Intro to Exodus
The Going Forth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Reading:
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Introduction:
Why was Abraham chosen by God to bear the responsibility of this covenant?
Let’s look at family dynamics:
Abraham was son of Terah.
27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
Terah was one of Shem’s descendants.
When children are mentioned in the bible they are usually told in birth order, with exception of Noah’s sons.
10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Shem was probably named first since it was from his lineage that the Messiah came.
Back to Terah and Abram.
Abram was the youngest of Terah’s sons; (just shows the babies get everything) :)
God shows that He chooses who He wills to choose.
Then in verse 28 of chapter 11 in Genesis we find:
28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
The youngest of Terah’s son’s died.
This leaves 2 sons: Abram and Nahor
How is it that Abram received the covenant instead of Nahor?
The text doesn’t give any indication for why.
Especially considering they were brought up in a home where idol worship was regularly practiced and committed to.
My opinion is that before Abraham came God knew Him.
It would show God’s grace and also reveal His sovereignty.
Abram, in a overall trajectory, aimed at the Lord’s will and followed Him.
How does Abram fit into the book of Exodus? What does this have to do with Exodus?
Exodus records the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abram.
This is the covenant:
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
We can hear what is promised:
Every nation who has been on Israel's side has been blessed and many have been cursed.
Abrams seed will continue to multiply.
All the world was blessed through His seed because of Jesus, and continues to be blessed by Him!
The Abrahamic Covenant is still kept by the Lord to this day.
The fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant is also part of the 7 dispensations and this is the 4th dispensation called the dispensation of promise.
This dispensation tested peoples willingness and ability to accept and live in light of the promise of God.
They were supposed to live in the promised land and trust God for the promised seed.
Humanity failed to do so, instead they left for Egypt.
This is where Exodus comes into the account.
A result from a failure to live according to God’s promise (which is wholly by faith) they led themselves into slavery of another nation.
Transition:
Nobody wants to be a slave of others, including Abram’s descendants.
Being treated as lesser humans and doing hard labor with little resources.
They began to cry out to the Lord for help.
The Lord heard their cries and called a leader out from among them to deliver them.
Moses.
Thomas Nelson says this in his introduction of Exodus:
“Exodus is the story of freedom for God’s people from slavery and the beginning of a national identity.” -Thomas Nelson
Exodus is an great parallel to us since each and every person can receive in Jesus Christ.
Our lives can be a story of freedom from Sin.
The power that once bound us to the desires of our flesh.
In our salvation we find a heavenly identity through adoption into God’s family.
If we were to glean a theme of this book from studying it’s contents it could be:
Free to Serve (Because we are redeemed)
Free to Serve (Because we are redeemed)
Do you remember how Abram’s descendants ended up in Egypt?
There was a son named Joseph.
Through God’s sovereignty Joseph brought them all to Egypt and in doing so saved the lineage of Christ.
He did so by having faith in each situation the Lord allowed him to be in.
He was first sold into slavery and sent to Egypt as a young man.
He found favor from a powerful man.
The wife of that powerful man lied and Joseph was sent to prison.
He interpreted the baker and cup bearer’s dreams correctly.
The king’s dream was interpreted by Joseph.
Which brought him into favor with the king.
While he was there he offered his services to the king.
29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt,
30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.
35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
36 That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”
Joseph was laying out his business plan for handling the scenario to provide for all of Egypt, while making Pharaoh the most prominent figure of the time.
Pharaoh liked that and hired Joseph.
Joseph’s family came to get grain since Egypt was the only source for food.
Joseph could’ve had his revenge for their hatred; but chose forgiveness instead.
He brought his family to Egypt, saving them all.
After Joseph we read verse :8.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
The new Pharaoh recognized the giant population of the foreigners in his land.
The new Pharaoh was motivated by fear.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.
Pharaoh ceased the opportunity and made slaves out of them.
What was God’s plan for them as slaves, is it knowable?
Did they have any indication for why this was happening?
Absolutely!
It was approximately 220 years before they became slaves that God told Abram what would happen, and why.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
It was God’s will for Egypt to enslave Israel.
Looking back now we can see what was gained; but it is rarely clear in the moment.
It proved useful for Israel.
They became a nation who’s Leader and King is God.
It is useful for us today as well.
We can see that God keeps His promises.
We can see He is thee Almighty orchestrating everything to accomplish His will and fulfill His promises.
Israel’s immediate benefit was an answer to their prayers during enslavement.
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
When Israel left they plundered all of Egypt without a fight or request.
(which was prophesied)
Isreal became a nation who was chosen and claimed by God as His.
Isreal was given the law and entrusted with it for the whole world.
Kind of funny to think that Moses was the first to download data from the cloud and store it on a tablet.
God dwelled in their presence!
He led them during the day and at night.
God removed their enemies before their eyes.
He provided by miracles for food and water when they had none.
Isreal could not deny God was leading them, fighting for them, and providing for them.
