Carrie and I sat in a theater, watching the movie “Lincoln” a couple of years ago. It focuses especially on the effort that Lincoln made to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution - the one making slavery illegal ion the United States. The whole movie centers around it, and, in a dramatic climax, it’s narrowly voted into Law by the Senate, April 8th, 1864. (155 yrs ago tomorrow) 1 year and 6 days later, Lincoln was assassinated. We knew that was coming, but it’s always a sobering scene to recall it. Lincoln’s self-sacrifice helped to hold the nation together at one of its most critical moments.
The movie closed with words from Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address. The credits rolled. The lights came back up, and everyone began to stir to leave. A lady seated behind us turned to her friend and said, “So, did it pass or not?”
For all of the mistakes our nation made concerning slavery, we’re not at all the first nation to have it. We’re also a nation that went to war with itself over it, and paid with the lives of over 600,000 men and boys to settle the issue.
So, to speak of slavery, for us today, feels a bit removed. We can’t say we relate well to it. It hasn’t been legal in our lifetimes, in our country. When I ask you, “What enslaves you?” that’s an odd question to ask American citizens, isn’t it? “Hey, we’re free! No one enslaves me! These colors don’t run!”
That’s just like the response Jesus received the day He mentioned slavery to a group of Jews who were believing in Him. There was a lot of national pride there. After all, they were God’s chosen people, so it didn’t make them too happy to hear Jesus say,
John 8:31b-33 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Which makes me want to say: Oh, really? What about Egypt? What about the Assyrian Exile, the Babylonian captivity? What about the very day in which they were speaking, where the Romans had the Jews completely under their thumbs?
But Jesus wasn’t speaking about political freedom. He was speaking about a different kind of freedom:
John 8:34
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
The Jews didn’t need to be freed from Roman oppression. They had a far more serious problem.
2 Peter 2:19b
…for whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
So let me ask it again…what enslaves you?
Bob Dillon’s song was right: “You’re gonna hafta to serve somebody.”
Romans 6:16
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
The list of today’s taskmasters is long and familiar. It’s different for most every person. They don’t even have to be bad things – they just have to be powerful enough to control you. What enslaves you?
Work?
Money?
Power?
Pornography?
Media?
Alcohol?
Food?
Fitness?
Fashion?
Sports?
Gambling?
Music?
A Relationship?
Politics?
It’s an incomplete list, but you get the idea.
(Joke)I had a friend who was in the habit of drinking brake fluid. When I told him I was concerned, he said it was no big deal. He could stop anytime.
Have you ever heard someone addicted to some habit say, “Oh, I’m not addicted. I could quit anytime…if I wanted to.” Right. What they’re saying is they’ve decided to give up their control to the enslavement of a habit. They’ve offered themselves to someone to obey him as a slave – his name is actually the same, whether he uses Hugh Hefner, Abercrombie, Jack Daniels, or Justin Timberlake.
Now, if you’re still in denial on this thing, I want you to begin listening here. So far, this has been a long introduction.
Today, I’m introducing a new jaunt into the book of Exodus – “Out of Slavery…Into Freedom.” The whole book of Exodus is really a chronicle of this subject of slavery and leaving it. Just think of the word “Exit” to help you remember that. And while we might be learning about Israel and how God took them out of Egypt, what we’re going to be taking away each week is the way that God has also proclaimed the emancipation of every person who will follow Him. (Turn to Exodus 1)
The story starts where Genesis ends. Genesis ends happy. Joseph is ruler in Egypt, 2nd only to Pharaoh. He sends to have his long lost father and brothers all come down to live in with him. The move helps save their lives. It reunites Jacob with his son. The Pharaoh welcomes them and gives them the best of Egypt. It’s a happy scene. The family of Jacob – Israel – grows. There had been just 70 of them at first (v5), but now “the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.” (v7). God had promised this to Abraham 500 years before. Now, it was happening.
Then, in v8 it all changes. They’re ominous words: “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” If we have the date for the Exodus correct, about 1446 B.C., that means this Pharaoh was Thutmose III. It was a time of powerful rulers in Egypt. Besides being so hard on the Israelites, Thutmose III is remembered for his military conquests.
Suddenly, Israel is asking, “Hey, when did we become slaves?”
Exodus 1:8-14
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves..
So, slavery. What can we learn from it today? Real quickly, let’s let Exodus give us 5 features of oppression that ring true for the things that enslave us today.
1. If Israel had known, they wouldn’t have stayed
The story here doesn’t say this. You have to extrapolate it. Just think it through with me.
If the Israelites had been watching what was going on around them – if they knew that they’d be stuck as slaves building cities for Thutmose III, would they have stayed?
How many of you, if you knew that living in a certain city was going to result in your children being killed, and finally with you as a slave, would stay there? What’s behind the masses of people lined up at our southern borders right now? Well, for one, if you have the opportunity to leave a place that’s dangerous, and full of poverty and diseases, and where you know you’re going to become a slave, you leave it! You don’t stay around and wait for it to happen to you!
But Israel stayed in Egypt – over 400 years. Maybe they weren’t paying attention to the growing political climate. Maybe they were too accustomed to living the good life they were used to in the land of Goshen. Those pot roasts with leeks and onions had a certain satisfying taste. If they had known what was going to happen, wouldn’t they have left?
