Leaving Egypt
The Going Forth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Reading:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Introduction:
John Newton in our culture is best known for writing Hymns with William Cowper.
Of the approximately 280 hymns the one most well known is Amazing Grace.
Many of us have probably never heard about his life and why he would write such a song.
John was born July 24, 1725, London, England—died December 21, 1807, London
During this time the United States was in it’s birth as an independent nation.
1773 - Boston Tea Party
1775-1783 - War for Independence
1776 - Declaration of Independence
1787 - U.S. Constitution
1791 - Bill of Rights
All of this took place during the life of John Newton.
John was pushed into the Navy at 18; he wanted to desert but was sent to serve on a slave trade ship.
This is what one commentator says testifying of what God did in John’s life.
Exalting Jesus in Exodus Remember God’s Deliverance (Exodus 12:33–42)
John Newton spent much of his life on ships. He was involved in slave trade and was caught up in numerous sins. God spared Newton’s life a number of times at sea, yet Newton did not recognize the providence of God. Shortly before he was born again, Newton and his crew were delivered from a storm that would have swallowed their ship had they not reached land. As God had been working in his life, Newton began to see God’s providence and deliverance time and time again through the years. He saw the coming of deliverance (Newton, 73–80).
Knowing the background of a man and the things he has been through allows us to understand who they were.
More than that, when we have the transparent testimonies of those who evaluated their life in light of God and His sovereignty to bring them to Himself, we get a passing along of power.
Think through the song Amazing Grace in light of the sinner who was lost, who was forgiven and later on became a great adversary of slavery.
The testimony of God’s deliverance is felt and heard by every person who hears and sings the song Amazing Grace.
Transition:
We find ourselves today in the account of the Hebrews at the moment where all burdens are lifted, all laborious work has ended, and their King is Yahweh.
They are leaving Egypt and leaving behind false idols.
It happened exactly as God said it would.
They would be kicked out:
Quickly (33-34)
Quickly (33-34)
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
The actions of God against the Egyptians allowed them to make a choice.
As we have seen extensively God provided them many opportunities to accept Him and to remove His judgment, they chose in their pride to say no.
Every plague was a graduation of severity.
It began with physical discomforts.
graduated to physical discomforts.
Escalated to death.
You can see and understand how the Egyptians viewed Yahweh and the Hebrews.
It would have been an attitude of disgust.
God did tell Moses exactly what He would do and how all Egyptians would react.
19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,
22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
At the burning bush God told Moses He would bring them out with a mighty hand and they would leave with the Egyptians possessions.
According to the words used here, the Egyptians aren’t just asking them to leave.
It says: “The Egyptians were urgent” with the Hebrews.
this word wasn’t what I thought.
Urgent to me brings the connotation of hurry, or immediately; but in the Hebrew it means more.
It brings a physical element to how they were urged out.
They were physically rushed out.
A violent attitude along with the disgust was being used to get Yahweh’s people out!
Question:
Why would they need to be shoved out like this from Egypt?
Put in perspective.
Let’s say here and now after 248 years as a country and it being the birthplace of us all.
How easy would it be for you to leave the United States enroute for the deserts of Mexico on our way to a land promised to us by God?
None of us are great at leaving our comfort zones.
To leave what is familiar pursuing something that is unknown.
It’s hard.
It isn’t easy to leave what we know.
The Hebrews would’ve had a difficult time leaving if the choice was their own.
God used the Egyptians to drive them out, not only drive them out but bribe them to leave as well.
The Hebrew slaves would now be offered money, jewels, anything they asked for from the Egyptian neighbors to leave their country!
The Egyptians motive was for the preservation of their own people.
Every Egyptian home lost a life, and to make sure they didn’t loose any more the Hebrews were sent out, showing they weren’t held against God’s will.
They’ve had enough consequences and didn’t want any more.
This was done very quickly.
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
Their bread that did have leaven, didn’t have the proper time to rise.
They hadn’t enough time to mix the leaven in for it to rise.
They picked it up and threw it on their shoulders as they headed out.
Transition:
The Egyptians wanted them gone!
The best way for them to get rid of God’s judgment on their lives and nation was to get the cause of it all out!
The Hebrews.
That is very similar to the scenario of what happened with Jonah.
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
Jonah was out, the judgment stopped.
The Hebrews are out, hopefully the judgment will stop.
They plundered all the Egyptians in a humiliating victory over them.
35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
The Hebrews were shown and would remember God’s deliverance from 430 years of slavery and mistreatment.
This would’ve been a sign to God’s faithfulness by keeping His word.
A shadow that the new testament fills in with Jesus.
A king who was victorious over the grave and gave gifts to men the spoils of His victory.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
In Jesus we are delivered from the hold death had on us.
