Deliverance
The Story – Chapter Four
ALRIGHT… let’s do this ‘The Story’ chapter four.
AND LISTEN MAPLE GROVE – from where I stand, all I can say what an awesome journey so far! Wow!
AND REMEMBER – like I said back on 1/13… if we really lean into This Story during the next 31 weeks we will have a comprehensive (big picture) understanding of the Bible like never before. AND UNDERSTANDING – that will serve us well in life and in this journey to become who we were created to be.
OKAY – I’m curious, how many of you, in preparation for this lesson, have read Chapter 4 of The Story? Would you put your hands up? Wow! That’s awesome. AND – this week our homework will be… that’s right Chapter 5.
NOW IF – you do not have a book you can pick them up at the Welcome Center for $5.00… we moved around 450 books at that price – only have a few left.
IF – you are a first time guest with us this morning we would like to give your family a copy… just bring your connection card to the Welcome Center…
AND IF – you can’t afford one, we’ll give you one.
NOW – one of the things we have seen in the first few chapters of The Story is that…
God, the All Knowing, Sovereign King of the Universe loves to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things, blessing the world through them, as He engages them in a life transforming relationship with Himself.
IN - chapter 2 of The Story we have is Abraham and Sarah, an elderly, infertile couple who are chosen to give birth to a nation… I MEAN – think about it…
• They are in their 70’s
• For decades they have not been able to have even one child…
YET – our Sovereign King picks them to build a nation.
AND LAST WEEK - we saw God use a spoiled teenager from an extremely dysfunctional family… a guy who was:
• His dad’s favorite
• Attacked and sold into slavery by his brothers
• accused of attempted rape
• spend a few years behind prison bars
• abandoned by his friends
YET GOD - somehow elevates him to a high position, second in Egypt only to Pharaoh himself… to order to persevere God’s newly formed nation from famine.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives…
- Genesis 50:20
YEAH - Isaiah was not kidding when he said in 55:8, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.”
AND LISTEN – as we continue in our journey through The Story, we will see God running the same play, over and over again… using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things, blessing the world through them…
HEY LOOK UP – if you are feeling kind of ordinary this morning… IF – your resume’ is not all that impressive. IF – you feel like an unlikely candidate to do anything significant for God (where you work, where you do to school, in this world… LOOK OUT – because you just might be the person that God taps on the shoulders and says… “Hey, (Tim, Laurie) there is something really awesome I would like you to do.”
IN FACT – that is exactly what we are going to see happen in Chapter 4 of The Story this morning, as GOD unfolds His perfect will and plan in the life of another very unlikely individual and 80 year old fugitive tending sheep in the wilderness, named Moses.
YEAH – I know to us, who live 3500 years on the other side of Moses’ story (and have watched Charlton Heston part the Red Sea or The Prince Of Egyot)… God using Him makes perfect sense… BUT – believe me when I tell you it make no sense to Moses or anyone else at the time.
AND THE WAY - I want to attack Chapter Four of The Story this morning is by first looking at the lower story… and then at the upper Story of Moses life.
REMEMBER…
THE LOWER STORY… is all the junk we go through down here.
• It’s being in your 70’s and childless
• It’s living in a very dysfunctional family
• It’s been attacked and abandoned by your friends
• It’s a bad report from the doctor
• It’s doing the right thing, but still ending up in prison because of it
• It’s struggles in your marriage
• It’s an addiction you are trying to break
• It’s stress at work or school
AND THE UPPER STORY…
• is God’s perfect unstoppable (will, plan, purpose and story) always being done.
• It’s God always being active and on the move - working though all of the junk in our lives.
• It’s how Our Sovereign King, in spite all of the calamities of our lives life and our own sinful choices, continues to weave it all together for His purposes and our good…
YES – what a Sovereign God we serve!
AND LISTEN… get this.
IF GOD - did that what he did in and through their stories thousands of years ago… WE CAN – be certain that He will do the very same thing with our story today. UNDERSTAND – if your lower story in not so hot at the moment… Hold on. Don’t give up. BECAUSE – the author and perfecter of our faith and story… is not done yet. There are still chapters left to be written… YES – our God is always up to something.
MAN – anybody else out there love the upper story!
(Revelations)
NOW - Moses life could really be divided into 3 parts, or 3 Acts…
AND - each Act is 40 years…
Prayer
The Lower Story
Life Of Moses Act One
NOW IF YOU - know Moses’ story you know that he was fortunate to even be alive. YOU SEE - at the time of his birth, the Israelites were living in Egypt… REMEMBER – Jacob had brought the entire family there in order to survive the famine that was sweeping across the world.
