My Deliverer
Text: Acts 7:17-37
Introduction
1. Joseph took his wife and her child, and they went to Africa
To escape the rage of a deadly king
There along the banks of the Nile, Jesus listened to the song
That the captive children used to sing
They were singin'
a. My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by
My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by
b. Through a dry and thirsty land, water from the Kenyon heights
Pours itself out of Lake Sangra's broken heart
There in the Sahara winds Jesus heard the whole world cry
For the healing that would flow from His own scars
The world was singing
c. My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by
My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by
He will never break His promise, He has written it upon the sky
My Deliverer is coming, my Deliverer is standing by (Song, My Deliverer, by Rich Mullins and the Ragamuffin Band).
2. To the Israelites, Moses was their deliverer who led them out of slavery in Egypt. But Moses was really pointing to the real deliverer – Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
3. Read Acts 7:17-37
Proposition: It is essential that we embrace Jesus, our deliverer, as Lord of our lives.
Transition: First, it is vital that we realize that the deliverer was…
I. Sent By God (17-22).
A. Beautiful Child
1. Now Stephen moves from Joseph to Moses. In vv. 17-19 it says, “As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18 But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19 This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.”
a. Stephen deals with the accusation that he had blasphemed Moses.
b. He points out that God fulfilled his promise to Abraham that his descendants would greatly increase and that they would possess the promised land.
c. He also kept his promise that Abraham’s descendants would be slaves in Egypt for 400 years.
d. A new king came to power who did not know Joseph, and he exploited and oppressed the Israelites.
e. He even forced them to abandon their infants, to literally throw them out and expose them to their elements and to wild animals.
2. However, God, as he always does, had a plan. In vv. 20-22 it says, “At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. 21 When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. 22 Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.”
a. Moses was born, and God considered him a “beautiful child.” This means more than he was good looking, but rather that he was the one who God would use to rescue his people from bondage.
b. God was with Moses from his birth and watched out for him.
c. In miraculous circumstances, Moses’ parents were able to hide him from the Egyptians for three months, and when they had to abandon him Pharaoh’s daughter found him and decided to raise him as her own.
d. In other words, Moses was raised in the palace of the very king that wanted to destroy the Israelites.
e. He received the best food, medical care, clothing, and was educated in the way of the wisdom of Egypt.
f. This last part was no small thing, because the Egyptians had made great advances in everything from science, engineering, medicine, and astronomy.
g. He literally had the best education that a person could receive at this time.
h. He was also powerful as a leader and was powerful in speech and action.
B. At Just the Right Time
1. Illustration: He's an on-time God, yes, He is. Oh an on time God, yes he is
Job said, He may not come when you want him
But he'll be there right on time.
2. God comes to us at just the right time and in just the right way to lead us to himself.
a. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” (Rom. 5:6).
b. Now, I can’t answer for other people, but I know that in my life Jesus came at just the right time and in the right way to deliver me.
c. But I think for everyone Christ comes to us in a way that is unique to us. He truly is a personal savior.
d. He reaches us at just the right time, in the right circumstances, and in a way that touches us as individuals.
e. Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save those that are lost.”
f. And he will do exactly what he said he would do.
g. He is our deliverer!
Transition: However, there is a problem, the deliverer is…
II. Rejected By People (23-29).
A. But They Didn’t
1. Stephen now begins to point out some of the things that Moses and Christ had in common. In vv. 23-25 it says, “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24 He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.”
a. When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his relatives.
b. That word visit means to “look after, relieve, or protect.”
c. So, he wasn’t just going to say hello, but rather he was going to deliver them from the Egyptians.
d. During this time, he saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite and decided to intervene, and in the process killed the Egyptian.
e. Now, pay close attention to what it says in v. 25, “Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God has sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.” Does that sound familiar to you?
f. Does it not sound like Jesus? Didn’t Jesus come to rescue them, but they didn’t recognize him as their deliverer?
g. This is just one of the ways that Moses and Jesus are alike.
2. This rejection of Moses become even more obvious in vv. 26-28 it says, “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’ 27 “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.”
a. Moses went the next day to visit his people again, and instead of showing appreciation for Moses protecting them they criticized him.
b. One of the Israelite men that was fighting his fellow Israelite spoke harshly to Moses asking who made him a judge over them.
c. He even went so far as to ask Moses if he was going to kill him like he did the Egyptian.
d. When Moses heard this, he knew he needed to get while the getting was good.
e. Once the Egyptians found out that he had killed an Egyptian he knew they would want to kill him too.
f. So, Moses fled the country to the land of Midian where he lived as a foreigner.
g. Again, Stephen connects Moses to Jesus. Like Moses, Jesus came to deliver them, but instead he was treated like a criminal.
h. It wasn’t Stephen who was blaspheming Moses, it was the Israelites.
