“LET MY PEOPLE GO” Exodus 5:1ff
FBCF – 4/25/21
Jon Daniels
INTRO – The delivery business is big business these days, especially during the months of the pandemic:
- UPS – 2020 revenue up 14.2% to $84.6 billion
- FedEx – 2020 revenue was $69.2 billion
- Grub Hub, Door Dash, Uber Eats
- I was a Mazzio’s pizza delivery guy in college.
But there’s a difference in the delivery business & the deliverance business. In the delivery business, you’re bringing something to someone. In the deliverance business, you’re bringing someone out of something. And that’s the business that God is in! He’s in the business of bringing His people out!
- Out of bondage into freedom
- Out of captivity into liberty
- Out of confusion into peace
- Out of hatred into love
- Out of trouble into joy
- Out of sorrow into comfort
- Out of sin into forgiveness & salvation
- Out of death into life
I’m so glad that He is in the deliverance business.
- Psalm 18:2 – “The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, & my Deliverer…” (CSB)
- Psalm 32:7 – “You are my Hiding Place; you protect me from trouble; you surround me w/ joyful shouts of deliverance.” (HCSB)
- Psalm 34:17 – “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears & delivers them out of all their troubles.”
John Paton, a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the 1800’s, told of how one night, hostile cannibalistic natives surrounded his mission’s headquarters, intent on driving the Patons out of their home & killing them. He & his wife prayed through the entire night, & when daylight finally came, their attackers were gone. A year later, the chief of the tribe became a Christian, & Paton asked the man about that night. The chief replied, “Who were all those men you had with you there?” The missionary explained only he and his wife were there. The chief insisted he had seen hundreds of big men with shining garments & swords circling the mission headquarters, so the natives were afraid to attack (Billy Graham in Angels, God’s Secret Agents, page 3).
Whether by angels, or circumstances, or a preacher preaching just the right message that you needed to hear, God is in the delivery business.
EXPLANATION – Last week, we saw how God called Moses from the burning bush. In that calling was His commission to Moses to go & tell Pharaoh to set God’s people free from bondage & captivity. Moses jumped into the “yeahbut” crowd & started pushing back against the Lord by excuses as to why he couldn’t do what God had called him to do.
- He said he wasn’t qualified
- He said he didn’t have enough knowledge
- He said that he didn’t believe the people would believe him
- He said he didn’t have the skills & abilities he needed to do the job
- He said he just didn’t want to do it – “Send someone else, Lord!”
But, as God always does, He rejected Moses’ excuses & showed him all the ways that He would equip him & provide for him.
As we move into chapter 5, we see the process of
God’s deliverance beginning. And I emphasize the word “process.” Most of the time, when God delivers us, it’s the result of a process & a plan that He has put into action to bring His work about in our lives.
- Walk through order of events in Chapter 5
APPLICATION – God has a plan for deliverance. We have to trust Him.
TRUST HIS TIMING – We have to trust God’s timing in the deliverance that He has planned for our lives. Sometimes that’s hard to do. Look at what happened to Moses & the children of Israel:
- Encounter opposition – Didn’t take long for Pharaoh to oppose Moses’ request to let the people go. Look at verse 2.
- Endure tough times – Not only did Pharaoh oppose their request, he made life much more difficult for the people (5:7-9). Pharaoh told his taskmasters not to give the people any straw to make bricks, but keep the number of bricks required from them at the same level. Then they beat them when they couldn’t keep up the work (5:14).
- Experience frustrations – The foremen of the Hebrew slaves cried out to Pharaoh, but to no avail (5:15-19). Then they met w/ Moses & Aaron & aired their frustrations to them (5:20-21).
It’s hard to keep trusting the Lord for deliverance when the circumstances of our lives look so bleak. The same things that happened to Moses & the Hebrews can happen to us.
- Opposition
- Tough times
- Frustration
Babbie Mason song:
“God is too wise to be mistaken, God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don't understand, When don't see His plan,
When you can't trace His hand, Trust His Heart.”
