DELIVERANCE Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN February 6-7, 2016

Transcription

1 1 DELIVERANCE Sermon preached by Pastor C. John Steer Autumn Ridge Church, Rochester, MN February 6-7, 2016 No. 4: The Story of Scripture Scripture: Exodus 1-7, We are making our way through The Story of Scripture. In the first three weeks we covered the book of Genesis. Now we are in Exodus where we meet the greatest character of the Old Testament. His name is Moses. Here are four fascinating facts to give you a feel for this extraordinary individual. Fact 1. Michelangelo s amazing sculpture of Moses depicts Moses with horns on his head. This is because of a mistranslation of the Hebrew text. This shows us the importance of good Bible translation. Fact 2. Moses lived for 120 years and his life can be divided into three parts of 40 years each. The first 40 years are from his birth until he ran away to Midian. As Pharaoh s son Moses learned how to become a somebody. The second 40 years was from Midian to the Exodus. In desert places Moses learned how to become a nobody. The third 40 years was from the Exodus to his own exodus. As leader of God s people he learned that God is for everybody. Fact 3. Moses gave us the first five books of the Old Testament called the Pentateuch and God gave him the Ten Commandments. This made Moses the first man to use a tablet. No wonder Moses was David Livingstone s favorite biblical hero. Fact 4. Moses is an Old Testament type of Christ. The parallels in their lives are extraordinary. Both Moses and Jesus were saved from death as infants. Both fasted for 40 days. Both had power to control the sea. Both fed a multitude.

2 2 Both had a shining face. Both endured criticism. Both were discredited at home. Both were mighty intercessors. Both had 70 helpers. Both reappeared after their death. But the most important fact about Moses for us is that he was a man who knew God. He was called the friend of God. He is the only person in the Old Testament who had the privilege of face-to-face communion with God. So Moses can tell us a lot about the God who created us and who calls us to himself. Moses life is marked by four great encounters. First, as a baby MOSES MEETS PHARAOH S DAUGHTER. Last week we saw Joseph as Secretary of Agriculture welcoming his father, Jacob, and his brothers to Egypt, giving them food and land. Now 400 years have passed and the new Pharaoh doesn t remember Joseph. The group of Israelites has grown from 70 to maybe a million and Pharaoh is really worried about these immigrants. Like some governments around the world today, he wants to get rid of them. So Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites and orders that all their boy babies should be killed. It is during this time of persecution that Moses is born. His mother could not bear to throw him in the Nile. So she hid him for three months But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. (Exodus 2:3) Moses sister, Miriam, is posted nearby to keep an eye on things. One morning Pharaoh s daughter goes down to the Nile to bathe and she hears a baby crying. She investigates and finds little Moses. Moses life could have ended right here if Pharaoh s daughter obeyed her father s command. She could have picked the baby up and thrown him into the Nile. But at that critical moment Miriam steps up and asks Pharaoh s daughter, Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? (Exodus 2:7) It is a brilliant example of quick thinking inspired by the Holy Spirit. Miriam is encouraged to do so and comes back with Moses own mother who is given these extraordinary instructions by Pharaoh s daughter, Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you. (Exodus 2:9) The Exposition of Moses by Nicolas Poussin

3 3 So Jochebed was the first woman paid to raise her own child. Jochebed raises Moses until he is weaned. Moses is then taken to Pharaoh s palace. In this action God reveals his deliverance. The Lord takes care of Moses just as God takes care of us. Pharaoh had wanted to destroy every Hebrew boy but instead Moses is adopted by Pharaoh s daughter and she raises him as her own son. The doctrine of adoption is an important one in scripture. Paul writes God sent his son that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:4-5) When we put our trust in Jesus, he adopts us into his family. He nurtures and protects us. This is why Christians love the practice of adoption. It goes all the way back to Moses who without adoption would have died. Growing up in Pharaoh s house Moses received a magnificent education. He learned to read and write using the Egyptian system of hieroglyphics which we know from the tombs and temples of Egypt. He may also have known something about the cuneiform wedge-shaped writing of Babylonia for this was commonly used for international correspondence. This was excellent training for when he came to write the opening five books of the Bible. Moses lives an immensely privileged life in Pharaoh s palace until one day he sees an Egyptian beating a fellow Jew. He is filled with anger and Looking this way and that and seeing no one, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:12)

4 4 Pharaoh hears about this and tries to kill Moses who runs far away to the land of Midian. The New Testament book of Hebrews provides this profound spiritual insight of what is happening here when it explains "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. (Hebrews 11:24-26) According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, Moses could have become Pharaoh so when he chose to throw in his lot with the people of God he was renouncing all claim to the throne of Egypt. The second great encounter in Moses life is when MOSES MEETS GOD. Moses spent the next 40 years of his life as a shepherd looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. It may seem like a wasted interlude, but in the desert of Midian Moses had opportunity to learn the roads and the sources of water supply and all the other details he would need when the time came to lead the people of God through this wilderness on a 40 year march. You should never go into the desert without some knowledge of the terrain. Moses knew the area. He had spent 40 years there. God is using this wilderness experience to prepare him. Then one day while Moses is looking after his sheep, he sees something extraordinary. A bush is on fire but it doesn t burn up. There is not much excitement in the wilderness so Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight. (Exodus 3:3) At the bush God calls him by name and tells him, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. (Exodus 3:5) Moses Before the Burning Bush by Domenico Fetti God now gives Moses his commission to go and lead the Hebrews out of their slavery in Egypt. Moses sees a practical problem with this proposal. Why should anybody take any notice of him? He has been away from Egypt for 40 years. Who is going to listen to him or follow him?