B. Rejecting So Great a Salvation
1. Illustration: There are many who believe that hell is not a literal place prepared for those who reject God. Part of the refusal to believe this comes from the way Hell has been represented to us. It’s become a cartoon of sorts.
a. There is a Far Side cartoon showing the devil (complete with a cape, horns, and a pitchfork) standing beside a man looking at two doors. The devil is there urging the man to choose one of the two doors.
b. One of which is marked “Damned if you do.” The other is of course, “Damned if you don’t.” (Gary Larson's The Far Side®, FarWorks, Inc).
2. Rejecting what Christ has done for you is like driving your car off a cliff, it won’t end well for you.
a. “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?” (Heb. 2:1-3).
b. God sent Moses as a deliver for the Israelites, and they rejected him. How did that work out?
c. God sent Jesus to the Jews, and they rejected him. How did that work out?
d. So, rejecting Jesus, our deliverer is a really bad decision.
e. But people are still rejecting Jesus today.
f. They are rejecting him in their actions, in their words, and in their beliefs.
g. It is imperative that people accept and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
h. What will you do with Jesus?
Transition: It’s also true that the deliverer is…
III. Empowered By God (30-37).
A. Wonders and Miraculous Signs
1. Now, Stephen recalls how Moses was called by God to rescue his people from bondage. It says in vv. 30-32, “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the LORD called out to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.”
a. One day while Moses was out tending his sheep, he saw a bush that was burning but it wasn’t being consumed.
b. So, he went to take a closer look. Stephen says, “an angel appeared to him.” But this was no ordinary angel.
c. In Ex. 3:2 it says, “There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.”
d. In the OT, whenever we see the phrase “THE angel of the Lord,” it is a reference to Jesus.
e. So, Jesus appears to Moses in the burning bush.
2. You’ll notice that Stephen makes this clear in vv. 33-34 where he says, “Then the LORD said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’”
a. Do you see that it goes from an angel that spoke to Moses to the Lord?
b. So, the Lord commands Moses to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground.
c. Then he tells Moses he has seen the suffering of his people in Egypt and tells Moses to go back to Egypt and lead them out of bondage.
d. Again, see the similarities be Moses and Jesus. God sent Moses to lead his people out of slavery, and God sent Jesus, his only Son, to set everyone free from slavery to sin.
3. Now, Stephen shows another connection between Moses and Jesus in vv. 35-36, “So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior. 36 And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.”
a. Again, notice the connection between Moses and Jesus. God sent Moses who the people had previously rejected. God also sent Jesus, whom the people rejected.
b. Both Moses and Jesus were sent by God to an ungrateful people who rejected them, even though God sent them to be their savior.
c. Now, notice another connection between them - signs and wonders.
d. God performed signs and wonders through Moses, just as Jesus performed signs and wonders among the people. Yet, they still were rejected.
4. Then Stephen points out that Moses predicted that Jesus was coming. In v. 37 he says, “Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’”
a. Moses predicted that Jesus was coming. He says that God would raise up a Prophet “like me.” Did you catch that, a prophet like Moses!
b. He also points that this Prophet would be from among his own people.
c. So, not only were the Israelite leaders rejecting Moses and Jesus, but they were also blaspheming Moses because they didn’t accept what he had to say concerning Jesus.
B. God Publicly Endorsed Jesus
1. Illustration: A wise old evangelist was once asked, “Why don’t we see revival happening in the Church in the United States today?” The old preacher scratched his chin and thought for a moment. Then he said, “The reason why we are not living in revival today……is because we are content to live without it.”
2. If Jesus were to come today and perform signs and wonders among us, would we believe?
a. “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.” (Acts 2:22).
b. Jesus came and performed signs and wonders in front of all the people.
c. He healed the lame, blind, deaf, and crippled. He even raised people from the dead. But they still didn’t believe!
d. So, if Jesus were to come today and perform the same signs and wonders, what makes us think it would be any different?
e. We have rejected Jesus in America. We have thrown him out of our schools, our government, and we’ve even thrown him out of the church!
f. We need revival in America, but the only way it’s going to happen is if we open the door to Jesus and say, “Please come in and save us!”
g. We need to fall to our knees in repentance and ask God to forgive us for rejecting our deliverer!
Conclusion
1. Our deliverer has come.
a. He was sent by God
b. He was rejected by people
c. He was empowered by God
2. What’s the point preacher? We have been given a deliverer, but we have rejected him. We need to repent and ask Jesus to come in.