TRUST HIS METHODS – Aron Ralston – Climbing down into the Bluejohn Canyon in Utah. 800 lb. boulder became dislodged as he was climbing down from it. Smashed his left hand & crushed his right against the canyon wall, pinning him there. Stayed pinned in that canyon for 5 days until he finally decided that the only way he would survive was to cut his own arm off, which he did w/ a dull pocket knife. Now a motivational speaker who continues to climb mountains. Pretty crazy method to employ to be delivered from a life-threatening circumstance!
As we move on further into the story of Moses & how God used him, we will see some of the methods that God utilized to bring about the deliverance of His people.
- They may seem unorthodox
- They may seem unusual
- They may seem unfamiliar
God’s methods of deliverance are incredible – Samson killed 1000 Philistines w/ jawbone of donkey – Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego delivered from the fiery furnace – Jonah swallowed by a fish to get him to go preach deliverance to the people of Nineveh.
Jesus as our Messiah is God’s method for our ultimate deliverance! It’s unlike any method that any other religion in the world has b/c it’s based on God’s love for us.
- It’s relationship-based, not religious rules-based.
- It’s God coming down to us, not us trying to work our way up to Him.
- It’s a gift of grace, not a process of hoping we’ve done enough when we get to the end of our lives.
“Do you know for sure that when you die you’re going to heaven?” I hear many people say, “I hope so.” B/c of God’s method of deliverance through Jesus Christ alone, you don’t have to hope. You can KNOW! Trust God’s method! It’s the ONLY method of deliverance that works!!! Trust JESUS!
TRUST HIS PEOPLE – God can bring about deliverance in our lives in any way He wants to. He’s God & Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.” Most of the time, the way He brings deliverance to someone’s life is by using other people. He doesn’t always use those who we think are the most likely candidates in His work of deliverance.
- Moses is a prime example – Reluctant shepherd in the wilderness who had murdered someone & had a speech impediment.
- David – Shepherd boy who killed a giant, became king, had an adulterous affair, & from whose family line came Jesus.
- Jesus called fishermen & a tax collector to follow Him & be His disciples. The church was birthed out of the work of the HS in these unlikely guys’ lives.
- Even Jesus Himself – King of kings born in a stable in an obscure village in Nazareth. Mother was a teenage girl. Father was a carpenter. One of His own disciples, Nathanael, said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) when Philip told him that they had found the Messiah.
Ever heard of Edward Kimball? Probably not. He was a SS teacher years ago to a young boys’ SS class. Made it his goal to intentionally share the Gospel w/ each boy in his class. One young man didn’t seem to get it while in the class on Sundays. So, Edward Kimball went to the shoe store where the boy worked. He found him in the stockroom & told him about the importance of a personal relationship w/ Jesus. Boy accepted Christ there in that stockroom. Boy’s name – Dwight Moody. Would go on to become an evangelist who would touch two continents w/ the Gospel – thousands were saved.
Story doesn’t end there. Under Moody’s preaching, another man named Wilbur Chapman gave his life to Christ & also became an evangelist. Then when Chapman was preaching a crusade, a young pro baseball player named Billy Sunday had a day off & went to hear him preach. He gave his life to Christ, quit baseball, & joined Chapman’s crusade team.
Billy Sunday was preaching when a man named Mordecai Ham was saved. Ham then went on to become an evangelist. He was preaching in Charlotte, NC, & said that he knew that there was a house across the street from the local high school where boys would skip school & go to meet prostitutes. One lanky high schooler, known by his family as Billy Frank, reluctantly came to his meeting. Touched by the Gospel, Billy Frank gave his life to Christ. We know that young high schooler as Billy Graham, who became the greatest evangelist the world has ever known.
Point is that God uses all types of people in a multitude of different ways to bring about His plan for deliverance. As a result of 1 ordinary SS teacher who had a heart for the Lord, a heart for the Gospel, & a heart for the kids in his class, literally billions of people heard the Gospel & millions were saved.
CONCLUSION/TAKEAWAY – God is in the deliverance business. What’s the deliverance that you need in your life today?
- Deliverance from being lost to being saved?
- Deliverance from being out of fellowship w/ God to walking w/ Him again?
- Deliverance from a sinful habit or addiction into a life of freedom?
- Deliverance from a heart of bitterness or deep-seated anger to a heart of forgiveness & reconciliation?
- Deliverance from a mind filled w/ anxiety & worry to a mind guarded by the peace of Christ?
