The Lord Delivered His People But....

INTRO.- We all know the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, or do we? Here’s another version of that story.

ILL.- It seems that Moses had led the children of Israel out of Egypt—and they now had Pharaoh and his armies in hot pursuit behind them and the Red Sea in front of them.

They were trapped. So Moses called his generals and other tribal leaders together and reviewed with them the desperate straits they were in. What to do? Did anyone have any suggestions?

One of the engineering types suggested that it would be possible to construct a pontoon bridge—but it was quickly noted that they didn’t have time for that. All kinds of crazy ideas were suggested—but none of them have any merit.

Finally, Moses asked, “What if I were to pray to Jehovah God and ask him to send a mighty wind to sweep back the waters of the Red Sea so that the dry land would appear beneath the sea? Then we could cross over dry land. And then when we’re safely on the other side the wind could subside and the waters would rush back and drown the Egyptian army who would be in hot pursuit? What do you think of that idea?”

At this point Moses’ publicity man jumped up enthusiastically and said “Moses Baby, if you can pull that one off—I guarantee I can get you two full pages in the Bible!”

Well, as we know the Lord did deliver the people of Israel from Pharaoh and the Egyptians and he did it by parting the Red Sea.

We believe in the biblical record even though we don’t understand it all. Of course, this record is no different than many others that God did as recorded in scripture.

ILL.- God said, "Let be there light and there was light." How did God do that? No human knows. Even if God explained in detail how He did that we still couldn’t understand. That’s because He alone is God and we are mere humans. We are limited. God is not. We have limited power and wisdom. God does not. God is not limited in any way, shape or form.

The Lord delivered the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt and God is still in the delivery business today. He delivers people from whatever they are in bondage to or enslaved to; booze, drugs, immorality, play, pleasure, gambling, foolishness, and more.

PROP.- The Lord delivers people from their bondage, but sometimes people fall back into bondage. We’ve all probably done this but Jude lists some who did it and were punished.

1- Angels who left home behind

2- People who left morality behind

I. ANGELS WHO LEFT HOME BEHIND

5Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

ILL.- Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, “How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,” he accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied.

“When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.”

“Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife ....... I gave him the cow instead ... Things aren’t always what they seem.”