The Lord Provides

Sterling Franklin


 
 

Dear Lord, we Praise You tonight. We come before you and ask for a 
good study of Your Word. You Provide, and we thank You for that. Thank 
You for who You are and what You are doing and are going to do. Touch 
us deeply, Lord, let us see more of Your Glory. In Jesus' Mighty Name, 
Amen.
 

Provide -> Pro = before, in advance; Vide = from Latin videre, to see.

So, basically...Provide comes from the basis of 'seeing in advance'.   
Tonight we will be discussing how He provided for Moses and Abraham in 
the past and how the Lord has provided and provides for us today.
 

I. Red Sea Parting - the Lord Provides for Moses

First off, you all probably have heard about the story of the Parting of 
the Red Sea before at some point in your life. :)

Because Pharaoh kept holding the Israelites captive and didn't let them 
go, the Lord put a final plague upon Egypt, where a family's firstborn 
son would be killed if the family didn't have the blood of the Passover 
lamb upon the top and sides of the outside door.

Pharaoh, after losing his son to the plague, finally told Moses that his 
people could be free, FINALLY - after all the years of bondage they had 
suffered.

Exodus 13:21-22: "21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of 
a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give 
them light; to go by day and night: 22 He took not away the pillar of 
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the 
people."

So, they were led by the Lord - in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar 
of fire by night.

Exodus 14:4-6: "4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall 
follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his 
host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. 5 
And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of 
Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they 
said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 
6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:"

The Lord said that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, and He did, and it 
ended up for His Glory. Pharaoh, after telling Moses that he could be 
free with his people (the Israelites), Pharaoh changes his mind and gets 
ready to take them prisoner again.

Exodus 14:10-12: "10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel 
lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and 
they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the 
LORD. 11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in 
Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast 
thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this 
the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we 
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the 
Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."

The Israelites panicked when they saw the Egyptians coming, so what does 
Moses do? Does he freak out like a chicken with its head cut off?

NOPE!

He keeps his cool
He stays in school!
well......maybe not the school part.

Exodus 14:13-14: "13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand 
still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to 
day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again 
no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold 
your peace."

He had total faith and trust in God's Protection in this situation.

Exodus 14:15-20: "15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou 
unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16 But 
lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and 
divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the 
midst of the sea. 17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the 
Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon 
Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his 
horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I 
have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his 
horsemen. 19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, 
removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from 
before their face, and stood behind them: 20 And it came between the 
camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and 
darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one 
came not near the other all the night."

The Lord tells Moses what to do in verse 16 - to lift up his rod and 
stretch his hand over the sea, and divide it. Simple enough, eh? 
However, it takes a TON of faith to do that. In verse 21, that's 
exactly what Moses did.

Exodus 14:21: "21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the 
LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and 
made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."

There was a wall of water to their left and right, and dry ground right 
in front of them. Pharaoh then, with his Egyptians, went in after them. 
All their horses & chariots were with them, too.

In verse 24, we see that the Lord looks at the Egyptians through the 
pillar of fire and cloud, and we see in verse 25 that the Egyptians are 
terrified and want to turn back...

Exodus 14:24-25: "24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the 
LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire 
and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25 And took 
off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the 
Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD 
fighteth for them against the Egyptians."

God then tells Moses what to do again, and Moses obeys fully...

Exodus 14:26-28 - "26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine 
hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, 
upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched 
forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when 
the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD 
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters 
returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host 
of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much 
as one of them."

The Israelites were fine, though. Unscathed, untouched, not drowned (I 
would say undrowned, but that ain't a word).

Exodus 14:29-31: "29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in 
the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their 
right hand, and on their left. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day 
out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon 
the sea shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon 
the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, 
and his servant Moses."
 

What does this 'feared the LORD' mean? To fear the Lord doesn't mean to 
be 'afraid' of the Lord, but to revere Him, be in awe of Him, and in 
result, be obedient to Him in your actions.

Proverbs 14:26-27 tell about what the fear of the Lord carries with it: 
"26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall 
have a place of refuge. 27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, 
to depart from the snares of death."
 

