Valley View Chapel October 11, 2015 The Story, Part 4 Deliverance Exodus 1-7; Introduction

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1 1 Valley View Chapel October 11, 2015 The Story, Part 4 Deliverance Exodus 1-7; Introduction One rainy Friday we were entertaining friends who had come to DC. We were showing them around the District when we all decided it was time for lunch. Emily and I suggested we go to our favorite Washington Restaurant the Old Ebbitt Grill at 15 th and G Streets, about a block from the White House. The Old Ebbitt does the 4 th highest volume of any restaurant in the country. I knew that getting a table for lunch on a rainy Friday at 12:30 was a long shot but we gave it a try. Sure enough, the place was packed. They were standing 3 and 4 deep by the front desk. I guessed that the wait time was at least an hour, maybe more. I decided to give our son Matthew a call. He managed a fine dining place about a block away on 14 th and G called Ceiba. I said: Matthew, I need some help here. There s at least an hour wait at the Old Ebbitt. Anything I can do to speed things up? Go to the front desk. See Tony Aleman. He knows everybody and controls all the seating. Tell him you re Matthew Fanning s father, kindly ask for some consideration, and slip him a 10-dollar bill. With fear and trembling, I did as I was told. Tony s a pretty intimidating guy. He s not afraid to tell senators and Pentagon bigwigs that they have to wait because someone else is sitting at their preferred table. Tony the All-Powerful took out his notebook that he kept under the front desk, rifled some pages, found what he wanted, and said It will be about five minutes, Mr. Fanning. I slipped him a ten spot and about five minutes later our party of four was comfortably settled in a booth and perusing the menu. Hey, let s face it! We all know that at certain times it pays to know somebody! But that was 15 years ago. Matthew doesn t manage Ceiba anymore. He s out of restaurant management probably forever. Suppose I go into the Old Ebbitt in five years? Tony has retired. Matthew is in another line of work. I go to the man at the desk, tell him I m Matthew Fanning s father and ask for consideration. He checks his notebook and replies: I don t know Matthew Fanning and I don t know you. Do you want me to put you on the wait list? Allow me to paraphrase Exodus 1:8, Then a new matri d, who did not know about Matthew Fanning, came to power in the Old Ebbitt Grill. When you don t know somebody at or near the top of the heap, generally you re out of luck unless you ve got good looks and/or lots of charm. That and $4.57 will get me a grandè skinny mocha at Starbucks. Joseph s Death and Its Aftermath When we last left The Story Joseph was a big shot in Egypt, the second in command. Because they knew somebody Joseph s father Jacob and his brothers were awarded prime real estate in Egypt and other perks. If you remember Joseph s story, his father and brothers and their families came to Egypt in search of food because of the massive famine that had swept over Israel.

2 2 When Joseph died, the memory of his influence, power and wisdom eventually faded from the collective memory of the rich and powerful in Egypt. There came a time when the current pharaoh had no memory of Joseph s exploits. Decades after Joseph s death the Israelites had multiplied in Egypt to the point where they were considered major competitors for the country s resources. That brings us to the first chapter of the book of Exodus. I m going to read Exodus 1:6-14 found on page 43 of The Story. NOW JOSEPH and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country. So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. (NIV) P. 43 Finally Pharaoh devised the final solution to stop the Israelites from gaining control of the country. We read of his wicked scheme in Exodus 1:14 (page 43 in the Story): Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live. (NIV) The Call of Moses Miraculously an Israelite baby boy survived and was adopted by Pharaoh s daughter. He was named Moses. He grew to manhood in the Egyptian royal court. One day he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite and Moses killed the Egyptian. He had to flee for his life. While he was on the run Moses had an encounter with God at the burning bush. You can read about it in the third chapter of Exodus. We re told in Exodus 3:4 (page 45), God called to him from within the bush, Moses! Moses! And Moses said, Here I am. When God wants to do something for His glory and the good of somebody, he usually calls on an individual to be his hands and feet. So when an opportunity to serve God and others comes to you, like Moses you have a choice. You can say Here I am or Not interested. What did God want Moses to do? We re told in Exodus 3:10 (page 46) - So now I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses was going to be the means by which God would deliver his people from 400 years of slavery under the heavy hand of the Egyptians. It may surprise you to know that we all can have a deliverance ministry. It may not be to liberate people literally from slavery although those who are committed to fighting human trafficking are doing just that. But there are probably people in your world and mine who are held fast in the chains of other kinds of slavery.

