Salvation: Yours, Mine, and Ours

Then, the Lord steps-in. God intervenes. He raises-up a deliverer. Moses, Israelite-born and Egyptian-raised, is sent by God to the king of Egypt—to Pharaoh—to bring the Israelite people out of slavery, out of Egypt.

In time Moses goes before Pharaoh and says: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let my people go so that they may worship me.’”

Pharaoh refuses to listen to or to do what the Lord says, and so the Lord sends a series of plagues—10 destructive and deadly evidences of His power and supremacy.

The Lord is going to show Pharaoh and the Egyptians that He is the only God, the Creator, the One who upholds everything with the power of His mighty hand—and it’s the Lord—and only the Lord— who can cause to happen what happens.

So, the Lord turns the River Nile into blood; He covers the whole land of Egypt with frogs, and then gnats, and then flies. The Lord sends a plague on the livestock, and all the Egyptians’ livestock dies. The Lord sends festering boils and a hailstorm. He blankets the land with locusts, and then with three days of total darkness.

Pharaoh refuses to let the Lord’s people go after each of these plagues. None of this gets his attention...big dummy. His heart is hard, unmoving, unflinching in its stubbornness and unbelief.

The Lord sends one final plague: every firstborn son in Egypt dies.

The Israelites are spared, death does not find them; they hide themselves beneath the blood of a sacrifice and the angel of death passes over them.

>This, the death of every firstborn son in Egypt, gets Pharaoh’s attention; how could it not? Pharaoh’s firstborn son was not the exception; he would have died, too.

At this, Pharaoh orders the Israelites: “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go.”

So the Israelites pack their bags, gather their livestock, take the gold, silver, and clothing the Egyptians gave to them, throw their unleavened bread in bowls, and skedaddle.

And so we read (Exodus 12:41): At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s [people] left Egypt.

By the Lord’s mighty hand, by His strength and by His grace, His people are free. Slaves no more.

The Rescuer has rescued. The Redeemer has redeemed. The Savior has saved.

The Lord who brought them out of Egypt leads them along their way, guiding them through the wilderness.

And then, in a baffling move, the Lord has His newly-freed people turn back and and set up camp by the sea. Get the picture:

God has freed them from their captors, and now God is giving their captors the chance to catch up to them.

And they do. Pharaoh and his mighty, chariot-driving army pursue the Israelites and surround them. The Israelites are trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea, between a rock and a hard place.

They are freaking out. Terrified. Wishing they would have just stayed in Egypt instead of traveling to the desert to die.

The people of Israel don’t see what God is doing. They don’t understand that God is fighting for them. They quickly forget that He has saved them from Egypt. And they don’t get that He will save them completely.

It’s an incredible story; all this, you can read in the second book in the Bible, the book of Exodus.

As Josh preached last week, the Lord Himself came and stood behind the Israelites, in between them and the Egyptian army.

And per the Lord’s instruction:

Exodus 14:21–22 NIV

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

The Lord has saved His people, and now delivers them from the Egyptians once and for all.

Exodus 14:26–28 NIV

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

Exodus 14:30–31 NIV

30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

The Rescuer rescued. The Redeemer redeemed. The Savior saved.

The people put their trust in Him—the One who saved them, delivered them with a mighty hand and great acts of great power, in ways never before seen.

>What Moses and the Israelites do next makes total sense.

Any guesses what they do?

They sing.

They sing this song to the Lord.

What else could they do? What else do they have to offer? What is more appropriate than giving praise and honor and glory to the Lord? What is more proper than worshipping the Lord who saved this people in order for them to worship Him?

Moses and the Israelites sing to the Lord. And it’s exactly what they should be doing.

Exodus 15:1 NIV

1 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.

Notice the very first word: then.

After the salvation the Lord brought to them, then the people sing. The word then connects this song to their salvation.

You see, worship follows salvation. Always.

- They sing to Him because He is highly exalted—He is gloriously glorious. Worthy is He.

- They detail the specifics of their salvation: both horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.

This song is personal; this worship is personal. They sing personally, using first person pronouns; they’re singing together, it seems, but they’re singing together about what the Lord has done for each of them individually.

Together, they raise their voices: “I will sing to the Lord.”

And they continue together, singing individually about the salvation they’ve experienced in the Lord:

Exodus 15:2 NIV

2 “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.

Salvation is personal. This—what the Lord has done—this is something He has done for Moses and for each one of the Israelites. It’s personal, this salvation.

Each individual that God has saved has a song to sing; everyone saved by God has a personal story to tell.

My friend, Kim Case, is going to come and share part of her story.

[KIM CASE TESTIMONY]

The Rescuer rescued. The Redeemer redeemed. The Savior saved.

Moses and the Israelites sing of their salvation, of what God has done. They sing of His work, His power, His greatness and majesty; of His anger and judgment and unfailing love.

Exodus 15:3–12 NIV

3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. 4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy. 7 “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. 8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’ 10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? 12 “You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.

In all of this, God is working to bring His people to the place He has for them. He has not, and is not, saving a bunch of individuals; He’s saving a people—a group. The Lord is saving a whole mess of people.

Here from Egypt, God saved a multitude of people—there were about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children (12:37). This mixed multitude—this large, large group—the Lord has lead out and is leading to the land He promised to their ancestors, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

He’s saving a people.

The Lord is saving a people still today. It’s known as The Church—the called-out people of God, those who belong to Him by faith in Jesus Christ.

The Lord has saved a people;

Exodus 15:13 NIV

13 In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

This is our story, this is our song. He has redeemed/ purchased/ bought for Himself a people—a people He will hold and keep and lead all the way home.

My good friend, Chad Puckett, is going to share with us how, over the last 50 years, the Lord has rescued and redeemed a people for Himself through the ministry of Show-Me Christian Youth Home.

[CHAD PUCKETT SHARING]

The Rescuer rescues. The Redeemer redeems. The Savior saves.

The Lord saves. He brings salvation to you, to me, to us. This is why we sing.

We sing.

We are singing people—we who have been saved by the Lord. We gather together and we sing. This is our proper and fitting response to what the Lord has done.

Salvation is found only in Him.

No amount of goodness saves. If you think that, in your life, the good will outweigh the bad and that’s all that matters, you would be mistaken. And if you trust in yourself and what you can do, you will be lost…forever.

The last thing I want is for any of us to walk out of this place unsure about our salvation. I pray you listened to Kim’s story. I hope you heard what Chad had to share.

In salvation, God displays His glory, He delivers His people, and He destroys His enemies.

I was lost, but Jesus found me.

I was dead, and Jesus brought me to life.

I was trusting in my name, my religious activity, my good outweighing the bad; and then Jesus drew me to Himself and taught me to trust only Him.

Friends, trust in Him. Entrust your life to Jesus. He is the Author of salvation, full salvation, great and free.

He, and He alone, will bring you out of your slavery.

He, and He alone, will bring you from death to life.

And He will hold you and keep you and lead you all the way home.

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