AND SINCE – Joseph was like, the number two guy in all of Egypt. They were both welcomed and honored guests… BUT – we read the following on page 3 of The Story…
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor
QUESTION – was God surprised by this turn of events? Absolutely not.
Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
– Genesis 15:13
PHAROAH…
• Is afraid of God’s people
• So he enslaves them and tried to crush them with heavy labor
• But the more he oppressed them, the more they multiplied
SO HE – decides to roll out plan B… have all new born babies thrown into the Nile River drowned…
What a brutal man!
What a hateful plan!
UNDERSTAND…
WHEN GOD - sees a helpless child whose life is in danger God says, ‘I need to protect that child, because life is precious and who knows this may be the child I will use to save an entire nation.
BUT…
WHEN - the devil sees a helpless baby he says, “kill it! Get rid of it! You see he hates life and he is afraid that baby may become the next Mother Teressa…
AND – we read in Exodus chapter 2 that a couple from the tribe of Levi had a baby boy at the time the Pharaoh’s decree became law. Now they already had two children a 3 year old boy named Aaron and a ten year old girl named Miriam.
UDERSTAND - Moses parents were godly people so there was no way that were going to obey the Pharaoh’s command… so they hide him for three months. This was a huge act of FAITH, one that they are commended for in Hebrews 11…
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. – Hebrews 11:23
BUT EVENTUALLY – his size and his sounds make that impossible for it to go any longer. So in Exodus 2:3 we read, “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.”
IMAGINE – what that must have been like for her…
BUT UNDERSTAND – Moses mom is a very wise and godly women. She has a plan. She knows where Pharaoh’s baths in the morning. SO - she floats Moses her way, while having his ten year old sister watch and follow from the river bank.
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
(3-12 years of age)
AGAIN - Pharaoh’s daughter finds him, and at some point she brings him home and evidently like a lot of daughters she was able to use her big brown eyes to get what she wanted. “Daddy! Daddy! Can I keep him? Can I keep him?”
And in his mind Pharaoh probably thought, “hey, what harm could one little Hebrew toddler cause… AND SO - the daughter takes him home and she names him Moses. Why? Because Moses means “out of the water”—“to draw out of the water.”
AND PHARAOH – brings into his own home the very one God would use one day to cripple his empire.
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. – Acts 7:22
• Language
• Writing
• Science
• Math
• Architecture
• Leadership
• Military strategies…
Acts One Of Moses’ story ends this way…
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,
Life Of Moses Act Two
Now there is not much ink devoted to Acts 2 of Moses story… in fact, only 10 verses to document 40 years.
From the palace to wilderness
From the prince of Egypt to tending sheep
Talk about a tanking lower story
• Rejected by his own people
• A murderer
• A man with a price on his head
• A fugitive
• A runaway
Yeah, no more servants at his beck and call In the wilderness Moses marries into a godly family and has a couple of sons.
BUT LISTEN - even while in the wilderness, God is working His plan and preparing Moses for the greatest work of his life.
POINT – if you are in the wilderness this morning, if your life is dry, dusty, hot and barren… UNDERSTAND – the Sovereign King of the Universe is still @ work! (Rm 8:32)
Life Of Moses Act Three
NOW – this Act gets a ton of ink… FROM - Exodus 3 to Deuteronomy 34.
137 chapters!
As Act 3 opens up Moses is 80 years old.
He’s been tending sheep for over 14,000 days.
14,000 days of desert heat, desert sand and sheep.
Every day like the last one.
YEAH MOSES – is probably just counting the days to the closing chapters of his life
Little did he know that he was tending sheep in God’s neighborhood.
OR THAT – he was about to be invited to play a major role God’s deliverance plan, and that by the time the sun set that night that things would never be the same again!
UNDERSTAND – we never know what God is fixing to do!
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey
HEY – did you catch all the first person pronouns that God is using?
I have seen… I have heard… I’m concerned… I’m coming down
I’m going to do something.
UNDERSTAND – God’s mind is set. His plan was in motion. FAILURE – was not an option. Nothing would stop Him or stand in His way. His people would be delivered! Mark it down it was going to happen. The redemption mission would go on as scheduled.
AND MOSES - is thinking, “Yeah, God! Awesome! Thank You, God, for intervening. IT – is going to be so incredible to see your people set free!
