Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, November 20, 2016
The who questions these things, salvation, power, and authority, is Satan himself who accuses God's people before God day and night, and he has been cast down.
Satan wants you to question "salvation"! He wants you to question the "power". He wants you to question "authority."
Question Salvation = Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Question "the power" = do not rely upon the power of God in Act 1:8, Heb 4:12; but rely upon the power of self, ROM 10:3.
The big problem that existed in the dispensation of the Law was not the problem of salvation or the problem of what power was needed but it was the problem with authority.
They have been deeply convicted, not about "salvation," or about "the power but they have been convicted about how they have responded or reacted to the principle of authority.
Condemnation comes from Satan and the kingdom of darkness, whereas conviction comes from God the Holy Spirit and always reveals God's mercy and grace and leads us to restoration.
1SA 8:7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.
Will they live under the principle of authority and accept it or will they have the attitude that the hippy's had in the 60's and 70's. which was to "Question Authority?"
There are some of you who are listening who may receive what I am about to say and therefore be spared from a lot of unnecessary discipline in your life.
ACT 5:29, you have the right to say what Peter and the apostles answered to the high priest who said to stop teaching about this person you call the Christ, they said, "We must obey God rather than men.
You do have a right to question authority when it is against the word of God but never when it is not.
The Jews not only had a problem because of their fears and not being able to pick up the shield of faith, but they also had a problem because they had the attitude that Satan had in Rev 12:10, they questioned authority!
1. God has authority over nature; Mat 8:27.
2. God has authority over angels; 1Pet 3:22. The pastor-teacher and church officers have authority over the congregation, Heb 13:7, 17.
Government has authority over its people; Rom 13:1-7. The husband has authority over the wife; Eph 5:22; Col 3:18. Parents have authority over children, Eph 6:1.
Teachers have authority over students. Coaches have authority over athletes. Management has authority over labor.
Authority in business stabilizes the economy, Eph 6:5. Employers over employees; Eph 6:5. Freedom through military victory is based on the principle of the authority of military; Neh 4:13-15.
Authority is our friend.
What if the one in authority abuses that authority?
LUK 12:48b From everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.
JAM 3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.
No leader ever had more difficulty with those under his authority.
2 million adults in the Exodus generation were constantly complaining.
Num 12:3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.
Moses had true humility and humility does not make an issue of self and it is not overly self-conscious. Instead humility makes an issue out of Bible doctrine.
1. Because humility makes an issue out of Bible doctrine, it does not get caught up in the functions of subjective or self-righteous arrogance.
GAL 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
2. Humility functions under the principle of grace orientation and occupation with the person of Christ.
Unlike the Pharisees who we read in JOH 12:43 they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
Moses believed ROM 14:12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
ROM 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this‑‑ not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.
3. Humility is objective and genuine evaluation of your own helplessness to solve the problems of stress, pressure, calamity and disaster.
4. Humility from the biblical viewpoint is always God-consciousness rather than self-consciousness.
God consciousness includes personal love for God the Father and occupation with the person of Christ.
5. Humility does not deny the function of self-consciousness of the soul, but in the Christian life true humility relates everything to Bible doctrine and the escrow blessings of every believer.
The humble believer wants to glorify the Lord and not himself. Isa 43:21; Rev 4:11.
Moses was not a man of destiny (Heb-Bashert) until he spent 40 years in Bible class between leaving Egypt and coming back to Egypt 40 years later.
6. Humility cannot co-exist with sins, especially the sins of arrogance and the emotional complex of sins.
7. Humility is the basis for objectivity in life as well as keeping professionalism and integrity together.
What was his profession? Leadership! What was integrity? Humility!
By concentrating on Pharaoh's army, they completely forgot the grace of God and the power of God....and the marvelous deliverance that they had experienced just a week or so before.
In a time of disaster or testing, they concentrated on the wrong thing.
"They began to gripe and complain to the one who was in charge, the authority, a man called Moses.
They all had an example of spiritual adulthood which was manifested by Moses who was constantly prepared for sudden stress, sudden disaster, sudden calamity and sudden pressure testing.
Many of the things that came to these Jews in the first year were given to prepare them to enter into the promise land and enjoy that land.
Most of them failed every test that the Lord brought forth.
No one is stabilized in the Christian way of life unless they can handle sudden disaster, unexpected disaster, or something that comes quickly.
They needed to stabilize their thinking so that they could concentrate on doctrine.
Moses as the leader continued to concentrate on doctrine and continued to think under pressure.
Griping, complaining, murmuring, human viewpoint thinking.
Prin - People who live in panic palace are dying before they are actually dead.
They are free physically, but in their thinking they are still slaves mentally.
They have a slave mentality which means that they would rather have security than freedom.
You cannot think in terms of human security and appreciate freedom.
Personal safety is never an issue when freedom is in danger.