But Israel stayed. In fact, not much later on, when times were tough in the dessert, there were many among them who looked back to the good ol’ days in Egypt and wondered why they ever left! It’s strange how our minds can become blinded to slavery. But listen again to:
1 Corinthians 10:10-13
nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
What if someone whom you knew was right could tell you, “If you do that you’re going to become hooked on it, and you’ll end up losing your family and your job because of it.” “If you make that the focus of your life, you’ll end up flunking college.” “Keep throwing yourself into that and you’re going to lose your health before you’re 50.”
Would you still do it? Or let’s say you don’t listen, and it happens just like you were warned, and later you’re rescued from it. Would you want to go back to it?
If you know the danger of some powerful taskmaster in your life, why would you stay around? God said to stay away from idols. Paul warned to run away from sexual sins, put aside the deeds of darkness, put off falsehood. There are some ugly slave drivers out there. If you knew what they will do to you, would you hang on to them? Would you hang around with them?
Here’s another feature of Israel in Egypt:
2. They had been told they weren’t supposed to stay there
God had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan, not the land of Egypt. Israel had moved from there to Egypt. It wasn’t supposed to be a permanent arrangement. Gen 50:24, some of Joseph’s last words were: "…God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
God had made them a promise. He’d planned something better for them, and they were just ignoring it.
Do you suppose God wants us reminded that He has bigger, better plans for us than to spend our days in front of a phone or stuck in a wrong relationship or killing ourselves to make a buck?
In case you haven’t heard, don’t leave here today without hearing this:
God has better plans for you! Whatever it is that enslaves you or could enslave you, you’re not supposed to stay there!
1 Peter 2:24a
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
We’re not supposed to stay there! Notice this also as we look at Exodus:
3. There was an enemy who wanted to destroy them. In fact, they lived on his turf!
Thutmose III went from enslaving Israel, to secretly trying to kill their newborn sons, to finally just ordering that all baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. They weren’t just near danger – they were living right in the middle of it.
You and I are living on the enemy’s turf. The ruler of this world, the god of this world, prince of this world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air – these are all terms that are applied to the devil. As long as we’re living in this world, and until the Lord returns, we’re on enemy territory! He doesn’t have to mount an invasion and come get us. We’re living in the middle of a war zone, and we’re behind enemy lines. And guess what – he wants to destroy you!
Ill - June 7, 1944, Stephen Ambrose records the story of Brig. Gen. Norman “Dutch” Cota, assistant division commander of the 29th. He came upon a group of infantry men pinned down by some Germans in a farmhouse. He asked the captain in command why his men were making no effort to take the building. He said, “Sir, the Germans are in there, shooting at us.”
Of course they were! They’re the enemy! The enemy is trying to destroy you!
Satan is no less wanting to destroy you. Have you read where a demon-possessed man lived in the tombs, gashing himself with rocks, crying out night and day? Have you read about the boy, possessed by a demon that would throw him into water or fire, trying to destroy him? Satan wants you destroyed!
Given the opportunity, you can spot his work. It’s all about ruining people, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
What’s enslaving you? Have you seen the way it has ruined other people? Don’t be surprised that the enemy is shooting at you – and don’t be duped into thinking that he’s not.
Exodus makes it very clear that:
4. Slavery made their lives bitter
No one living today remembers first-hand when slavery was legal in the US. But we can at least get a glimpse of it and agree it was a terrible thing.
And you don’t have to experience it to understand that people who are enslaved to sin are pretty miserable. Listen to Ted Bundy, being interviewed just before his execution, as he tells about his addiction to pornography and how it led him to become a murderer. Listen to your friend who has gotten caught up in a wrong relationship and now feels trapped in it. Nicolas Cage, after being married 3X before, was married a 4th time and 4 days after filed for an annulment. Listen for a minute to the lives of celebrities who look pretty on the outside but who are inwardly miserable and empty. Watch closely the man who works ridiculous hours to have lots of stuff and then doesn’t have any time to enjoy it. Visit with the woman who thought she’d be free if she left her family, and now she’s lost everything that mattered to her in life.
Look around until you’re convinced that Satan makes peoples’ lives bitter and uses them ruthlessly.
Exodus is also the story of how:
5. God had plans to free them!
For the rest of their history, God is going to tell Israel to look back and remember the way He delivered them from Egypt. Because even while the Pharaoh was abusing the Hebrews and planning their ruin, God was preserving the Hebrews and planning their freedom. He knew all along that He had big plans for them. He’d promised to give them the land of Canaan, and God keeps His word.
Here’s a great message for any person who’s already enslaved, or who’s in danger of being enslaved: God has made plans for you to be free. That’s the message I want for you to hear today and for the next several weeks.
Some of the greatest evidence of that sits in these seats week after week at CCC. And one of the people I’m speaking about is...
(a testimony here. 7 Min.)
John 8:36b…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Conclusion:
What’s enslaving you?
According to Jesus, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. That’s you and that’s me without Jesus setting us free from it.
Romans 6:20-23
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord .
Up on the stage is the cross. You’re used to seeing that. But today, it has been arrayed with chains as a reminder that the work of Jesus on the cross was to remove the sin that enslaves us.
It may be this morning that you’re caught up in something and you’re finally ready to let the Lord deal with it. We want to invite you to come to the front, while the worship team sings today, write whatever it is that enslaves you, and pin it to the chain as a way to say you’re giving it over to the Lord. Big or small, I’m going to let God deal with this. You may linger here and pray for His help with this, or have someone pray with you.
