When the Israelites saw them in pursuit, the Bible says, “…They were sore afraid…” In that fear they turned to Moses and said something that was very disturbing.
We read, “…And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, LET US ALONE, THAT WE MAY SERVE THE EGYPTIANS? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”
If we read between the lines, it sounds like they are saying, they will take freedom from bondage, only:
• If it does not require any sacrifice on their behalf
• If it does not inconvenience them
They said, “LET US ALONE, THAT WE MAY SERVE THE EGYPTIANS...”
(A) THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS
The Lord miraculously delivers them from the bondage of sin. Once they are delivered by the grace of God, sometime afterward, when the journey gets rough, they say, “Whoa! I thought that once you accepted the Lord Jesus your luck started to change for the better and you lived happily ever after.”
HERE IS THE PROBLEM!
They start to think:
• I did not know that once I became a Christian it was going to cost me some friends as I walk the Christian journey.
• I did not know that once I became a Christian it was going to cost me my popularity as I walk the Christian journey.
• I did not know that once I became a Christian it was going to cost me some dates as I walk the Christian journey.
And some of them make that bad choice and reach the conclusion, “Let me alone, I will serve the gods of Egypt.”
(B) THIS IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SOME LOST PEOPLE
There are lost people perhaps in this congregation, who would like to accept the Lord today, but due to circumstances in your life it is not convenient.
That is, some of you have other gods in your life that you are not willing to forsake, such as:
• Some like to take the Lord’s day and play golf
• Some like to take the Lord’s day and go to the beach
• Some like to take the Lord’s day and watch the car races or the football game
• Some like to lay around and sleep on the Lord’s day
And as much as they would like to accept the Lord and become a Christian, these other things in their life mean more to them than accepting the Lord.
Illus: This is how Felix felt when he heard Paul give his testimony to him in Acts 24:25 “…Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”
In other words, Felix was saying, “Paul, what you said sounds great, but I am a politician, and if I take a stand for what is right, my numbers in the Gallup poll will tumble. Maybe later when it is more convenient I will ask you back and will accept the Lord. But at the present time it is not CONVENIENT!”
This is the problem that many have. They know we are saved by grace when we are saved from sin.
BUT THE PROBLEM IS THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE SAVED FROM SIN!
GUESS WHAT? To accommodate the ungodly, the modernists have come up with a way that they propose you can have the SAVIOR and SIN. It is threefold. That is:
• They teach a salvation where you acknowledge there is a God and that makes you a Christian
• Once you acknowledge that there is a God, you can go back and live the old evil lifestyle you have always lived
• You can avoid judgment because they teach that God is love and that He is an understanding God
But the Bible does not teach such a salvation.
Look at John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
Look at the word “Believe”, this is the Greek word “Pisteuo” which means to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ), to commit (to trust)
This is the kind of belief the Bible talks about, not just knowledge. It starts with the mind, but it enters the heart. And once it enters the heart, we are willing to commit our life to Christ.
Illus: The story is told in New York City of a tight rope walker. He tied a tight rope between two buildings. A large crowd gathered on the top of the building with him to see him walk across. But before he did-
• He said, “How many of you believe I can walk across this rope to the other side?” They all agreed that he could do it.
• He said, “How many believe I can place a very heavy object that weighs two hundred pounds, in this wheel barrow and can pushed it to the other side?” They all agreed he could do it.
• He said, “You sir, you weigh about two hundred pounds, you said that you believe I can do it. Get in the wheel barrow and I will push you over to the other side.” The man refused to get in the wheelbarrow.
You see, a lot of folks say they believe that Christ can save them, but when it comes down to really believing with their heart, they are not willing to make that commitment. The kind of belief the Bible talks about is where a person is willing to commit their life to Christ.
WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM WITH SO MANY?
Because most of them know that God saves us by His marvelous grace. However, after God saves us by His grace, many times their lives may be filled with DISCOMFORTS and DISADVANTAGES.
The story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt reveals some of the problems they encountered as they were being delivered. Such as:
I. THE RESISTANCE TO MOSES
The world in which we live is strange to say the least. For example:
• Everybody wants prosperity, but nobody is willing to work for it. They want the government to give it to them.
