920 Biblical Characters - The Exodus Out of Egypt (Ex. 13:17 – 14:31)
Exploring Biblical Characters • Sermon • Submitted
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- The Bible records 2 great saving events in human history
- Firstly, in the OT: the Exodus of Israel
- The second is in the NT: salvation from sin & death through Jesus
- Nearly all Scripture surrounds, establishes, supports, clarifies & implements these 2 great events into the lives of God’s people
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- But we also have a development in God’s salvation
- The second, in the NT, exceeds the first in so many ways
- The second is the crown – the fulfilment of that promise God gave to Abraham, that through him, all the nations of the earth will be blessed
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- The coming of the Lord Jesus was none other than the coming of God Himself
- The incarnation of God into the world of men & women
- The things Jesus said & did were the very words & actions of God Himself
- What He accomplished was no mere temporary salvation which we witness in today’s reading, but a salvation that keeps a person instead for time never-ending
- It is salvation from the penalty & the power of sin & salvation from the permanent hold of death
- Yes, we die, but those in Christ will one day, rise from the dead to unending life
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- What we see here in this passage of Scripture is the first great saving event in human history
Q. How is this significant - & what part does Moses play in his leadership of the people?
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Picture of the big chair in the famous Jack Daniels distillery when we vacationed in the United States in 2019
- We were so fortunate that we returned before the international borders were closed
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- People run into trouble when they get too big for their boots
- Compared to the Lord, this is what a human leader would look like in God’s chair - yes I have cast myself in a negative light there for this illustration - but that’s ok (turn off)
- Pharaoh’s attitude to people was that of hubris – arrogance & pride
- Thinking himself as the son of Ra, the mythical sun-god, he thought that he was way far above those around him, even thinking he could challenge the living God who is now revealing Himself to the world
- If you recall, the Lord God revealed His personal name to Moses at the burning bush, saying, “I am who I am” which is the meaning of His name: Yahweh
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- Bad leadership is leadership that is egocentric & all about the leader
- We have witnessed the appalling abuse of the people of God as certain charismatic leaders have made their ministry all about themselves & their celebrity status
- On Sixty Minutes recently, they highlighted some of the scandals of the Hillsong church & the celebrity status of their leadership
- What they were reporting was the sexual abuse of women by these leaders & how it was covered up
- I’m not saying anything beyond what they reported
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- But what I am saying is that the celebrity cult in Christian leadership has no place in the Kingdom of God
- A Christian leader is not one who elevates himself but elevates the Lord
- Like John the Baptist, when his disciples were saying that people were going to Jesus & being baptised by Him, he said…
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
- Moses shows real leadership here in how he helps the people of God
- Even though he gained in prominence in their eyes & that by the design of the Lord, he retained what was so necessary for leadership – he pointed people to the Lord
3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)
- This was a comment made during a challenge to his leadership by Miriam & Aaron but the Lord would have none of it
- So, leadership is not about prominence, but servanthood & in pointing people to their true leader: Christ & God
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- Here is the situation facing the Israelites & the counsel of Moses after the Egyptians chased them down & hemmed them in against the Red Sea
1. Held Back by Fear
1. Held Back by Fear
10 As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?
- Fear became the classic trigger for unbelief
- Like the pandemic, fear drives people to irrational behaviour & irrational conclusions
- Just think about it – God poured out 10 plagues on Egypt & made it clear that He is God of heaven & earth & abundantly clear that He has set apart Israel as His own
Q. How on earth, do people who knew all this, all of a sudden decide to not believe?
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- It’s like those stories of battered women who completely & humiliatingly defend their husbands & make excuses for them
- The Egyptians had humiliated them, dehumanised them, enslaved them & here they are saying that they would be better off back in that situation
- Problem with all this is that people are too bound up with just what is going on in the present
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- Christians, however, are people of the future & how they live now is precisely built upon the future & in reliance on the past
- The past in what God has done to secure us as His people & the future in what God will do to confirm us as His people
- It is on this basis – the past & the future – which gives us the reason & the meaning for living in the present
- But if we merely live in the present & by the present, then faith will evaporate quickly
5 Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him!
- However, the Israelites, forgot about the past & ignoring what had been promised for the future, turned from the Lord in unbelief
- Fear is what exposes this lack of vision for both the past & the future & controls the person
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- So let us learn from their failings & make sure that we have the vision to see what God has done in the past & what He will do in the future & live life now in the present with faith & confidence in the Lord
- Their leader, Moses, now 80 yrs of age gives them sound instruction for such an occasion as this...
