An Antidote for Amnesia

July 16, 2020  David Murray  

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What’s the worst thing you’ve ever forgotten?

I think the worst for me was forgetting a preaching engagement. I turned up in my own church at 9.30 am and my elders looked at me strangely. “Weren’t you supposed to be preaching somewhere else today?” one of them asked.

As soon as he said it, I remembered. I had arranged to preach for a congregation about an hour away. It was 9.30 am and their service started at 10am. I won’t go into the details of how I got there. Let’s just say that although I was late and the service had already started, I wasn’t as late as I should have been.

That was my worst forgetting. But Exodus 12 reminds us that there’s a worse forgetting than that. We can forget God’s sovereign salvation:

  • We forget we didn’t deserve saving
  • We forget we were saved by God
  • We forget the suffering required for our salvation
  • We forget to worship God for our salvation

That’s a serious spiritual amnesia isn’t it? But thankfully there’s a cure that reverses the effects and etches God’s sovereign salvation in our minds.

Read Exodus 12:1-7 and 24-28 to see how God cures the Israelites amnesia, so that we can improve our spiritual memories too. As we do so, remember this Old Testament Passover is a picture prophecy of the New Testament Passover. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 5:7, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

SALVATION IS BY GRACE ALONE (1-6)

  • God initiates salvation (1-2)
  • God designs salvation (3-5)
  • God provides salvation (6)             

Salvation is by grace alone means salvation is by God alone.

But what’s my part in this? What do I do?

SALVATION IS BY FAITH ALONE (7-11A)

  • Sprinkle blood by faith
  • Eat the lamb by faith
  • Burn the lamb by faith
  • Prepare to leave by faith

We’re not saved by doing but by depending. We’re not saved by trying but by trusting.

So I’m to receive this salvation. Do I then do add my part?

SALVATION IS BY CHRIST ALONE (11B-13)

  • The Lord judges the bloodless
  • The Lord passes over the blood-covered

We’re not saved by our giving but by Christ’s forgiving.

So, we don’t have a part? What does that mean for us?

SALVATION IS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE (14, 24-28)

  • Remember God’s salvation
  • Celebrate God’s salvation

Is that not worth celebrating?

We don’t produce our salvation for God, we praise God’s salvation of us.

LIVING THE BIBLE

Remember that we tend to forget. We suffer from spiritual amnesia. We even forget God’s sovereign salvation. We forget (1) We didn’t deserve saving; (2) We were saved by God; (3) The suffering required for our salvation; (4) To worship God for our salvation

So, remember, salvation is (1) By grace alone; (2) By faith alone; (3) By Christ alone; (4) For the glory of God alone.

Remember to celebrate God’s sovereign salvation forever.

Remember the Lord’s death until he come, or we’ll forget the Lord’s salvation has already come.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 6: Day 4 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

A Name You Can’t Forget

July 15, 2020  David Murray  

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Jill had serious health problems. She had visited multiple doctors, but none had been able to help her. There was one doctor whose name kept coming in all the discussions (let’s call him Dr. Graham). He was a world expert in her condition, but he had a two-year wait list.

One evening as she was walking her dog in the neighborhood, she started chatting to a neighbor a few doors up who was planting some beautiful shrubs. As they talked, Jill started sharing about her deteriorating health. Eventually the neighbor interrupted, “Wait, my husband could help you. This is the area he’s specialized in. Has no one ever referred you to him?”

Yes, you’ve guessed it, Mr. Graham! Healing was just a few houses away but because Jill didn’t know her neighbors’ names that well, she didn’t know and continued to suffer.”

Something similar happened to Israel, enslaved in Egypt and dying. But after 400 years in Egypt and many decades of slavery, Israel didn’t know God’s name and therefore didn’t know that help was so close and so possible.

In Exodus 3:11-15, when God sent Moses to deliver Israel, he anticipated the Israelites asking Moses, “What’s his name? You say God sent you, but who is this God, what’s his name?” God gave Moses powerful and memorable words to reply.

GOD’S NAME IS POWERFUL

  • Powerful theology (14): “I AM” means God always is. There’s no past or future to God, he simply is. He exists at every point of time and space. It will one day be said of us, “He was” (past tense). But God always is.
  • Powerful relationship (14): God’s covenant name “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” comes from this expression, “I AM.” That’s why he elaborates by saying, “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.”

What a powerful name it is!

Our names are frail, but God’s name is firm.

God’s name is powerful, but will it last?

GOD’S NAME IS PERMANENT

  • Remember the past: He reminds Israel that he is the God of their past. “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
  • Remember in the future: “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” God assures Israel that they have a future because their future is bound up with him.

What a memorable name it is!

Our names are passing, but God’s name is permanent.

LIVING THE BIBLE

God’s name is powerful and God’s name is permanent.

So, remember God’s powerful and permanent name for a powerful and permanent future. Some names we can’t remember, God’s name we can’t forget.

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Ps. 9:10).

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 6: Day 3 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.