The Thread of Life – Part 7 (Moses and Deliverance)

Give Online: Tithes & Offerings

Catch up on our series HERE

 

The Thread of Life – 31 Stories that point to Jesus

(Part 6)

Welcome to Jesus Church – Good to have u online

• In middle of a series of reading through the Bible
  • Obviously we aren’t going through every story
  • So I would encourage you to read through Bible on your own
  • Especially if you never have before
• But the idea is… we want to look through the stories of the Bible
  • Seeing specific lives that God touched… worked through
  • Micro level: We see a personal God at work in individual lives
  • Macro level: We see the character of God & his plan 4 humanity

And in the chapters we’ve covered – We’ve seen God will use anyone

• If you are breathing – have a pulse – You can be in God’s starting 5
  • Noah: He has problems with drinking
  • Abraham & Sarah: No children… advanced in age
  • Joseph: Entitled, lazy, selfish…
• Bur in spite of short comings… God uses them even tho not perfect
  • And God is the same yesterday, today and forever
  • So in the same way… God will use u regardless of qualifications

Is. 55:8

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

• So be ready to play a significant role in the Kingdom of God
  • Be ready to make a difference in the world around you

Today – We move from Genesis to Exodus

Left off at the end of Genesis – Joseph is 2^nd in command in Egypt

• Pharoah welcomes Joseph’s family to live there with protection
  • All of Israel moves there are their lives are blessed
  • But then Joseph/Dad/Brothers all die
  • And about 400 years pass as we move into Exodus

Ex. 1:7

But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

• This is an echo to blessing God gave all humanity 1^st in the Garden

Gen. 1:28

… Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…

• And then again with Abraham it’s repeated (so this is a theme)

Gen. 17:5-7

No longer shall your name be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations, and Kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

• So this small line at the beginning of Exodus is part of a big thread
  • And the promise of God from very beginning is taking shape
  • But also reminds us of the overall story leading up to this

And the story: Humanity has rejected God’s blessing thru sin & rebellion

• Adam & Eve reject God thru rebellion
  • Then the people of Noah’s time reject God
  • Even the land Abraham comes from has rejected God
  • Over and over we see God’s promise… but our rebellion
• But God still choses 2 maintain His blessing to the world thru Israel
  • But the new Pharoah doesn’t see Israel as a blessing
  • He see’s them as a threat to his nation
  • He is humanity once again rejecting God thru sin & rebellion
• But like all sin… getting worse – Pharoah is most evil character yet
  • And his goal is not just to reject God’s blessing… but destroy it
  • And like all sin – it will always try and reject what God is doing
    • We see it in marriages blessed by God – Adultery
    • We see it in successful business people – Embezzling funds
    • We see it in pastors – Obsesses w/ power & abuse it
• And we are blown away by these stories… but we shouldn’t
  • This is human nature… Bible has warned us from the beginning
  • God gives a blessing – Sin and our flesh will try and destroy it

So Pharoah stands directly opposed to plans & blessing of God in Israel

• And Pharoah demands death of all 1^st born males of God’s people
  • Way he wants it down is to be drowned in the Nile River
  • Which would have been an offering to the Egyptian gods
• So lets tie together this picture of what’s being set up: You have…
  • Israel: Rep God’s promise and fruitfulness
  • Pharoah: Humanities rejection of that promise & fruitfulness
    • Humanity tries 2 destroy promise w/ offering 2 false gods
    • Just like Adam/Eve offer compliance 2 false god in garden
      • By eating a fruit
      • It’s a rejection of God’s blessing
• Once again… God uses hardened human’s to continue His promise
  • And one Israeli mother gives birth to a baby… to save him
  • She puts him into a basket on the river

Ex. 2:3

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.

• She sets it up so Pharoah’s daughter would be bathing at the time
  • The Daughter finds the baby… (like video last week… Daaaaaad)
    • But the baby’s older sister is there when he’s found
    • Is able to suggest that an Israeli woman nurse him
    • Pharoah’s daughter says: great idea – Moses mom (paid)
• When old enough is brought back to Pharoah’s daughter
  • She Names him Moses Out of the waters (life out of water)
  • Which will be a theme of Jesus/baptism/salvation to come

