God Rescues Israel
Notes
Transcript
Last week we were introduced to Moses and the current state of the Nation of Israel
They were enslaved by Pharaoh king of Egypt
God had a plan to use Moses who was saved by being placed into a basket and put into the Nile River
Moses was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter in the house of Pharaoh
He was trained to lead a country
Moses fled after killing and Egyptian to the wilderness
Moses lived in the wilderness for 40 yrs so you he know how to live in the wilderness
Last week we talked about how you and I are to trust the process
That God has a plan even when it doesn’t seem like that God does in fact have a plan and nothing catches Him by surprise
We just need to trust the process
Now God is going to use Moses to free His chosen people
2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
The burning bush
We read about this and talk about it and want our own burning bush
As I have read scripture there was only one burning bush
Just like there is only one taking donkey
So don’t read through this account of Moses being used of God and the burning bush and think that must be the way God works and so to be used of God I must have my own burning bush
Not going to happen
God calls Moses through the burning bush and sends him to speak with Pharaoh
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
But it doesn’t go probably as Moses had planned
But remember God is going to show Himself to the Egyptians but also to the Hebrews
His promises to them He will be their God and they should obey Him and follow all of His commands and if they do they will dwell in the Promise Land in the rest of God
So this goes exactly as God has planned because remember God has a plan and nothing catches Him by surprise
In fact because Moses had such a unique relationship with God he tells him the plan
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”
God says Pharaoh won’t let them God and even under some amazing miracles and plagues he still won’t let them go
And then finally He will
In fact Pharaoh just won’t let them go he will drive them out and they will plunder Egypt
Because God is going to reveal to the Egyptians and to the Hebrews that God is the God of the universe
Church we are going to see throughout the plagues that Pharaoh’s heart will harden and then other times God will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that God can continue to reveal Himself to the Egyptians and also to the Hebrews
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.
There will be times that Pharaoh himself hardens his own heart
And then you read where God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and we start to get uncomfortable with that
Except God knows all
He knows that Pharaoh will harden his heart which is why He says it before they start the plagues
He does this so the Egyptians will know that God is the one true God
He does this so the Hebrews will know that God cares for them and He is the one true God
They should worship Him
They should not stray
So the As we have done this you will need to and should go back and read through them
The first was water to blood
20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.
Pharaoh’s response to the is his heart was hardened after his own magicians did the same at Moses and Aaron
So after seeing water turn to blood his heart is hardened
Then to frogs
6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh begged for relief from the frogs and even promised freedom from the Egyptians
But when he started to experience the relief from the frogs that God was taking them away
He hardened his heart and refused to let them go
So God brings gnats
17 They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh hears from his own magicians about this
I would be the same ones who turned the water into blood
And they say surely this is the finger of God
But instead of listening to his own people
He hardens his heart once again
The God brings the flies
24 Then the Lord did so. And there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh bargains with Moses about how far they can leave to worship and offer sacrifice to God
When they have finally settled and Pharaoh asks Moses to make provisions for him also
Moses leaves and speaks to God to remove the flies
God removes the flies
Guess what Pharaoh does
He once again harden’s his own heart
6 So the Lord did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the sons of Israel, not one died.
God shows distinction between the Egyptian and the Hebrew His own chosen people
and after seeing all this Pharaoh’s heart is still hardened
You would think after so many you would start to understand how amazing and powerful God is
And yet God still has more to reveal to not only to the Egyptians but also to the Hebrews