• Everybody wants to win the war, but nobody wants to fight the battle.
These are some of the weird people that live in our society. This mentality is destructive to a nation. But this same kind of mentality is destructive to God’s church.
Our churches are filled with:
• People who want to see their church reach lost souls but they are not willing to engage in the effort to win them.
• People who want their church to be noted for godly living, but they are not willing to live a godly life.
• People who want to serve the Lord if it does not inconvenience them in the evil life-style they live.
Moses probably goes down in the history books as one of the greatest leaders that ever reigned on this earth. But the fact is that the people of God gave him a hard time.
Listen, it is not always easy trying to lead the flock of God.
James Berkley lists some of the problems that pastors face, such as:
• You finally remember the name of that person you promised to visit in the hospital--while reading the obituaries.
• Your church treasurer sends you a post card from Geneva.
• You are informed that the youth group used steel wool sponges for their car wash.
But also, every pastor has to deal with GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS SITUATIONS!
• Good News: You baptized four people today. Bad News: You lost two others in the swift river current.
• Good News: The Women's Association voted to send you a get-well card. Bad News: It passed 31 to 30.
• Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons. Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about "The Gong Show" and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
• Good News: Your women's softball team won their first game. Bad News: They beat your men's softball team.
• Good News: Your deacons want to send you to the Holy Land. Bad News: They are stalling until the next war. (James D. Berkley, Leadership, Vol. 3, no. 3.)
Every pastor who is trying to lead the flock of God in the way the Lord would have him to lead them, knows the difficulty of that assignment.
After the Lord had miraculously delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, they came to Moses in RESISTANCE saying, “LET US ALONE, THAT WE MAY SERVE THE EGYPTIANS...”
In other words:
• “We did not know that it was going to be rough.”
• “We did not know that we were going to be opposed by the ungodly.”
• “We did not know we were going to make the Egyptians mad at us!”
• “We did not know it was not going to be easy.”
“LET US ALONE, THAT WE MAY SERVE THE EGYPTIANS”
There is nothing worse than having to try and lead a bunch of crybabies.
Most pastors enjoy watching a good war movie. Why?
Illus: In the heat of the battle, when the General in command gives the order to charge, he stands before his soldiers and says, “Charge!” And all the soldiers rise to their feet, and they charge!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to pastor a church, and take the commands from God’s Word, and give the order to charge, and have every one of God’s soldiers rise up and charge?
You don’t hear any soldiers saying:
• “General, I have company coming today and I cannot fight.”
• “General, I have a sore throat today, and I better go home and stay in bed.”
• “General, that lieutenant over there hurt my feelings, and I am not going to fight until he apologizes.”
• “General, I have a better idea of how to win this war than you do.”
• “General, my son has a runny nose, and the whole family is going to stay home and wipe his nose!”
No, none of them come up with this stuff in Uncle Sam’s army. When the order to “charge” is given, they CHARGE!
But many times in the army of God, when God’s man follows the command of God and tells them to charge, all the crybabies start crying, “We do not want to fight, LET US ALONE. We do not want to take a stand and have everyone get mad at us.”
Listen, I want to say something and I hope you won’t take this wrong.
• If you do not have anyone that hates your guts
• If you do not have anyone that is so jealous of you that they tell lies about you
• If you do not have anyone that wishes you would drop dead
It is probably because you are gutless and do not take a godly stand for what this Bible teaches.
We have too many liberal preachers today that are preaching that you can be a child of God, and all men will speak nice things about you.
Look what the Lord said in Matthew 10: 24,25, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”
They did not say nice things about the Lord and His disciples, why should they say nice things about you? God is going to reward soldiers who took a stand for what this Bible teaches, not for those who cried like babies!
We have looked at THE RESISTANCE TO MOSES, but let us also look at -
II. THE REJECTION OF MOSES
Notice that when God’s method of DELIVERANCE became difficult, they rejected God’s man.
Exodus 5:20-21, “And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”
They blamed Moses for making them look bad in the eyes of the Egyptians. But the problem with these folks had nothing to do with Moses. The problem was that they were a bunch of crybabies and wanted everything to be given to them WITHOUT ANY EFFORT OF THEIR OWN.