TAG: This is ONE UNIFIED STORY… written by man – told by God

So today our story really starts with this Moses

Moses Grows up in the court of the Pharoah… learns from best teachers

• Which really equips him for what God wants to do in his life
  • And just like last week we saw Joseph with tons of adversity
  • Moses’ life is hanging on by a thread as an infant
  • Yet God uses that situation to move forward his plans/purpose
• But just like all of us… Moses has his weaknesses
  • We find out he has a really bad temper
  • One day he sees and Egyptian beating a slave
  • Moses loses temper and kills the Egyptian over it

Ex. 2:15

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

So Moses can’t go back and for the next 40 years becomes a shepherd

• One day he has a unique encounter with God out in the wilderness
  • God speaks through a burning bush that is never consumed
• God introduces this idea of HOLINESS… first time used
  • So bush not burning represents the eternal nature of God
  • The Fire represents the holiness of God

Intense scene: God tells Moses – You will carry on my promise

Ex. 3:7 &10

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering…. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

• And remember Moses is on board with this – Killed a man b/c of it
  • This epic story from Adam/Eve – Noah – Abraham – Joseph
  • And Moses says… ya no thanks!
  • He has a million excuses why God shouldn’t pick him.

Not only does he feel inadequate … He knows what he left from his past

• Moses has run from his past… which is keeping him from his future
  • There will always be things in ur past that will try 2 hold u back
    • Maybe u were hurt in relationship… don’t want marriage
    • Maybe u failed in a business… can’t pursue your dream
    • Maybe u were vulnerable… only 2 be betrayed by a friend
      • Never make that mistake again
• Your past will always try and stand in the way of your future
  • Bit God will never ask you to do something
  • Without enabling u to do it

So God gives Moses three signs that God has sent him

These were God showing Moses that he would equip him for any task

• • 1: He turns Moses’ staff into snake
  • 2: Then He turns Moses’ hand to leprosy
  • 3: Last he says I can even turn water to blood

Ex. 4:10-13 – Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

• And I think most of us can sympathize with Moses
  • #2 fear of Americans is death… #1 is Public Speaking

Jerry Sinfield

We are more afraid of being the person giving the eulogy than being the person in the casket.

But what I love about the Bible… This story is as real and raw as can be

• God’s used everything in Moses’ life so far for what comes next
  • Saved as an infant
  • Named Moses… out of the water
  • Brought up in the house of the King of all Egypt
  • In a place he can see the oppression 1st hand yet escape it
  • Flees to the wilderness where he will lead Israel… Knew area
• His response: Ya… u got the wrong guy (God has a lot of patience)
  • Have you ever felt like Moses
    • God has the wrong person
    • I can’t make a difference
    • I’m too busy… I’m not gifted… what about my past
  • Imagine what that must sound like to the one who created you
    • Reading through the way Moses responded this week…
    • Really made me wanna be careful how I respond 2 God
    • I never want to miss what God has b/c of my insecurities

Eventually God says fine… These words will come through you but…

• You can tell ur bro Aaron what to say… he can tell everyone else
  • So at 80 years old: Moses tells Pharaoh to let God’s people go
  • This would have been a huge moment…
    • Moses steps out in faith
    • He faces his past
    • Standing against injustice
• And Pharaoh says NO… and not only NO – He mocks Moses
  • Tells all of Israel: You are going to suffer b/c of this guy Moses
  • You now have to find your own straw to make bricks
    • Same production with fewer supplies
• Moses continues to visit Pharaoh… nothing changes his mind
  • And Pharoah specifically singles out the God of Israel
  • Remember… Pharoah worships the Egyptian gods

Ex. 5:2

But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover will not let Israel go.

This sets up an epic war b/w God & Demonic forces

Many of us look at the 10 plagues as just a way of freeing Israel

• But this story goes far deeper than that
  • Because all 10 plagues are directed at specific Egyptian deities
  • God is not only showing his faithfulness to his promise
  • He’s also showing His power over demonic forces
• Because Moses & Aaron show up and perform miraculous signs
  • But it says Pharoah’s sorcerers do the same things
    • Aaron’s staff becomes a snake – So do the sorcerers
    • Aaron turns water to blood – So do the sorcerers
    • Aaron causes a plague of frogs – So do the sorcerers
    • Last Aaron brings gnats… somehow that’s too much

But this is more than what we see – This is a Spiritual war taking place

• Remember the beginning of story… Pharoah sacrifices to the Nile
  • What is the first plague that God starts with
  • He turns the water (specifically the Nile) to blood
• Another example: Immon Ra – Chief Etyptian God
  • He was the sun god (King over all other gods)
  • What does God do… he blocks out the sun
    • God’s way of telling Pharoah – Your god is nothing
    • I can and will show my power over all other gods

And the final attack God wages against Egyptian gods He says…

Ex. 12:12 (NIV)

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.