God brings the boils
10 So they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with sores on man and beast.
With this bring the 6th plague now
We see God respond for Pharaoh
God here hardens Pharaoh’s heart
You might want to argue that Pharaoh didn’t have a chance to say ok I will let the people go and worship you God
And then you will say that Pharaoh never had the chance to allow them
But remember God is the God of all creation
Just because we don’t understand it doesn’t make God any less good
God knew beforehand that Pharaoh would not let them God
We also see Gods plan played out right in front of us
Church once again we see Gods plan
This is how He will bring out the Hebrews from Egypt
He will reveal his might miracles and awesome power
Not only to the Egyptians
So they would let them go free
But for also the hebrews so they would understand that God cares for them
That He would be their God and they would be His people
They will have to trust Him to follow after the plan He has for them
You and I will have to trust God to follow after the plan He has for us
And church when we do we enter into God’s rest
Then we go to hail falling from the sky
23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh begged for relief and then promised freedom for the hebrews
And when God takes away the hail
Scripture says that he sinned again and hardened his heart
So his own hardening was nothing but him and his own sin
And because of that he will be punished
The God brings the locusts
13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Scripture says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
Then God brings the darkness
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
God is doing all this to bring about the salvation of the Nation of Israel from the Egyptians
Here once again God harden’s Pharaoh’s heart
So we are through 9 plagues and still Pharaoh refuses to allow the Hebrews to go and worship the Lord
He is not allowing them to go free
Now the last plague that means so much for us today
It instituted the passover dinner
The last plague was the death of the first born
This is the judgement on The Egyptians and the Egyptians Gods
12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. 13 ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
God is going to show that He is the one true God
God is going to pour judgement on those who do not obey Him
We know the result of this plague Pharaoh drove them out of Egypt and followed them and the whole army of Pharaoh was killed in the red sea
We know the Hebrews walked through on dry ground and they Egyptians were drowned
But to the passover
Their was an obedience piece to the plague unlike the other plagues
For the 10th plague there was no distinction between Hebrew and Egyptian
There was however distinction between obedience and non obedience
The Hebrews were givens specific instructions
4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.
The lamb needed to be 1yr old and perfect, without any defect
They were given specific instructions in how to prepare it
And even how to eat it
They were to eat in a haste since that is how they were to leave
They were going to be driven out of the land so we are not going to wait type of eating it
They were to eat it ready to leave at a moments notice
Which is why they were to not eat leavened bread with it
They couldn’t wait for it to rise they were in a hurry to get out of there
They were to eat bitter herbs to remind them of their bitterness in Egypt so they wouldn’t want to come back
And then church we see instructions about the blood
They were told to put the blood from the lamb on the 3 door posts
And if they did the Lord would see that blood and pass over them
It had nothing to do with them being Hebrew it had everything to do with them being obedient
The Lord would see the innocent sacrifice of the lamb and pass over them
Church some people will read this and go ok that is how God intended to free the Hebrews from Egypt
But as scripture interprets scripture
This is a picture of what salvation would look like
That innocent blood would need to be spilled to save you and I
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
We know that nothing saves except Jesus alone
Not church membership
Not being a really really good person
Not listening to Christian Music
Not wearing christian shirts or posting Bible Verses on your social media
Nothing saved the Hebrews except the blood of an innocent lamb
Nothing will save you or I except the innocent blood of the Lamb of Christ
Jesus Himself
So when we look at the passover now
We see that when we are washed in the blood
When we have repented of our sins and trust in Jesus to be Lord of our life
We are saved
The passover points Jesus
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
If you and I confess Jesus as Lord we are denouncing the other small g gods in our life
and if we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead we have all the evidence
When we believe not just in our heads but in our hearts and confess Jesus as Lord
Scripture says we are saved
And when we are saved we won’t be disappointed
Just like the Passover reminded the Hebrews from their time in Egypt to not return we are also reminded that our own sin put Jesus on the cross and how bitter that sin was so as not to return back to our old sinful life
You won’t to salvation apart from hating your own sin
Just like the Hebrews would be set free apart from hating their time in Egypt and not wanting to return
So church as we come to our time of invitation
It is an invitation to respond to what Jesus has done for you this morning
If you have never accepted the free gift of Jesus’s death on the cross and the empty tomb then you are lost
Just like the Hebrews were not saved without the blood of the lamb
You will not be saved without the blood of Christ
The invitation this morning is to accept that free gift and walk out of death to life this morning
To repent of our sin and trust Jesus
Or maybe you have a personal relationship with Jesus
And maybe there are things you need to spend sometime in prayer
Or maybe you need to join this church
Whatever God is calling you to do would you be obedient
The altar is open
Pharaoh’s response
Frogs - begged relief and promised freedom, then when relief came he hardened heart
Gnats - the magicians said this is the finger of God but he hardened his heart
Flies - bargains for relief then harden’s heart
Livestock Diseased - hardened heart
Boils - the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
Hail - begged relief and promised freedom, then when relief came Scripture says he sinned again and hardened his heart again
Locusts - the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
Darkness - the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart
Then we get to plague number 10
The death of the first born and out of that is institued the passover
The salvation of the Hebrews is through the passover
