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Book: Acts
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Acts 7:34 The God Who Sees and Hears
I. I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt.
A. God had shown Abraham that his seed would be strangers in a
land that was not theirs and they would serve them and be
afflicted. But God would then bring them out with great
substance.
1. At the time of Moses, the children of Israel had been
in Egypt for four hundred years.
2. They had first gone down in the days of Jacob when
Joseph had been made second in the land of Egypt, in
the beginning they were treated with great respect and
honor because of Joseph.
3. Through the years Joseph was forgotten about and the
Egyptians had made slaves of the Israeli's.
4. Many of the great monuments in Egypt are thought to be
constructed by the Israeli's slaves.
B. As is often the case the poor servant class people began to
multiply much faster than the elite ruling class, and they had
become a threat to the national security of Egypt.
1. It is at this time that the Pharaoh ordered that all of
the boy babies of the Israeli's should be killed by the
midwives and the girls be allowed to live.
2. The Israeli's began to cry unto God because of their
affliction.
C. It is here that God declared, "I have seen the affliction of My
people in Egypt."
D. Sometimes our concept of God places Him on such a high plane,
or removed at such a distance, that He is aloof and separate
from His creation.
1. The Psalmist said, "When I consider the heavens, the
work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which you
have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of
him?"
2. Often in those times of sorrow and pain, we feel very
lonely as though God does not see or know.
3. In those times if you will listen carefully you will
hear God whisper, "I see, I know."
E. It should be noted that the children of Israel had been crying
for many years, and the heavens seemed silent.
1. The whole while God was watching.
2. Many times in the Psalms we read where the Psalmist
prayed that the Lord would make haste to help him.
David prayed "Make no tarrying O my God."
3. I do not know why, but God never seems to be in a hurry
to accomplish His purposes.
a. Many are the times I with David have sought to
push Him along a little faster.
b. The scripture says that they that believe shall
not make haste.
c. The Hymn declares " Not a surge of worry, not a
shade of care, not a blast of hurry touch the
spirit there."
II. I have heard their groaning.
A. God sees your predicament, He hears your cries.
1. The Psalmist said, "God fulfills the desires of those
that fear Him and He will also hear their cry and save
them." Ps.145
2. When David was delivered from the hand of Saul he wrote
these words. "I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy
to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. In
my distress I called unto the Lord, and I cried unto my
God, and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my
cry did enter into His ears."
B. Why is it then that at times it seems that our prayers go
unanswered?
1. Job said, "I cry unto Thee and You do not hear me, I
stand up and you regard me not."
2. The prophet Habakkuk said, "O Lord, how long shall I
cry and you will not hear?"
a. God's answer to Habakkuk was that He was
working though Habakkuk did not see it, and
that the just shall live by faith. Or trust Me.
b. Often the seeming delays are a matter of
perfect timing.
c. Sometimes they are designed to test our faith.
C. Sometimes it is our alienated position from God.
1. Isa.59:1 "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that
He cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that He cannot
hear, but your sins have separated you from your God."
2.
JER 11:10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers,
which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods
to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have
broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
JER 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon
them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they
shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
a. It is as though God is saying to them, you did not listen
to Me when I spoke to you, so I will not listen to you
when you cry to Me.
b. Just who does man think that he is that God
should drop everything to listen to him when he
is desperate, when all the while he has not
been listening to God?
c. Like I will only listen to Him when I please,
but He must listen to me whenever I seek to
call.
d. God is saying, "It doesn't work that way."
5. The Psalmist said, "The eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous and His ear is opened to their cry."
III. I have come down to deliver them.
A. He not only sees and hears, but He acts to deliver.
1. He does not just stand by impassionately.
2. He is waiting for the opportune moment.
3. When I trained to be a life guard we were told that if
you approach a person who is panicking in the water,
you must be careful not to get too close while they are
still struggling for they will get a death grip on you
and you can both go down. They told us to keep a
distance and let them expend their strength then get
hold of them from behind.
4. I think that many times God allows us to spend all of
our energies and abilities, and when we then give up
and start to sink, He takes hold of us and delivers us.
Lest I say, by my own hand have I delivered myself.
5. As long as I am still struggling He will let me
struggle.
IV. A sharp contrast from the gods that are manmade that the psalmist
spoke about in our psalm this morning.
A. Eyes have they but they see not, ears have they but they hear
not. They cannot lift a hand to help you.
1. They must be moved by you.
2. You must carry them, they cannot carry you.
B. Isaiah spoke of the folly of those who made their own gods.
ISA 44:9 They that make a graven image [are] all of them vanity; and the
things they treasure are worthless; they [are] their own
witnesses; that they see not, nor know; He said that they had
formed gods or molded graven images that have no profit.
The makers of these gods are men, the smith with his tongs works
in the coals and fashions the god with hammers and makes it with
the strength of his arms. The carpenter stretches out his ruler
he marks his lines and smooths it with planes, he marks it with a
compass, and fashions it like a man, according to the beauty of
man, that it might be placed in the house. He cuts down the
cedars or takes the cypress or oak because of the strength of the
wood. He plants an ash tree that the rain nourishes. When he cuts
down the tree, he puts part of it in the fireplace to warm his
house, he uses another part of it in the oven to bake his bread,
and part of it he uses to make a god, which he then falls down
before it to worship it, and he cries to it, "Deliver me, for you
are my god.
They do not seem to know or understand, it is as though
their eyes are closed and they cannot see, their hearts do not
discern, they do not seem to consider that from the same tree
they have made a fire to keep warm, and used part of it in the
oven to bake their bread, and with part of it they have made an
abomination. Shall I fall down and worship a piece of wood?
C. What did those little carved gods represent?
1. If it was fashioned to look like a nude multi-breasted
woman, it represented that I worshipped , was my
god.
2. If it was fashioned to look like molech, it meant that
I worshipped pleasure, that pleasure was my god.
3. If it was fashioned like mammon, it meant that money
was my god. I worshipped power and the desire to
possess things.
4. If it were fashioned like baal, it meant that I
worshipped my intellect, that my intellect was my god.
D. Today people are to sophisticated to carve out little idols,
but they still serve the same gods. If you carved an idol to
represent your god, which idol would you shape?
1. Let us say that you are facing a life or death
situation, which of these gods would you call on to
deliver you?
2. If your child was dying, the doctors declared that
there was nothing more they could do which of the gods
would you seek for help?
3. When you come to your own facing of death, which of
these gods do you want to stand by you to receive you?
4. You may want to live for your god, but do you want to
die with him?
E. I, for one want a God who can see when I need help, and can
hear my cry when I call, and who is able to deliver me.
1. I don't need a god I have to carry, I need a God that
can carry me.
2. I don't want a man made god, I want to be a God made
man.
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