GREAT ESCAPES
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Ruby Bonner said that when her daughter-in-law was pregnant, her son went with her to doctor appointments.
2. The day the doctor checked the babies heartbeat for the first time, he handed the stethoscope to the father to listen. The doctor said, "Sounds like a washing machine, doesn't it?" The young husband agreed.
3. On the way home the Young husband was very quiet, then said, "If it's a boy, we can name him Kenmore. If it's a girl, we could call her Maytag!"
B. GREAT MOVIE ESCAPES
1. Some of the most exciting stories of all time involve escape scenes. The original movie The Great Escape was about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II. It featured Steve McQueen who uses a motorcycle to jump over a tall fence.
2. Then there’s the movie, The Fugitive. Only Harrison Ford could escape a horrific train wreck and still have the energy to elude Tommy Lee Jones and solve his wife's murder.
3. In Star Wars, Han Solo & Luke Skywalker help Princess Leia escape the clutches of Darth Vader.
4. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes made an impossible escape from Château d'If, an island prison to which he had been unjustly condemned.
5. The movie, 2012, is a series of escape scenes – with Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) & family escaping from the collapse of the Pacific Coast into the ocean; the explosion of the Yellowstone volcanic basin, and the inundation of the Himalayas Mtns by rising Indian Ocean.
6. Needless to say, people love escape scenes.
C. THESIS
1. The Bible also has many TRUE great escapes – past, present, and future. We’re going to look at some of them.
2. But not everything can be escaped from: especially 3 things. Lastly, there are 5 great escapes WE all must make.
3. The title of this message is, “Great Escapes.”
I. EXCITING GREAT ESCAPES IN BIBLE
A. LOT & FAMILY Genesis 19
1. Angels assisted the last minute escape of Lot and his family. They weren’t trapped there by assailants, but were enslaved by their own compromise & desires.
2. Running across the plains, they barely reached the outskirts of the blast zone when fire and brimstone fell from heaven.
B. THE 2 SPIES Joshua 2:1,4
1. In an espionage case reminiscent of 007, we see the King of Jericho's men searching the house of Rahab, with their swords drawn.
2. No Israelites were found in the house or on the roof, just a pile of flax. Underneath it were the two men, who she let down the wall of the City with a rope at nighttime.
C. SAMSON Judges 16:3. O.T. Superhero, like Hulk
1. One time Samson spent the night in Gaza. The Philistines decided to kill/ arrest Samson, so they locked and guarded the gate so he couldn't get out.
2. In the middle of the night Samson arose and finding the gates locked, he picked up the gates and the posts – weighing tons – and carried them 38 miles to the top of the hill.
D. DAVID 1 Samuel 23:26
1. David was pursued by Saul. The pursuit got so close that David and his men were on one side of a mountain and Saul and his men were coming around the other side of the mountain.
2. Henry Ford said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
E. PETER Acts 12:10
King Herod captured the apostle James and put him to death. Next Herod captured Peter, intending to kill him also after the Passover.
2. Peter was in maximum security with 16 guards guarding him. Even in his sleep, Peter was chained to four soldiers, who were evidently lying with him on the floor.
3. But an angel appeared in the prison and escorted Peter out while the guards were kept asleep. When Peter
went to John Mark's house where the believers were holding an all-night prayer meeting, he encountered Rhoda the servant girl.
4. She left him at the door and went in to tell the people of faith and power that Peter had been released from prison. Instead of believing Rhoda, they thought she was delusional or else she was seeing Peter’s ghost.
5. But it was true, Peter had escaped.
F. PAUL – When he was a basket case
1. Paul was in Damascus when he was converted. He began boldly preaching that Jesus was the son of God. The Jews pressured the King, Aretas, to arrest Paul.
2. The city was surrounded with troops on the wall, and house to house searches were made for Paul.
3. Unable to escape through any of the gates, Paul was let down in a basket in the wall and so escaped.
II. THINGS WE CAN’T ESCAPE FROM
A. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
“For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” Rom. 14:10-11.
B. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTING SALVATION
“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” Heb. 2:1-3.
C. IF WICKED, THE DAMNATION OF HELL
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” Mt. 23:33.
III. GREAT ESCAPES YOU NEED TO MAKE
To “escape” means to be in danger of capture and elude; to be set free; to flee.
A. ESCAPE FROM ERROR/ DECEPTION
1. 2 Pet. 2:18 "... they entice people who are just
escaping from those who live in error."