13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
1. Don’t be Afraid
2. Stand Firm in faith
3. Watch the Salvation of the Lord
a) Don’t be Afraid
a) Don’t be Afraid
- This seems all well & easy to say until you are faced with a terrible threat
- We faced a mild earthquake in comparison to many places around the world – in those scenarios it would be hard not to be afraid
- Fear is natural & a way we help preserve our lives from danger
- In fear, you run for your life if you see boulders rolling down the hill to you
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- Fear only becomes a problem when it grips hold of a person to such an extent that they freeze up or they act irrationally
- I well remember the training I received on public speaking
- There is a real fear getting up & speaking in front of people
- We fear that we might make a fool of ourselves & suffer embarrassment
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- We were told in college that fear is perfectly normal & helpful up to a point
- Fear gets the adrenaline going & makes you ready for either “flight or fight”
- Public speaking is one of those areas where you should have a certain level of nervousness yet too much nervousness will cause a person to either freeze up or to say something that you would not normally say
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- When it comes to fear, it seems to be related to the amount of loss that one might expect to sustain
- The greater the expected loss, the greater the fear
- The Israelites here expected a great loss which meant then a great fear
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- Yet, with their lack of faith, they only saw great loss which means that they had forgotten what the Lord had done to the Egyptians & His promises to them about their future in the Promised land
- It was simply their lack of faith that caused a great fear of loss
- The lesson here – don’t hold so tightly the things that are temporal but instead, look to what is yet to come
b) Stand Firm in Faith
b) Stand Firm in Faith
- Take your stand, hold fast, says Moses
- This is in contrast with mass panic with everyone running this way & that
- So embarrassing to do that in front of the Lord who had just saved you out of Egypt
- They had a pillar of smoke & fire that went before them – didn’t that count – didn’t that give them a hint of something special & supernatural?
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Q. What might it look like to stand firm?
- We can explore this from 2 angles
- First is believing that the Lord will do what He says – that He is truthful
- You wouldn’t trust a constant liar, would you?
- This is what is happening to governments all around our country
- The level of trust in believing what they say has just gone
- That’s not me saying it, the polls that are being run are confirming it
- You must be honest, credible & carry through with what you say
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- The second angle is that He has the power to carry out what He says
- It’s all well and good to make a deal with someone for, say, goods & services, but if they can’t deliver what good are they?
- In the judgements on Pharaoh & Egypt, God demonstrated that no god of the Egyptians could match Him
- He utterly stomped on that nonsense & it was like rubbing salt into the wounds of the Egyptians
- This was the Lord’s means of showing the Israelites that He has the power to look after them
- As they trust Him, He will provide & look after them
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- To take your stand then, means to not panic but to be in a state of expectation as to what the Lord is going to do
- You remember the past, you remember what the Lord has said & done
- You establish that He is trustworthy
- You have in your mind His promises for your future
- Based on His past reliability, you trust Him on what He will do in the future
- With all this in mind, you stand fast in faith & in confidence that the Lord will have your back no matter what comes
c) Watch the Salvation of the Lord
c) Watch the Salvation of the Lord
- After standing fast, Moses says to watch what the Lord will do
- Well, the Israelites are apart of what will happen, but it will not be the Israelites who are going to do the fighting, but the Lord
- The Lord will fight the battle
- The Lord had already said that He would fight for them
- So, there should not be any panic
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- Remember the disciples in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee
- Suddenly a storm roars up over the lake and Jesus is asleep in the stern
- The waves & wind start getting violent & the boat is filling up & they wake Jesus up in a panic
Mk 4:38–40—38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
- Here Moses reiterates to them
14 “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
- God requires us to respond to Him, but it is He who does the fighting; He provides the salvation
- Israel had to go through the sea with a wall of water either side of them, but it was the Lord who provided the way of escape & it is He who brought the water down on the Egyptians
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- There is another reason for God preserving the Israelites in this special way