Thanks to Jesus we will live on with Him in eternity.
Israel is on their way.
Celebrating and singing joyously for God’s deliverance.
Finally free (37-42)
Finally free (37-42)
37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
As we hear there was a distance, an number for the people, and the simple fact that it wasn’t just Hebrews who left Egypt.
Ramses is what the Bible referred to as the land of Goshen.
It was seemingly a good distance; but any distance would be difficult with approximately 2.5-3.5 million people traveling it.
Also be aware that there were livestock, women, and children.
What a logistical nightmare.
The number of men was affirmed later in Exodus 38:26
26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men.
The people groups that were among the Hebrews are confirmed in Deuteronomy 29:11
11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
This is a testimony to the fact that not all who lived in Egypt failed to accept the grace of God.
Some accepted Yahweh’s authority and submitted to Him with a fear and reverence.
They came with the Hebrews out of Egypt.
This should be an encouragement to us here and now, knowing and seeing the prophecy and promise that all the world would be blessed through the seed of Abraham.
These people were blessed because of the seed of Abraham.
The blessing that we know of came through the God/Man Jesus Christ.
The opportunity for people’s heart and mind to be convicted and to be able to respond by faith because of how awesome God is.
Know that the Gospel isn’t just for the Jew, it is for the whole world.
With the Jews quick exit it didn’t allow them to have proper risen bread for the journey.
It would’ve been a vivid reminder that they just ate unleavened bread while the Lord came through and visited every Egyptian home which experienced death.
In the moment they ate the bread I wonder if they remembered what the Lord had done for them.
In the moments they desired physical nutrition, as they ate the unleavened bread it would’ve reminded them of the spiritual desires they had.
Spiritual nutrition which they needed.
With their quick exit, the reminder through non-risen bread they could understand that God keeps His promises.
The whole ordeal was something the Lord had told Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14
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.
God kept His promise to the descendants of Abraham.
All through history He proved that He is trustworthy.
We can believe what He says will happen, will happen.
This truth makes Him worthy of our faith and trust.
Jesus related this to us when He proclaimed 7 things about Himself:
I Am the bread of life
We can believe He will provide the spiritual nutrition we need at all times.
I Am the light of the world
We can believe that He will open our blind eyes to see the truth.
I Am the door
Reminds us that He is guarding the gate into Heaven and He approves of one’s faith, there are no shortcuts
I Am the good shepherd
Tells us that we can trust His direction, provision, correction, and all that He provides for us.
I Am the resurrection and the life
Proclaims to us that He is the one who controls death and life.
He offered us salvation of our souls and a restoration of our relationship with Him.
It could be done by believing in Jesus actions was enough for a payment of us!
Jesus promised any who come to Him can lay their burdens on Him no matter how heavy they are.
Every weight, each sin that burdens us; He can handle and carry.
Trust He can do it, and wants to.
If He can bring 3 million (ish) people from slavery after 430 years don’t you think He can do all He promised you and I?
If we hear nothing else other than this today: Know for sure that He is trustworthy and is worthy of your hope!
The Hebrews were to tell about God’s trustworthiness, we are given the same task.
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Every generation is tasked with teaching the next generation about the trustworthiness of God.
We are to teach what we believe and why.
And He provides us with ample evidence, and testimonies.
The Lord gave a lot of testimonies to support the claims the Hebrews made about their exit from Egypt.
He instituted regulations and a:
System of Remembrance (43-51)
System of Remembrance (43-51)
43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
44 but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
45 No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it.
46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
In the details for who is able to take part in the festivals; hear what God is teaching.
Does He say it is only for Hebrews? No!
Does He say it is not for any stranger at all? No!
These passages may be presenting the specifics for observing the passover celebrations; but it teaches something awesome.
He is the God of the Hebrews; but also of any who believe in Him!
Each and every one of us have been part of filling in that shadow that was cast in the promises to Abraham.
A truth that Paul presented in Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
It isn’t our heritage that saves us.
It isn’t our church that saves us.
It isn’t our parents.
God’s righteousness is revealed by faith and the righteous live by faith!
Do you have faith in Jesus?
Then you are seen as righteous in God’s eyes.
(Considered morally pure!)
Sin is covered because of His deliverance.
50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
What a great deliverer we serve.
Conclusion:
Hopefully every time you hear the song Amazing grace you think of the amazing deliverer God was to the Hebrews as He brought them from Egypt.
But remind yourself of the failures God forgave.
Remind yourself of His awesome power that continues to make good on His promises.
Know that every day we have the ability to live a life that could write something like Amazing grace for all to be encouraged and challenged to believe God and what He has written to us.
Allow God to use your amazing story of deliverance that lifts Him up so the world can be reached with the life saving truth.
- Pray!