The world benefited through Israel possessing the law and recording all God had done.
He is worthy of our praise and trustworthy for placing our faith in Him.
Jesus came through the lineage of Abraham, and that is the greatest blessing we could ever receive.
His grace.
Connection:
In Exodus we will recognize Israel’s bondage and that there was no way they could get free.
They had to appeal to the only one who had authority to move kings.
God delivered Israel from their enslavement.
Us Gentiles are provided, through that same covenant and promises kept, an opportunity to receive the grace that breaks the bondage of sin over our life.
We can do exactly what Israel did: believe God’s promises, instructions, and trust where He has for us to be.
By grace we are saved through faith and He can set us free!
“God sets us free that we might serve Him!” -Warren Wiersbe.
Transition:
Israel’s faith needed to be in what God told Abram.
The only requirement was that they:
Believe the Promise (Because we are claimed by God)
Believe the Promise (Because we are claimed by God)
Think about the time frame from Abram to Joseph.
Abram was given general promises then later God gave more detail.
In the covenant Abram was promised:
A Land.
A Seed.
A Blessing.
I want to ask you something that relates to where i’m going with this:
What beliefs do you hold to sitting here that someone in your family had 220 years ago?
How could you know what their beliefs were if you couldn’t talk to them?
With the birthing of every new generation the older ones would have to teach the promises that were given to the family by a God.
Each generation would have the opportunity to believe and trust the promise, or make statements like:
I have to see it to believe it.
God revealed Himself through Exodus in many different ways.
He revealed His power to Israel.
16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
They understood God’s authority is above all.
At the Mountain He instituted the 5th dispensation: The law.
The 10 commandments.
The 10 commandments revealed correct or proper laws for governing Israels life and worship.
The dispensation of law was in effect until Jesus fulfilled it by His death.
"Israel was never to be saved by keeping the Law (Romans 3:20). The Law was meant to govern their earthly lives, to define sin, and to point to the coming Savior." -Warren Wiersbe
Paul instructed the purpose for the Law in the N.T.:
It was to reveal our need for Christ!
It was God’s only conditional covenant with Israel where the blessing and success was contingent upon the people’s obedience to the Law according to Exodus 19:5
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
As we sift through Exodus, it should be noted that we can find many parallels between our own lives and the things happening to Israel.
Israel had free will to worship God, much like we do.
We often worship Him improperly.
We mess it up by our lack of faith in His word, and sometimes trusting in ourselves more than Him.
Israel did it too:
After they were given the 10 commandments, It didn’t take long for the Law to be broken, which was proven by the golden calf idol party.
By presenting Himself to Israel as their leader and giving the 10 commandments Israel became His people.
He made them His chosen nation.
Connection:
When did God reveal Himself to you?
When you placed your faith in Him and trusted Jesus’ promise to cover your sins and to be your God for all eternity He claimed you!
He will continue claiming you just like He did with Isreal, even though they messed up royally many, many, times.
He will never turn His back on you and He will keep His promises no matter what you do.
He expects us to trust Him and believe Him.
Transition:
In Exodus and through Isreal God made Himself:
Available to Worship (Because He dwells with us)
Available to Worship (Because He dwells with us)
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
This is the moment when God was disappointed by humanities disobedience.
God walked with man, spoke in person with man, had a friendship; yet man broke that by choosing self over God.
God could not allow sin in His holy presence, He had to remove Adam and Eve from His presence.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
This was the last moment God dwelled with His creation; until the book of Exodus.
In Moses we see God revealing Himself in many ways to all humanity; but in one specific way we are blessed: He is available for our worship.
Exodus records A temporary dwelling for God in the midst of His people with the tabernacle.
He gave instructions for all parts to the tabernacle, including proper attire and cleanliness for those in charge of it and also those who enter His chamber.
You ever notice that God always pursues us, and we rarely pursue Him?
Typically when we are in great need is the only time we pursue Him.
This is the amazing thing:
God came to dwell among His creation.
I hope we understand something very important about God.
He desires a relationship with His special creation.
You will notice what He did to live in a tent near us.
Exodus records for us God’s acts to be near us.
His bridge was built so we could worship Him.
It is good to keep in mind while reading Exodus, that He is foreshadowing a lot, including the permanent dwelling place in us and the future blessing through fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant.
Conclusion:
Studying through Exodus we have some divisions to pay attention to:
Chapters 1-18 we can see God delivering His people.
Chapters 19-24 we can see God claims His people.
Chapters 25-40 shows God dwelling with His people.
All of which translates to you and I.
He delivers us from our sin.
He claims us as His children through salvation.
He dwells in you as the Holy Spirit is within you, the fleshly temple that He is cleaning up and transforming daily.
The word Exodus meas: The going forth.
Trust Him to lead you as we study through Exodus and be encouraged by the God who loves us and when He is on our side nothing can stand against Him.
Go forth and teach what you believe, so that others may hear the truth!
-Pray!
