Series:
Exodus
Title:
There Remained Not One
Text:
Exodus 8: 29-32
Date:
November 19, 2017
Place: SGBC,
New Jersey
Subject: There
Remained Not One
Proposition: By Christ interceding with the Father on behalf of the
repentant sinner, before God, there remains not one sin upon his people
Pharaoh
did not truly repent. We have seen it
before, we see it here again, and Pharaoh was only pretending to repent. But in what God did for Moses when he
intreated the LORD, I want to show you what God does for his people when Christ
intreats the LORD on behalf of his people who truly repent.
Exodus 8: 28:…[Pharaoh said to Moses] intreat for me. [intercede for me] 29: And Moses said,
Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of
flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to
morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people
go to sacrifice to the LORD. 30:
And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. 31: And the LORD did according to the
word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his
servants, and from his people; there remained not one. 32: And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither
would he let the people go….
WHEN A SINNER TRULY COMES TO CHRIST
Exodus 8: 28:…[Pharaoh asked Moses] intreat
for me.
When a
sinner truly comes to Christ we ask Christ to be our Advocate with the
Father. Again I remind you, Pharaoh did
not truly repent. But the truly repentant sinners asks Christ to intreat for
me, to intercede on my behalf.
Why do we
need an Advocate with God? Let’s try to illustrate it using our
courts. In our courts, when charged with a crime, the man who attempts to
represent himself before the Judge has a fool for a lawyer. No sinner can
represent himself before the just Judge of heaven and earth.
Men who
attempt to represent themselves in our courts fail because they usually do not
understand the court system. No natural man understands God and his justice.
Jeremiah 5:4: Therefore I said, Surely these are poor;
they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of
their God.
Men who
attempts to represent themselves in our courts fail because they usually do not
understand what they need to make a persuasive argument. No natural man
understands what he needs to make a persuasive argument before God because he
does not understand he needs Christ
Isaiah 59:4: None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth
for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and
bring forth iniquity.
Men who
attempt to represent themselves in our courts fail because usually they insult the
judge and the law he upholds. Men who meet God defending themselves always do
so. Men insult God and his law saying things like “Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” (Rom
9: 19) God says
Job 40: 8: Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou
condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Men who
attempt to represent themselves in our courts fail because they usually do not
have a good claim. None who stand before
God apart from Christ shall be able to claim himself just by his works. Christ
said,
Matthew 7:22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23: And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Men who
attempt to represent themselves in our courts fail because they usually do not
have documented evidence to back up their claims. In God’s court men who
represent themselves always fail to produce evidence of their claims of
righteousness. God says to all men and their vain idols,
Isaiah 43:9:…let them bring forth their witnesses, that
they may be justified:
Isaiah 41: 21: Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring
forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob…24: Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an
abomination is he that chooseth you.
There
have been rare cases where men represented themselves in our courts and won the
case. Yet, before God, not one! For any sinner to come to God he must have
Christ as his Advocate to intreat God on his behalf.
1 Timothy 2: 5: For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Job 9: 32: For [God] is not a man, as I am, that I should
answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 33…[But Christ is the]
daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
So those
whom God has granted true repentance acknowledge their inability to represent
themselves to God. We do so by coming to Christ asking, “Lord, if you will, intreat for me.”
CHRIST INTREATES THE LORD
Exodus
8: 30:
And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.
For every
sinner who truly asks Christ to intreat the LORD for him, Christ shall do
so. Scripture says, “If any man
sin…” If any man is a true sinner. A true sinner acknowledges that all he is sin
and all he does is sin. The apostle John
is speaking to the sinner who believes on Christ, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous.” Christ is the only Advocate and only of truly, helpless
sinners. Christ is the Advocate for sinners who know themselves to be so sinful
that they cannot approach God themselves. Christ is the Advocate for sinners
whose only hope is for Christ to intercede with God the Father on their behalf.
Oh but
get this sinner! On behalf of true
sinners who come to him, Christ indeed intercedes for them. He does so by
pleading the cause of his people before the Judge of heaven and earth. He
pleads his own person and work as the cause for God to forgive the believer all
our sins. We hear the intercessory prayer of Christ our High Priest in John
17. Notice, Christ’s intercession is
based on his finished work on behalf of all those the Father gave to him.
John 17: 1:
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father,
the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2: As thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3: And this is life eternal, that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4: I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5: And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Hebrews 9: 15:
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament [covenant], that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under
the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must
also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17: For a testament is of force after men are dead:
otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18: Whereupon neither the first testament
[covenant] was dedicated without blood. 19:
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and
hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20: Saying, This is the blood
of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21: Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all
the vessels of the ministry. 22:
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of
blood is no remission. 23: It
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is
not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Isaiah 53: 12: Therefore will I divide him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath
poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and
he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Hebrews 7:25: Wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them.
THE LORD DOES ACCORDING TO CHRIST’S WORD
Exodus 8: 31: And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he
removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from
his people; there remained not one.
Oh, if
you know yourself to be a sinner this is good news! For all who come to God through Christ—by
Christ’s intercession—God has removed all
our sins and there remains not one. Since Christ pleads his own blood before God,
since Christ is the propitiation for his people, the LORD does according to the
word of Christ.
1 John 1: 9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2: 1:
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2: And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jeremiah 50: 20: In those days, and in that time, saith
the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be
none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon
them whom I reserve.
Isaiah 43: 25: I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy
sins.
Sinner,
you and I by nature are nothing but sin—guilty before the law of God, corrupt
in our nature. We need Christ formed in our hearts and Christ representing us
as God’s right hand. Then we will find out.
Micah 7: 18: Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his
heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in
mercy.
Hear that
sinner! God deligheth in mercy! But only
in Christ. Sinner believe on Christ and not one of your sins shall remain.
Acts 10: 43: To him give all the prophets witness, that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Acts 13: 38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses.
THE
QUESTION
Exodus
8: 32:
And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the
people go.
Will you be like Pharaoh who hardened his heart and
refused to repent? The sinner who
hardens his heart and refuses to repent has no advocate with the Father and his
sins remain.
Or will
you truly repent and trust Christ to be your Advocate with the Father? For all who do so, before God, by Christ and
in Christ, there remains not one sin.
May God grant his people repentance to trust Christ to
intercede with the LORD on our behalf!
Amen!