BUT - in verse 10 he hears that God’s plan is going to involve him. God says, “So now, Moses, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
AND WHAT FOLLOWS – through the rest of their conversation is much like the honest exchange that we have with God when we feel inadequate for some task that He has asked us to do.
And Moses says to God…he says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
NOW – I think what was going through Moses’ mind were the same kind of thoughts that race through our minds whenever GOD calls us to do something that seems beyond our abilities…
God are you serious?
Is this a joke?
Have you mistaken me for someone else?
You don’t really think I can pull this off, do you?
ACTUALLY NO!
UNDERSTAND – God was not counting on Moses’ skill or power to break the bonds that held His people captive.
GOD – was going to do all of the heavy lifting. HE – just needed a man, a leader with skin on Him to speak on His behalf and lead His people where they needed to go.
NOW NOTICE – God didn’t respond to Moses with a pep talk. He didn’t send Moses to the center for ‘You can do it’ Training in an effort to boost his confidence. No God does not try to pump up Moses self esteem… “Come on Moses, you can do this! I believe in you!”
INSTEAD – God answers Moses’ ‘who I am question?’ with FIVE LIFE SHIFTING WORDS, as He simply affirms, ‘I will be with you.”
I MEAN – it’s as if God is saying to Moses, “don’t worry about who you are just focus on the reality that I am going with you! And if I go with you everything is going to work out just fine.
BOTTOM LINE – God and anybody else is an overwhelmingly powerful and unstoppable team…
BUT – Moses is still not convinced…
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
NOTICE - God didn’t say my name is I WAS. OR - did He say my name is I WILL BE. He said tell them, “I AM WHO I AM”; tell them, “I AM has sent me to you.”
That’s because God is omnipresent. If you go back ten thousand years in time, God is there. If you go ten thousand years in the future, God is already there. There is no place that God is not. He has no beginning and He has no ending. He can’t learn anything new or be taken by surprise because He’s already there before the result comes to pass. There is nothing or no one that can prevent Him from anything He desires. He is in complete control over everything in every domain.
UNDERSTAND – God knew that it was imperative for Moses to know who He was – that He was I AM. I AM is the present tense, active form of the verb to be… As God’s name it declares that God is unchanging, constant, unending, always present, always God.
UNDERSTAND - GOD was telling Moses’ and all of God’s people from this point forward including us… “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” – Ex 3:15M
I AM the center of everything
I AM running the show
I AM all powerful
I AM in control
I AM all knowing
I AM the Savior
I AM the same every day, forever
I AM the owner of everything
I AM the Lord
I AM the Creator and Sustainer of life
I AM more than enough
I AM inexhaustible and immeasurable
I AM God
NOW – Moses still tries to weasel out of God’s call…
What if they don’t believe me?
What if they don’t listen to me?
So the Lord reveals to Moses three different miraculous ways in which he would be able to convince the Israelites that this really was God’s plan and that they should follow Moses. He says, “Moses, throw down your staff.” And he throws his staff down on the ground, and it immediately becomes a snake. Then God says, “Pick him up by the tail.” I would love to see that.
But gingerly he reaches down, and when he touches the tail it immediately becomes a rod again.
He said, “The second miraculous sign that I will give you is this.” He said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And Moses did, and when he pulled his hand out it was a hand that was covered with leprosy. He said, “Put it back in again.” And when he pulled it back it was totally whole and clean.
God said, “If they still don’t believe you after that, if the Jewish people still don’t believe that you will lead them out of captivity, then I want you to get some water from the Nile River (the Egptians saw the Nile as sacred) and I want you to pour it out on the ground. And when you pour it out on the ground, that water will become blood.”
QUESTION - do you see what God is doing? God is silencing Moses’ argument that he can’t make a difference, that he can’t convince people to follow him.
UNDERSTAND…
God never calls us without preparing and equipping us.
God will never send us to do anything without going with us
Tim, Laurie - that was true thousands of years ago… AND - it’s still true today.
NOW - I want you to notice when Moses puts all of his excuses before the Lord, God never says, “Oh, Moses, you are so humble. Man, I’m so encouraged by your humility.” No, the Bible says that God got angry with Moses. Do you know why?
BECAUSE - this wasn’t humility; it was self-focus.
UNDERSTAND - insecurity is not humility; it’s pride. It’s too much focus on self. “I can’t do this. I can’t do that. I don’t think I can speak well enough. I don’t think they’ll listen to me. I really would rather not do it. Find someone else.” Where is the focus? “I, I, I.”
