really believe it's trustworthy? Do I believe it's dependable? You see, you can't respect somebody who lies to you, can you?
[18:15] Or whose words you don't trust. Now we have to use discernment, don't we, when we speak to people? And there are some people that we meet whose words we take with a pinch of salt.
[18:29] Their words we take with a sense of dubiousness. I'm not sure whether I can trust you. And the reason that we might do that with somebody is because they've lied to us before. This isn't the first time they've said something which has not been true.
[18:43] Or it may be when we meet them, we judge them as the sort of person who would lie or has ulterior motives in the way that they speak. Or it could be, sadly, that we've been let down by so many people that we've come to a place where we just don't trust anybody anymore to speak the truth to us.
[19:00] That's a terrible place to be. Some feared the word of the Lord. Others, we're told, simply ignored it.
[19:10] Verse 21. Those who ignored the word of the Lord. So there's the contrast. Fear of the Lord, ignoring the word of the Lord. They disbelieved it. They never thought it would happen.
[19:22] In one sense, what are they doing? They're making God out to be a liar. Saying, God, you can't be trusted. You're unworthy of our faith and trust. They're dishonoring God.
[19:34] That's what lack of fear does. It makes us dishonor God. If we do not fear Him, we make Him out to be a liar. But God has never lied. There's no reason that we should distrust God.
[19:45] There's no reason we should disbelieve Him. Because He has never lied. In fact, the Bible says in Hebrews 6, it's impossible for God to lie. God just can't do it, if I can put it that way.
[19:57] There are certain things that God cannot do. One of them is lie. He never has. He never will do. We must believe what He says.
[20:08] We can believe what He says. That's part of fearing God. Taking His word, what He has said, and saying, yes, God, I believe that's true. Because you said it, and you're trustworthy.
[20:20] But of course, it doesn't stop there, does it? To fear the Lord is not simply believing that what God has said is true. True fear of the Lord has one reaction to God's word.
[20:32] It obeys it. Obedience is the next step of fearing the Lord. Because that's what these men did. They feared the word of the Lord, hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside.
[20:44] What's the point of believing what God says is true, but doing nothing about it? Here God had promised through Moses giant hailstorms, killer hailstorms and stones will come down upon the land and upon the people and kill everything left in the field.
[21:01] What's the point of them saying, yes, I believe that's really going to happen, but they're not doing anything about it. Faith and actions go together. That's the whole point of the letter of James.
[21:12] We're not saved by the things that we do, but when we have faith in God, we do things. Our lives are different. They are changed. They go together. Those who didn't fear God did not keep his word.
[21:27] Don't know what was in their minds. They'd seen all the plagues before, the plagues of the frogs, the plagues of the flies, the plague of the livestock dying, the plagues of the boils that they had. They'd seen all these things, and for some reason they thought, now God's not going to do what he said.
[21:44] There's only one conclusion. They thought he was bluffing. They thought he was conning them. Fear believes God's word and acts upon it.
[21:58] Acts upon it before God acts. Acts upon his promises before God brings upon them the things that he's promised. Do you fear the Lord?
[22:15] You say, well, how do I know if I fear the Lord? Do you read his word? Do you hear his word? Do you believe it's true? It's good. What have you done about it?
[22:30] Have you acted upon it? Have you obeyed it? Have you changed direction? Jesus said that when we obey him, we are acting in true love for him.
[22:45] John 14 and verse 15. If you love me, he said, you will keep my commands. Love and fear are part of one another.
[22:59] Think about it. Do you fear hurting or harming those that you love? Of course you do.
[23:10] Is that fear a contradiction to loving them? No, it's not. Of course not. If I didn't fear harming or hurting my family or those I love, it's obvious I don't love them.
[23:24] The fear of harming them is a sign of my love for them. Just as the fear of the Lord is a sign of my love for him. Because if I fear him, I love him.
[23:35] And if I keep his commands, I love him. They go together hand in hand. They cannot be separated. They belong together. So we've seen what true fear of the Lord is.
[23:48] True fear of the Lord is simply this. Believing what God has said. Doing what God has said. But the question is, why? Why should we fear the Lord in this way?
[24:00] Why should we believe what he says? Why should we fear him? And since we've sung that line, is it true? Fear him, you saints, and you'll have nothing else to fear.
[24:11] How does that work out? We should fear the Lord because he is so patient with us. And with all his people.
[24:23] Look there in verses 13 as Moses speaks on the Lord's behalf to Pharaoh. Verse 13. Let my people go so that they may worship me.
[24:34] For this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people. So you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people the plague that would have wiped you off the earth.
[24:51] See, God is expressing his patience towards Pharaoh. God is holding back his anger and his judgment. This is the wonderful thing about the God that we have in the Bible.
[25:04] He is the God who is just and he is angry against sin and he is the God who is gracious and he is loving. He is not one or. He is both together in perfect harmony and unity.
[25:16] And that's because he's God. We're not like that, are we? We're either angry with somebody or we're patient with somebody. We are able to do the two things together but God is and does and always will be the two things.