3 3 Some are slaves to loneliness or discouragement or hopelessness or friendlessness or physical infirmities or old age or economic insolvency or fear or guilt or shame. We can be tools in the Master s hand to aid in their deliverance. God said to Moses in Exodus 3:14 (Page 46), Say to the Israelites, The LORD, the God of your fathers the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. Just as God called Moses as his agent of deliverance on a macro scale to a million or more enslaved people, so the Lord has called you and me on a micro scale to be his channels of healing, comfort, encouragement, and compassion to one or two people who we are in a position to help. Moses accepted God s call. At great risk to himself he returned to Egypt to deliver his people from bondage. Pharaoh continued to make things worse and worse for the Israelites until their lives were virtually unbearable. That s when Moses stepped up and announced to his people plan for their deliverance in Exodus 6:6-8 (Page 48), Therefore, say to the Israelites: I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD. (NIV) Judgment on Egypt God s plan involved not only the liberation of His people from slavery but the complete defeat of Egyptian power. Moses boldly proclaimed to Pharaoh in Exodus 11:4-8 (Page 50), This is what the LORD says: About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, Go, you and all the people who follow you! After that I will leave. Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. God was going to pour out his judgment on Egypt in payment for their centuries of cruelty and injustice to His covenant people. But let us always keep in mind that judgment is never God s first option. Alan Redpath said: God always proceeds reluctantly toward judgment. God gave Noah s generation 120 years to repent. God gave the nation of Judah 150 years to repent after the fall of their northern neighbor Israel. God has given the world almost 2,000 years to repent and recognize Christ as Savior and Lord. In fact Revelation 6:10 tells us that the martyrs who will lose their lives just prior to Jesus return to earth at his second coming will cry out in a loud voice: "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

4 4 The Lord is patient. But he is not infinitely patient. His patience finally ran out with Egypt and it will run out on every person who leaves this earth without believing on Christ as their Savior and Lord. After repeated warnings, God s judgment fell on Egypt. It happened exactly as Moses had predicted. Wailing was heard throughout the land as the firstborn of every Egyptian household perished. Israel s Deliverance The secret to the survival of the Jews is spelled out in the 12 th chapter of Exodus verses 1-3, 5-8, (Page 51): The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD s Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. Christ and the Passover The death of the Passover Lamb and the application of its blood to the doors of the Israelites houses was the only way that the Israelites could be saved from the death angel. The obedient Israelites did it and were saved. The unbelieving and unrepentant Egyptians did not and perished. The New Testament clearly identified Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. John the Baptist hailed Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world in John 1:29 and 1:36. Jesus was hanging on the cross at the precise time when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered. Over and over in the book of Revelation Jesus is acknowledged and worshiped as the Lamb whose sacrificial blood redeems those who believe. And the Apostle Paul categorically declared in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. (NLT) Several important truths emerge from the story of the first Passover. First, salvation was then and is now by substitution. The firstborn Jewish males were spared from death only because a lamb died in their place. We are spared from God s judgment only because Jesus our Passover Lamb died in our place and shed his blood to pay for our sins.

5 5 Second, the lamb s blood had to be sprinkled on the door of the house. There had to be individual appropriation of the divine provision. Jesus died a substitutionary death for the whole world. However, individuals need to repent of their sins and trust Christ personally as their Savior and Lord. God has provided a way out of bondage to sin, fear, death and hell but it has to be his way. The fastest way to get thrown out of your company Christmas party this year is to say loud enough for a few people to hear: There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NLT) You ll be judged narrow-minded and arrogant because of your claim that there is only one way to God. Would we say to a surgeon who told us that there was only one operation that could save our lives: That s narrow-minded doctor! That s arrogant! There should be a variety of ways to save my life! Wouldn t we rather be deliriously joyful that there was even one way to be saved? He surely didn t have to, but God in His grace and goodness provided a way to be saved from the fear of death and the reality of hell: faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Conclusion A Polish Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned at Auschwitz for his anti-nazi activities. Each day the guards would choose one person from the group for execution. On this particular day they selected was a man who pleaded for his life, saying he had a wife and children who were dependent on him and he needed to live in order to look after them. Just as the Nazis were about to drag him from the room, the priest stood up and said, "Take me in his place." The condemned man couldn t believe his ears so the priest told him, "I don't have a family, I am old and won't be missed like you will." The guards agreed, and the priest went to his death. The Passover Lamb died so that a Jewish family could live long enough to cross the Red Sea and be free from Egyptian slavery for a few years. But the benefit of the Passover lamb s death ended when the people died for whom the lamb had given his life. Maximilian Kolbe died so that one man could live out the rest of his life. But the benefit of the priest s sacrifice lasted only until the grateful survivor died. Jesus, the Passover lamb, also died in our place. But here s the difference between the substitutionary death of the Old Testament Passover Lamb and Maximilian Kolbe and the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ: the benefit of Christ s sacrifice will never end. So let us rejoice with the Apostle John who declared with a grateful heart and confident hope: And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (NLT)

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