But something happens and Moses changes. He becomes obedient and he goes to Pharaoh, the leader of Egypt who had millions of Israelites under slavery.
“We will never see the power of God in our life until we OBEY the word of God is our life…”
NOW - most historians believe that since this is around 1450 B.C. that the Pharaoh at this time is Thutmose. You say, “Well, what’s the big deal about Thutmose?” It’s actually Thutmose III. Well, here is the thing. Most people…historians think that he would’ve been Moses’ half-Egyptian brother. So they would’ve grown up together in the palace, and now forty years have passed. Here is this shepherd. Moses is eighty years old at the time, and he is standing before the king. And this is what Moses says to Pharaoh. He says, “The Lord God says, ‘Let my people go.’”
I mean, you’ve got to understand this is an incredibly telling moment. It’s Winston Churchill staring down Hitler and telling Parliament, “We shall defend our island. Whatever the cost may be, we shall never surrender.” This is Ronald Reagan saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Moses looks at Pharaoh on behalf of God and he says, “Let my people go.”
And Pharaoh looks back at Moses and he says, “Because you have made this request, do you know what I’m gonna do?” And Moses says, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” “Do you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna tell all the Israelite slaves that they must continue to make the same number of bricks that they’re required to make every day. But from now on, because of you, they’ve got to go gather their own straw. We won’t provide the straw. They’ve got to get it themselves.” In other words, “Same production with fewer supplies.”
And Moses exits and leaves, and all the Israelites hear the story and they say to Moses, “Thanks for nothing.” We got our hopes up. We thought God was involved in this, and now we’ve got more work.”
But Moses doesn’t stop there. He begins on a series of visits to Pharaoh. While some of them appear to get Pharaoh’s attention and soften his heart, none of them stick, and he refuses to let the Israelites leave.
And over a period of time, these are the major plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians. Look at these. The first one is that of Nile…the Nile River turned to blood. The second was frogs everywhere…followed by gnats everywhere. And then it became a plague of swarms of flies and then diseased livestock, then boils all over their skin and then thunderstorms of hail, and then locusts and then darkness. And it is the final plague that finally changes Pharaoh’s heart. It’s the one that hits closest to home.
AND - after plague number nine, Pharaoh says, “I don’t ever want to see your face again, Moses.” And he says, “The day I see your face again I will put you to death.” And Moses looks back at him and in Exodus 11:4 Moses says to Pharaoh, “
This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’”
The Bible says that Moses is “hot with anger.” I MEAN – it did not have to be this way… but your stubborn pride and resfual to listen to God has brought all of this on…
And that tenth plague happened just as God told Moses it would—the death of every firstborn son. And the pain that it caused in every home rocked all of Egypt.
Whether you are young or old, if you are a firstborn male, would you just stand right now? And just remain standing. Just look around. In one night’s time, every person standing…wiped out. You can be seated.
If that were to happen today, over night I would lose - my brother, my son John and my grandson Zeb… Can you imagine the pain that was in Egypt that night?
LISTEN – God wanted every to know who He was… That’s why throughout all these chapters in Exodus that you read this week, again and again God says, “And they will know that I am the Lord.”
AND – after these 10 plagues… everyone throughout the Egyptian Empire has seen the power of God and the foolishness of ignoring Him…
So this massive exodus begins. Pharaoh gives Moses permission for these two to three million Hebrews to leave a life of slavery. They are led out of Egypt by Moses as God directs him on the path to the new life that God has for them…
Cloud by day kept the heat off
Fire by night kept them warm
BUT - sometime after Pharaoh has let them go, guess what happens. His heart is hardened again as he realizes, “I’ve just allowed our entire workforce to leave and on top of that they worked for free.” So Pharaoh riles up the Egyptian troops and says, “We’re going after them.” And I doubt that it needed to be a really strong speech in light of the fact that all of them had had family members who had passed away in recent days. A
AND SO - the Egyptians go after them, and they go after them in huge numbers. Thousands of Egyptian soldiers plus six hundred chariots, the Bible tells us, to track them down and to capture them.
Moses has two to three million people that he is leading. And as he leads them, God directs them to a place where, all of a sudden, they look up and the direction that they are moving…they are pinned in by water on all sides except behind them. They turn around behind them, and here come the Egyptians marching over the hill; and they’re coming after them!
And do you know what the Israelites say to Moses? They say, “Thanks a lot! Not enough graves in Egypt for us? Is that what you’re thinking? And so you bring us out here so it’ll be easier to bury us?”