[25:31] God is patient with them in Egypt as he's patient with us. He is gracious because he longs that they should and we should repent and turn to him. Here's Peter as he writes his letter speaking about the return of Jesus when judgment will come upon the world.
[25:48] People were saying, well, why is it taking so long? There's Jesus coming back. Why is it taking so long? Well, here's what he says. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.
[26:01] He's patient with you. Not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. Isn't that amazing? The reason that Jesus Christ has not returned with judgment upon this world is that there are yet a people here in this world that he wants to rescue and save from perishing and that includes you.
[26:25] Christ could have come before, couldn't he? He could have come before we were Christians, before we trusted in Christ but he didn't. He was patient. And think how patient he's been with you, dear friends, and with me.
[26:37] How patient he's been with our sins and our failings and our hardnesses of heart. He's not taken away our lives. He could have done. Other people have died, haven't they? Around about us.
[26:48] People even younger than us. He's not driven you away from himself but he's drawn you closer. He's been patient as a loving, gracious, tender father is.
[27:04] Should we continue to abuse that patience? Shouldn't we rather honour and respect him for his patience? Fear him accordingly?
[27:17] We should fear him because he's patient and he's kind. We should fear him because he warns us before he acts with judgment. He warns us.
[27:28] Again, there's verse 19. Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter. Isn't that amazing?
[27:40] Pharaoh had hardened his heart again and again. God had told him again and again, let my people go. God doesn't have to warn the people. He doesn't have to tell the people what he's going to do. He doesn't have to give them opportunity to turn.
[27:52] He could just simply bring his judgment whenever he wanted to. But no. See, God will bring justice upon the earth. He will bring judgment to you and I.
[28:03] We will and must stand before him on a day of judgment and give an account. And he must deal with us justly and punish us according to our sins. But he doesn't have to warn us about these things, but he has.
[28:19] He's warned us again and again with fair warning. Here's an opportunity to escape. Here's an opportunity to get away. Here's an opportunity to be at peace. Over and over again, the warning comes through the Bible, flee the wrath to come.
[28:42] If you were to hear on the forecast or on the news are saying that there was going to be a torrential hailstorm coming down upon this town.
[28:54] Or even that a nearby volcano was going to erupt. Would you just say, oh, well, that'd be fine. Not bothered about that. Of course you would.
[29:04] You'd get away. You'd flee. You'd run or an earthquake or whatever it is. You would do something about it. But there's God's justice. Here's why we should fear him because he warns us that he will bring judgment and he's provided for us a way of salvation.
[29:22] We see that here, don't we? We should fear him because he protects those who fear him. He keeps them safe who fear him. As I said earlier on in the introduction, God makes a distinction.
[29:33] Verse 26, the only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen where the Israelites were. A few years ago when we were living in Devon in Honington, this incredible phenomenon took place.
[29:47] Just about five miles from Honington is a town called Autry St. Mary. And they had a localized hailstorm which was so... The hail boils weren't big but they were several feet deep.
[30:01] It was amazing. And it just was there. It was a freak of the weather. Just on that town, this hail just sort of landed down and it was just like ice everywhere and deep ice had to be removed.
[30:14] But again, you see, there's that lovely... In Honington, we didn't see a thing, hear a thing. Here in God's land, Goshen, where his people were, he protects them.
[30:26] Protects them and keeps them safe because they knew him and trusted him. They were his. God is more loving and kind than we could ever imagine or we could ever deserve to be.
[30:41] I love the book of Proverbs. It's got lots of wonderful, helpful, practical instructions in it but it also speaks about these things too. In Proverbs chapter 14, verse 26, you can look at it a little later.
[30:54] He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress. For his children, it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Turning a man from the snares of death.
[31:05] Fear of the Lord is the cause and the reason for blessing. Fearing the Lord places us under the wonderful protection of Jesus Christ.
[31:20] places us under the cross where the punishment of our sin has been taken. Places us under the blood of Jesus where we are washed and clean.
[31:37] God has provided for us protection for all the storms that our sins deserve. There's one final thing here why we should fear the Lord.
[31:47] Not only should we fear him because he is patient, not only because he warns us, not only because he protects, but also because he hears us when we pray. Isn't it wonderful?
[31:58] Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, spread out his hands towards the Lord. In other words, to pray. The thunder and hail stopped and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
[32:10] God is not a despot to be feared from afar. He's not beyond our reach, but he has stooped down to us in the person of Jesus Christ so that through Christ we can approach God and know God and speak with God.
[32:24] He hears our requests, he hears our prayers and he answers them. All of these things prove the mercy and kindness of God. Show that if we fear him we've got nothing else to fear.
[32:43] No storms, no troubles, no people, no future, no hell, no judgment. None of these things do we need to fear. To fear God is to place ourselves under his care.
[32:55] To fear God is to put ourselves under the wings of his mercy, is to acknowledge him as our God, our protector, our keeper, our saviour. To fear him is simply to put our faith in him.