2. The world is said to live in deception, and this error is something which must be escaped from.
3. How can you escape from error? Answer -- Be a lover of the truth! Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Jn. 8:32.
4. Paul warned that this generation will end in deception. “…the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” 2 Thess. 2:10-11.
5. GETTING CAUGHT IN A LIE
a. A certain woman, preparing to entertain guests, went to a small grocery store to buy food. She stopped at the meat counter and asked the attendant for large chicken.
b. He reached down into the freezer, grabbed the last chicken he had, and placed it on the scale. "This one weighs 4 pounds ma'am," he said.
c. "I'm not sure that will be enough," the woman replied. "Don't you have a bigger one?"
d. The attendant put the chicken back into the freezer, pretended to search through the melting ice for another one, and then brought out the same bird, discreetly applying some finger pressure to the scale.
e. "Ah," he said with a smile, "this one weighs 6 pounds." "I'm just not sure," the woman frowned. "I'll tell you what -- wrap them both up for me!"
B. CORRUPTION
1. Corruption is the contamination of sin in the world.
2. 2 Peter 1:4, "... having escaped the corruption [infiltration of disease] that is in the world through lust."
It’s the opposite of devotion, sacred, holy, set apart.
3. How can you escape it?
a. Not conforming to the pattern of this world.
b. By "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" 2 Cor. 7:1.
4. ILLUS. A girl in a white dress wanted to go into a coal mine. The man at the door said, "However you go in, Lady, your dress won't come out white!"
C. TEMPTATION
1. 1 Cor. 10:13, " There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
2. God will provide a way – but you must take it. There was a college man who literally ran when he was confronted with temptation.
3. Like one country boy confessed about the urge to steal a watermelon: “I can’t stop my mouth from watering, but I can run!”
D. TO THE PRESENCE OF GOD
1. “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord…” Jonah 1:1-3.
2. Jonah knew God had a special job for him, but he didn't want to do it.
3. He may have run out of fear or stubbornness; “God is asking too much.” Or it could've been anger at what appeared to God's excessive mercy.
4. But his running only God him into more trouble.
E. PHYSICAL ESCAPE: THE RAPTURE
1. Luke 21:36, "Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
2. What a blessing to escape from the plagues and judgment of the Great Tribulation period!
3. Friend, you don’t want to miss the Rapture. But not everyone who’s talking about heaven is going there! Only those who robes are washed white in the Blood of the Lamb will go!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. John Colter was born at Stuart’s Draft, Virginia in 1774 and later moved to Mayesville, Kentucky, where he developed great skills in the wilderness.
2. He was invited to be part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806), which mapped the Rocky Mountain area.
3. Afterward, during the winter of 1807–1808, he became the first known person of European descent to enter the region now known as Yellowstone National Park, and to see the Teton Mountain Range.
4. Colter spent 6 years in the wilderness, and is widely considered to be the first mountain man.[Wikipedia] But his most famous chapter lay ahead.
5. In 1809, he and John Potts were trapping beaver in the Three Forks (Montana) area of the Missouri River, deep in Blackfoot Indian territory.
6. One day, while inspecting traps by canoe, he and Potts were suddenly flanked by Blackfoot warriors. Potts was killed as he tried to escape, but Colter was captured.
7. The attackers stripped him naked and took all his possessions. Colter awaited his own execution, but to his puzzlement, they set him free and told him to run.
8. He took off and soon realized this was a game of "human hunt." Several hundred Blackfoot set off in pursuit. What followed was a legendary 11-day overland trek.
9. Traveling day and night, Colter climbed mountains, scurried across fields, and tramped through woods, covering an unbelievable 300 miles as he made his way to safety.
10. Colter had 2 Indians overtake him and was forced to kill them. When he got to a river, he swam in the icy waters and hid in a beaver lodge until after the hunting party had left. He eventually made it to Fort Raymond and safety!
B. THE CALL
1. John Colter may have escaped the Blackfoot Indians, but he will still have to stand before God. So will you and I. The question this morning is, “Are YOU ready?”
2. If Jesus were to come back this morning, would you be “accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man?”
3. Have you escaped deception, corruption, and temptation – or have they controlled you lately?
4. The Apostle said, “How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” Heb. 2:3. Have you been ignoring your salvation?
5. If you feel the need to get right with God, I want you to stand right where you are. God is saying, “You’ve put this off long enough; commit to Me today to serve Me faithfully from this day onward.”