- The Lord sets this up so that attention will be drawn to Himself
Q. How can you show people who you are?
- Through great acts of supernatural power
18 “Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
- Egypt used & abused the Israelites – even demanding they kill their newborn sons
- They had them enslaved to serve the Egyptians 7 days a week
- They were the Israelites enemies
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- The Lord comes as their Saviour & the One who will overthrow the strength of the Egyptians
- By overthrowing Pharaoh, Yahweh will be honoured or glorified
- The word honoured/glorified here has the sense “to be weighty or to carry weigh” like the weight of precious stones that shine & sparkle
- This essentially means that God is making Himself significant to people
- He will blow them away with His significance & greatness
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- Now if this statement of honour/glory was carried out by a human leader, we would choke on it
- Fancy someone wanting to glorify himself to look good to people
- We would say: that is arrogance & that the person was a despot
- However, we are not dealing with a human leader
- Here is the Lord God almighty, maker of heaven & earth & who does not er
- By default, He is worthy of all glory, honour & praise
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- Yet, the enhancement of His honour or glory is a mighty benefit to mankind
- We have already seen the benefit to Gentiles: Rahab, the prostitute & her family
- Because of God’s display of His mighty power, she became a believer in Him – she heard of it & attached herself to Him
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- It is especially true of His people
31 When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.
- They feared the Lord – which means people would not dare go against Him, but will follow what He says
- They believed in Yahweh, meaning that they could & would trust Him
- Even though time & time again, we see that trust wane, yet it is re-established when the Lord reveals Himself in power
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- Moses was a great leader – the Lord confirmed the things He taught them & encouraged them in
2. Going Forward
2. Going Forward
Q. What would you prefer for your life?
Q. To be held back by fear or to move forward with confidence & hope?
28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. 29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
- The Lord fought the battle & won - of course
- Through the leadership of Moses, Israel went forward with the Lord in faith & obedience to Yahweh God
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- They could have cowered in fear & froze & just bowed down to Pharaoh in surrender
- But they trusted the Lord & moved forward by His word
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Q. What does this mean then for us in the 21st C.?
- I think for us in our lives lived day by day, it has meaning through us moving forward in the will of the Lord
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
- The world is passing away people – all the cares for the world will be in vain since it is passing away
- Surely, this speaks to where we need to put our focus
- I go back to what I said earlier
- If we are so fearful, that we freeze or cower before the unbeliever or the secular empire around us, we will be the poorer
- What I mean is this – we can serve one of two masters – ultimately which master will we bow to?
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- Now I get it, we have to live in the world, but I’m suggesting that we are not to be of the world
- That can be quite a challenge
- The biggest challenge is knowing what the will of God is
- I think if we were absolutely clear on His will, we would all go out on a limb for the Lord
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- Admittedly, the current vaccines & the vaccine mandates have caused great angst & division within the Christian community
Q. Is it the will of God that we take the vax or refuse it?
Q. Should we obey the governing authorities or reject them on this issue?
- Each Christian will have their own conscience exercised on this
- But we come back to that question: what is the will of God?
- Christians of both consciences, I have no doubt, would be happy to do whatever God’s will would be
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- The real question is knowing what is the will of God on this issue
- We have principles in the Scriptures to apply but, we need to make sure we uphold the first principle among believers & it is this...
4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
- Here the apostle speaks to the differing consciences of believers regarding food regulations & certain religious sensitivities
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- Israel went through the Red Sea together as a community of believers
- We too, should not be divided on issues of conscience
- If you think this is clear cut, then I would suggest that you are a better theologian than I, because I can see both sides of the argument
- Let’s not judge one another on conscience matters that will surely divide us – of first principle, we need to have respect for one another
- We are the body of Christ & we should be determined to go forward with the Lord & with each another
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- We are the people of God & through the salvation that God brings to us through Jesus Christ, we are part of an even greater salvation event than the Exodus itself
- We will go on beyond Covid & beyond death – there are bigger issues here
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- We can go forward without fear
- The Lord, the Creator of all, our Father in heaven, has our backs
- He has reconciled with us because of what Jesus did for us
- The consciences of the saved have been cleansed
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- The things that hinder everyday men & women; the pains they carry; the heartaches; the disillusionment; the uncertainty of the future; the constant failures & hypocrisy’s - these make for one great hopelessness in life
- What holds people back are sins, regrets, the what ifs & the overarching one – our mortality – death!
- But Christ has freed us from all of that – we can look forward & go forward because the Lord has made a way forward for us
- Not fear, but hope, not sorrow, but joy, not death, but life
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- As we consider these things this morning, let us share together now in a time of communion
- Could I please have the ushers come forward to distribute the emblems & this will allow time for those of you on Zoom to prepare your communion emblems as well
20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
- In much the same way as the original passover, we celebrate the passover lamb who is described as Jesus, the lamb of God who was “slain”, in what is sufficient to take away the sins of the world
- Let’s take the bread & cup now as we remember Jesus (prayer)