5 So now God reveals his name and says to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. (Exodus 3:14) I am who I am is the name Yahweh, or Jehovah as we sometimes say it in English. This is the name that God wanted to be known by and worshiped in Israel. It is a name that expressed his character as a dependable and faithful God. It was the name that Jesus used to describe himself when he told the Jewish leaders, Before Abraham was born, I am! (John 8:58) When we know the name of God we have spiritual authority. As Christians we know the name of Jesus. There is enormous power in that name. For those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus tells his disciples I will do whatever you ask in my name. (John 14:13) 5 Moses third encounter is his most terrifying yet for now MOSES MEETS PHARAOH. It took a lot of courage to go back to Egypt where there had been a price on his head. It takes enormous bravery to go to the most powerful man in the world and say, Let my people go. (Exodus 5:1) Pharaoh understandably asks, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go?" (Exodus 5:2) Pharaoh doesn t want to lose his workforce of slaves. Had Pharaoh agreed to Moses request to let his people go there would have been no plagues and no loss of life. The right thing was to release the slaves and allow them to go to the land that God had promised them. Pharaoh shows us the high cost of disobedience when he refuses to let God s people go. So God reveals his power. We now see a power encounter between God and Pharaoh. God sends the famous ten plagues on Egypt. These plagues were designed to shake the faith of the Egyptian people because each plague was attacking one of their Egyptian deities. In those days there were no atheists. Everybody believed in God. The question was who is the most powerful God? That is being answered in these 10 plagues. You can see the contest from this chart. PLAGUE EGYPTIAN GODS Nile turned to blood Isis goddess of the Nile Frogs Hagt goddess with a frog head Gnats Set god of the desert Flies Uatchit god represented by a fly Death of livestock Hathur goddess represented by a cow Boils Seksekhmet goddess of disease Hail Set god of storms Locusts Osiris god of crops and fertility Darkness Re sun god Death of firstborn Min god of reproduction

6 6 The plagues started with the waters of the Nile being turned to blood. It sounds a lot like what has happened in Flint, Michigan. The Nile was the life source of Egypt. It provided water for agriculture and drinking. One by one those false Egyptian gods are defeated. Think of this. The God who saved the Hebrews in the Exodus is still worshiped today. But the gods of the Pharaohs are nothing more than artifacts in museums. These plagues were devastating to the Egyptians but still Pharaoh would not free the Hebrews and we are told why. The Lord hardened Pharaoh s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. (Exodus 10:27) God does this because he wants to get to the end of the list which is the death of the firstborn. Every family has a firstborn so this would impact every home in the land. When God called Moses to confront Pharaoh he referred to Israel as his firstborn son. (Exodus 4:22) Now Pharaoh would lose his firstborn son for threatening the life of God s firstborn son. If we are tempted to feel sorry for Pharaoh let s remember that he had given orders that every Hebrew boy was to be thrown into the Nile and drowned. This meant thousands of little boys were killed. Pharaoh was an immensely evil individual who thought he was in control of people s lives. Pharaoh had to learn that there was a greater king. This shows us that God hates injustice and he hears the cry of the oppressed. The fourth great encounter in Moses life is when MOSES MEETS HIS PEOPLE. He becomes the great leader of Israel. Now God reveals his plan. It is the Passover which Jews practice to this day. In preparation for the tenth plague and to provide for their deliverance Moses instructs his people to take an unblemished lamb. They are to slaughter it and paint its blood all over the doorframes of their home. Having done that they were to have a ceremonial meal of roast lamb along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. God even gives Moses directions for how they were to dress for Passover. 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." (Exodus 12:11) The Feast of the Passover by Dieric Bouts

7 7 Well the Israelites did what the Lord commanded. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead." (Exodus 12:29-30) The Angel of Death destroyed the Egyptians but God delivered the Israelites. He passed over all the homes where he saw the blood. And the people of God never forgot that night. Death of the Firstborn in Egypt by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema As a result they were able to leave Egypt and start their journey for the land God had promised Abraham. They exchanged slavery for freedom. After they crossed the Red Sea they never saw the Egyptians again. We see why Moses has always been a hero to oppressed people and why the story of the Exodus has encouraged those in slavery. It was very much part of the preaching in Black churches during the Civil Rights Movement and it speaks to people today in places like North Korea and Syria where there is much oppression and little freedom. We are all in slavery to sin. The destroyer, death, is coming. We need the blood of the Lamb, just as the Israelites did. Where will we get it? John the Baptist tells us, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29) Paul declares, For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7) The deliverance from sin is free, but you must ask for it. If you have never asked God to apply the blood of Jesus to your life, do it today.