II. Jehovah (YHVH) Jireh - the Lord our Provider

Abraham was a great man of faith, and he followed after the Lord. 
There was one time where the Lord tested him to really make sure Abraham 
was obedient to Him.

The Lord told Abraham to go up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice his son 
Isaac. Genesis 22 is our text. Abraham brought Isaac up with the wood 
and knife and fire to light the wood, and Isaac was a little 
surprised...

Genesis 22:7 - "7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My 
father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and 
the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Abraham had faith, however, that the Lord would provide for him a lamb 
to sacrifice, as we see in verse 8:

Genesis 22:8 - "8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a 
lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together."

So Abraham is about to stab his son Isaac for a sacrifice, but then an 
angel of the Lord calls out to him and stops him from slaughtering 
Isaac.

Genesis 22:11-12: "11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of 
heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he 
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto 
him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld 
thy son, thine only son from me."

Abraham must have been THRILLED, but must have been EVEN MORE THRILLED 
when he saw that the Lord had provided a sacrifice...

Genesis 22:13: "13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and 
behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham 
went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the 
stead of his son."

...and appropriately enough, Abraham calls this place 'Jehovahjireh', 
meaning 'the Lord Sees' or 'the Lord Provides'!

Genesis 22:14: "14 And Abraham called the name of that place 
Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it 
shall be seen."

GOD IS GOOD! What also was really cool about this was that Abraham had 
faith that the Lord would provide a lamb. In this case, the RAM was not 
Random Access Memory, but a male sheep. (Haha, imagine Abraham 
sacrificing 1 Gig of RAM on the altar.)
 

III. The Sacrificial Lamb of God - Our Perfect Sacrifice - the Lord 
Providing for us...

Jesus is often called the 'Lamb of God'. Pretty cool, huh? :) God 
the Father sent down His Son, and He was the Sacrificial Lamb for the 
payment of our sins.

Romans 5:8 - "8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while 
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

He died on the cross, rose again on the third day, and is seated in 
Glory at the Right Hand of the Father...but He'll be back!

I Corinthians 15:3-4: "3 For I delivered unto you first of all that 
which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to 
the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the 
third day according to the scriptures:"

The Lord provides a way for us to not only escape sin's curse: death.

Romans 6:23: "23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is 
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

John 10:10: "10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and 
to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly."

Jesus has come to give us life - and life more ABUNDANTLY! If you want 
Jesus Christ to be your Savior and have not done so already, it's as 
simple as ABC.

A - Admit that you are a sinner, B - Believe that Jesus is God's Son, 
rose from the dead and is the only way to Heaven, and C - Confess your 
sins to God, ask Him to be Your Savior.

Basically, if you want eternal life with Him and haven't accepted Him 
yet as your Lord & Savior, pray this with me:

"Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins right now. Thank 
You for dying on the cross to pay for my sins. I ask You right now to 
become my Lord and Savior so that I might be with You in Heaven for 
eternity after life. Let me live a life pleasing to You and let me know 
You more. Thank You, in Jesus' Name, Amen."

Salvation is EXTREMELY weighty in value, if you didn't know already. 
Either eternal damnation or eternal love, joy, peace, etc!!!! No road 
rage in Heaven, either!
 

The Lord provides for us in so many ways, it's AWESOME! He is Worthy of 
all our Praise, and He will bless us beyond measure for being obedient 
to His Word. He can take us out of the toughest situation, He will 
provide. Let's finish the message in prayer...

Lord, thank You so much for Providing for us. You are Holy, Holy, Holy! 
Even though we are sinners, Lord, You are so Merciful and bless us and 
provide for us, anyway, because You Love us unconditionally. Thank You 
for so much, Lord. You provided for Abraham and Moses, but not just for 
them, for us as well as a whole. We Praise Your Righteous Name, in 
Jesus' Name we pray this and thank You, amen.

 

 

Study Date: November, 2001 - Teenz4theLord.com     

Category: Sermon/Long Bible Study

Given at "Inside Out" Online Youth Group

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