• Already an Egyptian practice – Child sacrifice to appease false gods
  • So we see judgment by God on what they already do
    • But God gives a way to escape this awful judgment
    • Provides a way of escape from judgment thru substitution
  • Says: Take the blood of the lamb and put it on ur doorpost
    • This lamb would become a substitute for judgment
• And remember there are two stories being told here
  • 1^st is the puzzle piece: It’s the story of Moses… struggles… fears
    • Its how we relate to that story
    • How God uses the story of Moses to bring us closer to Him
    • And how God can/will work in our lives
  • 2^nd is larger picture God is painting – Thru substitution sacrifice
    • God shows his justice/judgment over the forces of evil

Eph. 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

• But also shows his mercy thru providing a substitute

And Exodus begins: 2/3 million people following God

But something happens here – Further shows the human condition

• It says that Pharoah demands for all Israel to leave Egypt
  • Then it says that he has a change of heart (not first time)
  • But is this time it says that God hardens Pharoah’s heart
  • So why would God cause Pharoah to have a hardened heart
• This is a theological problem b/c seems like God causes him to sin
  • If Pharoah is compelled to sin… is he morally responsible for it
  • If God loves everyone – why harden a heart made in his image
  • And this is a prominent question against the person of God
• But there are actually 3 Hebrew words used for harden in this story
  • Qashah: Stubborn – Used x2 in Pharoah hardening own heart
  • Kabed: Heavy – Used talking of Pharoah’s heart/plagues
  • Chazaq: Strengthen – Means to reaffirm or follow through

Rom. 1:24

God gave them over to their sinful desires…

So did God force Pharoah to sin against his own free will

• Of course not – God never instigates/desires sin in His creation
  • And we know that… but these passages are difficult w/o study
  • And seem to contradict the very nature of God
• What God does… gives Pharoah multiple chances to do right thing
  • And after Pharoah hardens his own heart multiple times
  • God gives him strength in the end for follow thru w/ decision
• The word picture of what God does here
  • Much like how of the sun both hardens clay & also melts wax
  • Pharoah’s had created his heart to be hardened to God’s word
    • Instead of allowing it 2 be shaped & molded by God’s word

TAG: I pray that our hearts would be wax and not clay

So God gives Pharoah over to evil… they chase Israel

God brings them to the edge of the Red Sea… no way of escape

• And God splits the sea… AND dries the seabed for them to cross
  • This is where Moses… a man of insecurity speaks w/ confidence

Ex. 14:13

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

• Moses raises staff and the red sea parts… Israel crosses
  • And then God lets waters back down so Egyptian army drowns
    • Bible says not one of them survived
    • And God is now known as the ONE TRUE GOD

Ex. 15 [Context: After Red Sea and in safety]

• Moses sings very first song of worship in the Bible

Ex. 15:1-2,11

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted…. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him… Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

• Not only are they declaring God’s victory over all other powers
  • This is the first mention of salvation in the Bible as well
  • That through the waters… after freedom in the sacrificial lamb
    • There is now Salvation
• How much more illustrative could this big picture be
  • And this is why our God is the only God worthy of worship
  • And the very first worship song recorded is sung of salvation

This whole story… it’s God’s plan – Just like ur story is

God knew what he was doing from the start (not from our perspective)

• But Moses is perfect for this position
  • Product of best education
  • Learned strategy and leadership from inside the palace
  • All the time he is watching Pharaoh manage large groups
• God had been preparing Moses for this his whole life
  • God knew Moses was more qualified than Moses knew
  • God just wanted Moses to trust him

And I know that God says the same to us

• When you feel inadequate… God says trust in Him
  • Because God wants to deliver us from slavery to freedom
  • God hates oppression whether its…
    • Moses as a slave to fear
    • Pharoah as a slave to his own decisions and heart
    • Isrealites under physical oppression and injustice
• God wants to free you – Does it through his power of dark forces
  • The substitution of the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus)
    • 1 Cor. 5:7 For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed
  • The waters which we now know as baptism
• God delivers from despair to hope… and from hope to future
  • Because Jesus has a plan of life for us…
  • And this is the entire story of God

[PRAY]