And I want you to watch what happens. This man of insecurity and inadequacy, this shepherd who struggles with public speaking…this is what he says with confidence: (Exodus 14:13)
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
And in one of the most famous miracles of all the Old Testament the Lord instructs Moses to raise his staff and the Red Sea parts. God brings a strong wind to keep back the water, and the children of Israel…they go across on dry ground… AND PHARAOH and his army are no more.
UNDERSTAND - the Bible makes a very strong point when it says, “The entire army was wiped out. Not one of them survived.” And the Israelites realize that they are free at last! Free at last! There is no more slavery for them. AND – it is as God had said, “I am the Lord.”
BUT - don’t miss this: God knew what He was doing back months before when He chose Moses. Moses throws up all of his excuses, but think about it. Moses is perfect now that you know the end of the story. He’s perfect for the job.
I MEAN - he’s the product of the most sophisticated education that was available in his time. He learned strategy and leadership from watching politics from the inside of the palace. All the time he is watching Pharaoh manage large, large groups of people all throughout Egypt. All of these things make Moses a prime candidate to lead. God had been preparing him precisely for this moment. Moses says, “I’m not qualified.” But God says, “Yes, you are if you will just trust in Me. I will deliver the Israelites out of captivity through you.”
WOW
That is some awesome stuff
NOW – for a few quick BUT powerful Upper story truths that explode for chapter 4 of the story…
The Upper Story
God Sees/God Cares
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… - Exodus 3:7,8
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget,
I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. – Isaiah 49:14-16
God Sees/God Cares… I AM
UNDERSTAND - for every cry, there is one answer
(Loui Giglio ‘I know I’m not, but I know I am)
I need help
I AM
I need hope
I AM
I need a fresh start
I AM
I need a reason to go on
I AM
This is way too big for me
I AM
My marriage is crashing and I don’t know where to turn
I AM
I can’t hold on
I AM
Who can I really trust
I AM
I feel all alone and overwhelmed
I AM
I’m tired
I AM
I’m really worried
I AM
I’ll never get beyond this
I AM
I’ll never overcome this
I AM
I can’t
I AM
God Calls
MAPLE GROVE
Just like in the days of Moses… God looks across the world, this country, this community and he sees the pain and he hears the cries of hurting people. AND – He calls on us His people to go and them – to set them free!
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” – Isaiah 6:8
Matthew 5:14-16
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
– Matthew 9:36
God Delivers
UNDERSTAND – God is all about delivering people from where they are to where he wants them to be…
God delivers from slavery to freedom.
This is the obvious lower story of the narrative. God hates oppression and injustice. For us, different sins can become our master and God can free us from slavery as well. Moses was enslaved to the sin of fear. That was his struggle.
Secondly, God delivers from despair to hope. The fact that God wants us to be set free is the upper story. His deliverance gives us freedom now, but it also gives us hope for the future.
And finally, God delivers from death to life.
UNDERSTAND - this story back in Exodus is a preview of salvation and resurrection. And when the Israelites are brought out of Egypt, God is saying that no amount of human power can stop Him from fulfilling His plan. And when Christ comes out of the grave, the same message is there. God is saying that no amount of human power can stop Him from fulfilling His plan.
To give us life in all of it’s fullness…
Now before we leave this story, I want to go back, because I didn’t talk about what spared the Israelites from having their own firstborn sons die on the night of the tenth plague. How were they spared? How were they saved?
They were also supposed to kill a lamb and sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house, and that would be a sign to the death angel as the death angel would pass over that particular house.
How were they saved? Well, the lamb’s blood…it protected them.
And still every year since then, even to this day, 3500 years later, the Jewish people annually celebrate the Passover.
And it is that same Passover meal that Jesus was eating with His disciples on the night that He was betrayed, the night before His crucifixion. Luke 22:7 and 8 say, “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.’”
And then that night at the Passover meal, Jesus took the bread and He said, “This is my body.” And then Jesus took the Passover cup, and He said, “This is my blood.” Do you see what He is saying to His Jewish followers? Jesus was bridging their Jewish tradition of the Passover and showing that this was a transition for all to discover that in a matter of hours Jesus Christ would become the Passover lamb. He would pay for all of their sins and our sins.
So the question is this: How can we be saved today? How can we be saved? And the answer is…the same way that the Israelites were saved: By the blood of the Lamb. That’s how we’re saved.
First Corinthians 5:7 makes it quite clear: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