[33:12] Let me close though, dear friends, this morning with a word of warning. A word of warning. You see, Pharaoh did fear, didn't he?
[33:23] In fact, his conversation with Moses in verse 12 is a, sorry, in verse 27 is a very religious conversation.
[33:34] He uses all the right words. Look what he says, this time I've sinned. The Lord is right and I'm in the wrong. Oh, wow, what a wonderful change has taken place in Pharaoh.
[33:46] Moses must think what a transformation. He's acknowledging his sin, he's acknowledging God's word. He's acknowledging that God is right and he's wrong. But the trouble was that this fear that motivated his words of repentance were not fear of the Lord but fear for himself and for his people.
[34:05] Self-indulgent, selfish fear. Later on, as Moses says rightly, I know that you and your officials still don't fear the Lord.
[34:16] I'm not fooled by the mask you're wearing or the words you're using. God isn't fooled by the language we use, by saying I'm a Christian or saying I've turned from my sin or saying I'm going to trust him.
[34:27] God isn't fooled. It's got to be real. It's got to be of the heart. We can't just use the language. We can't just say, yes, I'm a sinner. We can't just say, yes, I need saving. But we've got to do it.
[34:38] We've got to place our faith in Christ. We've got to call upon him, ourselves. How sad it is. How tragic it is. Those last verses in chapter 9.
[34:53] Pharaoh and his officials harden their hearts. We've seen that again and again, haven't we? This hardening, this hardening. But then he comes and says, verse 35, so Pharaoh's heart was hard.
[35:05] There's almost a definite declaration there, isn't there? In other words, it's gone beyond being softened again. There comes a point, dear friends, where if we continue to harden our hearts against the Lord, we continue to reject his word and ignore it and deny it, that there will come a point that our hearts are permanently hardened, irreversibly hardened.
[35:30] so happen to Pharaoh. Oh, may the Lord have mercy that it doesn't happen to any of us. But, but, but, but, don't fear, if I can put it that way, because there's still time for you.
[35:51] There's still time for me. You see, wonderfully, God is patient as we've seen, and today is the day of his grace and salvation. Paul, as he writes to the Christians in Corinth, he says this, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain, for he says, in the time of my favor, I heard you, in the day of salvation, I helped you.
[36:15] I tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. today, dear friends, we cannot put it off any longer.
[36:29] We cannot deny it any longer. We cannot stop and think, tomorrow I will, or next week I will, or next year I will, or some other time in the future I will.
[36:39] You have not got that guarantee. God is patient, and he is kind, and he is willing to forgive, and he is willing to receive, and he wants you to fear him now, but do it then.
[36:51] Do it then. Do the thing that is the most sensible, obvious thing to do. For there is grace with him, and salvation with him, and mercy with him.
[37:08] Fear the Lord. It is the beginning of life, of blessing, of joy, of all good things.
[37:18] let's pray together for a moment. you're so amazing, oh Lord, so awesome, so glorious, so rightly to be feared, and each one of us here this morning has to confess and own up to the fact that we have not feared you as we should.
[37:58] We have treated your word lightly. we have treated you lightly, trying to bring you down to our level and trying to make you appear as if you're just like us, but you're not like us.
[38:14] You're so much better than that. And Lord, I do pray for those of us here this morning who have never feared you, who've never truly put their faith in you, who've never seen just your kindness and mercy, but also your justice and judgment.
[38:30] Pray, oh Lord, please, place within their hearts that fear, that healthy fear, which yes, expresses itself with the words of Pharaoh.
[38:42] I've sinned and the Lord's right, but Lord, it goes deeper than just words. It goes deeply into the heart. Cause us to act with faith, oh Lord, we pray, and take you at your word and hurry, like the Egyptian farmers did, hurry to bring ourselves into the safety of the Lord Jesus.
[39:11] I do pray, Lord, for those of us who are believers and we know what it is to fear the Lord, but we confess that our fear for you is often fickle and often passing and that fear has not really found itself out, into obedience and to a life lived 100% for you.
[39:29] That fear has not really been worked out in the way we speak and act and Lord, we've, well, Lord, we've rested upon your patience and loving kindness more than we should.
[39:40] Please help us, oh Lord, to fear you as we should with that healthy, wonderful fear that delivers us and rescues us from our fears.
[39:51] Lord, where we have those fears, oh Lord, where they cripple us and bind us and keep us from living as we should and being free as you want us to be, then Lord, deliver us from those fears that we might truly rest in and rejoice in and delight in you, knowing that, Lord, you care for us.
[40:09] and so, Lord, we ask that again we might be known as God-fearing people who are filled with the joy of Jesus and who live out that wonderful, balanced life that show that Christ is the power behind us, in us and working through us.
[40:33] For we ask these things in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[41:11] Amen. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.
[41:48] May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
[42:02] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and evermore. Amen. tribunal W to turn to you that can活 and when you do it, the Psalm by the Lord Jesus Christ The Muk is very purputed and I know it might notiku