Illus: Have you ever noticed some of these babies in their mother’s arms? Some of them are so lazy they will not even hold the bottle that feeds them. They want their mother to hold the bottle for them.
Our churches are filled with people who WANT a lot, but they are not willing to put forth any effort to make it happen.
The Israelites wanted the FREEDOM, but once they were delivered and began to make the journey, they wanted to be spoon fed without them putting forth any effort of their own.
Today people reject the biblical advice given by pastors, because they perceive that it is too difficult a path to walk. This is why it is difficult to get people to attend a church where God’s man preaches the Word of God.
IT IS NOT THE MESSENGERS THAT THEY REJECT, IT IS THE MESSAGE FROM THE WORD OF GOD THEY REJECT!
Moses came before the people of God, who had been DELIVERED FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN, and now as they make this journey, God tells them how they are to live, and they reject the message.
There are people who will say, I know he is preaching God’s Word, but I want to find a church where I can:
• Wear the same thing the lost world wears
• Watch the same filthy things the lost world watches
• Read the same filthy things the lost world reads
• Listen to the same ungodly music the lost world listens to
• Tell the same kind of dirty jokes the lost world tells
• Hang out with the same ungodly people the lost world hangs out with
• Have the same heroes the lost world has
• Have the same value system the lost world has
• Believe in the same things the lost world believes in
• Desecrate God’s day at the beaches and the mountains and call it a spiritual retreat
Listen, a lot of lost people say they want to be saved, and you cannot help but to ask them – “SAVE FROM WHAT?” They want to be a Christian and live the same evil lifestyle the lost world lives. They certainly do not want to be saved from sin, because as you look at their lives, and compare them to the lost people in this world, you cannot see one bit of difference.
They REJECTED THE MAN OF GOD because they REJECTED THE MESSAGE OF GOD.
They did not blame God; they wanted to blame God’s man. Moses only led them the way God told him to lead them. They said, “You made us look bad in the eyes of the Egyptians, and now they are going be angry at us.”
It is about time that God’s people, who have been saved by God’s marvelous grace, learn something. They need to learn that if you are going to follow the Lord, IT IS GOING TO COST YOU SOMETHING!
• You teenagers cannot go to the schools you go to and live a life of deliverance, and be the most popular student in school. YOU CANNOT DO IT!
• You employees cannot lie and cheat on your job to get a promotion. YOU CANNOT DO IT!
• You cannot have everyone for your best friend when you stand for what is right. YOU CANNOT DO IT!
Exodus 6:9, “And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.”
They wanted DELIVERANCE, but once they got it they did not want to make the sacrifice we Christians have to make, once we have become CHILDREN OF ROYALTY!
We are saved by GRACE ALONE, but the Book of James teaches us that once we are saved by grace, our life of DELIVERANCE should reflect that:
• WE BELIEVE IN SOMETHING
• WE STAND FOR SOMETHING
• We have been DELIVERED FROM SOMETHING (Sin)
But it is certain that if you do not have Bible convictions that you believe in, THEN you are not going to stand for God.
We have looked at:
• THE RESISTANCE OF MOSES
• THE REJECTION OF MOSES
But let us look at-
III. THE REJOICING BY MOSES
Look at Moses in Exodus 15: 1-2a. We read, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God,...”
Those who go through the rough times are able to enjoy the good times. They went through a difficult time in their journey once they were delivered, but when they came through it, the Bible says Moses and the children of Israel sang unto the Lord.
Before you can celebrate a victory, you have to have a battle to celebrate. They went through the battle and now they are celebrating the victory.
Conclusion:
Illus: Prior to the Civil War, it was not every slave who would risk the dangers of the Underground Railroad to gain his freedom — some were content to remain slaves, judging the “safety” of slavery to be better than the “dangers” of freedom.
So it is today. Some could be free from the bondage of sin, but they choose to remain in their sins rather than be delivered because of the “roughness of deliverance”. But what they fail to realize is this, the Bible says, “The way of the transgressor is hard.”
However hard it may be to be rescued from sin, it is still far better than to live in sin.
I. THE RESISTANCE TO MOSES
II. THE REJECTION OF MOSES
III. THE REJOICING BY MOSES
Note: You can hear Dr. Odell Belger preach on Youtube. Type Youtube Lykesland
